NOTE 12

It was exactly two months since Alanka first set foot in the academy. Not much different an ordinary high school, there she also studied basic education such as natural science, social science, maths, civics, law and order, economy, and others that according to the Ministry of Education’s curriculum. For general, she can follow all of it quite easily. It’s only social studied and art that she finds a little difficulty but she can still handle.

Other than that, she spend most of her time training, which is held every morning and evening, before regular and after class is over. The training varies from simple warming up to the sparring with training bots. She also learnt various exoskeleton suits including the one she used for her first sparring match. And of course, the use of firearms.

“Remember, the use of firearms is allowed because you are under the patronage of the academy,” said Asih as she stood between the students and the firing range. Her face looked more serious than she had ever seen. “You all must know this already but let me remind you! Any misused, you will be punished! Firstly, you will be expelled from the academy! Second, you will be put on trial! Third, and if you are lucky, you will be imprisoned for life! Do you understand!?”

“Yes, ma’am!” everyone responded.

“Then, you can go to your respective booths.”

Alanka and other students followed the instructions. As soon as she stood in the stands, she could see the handgun much clearer on the table in front of her.

“That is a model 24,” shouted Asih. “That model is the weapon that will accompany you for the first term. This time you will only be practicing with dummy rounds. You going to use the real round when I deem you ready. Got that!?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Then you can start!”

In that instant, the shooting range was filled with the loud flicking sound of the collision produced by the dummy bullets and the target. Everyone had already started using it, but not Alanka. She just stared at the gun blankly.

“What’s wrong, Maidengard?”

“Nothing.”

After being told off, Alanka gripped the pistol in her hand. She could feel it, just like when she held the sword. She quickly cocked the gun before inserting the magazine and flicking the safety off. She looked at the target and shot.

After spending most of the day with academy stuff, she trained with Thia at night. She asked to teach how to fight, how to defend herself, and most importantly how to master oneself. They used the training room provided right in the basement of the dormitory right after curfew. The room itself looked like a fitness centre with a sparring arena in the middle.

“You’re sure learnt fast,” said Thia as she flipped around the dagger in her hand. “Two months and you can already match me.”

“You’re just being humble.”

“No. No. I’m serious. You can probably beat Karangka easily now.”

Alanka remained silent. “One more.”

Thia stopped playing with the dagger and prepared her stance. The two stared at each other for a while. Both are no wearing their Inchi, purely training using their own bodies and skills. Thia was the first to move. Without any hint or hesitation, she immediately rushed straight at Alanka with both hand pointing her dagger forward and aiming for her throat.

Alanka replied immediately. She firmed her footing and waited but not for long. As soon as Thia came into range, she slashed wide enough to make Thia stop and jump back. Seeing her opponent lose momentum, Alanka struck back. This time she combining thrusts and slashes. When Thia jumped back, she would stab. When Thia dodged to the side, she slashed. When Thia parried her attack, she would try to disrupt Thia’s balance. This continued until Thia created distance.

“Good. Good. I can feel you’re more confident when you attack me. And you keep trying to corner me.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Then why stopped?”

“One must know when to stop pushing.”

“Very good. Very good. But that’s not enough. You should keep pushing.”

“No need to worry. I intend to do so.”

Thia rushed again just as Alanka finish her sentence. This time she responded by doing the same. The two met and exchanged attack. Thia who had a shorter attack range continued to cling on tightly, forcing Alanka to keep half-swording rather than giving her space to utilise her longer attack range. But it doesn’t seem to have much effect.

Each of her attacks was successfully parried and then followed by counterattack, either with a slash or a jab using the pommel. She had to do something if she did not want the fight to be dominated by her. Then she grinned.

Despite seeing it, Alanka continued to push and try to take control of the fight. Although Thia continued to stick to her, she could feel that over time she was countering more and more. One attack was met with two or three counters from her. Now she just needed to stay alert to whatever plan was making her grinning like that. Right, stay fo—

Just as Alanka tried to jab again with the pommel, Thia grabbed her hand. She pushed until it touch her shoulder. Alanka tried to break free using her other hand, but was also grabbed. Now both hands in her control, Thia hooked her legs and pushed her down. A loud thud and groan could be heard in sync.

“Not bad,” said Thia, looking proud of herself. “Maybe I was wrong about you winning against Karangka.”

“I agree.” Alanka tried shaking her head to get rid of the dizziness.

Thia got up from on top of Alanka and stretched out her hand. “Please give my thanks to Cakra. His move is fun.”

“I will. But what about your dagger?”

“My dagger? Ah, it’s—”

“She threw it at me.”

The voice was familiar. Alanka immediately turned her attention to the direction the voice was coming from. Not far from the entrance of the room, the headmaster Dirja stood with a pale face and a dagger stuck not far from his face.

“Is there anything you need, headmaster?” asked Alanka.

“Well, kind of.” Dirja pulled out the dagger. “But first, what is this, Thia?”

“I apologies,” said Thia and bowed. “But the fault lies with you, headmaster.”

“Oh? Care to explain?”

“As I stated in our previous meeting. Outside of school activities, I will be active as Alanka’s bodyguard. If you don’t make your presence known, like knocking on the door for example, I will consider you hostile.”

“O-Oh… right.”

“So what do you need with Alanka?”

“Aren’t you being too cold with me?” whined Dirja. He could only sigh as Thia silently waited for the answer. “I just wanted to tell you that tomorrow your class will be assigned outside the academy.”

“For what purpose?” asked Alanka.

“Just exploring the ruins. Putting into practice what you have learnt over the past two months. You know, the usual.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Are you not excited? Explore the ruins of cities and factories and destroy hordes of automatons. If you are lucky, maybe you will run into some scavengers or hunters. You can bang bang or swing swing as much as you like there.”

“We can die too.”

Dirja’s gaze instantly changed, he looked at her with seriousness. There was no exchange of words for a while, just staring at each other.

“That’s impossible!” laughed Dirja and it was a genuine laugh. “After all, you kids are class thirteen. And that is also the second reason why I came here to tell you directly.”

“And that is?”

“To check if you can be assigned this task.”

“But I still lost to Thia.”

“Losing against Thia is a natural thing! Like you breathing in air,” said Dirja. “Not just skill, but experience and that you don’t remember anything at all are the main reasons. Even with all those factors you could have cornered Thia like you did. You have my approval!”

“If you are that confident in me.”

“Of course I am! You are the Maidengard after all!”

“Maidengard…”

“Ah, you don’t like it when I call you that?”

Alanka shook her head. “I will keep your trust, headmaster.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Now for the last reason!”

“There are others?”

“No, this is really the last one.” Dirja glanced at Thia before looking back at her and cleared his throat. “It is a tradition to have a party before sending students out of the academy. Usually this party is held in the common hall, but since it’s the class thirteen’s first assignment, this party is only for all of you. And we will also invite special guests!”

“Who?” asked Alanka.

“The parents of each student!”

In that instant, her eyes are wide open.