Intermission

When I arrived to my dorm room, I realized I shared a space with three other people, two guys, and a girl.

The dormitories were shared by both male and female alike.

“I saw the way you and the commander was laughin about. Tell me, ar ye royalty? Because the only thing that can get that old geezer to turn his mouth about are them royals.” One of my roommates asked.

“Leave him be, he’s going to need to adjust to the room. Say your highness, I hope it’s to your liking.” The girl taunted.

“Oh leave the boy alone.” My other roommate said. “Does it matter where he’s from? We’re here now. Nice to meet you, I’m Luike.”

“Job, likewise.”

It seemed hard for the other two to accept the fact that I shook his hand.

It took some time but they finally came around.

The Girl’s name was Holly, and her brother Holland.

“Say, I’m appalled, you don’t act like royalty. So how did you manage to get on Old Murphey’s good side?” Holland asked.

“He’s just friends with my Grandmum is all.”

“Ah so even that old geezer has a missus eh?’ Holland remarked

“Oh no, nothing like that.” I said, scratching my head.

Well, to be frank I knew nothing of the relationship between Grandma and the Commander, but they always seemed quite casual about each other.

Each room was to appoint a dorm leader. Being a Dorm leader meant you were responsible for your dorm mates. How they behaved, their lives, everything down to the finest detail. If they were reprimanded, you were reprimanded. If they were praised you were praised.

It was a tall order.

“Well ye know, I’ve never sounded so proper in mae life so, I could never be leader~” Holland said

“Oh I’m just way too independent for that kind of thing you know? And besides I’m a lady, we have to be concerned with ladylike activities. I don’t possibly have it in me to lead you riff raff.” Holly added.

“I turn into a wolf at night.” Luike said.

We all turned to look at him.

“Yeah he’s way too sick in the head to lead anyone.” Holly said

“That leaves you momma’s boy. Holland teased.

And so that’s how I came to be the dorm leader.

-

The next day, when we were going out for roll call the instructors explained to us our class structures and handed us our timetables.

“I HAVE NO FREE TIME!!!” Luike screamed

That was the general sentiment in the air.

“Let me see your schedule!” Holly said as she grabbed it out of my hand. “It’s not fair! You get so much free time? HOW???”

“Jeez keep your voice down Holly!” I pleaded.

But the damage had already been done.

Three male cadets walked up to me, as Holly backed away

“Well if it isn’t the boy of that lowlife old lady?”

That remark alone made my blood boil.

“Someone locked up my dad, said he was a human trafficker. And ever since then I’ver been looking for a reason to vent out my frustration.”

“You think you can just skip classes, and graduate before the rest of us.”

God I have never met dumber people in my life.

“So you’re angry at me for a schedule I did not create? Are your heads big for no reason, or do you need to inflate your fatherless ego by picking on someone who actually has a parental figure in their life?”

“You wouldn’t DARE”

“The lowlife talks!” one of them went.

“Man, he’s pissing me OFF with all his yobbering.”

It looked as though they were about to turn away, but then they turned around and attempted to gang me.

I dodged each and every single one of their blows.

They tripped over their own feet, and the entire hall slowly enveloped in laughter.

“YOU DARE HUMILIATE US LIKE THIS? YOU MUST NOT KNOW WHO MY FATHER IS!”

“Your father is locked up WIlliam, so please stop this rubbish before I send you to cool off."

“C-c-c-commander sir!” his voice whimpered.

Chuckles could be heard all around the room.

“ATTENTION!”

The Commander then opened the floor for each instructor to demonstrate their field.

The Physical instructors put on a wonderful display of a sword fight, but I could sense that they were nowhere near as powerful as Grandma.

After they had finished, I clambered off to class.

-

I learnt of the laws of the land, natural, positive, tort, criminal, contract. The whole lot.

In addition to that, I wrote home quite often, as I told them of my escapades. Both Grandma and Mara were in good health, so I could focus on completing this academy ever so much quicker.

-

“You know,” I spoke one night while we were getting ready to sleep.

‘What’s up?” Holly responded.

“I thought I’d face a lot more stigma, but surprisingly, I haven’t really faced anything since the William brothers.”

“Oh yeah, there’s a reason for that” Luike responded

“Its because all them stuck up royal, noble bastards are all at the campus in the capital.” Holland interrupted.

“Yeah, everyone here practically comes from lesser houses, or no houses at all, like you. So the playing field is more or less equal.” Luike continued.

“But even so, wouldn’t aspirations give way to some misplaced pride?” I asked again.

“That would’ve been the case if it wasn’t for those accursed preliminaries. I mean, granted we aren’t really from a house so to speak.”

“But we got the wealth to match them lesser house stuck ups” Holland interjected.

“Yes, regardless. Preliminaries had everyone intermingle in a forest for three days, where we had to survive on the FrUiTs Of ThE lAnD. I mean, me and Holland were quite fine, because we’ve grown up in the forests all our lives, and we stumbled across Luike who wasn’t so bad either.” Holly continued

“Oh c’mon you guys are too modest, I SUCKED at it.” Luike said

“Well you at least had dignity in doing so.” Holly responded.

“Ye, you didnae run around like a spoiled brat screaming which house you were from and how they’d ruin the academy for having them engage in filth.” Holland said.

“By filth they probably had folks like us in mind more than they did nature.” Holly said.

“So that’s why when we saw you, we were so hostile. The only people who usually get a free pass on preliminaries are well royalty.”

“So we thought you were gonna boss us around, think of us as yer playthings.” Holland continued.

“But I’m glad things turned out the way they did.” I said.

“And we wouldn’t have it any other way.” Luike added.

They all agreed

“Oh and yeah, the only reason the brothers couldn't go to the campus in the capital was because their father got outed as a human trafficker.” Holly said

“By Red Mask no less!” Luike said.

“I joined the corp to be like him yea.” Holland said

“Yeah he’s quite the character!” I chuckled.

“And I’d marry him on the spot…” Holly said, almost drooling.

The rest of us stared at her.

“WHAT!”

-

I was by no means the brightest, but I put the work in, and it paid off. During our first set of exams, I passed with flying colours.

“UGH I CAN’T DO THIS” Holland screamed,

“What's wrong? I asked

“I failed my physicals. No matter how much I try, I can’t seem to pass my physicals.

“Us too.” Luike and Holly said in unison.

“Why?” I asked again.

“Everytime we go to practice our sword skills, our practice swords always turn up missing.”

“It was those boys. The deputy mayor’s boys. Oh God Job why did you have to mess with them?!” Holly pleaded.

“I did nothing to them, what happened was because of their own doing. But why didn’t you tell me? We’ve been here for four months now, and you haven’t thought at least once to tell me?”

“It’s not like we didn’t try fighting em off! But the bastard can wield Karma for cryin out loud?! What are we suppose to do den?” Holland added.

“Well, what are you gonna do, fight them? It’s three against one, besides they’re top of the class! What are you gonna do about it?”

“There’s a reason why I was deemed fit enough to skip physicals yk?”

“Well even then, him wielding Karma puts him out of our league!”

I only chuckled slightly.

Then I grabbed my claymore from off my bunk, and demonstrated my understanding of Karma.

“BY THE GODS!” Luike screamed.

“Keep your voice down!” Holly snapped at him.

“You dirty dirty dog! You’ve been meaning to tell us that you can use Karma?! And the glow’s noticeable too! Good God we’re witnessing a prodigy right before our very eyes!”

“So et be!” Holland continued.

I was about to show those riff raff why I was the Dorm leader.

-

The next day, I confronted them.

“Well look what the study chewed out…”

“Are you messing with my dormmates practicing weapons?”

“So what’s it to ya punk?”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

They pushed me repeatedly but I held my ground.

“This is a curious outcome.”

The Commander entered the scene.

“C-c-commander sir! We were just teaching this cadet his place sir!”

“And how did you plan to do that?”

“S-s-sir…”

“Challenge him to a duel cadet. That is how we resolve disputes around here”

“Y-yes sir!”

“I, WILLIAM RUBERT, DORM MASTER OF DORM FOUR, CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL.”

“I, JOB HENRY, DORM MASTER OF DORM SEVEN, ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE.”

“To ensure fairness, I will be overseeing this duel myself.” the Commander said.

The stands slowly filled, as curious students and lecturers alike filed in.

Not long thereafter, the Commander signaled the beginning of the duel.

“BEGIN.”

William charged at me wildly.

It seemed as though he was underestimating me, which was a huge disrespect to me. So to return his favour, I did not unsheathe my sword.

Instead I dodged blow

After blow

After blow

After blow

He then stopped, and began concentrating heavily on his sword.

The faintest Karma manifestation had arisen. But both the sword and the Karma were fighting against each other, so its effectiveness was severely limited.

“Now I’m unstoppable!”

He lunged again, and again, and again.

And time, I dodged.

When I finally unsheathed my sword. I disarmed him immediately, and sent his sword shattering, almost to dust.

He looked at where his sword had been in horror.

“Too slow.” I taunted. “You have no enlightenment.”

Despite the duel having concluded, he lunged at me again, in a fit of rage.

I slashed him in the stomach.

He fell down, and wailed in great pain.

“You keep making things hard for yourself.” I said as I walked away.

I walked towards the other sons, and they dropped my dorm comrade’s swords immediately, as they scattered in different directions

The crowd was going wild.

And I became an incredibly popular figure after that.

-

“JOB! WAIT UP!”

“Huh? Oh it’s you three! How are you?”

“We’re alright! We’ve been busy with classes and exams, but we’re alright regardless.” Holly answered.

“You know doe, Job, we gat a question for ya. Remember right before the match, I think it’s been almost a month now, when ye showed us ya Karma manifestation or whatever they call it?”

“Yeah.”

“We was thinkin, why didn’t ya reveal it in the duel ‘gainst them traffickers boys?”

“Well, because I didn’t need to. His Karma manifestation was incomplete, dare I say, it seemed to have been fighting his sword. There was no need for me to manifest it on my part. Besides, I’ve never really fancied showing off.”

“Oh Job darlin, you’re way too modest for your own good, have you ever felt the touch of a woman?”

We all turned to look at Holly again.

“WHAT? I was just askin, sheesh. Can’t a girl be a girl?”

Just then, an echo rang out through the school.

“JH1806, PLEASE REPORT TO THE COMMANDER’S QUARTERS IMMEDIATELY”

“What did you do wrong now?” Luike said, as we were walking down the corridor.

“No idea, but I’ll head on down and I’ll let you guys know.”

“Alright.” Holly and Holland answered.

I walked down the corridor, and turned onto the hallway leading up to the Commander’s quarters. It was no different from a throneroom, but I suppose they were trying to be modest.

I entered his assistant's office first.

“Ah! It’s nice to see you, Mr. Henry! Please have a seat, the Commander will be with you shortly.” she said with a smile.

“Thank you Mrs. Atkins.”

After some time I spoke

“Say, Mrs. Atkins.”

“Yes luv?”

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Project your voice throughout the school.”

“Ah, I use amplification magic. It’s not that fancy really.”

“Wait, are you a mage by chance madam?”

“No, no not in the slightest. Mage’s died out centuries ago, I doubt many people even remember they exist. I just speak into this sphere of condensed Karma, shake it up, then release it.”

“Oh by amplification magic I thought, it was something you could do on your own.”

“Oh no, no, I just use this old thing. It’s probably thousands of years old, who knows.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll leave you to it then.”

I had been in this room many times before, but it was the first time that I noticed the portraits on the wall.

They were all of the various Protection Corp Commanders over the years, it started from the first, up until the present, Commander Murphy.

While I was busy looking at the paintings, Mrs. Atkins signalled for me to head inside.

I nodded as I walked past her.

-

“If it isn’t our star cadet!” the Commander said brightly

“Oh, sir, you’re too kind.” I replied.

He let out a hearty laugh.

“Well, I’ve called you here to inform you that your 6 months of training has concluded. You’ve excelled in your condensed legal training and are by all accounts a legitimate Protection Corp Officer. Not to mention, your dorm mates aren’t that far behind you, you truly are an exceptional young man.”

“Why, sir, I-I don’t know what to say!” I stammered. “Thank you so much!”

“No, no, this is all you. I must say though, I’ve grown curious of the power you possess. I’ve seen you train in the nights, and your power is comparable to that of a senior officer.”

“How Senior, sir?”

“I’d say a decade. And while that is in no way comparable to me, at such a young age, I fear you’ll overtake me pretty soon at the pace that you’re going. So show me Job. Show me your power.” He continued. “I, ALTRON MURPHEY, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE PROTECTION CORP CHALLENGE YOU, OFFICER JOB HENRY TO A DUEL.”

“I-I sir!” I stammered. “I accept your challenge.”

“GOOD! You are dismissed, Officer Henry. I look forward to our duel tomorrow.”

“As do I.”

I told my dormmates of what transpired.

“YOU’RE FIGHTING THE CHIEF??? AND YOU’RE AN OFFICER? A CERTIFIED OFFICER?!” Holly screamed.

The entire hallway erupted in murmur.

“YO YE LOWLIFES, LETS CONGRATULATE JOB FOR BEING THE FIRST OF OUR BATCH TO BEAT THIS CURSED PLACE.’ Holland rallied.

One clap became two, then two became three. The applause slowly grew louder.

“Well, goodluck with your fight tomorrow bossman, we’ll be right there at the front watching you kick ass.” Luike said.

“Or you getting your ass kicked.” Holly teased.

And so it was made known to the entire school that I would be dueling the commander.