章 44: Chapter 41: Friendship can be bought by food… and vice versa
"From today onwards, we will begin a simple fitness training program" The instructor suddenly came to us and said that out of the blue. Blankly staring at him with suspicious eyes he continued to explain.
"The training is simple. Just run for five kilometers." With our current specs it would naturally be easy. But Instructor Naruan won't be Instructor Naruan if he won't put a catch. The next sentence verified this words properly.
"It matters not what methods or means you use. You just have to not kill anyone. However, the two persons who arrived last, won't get to eat." With those words I felt a baleful aura besides me, I looked in its direction and saw the burning lively eyes of no. 1000 who usually have those emotion-less eyes. I thought at that time.
'Crap! She is getting fired up… Well if we me and Yamada cycle on who to eat we can get enough food to eat properly. I mused that idea, even though I don't believe in the 'power of friendship' buls#it but I kind of believe of the relationship of brother's in arms. I had taught like that once…
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"You bastard!! The hell you doing! No. 50!!" I screamed at the leaving Yamada who dramatically left a tear. I reached out in anger with the magic sealing cuffs binding me and the shadows tethering me to the ground. Even if I was betrayed… We already promised to hide our name here in this world but… This is too much damn it!!!
"Oi, wait! What the hell! Release me!" My fellow victim, no. 17 also cried indignantly. For her who is a magic-specialist she will surely be crippled if she also has her magic sealed even if her physical strength had dramatically increased this few months.
I sighed and with the shadow bound body of mine I approached the crying No. 17 with difficulty. She who can only silently barrage a series of curses that is being dampened by the silence barriers installed by those 'traitors' looked up at me. I patted her head and looked at the cute teary eyes and said.
"We will get a proper payback!" I said with resolution. Looking at the eyes that are slowly igniting with vengeance I sighed and taught about this twisted situation we had gotten. Avoiding her gaze I scratched my cheek without noticing the subtle blush she have.
It had been a week since this stupid training was brought forth. With no. 1000's unbelievable winning streak we were forced to duke it out for the 2nd and 3rd place of this crazy race for food. Even when Yamada started to resort using his shadows we cannot pull her out of her throne so without a choice we compromised. With no. 1's unceasing defeat due to being a warrior-type (alongside the traps we placed as magic users) he starved for a whole damn week. Yamada who compromised in some few days to fast due to his capacity somehow for reasons unknown was convinced by no. 1 to do this tragic betrayal.
The bastards pretended to collapse from hunger and with my code of brotherhood alongside no. 17's traces of humanity (A/N: Imagine the lost/confused Kotomine from Fate/Zero) we approached them and propped them up. With our innocent selves we let our guard down and with those opening the bastards cuffed us. As the instructor with a devil's heart said, the losers stays at the dining room looking at the winners eating with only water to satiate their hunger.
So after that session, I looked at the crying faces of Yamada and no. 1 who ate their food vigorously is still seared in my brain. In the next day our friendship forge through time (even if it's still not barely a year), crumbled.
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Extra:
No. 17's musing
Ria El Nermia
Looking at my name people will surely think of the Nermia Earldom of the strongest nation on the continent; the Karuan Empire. If you ask who were the strongest clan of magicians of the empire, nine out of ten they would point at our family; and I was their second daughter
I looked at the leaving No. 1 and No. 50 as I was wringing out curses out of my mouth unbecoming of a noble lady. I still remember the reason why I am here in the evil organization Howling. It was an incident that shocked our family from the leaders to the children of said family.
One day, my grandfather, the previous head of the family; currently having given up the right to lead the family and living as a member of the Magic Tower visited home for the first time in three years.
As Father was working on the documents, Grandfather snatched away the seal he was using with a horrified look. It was then the family realized that the seal was not real, but an extremely well-crafted fake, and after that, multiple investigations were conducted secretly and the second half of the clan's swordsmanship manual had also been stolen.
The Nermia Family was a founding of the Empire and a prestigious clan that produced many mages and sages. For such a clan of magic users, swordsmanship is merely a self-defense tool for mages, and so that itself won't be a problem.
Especially at that time were the magical physical strengthening being developed by the royal family was even more effective, the swordsmanship's value become slightly obsolete except to those who goes to the path of magic swordsmen. But the seal is different.
All of the affairs of the family is ultimately the responsibility of the family head; and the object that is used and represented the family head was none other than the seal. The seal was the family's diplomatic symbol and arguably the symbol of the family itself.
If it is known that the seal was fake, it will not be just only a stain of the family but those who pushed or desired so; all the contracts that used the seal up until now could be rendered null and void. Because of this, the family's children who know the truth unofficially searched the land to look for the seal. My choice was to infiltrate as a member of the organization Howling, which has the highest possibility of having it.
There were oppositions from the family as it is dangerous. But if I stay in that place it would not be strange for me to be married off to some higher-ranking family's son or worse, sent off to some old high-ranking noble's bedchambers. To raise my own status, I staked my own life.
With my family's connection I successfully was snucked in through a slave merchant who has frequent dealings with Howling and with my magical training alongside basic training I successfully got a high rank in primary training gaining the rank and codename no. 17.
With the pride and prestigious strength of a lady from the strongest magician clan I tolerated by bombarded by the Empire-style high altitude bombardment even if it was sloppy. I used proper strategies and ideas to survive a week of different kinds of bombardment, felt the sickness called Altitude Sickness for the first times in the mountains, isolated in the middle of the ocean and even dropped my own dignity as a woman by drinking my own piss in the unforgiving desert. But in this few months of training I was shocked aside from the deepest darkness of this organization (Instructor Naruan) but my own compatriots and fellow trainee's.
Ignoring the talented and strong no. 1, nor the survival animal incarnate no. 1000 the other two was more strange.
No. 50 and No. 950, looking at their ranking you would think of them as heaven and earth like the other two but it seems they were actually acquaintance before and alongside their mysterious abilities I was especially curious of no. 950. From the strange and mysterious fighting style of no. 50 who uses shadows alongside his unique style of martial arts to no. 950 unbelievable skill in the spear I was more curious of his magical ability and origin.
Magecraft, the artificial reenactment of Mystery. It is mostly used by those who are considered 'inhuman beings' for they 'artificially produce' Mystery. Different from other magical schools like sorcery or the branch the Nermia family walk, Magecraft is still strange for us who bend the laws and magical energy to our bidding. (A/N: In the Type-Moon world Solomon was the first one who made Magecraft 'possible' in human hands but before the users are mostly Divine Spirits,Daemons, Elementals, other supernatural beings and even the demi-gods but not 'pure humans' even though its not mentioned in canon of this world I made it slightly like there are only 'few' humans who knows of it's style.)
It is a similar comparison of someone who uses materials you can easily get (Magical energy from the World) and make something (Normal Magical branch) and someone who grabs a higher quality of materials (Magical energy from the Root) alongside knowing their composition (. So seeing a child of similar age of us casually use magecraft for mundane things is a huge anomaly. I almost taught of him as some sort of non-human creature for how he does it nonchalantly. Especially his presence is strange.
He is too bright, not in the physical sense but his strange mentality and perspective that even when he is in this dark and twisted organization his eyes still remained pure. Even when he swore right now looking at his friend who betrayed him, his anger did not reach his eyes but a challenging glint flashed instead. For such a pure existence I felt something rise from me. I looked at his face who suddenly got embarrassed and thought.
'I will observe you and maybe just maybe… I can learn something from it.' I resolutely swore in my dignity as a magician unaware of something budding within me.
クリエイターの想い 
Sleeping_Moon
Sleeping_Moon Author here sorry I cannot post yesterday, my grandmother suddenly called all of us home so I did not had the time to send one, still I just returned right nao and I had the time to post this before classes start. Sorry for the delay today's chapter might even be sent tomorrow....
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