Chapter 61 - Mealtime

Unlike the dorms, where food is placed into the communal refrigerator, and it is our duty to use the ingredients to nourish ourselves, this place has a cafeteria. I rejoice at the sight as this will save me a lot of time. Perhaps the food might even taste better, though I am confident in my culinary skills. I enter the line with the others, and wait for my turn. I hear a few whispers from the front and the back of the line.

"Next to Lady FullCastle, isn't that…?"

"That's totally him, the executioner…"

"That's the guy Peregrine fought…"

'Seriously, what the hell are they talking about?'

I nudge Sylvia.

"Are they… Are they talking about me?"

She gently nods but answers with a slight undertone of disdain in her voice.

"Yes… you're the executioner…"

A look of pure confusion forms on my face. "What? Why? Why woul-"

Alex interrupts me and his deep voice resonates.

"Your battle."

Before I can ask him to elaborate, Zora does it in his place.

"Yeah! It's 'cause o' that fight with Tangerine! Ya really went hard on him!! You went all like- "

She imitates the expression I made.

" 'your muscles tear, your organs fail… somethin' somethin'…' and then ya kept going until he gave up!"

Adam shares his input.

"...Yeah, I'm not sure if you've realized, but all Showdowns are public. It also seems like the more viewed a fight is, the further up in the front page it will be. You're tied with Sylvia and Sophia in that regard…"

I stare at them in disbelief. Hastily, I open my watch and head to the Showdown page. There, as I was told, I see my battle with Peregrine on the forefront of the interface. Its size in the display dwarfs most of the other Showdowns, making it impossible to miss. It seems its popularity can only be compared to four other Showdowns, one of which is Sylvia's. It looks like the more people see a Showdown, the more people will see a Showdown. Ivana peeks over my shoulder and covers her mouth as laughter threatens to erupt.

"Pfft!! Please, don't forget me now that you're famous, Mr. Executioner!"

"...You're really having fun with me lately, aren't you?"

Her smirk grows larger, she offers me a thumbs up and winks.

"Absolutely!"

Against my will, I've become quite well known merely one day after entering the second quarter. It is not exactly a bad thing though, the full extent of my abilities is still unknown. I have yet to make use of harmonic destruction beyond that one time with the [echo-blessed] bear. The positive side of this notoriety is that it could prevent some of the more annoying ones from openly picking fights with me, fearing they may face the same fate Peregrine did. Putting the good aspects aside, It does bother me, however, that my first epithet, no matter how fleeting it may be, is 'The executioner'. I doubt it will stick because we are still merely trainees, but I'll have to think about changing my image. I don't exactly want to be known as a ruthless, and cruel person.

I drop my shoulders in defeat and Adam offers me a few words of encouragement.

"Hey, i-it's okay! I'm sure everyone will have forgotten about this by next week!"

I try to push the whole ordeal to the back of my mind as I advance towards the front of the line. When my turn to receive food finally comes, I analyze my options. The menu is essentially a customizable meal. It can contain one part meat, one part rice salad or beans and one part desert. I decide to go with a turkey leg alongside a bowl of rice and a small chocolate pudding on the side. Once we've all chosen something to eat, we find a seat near the middle of the hall. 

As I walk through the crowd, I can still hear whispers about me. However, I notice that I am not the only one they are talking about. Of course, there are those who fawn over and respect Sylvia. After all, she hails from the most prominent [enlightened] family in the nation, she ranks second in DaiKar, and she is simply stunning. I'd go as far as to say that it would be strange if I didn't hear anything about her. What surprises me, however, is that few whispers are directed towards some of the others in our group, and I'm sure they have noticed it too. I nudge Adam and Ivana.

"Seems like I'm not the only one they're talking about."

Ivana replies while rolling her eyes.

"They're associating us with you and Vivi. You guys are attention magnets!"

Adam looks around.

"Indeed, it seems we've become quite well-known too."

Zora, who overhears our conversation, suddenly waves in the direction of the other seated trainees. She does so with a wide smile covering her lips and her usual energetic spunk. Her act is not exactly well received, however. 

"Tsk, damn commoner."

"Nobles and commoners shouldn't mingle…"

"Look at her getting all high and mighty just because she's won once."

"If not out of respect for the FullCastle lady, I would have put all of them in their place…"

They do not even try to hide their words or pretend that they are directed at someone else. Why should they? Even if we wanted to, commoners like us could never meaningfully retaliate against powerful heirs of great families. They might be apprehensive towards me at this very moment, but I am sure their pride won't allow it to last. The only reason my threat worked on Peregrine was because the pain clouded his mind and made him unable to think straight. Well, it might also be because my expression might have made me look a little crazy, but I like the first explanation better. Adam looks down in Zora's direction.

"Hey, don't let what they say get to you Zora, you-"

"Don't worry 'bout me meat pie, I'm used ta this! Actually, if they're that mad, it usually means they're jealous!"

I add onto Zora's words.

"Yeah, you get used to this pretty quick when you're a commoner like us. You, Ivana, and Sylvia are exceptions, but most heirs of [enlightened] families or those who come from wealth tend to act like this."

Alex offers a silent nod.

"It's because they're not intelligent enough to discern an individual's true value beyond their background." Sylvia says without turning around to face us.

"I second that." Ivana replies.

"Haha, then I'll third that!" Adam says with a chuckle.

It seems surreal to have met three of these people at once. Of course, thinking that every single heir of a great family is a terrible person is a gross over-exaggeration, but they had not proven me wrong until now. Perhaps I had simply never searched far enough for the decent ones, but in my five years at Lauderdale, I had not formed a single connection with such a person. Yet, as soon as I joined the world of the [enlightened], three of them weaved themselves into my life. The first being Sylvia, who initially recognized my potential. 

From the initial interaction on Lauderdale's ceremony field, a bond was formed. Sure, it was born from a superficial reason, but it grew into something real. In the past 7 months or so, we've grown closer, and I've grown confident enough to call her my friend. Then, it was Ivana. I knew she was like Sylvia from our first meeting at the Roasted Bean cafe. I could tell simply from the way she spoke to me. I do not regret extending my hand towards her after the events in Soulweaver's facility. Now, from what my current situation looks like, I imagine I'll have more people to call friends in the near future. 

This is all quite new to me. I was never the anti-social type, but I never had the time to forge real relationships. This led to me having no more than a single friend at Lauderdale, Ronnie. That friendship could not last, however. Unfortunately, he was not chosen by the world, which left me alone. To look forward to getting to know people further is a new feeling, but not a bad one. 

After I've taken a dozen or so steps, we arrive at the table, sit and begin eating our meal. The conversation we have as we eat ranges from our thoughts on our most recent lecture to our opinions on the correct way to drink milk. Sylvia believes a warm glass of milk before bed is the only way it should be savored, while Zora, on the other hand, defends her position that cold milk should be the only acceptable way to drink it. Even Alex offers his input. In a very curt manner, he mentions that he's only ever had milk with cereal, never any other way. This shocks most of the table, myself included.

I ask him if he's really never had a protein shake with milk, which is hard to believe, judging from his figure. He shrugs and claims that he generally takes his protein with a glass of water. In disbelief, I decide to not continue questioning him. When Adam's turn comes, he claims that he does not enjoy milk by itself but would never refuse a large strawberry milkshake. We all agree that Adam's way is not ideal, but passable. On my end, I don't exactly enjoy plain milk, but with a few drops of chocolate in it, I'm more than happy to drink a glass or two which receives a mix of disapproving and approving nods. Eventually, we all turn to Ivana to hear her opinion on milk, but we immediately realize it was a mistake to ask her. She had been waiting for this moment. In fact, it was her who brought up the subject. It turns out that Ivana is very knowledgeable when it comes to nutrition. Upon being questioned, she goes on and on about the different minerals in milk, which animals produce the best kind, and how to identify 'good' milk at a supermarket. The amount of information is overwhelming, but no one is brave enough to interrupt her. Fortunately, after twelve minutes or so, we are saved, lunchtime is over.

It is now time to head to our second and last obligatory class of the day. Today's second course is COMB I2-1: Delving deeper into the principles of combat using instruments.