The teenagers were standing barefooted on mats in rows of 10. There were 14 rows in total, so they were almost 140 in number. He was standing in the last incomplete row.
Everyone was wearing a black martial robe. It looked like the Gi that martial arts students wore in his past life.
They were also standing in a neat formation with an equal amount of space between each other. That, combined with their imposing and muscular bodies, made them look impressive to him.
His appearance drew a lot of attention. After all, he was a boy of 7 among children of 14 years old and older. Some of them were even 18 years old.
He had grown bigger and taller, but it isn't enough to make up the at least 100% gap in age. In fact, some of them were twice as tall as him.
The fact that some of them looked like heavyweight boxers only made the disparity between them and him more glaring. The fact that he was followed by an excited puppy bouncing after him didn't help his image.
They were very curious about his presence there. But none of them broke formation because of his appearance. They only spoke to him.
Someone beside him asked, "Are you lost, little boy?"
It was a girl that asked the question. She had the trademark blond hair and blue eyes of the Dyson family. So he knew her identity as a bastard with a single glance.
She looked worried when she asked that question. She didn't look like she was mocking him, so he decided not to take offense and to reply amicably.
But before he could reply, someone else spoke. "I know you. Aren't you that boy that killed and ate dogs?"
Someone else said, "He has red hair, so he should be the one. I heard that he puts sand in people's soups."
"That's nothing. I heard that he throws shit at people who don't give him what he wants."
"I also heard that he put a snake inside someone's kitchen and used it to threaten them."
They began talking about the unsavory things he had done in the past. They were not wrong at all. None of what they said was an exaggeration, and he had done all those things. But he still wasn't happy to hear people talk about them.
Things got bad when someone asked him, "Are you raising that dog to eat it too?"
What's worse is that some people came to his rescue.
"Don't make fun of him. He is a kind boy. He is just mentally challenged."
"Yes. He simply gets carried away when the matter of bread comes up."
His face was cold as he looked at everyone. Ruff noticed that he was in a bad mood and began barking at everyone.
The girl that asked if he was lost earlier began to chuckle when she saw his face. She covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled as if the act of covering her mouth would lessen the impact of her actions.
But he didn't take the bait and lash out. He inhaled and exhaled deeply as he said inwardly, "This is your first day here. It won't do to get in a fight on your first day again and make a terrible name for yourself."
They joked and laughed about the angry lost boy and his angry little puppy, but he didn't react.
He still didn't react when someone said, "Stop making fun of him, or he will cry."
Not everyone was making fun of him, though. Some of them were silently watching the show with their arms folded against their chests and their faces expressionless.
Even the people making fun of him were not necessarily doing so out of malice. Some of them just found his antics funny, and some were teasing the little boy in their midst.
But no matter their intentions or motives, all of them became quiet and turned into statues as soon as the instructor came out of the building and began walking in their direction.
The instructor was a woman. She had blond hair and blue eyes. She was also dressed in the same martial uniform that the others were wearing. Except that it was red, not black.
She took a few steps as if she was running. Then she jumped across a distance of over 50 meters.
She landed in front of the class with enough force to kick up dust.
This dust obscured her figure. But then she kicked out in front of her and moved her leg to the side. This caused the air to move with her leg and blow the dust cloud to the side.
Her figure was revealed to them once again. The short distance between them made Arthur realize just how tall she was.
He muttered to himself, "At least six feet."
She stood in front of 138 students glaring down at them. Her eyes roamed over all of them until she found him.
She said, "What do we have here?"
By the time she finished speaking, she was already moving.
Her figure blurred from left to right. His eyes could see her, but he couldn't keep track of her well enough.
He had to move his head from side to side to keep up with her. Even then, what he was seeing was her previous position.
She wasn't moving too fast for his eyes to see. She was just moving in a weird way that made it difficult for him to keep track of her position.
By the time his head stopped jerking aide to side, which was two seconds later, she had crossed the thirteen rows of trainees in front of him and appeared beside him.
His head had stopped moving because she had stopped moving erratically. Instead, she was looking at him intensely.
She said to him, "Turn around for me. Let me get a good look at you."
She even twirled her finger around to indicate what she wanted. So he knew to turn around like a prize pig on display at the county fair.