64 A Difficult Situation

After lunch all the students were confined to the interior of the dorm so that they could settle down and find their rooms. If getting the children inside to eat gave Hal a migraine, getting them to be calm and help find their rooms was like having multiple heart attacks.

In the corner Lydis quietly sipped her juice box. Seeing Hal become frustrated, flare up but then become deflated was like watching a flickering fire. As Lydis reached the bottom of her juice box another one appeared on the short table beside her chair. Just as she placed the empty one down, it would be taken away by the group of five around her. Skillfully, Min-young slid another juice box next to Lydis's hand.

Without much effort. Lydis grabbed the new juice box, opened the fresh seal, let the straw pop out, and drank blissfully.

The juice in the boxes was a mixture of vitamins, strengthening chemicals, and a sweet tangy flavor. When Lydis had first discovered them served with their lunch she didn't think much about it but when Ui broke down the ingredients it found that the juice box was supposed to help students recover and reinforce their bodies. Although only in small amounts, Lydis would definitely take advantage of these free juice boxes.

On the side Min-Young was ecstatic. Earlier he had seen Lydis hauling an armful of juice boxes to the corner he saw that as an opportunity to become closer to Lydis, if he could at all. It should be said that those with bad intentions will have bad luck while those without will have good luck!

Somewhere in his room, Bennox sneezed hard. Owen looked up from removing his bandages, his head tilted as if asking a question.

"Ah, it's nothing."

"If you say so…" Owen returned to the job of peeling the sticky bandages off, each pull tugging at his still sore wounds. Bennox on the other hand had gotten some healing cream from the medic center and was in the middle of gently applying it to his face. He'd already went through the pain of removing his bandages.

Back in the lounge area Lydis couldn't help but eye Min-Young. When he had approached Lydis, she thought it was him trying to become closer to an elite, but he brought along his previous group. Since he had seemed to be liked well by others, it was highly possible for him to have good connections as well. Just for that fact, Lydis wanted to test him a little. As he introduced himself Lydis cut him off.

"Hi there! I don't know if you remember but we met outside. I-"

"Did you need something?" Lydis's voice wasn't agitated but it had hints of indifference. Without skipping a beat, Min-Young continued the conversation.

"My name is Min-Young. We wanted to thank you for helping us earlier. Dorm head Hal was too scary to approach alone."

"Mhmm. Anything else?"

"We wanted to show our thanks as well. Is there anything we could do to help you?"

Lydis looked at the half empty juice box had an idea to put Min-Young to use.

"Get me as many of these juices as you can. I've, taken a liking to them."

Min-Young's smile became larger as he felt relieved. Initially, he didn't expect Lydis to ask much of him, but it seemed that he was tasked with something important, possibly... maybe…

Nodding his head furiously, Min-Young directed two of the other members to help him carry more juices while the little girl and another stayed by Lydis.

A girl with short pale pink hair leaned into Lydis's view. Lydis ignored her stares and continued to drink her juice while observing the chaotic children around her.

The girl continued to stare at Lydis.

A few minutes passed before Lydis placed down her juice.

*sigh* "What? Did you need something too?"

The girl flinched but didn't avert her eyes.

"How can you like something so disgusting? It tastes like stinky feet. Even if Min-Jung was starving, Min-Jung would not drink something so useless."

Min-Young was nearby when he heard what the little girl had said. As soon as those words left her mouth, Min-Young's mind went blank. The two following Min-Young, arms full of juice boxes, barely managed to not crash into each other at Min-Young's abrupt stop. Confused, both glanced at Min-Young's mortified expression.

Lydis smiled slightly.

"Hmm. For your courage, I'll say this. There isn't anything that is useless." Lydis pointed at Min-Jung.

The little girl tilted her head but backed away when she noticed Min-Young running at them. Making sure to place the juice boxes down gently, Min-Young grabbed Min-Jung and bowed both of their heads.

"Elite cadet Lydis, I apologize for my sister's impudence!" Min-Young pushed the little girl's head into the floor, his own practically smashing into the hard floor. The loud bang that echoed slightly, proved how hard he had hit himself.

"Brother! It hurts, why is Min-Jung on the floor? Why Is brother on the floor?" The girl wanted to continue to fuss but her brother's scolding stare made her shirk back.

"Please don't punish her, I'm the one to blame! I did not teach her well!" Min-Young bashed his head on the floor again.

Lydis wasn't sure how to react. She'd only been teasing the girl called Min-Jung, it wasn't like she was going to harm Min-Jung or anything. Lydis had already decided that carving up a child wasn't fun, nor thrilling.

"Stand. Min-Jung didn't do anything wrong, therefore, there is no need for me to punish her. Did you bring what I asked?"

Min-Young felt elated that Lydis wasn't mad at his sister but he would make sure to scold Min-Jung properly later.

"Yes! We brought as many as we could carry." Min-Young motioned at the pile to his side. All in all, there looked to be about fifty juice boxes piled on each other.

"Good."

Leading to the present, Min-Young gave one of the boys, Johnny, the empty juice box. Running it over to a trash can, Johnny returned to his post next to Min-Young.

Lydis started to drink her new juice box. For the moment, there was no one bother her so Lydis could finally relax a bit. Drinking a juice box in bliss seemed to be something impossible in the end.

Rounding the corner, one child clinging to his leg, another on his back, Hal quickly spotted Lydis lounging around in a chair, a strange pyramid of juice boxes next to her.

"Lydis!"

Almost gagging on her juice, Lydis held back the rapid convulsions of her lungs and chest, more commonly known as coughs.

Lydis paused before turning to meet Hal's eyes.

"Did you need something dorm head Hal?"

"I'm expecting you to handle these brats while I'm gone. It seems that a lunatic appeared and already made a victim out of a student from the dorm across from us." Hal narrowed his eyes, killing intent seeping from his them. "When I find the sick freak that did this to a child, I'll rip his flesh to pieces while letting him watch as I plant maggot eggs into his living flesh. Then, as I starve him over the course of three days with nothing but water, he'll experience the feeling of them eating him from the inside…"

Hal's words and killing intent scared the children clinging to him off, save for a small boy who clung to Hal's back. Even then, Hal peeled the boy off and gently flung him onto an empty lounge chair.

Lydis thought back to Edith and a shred of guiltiness crept into her mind. Yeah, she had been sloppy and intentionally left Edith out, but she didn't think that the academy would go into high alert mode.

"Lydis, I've set the robot to follow simple orders from you though you won't be able to do anything except order it to clean when necessary." Just as Hal finished speaking, he saw Lydis sipping her juice box and realized that Lydis was only ten-years old. For a moment he had forgotten. "Ah, wait. I think this is too much right from the start. I'll wait for another teacher to show up…"

Just as Hal was pondering this Lydis spoke up.

"Why do you have to go? Isn't it better to protect the students here?"

"My specialty is in tracking and locating."

Lydis's arms tensed for a moment. If Hal tracked it back to her, how would she explain it? There should've been some children who saw her carrying Edith on her back earlier too. Lydis had been careful to not leave a lot of visible tracks in the forest but, slyphir was something new to her. Like she said, it's potential was limitless.

"I hope that you apprehend the culprit quickly. Don't worry about the dorm either. I have an idea on how to handle it."

Hal looked skeptical but the communicator on his wrist vibrated, Haven's agitated voice coming through.

"HAL! Why is your ass not here yet?! Do I really have to go over there, beat the crap out of you, haul your lifeless body over here, and then explain everything for you! I would do everything myself if it wasn't for your tracking ability! If you make me wait an-!"

Hal closed the call and let out a deep breath. Just from her voice, Hal knew that Haven was shaken up. In all his years working at the academy, there were cases of drunks verbally abusing some of the students, one even started a fistfight, but they were all controllable. A clear culprit and a clear intention. Yet, by Haven's highly agitated, impatient, and distressed tone it seemed like the few details he had gotten earlier were unable to express how dire the situation was.

Sighing loudly, Hal looked at Lydis calmly sipping a new juice box. The whole lounge had turned silent due to Haven's voice.

"Lydis, can I trust you to control the situation here?"

"I'll do what I can."

Hal closed his eyes and made his decision.

"Alright, I'm leaving things here to you. If anything happens, and I mean anything, call me on the communicator in my office. Got it?"

"Yes dorm head Hal!" Lydis had stood up and was saluting Hal. The five around her did the same. Like a ripple, the students around them saluted Hal as well, even if they didn't know what was going on.

"Okay," Hal fussed with his communicator and took off a thin metal band form his wrist. "Keep this on you, wear it or not, it's how the robot will know to listen to you."

Lydis took the slip of black metal and felt it shift in her hand.

"I may be leaving but that doesn't mean any of you can wander outside, got it?" Hal directed his words at all the children watching. "If you leave the dorm, you'll be expelled. The military has no need for soldiers who don't follow orders!"

In the next moment Hal disappeared. Lydis could hear the front doors open and slam shut as Hal sprinted off to join the other teachers.