"Run for ten laps around the Colosseum."
"Eh." I was skeptical: Why am I doing this? Is it because I lost?
"What? You didn't hear me?"
"Right away, ma'am." I hurriedly answered and ran around the Colosseum.
Before I could completely leave, she said something that made me confused.
"I don't know why you did what you did. But I will have a chat with you afterwards."
I then ran around the colosseum, and before I knew it, it was nighttime, and I was the only one left as I finished my last lap.
"It took me this long because of how ridiculously large this place is."
"Was I lenient? I guess I should have made it a hundred then."
"Ms. Ria, good evening."
"Here, let's eat as we talk about your actions earlier."
She gave me a pack of food that seemed to be from the cafeteria.
"Okay, thanks, Ms. Ria. I opened it up as I expressed my gratitude."
"Well, then, let's eat."
"As time passed, we were done eating."
"So why didn't you fight against him seriously?"
"....What do you mean?" She seems to have caught my actions earlier, but for now, let's act confused.
"Just like I said, you could have fought him toe-to-toe and possibly won. But here you are, just taking all this nonsense."
She looked exasperated as she stared at me. Seeing this, I thought that I needed to change her view of me.
"You must have seen it wrong, Ms. Ria; he is the Berserker Knight. There is no way I would be a match for him."
"You already gave yourself away when you ran around the Colosseum without breaking a sweat."
'Oh shit. She got me.'
"Plus, I am from a warrior family. It is quite obvious to us to find strong people especially when looking into their eyes."
"Was there something in my eyes?"
"Yes, I saw boredom and worry in it. Others might not have noticed, but I would. So a piece of advice: you have potential; don't waste it."
She said as she looked at me. So can you please explain the reason behind your actions?
Hearing her words, I answered.
"I don't want to lose my chance to have friends. I gave her an appropriate answer."
I mean, it's not wrong; I just need to find a way to have a peaceful life. And avoid getting mixed up with those who tried to kill me and those who hated me.
"Hm. What do you mean?"
"Because of what happened this morning, I had become the worst enemy of everyone."
I explained to her and continued.
"And since I am going to be staying in this place for a long time, I need to find ways for people not to hate me."
"That's stupid."
"She said as she looked at me with disappointment."
"Why do other people judge who you are? You are a strong person. Why not just use your strength to show them who's boss?"
Hearing her say that I was speechless. But then again, I heard the people at her place are quite peculiar indeed.
"I guess all this time, Ms. Ria has always used force to solve every problem you face, huh?"
"What are you talking about? There are some things you can't use brute force on."
"That's exactly what I meant."
Hearing what I said, she stopped, and slowly the look on her face changed.
"Oh, so that's why. You're right. The opinion of the masses is hard to change no matter what you do unless you outsmart them."
"See, that's the reason."
"So what happened early this morning was not intentional, huh?"
"Yup, that's right. I myself don't know, but the nurse said it was because of fatigue from lack of sleep and nutrients."
"That's weird; did you just train without much sleep?"
"Um, I think the nurse meant I studied overtime for a long period of time consequently."
"Huh? Oh yeah, you said you were not a combat-focused student. What are you then, a mage?"
"No, I'm a production-type focus class."
"What? With that strength. Good thing you are still young; your path is still undecided. So before you become a complete production class. Let's train hard, yes?"
"Uh, sorry, I appreciate your concern, but I'm pretty sure there is a clause in the handbook stating you can't force a student to change their mindset for their class."
"That's true. But that doesn't mean I can't influence you."
She said as she looked at me with a huge smirk.
After our conversation she left, and I took a quick bath to clean my sweat and changed my clothes then returned to the dorm.
~~~~~~~~~
I was really glad Ms. Ria brought the food with her. Thanks to that, I had no problem with my belly rumbling from not eating.
I walked as I thought about that in my mind, and upon arriving in my room, I saw that my roommate was already there, sleeping with a loud snore.
Zzzz,zZZZZzzzZ.
It was so loud that I was surprised. And I started to question whether he was really asleep.
But since I don't want to intensify his anger more than it already is, I tried to go to sleep for now.
I was also glad he didn't touch my stuff.
Still that snore. I didn't really know the reason for this, but I think it has to do with a vial he drank last night.
It might have some properties that prevent snoring. Let's just think about that later and sleep for now. As I tried to sleep, his snoring kept me awake at night.
The next morning, I was surprised by the time.
'Why the heck, dude? Forcing myself to sleep I woke up with a little allotted time left.'
I hurriedly moved on to my next class. Why the heck did this happen now of all times? As I complained to myself about what had just happened.
And just as I arrived, the teacher was already there doing roll calls.
And with perfect timing, I was called.
"Cole Angles."
"Present!"
"Okay, next is–."
She continued her roll call. As I moved to my chair and took a seat.
Bam!
Without notice, I fell out of my chair. and it was seen by many.
And without surprise, they started snickering. I guess they planned for this to happen, huh?
"What happened, Mr. Anglos, are you okay?"
"Yes, Prof. Jane."
"If that's so, then let's get a new chair later. For now, you can use my chair; after all, I will mostly stand in this lecture."
"Thank you, Prof. Jane."
After I followed her advice, the class continued.
Some were bummed about what happened, while others kept on laughing.
"You guys can stop laughing because a lot of you failed yesterday's quiz."
Hearing this a lot, there were pale faces.
"Here are those with disappointing scores."
She said as she announced the students who didn't reach the target score.
"Good thing I wasn't one of them."
"Those who failed will write reports to me by the end of the week. Since we will have another class that day."
Everyone was devastated about their punishment. But still they listened attentively because their future was on the line.
"And the topic of your report is the discussion we will have today. And this is something all newcomers would question when arriving here."
She stated that she uses magic to write on the board.
"Even though it is written in the handbook. Many still don't want to review the book as expected. But still, this will help broaden the understanding of both those who read and those who don't, especially those who read, since there might be problems they want to know the answer to."
She then continued after drawing a figure of a human and something that could be considered as their roots.
"As we all know, we are born with roots from birth. and this will mature at a certain age. And once that happens, it will grow to become a strong tree, and the next phase will be called bloom"
She stated the basics that are now common knowledge but as she continued there are parts that supplement our ideas and come to prove my conjectures.
Right now my root that was once grass in a plain land became a bamboo after the coming of age ceremony.
"But here we can't change one's root but the path of our expertise making it bloom to something we like to call "Fruit" from the saying fruits of one's labor."
But this is one mistake they have but might also be understandable.
Since I might be the first and only to change my roots to my wants and needs. But with a cost in which something a child can't bear to take.
So I guess it is understandable for everyone not to find a way to nurture a child's root and directly affect their paths in the process.
Unless they would torture a child to do the same thing that I had faced.