"Yes! I'm so proud of you my young Padawan," my otaku self exclaimed.
"What do you mean," I asked myself as I walked down the hallway trailing the scent of food from the dining hall.
"Like in all good stories, your power is finally being realized. Your the protagonist in the story so naturally as the story progresses, your power does too. Your becoming op is what I'm saying."
"How am I becoming op exactly?"
"No! My young Padawan, what had come over you in the last minute... your mind is slipping. Once you have full access to your 'Mastermind' skill then you could literally take over this whole kingdom and use it like your analogy... ants and bees was it? Hive mind? Yeah that one..."
"But I don't want to take over the whole kingdom..." I had no intention to take over a kingdom, all I wanted was to protect my students and any others who needed help.
"Padawan! Your disappointing your teacher here..."
"Guys, guys! Focus. Aren't both of you forgetting something here? Like the reason why the guard had come to us in the first place?" My logical self was like the voice of sensibility and reason, like the friend in the group who would drive his two sorry ass friends home because they drank too much. I tried to rack my brain on what he was talking about...
"Rex!" I shouted and then I stopped walking and looked around. Servants and knights were staring at me with raised eyebrows. I should really stop this... I sighed and continued to walk, hoping the embarrassment would fade.
I finally reached the doors to the dining hall and opened it. The aroma that waft into my nose was intoxicating and mouthwatering. I felt saliva building up in my mouth and was ready to breach my lips. I walked in and instantly spotted where my students sat. Platters of plates of food lined the table and as I walked towards them, I could see that some of my students already had food on their plates.
"Sorry to keep most of you all waiting." I raised an eyebrow mostly directed to Sam who was still eating.
"Sorry sir. You were taking too long," Sam was munching on a bone as he spoke. "Food are meant to be eaten before it gets cold."
Hannah who was sitting next to him, elbowed him.
"Ow! What was that for?" Sam questioned as he rubbed his arm.
"Mind your manners," Hannah retorted, disgusted by Sam's attitude. "If your going to keep eating, don't talk. It's rude to talk with your mouth full."
Trying to ignore these two antics, I noticed that Rex was not here.
"Where's Rex?" I asked with a hint of concern as I sat down at the table next to Luke.
"Oh. He's over there with a..." Luke said, pointed to a table next to ours and then whispered, "girl."
I looked to where Luke was pointing to and saw Rex sitting with a really pretty girl. Rex chuckled at whatever the girl was saying and the girl did the same with Rex. I knew Rex was shy with girls but seeing him this animated with a girl was kind of adorable. The girl was almost the same height as Rex from the way they were sitting. She looked incredibly beautiful and knightly? She was a knight from the armor she was wearing and when I looked closer, there was an insignia on her left breast plate, the silver hawks insignia. She was in Sara's company which gave me a bit of relief since I knew Sara trained all her knights in her company.
The girl looked seventeen but has a mature elegance to the way she conducts herself. She's definitely from nobility I thought as I watched the two interact like I was a proud father watching his son talk to a girl for the first time. I could see Stella watching too and since Stella is his childhood friend, I could tell she was also proud of him. She had been trying to get him ready to find someone but... as all help goes, it's just not the same as doing it by themselves.
A thought just appeared in my mind as I watched the two. If some of my students created a life here, what would happen after, when we found a way back home? Would some of them stay or would they leave? I hoped when the time comes, they would make the right decision but was it right? That's the hard question. I should probably ask myself this too when it comes but for now this was too precious to question.
Rex noticed me staring so he asked the girl something and she nodded. They both got up and walked over to us. I stood up from my seat with a bright smile on my face. Should I greet the girl like a proud father or a proud teacher? Wait aren't they kind of the same? I know that I'm not actually Rex's father but in this sentimental situation, I damned felt like it. I hoped somewhere back home, Rex's real father was also proud of his son and would probably say, "Good job, Son," if he saw the girl he was with.
"Sir, this is Rona Lanison. She's from the silver hawks, the company, Sara is captain of." Rex was all smiles as she introduced her.
I extended my hand out as Rex introduced me, "And this is my teacher, Mr. Ryan Huang."
Rona accepted my hand and we shook.
"Nice to meet you," I greeted, to her response, "likewise."
I then slapped Rex on the shoulder a couple of times like a buddy would to a friend who had just done something amazing.
I offered Rona to sit with us and she graciously nodded. As my students invoked a conversation with Rona, I could easily see why Rex was so enamored with her. Whilst she was graceful and elegant, she was also goofy and easy going. I could already tell that Rona would fit in with us very well even though she was in a prestige company like the silver hawks. Dinner went really well as some of my students made a new friend and Rex had made himself a girlfriend? I surely hoped so, love develops over time after all.
I slept really well that night after seeing all the happy faces on my students at dinner. The next morning my class of students went to the training grounds after we ate breakfast and Garret greeted us with a 'Good morning' in his usual gruffy hoarse voice. Once we all were there, Garret asked us to do some warm ups first before we got started. He made us do some light jog on the spot and some mild stretches of the arms and legs.
"You all look bright today, good because I have a lot to teach you before you're ready for the tower. First, I'll teach you hand to hand combat. In any battle, what ever it is, our most basic yet effective and always available tool are our hands. We use our hands everyday, our hands are versatile. Our hands could take, save and defend lives. Our first exercise is to train your hands so when danger comes, you can defend yourself."
Garret paired us up into pairs and had us start with the action of grabbing the other person's arm and pulling them towards ourselves. I was paired up with Kevin who was an outdoorsy type. He loves to go on hikes or do all those crazy things you would see on YouTube like gliding down mountain tops in wingsuits. I was surprised at how good he was even though I was holding my own too.
A lot of these maneuvers were familiar to me since I did a little of Wing Chun when I was young. I had twisted my ankle a lot so my mum took me to a Chinese master who used some kind of herb paste to put on my sprained ankle. It felt better after a few times and then the master asked my mum if she would allow me to do Kung Fu and she agreed to my dismay. I wasn't into active things, most of my interest lie in playing computer games and watching anime. I spent three years doing Wing Chun... I would say it did help me coordinate myself a bit better and had a significantly less sprained ankles. I could faintly hear my master yell in my mind, "Ah. Ha, Success!"
Once everyone got the basics down, Garret showed us some of the more complex maneuvers, he had Rex come up to use him as his partner. Garret showed us some pretty cool tricks and Rex was keeping up. As the demonstration was winding down I thought I felt a strange feeling wash over me, as if people were watching us... in a panic I swiveled my head around to see if anyone was but everyone was doing their own thing and wasn't paying any attention to us.
The guard told me last night that the king's guards were watching so it must've been them but I couldn't see them. They must've been evaluating us and with the performance Rex just showed, he was becoming the perfect candidate... shit. I needed to act, to do something to make myself the perfect candidate so that I would be the one being taken... I didn't know how, I was mediocre at best and Rex showed everyone that he was the most capable in keeping up with Garret.
Suddenly a war cry brought me out of my helplessness thoughts. A company of female knights marched towards us. They were beautifully marching through the training grounds and when they stopped in front of us, it was a sight to behold. Sara led the group at the front with Rona a step behind her. Garret greeted them as they lined up, it was the most breathtaking sight I've ever saw and this wasn't the first time I saw them but it felt like it.
Standing in front of us was this kingdom's elite female knight's company, The Silver Hawks.