The First Game, The First Night (4)

Cold stone walls and granite floors, with a lush white rug draping the floor. On the walls were yet another series of doors to the left and right, three on each side, with only a single table surrounded by six seats opposite to the entryway which was next to more stairs leading downwards.

"Wow, more doors. Though not as impressive as the previous set" jested Imran.

Ignoring him, Cyrus walked towards the table where two notes rested and read the first aloud,

"Greetings Quintus,

Welcome to your home away from home, we hope that you will enjoy the room we have prepared for you. Contained within this table are five rings that you can give out to five people which will allow them access to this room, we suggest only giving them to trusted allies. The rings must also be worn at all times, else they and you will be fined Fidem with repeat offenders losing their access to this room. Finally, the room will be cleaned on the last day of every week so do not be alarmed on these days!

Sincerely,

Glacies Janitorial"

He then moved to the second note and read that one aloud as well,

"Greetings Quintus,

No one but you and those approved may enter the room under normal circumstances. For the week long event that we have arranged, you may leave various important items in here for safe keeping such as the directives. By leaving them in here, however, 30% of all the items will be taken back as a payment fee as a counterbalance for this advantage. The amount taxed, however, will only be taken from the items that you leave in the room when you exit. So long as you carry them out when you leave, then the tax will not be applied to them.

Best Regards,

Judicar Iuris, Contracts and Clauses"

Cyrus then opened the drawer pulling out two of the five rings contained within, silver in color with 'Quintus' engraved on it and flicked one towards Imran and one towards Minerva.

"This room is a carefully designed scheme by Glacies. The top 5 are essentially being pushed to form their own groups, which means those under them will follow suit so as to not be disadvantaged. As to why specifically 6, that I do not know" analyzed Cyrus.

"6 combat capable people, that is the minimum effective unit for military operations. The entire army is structured like so; A squad of 6, a platoon of 6 squads, a company of 6 platoons, a regiment of 6 companies, an army of 6 regiments. Hence, the entire army is formed around the natural smallest combat effective unit" said Minerva.

"I had almost forgotten that my extra prize from the Imran alliance is actually from a military family. That would mean I now have connection in three major areas of imperial society; The Merchants, The Military and the Underground" thought inwardly.

Outwardly, however, he said while walking to inspect the rooms "The emphasis on intense competition for resources, the practical assessments every weekend, the bi monthly practical exams and now we know they are organizing the entire student body into what is effectively military grade formations… we are being prepared for a war" deduced Cyrus.

"That is highly likely given the information we know, but it may not be all the information. Keep it in mind, but also act as if there could be further intelligence down the road so long as the pivotal moment has yet to arrive" lectured Minerva.

"Hoh, how talkative of you" noted Cyrus, who turned to look at Minerva.

She heaved a visible sigh and said,

"Anything that has to do with the military is ingrained within me, as the information was drilled into my head since I was young, and when a chance to say the information comes I feel the need to speak on it. The training methods my family used…were quite unusual" said Minerva, faltering slightly towards the end.

That did not go unnoticed by Cyrus, who dutifully noted that down for future investigation.

"She is a lot more valuable than I had initially thought. Ranked 10 from the get go and full of hard to reach and potentially impossible to reach information about the military, I will need to pay close attention for openings to get her fully on my side" reasoned Cyrus to himself.

It was at this point that he entered one of the rooms at random and looked around. The room was about 10 ft wide and 20 ft long, a modest size some might say but quite large for a single person. To the left was a bed, to the right was a large empty book case and at the head of the room was a large wooden desk and a comfy looking cushioned chair with a grandfather clock next to it. At the foot of the bed was a large chest for storage and across from the chest was an empty wardrobe with a mirror attached to one of the doors.

"Simple and functional" thought Cyrus as he looked around, opening the drawers of the desk and looking in the chest. While the desk was completely empty there was fresh bedding inside the chest.

"How thoughtful of them" remarked Cyrus as he left the burden he was carrying inside the chest and the exited the room.

As he walked out he saw Minerva and Imran pop out from two of the rooms having also let go of their directives, the former from across with the latter from an adjacent room.

"The rooms are not half bad, I would guess that the bedrooms are the same size as the other entire rooms that everyone else is assigned. What's more, is that there is still another floor for us to explore… ah what a privilege. I knew you were a good investment!" said Imran excitedly as he patted Cyrus on the shoulder.

"I am glad you liked it, you can take whatever room you wish. I suppose I will take the one I entered just now, other than that the rest are up for grabs" said Cyrus as he walked towards the next set of stairs.

"Since me and Minerva are the first here we should have our rooms next to and across from yours, to show any newbies coming on board that we are the veterans of the group" said Imran, not humbly at all.

Minerva, however, was oddly quiet. Even more quiet than usual at that, but Cyrus was currently more interested in what other things the room has to offer.