Training

A new day.

Unlike yesterday, today they would be focused on training outside instead of learning inside.

Apparently this school has a timetable of interleaving lecturing days and training days.

This school has a total of two arena, both of them are very large and was built with different uses.

One was built for warriors, the other for mages.

Nayari had visited this place once, specifically the Warrior Arena when he went to treat his patients here, watching the students trained out of curiosity.

Because he and Lilith were new, they had to take a test called "aptitude test", taking measurement at their skills and what class would fit them the most.

The test is taken using a magical sphere where one's put their hand onto the ball and it would show them the approximate result.

The entire class have already taken their test, but they stayed to see if the newbies are capable or not.

First was Nayari's turn.

He put his hand on the sphere and suddenly something akin to a window appeared before him and a giant copy of it appeared next to him.

----

Close combat:

-Sword: A

-Spear: B

-Short blade: D

-Hand-to-hand: C

----

He was a bit surprised by the fact that he's actually more fitted to use a sword than a spear.

As he thought he might try using a sword someday, the next thing the result showed to him devastated him, also shocking everyone in the class.

----

Magic/Skill:

-Fire: S

-Water: S

-Wind: S

-Earth: S

-Light: C

-Dark: A

-%heal%: SSS

-$%#$%^: SSS

----

He couldn't say he was surprised by it, but the fact that he was more fitted to become a mage destroyed him.

There are two things that he hated the most in this world: himself and magic.

Six years ago, in that incident, due to an outburst of magic awakening from him, he killed half of the inhabitants of his village.

From that point onward, he sworn to himself never to get himself involved in magic ever again, as he saw it as nothing but a tool to kill people.

He had seen many evil sorcerers too, so that deepened his hatred for magic.

He do not hate the magician themselves, as he thought that it was their bad luck to be borned with it.

This is why he was hesitant to help Maria.

Due to his massive shock from the result, he did not notice the last two corrupted words but ended up fainting on the spot.

Seeing Nayari suddenly collasped, the teachers started panicking.

"Hey! Nayari! Wake up!"

Lilith who was standing nearby also panicked, but couldn't do anything.

----

"Hehehe. Nayari, you can't hide from us forever."

"If they knew what thing you have done, no one will ever like you."

"We, who represent the people you have killed, will always be beside you, to remind you of the thing that you did to us."

Standing in a dark area, figures of people suddenly closed up on Nayari.

"STOP!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

He covered his ears and closed his eyes, not wanting to hear the words he had been hearing for the past four years.

"No matter how hard you run away from us, you can never escape from us..."

"STOP TALKING!!!!"

Nayari woke up from his unconsicious state, yelling.

He quickly looked around him to find none of the shadows.

Putting his hand up on his face, he realised he had sweated like crazy.

"Ah. Nayari, you've woken up!"

"G-Good morning, Mrs.Nighto."

Mrs.Nighto is the nurse of this school. She has brown hair and shimmering blue eyes, and apparently really popular among the students for her beauty.

When Nayari was visiting this school, in order to have a room to use for treatment, he borrowed the infirmary and worked along side her to help treating injured students and teachers alike.

"Are you okay? You just suddenly collasped in the middle of testing."

"I-I'm alright. I'm just feeling a bit tired, that's all."

"Honestly, you should take better care of yourself. Being the one who helps people, the first thing you must always do is to take care of yourself first. I've told you before, didn't I?"

"Yes...I still remember..."

While he was working here temporarily, he did not take a single break but just keep on helping students.

Eventually, he collasped from exhaustion, and became the one who needed help instead.

"How long have I been out for?"

"Around ten minutes, I think. If you're feeling unwell, you could stay here, you know?"

"Thanks for your offer, but I'd rather go outside. I need some fresh air, after all."

"Good luck then."

After he left, she let out a sigh.

"Really though, why was he made to suffer like this? He was such a good and happy kid back then too."

Mrs.Nighto is actually an inhabitant of Dust village, and one of the survivors. After Nayari ran away, she somehow landed a job in this school as a nurse.

"He probably didn't remember who I was, though."

That was incorrect.

Nayari, in fact, still remember her, and realised her immidiately when they first met at the infirmary, but decided not to say anything about it.

As he returned to the previous place, he met up with the teacher.

"Nayari! You're alright now?"

"I guess."

"Ah, about your class placement, you're put into the Mage division."

"Eh?"

"I'm kind of envy of you, though. To have such talents at such young age...Hey! Nayari! You're shaking!"

"...Please...put me in the Warrior division please..."

"But-"

"Please!"

"Fine. I'll work with the other teachers to discuss about this."

"Thank you very much."

Nayari bowed down to the teacher.

And his request was accepted.

When he arrived at the Warrior Arena, passing by him was another teacher who was carrying someone that looked like Lilith.

No, it WAS Lilith.

"...First me, now her?" He thought to himself.

He had also thought that she would return shortly like him, but she didn't for the entire training session.

Asking other students, they said that just as Lilith started swinging her sword, she suddenly screamed in pain and collasped.

From their answers, he immidiately thought of the idea of her having some kind of disease, but he was not sure.

For the meantime he joined the rest for training.

After that, when he returned to his room, he could see Lilith sitting on her bed, her face showed a sad expression.

But it immidiately reverted to her usual face as she saw Nayari coming in.

"N-Nayari! You're back!"

"What happened back there?"

"I could say the same to you, though you still look fine."

"Are you...perhaps..."

"No no no, it's fine! I'm just a bit tired after all."

A lie.

He knew that because he said the same thing to the nurse.

But if she wouldn't say it, then he couldn't do anything about it.

The day fell as both of them went to sleep.

----

Midnight.

He woke up from his sleep for unknown reason.

Getting out of his bed for a drink, he found out that Lilith was no where to be seen.

"Where has she gone in the middle of the night?"

He sighed as he didn't know what kind of trouble she's caused.

He looked around the corridor when he exited their room, and after confirming no one was around, he went outside.

As he walked outside, he could hear from far away Lilith's voice coming from the Warrior Arena.

As he walked into the arena, he heard the scream.

Scream of pain.

He quickly rushed to Lilith to see a sword lying on the ground, and she writhing in pain.

Noticing Nayari, Lilith was shocked.

"Na..yari?! Why...are you here?"

"What happened?"

"I...tripped, that's all."

"Stop lying and stay down."

There were no visible wounds on her body, so he guessed something must have happened inside of her body.

He came close to check on her body.

"H-Hey! W-what...are you doing?! You won't put your hand on a fallen girl, wouldn't you?"

"Stop talking. Let me see what's wrong with you."

She was sweating like crazy despite the cool air blowing, he quickly took off her outer coat.

Bruises could be seen on places like her biceps and thighs, and around her upper arms at well.

"You...don't tell me you got Myrotisis?"

"You know of my illness?"

"A disease that causes extreme pain to muscle if you do any sudden movement, is shown by visible bruises around muscle area. A swordsman's worst nightmare."

"!!!"

"Now stop talking. I'll bring you back to our room. The pain should go away after one hour. Let's go tomorrow."

"Go? Where?"

"Do you need to ask? It's to buy ingredients to make the cure for your illness."

"You can cure it?!"

"Of course. You might not know but I used to be a wandering pharmacist, even though I've retired..."

His arms suddenly felt a bit wet.

Lilith was crying.

"Why? Why would you go so far for me, a stranger who you just met? I don't get it."

"...Out of obligation, I guess. When I see a person in pain, I can't just stand still and leave them."

"..."

Her tears kept falling, but she was glad.

Glad that she met a reliable person such as him.

As Nayari carried Lilith back to their room, he could vaguely sense a presence of another person, but pay no mind to it as he rushed back to their room.

The person who was watching them was none other than Maria Marigold.