Inferiority

Once Erin sat down, Harlow spoke in a trembling voice.

"The rest of the time will be a break, after two- no three hours, please eat and then come back to this classroom."

Harlow ran out of the classroom carrying the orb. Ned then spoke up in an excited tone.

"Looks like everybody can use magic, this really is exciting."

Ned flashed a big smile. He avoided the fact that my ability to use magic was lackluster, to say the least. Despite my lack of talent, he was as welcoming as he always was. Alyx looked tired and smiled weakly.

"That was quite the experience..."

Erin smiled softly and raised her arms in the air.

"I wanna cast magic! Magic, magic, magic!"

Ned started to make jokes with me. After burying the seed of inferiority, my decision was to just have fun in the moment. After a little a desk was placed near us, we turned to look and saw Reyna who had carried her desk over to us. She had long light purple hair and seemed a tad older than us. She was smiling, while her eyebrows were trembling.

"You guys mind if I join you?"

Ned was surprised but didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

"Yeah, there is no problem."

Reyna let out a sigh of relief.

"I made the right gamble I suppose."

Ned raised an eyebrow but was still smiling.

"Since when were we gambling now?"

Reyna laughed and pointed at the rest of the people in the classroom. They were all tense and cautiously looking in our direction.

"All of us are scared of all of you since most of you have abnormally strong talents, but I guessed that talent wasn't the standard you use to connect to others."

Was that... referring to me? Ned rolled his eyes.

"Why are you guys so caught up by talent? Is it really that big a deal that I can use magic a bit faster than you?"

Reyna's shoulders relaxed and she laughed again.

"Oh come on, talent is what basically tells everyone what your status is going to be."

Ned waved as if he wanted to shoo away the air that Reyna used to say that comment.

"What in the world? That sounds so lame and boring, what do you even get from being so uptight all the time?"

Reyna hummed.

"Mmm… Haha, maybe you are right."

People started to get up and leave the classroom. I was curious why they seemed to all leave at the same time.

"Huh? Why is everyone going? Is something happening?"

Reyna smiled.

"It is time for our servants to come and deliver us food, come on, follow me."

Reyna beckoned to us and we left the classroom following her lead. We ended up going down into the school's courtyard. There were various carriages with people giving out meals to the students.

Kaiden had his parents giving him a meal, they didn't seem to have a carriage. There were also a few more other people that were unrecognizable, my guess was they were in other classes. Ned rubbed his chin.

"Why doesn't everybody just bring their own meals to school? Wouldn't that be so much easier for everyone involved?"

Reyna raised an eyebrow.

"What? You can't expect us to eat spoiled food do you?"

Ned was visibly confused.

"Food spoils that fast? You can't just reheat it?"

Reyna made a disgusted expression and laughed awkwardly.

"That... would be quite unpleasant, to say the least. You would have to freeze it and then reheat it if you wanted that... but it would be quite... unbefitting the status of a mage to do that."

Ned shrugged his shoulders.

"Then we can just do that once we learn magic right? Why should you torture yourself just so you seem to be of some status?"

Reyna blinked a few times in quick succession.

"I suppose you are right."

A butler came up to us carrying a dish but once he remained a couple of steps away he did not approach further. Reyna looked a little annoyed but went up to take it.

She came back with the dish in hand. There was a decent sized piece of meat, a couple of vegetables, rice, along with a fork and knife next to the food. Reyna did not start eating but looked at us instead.

"Do you have people who are going to deliver food?"

A laugh came out from me, helplessly.

"I guess we did not take that into consideration…"

Reyna looked excited for some reason.

"Well, I can help-"

As she said her sentence a butler that seemed very tired had run up to us and interrupted her.

"May I know if you all are Ned, Alyx, Erin, and Jay?"

Ned was quick to reply.

"Ah yes, that is us."

The butler quickly caught his breath.

"Ah sorry, I was foolish and could not tell who from who, we have your meal for you."

The butler pointed towards a carriage that had some people carrying food. Ned laughed.

"Don't sweat it, how could you recognize us if you've never seen us before?"

The butler nodded and calmed down. Reyna smiled bitterly.

"I suppose there is no need for my offer."

Ned laughed.

"Thank you anyway, Reyna."

Reyna smiled. The butler led us to the carriage and Reyna followed. Once we got there, some people handed us plates that had bread, vegetables, and ham on them. After getting our food, we went to one of the stone tables that had wooden seats around them.

Most of the people here decided to eat in their carriage though. Since there were only four seats Ned took a seat from one of the other tables and sat down on it. My stomach wasn't calling out for food and that seemed to ring true with the others as well. Ned sat back lazily in his chair with a piece of cabbage sticking out of his mouth, after swallowing it he spoke annoyed.

"Man, I wish I had some fire magic to cook something better than this."

My torso and head leaned back in my chair after my hand put a fork down.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

Alyx smiled bitterly.

"Even so, we shouldn't overeat, it's bad for you."

Ned nodded in acknowledgment. Erin tore off a piece of bread and put it into her mouth before pouting.

"Mmm…"

Reyna couldn't help but stop eating.

"What… but your meals are very finely made…"

My eyes rolled.

"These guys can easily whip up something better, you know?"

Alyx smiled and turned away.

"Well, I would say Ned and Erin know how to cook, I don't really understand it."

Reyna looked very curious and took another look at the food we had on our dish.

"Sorry if I am overstepping my bounds but could I have a small bit?"

Ned nodded and casually tore off half of the bread and put it onto Reyna's dish. After thanking Ned she stared at it curiously, cut off a bit, and put it into her mouth.

She had a dumbfounded expression as she slowly chewed it. After she finished that piece she gave a wry smile.

"If this is truly not to your taste, do you mind if I am so bold as to ask to try some of what you cook?"

Ned broke into a wide grin.

"Of course, we will have to work that out, but hey you-"

Ned turned to look at a skinny kid that was dazed out staring at our food.

"You hungry? I can just give you the stuff on my plate."

The kid was a bit dirty compared to the rest of the people and he had clutched his stomach in a very painful looking manner, with bright white knuckles. He broke out of his stupor and after some stammering, he became angry.

"I- I don't need your handouts! Don't look down on me!"

Ned threw his hands up like he was surrendering.

"Ok, ok, I was just proposing an offer, after all, I don't really plan on eating it anyway."

Reyna looked mad, she looked at the kid.

"Ned you don't have to be so respectful to such a-"

Ned cut her off.

"It's ok, it's ok, don't worry about it, Reyna."

Although the kid loudly proclaimed his stance, he remained standing there, still staring at the food. Ned sighed helplessly.

"Hey look I was an idiot and made us eat too much food before we came here and now we can't even finish eating it, could you take it so that it doesn't spoil?"

The kid nervously fidgeted and slowly worked up the will to speak.

"O-Ok..."

Ned handed the kid the plate and he took it firmly. He did not begin eating it though, he turned to face Ned, gave a deep bow, still while holding tightly to the plate.

"Thank you, I will remember this favor, what is your name?"

Ned smiled gently.

"Ned, what is yours?"

The kid straightened up again.

"Nolan."

It seemed Nolan really couldn't take the hunger anymore and started to eat very fast and after he put the plate back, he left. Reyna sighed dejectedly.

"A favor from him is unlikely to be paid back, you know?"

Ned laughed.

"I wasn't doing it for a favor anyway, he's the one who decided he had to give me one."

Reyna shook her head with a wry smile.

"Yeah, you're right, I suppose I am a little too emotional."

Erin looked at Reyna curiously.

"Hey, hey Reyna, do you want my food?"

Reyna was surprised, she suddenly became shy.

"There is no need, thank you, Erin."

Erin continued with an innocent smile.

"But you looked like you really liked the bread!"

Reyna looked embarrassed and ended up stammering. Alyx had a carefree smile.

"Don't worry about it so much, if you actually like it you can have it."

Reyna blushed but took it while muttering a thank you under her breath. Alyx and I ended up giving ours to the people who gave it to us, they said that they haven't had their meal yet so they could incorporate it into their share so nothing was wasted.

My thoughts were still about the kid Nolan though. He was so defiant, yet in the end, he had to bow down to his hunger. Was it that his will was just a front? Was it Ned that just tricked him? Or was it that he was truly unable to keep his pride in the face of someone of higher status?

...I suppose thinking about it won't give me any answers anyway.