"It"s like a dream!"Rossetti was squealing in joy when she set foot into the camp building. Or to be more precise, the camp dormitory room for the staff. She was clasping her hands, her eyes s.h.i.+ning with delight as she took in every nook and cranny of the…well, dilapidated room.
I glanced at the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, studied the paint that was peeling from half-rotting wooden walls, and then at the sorry-looking, plain white mattresses that served as our beds. True to form, it was a double decker bed, so one would be sleeping on top and the other at the bottom. I would probably pick the bottom, but honestly I was either way.
Being the gentleman, I would allow Rossetti to pick whichever bunk she wanted.
"It"s been a while since I"ve gone on a camping trip! This is so exciting!"
Rossetti hauled herself up onto the top bed and began rolling around in delight, causing the whole wooden frame to creak and shake. I couldn"t help but be alarmed at the noise. It sounded like the old bedframe would fall apart at any time.
d.a.m.n it, I really didn"t want to be sleeping at the bottom when then whole thing gave in and crashed on top of me. Being on the top bunk was less a.s.suring, given that I also didn"t want to be falling from that height when the bedframe eventually collapsed.
"Camping! Camping! I"m camping again!"
Rossetti was singing happily as she rolled about, ignoring the dangerous sounds and the trembling of the old bedframe. I glared at her.
"Oi, stop that. Otherwise the whole bedframe will fall apart. Do you want to sleep on the floor instead?"
"That"s right."
I almost jumped out of my skin when the elderly lady who managed the camp premises came up behind us, her voice strict. She was smiling, but there was no warmth in her eyes.
"If you break the bed, you"ll have to pay for it. I"ll be deducting it from your pay. And you"ll be sleeping on the floor."
Immediately, Rossetti jolted up and sat in seiza, adopting a stance of repentance. A bead of cold perspiration ran down her face. As for me, I slowly turned back and lowered my head apologetically, but the old lady waved me away.
"Richard Huang, Rossetti Picket," she greeted us in a dignified manner. "The two of you are not students, but while you stay here for the next five days, I expect you to abide by the same rules."
"Yes, ma"am," I replied. The elderly woman nodded, and smiled.
"Of course, I am aware that the two of you are proper mages, employed by the prestigious academy of Saint Teresa, and have displayed upstanding behavior, and I believe you will act as proper adults, unlike the restless children from the middle school section, who are still wet behind the ears and p.r.o.ne to mischief." She placed a hand on my shoulder, her grip strong and firm. I couldn"t help but feel a chill as she leaned closer to me, her eyes hard and her smile cold. "So please refrain from committing any impure deeds, and remember to exercise some restraint."
"Y…yes, ma"am," I stammered nervously, wondering what she was trying to say. Did she think I was up to no good?
"Especially you, young man. Please behave like a gentleman at all times, and do not allow your baser instincts to control you."
Oh…so that was what this was about. She was worried about this situation where a teenage boy and a teenage girl were placed in the same room. Being a woman, she of course harbored some sort of suspicion toward me, and was concerned that I would make an unethical move on the vulnerable-looking Rossetti.
She was in for a surprise. Rossetti was more than capable of defending herself. If I didn"t want to be limping away, clutching myself between my legs, I wasn"t going to do anything.
Watching the elderly camp manager leave, I sighed and shook my head. I could still feel the cold sweat pouring down my face.
"Sorry about this," I apologized to Rossetti. "I know there aren"t many rooms in this campsite, but I can"t believe they a.s.signed us to the same room."
"Oh no, I don"t mind." Rossetti waved her hands frantically. "In fact, Headmistress Taylor should be blamed for springing this on the camp staff all of a sudden."
Yeah, thanks to her intervention, the camp staff were fl.u.s.tered and in an uproar, struggling to find a spare room to accommodate the two of us. As it turned out, this was the best they could do. It wasn"t ideal, but at least we weren"t forced to sleep out in the open.
Not that I minded. Having trained in the military before, I could sleep in the open without any qualms. All I needed was a mosquito net and I would be golden.
"I promise I won"t do anything to you, or touch you." I was holding up my hands and swearing. Rossetti giggled at that.
"Don"t worry, I trust you. In fact, I"m glad that you"re the one who got a.s.signed to the same bunk as me. That puts me more at ease."
"Uh, really?"
"Ah, but don"t let Miura know, though. She"ll get really mad."
Ugh…I could picture that. For some reason, the black-haired beauty was obsessed with me, but I had managed to give her a slip. One good thing about partic.i.p.ating in this camp was that I could escape from her for five days. Well, even if it wasn"t for this camp, I would have returned to Jing Tian City for the summer, but I wouldn"t put it past her to drop by and pay me an unwanted visit.
"I don"t want her to know either," I muttered, and Rossetti giggled again. I glanced at her curiously when I realized something. "Did Headmistress Taylor approach you for this job too?"
"Hmm, yeah. I had nothing to do over the summer, so I agreed."
Huh. I was actually wondering why Taylor chose Rossetti. It wasn"t that she was unreliable, but the selection seemed pretty random. Wouldn"t Kufa Van Peer be a better choice for this mission, for example?
Obviously I couldn"t ask that out loud, or it would seem like I was questioning Rossetti"s abilities. I knew from experience that she wasn"t that weak. I had seen her fight before, even dueled against her once. I think.
"Sensei."
There was a knock on the door, and both Rossetti and I exchanged a glance before I called back out.
"Yeah, what"s up? Go ahead and come in."
Melina opened the door, smiling brightly. Next to her, Adrian poked his head in.
"Have you finished packing your stuff?" he asked with a grin.
"We have to hurry," Melina added excitedly. "The camp briefing is about to begin."
"Okay. Give us a second." I dropped my backpack on the lower bunk. It was clear that Rossetti had placed dibs on the upper bunk, which suited me fine. There wasn"t much stuff in my backpack except spare clothes, so I grabbed my smartphone and followed my students. Rossetti also dropped down from her bunk and landed behind me.
"Eh? Miss Rossetti, you are sharing a room with Sensei?��� Melina looked at her curiously. Rossetti could only chuckle wryly and nod.
"Ah, yes. Seems that way. They didn"t have enough rooms, so we don"t have a choice."
"Heh…" Adrian looked at me mischievously, and then nudged me with a wink. "Seems like a good chance for you, Brother Richie."
"Don"t talk nonsense," I told him curtly. "If I even attempt anything that so much as hints at being, uh, unethical, the camp manager will throw me out into the wilderness faster than I can say, "no, this isn"t what it looks like!""
"What she doesn"t know won"t hurt hre," Adrian replied before snickering. I gulped and glanced back at the dorm room that I shared with Rossetti befor she shut the door. Suddenly, every crevice and corner of the rotting wooden walls looked suspicious.
"We"ll have to check for bugs and recording devices later," I mumbled. "I seriously don"t want to have to deal with eavesdroppers and spies."
"Ugh! I agree!�� Rossetti hugged herself, turning a bit pale. "That"s a clear invasion of privacy. They can"t do that!"
We followed my students into the ma.s.sive field that was right outside the rows of camp buildings. Already the majority of students had gathered there and broken into groups. A few were still trickling in, streaming here and there from the camp buildings. A lot of them were looking around in wonder, this being their first experience in outdoors for many of them.
They were really missing out on a lot. Well, at least some of them had some form of camping experience – from the way they moved, they seemed confident and at home.
Adrian was one of them. Unlike the awestruck Melina, he was practically skipping along, humming to himself and looking not too impressed. I wasn"t sure how to put it, but I had the impression that he was pretty familiar with the woods. I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You"ve camped in the woods before?" I asked. Adrian scoffed.
"Of course! Dad brought me out to camp in the woods before!"
"Heh…I see." I nodded, partially impressed. Well, I expected that. Sacha looked like an outgoing person, after all, and I was aware that he fished as a hobby. It wasn"t too unusual that he would take his son out for a camping trip.
"All right, gather around! Those still streaming in, hurry up! We don"t have much time!"
The camp trainer who was in charge, Xun Lian Jia, was beckoning for the students to pick up the pace. There were a few dissatisfied murmurs – the students still wanting to admire the scenery – but n.o.body disobeyed. In less than a minute, all of the students had lined up in their various groups and were waiting for Xun Lian Jia to speak.
Rossetti and I had joined the few teachers who had tagged along, hanging out at the side. Occasionally, I would glance outward to ensure that there were no monsters encroaching upon our territory or something.
"Hmm…"
I pushed my gla.s.ses up my nose as I stared at the lake. Again, there was that ma.s.sive ripple as something enormous swam just beneath the surface. Were the camp trainers aware of that? Appeared that a few of them were keeping watch, but they continued to be indifferent. Was it a common occurrence or something?
"Is that a monster in the lake?" Rossetti whispered, having noticed that I was staring in a different direction. I shrugged.
"Probably. Seems like part of the training program, though."
Rossetti shuddered. "I hope not…that looks huge."
I scoffed. No matter how ma.s.sive the d.a.m.ned monster was, it wouldn"t survive a nuke spell from one of my Constellation spirits. Not that I was going to brag about it, of course, so I remained silent. Instead, I turned back to Xun Lian Jia, who was giving the usual introductory speech.
"Over the course of the next five days, I"m going to beat you into shape and turn all of you into hardy warriors!" he was declaring. "I"m sure you"ve already received the digital handbooks about this camp and seen the schedule. And yes, I"m conforming right now that there is no mistake. You"ll be suffering in this camp."
There were groans and complaints from the students, but Xun Lian Jia ignored them. Instead, he continued confidently.
"However, by the end of this camping session, you will be thanking me. You know why? Because you"ll be much stronger than before! You"ll be skilled warriors…survivors! You can boast to other people that you"ve successfully taken part in the slaying of monsters!"
A few of the guys couldn"t help but be excited over that, their fists clenched enthusiastically as they cheered.
"But for now…we"ll begin with the basics. All of you, get ready to hit the track in ten seconds! We"ll be running ten miles first!"
"What?!"
"Eh?!"
"Shut up and do it!" Xun Lian Jia shouted over the protests. Scared into submission, the middle school students began to move reluctantly toward the track.
"Let"s go," I told Rossetti, who looked at me, stunned.
"Huh? Go where?"
"Running, of course." I gave her a stare. "You don"t suppose we should be slacking off while the middle school students train by themselves, do you?"
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