Chapter 103 - A Small Conflict

The first morning in the Lyceum was coming to an end. Sarah had talked long about the history of the Tournament and everybody who was listening was quite interested in the many battles, wars, and legends that had formed around the tournament. Many of the more powerful and known experts in the entire continent throughout its history in the last centuries had been part of the tournament.

"So it is that the tournament after a three decades suspension came to be again about 30 years ago when the war for the Kingdom of Moniquira ended with the defeat of the leader of the Shadow Masters, who tried to make the Kingdom an independent nation between the border of Ansem and Rhodnius. This was one of the few times in history where Rhodnius and Ansem actually joined hands and fought together against a common enemy. It is believed that the Shadow Masters were completely uprooted since we have not heard from them for the last decades.

Right now, the tournament takes place in different parts of the continent, it is usually done in any major city from the 6 Major Territories, normally one that is held by a Legendary Figure, even though this is not mandatory. The next tournament will take place in Rhodnius in the Tribe of Venteria, and will happen 6 months from now."

The eyes of most boys and girls listening were glistening. Just competing in the tournament itself was already a motive for glory and some of them even dreamt of having the chance to go and fight for the glory of Ansem. However, a sarcastic voice filled the air with words that took everybody out of their reverie.

"Please, don't fool yourselves. I can see that some of you are dreaming of taking part in the tournament, and thankfully you can not, otherwise, you would make a fool out of all of us, and become the biggest joke there is."

The voice of Solda sounded quite grating to Nerun's ears, and some of the boys even got up and started hollering back at Solda, who simply smirked back at them.

"Shut your trap Solda, you are nothing but a petty little dog for Karles. Nothing but a bootlicker, instead of trying to make something useful out of yourself. Perhaps your family's future will still be nothing more than the poochies of the Morena Family, after all, their scion is but a lapdog." The words from the boy with the bushy brows let Nerun know that Solda, who looked at everyone as if they were flies, was friends with the ones that humiliated him back in the Military Academy.

"Enough!", yelled Sarah Lorena. The yelling boys were quickly pushed back to their seats and could not get up. The air was filled with a strong domain, and a pair of feline eyes, turquoise in color with a vertical pupil appeared out of thin air and stared at all the pupils.

"A Qi General..." murmured Nerun to himself, who started thinking even higher about the Lyceum, when apparently many of the teachers were Qi Generals at the very least. Samuel, the one that led Nerun through the school was a Saint, as Nerun noticed when they were walking around, and this just increased his expectations. Indeed, Sarah Lorena was a Qi General, a 19-year-old who graduated from the Lyceum in the last promotion and had managed to stay in the academy as part of the faculty. While she was quite stern and wanted to make a name for herself, she was still somewhat inexperienced.

None of the students raised their voices again, but Solda looked as if nothing had happened at all. Even though he had an apparent look of respect for teacher Sarah, it was only that, in appearance. He was part of one of the most noble families in the kingdom quite close to the 5 Major Families, and he had no need to suck up to the teacher. Especially, since he knew that teacher Sarah actually had no great background, she was even on the weaker side of the teachers from the Inner Class and Outer Class, and the fact that she was even allowed to teach the Inner Class was something that baffled him. Ergo, he was one of the students who dismissed her the most.

"Even if you can not take part in the tournament, I hope you will all cheer for the candidates from our Academy. Hundreds of schools around the Continent will take part, however, the favorites remain the members of the 5 Great Academies and some of the Major Sects and Clans who also take part in the tournament. Sometimes some dark horses have emerged from disciples of secret Legends. We are a power to be reckoned with, and we need to do our best. Ansem's place in the last three tournaments has been quite iffy since the best position was 6th, and that in the last tournament from a member of the Royal Military School. Our Lyceum placed even worse. The last time we won was some 20 years ago when Armand Dai Mikaeli destroyed all opposition." The voice in Sarah Lorena actually sounded a bit infatuated when mentioning Armand, and Nerun could not help but feel a small sense of pride when hearing about his father being mentioned in glory.

However, that feeling was fleeting, since once again, it was Solda who made a comment that destroyed the environment. "Are you really going to vouch for that rapist traitor? He was nothing but a bum, born out of nowhere, that got lucky to have a somewhat passable talent and later showed his true colors. My father told me, that if not for him, Ansem would be in an even better position in the Continent among the rest of the Major Territories. The Carolus Clan is still trying to force Ansem to pay them back for the abduction of Lady Lilina and has supported Rhodnius to make war with us, and even the barbarians have been supported by them in secret. And we all have Armand to thank for that."

When Nerun heard these words, his blood quickly raised to his head, and he was about to pounce unto Solda when the boy with the bushy brows once again bickered back at Solda: "Stop right there Solda. You know very well that all of those are lies, and General Armand's name was simply besmirched. All of the Dragon Generals have attested that those were nothing but lies and even the King has defended Armand's name and defended the honor of the Kingdom."

"They do it because they have to, not because they do not believe that Armand was capable of all those things, otherwise the Kingdom would be a true laughing stock. That good-for-nothing bastard was a deceitful man from the start, my father has told me all about it since they went to the Lyceum together, and back then one could already notice that he was nothing but a fraud," said Solda back.

"Slanderous lapdog, you think I don't know that your father was bullied to the point of crying by Armand when he tried to gang up on him with the rest of the noble families that could not take him being better than them in everything, simply because he had no major back-up."

Solda's face became livid for a second, however, he quickly recovered and spat back: "Ah... I had forgotten that the Santana Family was one of the members of the Armand Cheer Squad from back then, along with the Renata and Baruna family. And you have the gall to call me a lapdog."

They were about to come to a fistfight when Professor Sarah smacked her hand on the desk turning it into dust. All the children shut up and were ready to hear her reprimand, however, the bell sounded to signal the end of the morning classes, and the boys quickly left the classroom. Solda did not even deign to look at the furious Sarah Lorena. However, before he could leave the classroom, a foot seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of him and made him lose balance, falling miserably to the ground.

The fall made everyone gawk at the scene since it made Solda nice looking robe dusty and dirty, and his hair had become disheveled by the fall. Some of the boys started guffawing, nevertheless, some of Solda's friends quickly went to help him up. Solda stood up and looked back, and saw an innocent-looking Nerun that looked back at him with a shy smile on his face, and quickly appeared with a flash in front of Solda before anyone could react and started patting him on the clothes as if he was trying to clean them from the dust.

"Oh, I'm so sorry there schoolmate, I did not see you standing there. Are you hurt anywhere?", said Nerun while apparently fixing Solda's clothes, however, the latter was not only so angry that actually could not think quickly of how to answer, but he was also a bit scared because after looking back at Nerun when he stood up, this one appeared in front of him before he could even blink, and while he was trying to raise his hands and push him and strike him back, he noticed that Nerun kept patting him in the precise limbs he was trying to raise.

In the end, an embarrassed Solda could only holler "Keep your hands out of me, you dirty mongrel. I know all about you. Aren't you the orphan who took the back entrance because of his brother's influence in the Army? You are not worthy to even be in my presence. Please refrain from embarrassing us and quickly take your leave, you peasant."

Nerun stopped patting him and took two steps back while looking back at Solda with a smile on his face: "Oh, I did not mean to embarrass you, after all, I have just learned that you are very good at doing that yourself."

Nerun's words incensed Solda, and he wanted to attack Nerun, however, he saw that Sarah Lorena was already close to them, and he knew that even if he did not put her in his eyes whatsoever, it would do him no good if he was punished for fighting a schoolmate in front of a teacher. So he just looked at Nerun as if the latter was a pile of dung, and took off with some of his friends who were also looking at Nerun with friendless faces. The latter of course could not care any less. While he wanted to be humble and take a low profile on his first day of school while taking in the environment, Solda had touched his reverse scale when talking smack about his father. He could very well withstand any mockery directed at him, but not at his loved ones. Otherwise, what would the point be of all the training and suffering he had gone through in the last 6 years of his life?

"Please go. It's time for recess, better take your lunch properly, otherwise in the afternoon classes you will not be able to do what you must," said Sarah Lorena while collecting her material and continued, "Nerun, better watch out, it's not good to start problems on your first day. I know you entered through proper means since you did not break any rules, however, many students will not see you kindly. Please refrain from fighting willy-nilly, since it will only bite back at the Dragon General since it's also his name that you are representing in this Academy."

While the words of teacher Sarah seemed to be admonishing Nerun, he noticed that there was no malice in her voice and that she actually seemed to care about him and his well-being, so he thanked her and took off for the School Cafeteria where he would take lunch. While leaving the classroom, he noticed two people actually waiting for him. The tall boy with the bushy brows and a girl with auburn hair and freckles on her face, who also happened to sit next to Nerun in class.