Chapter 172 - Internal Conflict

After making the harsh comment the newcomer and the girl in the back corner started the hopefully last of the staring contests that Jien would have to watch occur. The shorter girl was able to hold the gaze of the spear wielder with just enough animosity, though hers was born more out of irritation. The smaller woman even went as far to let out an almost bestial growl, refusing to give in to the intense gaze. Jien did not know what to do about the predicament at all. He had only met these two women unlike his companions of the prior years. He wasn't even sure if he should try to take a leadership position in this group even.It was several long minutes before Jien finally gathered up the courage to try and break up this contest. Nobody else seemed interest in trying to get in the middle of it, everyone sticking to their own groupings. The tall girl, Robyn somehow inserted herself into Jien's prior cohort with an ease that nobody predicted, becoming fast friends with the cheery Rosalind. The other three seemed to be their own one-man forces.Just as Jien took an awkward step forward to finally break up the show of animosity and try and get everyone to at least introduce each other the screen that Jien had been inspecting earlier lit up with a soft white light, drawing everyone's attention. Even the moody short girl and the spear cradling girl in the back corner looked at the screen as if trying to intimidate it into submission for interrupting them. They seemed to be willing to take their staring contest to the point of an actual brawl and the screen had become a barrier to that interaction.Despite the intensity of their glares the screen continued to glow until suddenly the image of General Algerd came into focus, almost the same as the projection that had been brought into existence during his speech. His handsome face was presented up close to all first years in all rooms. He remained silent for a few short moments before speaking, his voice ringing through the room as if the walls themselves were his speakers."Congratulations to all of you for joining with your units. These people in the room with you will be your friends, will be your rivals and will grow to be like your very family over the course of these four years and hopefully into the future. You may have your doubts, some of you likely have already found yourself in certain levels of conflict." The projection held a certain knowing, almost mocking smirk on its face at this statement."Know that your unit mates are not chosen by lottery, nor are they chosen to cause conflict. The system for these selections is one that you will not know, but know that it does not make mistakes, not in the hundreds of years of its existence has it ever made an error in its deduction. If you must, to create the proper pecking order for your units, duke it out with one another than I offer you an opportunity." These words drew the attention of the girl in the corner and the short, moody girl who had been last to arrive. Vicious smiles spread on their lips as they waited with anticipation to hear how they could face off against each other without getting in trouble."The training grounds will be open for the next week. You can schedule times for battle with your unit mates, under the watchful eyes of a staff member. Classes will start a week from tomorrow on Monday morning. Your course schedules will be delivered to your new quarters by Sunday evening. Use this week wisely. We do not expect you to be a coordinated unit by the end of next week but we expect you to have worked out your conflicts and figured out the roles of your members. Good luck and I look forward to seeing you continue to rise into the future."After these words the image of the young General faded away and an image showing how to apply for time on the training fields was shown. Immediately upon reading the instructions the girl in the back corner stood sharply, her movement drawing everyone's attention. For the first time she spoke, her voice clear and beautiful, like the resonance of a silver bell. "I refuse to accept any of you until you have proven yourselves capable of beating me."With those words she made her way down the stairs with the grace of a stalking lioness. Her movement was so smooth and agile that she was already at the door before anyone could even realize it. Her challenge rang in their ears as they watched her leave.A moment later the high-pitched tone of the shorter girl rang out once again. "Get back here so we can get this over with!" Despite her short stature, or perhaps because of it, she too seemed to slip away into the hallway before the others could track what was happening.Jien could only give an exasperated sigh before waving the others to follow and leaving to catch up to the other two. Why couldn't they just introduce each other like normal people instead of wanting to rip throats out? Why did everything always have to come down to conflict in the end?