Tina offered the students a smug smile enjoying thew sight of her towering over them as well as the image of them being below her. But she wasn't stupid.
She was well aware of the fact that they didn't like her in fact it was very far ,from the facrt. She knew that they were only doing this because they knew she was stronger than them and they didn't want to get caught in her cross hairs any further,.
But she didn't mind that fact. She would much rather be feared than loved. Being loved wouldn't get her anywhere. And now that she knew that she had the upper hand in the matter she knew that she could do whatever she wanted.
"I know the lot of you don't particularly like me. neither are you welcome to he idea of submitting to me. But let us all get something straight. That is the fact that the only way that you are going to be getting out of this forest alive and the only way that you are going to be able to successfully complete this course is with me." She announced. The students didn't answer her immediately and she took their silence as agreement as well as encouragement for her to carry on.
"So if you want to graduate and actually become a powerful mage you are going to have to stick with me. because you idiots would have been long dead if I wasn't there to help you out." She vowed.
"If you try to fight me again I can assure you that I will not go easy on you next time. So how about you work towards saving your strength in trying to protect the rest of the team rather than fighting against your leader?" She cackled out to them.
There was an ominous silence which followed after that as Tina thought of a suitable punishment for what they had done.
She may have decided to go easy on them but that didn't mean that they would be let off the hook or that they would be able to go unpunished.
"You all may stand back up." She called out as her voice echoed through the forest. She watched as they all stood back up to their feet as some of them let out relieved sighs from their lips.
"Now it's time for me to punish you." She announced.
She watched as they all looked towards her with shock and she turned towards them with raised eyebrows. "what did you think that you would go unpunished? She asked and one of them spoke up. "We went down on our knees and asked for forgiveness." He said to her in both shock and confusion.
She let out a light chuckle at his words as she shook her head. "Do you hear yourself. You attacked your leader with the certain intent of killing her and you think that I should go easy on you. Let me ask you a question. if you were in my position would you go easy on me?" She asked him.
He was quiet as he cast his head down. but he didn't need to answer her as she knew the truth already. "You see I may be lenient but I am not a fool. As far as I am concerned no crime will go unpunished. And if you were able to carry out the act then you should be able to take responsibility of the consequences." She said to them. Her tone was raised causing some of the students top flinch as a few of them took a few shaky steps backwards.
"the rest of you can go but the seven of you that were involved you can stay right where you are." She said to them with a glint in her eye. They gulped as they sucked in a deep breath.
One of them stepped towards her. "what do you plan to do." He asked her. She hummed placing a hand on her chin as though she was in thought.
"I say that no food for two days for the lot of you. Hopefully by then when you are on the verge of starving you will be able to realize the importance of food and you will also be able to thank those that provide it to you." She announced.
She watched as they gasped as they widened their eyes at her and they trembled in their spots.
"But we can't survive that. If that happens we will die." One of the boys said to her. She only shrugged her shoulders at him in response to his words not seeming to care one bit about his own turmoil.
"Well that is quite unfortunate but maybe you should have considered that and thought about that before you tried to kill me. I may have seem easy enough for you at the beginning but at least now you can set an example for the others." Tina said and with that she turned around to leave.
Dick stood to the corner as he watched the scene unfold before him. His classmates were almost boiling with untold anger and fury.
He could tell that if they were given the opportunity to do so at that moment they wouldn't have hesitated before they ended Tina.
A smirk made its way onto Dick's face at the sight. It seemed as though everything had set itself up. Even without his own input his plan had managed to find a way to come together.
And he knew that now was the right time for him to strike and it would be perfect tie for him to get his revenge on Tina.
She had better watch her back because she was about to be knocked off her own high horse and she was going to be pushed off her throne. Once Dick was done with her she would be unable to recognize the bully and tyrant that she once was.
…
The students continued to travel together for thew next three days. Things were tense as although Tina continued to boss the students around they were a bit more reluctant to go through with her orders.
The students all seemed on edge and although they feared what Tina would do to them if they were to refute her they didn't hold back from. Voicing their disdain with their words.
The students that shew had decided to punish were finally allowed to eat on the third day. They had barely made it through the two days without food and only being able to live off water.
The whole time Dick kept to himself as his thoughts were focused on the goblins as well as his plans. He took little mind of Tina asnd he did whatever she asked with h]little protest. He knew that it would all be over soon enough and so he would be willing to take whatever insults she threw at him for now.
By the third day they found themselves soon approaching thew northern province. Dick decided that it was time for him to check his map in order to make sure that the goblins were still coming in their direction and thy would meet up with them soon enough.