Chapter 47: Chapter 47 – Routine
Monday morning, Matthew went to the Adventurer School early like he got used to. On the way there, in the bus, he read the book Professor Lydia gave him. I was the same as the other days. He used his student card to open the turnstile, said good morning to the guards and entered the school.
The walk to his classroom was silent, but he enjoyed the trees of the highly forested school grounds. The sound of birds chirping in the morning and the scent of otherworldly flowers which he still didn’t know the names made the walk quite relaxing.
Entering class, he was received with the same old stares at him, jealousy caused by his friendship with the most beautiful girls in class. He sat at the same chair he always used since he started studying there. He took out Lydia’s book to read a bit more before class. A routine he got very used to by now.
However, that day, it all felt different. Like this was all a dream. Like he was still in hell and this was all just a good dream he was having before being torn apart by demons. Something inside him said something was wrong.
He looked up when Erin, Faralynn and Helen entered the room. Their faces were somber. It was quite a shock seeing them like that. Especially Erin who was always so energetic and gleeful. They didn’t talk among themselves, just walked to their sits greeting people with weak good mornings.
When they sat down, Erin just waved at Matthew forcing a smile that made her look even sadder.
"And how’s Mia?" Matthew asked closing his book.
"She’s... Well." Erin said unsure about the words she was saying. "She will take a week to rest... To heal."
Matthew nodded. It must’ve been really traumatic for her. He didn’t like to imagine what she went through. But his mind couldn’t help but wonder. Mia said he arrived in time. But what did that man do to her before he arrived? Just the speculation was enough for the demonic mana in him to surface again forcing Matthew to use purify on himself right there in class.
When Tina arrived, she also didn’t say anything. But that was normal for her. She was a woman of few words. She only sat down beside Matthew and nodded to him as a greeting. However, instead of remaining still after organizing her study material on her desk, like she always used to do, she leaned onto Matthew putting her face very close to his ear, and whispered:
"Thank you for killing him."
Then she turned to the front, where Professor Orpheu was just starting his morning announcements, acting like nothing happened. But she still couldn’t hide the anger in her eyes.
At lunch, Faralynn, who was oddly more silent today than normal, sat with Matthew in the cafeteria. Erin, Helen and Tina were still picking up their food at the buffet, therefore the two of them were alone at the table.
Faralynn sighed heavily and fidget around on her chair restless. It was quite obvious to Matthew that she had something to talk about, but was still gathering courage to say. She kept shifting her eyes from her food to him and back to her food.
"What you’re eating?" Matthew decided to break the silence himself.
"Just a salad. Some rice. Two eggs..." Faralynn started to enumerate the things on her plate like she was doing grocery.
Matthew chuckled at her.
"What is it?" Faralynn asked puzzled at his smile.
"Nothing. I just saw something cute." Matthew tried to compliment her.
"Where?" Faralynn asked looking around her oblivious he was talking about herself.
Matthew chuckled again.
"What is it?" Faralynn asked again getting a bit frustrated.
"It’s nothing." Matthew dismissed her. "Anyway. Did you want to talk to me?" He picked the direct approach.
Faralynn looked at him with her eyes wide open wondering how did he know. She decided to ignore his clairvoyance and breathed deeply before saying:
"Father wants to talk with you after class."
Matthew felt a chill run through his body. He just killed a man. The robber died. He was under the scrutiny of the press. This could mean he was being expelled.
"Okay. I’ll go there after afternoon training."
"I’ll go with you. So wait for me." Faralynn said looking at her food, too nervous to say it looking at him.
Matthew stood still without words and just nodded.
"Also..." Faralynn’s voice shifted from her high pitched nervous tone to a more serious one she used during combat. "Thank you for saving Mia."
"You were right..." Matthew admitted. "If we had waited, things could’ve been way worse for her."
"Yes. You shouldn’t have put me to sleep." Faralynn criticized him.
"That I do not regret." Matthew said resolute.
"What?" Faralynn looked at him outraged. "If you had let me go, she would never even been harmed."
"What?" Matthew was the one outraged now. "If I had let you go, the two of you would’ve been hurt."
"You don’t know that." Faralynn said louder.
"I know that. Those kind of men have no shame. What they did to Mia, they would’ve done to you." Matthew protested also getting louder.
"No they wouldn’t. My uncle wants me to be his bride. He would not allow me to get hurt."
"He wants you for a political marriage, Lynn. It doesn’t matter if you get hurt or not."
Faralynn’s face contorted as she tried to pick her next words to say, but didn’t find arguments against his logic. She had a hard time admitting she was wrong.
"Then you should’ve let me go with you!" She hit the table frustrated shifting her argument.
"I couldn’t risk you getting captured. I had no idea if I was even strong enough to save Mia. Taking you would have only put you at risk."
"So you went there prepared to die trying to save her?!" Faralynn screamed expecting a no as an answer.
"Yes." Matthew said looking at her with resolute eyes.
Faralynn was taken aback with his answer. She breathed heavily, her shoulders visibly moving as if she was tired. No words came to her. She didn’t know what to say. Then she just groaned and walked away stomping her feet.
As she walked away under the eyes of the whole cafeteria, Erin, Tina and Helen approached the table sitting down.
Matthew was looking at Faralynn as she walked away without saying a word to him with his mouth open. What was that?
"She gets like that when she’s proven wrong." Erin answered his question as if she was able to read his mind. "We overheard you two. Everyone did." She explained.
"You did the right thing keeping her away, even if she disagrees." Helen said.
"You were stupid going there alone though." Tina commented casually eating a cherry tomato. "But I’m glad you did." She paused for a second. "Really."
After eating, Matthew went to the gym where he found Faralynn hitting a dummy with more force than she usually did. He tried getting her attention, but she ignored him and only hit the dummy harder.
"Don’t worry Matthew." Firynn the instructor said when he noticed Matthew glancing at Faralynn in between exercises. "That’s how warriors think. Let her do her thing." He smiled and picked up a training sword. "Now have a bout with me."
After Matthew sparred with Firynn and being thoroughly defeated, he asked him:
"Should I train unarmed combat as well?"
"Yes." Firynn said "Unarmed combat is the basics of any kind of weapon training."
"Then why are you training me with swords?" Matthew asked confused.
"Because this is the swordsmanship class." Firynn laughed. "It’s not like you can’t learn the basics training with a sword. But knowing unarmed combat will really help. You want to learn?"
"Yeah. I got my ass beat up the other day. Couldn’t land a punch." Matthew said looking to the floor a bit ashamed of admitting it.
"Geovana instructs hand to hand combat. You could train with her class twice a week and with me the other days."
"I think I’ll do that." Matthew said looking at a big bruise he had on his forearm where he was kicked by the kidnapper.
"I’ll tell her you’ll be going there then." Firynn said and turned his back to instructed other student.
After showering, Matthew waited at the gym’s door for Faralynn. When she finally showed up, with her hair still wet, she avoided any visual contact with Matthew. She just nodded and walked in front of him guiding him to the Dean’s office.
After a little while Faralynn stopped and turned on her heels. She crossed her arms in front of her looking to the side hiding her face with her hair. Matthew looked at her trying to see her face behind her long bangs.
"I’m sorry, for screaming earlier." She said with her face bright red. "You were right."
"I screamed too." Matthew smiled.
"But you shouldn’t risk your life like that." Faralynn complemented this time looking at his eyes with hers a bit wet themselves. "Don’t run into trouble like that. Don’t try to do things on your own. And don’t..." She stopped herself a bit and then finished almost whispering: "Don’t die."
"Okay." Matthew said nodding.
He suddenly felt a huge urge to hug her.
A feeling that didn’t went away even after purifying himself.