A Good Place to Live and Die

The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic

Elizabeth Regnar, known as Liz to her friends, stepped carefully down the tiled hallway of the school which she was told to serve at. More like ordered, she thought as she adjusted her pace to match the female hooman who was bringing her to her new accommodations and start her servitude to them.

Her left leg felt itchy from the strange contraption they had bound to her ankle, the blacksmith stating repeatedly to her that it will know where she is at all times and should she attempt any means of hostilities, the anklet will self destruction with enough force to blow her leg away.

The hooman blacksmith further demonstrated its capabilities on a wooden mannequin and the wooden leg with the strange black anklet exploded spectacularly, much to her dismay.

She tried sensing it with Detect Magic and even apply her magic senses into the artifact but nothing was found. But she admitted that the hoomans tried her better than expected except for the horrible light cell, where the white lights and voices haunted her.

After she had agreed to serve the demons, no, hoomans as they called themselves. They put her into a more normal cell, with a cot, and iron bars imprisoning her in. Then the whole week was spent doing strange activities, like questioning questions on parchments which she found, strangely of superb quality.

She was taken in and out of her cell to another place where she was told to cast her most powerful spell at some mannequins spread out in an open field with strange markings on the floor. She conjured up her most powerful spell, an enhanced magic missile spell of 300 times, firing off 300 magic missiles at once and devasted the terrain.

But she noticed the expressions of the hoomans in grey and white clothes were barely impressed as they quietly watched and made notes in those flat brown tablets, making her felt like it was barely passable in their eyes. If she cast the same spell back at the Capital, the spectators will be cheering and commenting on her abilities and magic power.

On other days, a creepy looking soldier in those grey strangely cut uniforms will take her to visit a tired looking hooman who was called Doctor Sharon. The female doctor will start asking strange questions like if she wants something, will she take it using a soft or hard approach. And all the while the strange creepy soldier stood with his arms folded watching her with his sinister eyes.

She felt very uncomfortable under the presence of that soldier and was actually relieved to return to her cell. Next, during the evenings, she was taken to a class with other people to learn 'Basic English'. There she found Evelyn who appeared to be not her usual self, most likely she was depressed with the death of Dante. Evelyn barely spoke a single word and just stared blankly at the board. The teacher called her to pronounce words and she just stood up and repeated what the teacher asked without any emotion.

Liz tried to speak with Evelyn but Evelyn barely replied back, mostly in single words or with barely a nod or shake of her head. Liz felt frustrated and wondered if the had hoomans did something bad to her.

Now she followed another female hooman into this school which they named it as the Academy of Science and Magic. She saw several students dressed in long dark green skirts, pants and white shirts with a similar matching coat or jacket, presumably the academy's uniform.

The strange and scary soldier had taken her out of her cell and with a simple, "Follow me," and handed her a bag of clothes and other necessities and boarded the magical wagon they called a 'Jeep' and he drove her here.

He crudely listed down the terms and conditions for her limited freedom. She can only stay within the campus of the Academy. Leave the boundary of the Academy without prior approval will result in the anklet on her left ankle to explode. Any attempts to tamper with the device will result in the anklet to explode. Any hostile activities will result in the anklet to explode. Basically, he just told her almost every scenario that will result in the anklet to explode.

The pretty short hair hooman called Kristine brought her to a building wing away from the main campus of the Academy and said, "This is the hostel area for the staff working in this Academy. You will be living here for the time being till other orders come in for you."

"T-thank you," Liz stammered as she glanced up at the red bricked structure with perfect windows and tiny balconies lining the facade, thinking that her new environment wasn't so bad after all.

"You will take the role of an Associate Lecturer, which is to help the Lecturers prepare their class materials," Kristine said as she led Liz up the stairs to her room. "You will be dealing mostly with magical studies and also be helping out the magic R and D department in tests and trials with regards to magical stuff."

Liz frowned as she barely understood what Kristine was saying like R and D departments. What is that? She wondered but she kept quiet just nodding along. She sort of understood the Associate Lecturer title, which should be sort of an assistant.

"Once you settled down and is capable of handing a class by yourself, we will promote you to be a Lecturer, meaning you will teach classes by yourself," Kristine continued before stopping at a door marked '209'. "This is your room and your keys."

"Wait, you meant that I will teach a class by myself later on?" Liz asked in surprise, "But I thought only magister ranked mages could take students!"

"We do not have that sort of requirements here," Kristine replied as she leaned against the wall. "As long you pass your Advanced English, Maths and is a 5th level circle mage and also worked as an Assistant Lecturer or have prior experience in teaching, we grant the person a three month probation in teaching."

"I... see," Liz blinked her eyes in surprise, "But age?"

"As long you are above 18, you can work," Kristine continued to answer her questions patiently. "From what I read from your file, you will turn 18 before spring in a few months time."

"File?" Liz looked alarmed, "W-wait how did you know my age?"

"Nevermind," Kristine gave a creepy grinned which sent chills down Liz's spine. "You will get used to it later. Now put your stuff in the room, we still got a few places to go. I will show you the shower facilities, the cafeteria, the staffroom, and the classes. Also, I will introduce to you the teachers you will be helping out."

-----

Somewhere off Goblin Sea

"Put more sails!" Omaj yelled at his crew as he held on to the wooden railings on the deck. His ship, the Wave Dancer punched through a wave with a white splash of salt water. "More speed!"

He glanced to the rear, seeing the escort ship he hired falling behind as its sails got ravaged by an unlucky bolt. "Quick! While the Sea Stinger is distracting the goblins! We must get away!"

"Master!" The Wave Dancer's First Mate yelled out, "All sails are up already! We are already at full speed! Unless..."

"Unless?" Omaj eyes narrowed.

"If we lose some of the cargo?" The First Mate suggested.

"Lose some of the cargo?" Omaj cried, "You want to lose your head?"

"No! Master!" The First Mate looked horrified and ran off away from the helm.

"Mahel!" Omaj roared, "Make more wind! I didn't hire you to look pretty!"

The ship's mage sighed as he lowered his slim soft hands down. "Master Omaj, I have already done my best, the sails can only take so much wind."

"Damn!" Omaj cursed, "Wet the sails!"

The crew started hoisting buckets of seawater up from the sides of the ship, and splashing the sails of the ship, making the canvas wet. Wetting the sails down helps to hold more wind as the canvas fibers swell in thickness with moisture and wetting sails is one way of decreasing porosity and hence increasing effective driving force and making the sails stand flatter.

"It is working, Master!" The First Mate at the deck yelled as the ship picked up a bit more speed. The men were exhausted as they had to hoist buckets of water up constantly to the top of the masts and pour them down the sails which in the wind, evaporated quickly.

"Master Omaj! Look! The Sea Stinger!" A lookout from the crow nest yelled out as he pointed to the rear.

----

Captain Nemu cursed as the ripped sailed were chopped off by his crew and suddenly a laughing cry could be heard.

"Waaaaaaaakakakakaaa~~~" A goblin smacked against one of the undamaged sails, the fabric cushioning its fall and it slid down the billowing sails like a child's slide, landing on the deck while giving off a victory pose in the middle of the crew of dumbstruck sailors. "SUCCESSSSSS! SWEEE!"

"KILL IT!" Nemu roared at the stunted sailors who reacted a second slower than the happy goblin who cut down two of the nearby sailors with its rusty blade, turning the decks slick with blood.

"WEEEEEEEeeeee... Oh Noess!" Another goblin flew by, but it missed the ship and landed into the sea. "OOOPPPSSS!"

"Repel boarders!" Nemu cried again as more and more doped up happy goblins started appearing in the skies, launched by the goblin catapults from the raiders closing in fast like sharks. "Ballistas! Kill those ships now!"

"Captain! Beware ahead!" The lookout roared from above, gesturingly wildly to the bow of the Sea Stinger.

Nemu turned and saw one of the goblin ship chasing the Wave Dancer and turned about and was heading in a ramming course.

"Helmsman! Hard to starboard!" Nemu yelled as the distance between the two ships closed.

The helmsman desperately spun the wheel, turning the ship hard towards the starboard side and the Sea Stinger groaned as it slowly turned. The oncoming goblin raider under bow ram missed and the two ships passed just meters between their hulls. The gunners on both ships didn't waste the opportunity and fired their ballistas and catapults in point blank range.

Both ships shook madly as heavy projectiles impacted the hulls. The goblin ship floundered as two bolts punched hard and deep into the bowels, cracking the hull at the waterline, sending gallons of seawater into the belly of the raider.

The Sea Stinger did not fare as well as the ship was just a light vessel, its wooden hull barely 16" thick at the sides. The crudely built goblin ballistas had enough energy to smash through the thick hardwood, three bolts fired from the raider as it passed. As the raider sat lower in the water, the goblin gunners fired upwards at a slight angle and the three bolts exploded into the interior of Sea Stinger.

One of the bolts even upset a ballista off its mount, shattering the arms of the ballista and crashing several gunners under the weapon, while another bolt punched a quarter of its length through the top decks, its metal tip gleaming in blood.

The lower deck gunners and crews screamed as splinters the size of a man's arm exploded out from the wooden beams and hull as the bolts punched through the hull. The splinters acted as shrapnel and frayed everyone not protected, ripping skin and tearing body parts into bloody scraps in seconds.

Almost immediately, a quarter of the crew of the Sea Stinger was down. Nemu cursed as the deck under him quaked and he peered over the railings and saw the devastation wrought by the goblin raider against the side of his ship.

Suddenly, a three pong hook hammered next to Nemu against the railing. Shocked, he followed the rope that was attached to the hook and saw it came from the disable goblin raider that was slowly drifting away but still within range.

"Gods of the Sea! Here they come!"