Born From A Divine Gamble 112 Calla And The Class

Like the other day, Calla walked forward by leaning on Emp. She was better in her shoes than the other day but stumbling in front of the cla.s.s would be the worst. Because it would be awkward to carry Celtine on his shoulder with Calla accompanying him, they left her back in the room with Harriett. Emp would have to take his notes on his own.

On their way there, Mable and Aglaya joined up with them.

"Just let us deal with anything troublesome. You don't have to answer to anything mean." They told Calla like Blackbull the other day.

Calla nodded and took a deep breath to gather some courage. They soon stepped into the room to see that almost everyone was already here. Only Zoran and the teacher were missing.

Because her shoes clacked on the wooden floor, some of the students turned around to see who was coming in and reacted instantly with surprise. The hands they were raising to welcome the new arrival froze and they all gasped.

"Forest! It's her! She's here!" Odilon shouted, gathering the attention of everyone that had yet to turn around. (1)

Calla's face seemed to cramp a bit as she s.h.i.+fted her body to hide a bit more of it behind him. She really disliked the attention, even thought she had expected it.

Everyone started detailing her with theirs eyes in rapt fascination. It was the new wife of their friend after all. It was the first time most of them saw her and they had apparently not expected her to look like that.

With how she was clinging to Emp, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was the Calla he spoke about but he still said it aloud to avoid any confusion at all.

"Hi everyone, I'm happy to present to you all my wife Calla."

They had practiced this small introduction a few times but now that it was really happening, Calla was frozen in place.

"The bow." He reminded her in a whisper.

Brought back to life by his words, she griped the side of her dress and bent her upper body slightly in an almost mechanical way. No one aside from him noticed though.

"No way! You said she came from a village, there's no way that's true! She's way too pretty for that!" Odilon cried again.

Kenneth slapped the back of his head hard.

"What's wrong with you? That's insulting. Don't try to hit on the wife of someone else."

"Ow! I'm not, It's just the truth."

Many other students seemed to agree and were surprised by her appearance. All this preparation did make a difference after all. She might not have been the prettiest in the room for most of them but she was well above their idea of a common girl.

Emp thought the ordinary her was more than pretty enough but this much was necessary to make an impression on the future lords and ladies in this room.

Meanwhile, Calla felt shy from the compliment and wanted to hide even more. Her face reddened in embarra.s.sment, accentuating her cuteness in the process. Just like that, she had won over all the boys in cla.s.s. Well, at least for her appearance.

The cla.s.s was about to begin so Emp wanted to hurry Calla forward to his usual seat but they were interrupted by loud and hurried steps. Calla, Mable, Aglaya and him turned around to see who was running in the corridor only to be surprised by Zoran who burst into the room.

He didn't want to be scolded for being late so he rushed all the way here and doing so ran face first into the four standing in the door. Because he turned into the room so fast, he didn't get any time to see what he was walking into and fell into the most embarra.s.sing situation of his life.

Zoran was rather short, even if he shared the t.i.tle of youngest with Mable, he was a good head and a half shorter than her or Emp. This was the reason why his face bounced off the chest of Calla instead of hitting her in the head.

Calla didn't move an inch because she was held by Emp who would not be pushed by a someone as weak as Zoran so he was the one to bounce back instead. Every single girl in the room yelped in shock, most boys snorted in panic or laughter and Calla turned so livid Emp feared she might collapse right then and there. Zoran bounced on the unexpected soft obstacle and gasped in shock when he saw what he had hit.

Calla brought her arm in front of her in defense and Zoran did the same in front of his face, turning just as livid as her. Everything after that seemed to happen at the same time.

Mable turned very red in anger, Odilon called Zoran a lucky pervert which earned him another hard hit on the head from Ivar, Brenia cracked her fingers ominously and Zoran started stuttering an apology at extreme speed.

"I-I-I didn't I didn't did-, I'm sorry I I I, I di-di-didn't."

His eyes went up and down Calla quickly as his brain rushed to find an explanation to what was happening. Emp saw his mouth open wide in shock from her pretty appearance, and then Zoran saw Emp too.

Emp had not moved a muscle yet, he had no idea how he was supposed to react to this weird accident. Part of him was glad that no one was hurt while another was angry that Zoran put his face onto his wife and yet another part worried about the girl herself and finally, there was his reason calming him down saying it was obviously an accident and he shouldn't be angry for it.

If reason was winning in Emps head, it wasn't the case for everyone else. Zoran's eyes opened even wider when he understood he had just rammed headfirst into the bust of Emp's wife and his mouth dropped so low he might have been able to swallow an apple whole.

Mable screamed "Zoran!" ready to rain down furious words on him but Zoran fell backward before she could. Her angry shout was the drop of water that made the pitcher overflow and he collapsed on the wooden floor unconscious with a bang. The boy had fainted.

Everyone held their breath with their mouth open. Something so crazy had never happened before.

"What in the world is going on here!" The voice of Blackbull thundered angrily from the corridor where Zoran's head was sticking out.

She appeared moments after and stood close to the head of the unconscious student. Her face was the image of frustration.

Emp apologized for causing a ruckus.

"We're sorry teacher, we didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"Was it you who knocked out Zoran?" She asked with an inquisitive air.

"No, he pa.s.sed out on his own. He came in running, b.u.mped into Calla and then fainted."

"He didn't just b.u.mp into her! That's almost molestation! He buried his face into her b.r.e.a.s.t.s like a huge pervert!" Mable screamed in anger while pointing down on him.

The teacher first raised a brow then looked at the faces of both Calla and the students behind Emp including the girls nodding in approbation. Seeing they all agreed on the version of Mable, she shot a disgusted pout a the unconscious Zoran.

"It was an accident though, he was running and didn't see us in time." Emp tried to defend Zoran.

"That it was intentional or not doesn't matter. What happened happened and he shouldn't have been running in the first place. Just look at the poor girl's face."

Calla had been greatly shaken by this thing. If a normal day was worth one silver coin of energy, meeting the whole cla.s.s at once would be worth ten gold coins for her. This was worth about a thousand gold coins of energy. She really seemed to feel weak right now.

"Uh... Maybe we should sit down for a bit. Just put this out of your mind, he didn't mean anything by it. Don't let this ridiculous happenstance ruin your day."

He held her firmly to not let her fall off and led her safely to his seat. Meanwhile, Oran came up and lifted Zoran on his shoulder to bring him on his own seat. At least he'd wake up somewhere else than on the ground and the teacher would be able to step inside the cla.s.s.

"He fainted right up when he saw Emp's wife. It must be love at first sight." Odilon whispered to Kenneth with some hardly contained laughter.

n.o.body paid any attention and everyone sat down at their usual places, with Calla at Emp's side.

If there was anything good about the incident it was that the attention of everyone was mostly on Zoran instead of Calla now. With what had happened, Heida or anyone else couldn't criticize anything about Calla either because it would be seen as if they were attacking a victim. For now, they had to wait.

Blackull started the cla.s.s right away and told them that she would end it early to let meet Calla properly.

This gave them plenty of time for Calla to calm down. Emp used that time to tell her who was who and who she had to watch for. He knew he would have to introduce some in a more formal way later after the cla.s.s but a bit of forewarning couldn't hurt.

Meanwhile, the cla.s.s went on in the n.o.ble tongue like usual so Calla didn't understand anything of what anyone was saying. Blackbull didn't say a word towards Calla of the whole lesson, both because she knew Calla didn't understand and because there was no need to show everyone that they already knew each-other.

Zoran woke up halfway trough and stayed slumped on his desk for the rest of the cla.s.s in stupor. He didn't say a word until Blackbull asked him what happened and he stuttered a string of apologies again. As Emp had feared would happen, Zoran was severely reprimanded afterwards, in common so that Calla could understand.

The old woman had a lot to say about running inside, how tardiness was a disease to society as a whole and how utterly disgraceful his accidental act was.

Finally, he was released from the anger of the teacher and the cla.s.s ended.

The moment it was over, Emp was entrusted the task of introducing everyone that wished to be presented to her.

With Blackbull smothering everyone with a threatening glare, no one dared do anything unorthodox and just presented themselves soberly. They knew she was already in a foul mood because of Zoran.

The smaller man had a awkward time presenting himself because of that.

He started by apologizing again, then Emp told Calla he was the son of a duke and was aiming to be a healer. Calla thought it was a great occupation and felt a bit better about the pitiful Zoran but then Juniper brought her opinion back down right away.

"With what we saw earlier, he might be trying to be a healer just to touch women."

Of few of the guys laughed while Zoran turned gloomy and apologized yet again before excusing himself out of the room. He had been humiliated enough for a single day.

Then, since she had just spoke, Emp introduced Juniper as the woman hiring the miners currently camping in the village. Calla found Juniper less scary than her employees at a glance but her words where like a sneaking sword and she was almost immediately turned into a target for the sale of gla.s.s jewelry.

Aside from the presentations themselves, the most annoying thing was Heida just as Emp had expected it to be. She walked up in front of Calla and shamelessly asked something ridiculous even though Blackbull was glaring from the side. Not only that but she asked it in the n.o.ble tongue on purpose.

"What's up with your clothes? You seem to be dressed well above your status."

Calla furrowed her brows in confusion while Emp did the same in annoyance.

"Oh, I forgot you didn't understand the n.o.ble tongue. Silly me, of course someone like you would not. Let me ask again. Aren't you dressed in clothes too expensive for someone of your rank?"

Calla looked down at her clothes in worry but Aglaya rea.s.sured her immediately by snickering at Heida and Gervaise who was encouraging Heida from the back.

"She's not, did you not know Emp was a high n.o.ble? It seems you failed to learn the most basic things about the rest of us. Those clothes are fitting of her rank unlike your misdirected words."

"Him? A high n.o.ble? Please, you're lying to throw me off and protect the new girl." Heida answered confidently.

"She isn't lying miss Greenpeak." Blackbull intervened.

That truth seemed to be shocking to Heida and the time she took to think of a comeback was enough for Calla to calm down. In the end, she wasn't in the wrong and like the others had said they would, they were protecting her from everything troublesome. It was really appeasing.

Unable to continue on with her petty attack, Heida lashed out at the teacher instead, pointing an accusing finger her way. Emp thought it was a pretty bad idea but then again, she seemed to be entirely made of bad ideas.

"My name is supposed to be hidden! How dare you use it in front of the cla.s.s?"

"Miss Greenpeak, you do not get to wield your status as a weapon to look down on everyone here and also keep it hidden. You made the choice of taunting the rest with the power of your name since the moment you stepped in here two years ago. Your name is a secret to no one, unlike some of your comrades who kept their status and names under wrap. You cannot blame me for revealing something you never tried to keep a secret just because you're angry about not finding the secret of someone else before making a fool of yourself.

You are constantly encouraging unnecessary animosity with your behavior and I fear you will one day regret it. I understand your family is going through difficult times right now and that you feel the need to remind everyone of how important a person you are but now should be the time to bring others to your side.

Do you not ever think about what would happen if the order of the kingdom of Greenpeaks collapsed now? No one in here would help you."

"Our kingdom won't collapse! It's only a matter of time now before we find out why the crops aren't growing properly and then you'll regret it."

"Like I said, threatening me serves no purpose, I'm just trying to teach you a lesson your highness."

Somehow, the t.i.tle of highness sounded more like an insult than a polite form of speech. Heida got extremely angry and stormed out of the room, grabbing Nicolas by the collar on her way out to bring him along.

Gervaise was the sort to annoy everyone equally so she just mocked Heida on her debacle and then kept her mouth shut, absolutely uninterested in everything that was going on here.

The others were more agreeable. Even though it was a stressful day for Calla, Emp believed it all went pretty well. The girls she had already met helped her understand the others and explained some of the things that would seem strange for her.

For example, Nereus compared her to the figurehead of a s.h.i.+p. For him it was a high praise, silent but uplifting, able to bolster the morale of those that recognize it. Calla didn't know what was a figurehead, the biggest s.h.i.+p she had ever seen was a small boat on the river they used to repair the bridge from under it.

Norval introduced himself like an honor student should and got the approval of Blackbull. Not only did he politely compliment Calla on her appearance but he also congratulated Emp on being chosen by such a presentable and well mannered girl. It might not have been the most impressive of compliment but he knew nothing about her so it was the best he could do. Emp thanked him warmly.

George didn't come to get presented and just stayed in his corner of the room. Like usual, nothing that happened in here seemed to matter to him.

Josseline wanted to ask Calla a lot of things on what it felt like to be married but held back because of the ever watching teacher sat at the front of the cla.s.s. She merely gave a few words of welcome instead.

Frits didn't say anything special but Emp felt closer to him now that he knew Rica was the same as Calla and that the Thornwatch house was on his side. Calla gave him a big smile too because of her good impression of Rica.

The boys felt rather mischievous but none of them dared ask anything funny or make any comment at all in front of Blackbull and just presented themselves like good gentlemen. The two that did it best were Ivar who was always acting more mature than the rest and Cyril who was genuinely happy for Emp and Calla. He felt like an idiot for once believing Emp was mocking him for his humble origins. He had taken a simple girl for first wife, a guy like that couldn't look down on the common folk.

Because everyone was curious and wanted to speak with her, they tended to all gather close to her and Emp had to ask everyone to back off a step a few times over.

Calla didn't say much at all through it all. She listened to everyone telling her all sorts of things and mostly nodded or shook her head in answer. Whenever it seemed too difficult for her to say anything, Emp would answer in her stead. She did say a few words here and there, mostly using the magic bracelet to make herself audible.

She seemed to get better and better as time went by. Partly because she got used to the calm way people presented themselves and spoke softly to her but mostly because she knew that the more the time went by, the closer they got to the end.

Everything ended as well as it could have gone except for the Zoran incident and the strange wills of Heida. Emp was leaving the place with all the usual girls and a relieved Calla when Juniper interrupted their departure to ask the one important question for the cla.s.s.

"What about Mable?"

Emp was about to answer for Calla but she was surprisingly faster than him.

"I'll be happy to have her as my sister when she'll be ready."

"I'm happy with Calla too!" Mable loudly added just after. "We've spent a lot of time together since she came here and we've been getting along really well."

"That's great!" Josseline cheered.

That was something everyone could agree upon and it was in a good mood that everyone parted ways.

They all ended up in Mable's room for a chat afterwards, they ate some cake she bought recently and enjoyed some fruit wine and tea.

The girls praised Calla for being able to go through all that. They thought she had done really well and things could not have gone better. They also talked a whole lot about how angry they were at Zoran and how much of an idiot Heida made herself look. They didn't really like her which wasn't that surprising so it was normal for them to giggle at such a big mistake on her part.

At least now the presentations were all over. The girls knew Calla didn't like that sort of thing and that she was really tired from it all so they were very gentle with their interactions with her. They let her plenty of s.p.a.ce to breath and kept her in the conversation without talking to her directly too often.

They all had an enjoyable time and Calla and Emp left late to go back to their room.

The moment the door closed behind them, even before Harriett welcomed them back, Calla released the longest sigh he had ever heard from her and she let herself become limp into his arms.

"Are you alright?"

"Mhn, I'm so glad it's finally over."

"I know it was hard for you but you did great, I'm really proud of you." Emp told her along with a hug.

"Thank you."

"Let's go rest for a while and let Harriett take care of our meal. Just relax for now and take some time to breathe. Tomorrow, I'll go tell the old man we're ready to leave."

Calla answered with a nod and they spent the whole evening doing nothing at all.

*-*-*-*

The next day, Emp walked to the office of the ancient and after one of the servant girls announced him, he stepped inside to talk.

"Ha lad! Ye right be the person I be lookin for. D'ye know what all these papers be about?"

The old man held a stack of parchment up in the air with delicate writing on them and shook them in an annoyed way.

"No? If you shake them like that I can't see what's written on them so I don't know."

"Those be papers sent to me by yer teacher. They all be like spy reports on some girls, what in the world are ye doin?"

He slammed back the pile of doc.u.ments on the desk and Emp realized what they probably were.

"It's Blackbull who sent you those? Aren't these just the files to help us choose a few ladies-in-waiting for my wife?"

The old man raised his brows in confusion while one of the servant girls standing behind his chair leaned forward to whisper something into his ear.

"It is?" He answer the girl before leaning his face over the stack of paper. "Ye be right, it's written on the first page. I be sorry lad, I had not looked."

"How did you know what was on the other pages if you didn't look?" Emp asked with confusion written all over his face.

"I never be readin the first page of anything because it always be useless flattery. I rather be readin the meat of things instead." He declared proudly, as if his trick was impressive instead of ridiculous.

On another note, Blackbull had told him she'd start researching for this only a few days ago, how could she already be done?

"When did you receive those papers?"

"Hm? Oh, it be this same mornin. Don't ye be worryin about these anymore, now that it make sense, I be angry no more."

This morning huh? So it took her two days and an evening to write that huge stack of paper and do her research? How fast can one be?

"So, will you give them to me?"

"No, no need, now that I be readin the top paper, it's just a copy of it, she wrote another and sent it to ye already."

Now that was just impossible, even Celtine didn't write so fast. This could only mean one thing, The old women had planned this since long ago and just pretended to come up with the idea the other day. Why would she do this though? Emp was starting to worry a bit, it meant that she had some plan involving all this but he didn't know what the goal was. The scary thing was that since she was the one that had made the list and since he knew no one at all, she could have written any number of falsities or omitted any number of people in order to push him to choose someone she wanted him to pick. He had no way of knowing if she did this or not or for what reason she would do such a thing. Could he trust the list at all?

He ended his discussion with the ancient as quickly as possible, asking him to please find out for him when the next big caravan for Red-water would be leaving before he made his way to the office of Blackbull.

He knocked at the door while announcing himself and soon after, the old lady told him to come in.

"Young Emp, welcome. What might be your business with me now? Did you receive the list?"

"I didn't see it for myself yet but the ancient did."

"Oh, I see. He didn't read the first page again I presume."

"Yes but that's not what I'm here for. The pile is too thick and too well written, there's no way anyone can write all of that twice in only two days."

The corner of her mouth rose into a half smile, deepening the wrinkles on her cheeks.

"You don't need to say anything more. Forcing you to say it more bluntly would just be insulting to you. That's right, I started writing those files long before we talked the other day. I started the day I heard you were about to marry a common girl. Now, I suppose you want to know if I had some hidden motives to do all of it this way."

"Yes, you always tell me to pay attention to the goals and motives of everyone else. I need to know why you tried to make be believe the idea just came to you the other day and why you really made all those files."

"I'm glad you are finally using your head but you're applying it here in vain. I just didn't want you and Calla to think I had already taken the decision on what to do for you so I pretended I had not already finished doing the research. As for why I really want you to do this, it is also very simple."

"You're not trying to fool me, are you? What is the reason."

He was now regretting that he didn't bring Celtine with him, she would have been able to tell right away if Blackbull was trying to hide something from him.

"Of course I'm not trying to fool you. Who would be stupid enough to fool a Muracier? Even if I pulled it off which is already pretty hard considering those of your house can almost always tell when someone is lying, I would end up in serious trouble the moment the truth was revealed, would I not? I know I'm old but I don't intend to forfeit my head yet, there's nothing for me to gain by tricking you. The reason is that I and many n.o.bles around me dislike Graube Muracier."

Graube Muracier?

"What does it all have to do with my father's cousin? I do not see the link at all."

"It should be pretty obvious. While your father was away the forest knows where, Graube decided that he might have a good chance at becoming the next great general and overturn the main branch of the Muracier house. He's been hard at work all this time trying to win over the retainers, the bannerets and the va.s.sals. Some like the old man Jazay know well of the abilities and temperaments of everyone in the Muracier house, those didn't move an inch but many of the younger generations don't share their opinions. After all, aside from you, no one of your generation ever met the great general at all where Graube is making himself seen and raking in achievements.

I met Graube once and I'm sorry to admit, I would rather not have such a man become the second most powerful person in the empire. Only with enough support would Graube ever be able to steal the t.i.tle of Great general from the main branch but it's likely to happen once my generation starts to leave the scene. There's a simple way to stop him however. Currently, everyone is convinced that Chinui the lord great general doesn't have any heir and no one has seen him in years. Announcing your existence will put a huge dent in his progress and showing some interest for the retainers will show to the world that the Muracier house isn't finished yet. All I need you to do is prove to the world that you exist and that the t.i.tle is yours and not Graube's."

"I understand what you mean but I've never met Graube before, what's he like?"

Even the duke Jazay told him flat out that he did not trust the man but he wanted to know what impression of him Blackbull had.

"The man is only half as talented in combat and strategy as his two cousins. That alone is already bad enough but he also has those eyes full of greed, anyone with a bit of cleverness can tell he's thirsting for power and wealth rather than the well-being of the empire like the main branch. The worst part of him is that I know he doesn't care for how much he must sacrifice for a victory. As long as the final result is in his favor, he could sacrifice a large amount of knights without thinking. I have a large family young Emp, I'd rather not see twenty of my grand-kids go to war for none to return because this idiot was in command. Obviously, the you right now isn't better than him in talent at all but since you came from the main branch, since the old man supports you rather than Graube and since you have the temperament that will push you to reach for perfection in the art of war like your father before you, I'd rather back you instead of your uncle." (2)

Everything she said made sense. Since Emp had no reason to distrust her, he chose to go along with it for now.

"Alright then, I'll believe you on your words and I'll do like I said I would for now. I'll go through all the files on my way back to the village with Calla. I suppose that any of the girls in the list would help achieve your goal?"

"Yes, that is right. I left aside the most inconsequential ones and those that will be on your side no matter what like the girls from the Jazay house. Winning any of the girls on that list to your side will help you get recognized because any of them would be stolen from Graube's side. The boys will be easier to win over, all you have to do is prove yourself better than Graube in the field."

"I see, thank you for your help teacher."

"Don't let him win and you won't have to thank me at all."

Emp took his leave mildly satisfied with the answers he got and made his way back towards his room. Since he intended to overthrow the emperor and take his place, he didn't feel any better than Graube so he felt a bit guilty of accepting that help. However, help was help so it would be stupid to refuse it.

Just a few turns away from the teacher's office, Emp happened to come across Noirantel. Neither expected to see the other here and both stopped walking to stare at the other. Emp wondered if he should just step aside to let him pa.s.s or if he should wait for him to do it instead.

The only time they had met was when they had a spar against each other on the field. Neither of them cared about the other much so Emp didn't have anything to tell him.

Should he just say hi and be done with it?

"Hi Noirantel."

"Hi lord protector Emp."

There was another silence and then Noirantel started speaking in a disinterested manner.

"You know, that time you defeated us all, you used your blessing right?"

"Yes, I did, why?"

"Well, I do not mean to sound like a sore looser after all this time. I won't deny that you did indeed defeat me but if you think it will be enough to carry you everywhere you are wrong."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Having a blessing is super impressive, there's a reason why everyone that has one is renowned everywhere but you're not the only one with a divine blessing. I can name two other people our age with a blessing just at the top of my head."

"Who?" Emp asked curiously.

"Well there's the Muracier heir for one."

Wasn't Emp the heir? Was it some sort of misunderstanding?

"The Muracier heir?"

"Yeah, he showed up around two years ago in Red-water and showed off his card around to a bunch of people. I haven't heard his name but I know he had a blessing too and that he was a Muracier. If you go up against a guy like him relying only on your blessing, you'll loose for sure, the Muracier aren't the best for nothing."

Emp didn't know how to answer to that at all. Noirantel was just talking about him after all.

"So who's the second one?" He tried to change the subject.

"The other is a girl called Kaisla Grovgar I don't know anything about her aside from the fact her father's the head guard of Highsteel."

That was interesting, Highsteel was the home of the main branch of the Muracier's house. Maybe she was in the list?

"That's really interesting, I wasn't expecting all of them would be related to the Muraciers."

"Oh I'm sure there's bound to be many more that aren't, old and young too. Don't be mistaken though. I know you've been working hard to make it into an important position in the army but only a blessing won't cut it for the Muraciers to approve of you. You'll need to impress them just like I surely will. I don't know about yours but my family's been working for them for generations you know?"

"Your family hasn't done much to keep the old road safe though."
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Noirantel seemed really p.i.s.sed off by the comment.

"Because it's pointless! We keep saying it to the idiots of Jazay but they don't get it! It's only a matter of time before my father finds the gold in those hills and then we'll make a new road south of the old one. The new road will go straight between Artefine and Red-water, forget about the low-woods and the howling hill. The new one won't be snaking around for miles and waste the time of everyone. We only need a bit of gold to make it happen I tell you and then, everyone will be thanking us, you'll see."

"If you say so. I'd like a faster road between the two actually but there are villages on the old one that needs some backup."

"I do not see the use of that. It doesn't matter at all what you think since we've got the approval of Graube Muracier. Everything goes through him first. Anyway, I've wasted enough time with you. I've got a perfect reputation here in school so I'm sure to make a great impression."

Emp disagreed since he had been defeated before and had been slapped in public by a girl. He couldn't see what made this perfect at all.

Noirantel might not be a bad guy but he really didn't help himself with his words. If Emp did end up as the great general instead of Graube, and hopefully he would, he wouldn't be against working with Noirantel but he certainly wasn't impressed yet.

Emp had to step aside because Noirantel obstinately refused to do so and after he had left, Emp was finally able to go back to his room.

*-*-*-*

(1) Forest here is employed as an exclamation word instead of a name. Like: G.o.d! s.h.i.+t! Holy f.u.c.k!

(2) note that Graube isn't really the cousin of Chinui and even less the uncle of Emp. Eight generation before, one Muracier Brother made that side branch and Graube is a descendant of him. At this point, they're barely related but the easiest way to describe him is uncle or cousin which is how Chinui and Chijou always called him. They do share the same name however.