"Alright class, you have made some good progress, no one is lagging behind, not too much at least, there is still much theory for us to go over- Do not sigh- But from now on, we will mostly be working on live practice" Rosemary was pacing the classroom was per usual, the sound of soft, cold wind blowing into the room had ceased.
"Summer has finally come to pass, no longer will you all fall to the ground and risk dying from dehydration within a few minutes of outside exercise, you guys are going to love the actual physical training I prepared, but first, let's go into the woods" she clapped her hands, beckoning them to follow after her.
Their teacher seemed happier than usual, that was not a good sign.
"Are we gonna have to fight monsters out of the blue?" Milo scratched the side of his head, he had grown a whole head taller since his departure from the city, he had grown much bulkier as well, he had always been strong on account of working on a farm for the greater majority of his life, but he had not had proper nutrition and physical training.
It was something to be proud of, his magical studies were going rather well, academics were not his forte, but thankfully, he had Helena backing him up in that department, otherwise he would have drowned in all of the work that needed to be done.
Speaking of that girl, Milo had never asked how old she was, but he had always assumed that she was a bit older than him and had finished her growth, how wrong he had been, she was still taller than him.
She had never been delicate, but Helena had also gained an atrocious amount of bulk, David had not been that big of a man, making Milo believe that the old man had actually gotten with an orc or barbarian woman.
'May the gods bless your soul David' he thanked his foster father, ignoring the slight ache he felt when thinking back on what had happened, but he had to focus on the present.
"I don't think so, Miss Rosemary wouldn't throw us into such a situation without preparation, I hope" Helena responded, not quite certain about their teacher.
Rosemary appeared reasonable on the surface, but that mage lady was definitely a bit off in the head sometimes, but rarely when doing her teaching duties, it was only when they crossed her path outside of class hours that she was busy with the most convoluted, nonsensical, and definitely dangerous of researches, if one could even call them that.
Stepping outside the academy, Rosemary went and fetched her other class, the twelve talent holders as they were called, as the strongest and best mage of the academy, as well as the continent actually, their red-haired instructor was of course put in charge of the best of the best as well.
It wasn't the first time she had decided to teach both classes at once, for people with such high titles and talent, they weren't nearly as pompous as one could expect, whether it was their character or Rosemary's harsh ways, was unknown.
Amidst them, there really was only one that actually appeared to be a noble, Antieeld, with fiery dark red hair, not quite the same colour as their teachers, but it was weird that two people with the same peculiar hair colours could be found in close proximity.
Milo honestly did not remember any of their names, he only remembered that many of them started with a M, he actually remembered the name of the extra person always found with the twelve.
"Oh hey, when did you get an additional bodyguard Antieeld?" one of Milo's classmates, the one that Rosemary had grown to prefer picking for demonstrations.
"Ah, he just got there, he had been on a little errand until today" she responded, her golden eyes turning to her two followers.
One of them was the knight whose helm opening was reminiscent of iron bars, Gelter, always garbed in nothing but plate armour and carrying around a longsword, he was a man of few words when it wasn't his lady that he was conversing with.
The second one, who had presumably arrived earlier today, was wearing long, flowing robes, his hands behind his back, he had a very singular presence, a round brooch on the left side on his chest and wearing an iron mask whose mouth was melted shut.
"That is Osworth, don't try to speak to him too much, he took a vow of silence" Antieeld introduced him, putting one hand on the tall man's shoulder, he didn't even react in any way to anything that was happening.
"Oh well, I am Griar, nice to meet you" their classmate extended a hand toward the man, who only then reacted and shook it.
"Attention class!" everyone straightened up like soldiers.
"I know that many of you are planning on using my teachings to either secure their position in their household or make a name for themselves, few are willing to delve into becoming scholars, not any actually…" she shook her head in disapproval.
"So, since most of you will be using magic for violence and renown, we will be doing some outside training for the next few months, then finally, if the problem hasn't been resolved since then, I will accompany you guys on a little field trip to find out who, or what, has been collapsing the many mines of this country, as you know, Tamaris exports a lot of goods that are mined here, salt, magic crystals, precious ores and minerals et cetera" she began explaining, her two hands joined together and her brows furrowed.
"However, said mines, at least in the biggest area where the mines are, have been collapsing in the last few months, repeatedly, and by the use of earth magic, if the culprit isn't found out by the end of our special training, then I will have you investigate and the mines in groups as a test, depending on what you can discover from the residuals and such, you will receive an according grade"
"Understood? Great! Now go into the woods and come back with the necessary ingredient to brew a potion of minor pain relief"
She shooed them off into the nearby woods, which were absolutely non-threatening, except if you slipped and hit your head on a rock.