4.1 Magna Forest: Aurora

After our first week at the academy—which was mainly focused on the introduction to what our future here at school would look like—we'll be preparing ourselves for our first test: Capture the flag in Magna forest.

The teams had been decided quickly because of each class’s eagerness. Ours will be the third one to set out to Magna forest on Wednesday the earliest. There won’t be more than one class in the forest at once, but a test can take longer than a day, hence why it’s still uncertain when exactly we’ll be taking part.

For today however, after the morning classes, we’re free to do whatever we like. With at least a Tuesday to spare, we’ve got a day and a half to polish our strength, magic, strategy or whatever we think we might need.

Team 6, under great influence of Odin, has decided to take this Monday off to rest and leave strategizing and whatnot for tomorrow. If I were solely at the helm, we would’ve started last week…

Well, either way, it did give me yet another opportunity to head to the library. I’ve only been there twice, both times on the third floor, so that sets up the perfect chance to explore another floor today.

After ascending the stairs, with the intention of going to the fourth floor, I got tired midway and settled on exploring the second floor today.

The instant I walked through the library’s doors, I noticed that the interior differed not one bit from the third floor’s one. Only the content of the shelves isn’t the same—I suppose the view from the windows is a tad bit different as well.

While browsing through the shelves, I felt an awkward sense of presence… that feeling one gets when someone is staring at them.

I turned around, scanned the room and caught some eyes behind glasses staring through a shelf.
I walked towards the other side to greet the person who those eyes belonged to.

“Oh, it’s you, Leith. What a rare occasion, meeting you on this floor.” Her eyes were locked to mine, just as they were the last two times.

“Yeah, I’m still exploring the campus. What about you, Aurora?”

She put the four books clasped in her arms on an empty spot on the shelves, then picked the one on top off and showed it off. “I was looking for this book, titled ‘Ferdiad: the Second’ It’s an historical novel that takes place in the regnal era of King Ferdiad II. The first second-born son to be crowned king in Twynne’s history.”

That Ferdiad II is the late father of our current king Ferdiad III.

“Oh…” That sounds like something I’d pick up out of curiosity. “Let me know if it’s any good, then I’ll add it to my list.”

She smiled, “Sure! It’s 247 pages long, so at my normal reading pace, given I read the minimum amount of pages I’ve set as a daily target per book, which is 53, then I’ll be done with it on Friday at around noon.”

“…No need to rush or anything, just read it whenever you like.”

“Oh, I won’t rush it or anything! If I could I would be reading all day,” she giggled.

I found myself smiling at those words… “Yeah, I guess I would be reading a whole lot more if it weren’t for the upcoming test.”

“Oh, a test?” She lifted two of the three books up, put them aside and showed me the one on the bottom. “I just found a book on study tips that you could borrow before I do. I have no test any time soon after all.”

“That’s kind of you, but that’s not the kind of test I meant, we’re getting dropped in a forest in a ‘capture the flag’ style contest.”

“Capture the flag…?” She tilted her head, her eyes eagerly awaiting an explanation—at least that’s what the glistening of them made me think.

“Let’s sit down, I’ll explain it.”

The two of us sat down in the couches positioned exactly the same on the other end of the ceiling. With her books placed in her lap and both her hands adjusting her glasses, she said, “All right, I’m all ears.”

“Okay…”

I told her about how our class got divided into six teams, the tacticians with the role of team captains and my team members.

“…And basically, we’ll be setting up camp in Magna forest. Each team will be assigned a colour that will match their flag. The goal is to find out where other teams are, steal their flag and take it to your camp without getting caught.”

“Woah! So what exactly does getting caught mean? Is it like tag?”

“Not exactly… we’re allowed to use magic and weapons to take each other out if they refuse to surrender.”

Her eyes widened. “So… So… So people could die during your test?”

“Well, no… you just have to surrender. We’ll also be protected by the goddess Nerva’s blessing, keeping us from getting harmed to a certain degree. It’s the same spell granted when two people battle it out in an arena, to ensure neither of them actually die.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Either way, you’d be a fool unworthy of a Royal Guard title if you would continue fighting after Nerva’s blessing broke.”

“I see,” she thoughtfully nodded. “One with overbearing pride has no place here is what you’re saying, right?”

I nodded. “Sacrificing your life is the noblest thing one could do, but that’s only when we’re talking about real life scenarios. I suppose this test is more focussed on strategizing, putting theoretical situations into practice and working as a team.”

“Mmhmm, I get it.” She placed her fist near the bottom of her chin and started muttering words I couldn’t hear.

“Um… Aurora?”

She placed the books next to her, stood up and then clenched the books in her arms again. “I have to go now, but it was a great pleasure to talk to you. Until we meet again.” Her eyes seemed more bubbly than they had ever done before.

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

That was abrupt…

Right after she left, I decided to cut my library exploration short and head out as well. Upon opening the door she walked out of, I didn’t see her in the hallway. So even she breaks the rules and runs through the hallways when she’s excited huh…

Once in my room, I did little other than talking to Odin.

“—And that’s why I think he didn’t do anything wrong. It was all with the intention of doing everything right for his people.”

“…You’re wicked!” I retorted. “He killed the entire ant colony because they stole a single drop of honey!”

We were discussing the children’s book titled “Ladybug Knight and King Honeybee”. For some reason somewhere along the way, it got really heated.

“That honey was precious to him! It was the last bit of honey his father ever made! Don’t think lightly of it!”

“Fair, but it was no more than a single drop that wouldn’t even be visible to our human eyes! And the rest of the ants were innocent!”

Dohman, who was mostly silently observing, butted in, “Um, sh-shouldn’t we take this moment to discuss strategies for our test… m-maybe…”

“Shut it, Dohman, this is urgent business!” Odin yelled out.

I fully agreed with Dohman, but I couldn’t let Odin act on his right to have stupid opinions.
“King Honeybee is not some misunderstood good-guy, he’s purposefully written evil, so that children learn that when you mistreat others, you won’t have an happy ending!”

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue, probably the seventh time in as many minutes. “Argh! Forget it already!” His anger faded away. “Let’s talk about how cool Ladybug knight is!” He said with a dumb grin on his face.

Now that the discussion is no longer as heated, I didn’t feel like talking about a children’s book anymore. “Nah, Dohman is right. We need to focus on tomorrow.”

Even when all three of us agreed to place our thoughts on the challenge ahead, no real progress was made… at all.