“Danger Brewing!


    With a fantastic spat of delightful Saints Day celebrations across the continent, we move onto the new year with a sense of increased dread as hostilities begin to flare once more along the Carrador-Absenstadt-Traxian borders. Last year heralded horrific casualties along the frontlines and everyone hoped that the temporary cease-fire would evolve to a permanent one. However, those hopes seem to be dashed as Traxia moves new legions to the border and Carrador is reshuffling its military forces. What the Grand Duke of Abenstadt does now might send the signal for conflict to break out once more. Though with Abenstadtian territory still currently under occupation, our hopes for a peaceful resolution seem further away than ever.”


    - Arterian Affairs, Border Watch!, “Third Page Article”


    <hr><hr>


    With Asta over, it was time for Sophie’s classes on Euthus, or as Ary called it, Second Day. Last night ended up with a fair amount of cuddles that Sophie greatly appreciated. What she appreciated significantly less is that she woke up to find little snow figures dancing across the window, courtesy of Yana’s magic. It unnerved her how well they seemed to move in comparison to yesterday’s hastily made snow soldiers.


    Ary finally had her first class with the Calnodel siblings in alchemical and magitech, and after wishing Sophie good luck, the girl left for her early class. That left Sophie with a few hours in the morning to herself as her first class started slightly later in the morning. Knowing that today would be her martial class, performed a series of stretches and exercises in the comfort of her room. With her senses back up to full, Sophie then got fully dressed and headed out to start for the day.


    There was a refreshing cold nip that didn’t go beyond unpleasant and brushed away any fatigue that still remained within her. She breathed in the air and spent a moment just staring at the gentle snowfall, watching individual snowflakes in their journey down to the surface. It mesmerised her in a way that hadn’t happened before in Carrador. Back home, the winds were usually either harsher or non-existent, that wasn’t to say that the Artieran sea-winds couldn’t be even more violent, but in moments like this, they were nice. Humming to herself, she let one snowflake land upon her hand before moving on,  heading to her first class.


    Today’s agenda was a simplistic one, starting with her martial training, then lunch, then a study into the politics of Western Cyndralia, followed by a quarter long course on archery. Sophie could already feel herself getting embarrassed. Shooting a bow and arrow is going to suck so much.


    Sophie arrived at the training fields and found a few other students already huddled in little groups. To her surprise however, she found one face she certainly didn’t expect to be there, Prince Frederick. The princeling seemed just as surprised at her presence, doing a double take just to make sure. When they finally acknowledged each other as real, they shared a small wave. Although even that gesture alone didn’t go unnoticed as a few of the prince’s entourage quickly turned to look at her, a few even breaking out to whisper, something that bothered Frederick a little as his expression was more apologetic. Sophie, unsure if she should verbally greet the prince, opted to simply wave and smile one more time.


    Moving away from the Carradorians, she found her class gathered in a little group by the main amoury building, the others looking at her strangely as she approached.


    “Uhh, hi.” Sophie briefly greeted them.


    “Right.” Someone acknowledged. Ouch, I suddenly feel so much more tired again. This is going to be a long day.


    <hr><hr>


    Martial class was much of what she expected. A lot of stances and endurance exercises led by a military man who drilled the class relentlessly. It was a thankless practice but Sophie supposed it was useful in keeping herself in shape. Compared to the first semester, some of the movements in this class actually tripped her up. Despite feeling relatively limber and agile, she occasionally found herself taking a second just to reorientate herself. It didn’t help that her comrades were all third years, already well drilled in proper fighting stances and having had the basics hammered home. She needed to practice.


    By the time she went to lunch she was pretty exhausted and dreading having to sit through two more classes until she could rest. Though that itself came with its own benefit for while her class finished, so did Frederick’s. Although the two tried to maintain a veneer of distance as to not arouse suspicions from his posse, they did get a chance to share a hug and catch up. Mostly because they haven’t spoken in a while, after greeting each other, Frederick recounted Eva’s tale but from a different perspective. While today neither necessarily knew how much time they would have, at the very least, having classes in the same area meant they could meet again another day. And another friendly face. Though he did seem to have something exciting to share and asked for Sophie to meet with him and Eva on Gratus.


    Her next class was ‘Politics of Western Cyndralia’. It sounded like an interesting course when she signed up for it and thought that perhaps it could help her in the future whenever she reunited with Eva properly. That is, until she was declared a traitor of Carrador all because of the Meltonian twit. That’s two places to avoid, whatever the case. Still can’t believe they got Eva wrapped up in the punishment. Bastards.


    Stepping into her classroom in Aura hall, Sophie felt a chill run down her spine. Unlike the snow that Yana often threw at her, this was a sensation that bubbled up from deep within her. Casting a furtive glance around the room revealed the reason why. Surrounded by a small group and having not noticed her yet, she recognized the hunk of meat that had attacked her back in Melton. The very same person that had coveted whatever powers Ary gave them. Galen Frostfyre.


    Before she could completely fall into despair, she spotted someone waving at her. She couldn’t fully recognise the face but found herself feeling some form of familiarity. Having been unpleasantly surprised by the presence of the Frostwinder and likely others of his tribe also present, she grasped at what she could and made her way over to the figure. Only when she got closer did the gears within her lagging mind slowly churn their way to some form of understanding.


    With long black hair and a look of complete composure, Sophie recognized one of Eva’s outlander students. She recalled seeing them around once or twice, and at least one time when she had been hanging out with Ary around the library and Grand Library. Nervous, Sophie carefully approached the saintess and dipped her head politely.


    “Hello.” Sophie meekly acknowledged.


    “Hi, hi! It’s good to see you. Need a seat?” The saintess casually gestured at an open space beside her.


    Thankful at having found at least one friendly face within the class, Sophie gratefully accepted the girl’s offer.


    “You’re Sophie, right? Eva sen- protege?” The girl corrected herself. Yup, definitely an outlander.


    “Heh.” Sophie smiled bashfully, “I wouldn’t say protege, not really. More of a helper or assistant.”


    “Oh, must still be pretty nice though.” The girl smiled back.


    “Kinda? It’s a whole lot of stuff to go through.” Sophie answered, and not to consider everything that happened in Carrador just before this either. Guess I’m not her official maid for much longer.


    “Understandable.”


    “Umm… sorry if this seems a bit rude. But you’re…” Sophie sheepishly tried to ask.


    “Hahah.” The girl chuckled at her, “It’s Suzuki.”


    “S-sorry.” Sophie hastily lowered her head, “Nice to meet you here, Suzuki.”


    “Likewise. Don’t worry about it.” Suzuki grinned.


    There was an air of elegance hanging around the girl, one that Sophie found similar to that of those in more polite society. She was a little jealous, having come to the sobering realization that over the course of the past few months, she was slowly losing her own touch of manners and etiquette. I guess all the travelling across the wilderness does have its downsides. Not many chances to use court etiquette.


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    “Say, Sophie-san.” Suzuki asked, “Have you seen sen-err Eva since you got back?”


    “San?” Sophie tilted her head, “But yeah, I have actually! You guys haven’t yet?”


    “No, no classes with her yet. Though we’re due for training… after this class, I think. Oh, and my mistake. I’ve been hanging out with the others quite a bit. It’s just an honorific we add to each other’s names. Just like… ah! Just like a term of respect for someone around our age. My bad.”


    “No need to apologise, I think that’s pretty neat. But I happen to have archery classes after this so who knows, I might end up in the training fields with you guys too.”


    “You can do archery?”


    “Well… not exactly. But figured it’s worth a shot.”


    "Oh. Ah! I see what you did there."


    The two shared a soft giggle at the low quality pun. As they settled down, class officially began when the professor entered. Professor Grimia Talisa introduced herself as a teacher of political science. She had been an academic most of her life and taught with the same dryness that Sophie had come to expect. To her credit, the history being recounted during this lesson was interesting to her.


    Much of Cyndralian history had been shaped by conflict and the modern status of the continent, at least the western portion, was no different. Politically, these states are closely intertwined due to their history as parts of the Second Nautican Union, ruled by Basilius Primus Axion Tassius. Back then, many of the regions such as Carrador or Melton actually belonged to the most important families within the old empire. Then, when it splintered, many of these families either consolidated their power or migrated as is the case with the city states of the Ascari coast.


    For most nations, they were able to benefit greatly during that time. But after the Basilius died and his heirs mostly receiving mysterious ends, the Union splintered more or less into the nations that are present here today. While some, like Arteria, were able to use its inherent advantages, many other nations fell victim to the chaos of the splintering, some even sowing the seeds of conflict that still run to this day.


    Only after all that did the instructor ask for everyone to perform class introductions. Sophie had hoped it would simply slip on by without being brought up but had no such luck. With the professor starting from the back of the room, Sophie had little time to prepare herself for the inevitable.


    “Hi everyone. I am Suzuki Watanabe, it is great to meet you all and I look forward to a good year. My one interesting fact is that I really like painting but it is really expensive.” Suzuki bowed politely amidst a few chuckles at her comment. “Thank you for listening.”


    “Excellent.” Professor Talisa spoke, “Next in line.”


    Reluctantly, Sophie stood up, only ever so slightly relieved when Galen showed no indication of recognition.


    “Thank you. Hello everyone. I’m Sophie Kastiane. Good to meet you all. My interesting fact is that I… really like… making desserts.” Stupid brain! Why did you default onto food?!  “Thank you.”


    “How interesting, perhaps we can have a class celebration with dessert at some point.” Talisa chuckled, “Moving on.”


    Still seeing no reaction from Galen towards her presence, Sophie let out a silent breath of relief. Safe, for now.


    “Nervous?” Suzuki whispered.


    “A little. I’ll…” Should I? I mean what’s the harm? “I’ll explain after class.”


    “Oohh, a secret, I’ll hold you to that.” Suzuki winked.


    Sophie flashed a smile in return. At least this class won’t be that lonely. And a good chance to keep tabs on Eva too, once the semester kicks back up.


    <hr><hr>


    As she had suspected, she and Suzuki both ended up heading to the training field after class was over, giving them a few minutes to talk. Sophie caught up with her new friend on the situation, explaining the relative basics just to give her an idea on what was happening. Ary cute, Sophie attacked, Galen bad and Frostwinders potentially dangerous. It was a simplistic but effective message and Suzuki nodded, agreeing to keep an eye on the Frostiwnder should he try anything funny.


    For her part, Sophie also learned a few things about her newfound ally. Suzuki Watanabe was actually, according to the girl herself, no one special and just a student amongst students. She hailed from some faraway outworlder land called Wakayama unlike the majority of her classmates and who formed the current saints of the church. She did however, know her way around in a fight, and now with both the church and Eva training her, she had become even more capable of a fighter and a leader.


    Arriving at the training fields. Sophie found four separate groups currently forming up, the respective classes preparing for the long hour ahead. Embarrassingly, arriving besides Suzuki meant that all the other students now knew she was affiliated with saintess. Then the other saints and saintesses waved to both of them, to which Sophie politely waved back. Then Eva had noticed her and enthusiastically waved, to which Sophie instinctively replied with an equal level of enthusiasm and cemented herself as someone that knew the outlanders. Or at least that’s what she gathered by listening in on the words of her classmates.


    Disaster only truly struck when the lesson began in earnest after a former ranger started explaining the basics of drawing and firing a bow. The way in which their arms should be tucked or the appropriate stances and methods to use. It wasn’t that Sophie was bad per se, it was just that she was so abysmally horrid at judging the trajectory of an arrow that she had a target miss rate just shy of ninety percent. Of all the shots she fired, they were at least reaching the target or soaring right past, with only one or two falling short. Her strength was fine, but much like her actual melee combat skills, she was an absolute mess when it came to control.


    What made it even worse was that her class was not alone. With everyone else present, she would occasionally catch Eva glancing over. It was always at the worst times when Sophie had just whiffed or was about to completely whiff a shot. Every time this happened, the instructor made sure that she knew, and half shouted his advice after telling her to try again. It felt humiliating in that she knew that Eva could easily identify her as the one responsible for yet another miss.


    For the second day of classes, Sophie would describe her performance overall as middling, that was, until archery dragged it down to horrid. Still, she consoled herself, I’m doing this to get better at protecting Ary. From foes near or far. No going back now.


    Every once in a while, she would also look over at Eva and her students. What she saw were brief displays of superhuman skills coupled with more mundane drills and standard practice. Suzuki in particular stood out as the most agile melee combatants out of the outlanders. Where her tall almost Meltonian looking counterpart proved to be the strongest, other outlanders were not found lacking either.


    While all of it made Sophie incredibly jealous for their innate blessed skills, she also found the display somewhat motivating in equal effect. For she was able to get a glimpse into the impossible, a look into what power and her training could result in. She knew that she needed to reach those heights if she were to protect Ary. And so, she resolved herself to continue, to train until she could protect Ary from everything. With a grimace, she readied her stance once more, forcing her arms to lock in place as she aimed another shot.


    <hr><hr>


    Sophie was tired. All her muscles were worn out from the constant exercises and she felt as if they were on the verge of exploding. Since finishing class, she had barely gotten a minute to rest.


    Almost as soon as she finished, Sophia had dropped by to whisk her away to dinner with the others. Unfortunately for Sophie, this also meant she had little energy reserves remaining and could hardly string together any coherent sentences. Thus she spent dinner mostly listening to the others as they talked. It proved enjoyable enough even though her energy loss only magnified after eating.


    Everything else happened like a bizarre blur of motion and words, much of it lost to the ether of her mind. All she knew was that she then quickly went to shower and prepare for bed. Sophie gasped and tried to stay awake, her eyelids growing ever heavier.


    The door to the room opened as she nearly nodded off once again. Seeing Ary revitalised her albeit temporarily, but it would be enough.


    “Sophie you sleepyhead. If you’re tired, just sleep.” Ary giggled at the sight of her.


    “Mmm, Ary” Sophie sighed.


    “What is it? This is your "I have something to say" face. Ary asked as she nuzzled her.


    “Bad news.”


    “Oh?”


    “Your person, Gale? Galen Frostfyre. He’s in my class.”


    There was a pause as Ary stopped her cuddling, the redhead having pulled back with an apprehensive look on her face. Ary’s soft expression hardened into a frown, with even Sophie easily identifying the less than than pleasant thoughts going through Ary’s mind as a variety of emotions flashed across her face.


    “He didn’t recognise me, at least not yet. Was planning to keep an eye on him, but he’s got quite a few buddies already. I assume they’re from the clan?” Sophie continued.


    “Most likely. Just…” Ary sighed dejectedly, “Just don’t get hurt, Sophie. He’s a nasty evil person when he needs to be. He''s already attacked you once.”


    “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on provoking him if I don’t have to. I’ll be careful.” Sophie yawned, "Besides, if we fought now? I might even be able to take him down if push comes to shove."


    “Good… good, yeah. Now let''s go sleep you silly. You’re yawning between your words. Any more and you’ll start spouting gibberish.” Ary tried to recover the mood.


    “Mmhmm. Good sleep time.” Sophie mumbled as she pulled closer to Ary, “Good night, cutie.”


    “Pfft, you’e the cutie. Good night.”