Chapter 22: Smooth like Butter

Just like that, his hard earned precious prize was confiscated. Lemon and Pepper did not tolerate any of the defenses Lilo put up.

That was a couple days worth of throwing up and struggling to find the perfect mixture... all for some petty girls to steal it away from him.

Lilo sat on his bed in his dorm room where Mello, his handler, was able to guide him to.

Shortly after Pepper took his jar, she led him to Mello who took over taking care of him.

Not too long after that he was led directly to the herding academy. There was a brief orientation regarding the mess hall where everyone ate, the classrooms where everyone studied, the break room where everyone sparred, and the forbidden library where the recipe's of all the cooked ingredients of the kite riders were.

Nothing was too out of the ordinary. Most things about this academy resembled the universities in the real world. All except for the uncanny blue marbled limestone that every structure in this spire was made from.

The same statues of ancient heroes were carved into the walls, looking just as majestic and ominous as the main courtyard and the forbidden temple.

'Wait... why did the forbidden temple look so familiar?'

"Because Lilo, the forbidden temple... is our fallen spire: the remains of the spire of self control. It's now inhabited by the GT5 glutton and being investigated to be reclaimed one day." Soda explained.

This profound revelation brought back memories from that harrowing night in the out skirts. A cold shiver ran up Lilo's spine as he remembered what Soda described of the humanoid unnerving monster.

Things started making a lot more sense now. Why Pepper was so surprised that he spent the night in that spire. Why Pop challenged him. Why the shepherds do what they do.

Jawbi had told him that shepherds are the scouts and the wards of the spires. They would deter gluttons from getting close to the walls and also bring back special gluttons for Turners to research.

Not only were they scouting the forbidden temple to be able to extract the unordinary glutton, but also to potentially retake the spire.

'If they had just sent reinforcements during the war this wouldn't have happened.'

There was a lot to ponder in Lilo's dorm room, but he was currently too busy trying to recreate his precious peanut butter.

No not because he was a madman and was willing to go through the pain staking process all over again; but because the cunning bastard actually saved the recipe.

Only a fool would go through so much pain and not record the process of their results.

Lilo placed his new jar of peanut butter on the windowsill by his bead and a proud grin creased his lips.

'We're going to make great use of you, my precious peanut butter meth.'

With that complete, Lilo looked around the room. He still had several minutes until the main assembly and he wanted to acclimate himself to his new living quarters.

There was the window in the center of the room that split the two mirrored sides of the room in half. Right below the window was a rustic silver sink with runes along the plumbing that glowed blue whenever the water faucet ran.

A modest mage lantern hung from the ceiling, constantly emanating a steady and subtle green hue.

The walls were still made from the marbled blue limestone, which made the room feel much more posh than it should have.

The only other objects in the room were the two beds that were on opposite ends of each other from the window that separated them.

Lilo was given clothes, more mesh like tunics that were grey, laced with a muted orange color, and a golden belt. He had folded them and put them neatly aside under his bed where two large drawers were available for storage.

He only had one belt given to him and the buckle was a plain hexagon with nothing displayed on it.

When walking down the hall to the communal bathroom, he noticed other herders with the same uniform; only their belt had differing engravings.

He assumed it proclaimed their rank or year in relation to how close they were to graduating and becoming a full independent shepherd.

He had no possessions worth displaying, other than his jar of forbidden cooked butter, so his side of the room was bare. The other side was also empty. It seemed his soon to be roommate was running late.

But of course, just as he thought that, the door to his room swung open and Lilo turned to see who it was.

A tall, stalky, red head, mid teen boy with dark golden eyes and a chiseled face entered the room.

It was Soda's malicious older brother, Chalant.

Soda's ghostly figure turned to Lilo, avoiding Chalant's gaze.

"Don't show him any kindness. You know what we saw." Soda reminded him sternly.

"Did you... have something else you needed to drop off wiper?" Lilo asked Chalant cordially.

Chalant shook his head and dropped his back pack onto the empty bed on the other side of Lilo. A devious smile lit up Chalant's handsome face and he gave his little brother - or what he thought to be his little brother: Lilo who looked like Soda at the moment - a wink.

"They've promoted me to be a herder brother, and the best part is... we get to be roommates!" Chalant opened his arms for an inviting embrace.

Lilo looked to Soda who's mouth was ajar from shock. He mustered up the best convincing smile he could and came in for the hug.

"I'm happy for you brother." Lilo lied as he squeezed his older brother tightly.

He was sizing him up, seeing where his striking reach was, how his build stacked up to Lilo's. He was analyzing ever joint, every muscle fiber and ounce of weight that he could leverage and snap.

This embrace was more than a false sense of safety for Chalant to buy into; it was a way for Lilo to deduce how to maliciously defeat his opponent.

However, Soda did not realize this. All he saw was Lilo falling back on his promise and choosing to show mercy to Chalant.

"Lilo, you promised. Stop showing him kindness, beat the fuck out of that monstrous bastard. You know how much he deserves it!" Soda begged.

'And get imprisoned again? I can't just go around beating people up. I'll avenge you in time. For now, Chalant thinks we trust him and that's a weapon in itself. Be patient. Have faith in me. But most importantly... have self control.'

Lilo winked at Soda from Chalant's shoulder.

'I vow to make his demise ten fold to what you endured.'