Mirrond: Another week, another chapter. Yay m… us.

  Resus: I’d really like to incorporate actual fighting in the chapters… And when I think that so very soon I’ll be able to do that. Every chapter is a step closer to that. :D

  Mirrond: Hmmm…? Well, nevermind, i’m waiting for it too.

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  Chapter 14: Why I never wanted to become an actor in the first place

  ‘Teamwork Project’. From the moment I woke up today, throughout the carriage ride and unpacking in my room… The ‘Teamwork Project’ sentence has been following me. I can’t think about anything else anymore.

  Why, just WHY do I have a feeling that this will be yet another “We will make you all friends… forcefully” type of plan (like bonding with my cousin) that will surely horribly backfire!?

  I mean… Technically I know that it may still all end well for me. Somehow? But I’m painfully certain that it won’t. For some strange, unknown, reason (not from my blessing at that) I’m convinced that this plan to reorganize natural state of our little community here will be a disaster because adults don’t understand children… not in the slightest. Even I don’t understand children and in a way I’m one right now.

  I guess it all depends on who will be assigned as my teammates… I’m pretty sure that I can work pretty easily with Meritri and Kaelcy. Although I’m also sure that they would force me to somehow involve The Book into our Project, whatever it might be. On the other hand, if the teachers make me team up with, for example, Sabir… Well, even thinking about this hurts.

  But my time to wonder run out as all our teacher just came to our class to announce the teams they chose. We - the children - are sitting at our tables. Meritri and Kaelcy at my table are, just like me, watching the teacher intently. The Book lies on a table, abandoned for a moment. Seven young looking priests (I don’t know their exact ranks, but some sort of novices perhaps?) stand in a row behind the teachers. I can see the hydromancer priestess among them, the one that let me and Meritri out of the room Sabir locked us in. One of the teachers walks forward and the announcement of the groups begins.

  “Listen up children, this is an important project. This school’s main goal is for you to all get to know each other and rise above your differences. Unfortunately we noticed that after half a year of sharing the experience of learning you still didn’t understand this purpose. And so, we decided, that pairing you up with those who, for some strange reason, you don’t want to interact will help you get out of your shells and rise to better understanding of each other.” He use so many difficult words like ‘interact’ that I doubt kids understand him… all those blank stares. Even other teachers don’t look nearly as optimistic as him… and neither do I. “There’s twenty nine of you, so there will be six groups four students each, and one group with five students.” … Students? “Cleric Demie will read your names from the list. When you hear your name, come here and wait. After the whole group is gathered you will go with a Temple Novice assigned to you as a caretaker for this week as there will be no other activities than this project. Cleric Demie, you can begin.”

  Another teacher walks few steps forward. She’s holding a piece of parchment and proceed to read names from it.

  “Group one, Meritri Veles.” Well fuck. I look at Meritri… she’s shaking. She nervously look at me and Kaelcy a few times, but then… She stands up and walks to the teacher in front of the class. Seeing that the Cleric continues. “Kiera Veles.” Without any problems Kiera immediately obeys. “Lishu Mayaru.” One of three similar looking Foxmen kids stands up. He doesn’t look to happy about this… At least I think that’s the case since his head is entirely one of a fox. Wait… did Gavlan mention House Mayaru when he was describing the Great Houses? ... I don’t think so. He must’ve forgot about them, and I didn’t notice that we were one House short. Just… I just hope that it’s written in the Codex entry… to bad I can’t look into it now. “Bardla Bethdam.” Wet haired girl - hydromancer - stands up. “Zaetl Bethdam.” Huh? Another Bethdam? And they don’t like each other? No, I shouldn’t be surprised since it’s the same for my family. Anyway, the wet haired boy goes to the others and they all leave with one of the Novices - not the hydromancer girl.

  That quest about learning names of my classmates is going to be easier than I thought… Or maybe it’s my fault that I needed something like this to even complete it?

  The Cleric continues. “Group two, Shiya Mayaru.” Another one of three black furred foxmen stands up. “Naria Enlil.” A dryad. Her leaf-hair are in different shades of yellow, orange, red and brown… The colors of autumn? Variant of their race, or just something like different hair colors among humans? Hard to say. “Rilas Az-sar.” He doesn’t look too happy to be separated from his group. “Ysuth Ashur.” One of the winged kids. A boy, older than me. After he stands up he looks for a moment at his sister and only after that goes to the front and with the other three leaves the class alongside another Novice. One bully less to worry about, the nice priestess is still free, and so is Kaelcy. Maybe it won’t be that bad?

  “Group three, Tzene Bethdam.” Third and last hydromancer, girl. “Lorsa Nasha.” Gray furred foxmen boy… Unlike the Mayaru ones he looks mostly human except for his ears, tail… and claws. “Saamor Saorg.” As he’s looking at his teammates he actually resembles an angry bull. He doesn’t like one of them? Or both? “Jarax Taratze.” A crystalling… He doesn’t look bothered by all of this and immediately goes to the front. With that another group is full and leaves the class. Second bully is out of the picture, and the nice priestess is still free! Please, God, make Sabir go away too! I want to be in a group with Kaelcy, not with him….

  “Group four, Kaelcy Elidan.” She looks surprised. For a moment she looks at me with a weak smile on her face… and leaves me behind. Okay, now I just have to pray that I’ll also be in group four… “Sylie Ijo.” Another dryad. Green leaf-hair. One chance down… two to go. “Nyisa Ashur.” Winged girl. Sister of the boy from earlier… They look so similar that my blessing is screaming about their close kinship. One last chance, come on! “Skormah Thudran.” A towering (well… kind of) figure with a skin that looks like made of marble rise up, and join the group. That’s another person I don’t want to fight with. Damn, bye bye Kaelcy. At least a priestess is still free! Now I just have to pray to avoid being in a group with Sabir.

  “Group five, Mizariel Fanshir.” If I remember correctly she’s a catmen… She looks enturely human though. No, wait - her hair. They’re long and ginger… and striped. She has a pattern of black stripes all the way down her hair… like an actual cat, kinda like a tiger. “Selyi Ijo.” Last dryad. She looks very similar to the previous one. “Yucan Thudran.” Another titan… They seem cold and distanced. Even though they’re still kids. Maybe it’s just an effect of their looks. “Shilau Az-Sar.” Pyromancer girl. Younger one. She seems unsure what to do, but as she’s sitting at the table with Sabir… he push her. She almost fall of the chair but somehow manages to stand up straight. She still looks lost but leaves the class with her group and their assigned Novice without any further ‘accidents’.

  Only two groups left. Sabir’s still here. Priestess too. ? chance to end up with the SS-Boy, ? chance of having a decent Novice to guide us.

  ? chance to win… ? chance to lose… And ? chance to end up with half win half lose… I don’t like these odds.

  “Group six, Kinran Taratze.” Crystalling girl. Just as the other one, she immediately stand up and goes to the front with a neutral expression. “Ni’ren Veles.” Her face presents mixed feelings… I can guess that she’s relieved that most bullies are gone - even if Sabir’s still here - but why does she look troubled? “Tsuchen Mayaru.” Last of the foxheaded kids… My blessing whispers to me that it’s a girl… I honestly can’t tell by myself. “Yasar Nasha.” The other human looking, gray furred, foxmen boy… Wait… does that mean… only four people left, with me… and Sabir… included. No, no, no, no!!!

  Thankfully, the Novice that joins the sixth group isn’t the Nice Priestess. That’s the only light in this dark and scary tunnel called my school I can see right now… She will not let him kill me or anything, right?! It’s not even about that I actually fear death. It’s just that spontaneously reanimating from the dead would blow my cover in an instant. And I’m so not ready to take an Old God heads on… Wait, thinking about it logically, mentally I am an adult! I can be scared of some brat like that! I won’t let him kill me… even in this weak body. ACT MORE MANLY FOR FUCK’S SAKE, VARTH!

  “And finally. Group seven, Varth Veles.” Well, that’s a complete surprise! Who might’ve guessed! I mean, with only four of us left, it was so painfully obvious that I’m in this group… I only make a loud sigh and with no hope of salvation i go to the front of the class. “Sabir Sivalis.” But… can someone, anyone, just tell me… HOW did the teachers here came to a conclusion that it might be a good idea to make me and this blonde demon be in the same group? Even now, after his name came up he’s looking at me with a smug… like he actually knew we would end up like that. “Ronta Sothrag.” Back to actually paying attention to what’s happening around me - Ronta is a bearmen boy… With paws. He actually looks mostly human. He can’t be younger than me but he looks that way. Except for his arms of a bear. He would even look intimidating if only he wasn’t holding them behind his back. He actually looks a bit… shy. And is a little chubby. “And lastly, Tamia Az-Sar.” I need to stay positive. I need to stay positive. I need to stay positive…

  So… I am screwed. Thankfully not entirely - at least that’s how I can sum it up. I’ll have to participate in goddamn group exercises with one of my personal archenemies… (yes, I’m aware how lame it sounds) Good news is that neither Meritri nor Kaelcy ended up with any of the ‘bad guys’ in their teams. And I believe that even in this situation I can manage, especially with the hydromancer Novice watching over us. She will save me, right? AARGH, damn it, it’s just so pathetic to be afraid of some blond brat. Why do I keep repeating that? Why do I even feel threatened by him? Is it maybe possible that the age of my body is influencing my thoughts? Or maybe I’m simply a coward? … or it’s not-so-perfect-childhood trauma speaking? Three options, all of them bad. I need to think about something else…

  Meanwhile we left the classroom, like all the others before us and… Wait, don’t I already have enough Codex entries to finish that one quest? It should give me a message about its completion, right?

  Wait… what? Shadow’s message leave me all confused to the point that I even stop walking behind others for a moment in the middle of a corridor. I mean… WHAT THE FUCK?! If that’s how he treats people he like… I don’t even want to know what it’s like to be his enemy. Although the story about trying to strangle his own twin sister with an umbilical cord during their birth (which I really hope was only a figure of speech) can possibly be the answer to that. And what’s with all the errors? If RLGS suddenly goes bluescreen, I’m going to get angry.

  On the other hand… in the original quest he didn’t tell me that there was any reward beside THE POSSIBILITY of gaining more future quests. And now he’s apologizing for not giving me rewards by giving me more things than he actually promised? … Either that’s some sort of fourth personality (and a very… damaged one) or he’s just totally losing his grip on reality… if he ever even had it.

  Now that I think about all those quest shenanigans… I have an idea. And a crazy one at that.. The ‘quest is finished’ message came right after I thought about how it should appear already, so… HMMM, I THINK I JUST FINISHED THE MAIN QUEST…. damn, no reaction. Well it was worth trying, but I guess I’ll just have to do it the hard way.

  After a short walk through the corridors - fortunately long enough for me to read Shadow’s ‘explanation’ - the five of us arrive at one of the unused classrooms. The Temple built this wing much bigger than currently necessary probably for the better future…

  Hydromancer Novice opens the door for us and tells us to sit down. It seems like all classrooms here - even the unused ones - are equipped with chairs, tables and a desk for the teacher. Without any interference for Sabir I manage to sit more or less in the middle of the room. The bearmen boy sits in the row before me, slightly to my left. The pyromancer girl… Stop… what were their names again? I can’t just refer to them like that. Ron…ta… And… I wasn’t paying attention to her name, but it was something easy like… Terri? Torri? Tamia! So, Tamia also sits in a row before me few sits to my right. And Sabir… directly next to me, also to my right. Terrific.

  Our ‘supervisor’ actually took a liberty of sitting on the teacher’s desk.

  “Hello everyone. My name is Elien Alekvi and I’ll be responsible for you throughout this week. We’ll be working together on this project… I still didn’t tell you what it is that we’re supposed to do. Ok, let’s start from that. We, and by that I mean mostly you four, are here to write, prepare and perform a short play.” So… it’s even worse than I thought. I. ABSOLUTELY. HATE. PERFORMING. Because I hate being in a spotlight, on Earth I always had problems even with standing in front of a class… and now I will have to participate in a play with SABIR?! I feel like I’m falling into despair once again, for a short while. Fortunately in the end I manage to get a hold of myself. Well… kinda. “A really short one, actually. We need to decide on a script today. I’m here to help you with all the details you might struggle with, but it’s up to you to come up with an idea on what to do. Any questions?”

  Sabir instantly puts his hand in the air.

  “Yes Sabir?”

  “Can we just perform a part of an actual play instead of writing our own?” Could it be that he already has something in mind?

  “Well… You can, but since you’ll don’t have to put any effort into a script you’ll have to work harder on everything else. It also depends what play do you have in mind?” Actual play? And how can he know some theatre plays? He is a goddamn brat! And why do I have a feeling that he has chosen something particularly nasty?

  “The Last Days of Miasto. I’ve seen it once, about a year ago and I think it’s interesting. And I heard that it’s based on actual historical events.” What? Miasto? This word means “city” in my Earth’s native tongue. Weird coincidence, I guess.

  “I think that’s ok. Does anyone have any objections?” No one says anything. Sabir - because it’s his idea. Tamia - because she is indifferent. Ronta - because I think that he is afraid of Sabir… And me - because in this situation it wouldn’t change anything. If I start an open warfare now, I’ll be swiftly outnumbered. Our team’s only girl will probably side with my archenemy, and the bearboy will stay neutral or - worst case scenario - join them just to avoid being targeted. Sweet. No, seriously, how many kids Sabir managed to terrorise in just half of year?!

  “Oh. You are surprisingly unanimous. Or maybe you just don’t want to work too hard.” She said the last thing in a lower voice but I’m sure everyone heard it. “So… now, Varth, Ronta. Could you go to the library and get us four copies of the play?”

  * * *

  During my short trip to library I tried to speak with Ronta. However he is ignoring me. It’s not arrogance-born ignoring, rather the one that comes from shyness and fear of being hurt… I think he is a potential recruit, although I am not sure how to drag him to my side.

  When we come back to the classroom, Sabir and Tamia are arguing with Elien about something. And it looked like the pair is winning. Few moments later I found out exactly what they were fighting about. What happened was, when Ronta and I left the room, Sabir told our supervisor which scene he would like for us to perform. It was a dialogue between a military leader of Miasto’s defence and an aristocratic woman. Elien was opposed to that as it would exclude two of us from the act… but Sabir said he thought about it and Ronta and I could play furniture. FUCKING. FURNITURE. He even talked Tamia into thinking that’s great idea. And now, when we’re back from the library, Ronta obviously takes Sabir’s side. Even Elien isn’t all that helpful, as she tries to be neutral and not favour anyone. It’s actually commendable for a ‘teacher’, but it’s still bad for me. Well, it could’ve been worse I guess, if our group had another racist for a supervisor I could end up playing a horse or something…

  The rest of today’s school is actually rather boring. Sabir and Tamia are busy with planning what to say and how, while Elien is helping them. That leaves me and Ronta out of the picture, because we literally have nothing to do. I pass the time reading this play and I must say that it’s quite decent, even though I never really liked poetry, and there are dozens of words I can’t understand… Miasto looks like a heavily fortified border city and an important trading hub of some ‘Empire’ (that I’m pretty sure isn’t the same empire as ‘Old Empire’), that is currently besieged by ‘Medamites’. The siege is nearing it’s end, as the city is practically bound to fall before long.

  The dialogue in question is between an imperial commander who, being faithful to the orders he received, is trying to defend the city till the very end, while the aristocratic woman is trying to convince him to surrender. She’s trying to persuade him that if Miasto were to open its gates then Medamites may possibly show mercy to the citizens. Near the end of the dialogue she’s practically begging him to do that, so not only Sabir made two victims of his bullying play furniture, but also made his classmate practically beg him on her knees to spare her. For some reason I think he would be much better Dark Lord than me…

  Also - some words or rather RLGS translations of them are totally messed up… While reading the book I notice that various words (mainly - titles, ranks and office names) are replaced with names from Earth, which ends in a pretty… funny mishmash. It makes this ‘Empire’ look like a crossover of several ancient empires and nations on Earth. For example lower ranked officers use roman ranks like ‘centurion’, but at the same time the commander - the one Sabir is going to play - is titled ‘strategos’ which was a title of army commanders in Ancient Greece. I also noticed names coming from Byzantine Empire… oh, Mesopotamia and Ancient Persia are represented too, but by the Medamites.

  It’s so messed up that it makes my head hurts… I think it’s simply that RLGS can’t translate such words normally so instead of leaving a word untranslated and making me memorize what each and every one of them means, it takes a title with similar meaning from Earth… Although the fact that people names are also similar to the ones from the corresponding countries from Earth slightly undermines this theory… and is actually a bit creepy. Strategos Gaius Julius… seriously?… he’s even described to wear a roman toga... BUT HE WAS A FUCKING SUCCUBUS. And his enemy? Ahur-nasir-apli (which sounds like a name of one of Assyrian rulers), medamitian king of kings. And he was a fire dragon…

  Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?!

  Yeah… I totally concentrate on things that are completely irrelevant to my current situation just to avoid thinking about myself playing furniture in front of the entire class. It’s just… I was studying history before dying, so I guess I am pretty knowledgeable about the subject, and it makes all of this even more hilarious. I’m not shocked or depressed like before, this time it’s more like I can’t stop laughing…

  It also makes me curious about how such similarities could happen. Former summonings? For some reason blessing keeps whispering to me that it’s not the case here… not to mention that importing entire culture would require summoning not one hero but a small army of them… And I can’t shake off the feeling that there is some deeper meaning in it. Another things to discover in the far future… until now I’m just flooded with more and more questions that I can’t answer. And it’s frustrating.

  The rest of the day is just more and more boredom. And even later I spend half of the evening reading second volume of The Book aloud for Meritri. In the end she starts being visibly sleepy, so I decide to call it a day. Soon we both fall asleep.

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  Mirrond: So… I kinda like history etc., but don’t worry - to avoid killing you majority of irrelevant informations that MC gains and doesn’t talk about them will be added in the Codex, where you can read them if you want. They can be mentioned somewhere later on in the story, but in a way that won’t have you giving us blank stares.

  Resus: I’ll just stay silent. For reasons.

  Mirrond: Well… ok? xD Oh, now that I remember this - [???] in the name of codex entry for the siege of Miasto is a date of this event. MC doesn’t know it, so neither do us.

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