CHAPTER 30: If You Want To Beat Me, Get In Line
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[The current turmoil in Minaid can be attributed to the fact that there has been no Grandmaster for fifty years. It is very unnatural for there to be no leader in any society, and especially in Dwarven society.
They are hell-bent on tradition being kept and rules and regulations being followed, so it is strange for them to let this happen. Perhaps there is a power struggle. Only our leaders would know.
The Dwarves are a very cohesive race who believe in brotherhood and blood ties. For this reason they are very secretive and sensitive to probing by other races, making it very difficult to hear any news from over there. It is only if you have power and influence that you may be able to get a source there...Excerpt from: THE DAILY EDITION OF BENISNORE NEWS]
[George's POV]
It's been another week since I fell out with Alistair. I moved my bed to my own side of the room, since I am no longer affiliated with anyone. Because of that, I finally understand how much Alistair protected me.
Without a faction behind me, Alex is now using me as an object to relieve his stress whenever he wants to. In one week, he's beat me so many times I've lost count. Luckily for me, Professor A said the date for the fight club is getting closer and closer so they would fix anyone who got injured.
That was golden news for a lot of people that wanted to beat up on people who they had a beef with. I suspect they want this to happen, it feels like the thing Warden would love to watch
For that reason, other people other than Alex have been beating on me. There was even a line at a point, so they took turns punching me. One would wonder why I don't try to run away from them and my answer would be, where am I running to?
Josephine and her faction have been dissociating themselves from me. Hell, some of them have joined in on the beatings. Josephine still puts on her 'nice girl' persona and tries to get them to stop, but I know she doesn't really care. 'Long friendships' my ass.
Alistair ignores my existence entirely, so the rest of his faction does the same. I'm actually kind of happy about that. At least that's one group that won't hurt me.
Currently I'm on my bed, we're supposed to have lessons in another while so I'm waiting. No one's beat me today, maybe they're bored? Anyway, that's good for me.
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That's the Warden's voice. I guess it's time to go.
I jumped off my bed and walked towards the door at the front of the room. These days, I try to make sure I'm at the back of the group so I don't get any attention. Some days it works, others it doesn't. Looks like today is a good day.
There's not really any talking when we go to the classroom these days, it's become something of a tradition.
We went into the hallway and walked towards the room. After we had gotten into our seats, Professor A walked in.
"Good to see you again. I hope you've been training hard."
There was collective silence at his words. When did he ever care about whether we were training?
"I mean it. I seriously hope you've been training hard, if you didn't I don't really have any hopes for your survival."
From my seat at the back of the room, I started to wonder about why Professor A was always so insistent that we didn't have any chances for survival.
What are the other groups like? Are they really that much better than us?
Can they defeat all of us? I don't really believe that's possible. Even if they're all stronger than us, they shouldn't be able to defeat Josephine, Alex and Carter so easily.
Are we doing something wrong? What are the other groups doing differently than us?
For now, I decided to put aside my thoughts and concentrate on the lesson. It's not as if I'm even going to survive anyway. There's no point breaking my head over it.
Professor A was talking about something related to Hani. Maybe I should listen in.
"-That's why Agamemnon was able to defeat Herman at the Battle of Dowo. Remember the tactic he used, it could save your life one day so please, take note of it."
Huh? What did he just say? I should have really paid attention, but there's no way he would repeat it. No use crying over spilt milk.
"That's all for today, so follow me. Today I'll be teaching you the three basic positions of the Pain Federation's Stance. I won't explain Stance again, you should all have heard when I talked about it in the past."
My head felt like it was going to explode at his words. Stance? When did he talk about that? I really should have listened. I assumed all he was talking about was boring stuff, but that actually sounds interesting.
We walked out after him and followed after him to the training room. He went to the center of the mat.
"Unlike other, more famous Stances, do you know why Pain Federation's Stance has only three basic positions?"
We kept silent at his words.
"The reason is, this Stance was created for the common soldiers. Therefore, it must be simple enough that even the person with the worst talent in the world can learn it. In the first place, can any of remember why we call martial arts Stances and not just martial arts?"
Once again, we kept silent. It seemed like a trend for us not to be able to answer his questions.
Professor A sighed and massaged his temples.
"I already taught you this. Anyway, the reason is because of Shalak Mathuba. She had quite the weird name for an elf, so she was bullied a lot and teased non-stop. She got quite fed up and decided to learn martial arts. She was a prodigy, the greatest martial arts master that has ever lived. Because of her legend, it was decided that we should call martial arts Stances in her honor."
He pointed towards me.
"Anyway, that's enough of the history lesson. It's time for you to learn."
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