Lost in thought for the rest of the walk, Alesha was surprised when they arrived at their destination, a fair-sized courtyard closed off on three sides by the castle and a wall on the fourth. Several wagons stacked with cages lined one side of the yard. Dozens of soldiers milled about around them. At their current distance, Alesha couldn't distinguish what was in the cages. Meanwhile, the System murmured incoherently in the back of her mind, unresponsive to her requests to be quiet. She wished it would shut up. First, the System was malfunctioning, now it was muttering incoherently in her mind? If this continued, it would drive her crazy.
It wasn't long before they had crossed the yard and stopped near the wagons. The ground had been covered with a thick layer of straw, which crackled underfoot.
"Quiet, Heroes," Captain Swallow barked from an elevated wooden platform, silencing the whispers of conversation. For some reason, the System also stopped mumbling in her mind, which Alesha was grateful for. "This will be your first test. Various subdued monsters are in the cages off to your left. One by one, each of you will put a monster to death. These monsters are strong enough that you should level up once or twice. This will get you used to three things: first, the act of taking a life, second, the sight of death, and third, the sensation of leveling up. I've been told that it can be surprising enough to be distracting mid-battle, which distraction could prove fatal. To be distracted in battle is death. We cannot afford to have our Heroes defeated by something so ridiculous."
"Once again, I will emphasize that although this training exercise will seem harsh to you soft folk, it is only for your own good. This is not the comfortable, safe world you are from. To ensure the effectiveness of this training, my soldiers will take note of who does not cope well. Anyone who looks away from the sight of the slaughter will be punished with 100 push-ups. Am I clear?"
A chorus of nervous affirmations followed. Just who was this woman, who could so callously talk about making students kill monsters just to acclimate them to the act and sight of death?
The Captain called up the first student to the platform. A group of soldiers followed, carrying an orange, cream and black wolf with a long tail and bony spinal plates along its neck and hindquarters. It was tightly bound in heavy steel chains. They dropped it at their feet, where it growled and thrashed in a futile effort to break free.
At the Captain's request, the too-handsome student introduced himself: "I'm Jake, and I'm a Dragon Knight. I'm a little nervous, but since you say it's necessary, I'll gladly do this so I can save your Kingdom!"
"Thank you, Jake," she replied with a nod. It was hard to tell whether she was being genuine or not. Then, she presented him with a long, black knife. "Take this and kill the Hell Wolf. Its bite is venomous, but it's been muzzled, so all you'll need to worry about is if it hits you with the spikes on its tail. Whenever you're ready, begin."
Jake gripped the knife tightly in both hands, steeling himself. He walked up to its neck and swung the long knife down, cutting into the flesh, but failing to deal a lethal blow. Hands shaking, he clumsily swung again and again until he finally managed to sever the wolf's head from its body. A golden swirl of light danced around him and he staggered, gasping and smiling widely. "Woah, that feels amazing!" He said enthusiastically. "That would definitely have been distracting if it happened in battle."
He then seemed to realize what he'd just done, and dropped the knife, covering his mouth as he gagged. "Can I… am I done now?" He asked.
"Yes, well done," the Captain replied. Looking at the small crowd of students, she clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. Jake wasn't the only one who looked disgusted. A couple of the students had vomited at the grisly sight. And, as promised, there were soldiers writing notes on who had reacted poorly to the sight of death.
A few soldiers retrieved the Hell Wolf's body, a new student was called to the platform, and a new Hell Wolf was brought to her. She was only the second student, but she was one of the ones who had puked. She still looked quite pale. "I really don't like this," she said quietly, but unfortunately for her, everyone could hear her just fine. "I- I'm Cadence, the Saintess."
Captain Swallow handed her the knife, which had been wiped clean of blood. "Kill it," she commanded authoritatively.
Cadence's whole body was trembling, not just her hands. She looked like she might vomit at any time. Kneeling by the wolf's head, she gripped the dagger in a reverse grip with both hands, and, steadying herself, stabbed it decisively through one eye socket, aiming for its brain. It died quickly and a golden swirl of light enveloped her. She left the knife in its corpse, ran, and vomited off the back of the platform, continuing until she could only dry heave. When she was done, a pair of soldiers helped her off the platform and propped her up between them to continue watching, despite her protests. "I killed it, I killed it, please don't make me watch more of this! You're so cruel!!" She cried, tears streaming down her face.
Alesha didn't feel well herself. The sight of the first wolf's death had been worse than she'd expected, though the sight of its blood made her salivate. Just because she'd been a carnivore for a while didn't mean she was used to seeing a creature's insides -- she usually just ate pre-cut meat, without ever having to see the animal she was eating. The squelching sound of the knife as it plunged into the second wolf's eye hadn't been pleasant, either. She could too easily envision herself being killed that way.
What would the Kingdom do if they discovered she was half-vampire? Did a vampire count as a demon? Would she be killed like that, just because of her species? She shuddered to think.