A year of classes

The life of Emp was pretty ordinary for a while after the problem with his soul was fixed. Time passed swiftly as his brain was crammed with knowledge. For the two Emps, things happened everyday so he would not say that there was a dull moment but there wasn't anything really spectacular going on either. After a while, every day started blending together in a long learning experience.

Of the many small things that happened, the duel with Brenia was done right away, or rather, it was postponed indefinitely. She was ready to fight him and give it her all but Winfred, the combat teacher, didn't let them do it.

"With how low your skills are, an accident is bound to happen. Learn some technique first, get to at least a decent level and then, I will let you two spar. If there was some deep grudges between you two I could accept it but for a friendly spar, you have to be good enough to not hurt the other badly."

Because of that, they were disallowed to spar and competed in who would get better the fastest instead.

Many of the boys were training hard but only a few managed to keep up with the speed of Brenia and Emp. Even if Emp wasn't very competitive, this was directly related to one of his main objectives so he didn't spare any efforts into improving himself. Having Brenia, Norval and Oliver improve so close to him was just making it more interesting.

Brenia was doing her all to be able to beat him, Norval was just that good and improved freakishly fast with seemingly little efforts and Oliver said that only a perfectly trained body could perfectly wield a spear. These four, including Emp, were without a doubt the best in the new students of the group but it did not mean that the others made no improvements.

Cyril for example might not have been naturally talented or trained in any way but he gave more efforts into learning than most. This led to clear improvements in almost every classes and despite his low birth, he wasn't left behind in any subjects and took his time in school very seriously. He even grasped self-magic before Brenia.

Since Emp had the hammer, he didn't need to learn self-magic and focused on getting his base strength higher but the result of the others study was surprising. Using the self-magic, many of the other students got their own strength very close to Emp's, Brenia even passed him when she finally managed to learn it.

She borrowed the thunder-chew hammer and found it was very light for her magic-enhanced self. Of course, she couldn't stay in this boosted mode all the time but while she was in it, she was a force to be reckoned with.

Emp would have thought that Penny would have been good at self-magic but she wasn't. She also didn't nag at Brenia for having learned some magic. Apparently, both had the same opinion of self-magic, it wasn't real magic. Emp didn't see how this wasn't magic since it clearly was and even figured in the name but, like the rest of the class, he didn't confront them on this. For once, they were in agreement and that was much more important than knowing if it was or wasn't magic in the end. Maybe it was because there wasn't any fancy visual clue signifying the use of self-magic?

Once the training of everyone was well underway and carefully calibrated for each of them, the amount of combat classes lowered to make space for fencing classes. Winfred expected them to keep up their training even when there was no classes and to improve accordingly. With the remaining combat classes in the schedule, he mostly made regular checkup to see their improvements and had many lessons on what to do in all kind of combat situation.

Sometimes, the victor of a battle wasn't decided by strategy or sword skill but by awareness of the surrounding and an understanding of your abilities and those of your opponents. He would talk in length about any and all possibilities, if this happens, it's better to do this, if it rains then do that instead. Emp liked those classes, what he was saying was logical, it made sense to him, it was easy to remember.

Swords technique too were easy to remember. Like when Chinui was the one to teach him, the moves he was thoughts just stuck with him easily.

The fencing teacher, Sofenne Brandhaul, was a tall and slender man that was very strict and not friendly at all. Emp did not think he disliked or hated any of the students but he wasn't afraid to yell at them when they made any mistakes or couldn't do a movement fast enough. He would move the students like puppets to place them in the correct positions and have them chain between said positions until perfection or until they crumbled from getting yelled at too much.

Emp, even after the lessons Chinui gave him, had thought that sword fighting was simple. You just had to swing the blade at your opponent and slice him, how hard could it be? Many girls and boys like Cyril thought the same but they were all proved wrong.

Apparently, the opponent didn't want to get cut and the more they knew about fencing, the harder it was to cut them. To fix that, you had to know more, you had to react faster, think faster and surprise him with moves he didn't know or wasn't prepared for. Instead of just swinging left and right, every movement of your whole body would change the outcome of a bout.

To do well in fencing, you had to know how to move properly yes but you also had to recognize what the opponent was doing. You also had to be able to feint and recognize those of your opponent.

Emp had no problem learning the moves but reading those of his opponent was much harder. His body could understand the techniques easily and he didn't have to think about them, he just moved. When someone else did them though, he had trouble seeing how it would end before it actually did.

He was getting better slowly but he wished it was just as easy as putting all his strength behind a hammer swing.

Some had way more trouble than him, like Nessa who just couldn't get it right. However much the teacher shouted at her, she was making no improvement. One day, she became so red from anger that when the teacher opened his mouth against her, she started to furiously yell at him, drowning his voice completely. For two unending minutes, she screamed her hate of this discipline and everything related at him while he stood there shaken at the volume of her voice. After that, the teacher stopped shouting at her for good.

Since the fencing class wasn't required for the girls, many chose to not show up at all. Mable showed up once, got scared by the teacher and never came back, Aglaya and Gytha disappeared with her. Zoran didn't have the same fortune and was forced to attend to the class even though he hated being yelled at. He was made to cry a few times but did not gain the pity of Sofenne. Emp didn't understand why Nessa came every time even though she hated the class as much as Zoran but he didn't know how to ask her without making her angry, this seemed like a dangerous subject to brush.

They also met or at least learned of the existence of many other teachers. There was a fat man named Sven who taught economy and geography, with an emphasis on how to use both to the advantage of a land owner or a lord. There was Gustave, who Emp didn't meat directly yet but heard from Ivar that he was a strategy teacher, only a few student ever followed his classes.

Then there was Cayley, a young and energetic woman whose job was to teach them survival tricks if they ever got stuck in the wild on their own. Emp had nothing to learn in many of her beginning classes because Chinui taught him all this already and he was used to many things like fishing and camping. Surprisingly, that class was one of Mable's favorite, she laughed a lot in them, playing in the grass and watching everyone's mistakes.

There was also a bald man with the eyes of someone lacking sleep named Ninoslav. That one was the teacher of illusion magic and alchemy.

"Heinrich is a great mage but not an expert in every field, I fill in for the few matters he is less knowledgeable about." He told the class one time he came across them in a corridor.

They wouldn't get any class with him soon since they had to go through all the basics with Heinrich first and his class was not required for anyone. Only a few followed his classes every cycle.

As for the usual classes, Emp improved in many things. The most surprising progress he did was in archery, and it was all thanks to Celtine.

At that point, he had went through many archery classes and the teacher Sieghard had basically gave up on him. Emp sent arrows upon arrows towards the targets but failed to hit them again and again. After all this time, he still couldn't figure out why he couldn't hit them.

He was grumbling his annoyance at the arrows who refused to go where he wanted them to when Celtine showed him a message.

<Master Emp, don't you always say that those things far away are instead close? Are you not standing just in front of those targets?>

Reading that message made him pause. Wasn't she right? He looked around him and the other students sending arrows up ahead then he looked at the targets again. How was he not able to hit them? If he only raised his hand, he was almost sure he could touch them. The others suddenly looked ridiculous, shooting arrows at a target right in front of them.

To prove to himself that the target was just a step ahead, he walked up to it. Everyone else got startled when he appeared in front of one of the target and stopped shooting for fear they would hit him by accident. He stepped back before anything dangerous happened.

"What are you doing! Isn't it obvious you shouldn't step in front of the targets while people are shooting!"

The teacher was pretty mad but Emp ignored him. Instead, he raised his bow and focused on the fact that the target was right by him. He released the arrow and saw it bury itself in the target, not in the center but still on it.

Emp was beaming, everyone else was shocked. He threw down his bow and raised his arms in the air almost making Celtine fall off.

"Yes! I did it! I hit it!"

It was rare to see Emp this excited so the others were quick to share his joy. There were many congratulations and smiles thrown his way. Ivar came right up to him and urged him to do it again while he still had the feel of this hit in him.

He picked back up the bow under the curious gaze of everyone and shot another arrow. Once again, he did not hit the center but like the previous arrow, he planted it in the target. The class erupted in cheers once more.

"Thank you Celtine, you're the best! I can't believe I never thought of it!"

Since it was the only thing he could reach, he hugged her legs to show her how thankful he was. It made her glass anklet clink against everything. He tried to look up at her face to see her reaction but he only managed to catch a glimpse of her smile before his actions almost made her fall backwards again. She held on to his head and laughed silently.

That time, she was on his shoulders but it wasn't happening as much anymore. She had decided to make real efforts to walk on her on and so, whenever Emp had the time to spare walking somewhere, he would let her walk at his side. Her improvement were minimal, Emp suspected that as long as she wouldn't get her wings back, she wouldn't walk in a normal way. She still did her best though and he praised her efforts.

When she wasn't walking or standing bravely, he would sit her back on his shoulders, he liked to know and feel her presence there.

Juniper had finally delivered the glass jewelry she had promised and Celtine now carried around a variety of glass baubles on her person. She had been turned into a living publicity for Juniper's company but neither Celtine or Emp really minded. The accessories weren't in their way and Celtine found them pretty. Emp also noticed that strangers weren't as annoyed by him carrying someone on his shoulder when that person wore pretty and colorful clothes and jewelry.

The glass accessories themselves were varied, Emp didn't know there was so many kind of jewelry and was even told this was just a few. They received them in tints of red and orange, a few marbled with green. There were bangles, earrings, bead necklaces and bracelets, some impressive hair ornaments and even a chain of beads that were pointed like smooth claws to be worn around the waist.

Celtine's favorites were the anklets, of which she often wore many at the same time, and the hair ornaments. Those were what most people were usually impressed about. They had cost a substantial amount of money but their design was very impressive. The one she preferred was a pair of comb linked together by three rows of small clear-blue beads of glass.

The comb themselves were framed with polished wood but they were holding what Emp would describe as a small sculpture of glass representing a small wing. When worn, that pair of comb gave the impression that small wings were cradling her head like a crown, with the clear beads contrasting with her red hair and falling on her forehead.

The least you could say was that it was very fitting of her, Juniper herself had requested this design specifically for Celtine. What she said was that a satisfied client had a much greater impact on potential customers. Indeed, Celtine would never go anywhere without that ornament, even though she had other hair ornaments equally impactful to look at. It was pretty obvious that she loved it. They may not have been precious stones but their look alone convinced a few girls from the class to request some to Juniper as well.

With all that said, Celtine was far from selfish or possessive and shared all those glass jewels with Harriett whenever either of them had to go out of the room. Only the wings she kept for herself.

Harriett too had a piece she did not share, the earring he bought for her.

He had asked her to come with him buy some when the second soul was removed but in the end, he chose to go alone. What changed his mind was the very hair ornament that Celtine loved. The expression of surprised joy when she first laid eyes on it made him so happy as well, he wanted to see the same again on Harriett's face.

A few days after he received the glass jewels, he went in town alone to look for an earring. He did not tell the girls were he was going but they assumed he was going to train on the school grounds. This was perfect, it would make for an even better surprise.

In town, he visited three different jewelers. Emp had never spent that much time to buy an item before, if you excluded the time he spent in the tailor shop. He looked at everything they had, big and small, expensive or not. Every time he looked at one, he tried to picture it on Harriett's ear.

He found that the large ones weren't as pretty as the smaller pieces, at least not in the picture he was making in his head. Metals and stones would do but feathers and bones did not fit her at all. Harriett liked warm colors so he discarded all the pale and cold colored stones. Since she was blonde, silver would be easier to see then gold so despite the insistence of the jeweler saying gold was better, he settled for silver. After all, he was sure that if he bought something to Harriett, she would want to show it off everywhere.

Would a long hanging one be better than a ring? They had all kinds of shapes, flowers, hearts, swords, suns, geometric or abstract shapes and even leaves. What was the best fit for her?

Harriett wasn't that found of animals like birds and dogs, she never had any stories about those. She thought flowers were pretty but she wasn't passionate about those either. In fact, she didn't seem passionate about anything except how properly the room was cleaned and how well the food was made. This was the hardest part to decide.

After a long time of pondering he chose the one he felt would match her the best. It might not be the perfect choice but this was the best he could do. The pair was made by an upward pointing arrowhead as the earlobe pin, with a slim silver crescent moon hanging bellow and from it, a series of purple sapphires were chained and grew increasingly smaller to end in a fine point. The moon was engraved with a fine charm of luck in the form of a small tree growing a single leaf.

Emp had learned it in the moral class, people believed that a tree with a single leaf meant good luck and fortune to the person who found it as even if left to the brink of death, the tree still managed to escape its fate and grow again. It would transmit it's luck to others and save them from catastrophe. There was no real magic attached to the charm but who knew if it worked anyway?

Emp bought those and on his way back, stopped at a library he came across. There, he asked the shop keeper what was popular. The man recommended a book of poetry to him which he bought. He had no real interest in poetry but the teacher Giselle told him to have at least one book ready for those visiting his room.

If he was to invite someone in his room, Emp believed they would not have any time to read but he preferred to comply with what the teacher was saying. Just in case, he also bought four different other books. One, the seller insisted, was an original edition of a rare study on the Thornwoods, signed by both the imperial court mage who wrote it and the duke to whom it belonged until recently. He bought it for five red dragons or five hundred golden crowns.

He didn't need such a book but he believed it would interest Galana. She had sent back an answer to his letter, he received it weeks after the soul split.

Her letter started with: < Idiot! Don't send me books! It's a waste, I don't want them!>

The rest was just her saying she was alright and answering to all the things he told her in his own. Of course, seeing her complain this much, he just felt like sending her even more books. Was this normal? He didn't know. He just found funny to picture her angered face. Like that, he added his own name in the book and sent it with a new letter to Galana.

<Look what I found.> He said before describing the book. <I bought it for five red dragons after I almost died from a problem with my soul. I'm fine now though and I thought you would love to see it. Either keep it for me or sell it if you need the money, I don't mind.>

The answer he received from that one was essentially; <Idiot! You are the worst! I told you not to do it!>

The message made him laugh out loud and after that, he kept sending her more books every time he received an answer from her. She would not accept his money directly but she had no way of refusing the books unless she spent her own money to send them back. He felt it was a perfect plan to help her payback her debt.

Going back to the earrings, he presented them to Harriett after supper. She was about to get up from her chair to clean the dishes but Emp stopped her.

"Wait, I have something to show you."

"What is it master?"

She didn't know what to expect since that kind of thing was never happening.

He reached in his bag and got the small box with the earrings inside on the table. He pushed it to her side and told her to open it. He could hardly suppress his smile, already expecting her reaction. After all, he had done all this only to see her react to it.

She reached for the lid of the box and pushed it open to reveal his gift. She gasped so hard when she saw them that she almost fell off her chair.

"Master! Are they?" She could hardly contain herself.

"They're yours yes, I bought them for you."

Harriett was overjoyed, Emp had never seen her this happy before. She squealed of excitement, hugged Celtine that was at her side, ran around the table to hug her master as well, spun on herself, put them on and spun again.

"I love them master! They're so pretty! Thank you! I love you, I'll do my best to be worthy of wearing them."

Emp felt like she was already worthy of wearing them, he had bought them just for that after all, but Harriett refused to hear him and claimed that she would be better than ever.

After that, she wore them everywhere. He had heard once from Juniper that truly precious jewelry should not be worn outside of extremely noteworthy situations but Harriett liked them so much she would have slept with them on. She said that those were the proof of her master's care and so she couldn't remove them, she didn't want to either.

Emp was fine with it, he was happy with his choice, they fit her well and the memory of the moment he gifted them always brought a smile to his face.

This prompted in him the desire to give more things to more people. He wanted to see that face again.

He wished to give things to all of his friends, the problem was, he had too many of them. Were all of them really his friend? What was a friend exactly? Someone that wasn't a stranger or an enemy? In that case, everyone in class was a friend, even Heida and Gervaise. He couldn't find a good answer, he didn't know enough about them, about himself or how friendship worked.

One thing was for certain, the guys from the other groups weren't friendly at all.

Many of them got really upset after he beat a group of them in a corridor, that one time Mable showed up. Their resentment brewed and spread across the rest of their class. They wanted revenge on both him and Mable who laughed at them like they were trash.

Every time someone of that group would encounter one of their own group, they would say things like "Tell the bird boy we'll kick his ass.". From what Emp understood, they were convinced that after training for a while in the combat and fencing class, they'd be able to turn things around and beat him up.

Emp wasn't scared of them at all, he felt that with him training hard as well, there was no way they would all close the gap so easily. He was more worried for Mable. Apparently, the other group considered her the main instigator of this whole thing and felt they had been tricked by her. She was the one who had taunted them, insulted them and mocked them, using what they believed to be a strong simpleton as a shield. Because of that, the words coming from them were about how they hated her much more often than they were about Emp.

Emp guessed that being so thoroughly defeated by such a small girl must have been very upsetting for them, even if she wasn't the one who beat them personally.

One day, twenty of them even came to the combat class of Emp's group. They acted high and mighty, called for "the cocky midget" and told Mable they were there to challenge her champion. If they won, they would have her pay for their humiliating defeat. No one had any idea what they were talking about, including Mable. She was pretty angry for getting called a midget too.

"What champion? Who are you?"

"That guy!" They pointed towards Emp. "He beat up our classmates on your orders."

"Eh?"

Mable still didn't recall any of them and didn't understand what they meant. Most of the others were more confused than ever but a few girls, those that came to the cake party, had a strange smile floating on their faces, as if they knew something the others didn't.

Emp ignored the other girls for now since he couldn't do anything about what they believed and told Mable what was happening instead.

"It's about the guys I beat in the corridor before you bet a cake on me being the strongest in the class."

Sudden realization flashed in her eyes.

"Oh! Yes, I remember that, it was so funny! They were all so weak compared to you! I didn't order you to beat them though?"

The guys on the other side all turned red at being called weak while Emp told her why they were targeting her.

"It's because if you had not been there, they would all have left. You provoked them into attacking me."

"It's not my fault they're dumb enough to fall for it. They deserved it anyway. What about you being a champion though?"

"Isn't he?" Asked one of the guys in front.

She was clearly about to say no when Aglaya interrupted her by whispering in her ear. She became flustered and fumbled to give an answer to the guy.

"Uh? Eh!? Uhh... I mean, yes, he is my champion. You can't get to me without beating him first!"

What had Aglaya told her? Many snorts were heard from the other students behind them as they held in their laughter. Regaining a bit of her confidence, she followed up with a new taunt.

"That's right, I was just surprised you were able to recognize him after such a trashing. He didn't even sweat as a defeated you all."

One of them had an obviously shorter tamper than the others and stepped towards Mable in anger.

"Oh you little/" He was interrupted by Emp.

Even though he had no idea what Mable was doing, he wasn't about to let the other boy do something to her so he stepped in front, playing the role of the champion, whatever that meant. When he did, everyone prepared for a fight but the teacher finally decided to step in.

"Alright, enough. You guys aren't ready for that fight. I will tell you the same I already said. No one is going to fight here until I say they are ready to spar. Half of you don't even know basic self-magic yet. That guy will crush you. When I decide that both of your groups are ready to fight, only then will I let anyone do it and only with healers at the ready. In the meantime, you go back and train harder."

The other group shot dark look at them but still left. They couldn't go against the words of the teacher.

Afterwards, he asked Mable why she said he was her champion and she told him that Aglaya said that they would try to take their revenge on her if she had no champion. She panicked and said they were right.

"You don't mind do you? You can beat them easy, piff paff and they're all out!"

Emp didn't mind helping out Mable but now, he had another fight to deal with. Another reason to train hard. Aglaya had said the right thing but he still felt that something was off with her.

Overtime, she continued to prod and pry at everyone's past, with an emphasis on Emp. Like she had said, she knew how to stay in the acceptable limits of everyone and managed to not upset anyone in her unending quest for information.

In all likelihood, she was the best student Blackbull ever had. Whatever was the subject of the lesson, she was able to absorb it instantly and put it in practice immediately at the expense of her classmates.

The job of Giselle Blackbull was twofold. First, she had to make sure they would never embarrass themselves or their family and second, she was here to give them the tools to win conflicts without ever raising a weapon.

Emp preferred to just beat whoever was attacking him, it was less complicated and faster. He did understand however that this wasn't always the best answer. Aglaya was the opposite. It would never cross her mind to fight someone, she believed that all problems could be prevented, or at least resolved by social skills and schemes.

Other subject matters had tests to see if they had progressed but Blackbull almost didn't need to give any, Aglaya was a walking test. Any and all interactions with her would push the social skills of anyone to their limits. She was an example for the other girls and more importantly, once anyone passed through her investigation, she treated them like a good friend and never put herself above anyone.

The only person she treated differently was Mable. Aglaya clearly favored her over anyone else and kept her close to herself at all times like how one would keep a small dog. Because of that, it wasn't long before a rumor spread saying that Mable was a lower noble or even only a merchant's daughter who Aglaya took a liking to. Not in a romantic way but more like how a princess would keep other pretty young nobles with her for company. She kept her name hidden to not shame her family as she was essentially leeching the wealth of the Pierail family.

Maybe this was true, who knew? As long as Mable kept her name hidden, there was no way to know for sure. Maybe she was just a good friend with a similar noble rank after all.

Speaking about names, miss Blackbull wanted to make sure that the class knew them all. Not the names of the students but the name of the important nobles of the empire. She dedicated en entire class for each kingdom of the empire, including the Muracier and the imperial family in the class on Grandbois.

She wanted them to know the names of the lords of each city, the names of the royals and their heir, the factions of everyone, what they stood for, who they disliked and so on. Not only that, she even went as far as enlightening them on the politics of the sand wastes.

The desert extending from the eastern border of the empire didn't have anything of interest so people always referred to the nation as the sand wastes rather than its name. Apparently, it was lead by a slave. The position of ruler was so unappealing to them that they had to force it upon a slave who they appropriately called: the slave queen. Her job was mostly to make sure that international trade didn't falter so Emp had no idea what made the position so bad. She was like an empress but really, she was just a slave, he couldn't figure out how it worked, just like the rest of the class.

Emp didn't know either what they traded with if they had nothing but juniper said that at least her family bought huge amounts of sand from them.

If it was that, then they had a lot of it to sell.

"Of course not, that's just ordinary sand, its worthless. You need a special type of fine sand to make proper glass. They're the best at making the proper mix." She explained.

It was Sven, the geography and economy teacher, who clarified later that what they sold was mostly knowledge and expertise. They had an impressive ratio of scholars living in their cities and they exchanged their know-how for anything and everything. They also had a wide array of artisan specialists who only required materials to make masterpieces after masterpieces.

Going back to those classes about the noble families, they were in the hardest for Emp to understand. Why did he have to remember all those people he had nothing to do with? He understood that if you were a noble of the Steelwood empire you would need to know who was around you but he wasn't really one of them.

At least, he had Celtine there with him to remember all that in his stead.

Throughout all those five classes, Aglaya kept looking his way. Emp guessed she was trying to figure out if he was a member of one of those families by examining how he reacted to each. He didn't have much of a reaction to any of them though, even when the teacher spoke of the Muraciers, Emp just listened halfheartedly.

"The current head of the Muracier house is Chinui, he has no recorded wife or children but has a brother named Chijou that could take his place if something happened to him. Their house always had a very close relationship with the Imperial family. The current emperor once said that the great general was his best friend and without him, he would never have met his wife. The current heir to the throne is his first son Dirch the sixth. His name Follows the age-old naming tradition of their house by replacing the first letter of the name of a tree, as is proper for the first son."

She followed by telling them all about the current imperial policies. Emp could have fell asleep if not for the fact that he was a very good student and would never dare do such a thing, even if he didn't think the subject was interesting.

Because of his plain inexpressive face throughout it all, Aglaya didn't gain any more information on him. She told him her thoughts a bit later.

"I came up with the conclusion that I couldn't find the truth about you without stepping over the line. I have all the pieces but one and I feel it's the thing that would make sense out of all the other ones. It's frustrating, it's like looking at a portrait with a missing face."

It was clear she was dissatisfied with the results.

"Why are you giving up then?"

"Well, even if I can't find your name, you're like an open book, it's really easy to understand you, it's almost comical. Not in a bad way, I meant in an endearing way, a bit like Mable. I do not want risking to upset you just because I am curious about who you really are. I feel like finding that name would be the only thing that would make you really angry aside from targeting either of your servants."

Obviously, she was telling him all that directly just because everyone knew she was digging for information. Since it couldn't be hidden, she felt it was best to come and tell him directly. She meant all of this to be some sort of apology for prying and a clear statement that she was done searching.

Emp was really glad it was all over, at least until Celtine told him.

<No bad intentions but she is hiding part of it.>

What was he supposed to make of that?

Like that, a whole year of school went by.

Similarly, his life in the village had been calm that year, except for one event that shook his group of friends and himself greatly.