Arcanum

"So.... what we got next?" Jay asked.

"Of course sparring." Scarlet answered with a smile.

"Against each other?.." He asked looking a little worried.

"Normally yes... but Ashley said he managed to program some hologram for you guys to practice against for your upcoming duels." Scarlet answered.

"You did?!!" Helen asked Ashley in shock.

"Yup! I did!" he said filled in complete pride.

"That"s so awesome!" Helen said extremely happy.

"I"m not one to brag.....but it is impressive." Ashley replied giving himself a pat on the back.

"Let"s take a five minute break get a drink relax a little and then we can start the sparring process." Scarlet said to us.

We all sat around in a circle resting trying to catch our breath with a gla.s.s of water. "So how are you guys enjoying the school?..... As your House Head I should understand what freshman think about the school." She smiled.

"It"s okay I guess..." Jay replied.

"Hmmm I don"t quite know what to expect to be honest." Grace and Helen answered.

"I think the whole duelling thing is abit.... off.." I answered her.

"Hmmmm..... sadly... although we are students of Atlantis... we are soldiers.... working in the defences of Arcadia." She answered.

"I don"t think I"d ever be able to kill someone.." I replied honestly.

"... I understand..... That"s why Atlantis is so pa.s.sive when it comes to using a forceful hand.." Scarlet replied.

"Have you ever killed another student in the other schools?.." I asked feeling slightly worried.

"No I haven"t... The other three schools "officially" don"t try anything in Arcadia..... No border disputes, nothing...." She answered.

"Why do they leave Arcadia alone?.... kinda weird that the other three schools are having problems but they leave Arcadia alone...." Jay asked.

".... Hmmmm Well I"m not too informed when it comes to the politics or reasons why we are untouched... but it"s just the way it is." She smiled.

"That"s a relief..." I replied.

"It"s not all peaceful though..... Other continents and creatures are still a problem." Scarlet added. "For example... Up north we have a goblin problem..... on the western border we have Vampire and werewolf problems, down south is the coast so naturally there"s piracy and goons... and on the east is the Eshia border so that requires alot of attention." Scarlet explained.

".... It doesn"t sound that bad." I replied.

"Heh.... we are only used during dire situations.... The Arcadian army is stretched extremely thin." Scarlet replied. "But we do have students and other adventurers taking up bounties and missions to deal with most threats before they escalates." Scarlet added.

"What did you and Ashley do prior to being a student of Atlantis?.." Helen asked.

"Well I was an adventurer and Bounty hunter.... and Ashley....." Scarlet replied looking at Ashley for a few seconds.

"I was an artificer, I worked with my father in a small shop making small gadgets and gizmos.... until I was enrolled into Atlantis." Ashley answered with a smile.

".... by the way... were you guys forced to come here?.." I asked curiously.

"Nope... we all applied..." They all answered.

"Then why the h.e.l.l was I kidnapped?.." I asked completely perplexed.

"..... From where you"re from..... It"s different... a special case...." Ashley answered.

"Ohhh I see..." I replied feeling slightly annoyed.

"How do you find the experience here?..." Daisy asked.

"It"s fun..... Almost like a dream come true actually..... But didn"t quite expect it to be this dangerous." I admitted.

"Dangerous?.." Helen asked.

"Yeah..... I guess I was just being naive... you know... In the stories the heroes never get hurt and manage to get past troubles and triumph and stuff....." I answered.

"Ahhhhh... how does Paul put it.... Life"s a b.i.t.c.h." Scarlet replied.

"Life is a female dog?.." Jay replied.

"..... I don"t get it...." Helen replied confused.

"If I remember correctly b.i.t.c.h is another swear word for him...." Daisy explained.

"Yeah.... it means life is unforgiving and harsh..." Scarlet explained.

"Ohhh I see.... that makes much more sense now." Helen said with a smile.

"Yeah.... he"s quite right..." Jay replied.

"So what was Paul like back where you"re from?.." Daisy asked me.

"..... Well.... we didn"t talk for maybe 5 or 6 years...." I confessed to everyone.

"Ohhh...." Daisy replied instantly regretting she asked.

"But when we knew each other..... He was kind, very smart, inquisitive and very open minded.... But our worlds are completely different.... so it might be hard to see him the way I did." I replied.

"Was he also a kick a.s.s Sorcerer and fighter??!!! Like he is now?...." Daisy asked looking excited.

Her question caused me to chuckle remembering our school life together, "actually quite the opposite.... Up until our falling out I think he had never been in a fight before.... or even know how to fight. He would always walk away from dangerous situations or talk his way out of things." I answered.

"But..... What if something wanted to kill him." Helen asked.

"Ohh Ohhh I can answer that.... so they live in cities.... and generally cities are extremely safe....." Ashley answered.

"Ohhh.... so you don"t get shady people there?.." Grace asked.

"..... We do get shady people... but they are rare..... But where we lived was quite okay..... There are some other countries and continents that are torn apart by wars and warlords, much more dangerous places to live.... but where we lived and grew up was relatively safe." I answered.

"So what was ordinary life like?..." Jay asked.

"Hmm.... we go to work... then after work meet up with friends and family have some fun.. Rinse repeat.... then on the weekends we don"t work... so we do our own things." I answered.

"..... Sounds abit repet.i.tive and boring.. But the safety would be a nice change..." Grace answered.

"So what did you do for work..." Jay asked.

"Well... do you guys know what a lawyer is?.." I asked.

"Ohhh I do!.... Paul said they are rich people getting paid to defend bad people in a court of law." Scarlet answered completely proud she remembered.

".... Not quite.... but yes.... where we come from... there is a procedure to deem if someone is guilty of a crime or not.... So I am a professional representative to defend my Client of those claims." I answered.

"Ohhhh we have those in small settlements and towns... but not the main cities.." Jay replied.

"So what happens in the cities?.." I asked Jay curiously.

"Well.... there are runes around a court... that stops people from lying…. So most case are dealt with swiftly." Jay answered.

The lawyer side in me wanted to dispute how awful their justice system was but decided not to because they probably won"t understand everything wrong with their system.

So where is Paul right now?.." Daisy asked.

"Well..... He"s probably at his keep....." Scarlet answered.

"Woah... he owns a keep?.." Jay asked astonished at the news.

"Yup... we own a keep..... In a small town west of here....." Scarlet answered.

"Ohh do you think we can visit?.." Daisy asked.

"I"m sure it won"t be a problem on the weekends, just let one of us know so we can give you a tour." Scarlet smiled.

"Ummm Scarlet what do you do in your spare time?.." Helen asked.

"Lots of training... and sparring.... I thoroughly enjoy doing the Gauntlet in the training rooms." She answered.

"Gaunlet?.." Grace asked.

"Yes.... in the Simulation building you can try the Gauntlet where you"ll go through progressively harder and harder encounters till you fail." Scarlet answered.

"Don"t you do enjoy anything else aside form fighting?...." I asked Scarlet.

"Ohhh I LOVE EATING!!!" Scarlet smiled extremely happy, "OHH OHH and movies...." she added.

"And don"t forget annoying me." Ashley added.

"That"s true I do like to cause trouble here and there." She laughed. "Right this break should be long enough.... you guys ready to finish off training for today?.." Scarlet asked.

"Yeah let"s do this." Daisy said standing up ready to start.

"This is where I"ll hand you off to the capable hands of Ashley." She said with a smile.

"So... I managed to gather enough information on your opponents to design some holograms that would hopefully be similar to the opponents you will be duelling." He explained. "So from what information I"ve gathered..... Daisy is up against a Barbarian, Jay is up against a Fencer, Helen is up against a Alchemist, Grace is duelling a Monk.... and Emilia is gonna fight against Calista a Aeromancer." he explained. "So me and Scarlet will hopefully teach you guys tactics strength and weaknesses and how best to fight the to hopefully beat them." Ashley smiled.