The Majarlican Demigod

The Restriction String

The Majarlican Demigod

Chapter 30: Restriction String

The moon is still up, but the others walk out of the tent like they are half awake. It's a good thing my senses were sharp. We gathered again on the dodgeball pitch.

"Happy second day of training!" Vice Chief greeted with his megaphone, "We have to be early today, for we have a lot of physical training and sharpening up your senses, and it might take a lot of time."

"Everyone will be working in pairs today." Kori smiled at us while Phrias made a face. It's a not-so-good morning for her, "Change into your combat attire and go to the dining hall to have some soup. You have 30 minutes to be back here. Latecomers will be punished," she smiles away like the punishment is like you will have free sweets for dessert.

The people are walking slowly and not talking to each other. The minor boys from dodgeball show more enthusiasm for being awake for another day. Hans, on the other hand, yawns out loud and walks slouchy. We are heading back to our rooms to change clothes. When I got back to my room.

"Surprise!!!" Zephyra appeared in front of me.

My confused face popped up, "What are you doing here?"

"You're not happy that I am here, are you?" she pouted.

I entered my room and closed the door.

"I just woke up, okay?" I headed to my closet to get my combat attire and start changing.

"My room is still being prepared, so I took the liberty of staying in this room while you're on the training." She jumped back into bed. "The class will resume the day after tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," I'm sure she sees how busy I am, tucking the loose upper garment into the baggy trousers.

"I'm so excited! Do you think Phrias will let me see your training?" She asked.

I zipped up the trousers, "It's exhausting, boring training, Zephyra. It's not a show."

"I know."

I finished dressing myself up, tied my hair, and put on my combat boots. After prepping myself, I

left my sister lying on the bed. The dining hall is a bit livelier now that people have had time to wash their faces and fill their empty stomachs.

"Hey, you took long there," Rupert approached me. His smile was sweet, but it reminded me of what I had discovered last night.

I nodded at him, "Girl things." I said as a sip from the cup of coffee I had.

"I see," he responded without looking away.

I'll probably melt if I don't stay away from this person, so I drink the hot coffee and leave the table. My tongue is burning, but it's better than being caught by Saphrias. I'll choose to have a clean image rather than experience the life of a teenage Majarlican. I hope I can tell Rupert not to take it personally since we're politically involved.

After that coffee, I returned to the grove alone, hoping to copy Hans's supersonic skill. I reached the picnic grove and saw our three maestros laughing like they were having fun with the Pandora cousins. Kori noticed me, so I had to go to her and talk to them socially.

"Althea, we're just talking about you," Saphrias miraculously smiled at me. It seems like you're friends with the Pandoras now. Great job."

Am I dreaming, or Saphrias just praised me? "Lady Hasmin and Lady Heavenly are very nice to me in the first place, and Lord Randall too," I smiled awfully.

"It's nice that everyone is getting along well," Saphrias said, "It makes everybody's job easier."

Talking about being lazy.

"Is the pair-up done, Kori?" Saphrias confirms, and Kori nods.

After 30 minutes, Kori began calling us in pairs. There are fewer girls than boys, so some of them will be partners in this activity. For our first activity, we need to run 3 lapses around the whole school, and it's approximately 2 kilometres if we are going to convert it. It's easy to run with a partner, but there's a catch, we are tied by an invisible string with each other's feet. This accident-prone stunt doesn't make sense to me. When the Vice Chief fired shots, the running began.

The first time is always the hardest, especially since I ended up as Randall Pandora's partner—and I don't know much about this person. I'm kind of jealous that Talia and Hans end up being partners all the time. Running together won't be hard for them since they know each other's movements.

"Lady Althea, are you nervous?" Randall asked, "This isn't a race, so it's okay if we don't hurry. Let's step forward to the tied foot and then the free one. It would be easier that way." He suggests.

I nodded in agreement with his idea. We kept running like that. We were being watched by Saphrias and could not use our skills to finish the exercise. We complete the first lap, and the moon is still showing up—my energy is still 75%. I feel like the string that ties us up has incantation to either drain our energies or detect how much power we have. This training is much more complex than I thought.

On the third lap, I feel like I haven't been sleeping for days. There's something about the string that makes me tired.

"Pan--, I mean, Lord Randall, can we speed up a bit?" I asked.

Randall looked a little puzzled, but he smiled and sped up running. I can't understand why the string is taking effect on me. I could ask the celestial nagger later if this also took effect on him. Telepathy might not be a good idea since I suspect the string checks if we use skills when we are told not to. There are a lot of things that remain a mystery for me. We finished the lap right when the sun was already shining bright in our faces.

Saphrias called us to the dodgeball pitch. She collected the invisible strings per pair—she could have taken it all at once… is it too delicate? But they just put it away earlier without care. I stand quietly as I wait for my turn. After we got untied, I suddenly felt that something heavy was unloaded from me. What was that power? Nothing extraordinary, but it held me down, and I must put up higher vigilance.

It's time for breakfast, and just like yesterday, Saphrias didn't let me join my friends. She's imposing something that others might interpret differently from the original intention. In addition to all the weird things happening, Brighton still seems to be on guard, so I can't even bring myself to ask him. I'll try asking other people. I don't know what my cousin wants me to do. If I sit beside Randall Pandora, she'll let me join others again. There's not much time left for me.

If Brighton said the other time that Saphrias is being used by Artes, then I should try to save Phrias, whatever the cost may be.

I finished my food quickly and waited outside. Pandoras always go back to observe the Pandoras, but Randall remains for his girl cousins in front of the dining hall. All I have to do is ensure that Saphrias will see this Pandora guy and me close. Randall is going in my direction, so it's the perfect time to move my feet towards him.

"Lord Randall!" I smiled at him.

Randall stopped, "Lady Althea," he greeted.

"Ally will do," I told him.

"It's Ray, then," he said.

I noticed that people from the inside were discreetly paying attention to us. Saphrias is a naturally curious overthinker, and she would probably pass by us at any moment.

"About earlier, didn't you feel something weird while we were running?" I asked.

"Are you a mind reader? Because I have the same question. I'm about to ask you about it as well. I mean, since I'm an earth commander, I'm not bound to gravity, but it felt heavy then. I thought it might be because I can't freely run without thinking about you," he responded.

Ray's right. It might be the reason, but then again, I'm a demigod and shouldn't be affected by simple incantation.

"Now that you've mentioned it, I wonder why we were tied up by an invisible string." I'm trying to lure him into bringing himself to ask Saphrias about it. I mean, it could be something like rope or other fabric. Don't you think so?" Ray's expression says yes. He is an intellectual type of guy, so we can agree on this.

"We should ask the maestras later," Ray suggests.

The operation is already a success. I must keep this conversation going. From my peripheral sight, Rupert is coming our way—not good.

"Randall! Ally!" Rupert runs toward us.

Both of us bowed to him. The prince looked surprised about how I greeted him today.

"Did Heavenly stumble herself earlier?" Randall asked.

That's right, Rupert and Heavenly were paired up.

"My cousin isn't really an outdoor person. Please pardon her."

"Nah, it's okay," Rupert smiled to us. Lady Heavenly did her best."

"I feel relieved. Thank you, Prince Rupert." Randall said, "By the way, we were talking about the strings from earlier. Did you take notice of it?"

"Well, aside from the fact that Lady Heavenly was not a good athlete, I felt I was being pulled down to the ground," Rupert responded.

"I see," Randall suggests, "Why don't we ask our maestras about that string later?"

Saphrias, together with Kori and Vice Chief, passed by us. I looked at Phrias to make sure she was me standing closer to Randall Pandora—and she did! A 100% success for me. After a moment, the other Pandoras, as did Hans and Talia, came out. We went back to the dodgeball pitch for the next activity.

(To Be Continued)