Team Ten

The following morning, the air in the Academy carried a strange electrical charge, subtly zapping Haruki’s nerves. Perhaps it was the anticipation accumulating. Students shuffled into one of the lecture halls, tall windows pouring sunlight across rows of wooden benches.

The walls were lined with scrolls and mechanical instruments that seemed to be used for mathematics and other purposes nobody could really tell at their current level. Then there were the maps of distant lands tacked beside diagrams of Echo flows. It smelled faintly of ink, chalk, and the metallic tang somehow humming faintly in the floorboards.

At the front stood Deacon Loto, tall and sharp as ever, adjusting his own hat as his voice rang out before the last student had even settled.

“Listen up everyone. Today,” he declared, “you are no longer strangers wandering the same halls. From this day onward, you will be put into teams of three – bound together for study, training, and missions alike. Each of you will learn to lean on one another, and each group will be given a Deacon to guide and judge your progress. So get comfortable and get familiar with your brothers and sisters. And try not to cause any trouble.”

A murmur ran through the benches. Some students leaned forward eagerly; others stiffened, glancing at rivals they hoped not to be saddled with. Haruki sat in the back, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, though inside his chest thudded with a nervous rhythm.

Names were called. One by one, students rose and crossed to their assigned peers. Some familiar faces broke into wide smiles, while others had to get used to the strangers they came in contact with.

Haruki’s hands were damp against the table when, at last, his name rang out.

“Haruki of Earth. Kiera the Pyromancer… and Nivix… the Inventor? Am I reading this right? This handwriting is… something alright. You three will be Team Ten.”

Haruki sat in shock – but immediately overjoyed that he was still assigned with a familiar face, someone he could be comfortable around. Kiera, sitting just one row ahead, turned and grinned in relief, waving her hand.

Then from the far side of the hall came a loud clatter. It was the sound of something metallic striking the floor, followed by a voice calling out:

“Oops! That’s mine!”

Heads turned as a green-skinned goblin scrambled, scooping up what looked like a wrench that was far too big for his hand. He wasn’t a tall goblin, barely reaching Haruki’s elbow at best. And his frame was wiry rather than brutish.

A pair of tinted goggles rested across his forehead, the lenses smudged with ash and dust. His hair was pitch black, jutting out in spiky tufts as if it had been electrocuted that very morning.

“Team Ten, yes!” the goblin declared, grinning wide as he adjusted the straps of the leather satchel across his chest. The satchel bulged suspiciously with gears, scraps of metal, and folded parchment spilling out the sides. “Perfect! Perfect! I had a good feeling about today. The tenth iteration is always the one that will finally work!”

Haruki blinked as the goblin approached him and Kiera. The last time he encountered the goblin kind was during that time when those bandits ambushed him and that civilian woman. He himself had many preconceived notions about evil fantasy goblins from reading his manga back home. The contrast was almost dizzying.

“Hello there, friendos friendies. My name is Nivix. Tinkerer, thinker, dreamer extraordinaire!” The goblin stretched out his hand for Haruki to shake before realizing his gloves were covered in char. He tried to rub them off with a miniature drill he seemed to have conjured out of thin air.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kiera. Looks like we’re going to be a team together, yeah?”

“Right,” Haruki said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I suppose this is not exactly what I expected.”

“Why say so, tall strange blubbery baby-man of this dirt place called Ee-ar-th-o?” Nivix’s head tilted.

It took a moment for Haruki to realize the gibberish Nivix was speaking, and that he himself did not understand a lick of it. Haruki shook his head and said:

“It’s just that I didn’t expect a goblin teammate, is all. The first ones I met tried to rob me.”

“Oh yeah,” Kiera leaned back, “that’s right! I remember them scaring you so much you had to hide behind that woman’s skirt.”

“Hey, come on! Don’t bring that up.”

The goblin adjusted his goggles so they sat snugly over his eyes, magnifying them at least three times.

“You must mean the bandits,” Nivix said. “Bandeets are definitely one of the groups of all time. They have no vision, no refinements! Why, they wouldn’t even make the cut for one of my animal experiments.”

“Wait, your what?” Haruki cried.

“But you see,” Nivix ignored him, “robbery is, to be frank, uncommon among goblin folks. So don’t you worry, yeah? I have no need for money anyway. I ate them all. They stood no fighting chance. The enhancement effects were fascinating, I tell you. You should read my papers.”

Haruki shook his head once more, dumbfounded:

“You ate the money or the bandits?”

“YES,” Nivix grinned. Not elaborating.

All of this – now culminating with Kiera not being able to hold in her laugh as Haruki continued in his struggle amidst the insane.