Six Warriors II: Seals and Nobles

"I think that name is actually quite exaggerated." That's what Jack thought before he arrived at Brutal Death Training and Survival Camp. This thought only lasted until he saw a boy bleeding to death as he screamed in despair being carried away on a stretcher. "Okay, maybe they didn't exaggerate that much." Although many Myrddin Academy students were also there now, this place couldn't be more different from the Academy's academic environment. There was no classroom there, no theoretical study, no books, no reading, no written tests, no grades. The training was basically physical and corporal. At first, Jack almost missed Myrddin Academy. That place was almost military. They had a time limit for everything, for eating, for showering and even for using the “toilet”. With lots of quotes around the word "toilet", after all, it was just a ridiculous wooden shack with a stinking hole in the floor called a "latrine". When he saw that at first, Ethan immediately made a face and said: "I'm not going to s.hit there." "That's cool, man, that's what I call a natural s.hit." "It's disgusting." "It's rustic. Did you think the adventurer's life was going to be easy, mate?" Ethan rolled his eyes as if he didn't want to argue about shitting in holes with Arthur anymore. The camp director was Captain Segan Smash of the Argian army. He was a very tough guy, and his muscular appearance and always irritated face reminded Jack of someone... Many dangerous monsters inhabited the forest around the camp and, of course, some of the training included killing several of these. Among other activities included climbing a small mountain without any safety equipment! Not to mention that they were always woken up at six o'clock by a hellish noise, the bath water in the morning was freezing and, of course, all the boys bathed together in a kind of public bath. Privacy? Almost nil. Shortly after that, breakfast, which was quite hearty, but it was necessary to eat very quickly, time was limited. Training began with “simple warm-ups” of various sit-ups, front lunges, push-ups, jumping jacks, and running. At first it was quite difficult for Jack, but after a while he was almost getting used to it. Then there were some exercises that included fighting wooden dolls, archery and many other activities. It was there that Jack had learned to ride and had enjoyed it a lot. Indira, the group's mascot, was there too, being looked after by Winnie, who was William's niece, the man who tended the stables at the Academy. Before meeting her, Jack had imagined her with the same face as William in a female body, something a little grotesque, but when he arrived at the place he had come across a beautiful young woman in her twenties, gentle as her uncle would never be. The camp had its downsides, several, but Jack grew to like the place. The camp was basically a bunch of wooden huts around a Main Cottage, which was much bigger than the others, and in it was the passage to the Floating Castle, a place where the boys trained sometimes and where a dragon lived, a dragon in truth. He was an old copper dragon called Tyrengal-Trusly who at first tried to intimidate the boys, like the guardian of the camp, but of course, in the end, he had proved to be kind, gentle and fun. There was also the hut of the old gnome Lowbal, who was an alchemist and camp "healer". His hut served as both a medical wing and a laboratory for his potion experiments and such, it was also one of the few places made of wood and stone, with a thatched roof or something similar. Jack's favorite moment was always twilight at camp, the moment between late afternoon and early evening, not because of the supposed beauty of the sky or the weather changing direction, nor because it was supposed to be the threshold between day and night, giving a melancholy mood Fenrir liked to say, no. It was simply the time when activities usually ceased and there was always a hot fire where meat was roasted, leaving the camp with the smell of wood burning and meat roasting in the air, while the tired bodies went to their well-deserved rest. His stomach was always growling at this time and that smell was always intoxicating. Of course, sometimes the s******c Captain Smash made them train at night, but that was usually how it was: Soft instrumental music was played by some campers and he and his friends always chatted in the orange twilight of the place. In the cold night, they would sit around a fire while helping themselves to meat and a strange drink called Masganium Blood. It was a bluish drink made from an equally strange berry that grew on trees scattered around the camp, which was called blabegourd or bluban. This small fruit was about the size of a grape, shaped like a pumpkin, and bluish or slightly purplish in color. The name of the drink was due to the legendary blue dragon, Masganium, which once terrorized entire kingdoms and was slain and destroyed by an equally powerful group of heroes. Before that, Thales told him (yes, the same Thales from the academy, who was also at the camp, as well as other students) the drink was called Noble Blood, in reference to blue blood, so only they, the nobles, could drink it. After the death of the mighty dragon, the drink was democratized at the request of one of the heroes, because he liked it a lot, so it ended up becoming very popular among everyone. Thales had told him it was his favorite drink, as it was the color of his hair, which made Jack curious. "About your hair color, Thales, they're blue. What I mean is, are they dyed or what?" "No," Thales smiled sweetly, too sweet for a boy, "in Khand it is possible for people to be born with unusually colored hair. Some legends say that these people are descended from the fairies, or the gods. Either way, it is a sign that this person will have a lot of magical power. Well, that's what they say. You may have noticed people with singular hair colors. Dominick, me... and that sometimes applies to the eyes too." Jack remembered some people he had seen. Indeed, it was possible and natural. He had never thought of it. "I don't think you noticed," Thales smiled again, making Jack almost blush, which was kind of weird. "W-what didn't I notice?" "Well, when you get determined in a fight. Your eyes both change color." He remembered what Sebastian had said when fighting him. "Fire Eyes" or something. "Yeah, I never stopped to think about it." Jack smiled. Jack then shook his head and returned his thoughts to the present. He was watching a sword training session, in which boys faced each other in a friendly way. It was weird. He had lately been thinking more than he liked about Thales and his so… peculiar ways. About his friends, well, most of them were at camp too. Bruno didn't know anything about his evil face, so everyone agreed that he had been used against his will for evil purposes. Without that power, he was pretty weak and Jack had never seen him win a fight. Marcus and Stanis went to meet with the others of the Order of Interdimensional Guardians of Argia. Victoria was in training with the Valkyries. Apart from these, almost everyone else was there in the camp. "Zaek, are you deaf?" Yelled Segan Smash, making Jack jump. "I talked to you, camper. Are you becoming like Silvster, sleeping during the day, daydreaming?" Some people laughed at the reference made to Fenrir. That routine of always waking up so early in the morning hadn't done the boy much good. "You know how it is, don't you, captain?" Fenrir had said, "Spending all day looking at that ugly face of yours gives me nightmares at night. I can't hold my eyes!" "Fifty push-ups, now!" snarled the captain, "and be thankful I'm in a good mood today!" Fenrir shrugged and went to carry out orders. "And as for you, Jack Zaek, pay more attention to what I say, or you won't like the punishment in store for you. Well then. As you guys may know, the camp monitors and I are very nice today." Some of the monitors who were behind the captain stifled giggles, "and we think you guys must be very tired. As we thought about your welfare, we decided to do a fun exercise, a little game to distract you, a kind of treasure hunt." "And what would that be like?" Jack wanted to know. "Did I authorize questions, Zaek?" "No." Jack replied sullenly. "No sir. You'll learn to treat me right by the end of camp, kid. Fifty sit-ups, now!" "But…" "Now it's sixty!" Jack decided to follow orders. He had the faint impression that Captain Smash hated him. As Jack did his exercise, Smash continued to talk. "Well, I believe that most of you guys want to become some adventurer, hero, or something like that. In this exercise we are going to train these traits of yours. These treasures are scattered throughout the territory of the camp and surrounding areas. Of course, they are not so easy to find. To succeed, you will sometimes have to fight for them, drag for them, suffer for them!" Jack got so excited about the hunt that he stopped for a minute with his sit-ups to listen to Smash's scream. "Abs, Zaek, don't think I'm not watching you!" Yelled Segan Smash, pointing at Jack and looking at him with that always annoyed face of his. "What you will have to do is find the Attribute Sapphires, which are scattered throughout the camp, as I have already mentioned. They are exactly like that, all of them, without exception", he then showed one of the sapphires so that the students would know what it was that they should look for. "Some clues will lead to other clues and by joining them, you will be able to find one of these items. The winner will be the one who gets the most items in the shortest time. Three chimes will be heard, to mark the time. At the third stroke, time is up. Whoever wins will be entitled to a week in the king's suite. You may think it's too little, but I don't give a damn what you think. Besides, whoever brings me fewer Sapphires will have to clean the men's bathroom and work in the laundry for a whole week. Did I make it clear?" All the campers made expressions of disgust. The men's restroom at the camp was awful. Calling it dirty and messy was almost a compliment. "He, he, eh, a little competition, huh?" Arthur smiled excitedly, "Now I'm enjoying it," he shot Jack a suggestive look and punched his fist. Jack ignored the teasing, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he was also excited about the dynamic. He also cracked a smile.