In their second year of studying, Mariel and the others came to class as usual after having a few weeks off at end-of-year exams. They encountered a surprise that made them excited.
"Eh? A field trip to a large valley near the village, including a two-night stay?" A group of girls exclaimed in surprise.
"That's right, students. The headmaster wanted all of you to relax from studying. We've just passed our first year. So, we wanted to find some activities to do together." the female teacher explained.
"Yes! Let's go." The girls all raised their hands and felt excited to go on this field trip.
"The headmaster has already asked permission from your parents in advance. Tomorrow, we are meeting in front of the school and preparing your belongings for a two-night stay." the teacher added.
"OK!" The girls immediately agreed.
(I had to go on a field trip. Very interesting. I had never experienced these things before. I had always lived in an orphanage. So, this was a chance to have a good experience.) (Chai thinking)
The teacher distributed a sheet with a list of equipment and clothes that the students would prepare to put in their backpacks which included various regulations and activities that will be done together during the two nights of stay. As for raw materials or other appliances, the school would provide for them, including the places they had already reserved.
Once school was over, Deric and Claudia came to take Mariel home, they talked about field trips and overnight stays.
"Listen to your teacher, Mariel. Don't break up the rules, don't go anywhere alone and stay with your friends." Derick said.
"During the night, don't go out alone too. Just stay only in your room. If you go to the bathroom, always bring a friend with you, or call the teacher to accompany you." Claudia added.
"Okay, Dad and mom." Mariel agreed.
Everyone returned home and helped prepare clothes and various equipment such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, towels, notebooks with pens, flashlights, and more.
Mariel was so excited, so she could hardly sleep. She laid down and read the regulations for going on a field trip each day in detail over and over several times.
"Day 1, visit a zoo in another city and visit a fishing village. Day 2, visit important ancient place where people in past eras used to fight. Including visiting the flower garden. I am so excited!"
(The more I read, the more I want to go these places. That's why I am so excited that I couldn't sleep. It will be an awesome field trip.) (Chai thinking)
The next morning, Mariel showered and got ready for the field trip. She came down for breakfast and then went to the barn with Deric and Claudia to embrace her beloved pony, Unicorn. Then they rode to the school where there were 3 large school buses waiting. The medium-sized vehicles were able to accommodate teachers and more than 30 students.
"Enjoy your trip, Mariel." Claudia said goodbye and kissed Mariel on the cheek.
"Don't go anywhere alone. Stay with your teachers and friends, OK?" Deric said, giving his daughter a tight hug.
"Alright, I have to go now, goodbye." Mariel said goodbye and waved her hand. Then she joined up with her female friends in the line.
"All students have arrived. Our school bus for Year 2 would be red. We would have to match boys with girls. You could talk and get to know each other." the female teacher said as she brought out a box with a girl's name on it. The boy would be the one to pick them up. And then, when they were all gathered, they would announce again who they'd got.
(Mariel turned to look at the 3 school buses. Year 1 would be a yellow one, Year 2 would be a red one, and Year 3 would be a blue one.)
Frederick stared at Mariel. Then he slowly reached down and picked up a small piece of paper, then sat and talked with his close friend who was standing next to him.
"I got Shiki. Who did you get?" Frederick asked his friend.
"I got Mariel. So, let's exchange? I'd rather talk to Shiki. I wanted to get to know her better." another friend said, handing over a slip of paper.
"That's nice!" Frederick smiled as they exchanged words.
"Alright. Who got Shiki?" the female teacher asked.
"Me!" The friend next to Frederick raised his hand. Then they paired up, got on the school bus, and sat together as the first pair.
Then several other boys began calling out names and pairing girls up to sit in the bus. The male teacher put all their luggage's in the back of the school bus. They stood and waited on the bus to introduce seats to the students.
"Did someone get Mariel?" the female teacher asked.
"It's me!" Frederick raised his hand and the paper in his hand with a smile on his face.
"Yes, It was Frederick. Congratulations, Mariel." Glory said.
"You two really belong together." Tiara teased.
"Please don't said that." Mariel said.
"Let's get on the bus." Frederick said, gently taking Mariel's hand to lead her onto the school bus. This made her a little stunned.
"Okay, just a boy. It's nothing. Don't think too much. We're just friends" Mariel thinks on her mind.
Once the students in all 3 grades along with all the teachers boarded the school bus, it was time to leave. The three school buses drove off to the east of the village and passed through a large grass field dotted with people waving to teachers and students as well.
Many animals came out to find something to eat in the grass and looked at the school bus passing by without any fright.
The students were fascinated by the surrounding scenery. Whether it was nature, forests, various types of animals and the villages passing by. It felt like they were relaxing and made a smile.
After about 2 hours, they arrived at a zoo. The students came down in pairs for all three years, with the teacher leading the group of them to see a variety of animals which were very similar to the past world. There were animals that looked similar like monkeys, tigers, lions, rhinos, and horses, but there were also many animals that had never been seen before, especially all aquatic animals. It was like a large fish with a long mouth and sharp teeth. It swam back and forth at speed. This also included strange, shaped whales that had never been seen before.
The students were watching the performances of the aquatic animals with joy. At noon the school brought lunch and distributed it to everyone which included rice, many side dishes, desserts, and fruit juices. After eating until they were full, it was time to watch a special show in one of the domes.
After a while, a large red dragon appeared from the side of the dome. This dragon made a loud noise and continuously spewed fire from its mouth. Then it aimed at the targets and breathed fire, burning them all. It made overwhelming applause from the students and teachers. There were also many fun shows from this dragon. Sometimes it teased the trainer by slamming their tails onto obstructing objects until they scattered everywhere. Nevertheless, it teased the trainer until he fell to the ground. It caused a lot of laughter from people.
After watching the show until the end, they all took the school buses to the fishing village on the border of this area.
The three school buses arrived at the parking lot. They met a group of fishermen who were already waiting to welcome. After greeting each other, they were taken down to the sea below.
"Hello! Headmaster and students." said a grandfather with long white hair. He appeared to be the oldest of the group of more than 10 fishermen but still looked a bit strong.
"Hello! Today I would like to take the students to see the fishing village." the headmaster replied.
"Sure! Come! we were having fun for hunting fish now." Grandpa said.
When everyone had come down to the sea, the front was not very far away. Several large fishing boats were approaching the port but there were a group of 2-3 people floating above the sea as if preparing to hunt the last fish.
"Oh, they found a really big fish. A good show was about to begin." Grandpa said with a smile on his face.
Suddenly, a 6-meter fish rose above the water and was attacking the three fishermen who were defending in front of it.
"Go to the side, both of you." A muscular young man with tight muscles, tan skin, dark features, and short black hair commanded.
The other two followed suit and began casting water magic energy at the large fish until it got hit many times. The person who gave the command created several large waves of water surrounding the large fish that couldn't escape anywhere.
"I would block the escape route of this fish. Attack!" the young man ordered.
"Understood, boss!" The two subordinates answered immediately.
Water magic bullets shot non-stop into the large fish's body until it began to weaken. The young man turned to look at the shore where everyone was standing and watching. Once he had his sights set on the area where he could drop a big fish there, he slowly gathered all his strength.
"Go to that area!" As soon as he finished speaking, the young man cast a water spell that gathered all the waves of water into one large wave. Then the big fish floated into the sky and blew towards the shore, not too far from the fishermen and others.
!!!!!!!!
The sound of a large fish falling onto the seashore made a loud noise and the ground shook throughout the area. The students were so amazed by this action that they had to applaud loudly without stopping.
All the fishing boats began to unload fish from the boats, which were so numerous that they formed several large piles. As well as preparing to be separated, selected, and sent on to sell and sent according to the lists from other villages. As for this large fish, some fishermen helped to fillet it and put it in a box for the students for free. Then the fishermen lead teachers and students to see where fishes, shrimps, shellfishes, crabs, and many other aquatic animals were kept.
"For your visiting us, you can take all of these as your wishes." said the fisherman who were the village chief with a smile on his face.
"Yes! thank you." The students thanked to fishermen very much and had a box of aquatic animals to choose from, such as shrimps, shellfishes, crabs, and various fishes which they took all.
"I was going to make my mother's old fish soup recipe." Claire said as she picked up a medium sized fish and put it in the box.
"Then I would make the sashimi that cut the fish out and eat it fresh." Shiki said.
"So, Mariel, what would you cook?" Syndra asked her best friend Mariel, who was carefully selecting shrimp, shellfish, crab, and a little fish to put in a box.
"I thought I would make a seafood fried rice dish." Mariel said while thinking of a good recipe.
"Very good, I really wanted to eat fried rice." Other friends agreed with this idea.
"May I eat your seafood fried rich too?" Frederick, who was not too far away, asked, the other boys' stomachs immediately starting to growl as soon as they heard the menu.
"Sure, let's all eat it together." Mariel said and smiled in response.
"We would make the whole fried seafood menu. Lol" said another boy in the group and it made everyone want to eat very much.
Once the students and teachers put all the seafood in boxes, they put it away in the back of the school buses, which had equipment for storing fresh foods. Then they went back to visit the fishing village, looked at boats of various sizes and listened attentively to advice from Grandfather's leader.
The students wrote down as many details as they could remember because after the field trip, they had to write an essay to send to the teacher this week for extra points for Year 2.
(Second year students will have an additional 100 points from field trips, behavior, and other things. A total of 600 points. The 5 subjects are studied as in Year 1 as usual, but with much more content than before.)
In the evening, they all said goodbye to all the fishermen and took the school buses to a place that was about an hour away from the seaside, continuing to the north until going up a small valley.
The accommodation was a medium-sized building of 4 buildings, with signs for Years 1, 2, and 3 clearly posted in front of the building. The last building belongs to the headmaster and other teachers. Some of both male and female homeroom teachers of each grade year would also sleep over the students in the same building to keep a close eye on them.
When they arrived, they brought their luggage's into the accommodation, where each person's bedroom was ready chosen. Every student had a small bed and a small bathroom in the room with the name clearly marked in front of the room. They all separated boy's and girl's zones on the left and right, and there is a teacher's room between the front of the building and the back of the building. The male teacher's room was at the back. The female teacher's room was in the front too.
"At night, don't go out alone. If something happens, you must call the teacher at any time." the female teacher warned again.
"Yes! Teacher." the female students responded.
The group of boys also responded after the male teacher gave them a similar warning.
After that, everyone came out into the wide area in front of the accommodation building. The headmaster had prepared the ingredients for dinner. The students divided up the duties of who would cook rice, cook foods, and make snacks. Some of the students volunteered to make desserts as well.
The male and female teachers use fire magic to light the student's for making meals while closely supervising them. They also waited to give advice and watched out for another fire.
Mariel's friends started boiling fish, making fresh sashimi, and other dishes. Mariel used a pan to stir-fry fried rice with the utmost carelessness of a professional cook. As for the group of boys, they cut shrimp, shellfish, crabs, fish and made a menu of mixed seafood and fried foods until the aroma spread all over.
"Anyway, let me try the mixed seafood fried rice, Mariel." Syndra smelled the fragrant fried rice and immediately came over.
"Sure." Mariel replied with a smile and picked up a spoon and scooped up a bite of fried rice and handed it over.
"Wow! Very delicious." Syndra closed her eyes with the deliciousness of this fried rice and felt happy.
"Let me taste some." Other boys and girls crowded around and asked to taste one bite at a time.
Mariel also scooped the same amount onto a spoon for each of them, which everyone raved about the deliciousness this time.
"I would do it for all the teachers and other students too." Mariel said.
"Thank you very much." the headmaster smiled happily.
(I was very happy that the fried rice I made was pleasing to everyone's taste. It was no shame that I learned to cook with Mother Claudia for a long time.) (Chai thinking)
"If I could invite you to come at my house and cooked delicious food for me to eat every day, it would be great." Frederick praised after tasting this fried rice and was happy too.
"Oh, that's good!" the other kids agreed.
"Maybe…" Mariel said with a little shy which everyone laughed and enjoyed.
(Children in this world were a bit different from my past world, made friendly relationships between each other Even though it felt a bit strange but it's also fun.) (Chai thinking)
Everyone shared the food they made together. Then they sat and ate together in groups until they were satisfied and full. They sat and listened to the next day's regulations from the headmaster which including about the funny stories from previous years that caused laughter from everyone.
At night, they all returned to the accommodation building, checked the names one more time before going back to each other's rooms, taking a shower, dressing in pajamas, and then resting from exhaustion.
"Tomorrow would definitely be fun, visiting the battle sites from past eras. It was better for me to get some rest first for fully energy." Mariel said before extinguishing the light from the lamp which was hanging next to her bed and falling asleep from exhaustion.
While everyone was asleep, the forest next to this place gradually began to have a strong wind blowing around it. Then, a mystery girl appeared, staring at the building inside with a strange smile.
"Who would I meet tomorrow, let's wait and see." said a ghost girl wearing a long, sheer white robe before slowly disappearing.