It's been a week since Miss Ilmarë crashed in the house we were staying at. It was a relatively uneventful week filled with boredom and indolence. The only things we did the entire week was keeping up our morning exercises just like back home and some light studying under the supervision of Petra.
I did ask Petra if we could take some time off and have a look around the city for a day or two, but she firmly denied the request saying that we could do that after classes start. She didn't want us out and about because she didn't trust our manners on the off chance that we stumbled into a noble.
The proper etiquette one should have towards nobles was one of the things Petra drilled to us throughout the week. It was incredibly annoying. The significance in the angle of your bow, the correct jargon, the lexicon you have to use, proper table manners, posture and your walk. She taught us everything we might use in occasions where she might not be present to assist us.
I did complain to her that we were just commoners and that we wouldn't really even need to know noble etiquette, but she said that our attitude and results would reflect on our guarantor. That pretty much convinced me to fully buy in to the lessons.
Miss Ilmarë came by three days ago to drop off our IDs and told us to come by to see her on the first day of the academy. While it was technically the first day, there wasn't technically any real classes yet. For the first week, the students are free to go around and audit classes they may be interested in to apply for. They still have their mandatory classes regarding their majors and have to follow their curriculum as much as possible, but it was generally flexible.
Vera and I already told Miss Ilmarë that while we wanted to become a combat major, we didn't actually have a specific department we wanted to join. She gave us a choice of either becoming an undeclared student or taking a degree in general combat.
If we went undeclared, we would still have to choose a major before graduating. If we went with the latter, we wouldn't have to worry about that and just take the combat classes that we were interested in. The main difference between the College of Combat and the other colleges — aside from the obvious difference in scope — was in its graduation requirement.
As the College of Combat was primarily created to produce dungeon divers and soldiers, aspiring graduates must reach a certain level of strength. This would be tested in multiple ways such as personnel combat, real dungeon dives, and the like. This would be their thesis equivalent of the other colleges.
Vera and I decided to pursue the latter of the two choices and now we were officially students taking Bachelor of Combat, Major in General Combat. From what Miss Ilmarë told us, there were only a few who took this as a major because it was more difficult in some ways.
Dungeon diving was a dangerous, yet widely famous job. Countless stories of rags to riches have been written about real life figures, it embodied a kid's dream of strength, power, and exciting adventures. But, it was still dangerous.
So in all of those stories, the grim details were never removed. Rather, they were in fact emphasized when told to kids. The common missteps of those who doomed their parties, the various hang-ups that caused a fight to go bad, everything. Dungeon diving was dangerous, but society couldn't function without it. The world's reliance on manaliths as a source of energy made it that way.
This effort of cementing the realities of the dangers was an attempt to deter dungeon diving from those who weren't passionate about it. There was no adverts of 99% of divers making it big and any attempts of making light of the danger was immediately censured by the empire.
Because of all these, people who apply as combat majors in Vier Academy naturally knew about an unwritten rule in dungeon diving and in combat in general. A moment spoken between an up-and-coming newbie diver and a veteran dungeon diver in one of the stories kids all over the empire were told.
"Ey pops. How'd ya get so old while doing this shit? Fucking crazy man."
"Do one thing good, and make sure you're damn good at it boy. You're in a party, in a team. One of you falls flat, you're all fucking dead. So just do your job as best as you can and maybe you won't die."
This sentiment bled into everything these kids did. People saw specialization much more favorably when combined with team effort. If one wanted to be a general combat major, they're basically saying they can be just as good at the same thing as the people who specialized in it.
With the first day of the academy upon us, we dropped by Miss Ilmarë's office early in the morning with Petra tagging along.
"Ah. You're here. I'll take you to meet the COC dean."
"COC?"
"College of Combat."
With the academy being star-shaped, the different colleges held jurisdiction over the different rays of the star. The northern ray was under the College of Mana. The eastern ray was under the College of Combat. The south-eastern ray was under the College of Engineering. The south-western ray was under the College of Sciences. The western ray was under the College of Healing. The pentagon shaped area in the center served as the living residences of the students who lived on-site, malls, activity centers, restaurants, and everything a student could ever want.
We arrived at the Administrative Building of the College of Combat much in the same way that we took last week — by an Ilmarë-powered scooter ride.
She strode up to the dean's office without any care and kicked the door open. It was empty. She clicked her tongue. "Tch. I told that idiot I'd bring you two to meet him."
"Hey, where's that dumbass?" She politely asked some staffers nearby. "In Field 01."
She gave them her thanks and led us near the tip of the eastern ray. There, on an open grass field we saw a beastman. They were called beastmen, but they weren't really beasts. The only difference in appearance between a beastman and a human was their animal appendages such as ears, tail, or the like.
He was tall, muscular, and had wild dirty yellow hair. Protruding canines jutted out from his mouth. His furry ears and a short tail, the same color as his hair, had a spotted pattern. He was shirtless, only wearing a pair of cargo pants as he worked out in the middle of the field.
"Hey Berthard! I told you I was going to introduce someone! Why the hell are you all the way out here?!"
"Fuck off Ilmarë. It's my morning workout. Sit your little butt down and wait."
"Oh shut up. Anyways, these two are the ones I was talking about. Berthard, meet Dina and Vera."
"Alright, now shoo."
"You remember your promise, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. What? Do I need to change their diapers too?"
"Yep! Exactly. I'll hold you to that."
"Oh fuck off, you know what I meant."
"Anyways! Thanks! I'll leave these two to you."
She spun and grabbed both me and Vera by the shoulders, saying: "His words might be rough, but Berthard's a good guy. Don't worry."
She turned her attention to Vera. "Vera, you remember what Petra and I told you right?"
What?
Vera nodded and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, all traces of emotion disappeared from her face. Satisfied, Ilmarë smiled. "Good work. Good luck."
She left without any more fanfare, leaving the four of us behind. We only had to wait a few minutes before Mister Berthard finished his workout.
He finally took a glance at us, looking at us for the first time. "Oh! Petra, you're here too! You should've said something. You always escape my senses."
Berthard chuckled at Petra's lack of response. "Alright, let me see here. Dina and Vera, eh? General combat majors under the recommendation of Artanis."
He clapped his hands. "Okay! What that hag asked from me was to be especially strict with you and hold you to a high standard compared to other general majors."
Thinking I misheard him, I clarified: "Strict? Not be lenient?"
"Yep, strict. Prob cause you're recommended by Artanis is why." He grinned. "So, today. For the whole day. We'll be exercising and get you to turn up a gear. To make sure you don't complain, I'll be doing the same routine as the two of you. Hell, we can let Petra join in as well."
I looked at Petra, who nodded in agreement. So that's why she came with us. It wasn't just to show us around, it was to join us in hell.