63 The Return of Elites

Lydis was returning from the forest, Edith's torn body laying in the bushes near the road. If no one found her within four hours, she would tip off Hal and have him find Edith. Although there weren't a lot of wounds on Edith's body, Ui's healing agents allowed for a rapid healing of the skin making Edith's condition look better than it actually was, her mental state however, wasn't something that could be so easily healed.

During this time, Lydis fulfilled her curiosities and managed to acquire a new obedient pawn, Theda didn't really count since Lydis wasn't sure if Theda could be fully trusted yet.

Taking her time, Lydis didn't rush back to the dorm. Instead, she wandered around the academy grounds. Every now and then she would spot groups of upperclassmen returning from their vacations, but they were all normal students.

Just as Lydis neared the intersection of all the paths, loud cheers and whistles drew her attention. Curious, Lydis followed the noise and came upon a large group of people dressed in white and purple. At first Lydis thought that it was just the Horoscopes walking around but she didn't recognize any of them from afar. There seemed to be twelve in total.

As she neared the crowd Lydis saw that the Horoscopes standing before her weren't the one's who stood next to her in the atrium. Tall and dignified, each step marched in unison. Lydis could only guess that they were the academy's older generation of Horoscopes.

One of them looked over to where Lydis was standing and ignored her. Lydis saw that they resembled Jedd but what gave him away the most was the gas mask covering his face. Laughing a little, Lydis watched as the groups of proud students returned to their dorms. Younger students clinging to them and cheering with all their might.

After the Horoscopes group passed another was greeted with less cheer but angry voices.

Lydis's attention was instantly stolen by the group of children dressed in black rushing through the courtyard.

"Move!"

"It's an emergency!"

"Get outta the way!"

The group in black bulldozed through the crowd. Their panicked screams scattering all the nearby students. The atmosphere surrounding the Zodiacs was rugged and less dignified compared to the Horoscopes. The Horoscopes were like a sharp blade, refined and sharp. The Zodiacs on the other hand were like a chipped blade, uncontrollable and wild, their edge not losing to the Horoscopes in the least.

"F*ck off! This isn't some show!" One of the members in black started to pummel the students who got too close.

"Liam calm down!" Another member dressed in black held back his comrade. "We need to get Kinley and Aseph to the medic center as soon as possible, we can't waste time here."

The one called Liam obeyed his leader's words and continued his pace, clearing the way for his group instead of beating each student around him.

As Lydis got closer she saw the reason why the Zodiacs were in such a hurry. Two of their members, a boy and a girl, had been injured to the point where even a bystander could see that it was fatal. Each wounded member was in a stretcher, four people holding each corner, Liam alone was left to clear the path as his leader went back to help carry their comrades.

From the left side, coming from the new students' dorms, a black blur shot out from the forest. Lydis saw the familiar neon green hair and knew that it was Nae.

Lydis watched as Nae joined up with her group and after a short pause, the group continued to rush towards the medic center.

It should be known that the medical facilities in the rest of the border city were one level lower than the resources and treatment available in the academy. As Central placed great hope and interest in cultivating better soldiers, they wouldn't try to squash promising buds early on.

When the group passed, the noise in the area died. Seeing that there wasn't anything else of interest, Lydis slipped away and continued to wander the academy.

After about three hours of walking and surveying the interior of the academy, Ui popped out of Lydis's pocket. Since there weren't any children nearby, Ui wasn't worried about being discovered.

"Master Lydis, should we head back to the dorms? It is almost time for lunch to start."

Lydis put down the furry branch she was observing when Ui told her the time.

*sigh* "Truly, the best way to pass the time is to explore." As Lydis walked back she realized she had gone further than she expected. Past the dorms of the fifth years and deep into the training forest surrounding the academy.

"Ui, can you get me a map?"

"Understood." From Ui's forehead, a small hologram of the academy showed up, the path Lydis had walked was lit up in red, a larger red 'X' was placed over what Lydis guessed to be her dorms.

"Thanks Ui."

With Ui on her arm in front of her, Lydis quickly ran through the forest. Dodging the occasional large tree root and branches, making sure to not fall into the natural ditches made when the academy was built.

Within thirty minutes, Lydis could finally see the front of her dorm. Outside, Hal was calling the remaining children outside to eat. Lydis could see that this time it was the real Hal since his agitated voice and sleep deprived eyes scared most of the children causing them to freeze in place. Which ultimately led to Hal getting even more agitated as the children didn't listen to his calls.

Lydis walked to the closest group of five kids and instantly changed faces, although not very welcoming, she made sure to appear nicer than Hal was at the moment.

"Fellow students, what is stopping you from entering the dorms?"

The group of five jumped and turned around quickly. When they saw that it was a member of the Zodiacs they instantly became stiff. Not wanting to annoy an elite student, one of the members half-shouted,

"W-we're afraid of the dorm head!" After a slight pause the student added to the end. "…Sir!"

Lydis didn't bat an eye and just nodded her head. What had made him address her as 'sir'? Was it because of her status as a Zodiac? Or maybe they were just too nervous so the 'sir' seemed necessary in their minds.

"You don't have to add in sir. First of all, I'm not even a male."

The five exchanged glances and the little girl in the back of the group lifted her head.

"… My b-brother said to 'suck up' and 'kiss ass' when I g-got to the academy… When I asked how, he said to add 'sir' when answering, elites, like, you…" Her voice quivered and slowly became nothing but silent mumbles as she hid her body behind the group once again.

Lydis wasn't interested but she still had to show Hal that taking her in wasn't a mistake. Reaching her hand out, Lydis patted the boy's shoulder gently. Walking past the group, she waved over her shoulder.

"Come on, lunch is starting. We can't be late on the first day can we?"

Although Lydis's had been very light in her patting, the boy felt that each tap on his shoulder would be more than enough to dislocate it. His knees almost buckled as Lydis walked past him. If his friends didn't catch him, the boy surely would've fallen to the floor. A presence that overpowers everything by doing nothing, yet still maintaining the aura of an elite. The boy felt his heart shudder with pride. The person in front of him was what he longed to be, strong, gentle, and composed.

It seemed like Lydis gained a new fan without even knowing!

The group of five stumbled after Lydis, following but not too closely, maintaining a distance of three meters between them. Slowly, the kids wandering in groups followed Lydis as well, the lone stragglers rushing to be part of the crowd. They felt safe in numbers and, the one in the lead was a member of the Zodiacs! Ever since the meeting in the auditorium, the children were instilled with a deep impression of respect and trust in the few chosen to lead them in the future.

Hal noticed Lydis's large group coming closer and stopped shouting for the children to come in and eat. He watched as when a new group joined the crowd, the kids who got there first would push the new ones to the back, no one dared to walk in front of Lydis or even next to her.

Reaching the large doors to the dorms, Lydis stopped in front of Hal. Giving a cadet's salute.

"Cadet Lydis greets dorm head Hal!"

Hal smirked and refolded his arms.

"I see you've rounded up quite the number of brats huh cadet Lydis?"

"Yes, I'm only doing my job of helping regulate the students. Are you displeased?"

Hal's loud laugh startled many of the kids waiting behind Lydis.

"No, it's actually the opposite. I didn't think you'd be able to get these brats in check before the first day was even over." Hal patted Lydis on the back. "Now I'm expecting you to keep working well."

Lydis felt that Hal's words suggested that he didn't believe her in the beginning but since there a lot of kids around her, Lydis couldn't do much except salute again.

"I thank dorm head Hal for his words!"

Lydis walked past Hal and entered the dorm.

Behind her, the students who followed were hesitant at first but the boy who talked to Lydis first immediately followed Lydis's lead. Although not the best, the boy tried to replicate Lydis's salute to Hal.

"Cadet Min-Young greets dorm head Hal!"

Hal nodded his head. Seeing this, Min-Young became elated. He had passed the scary dorm head and managed to enter the dorms again! If it wasn't for Lydis he was sure that everyone there would be starving outside, too afraid of Hal to get closer.

Min-Young walked into the dorm and disappeared into the hall. Seeing that Min-Young passed, his remaining group of four also saluted Hal and passed through the doors. The other kids knew that this was the right thing to do so they waited and saluted to Hal before entering.

As the number of kids decreased Hal sensed that someone was glaring at him. From the side he could see the dorm head of the dorms adjacent to his, about 100 meters away, seething with envy. Around his dorm was a rowdy bunch of kids who didn't listen and were screeching at the top of their lungs. If it wasn't for the fact that killing a child is considered a high penalty crime on school grounds, he might've ripped their little heads off long ago.

Hal saw this and smirked.

While Hal was being saluted and greeted, the other dorm head was being ignored and treated like air. It should be known that there are different priorities given to better dorm heads. For all the years prior to this, the dorm that didn't belong to Hal wad always been given a higher priority than his due to Hal having a bad rating when inspections were done. It wasn't that Hal slacked off, Hal just didn't know how to handle children well.

But, now that Hal was getting treated with respect, the results could be different this year which angered the other dorm head.

When the last child entered the dorms, Hal checked the scanner by the door, it would count all that passed in and out. If it was balanced, then that meant all children were inside. The number was 504 to 505. Since he was the last to enter, when he did the number evened out 505 to 505.