Training

Once Lety was done speaking to the gathered group, Carolyn took over.

"We're still in our development stage, so there's a lot of work left before we're ready to head into the field, but I believe that the members here have the ability to make it there. I would like to speak with the custodians, but for today I want to get started on training the intelligence officers. Executive Letira, is that acceptable?"

"Yes. I won't always be here for their training, so I trust you to handle it."

"Thank you."

Carolyn then stood up and looked at her students.

"Cassy, Jog, Mia, come with me. Chief Derrick will escort Executive Letira home, but afterwards he will join us in training. Follow me outside."

She originally planned to make them start training together, but she was worried about leaving Lety alone with Andy's group, so she changed her mind. She also considered giving the custodians training as well, but that would require more discussion with Lety.

Though they wouldn't be a part of the training this time, the custodians also left the house to see the group off. Once everyone was out, Carolyn unwrapped the ribbon around her hair and used it to tie a ponytail instead. With the change of her hairstyle, Carolyn's aura also shifted. From a bright flower field, she became a mysterious forest. Everyone was surprised by her transformation, but Derrick was reminded of the time when she chased him after he stole money from her. He didn't think about it often, but that incident was one of the reasons why Lety had asked Carolyn to train him.

"Intelligence officers, line up."

Carolyn didn't speak loudly, but her tone possessed a dominating pressure that made everyone straighten up. Stiffened by that pressure, the three intelligence officers didn't realise that they hadn't moved, but a glare from Carolyn made them quickly fix their blunder. Jog had completely forgotten his earlier rebellion and was both confused and frightened by Carolyn's change. Carolyn wasn't particularly fond of seeing them so nervous, but her father had been similarly strict when training her. She knew that he loved her but had to be harsh so that she would learn properly. Similarly, if she truly cared for these children, then she couldn't be soft.

"There's not much time to get you up to standard, so we'll have to focus on the basics. First, I'll have you run around the slums as fast as you can to build up stamina. I'll be right behind to make sure none of you are slacking off. Any questions?"

"Um, where are we going to run, Executive?" asked Cassy.

"Don't worry about that; I'll tell you what directions to take."

After more than a month in Vernum City, Carolyn was familiar enough with this side of the slums district to match most of the children under Benedict's care, so there was little chance of them getting lost.

"If there aren't any more questions, then start running."

The young intelligence officers had been intimidated by Carolyn's change at first, but after hearing that their first training exercise was just running, they began to feel relieved. Though they acknowledged the importance of stamina, for them running was the same as playing so they all thought it wouldn't be too difficult. However, they didn't realise how seriously Carolyn meant the words 'as fast as you can'.

As the youngest and most petite of the group, Mia quickly fell to the back of the intelligence officers, right in front of Carolyn. With her behind them, Cassy and Jog began to slow their pace, but then Carolyn rushed up to the two and slapped them on their backs.

"Ack!"

"Ahh!"

"Did I say you could slack? Faster!"

Seeing that scene, Mia was worried that she would be next, but Carolyn simply returned to her place at the back of the group. Still, it wasn't easy to run at one's limit as their stamina dropped. When Mia showed signs of slowing down to catch her breath, she was the next to earn a slap to the back.

"Not yet! Steady your breathing and move those legs!"

Though Carolyn didn't put much force behind her slaps, they still left a burning sensation after a sharp pain which forced the children to work harder. After being slapped a second time, Cassy tried to run away, but Carolyn easily caught him and landed a fist on his head. She then threw him to the front of the line and threatened to slap him if he let someone overtake him. They passed by some slums' residents on their run, but no one paid them much attention. Carolyn was glad for their indifference since she would probably run into trouble if she tried training them like this outside the slums or the mixed districts. And this wasn't close to the harshest training she had planned.

"We're heading to the church to pick up the Chief, so you can slow down to a jog."

The children had run for about ten minutes at this point, and each of them had been slapped at least three times in that time span, so they were grateful to hear this news, especially Cassy. Carolyn gave the children a little leeway by sparing them if they truly couldn't run at their top speed anymore, but Cassy had no choice but to go above and beyond to maintain his place.

"Okay. You can stop."

The three children immediately dropped to the ground like zealots before the church. Originally, only Lety had their respect within the organisation, but now Carolyn had their approval as well as some fear. They weren't afraid of being slapped by her; they were daunted by the fact that Carolyn barely broke a sweat despite keeping up with them. As the three looked at her as if she was some sort of monster, Carolyn went into the church and brought out Derrick.

When Derrick saw Mia, Cassy and Jog panting on the ground while drenched in sweat, he wondered what had happened in the short time it took him to carry Lety home. Even when Carolyn had chased after him for a longer period, he hadn't been as tired as they were, but that was because the two were moving through a crowd of people, so neither was running at full speed.

"Okay, now that Derrick is here, we'll do another five laps, take a break at the well and then move into the next section of training."

"Yes..."

Though their tones were languid, the intelligence officers slowly got back on their feet and readied themselves to run again. Barely any time had passed since he last saw them, yet Derrick felt that a major change had taken place within them during that time.

"Derrick, you're in front. Since you're not as tired, I expect you to be in the lead at all times. Understood?"

"Yes."

Derrick noticed the ominous grins that the three intelligence officers gave him, but he shook his head and ignored them. Other children were looking at the group, but the group didn't pay them any mind and set off at Carolyn's command. Soon after they began running, Derrick realised why the other three children had been so tired.

'Is she crazy?!'

Since the others were too tired to keep up with him, Derrick thought staying in the lead wouldn't be too difficult, but a quick slap to the back forced him to see the truth. After learning that anything less than his top speed wouldn't be tolerated, Derrick cursed under his breath, but he didn't run away. As much as he hated having to rely on anyone else, he acknowledged that Carolyn was strong, and if he could become stronger by listening to her, then he had no reason to quit.

By the end of their run, the four children were like corpses laid out on the grass nearby the well, while Carolyn finally had to wipe the sweat off her brows. Knowing that they would have a hard time moving, she splashed them with water so that they could get some hydration.

"You can rest for about ten minutes, and then we'll move on to hide-and-seek."

The four children all had question marks in their heads after hearing Carolyn mention hide-and-seek, but they were too tired to challenge her. After drinking water and taking the time to catch their breaths, the children were able to think about why Carolyn would make them play hide-and-seek, but they couldn't come up with any good ideas.

"Okay, time's up."

Once the ten minutes were finished, Carolyn had the children line up before she explained the hide-and-seek portion of their training. To start them off, Carolyn made them run to build stamina and understand their limits, and now she wanted them to play hide-and-seek inside the slums to work on their perception and concealment abilities. Though it was a children's game, her father also used it for her training so that she could learn how to conceal her tracks and her presence inside the forest. The only issue was that the effectiveness of this training was dependent on the detection ability of the seeker, so Carolyn promised that if she failed to find even one of them, then she would ask Lety to strip her of her 'Executive' title and give it to someone else. For additional motivation, she also promised a reward of ten silver coins to whoever evaded her pursuit.

With so much riding on this game, the children were all eager to get going. They were given one minute to find a hiding spot and were free to move around as long as they stayed within the slums' district. There was a risk of them encountering danger, but finding a safe hiding spot was also part of the challenge. Putting the children in danger was the last thing that Carolyn wanted to do; however, she knew that being soft now would be cruel to their future.