"I wish it would rain."
"Huh, you say something, Toril?"
"Hmm." I chuckled through my nose. Took a deep breath. Stared deeper into the seemingly endless sky. "No." I turned. Then felt something within me smile after seeing Lucia, staring at me with her bulbous eyes. Quickly looking past her, I saw the others. Roheisa, Amethyst, the Amazonians, Teofila and Ale, Zohnos the Triton, and a dwarven girl named Thordrohilda.
"Nothing important." I turned back to the sky, sighing heavily.
They were good company. Good people. A little too good for my taste, but good all the same. Fairly strong too, but not as strong as the two fiends on my and Lucia's team. Many of them and more were on the list of being vetted to follow us upon our return to Maru. And in time, they would.
But first, I needed a way to stave off my boredom.
The lessons learned thus far have been remarkable and it's been nice to have some time off, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat underwhelmed by the Bodhi Tree. Sure the campus was… magical, and I've met races that I never even knew existed, but everything we've done so far was no different and no less difficult than what we went through back home. Our outing, while interesting, felt like nothing more than a field trip while followed Olga, rattling on and on and on.
Like Amun, I wanted to be free. But unlike him, I wanted to explore the realms and fight, rather than explore and learn. And I found it exceedingly difficult to wait.
But still, I could only imagine what Amun was going through.
"Hey, Toril?"
"Yeah?" I smiled at Lucia without even turning to her.
"I know we aren't supposed to discuss it. But. It's something I've been struggling with." She hesitated to let out a strong sigh. A rare occurrence. "What have you thought about your oath?"
"My oath, huh?" I muttered.
It was something I thought of many times. The Paladin's Oath. A sacred commitment- a conviction, applied to one's life for the sake of divine power.
In my youthful naivety, I dreamed of swearing to redeem my name. Then Amun and I had our first real talk.
After that, I dreamed of swearing to protect Amun when he needed me most. And then I learned that such a time would never come.
At that point, I struggled. I was a knight, outclassed by his master to such a degree that I'd only get in the way if I attempted to blindly help him.
But still, I was tasked with leading his living army in the near future. And I was gifted with the freedom to chose my own path in life.
Eventually- just recently, I came to realize.
"The oath is only part of the equation," I muttered. "I realized, the question to ask is, what do I want to do with my life? My answer was to bring the O'Connell name to greatness. To raise a family. And serve as the commander of Amun's army in life and death. Once I had that figured out, the oath came naturally."
"So." She inched closer. "What is it?"
"If you really wanna know, ask Amun what my nickname is." I snorted.
To which she began pouting and turned to face Roheisa and the others. Giving me a few more minutes of peace before it was disrupted by the doors swinging open with a bang.
"Oh! What say you, Toril? About the fantastic duel we were privy to yesterday?"
I didn't even need to look to know who it was. Zarzok's deviously charming voice could be distinguished from a city away. I could practically see the crimson skin, swept-back horns, and crimson eyes staring tantalizingly at me while he awaited my reply.
"Why do you care?" I groaned.
"The powerful attracts the powerful, wouldn't you say?" He slyly asked. "He's undoubtedly one of the strongest in the class, much like you."
"Quite humble of you." Zohnos chided
"Oh, don't get me wrong." Zarzok chuckled. "I'm undoubtedly on that list as well. I'm only interested in the opinion of a rare equal."
While Zohnos through a fit, I peered out the corner of my eye to see the other tiefling standing behind him, staring off to the side disinterestedly. Phelaia was her name. A woman with violet skin and silvery eyes. With ribbed horns swept back across the top of her head. Unlike Zarzok, she was a lot less talkative, non-confrontational, and thus an unknown in terms of power or personality.
"Out of curiosity, who else applies to that list."
"Undoubtedly you, Lady Deapou." Zarzok smiled at her. "Phelaia here, under the right circumstances. And of course, dear Toril. Ash, obviously. Perhaps Bazzric Baal. Your companion, Corundum." He snapped his finger at Amethyst. "And, of course, the big three, Amun, Lance Morningstar, and Zeke Silva."
"Neither Lance nor Zeke have done anything yet." Zohnos retorted.
"An indicator that you are not one of us." He smirked at Zohnos, much to the Triton's dismay. "The strong recognize the strong."
Speaking of, I wondered why Zarzok forfeited the team leader position to me and the party leader position to either Zohnos or Roheisa, yet manipulated his way into dueling against Edgar. Even after Roheisa won, it was as if he didn't even care.
More so, it seemed like he was satisfied with the outcome.
"So, what say you, Toril?"
***
"I assure you, Jaimess, he is a very wise and powerful man. Allow me to introduce you to him."
"We've met him as well." Elijah palmed his chest. "Lady Opal and I."
"I'll introduce myself to him if I see him." I sighed. "But I don't see any reason to go out of my way to do it." Nor did I see any reason to tell them I was raised alongside him. As his vassal. Serving as his left-wing.
For whatever reason, I let them continue operating under the assumption that I didn't know him. It wasn't as if Amun told us to act like strangers towards him, only to make our own contacts- our own friends, while we were here. And that's exactly what I aimed to do.
"I'd rather focus on getting to know my party and teammates," I said.
"While that is wise, it is also wise to remember we are in competition with the other teams in our party. Knowing the opposition is preferable to ignorance."
"Not everything is a competition, Corundum." I groaned.
To which she abruptly and contemptuously spat. "You are wrong!"
Rather than arguing, I simply rolled my eyes and walked off to nowhere in particular. Taking me past many of the other fantastical races found in our party. Rhot and Snusz Silentjaw- the lizard-folk and kobold were chatting in the corner. Ed and his squad were outside; evidently arguing, as well as Elijah's squad lounging about near the kitchen.
More or less, they were people I've already made contact with and none of the ones at the height of my list. So I left the courtyard and entered the halls to be hit by a potent wave of blissful peace that I could soak in for hours.
While the common room wasn't particularly loud, it may as well have been when entering the root-like corridors. It was a couple of hours before noon so everyone was either lounging, studying, or socializing. Which made for a nice and quiet environment for me to lose myself in.
With my hands thrown over my head, I aimlessly wandered around campus, nodding at the occasional passerby while I pondered everything from Classes, to my future.
Eventually, I made my way around the outskirts of the campus and made my way back towards the hub by noon. Knowing the first wave of students would be headed to lunch, I decided to turn just before the auditorium to take a roundabout path back to the dorms.
With a level-headed and an eagerness to resume the task at hand, I put some pep in my step and racked my brain for any individuals with the potential to become an ally or friend.
The problem was, Amun had given us no real guidance or idea as to what we should look for during our time here. To me, that translated to him wanting us to choose individuals that we wanted as subordinates.
Or friends.
Not that such a translation made it any easier, for I was teamed with a pampered knight, a proud Triton, Corundum, and Bazzric, the angry dwarf. A melting pot of proud and arrogant personas that I was sure not even Amun could've tamed. And the other teams weren't any better. There were more Epethians. More abrasive dwarves. More passionate warriors. A hot-headed half-high orc. Some brooding reptilians. And, the strangest pair of all- Lance, and the half-giant who never talked but always smiled, Zeke Silva. A blend of temperaments that were incompatible with my own.
It went without saying, I wasn't like the others. But in ways, we are all similar to Amun.
Ed had long since grown out of his meekness, but he still cared for tools and trinkets far more than he did people and he shared an obsession for tinkering and science with Amun that none of us did. Giorno shared Amun's wanderlust and passion for discovering the art and cultures of far-off civilizations. Only, Amun was interested in the cultures that'd been lost to time rather than the ones that existed in modernity. He shared Toril's love of fighting but rarely found a worthy opponent. He cared for people, like Jonet. But he cared even more for animals and the dead.
He shared my introversion, intellect, and obsessive industrialism while simultaneously being a lazy, charismatic leader.
And as much as he didn't want to admit it, Amun shared Letta's greed. Yet, his avarice was focused on the abstract instead of the material.
We were all capable because he made it so. But even then, I found it exceedingly hard to make friends with anyone outside of our circle.
Not even the one who aligned the most with my temperament.
"Oh, hey! Diamond Jaimess!"
I saw him long before I heard the horrid name and an equally horrendous and awkward chuckle come from the lips of the golden boy. He was lanky, like Amun, but stood just below two meters. With golden hair and sun-yellow eyes, he was the object of every girl's eye and, quite hilariously, comically awkward.
He wasn't clumsy. Just…incompetent with his words. In a way, it seemed like he was out of place no matter where he found himself standing. A stark contrast from the other Sorcerer in our class.
While I wanted to know more about him, I wasn't going to go out of my way to bother him. Surprisingly though, here he was. Approaching me on his own accord.
"Lance." I nodded to him and he nodded back in the awkwardly carefree way of his.
"What do you intend to become?"
'The fuck?' I calmly raised my brow. "As far as Classes? Can you be more specific?"
"Well, that." He chuckled and looked away, shrugging with his hands. "And after. You graduate, I mean."
"In terms of Occupational Classes? I'm not really sure." I shrugged, then began tapping my chin as if I were thinking deeply on the topic. "There's Alchemy for sure. But, beyond that? Maybe I'll be an Artificer. Or maybe a Ranger? A Beast Tamer sounds interesting. Or, maybe I'll join a guild or do some exploring on my own. I don't really know." I shrugged again. "Anything that will let me explore and cultivate knowledge."
"Explore and cultivate knowledge." He looked away, scratching his chin as he slowly repeated the words before turning back to me with a warm smile. "That's good. Yeah- no, that's- yeah. That's good. Okay. Uh. One more." He glanced at the door and let out another awkward chuckle. Then turned back to me with an abrupt seriousness that was off-putting, to say the least. "Do you know Amun?"
"I know of him." I blankly nodded and waited for him to speak again. No matter how long it took.
"Would you mind introducing me to him?"