“So, I heard you met Norellia?” Natt rubbed her hand over Basque’s chest, under his robe.

  “Hmph.”

  She flicked his nipple.

  “Ow!”

  “What’s with that reaction?”

  “Yes, I met her.”

  “Oh, Yani, Basque.” Natt pulled her hand out of his clothes and put it on her forehead. “What did you say to her?”

  “Nothing.”

  “That doesn’t feel like a ‘nothing’ to me.”

  Basque sighed. “She got all snippy about a history between Cayelyn and Banca that I was unaware of. She said some things, I said some things.”

  “What sort of things?”

  “Something along the lines of if I do something bad to you or Cayelyn, she’ll screw over Hianbru’s interests.”

  “Uh huh. So, she threatened you. And how did you respond?”

  He kept his mouth closed.

  “Basque…”

  He rolled over and kissed her. She pushed him back. “Basque.”

  He sighed. “I might have said something about her being a bad friend for not helping you during your darker days.”

  Rolling on top of him, Natt ran her hand through his hair. “She did try to help. I was inconsolable back then.”

  “I also might have said something about her being ineffectual when you fell as well.”

  She smacked her head into his chest, then lifted it back up. “I won’t be angry because you had no way of knowing, but how do you think I got my job here? I had a whole faction of nobles wanting to railroad me out into the camps. Norellia did everything she could for me.”

  “I’ll apologize the next time I see her.”

  Natt kissed him. “That is what I love about you.”

  As he pulled her to him, she put her hands back into his robe and pushed it off. He did the same to her. Sitting up, with her legs straddling him, Natt pulled her night robe off completely.

  “The students might need their sleep tonight, but you sure don’t.” Now naked, Natt fell back down on him and pressed her mouth to his. Basque wrapped his hands around her and flipped them over.

  “I guess you don’t need that much rest, either.”

  Neither of them got much rest, and Basque was groggy in the morning. Natt was still sleeping when Basque left to take his class to the colosseum.

  His students stood in the hall, waiting for him. Basque looked them over. Unlike how they usually stood at attention and only looked at Basque while they waited, more than a few of them fidgeted or swayed on their feet, and more than one of them looked away from Basque to look at a friend.

  “Good morning, Class E!”

  They snapped to. “Good morning, Gerenet-Shr!”

  “I can see that quite a few of you are nervous. Don’t be. Just treat this as a regular training exercise. You’ve done this in pods and two pods simultaneously. This is just a five-pods-at-once exercise that happens to have an audience.”

  “Yeah, an audience,” Miya said. “Kind of a big difference.”

  “Is it, Miya?”

  “Yes?”

  “How so?”

  “Because there are people watching?”

  “But I don’t remember a practice where other classes haven’t watched.”

  “But they’re kids!”

  Several of the other students nodded their agreement.

  “Okay, so what can go wrong today?” Basque asked.

  Ryleegh raised her hand. Basque pointed to her. “I could be one of the last two standing.”

  “No, you won’t,” Banca said.

  “I hear a lot of confidence from you, baldy,” Taraia said. Her smile let Basque know she was joking with Banca, but he still frowned at the comment.

  “And I hear an ass that’s gotta be kicked.”

  “Girls!” he said. “We’ll just see how it plays out. Remember, the last two people standing will play Animal Yani Human, and the loser will take the disabling blow, got it?”

  “Understood, Gerenet-Shr!”

  “Don’t be nervous about the crowd. Just focus on training, as this is just a training exercise in a fancy venue.”

  “Understood, Gerenet-Shr!”

  “Pods, on me!” he said and led them out of the dorm hall.

  This would be the only day that he would take his students to the tournament. He was glad the first-years were the first day. He confirmed with Krill that once his students were done, they weren’t required to watch. Basque didn’t want his class to watch other students kill other students. The first tournament had been more than enough.

  Since it was a whole class this time instead of a handful of representatives, the waiting room was in a different place. Basque led his class to their room, where Baronetess Alestra waited for them. The dance instructor counted them as they entered.

  “You know, Master Basque, I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a Class E, no, any class at Dyntril have more students at the end of the year than at the beginning.”

  “Anyone have that in the death pool?”

  Alestra flinched. “No…you pretty much killed all of those.”

  “Good.”

  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for how I treated you. I don’t think I’ve had a better group of students than your class.”

  “Apology accepted, and that makes two of us. These are brilliant students. Please take care of them.”

  “Okay.”

  The dance teacher finally went into the room with his class. Since the homeroom teachers were required to sit with the parents, Basque wasn’t allowed to watch over his students prior to their fight. He’d wished that it had been Natt looking after them again, but she was on fifth-year duty. The person watching over them could have been worse than Alestra, and Basque did appreciate her apology.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Some of the teachers had become more stubborn in their initial opinion of Basque, but enough, like Alestra, had changed their minds, so that Basque’s opinion of the school had gone from rock bottom to some sort of softer, sandier bottom, but still drowning underwater.

  “Basky!”

  After a quick turn and look at his former friend, Basque nodded, said, “Master Harnel,” and continued on his way.

  Harnel jogged to catch up. “I was hoping that you’d come to me with your idea of how to get out of the unshielded portion.”

  Basque shook his head. “No, I went over everything I could think of. My last two will just Animal Yani Human, and the loser will be the one who has to go down.”

  “Bwahaha! I’m sure Krill’s going to love that.”

  “It’s still within the rules. The loser will just dodge, while the winner attacks.”

  “What will you do if Banca wins AYH?”

  Basque headed through the archway that led to the seats for the first-year families. “She won’t. She volunteered to be an automatic loss.”

  “You’re mighty trusting of that little Yani.”

  Basque looked at the large man. “She’s quite trustworthy, unlike some others I can name.”

  “Low blow, Basky! Low blow.”

  “Maybe if I’d actually punched you there, it would have saved you from prioritizing your dick over your students.”

  Since they had reached a spot in their walk where they had to separate, Harnel reached out and grabbed Basque’s shoulder. “How long are you going to hold that over me?”

  “How long are you going to be with the pink Yani?”

  “I’m marrying her.”

  “Have a nice life,” Basque said and pulled away.

  “Basque!”

  Basque ignored the call and headed to the mostly empty section for his class. Only five people were seated, but the atmosphere was tense and heavy. Down in the front, Emilisa’s parents sat with Kyre’s father. After a few empty rows, midway up the section, Claurie sat with Duchess Norellia. The commoner parents were stiff in their seats, and their eyes kept drifting to the two women sitting behind them.

  After Basque greeted the commoner parents and thanked them for coming, he headed up to the duchess. Once more, she wore an outfit that matched her hair and eye color.

  “Duchess Norellia, I owe you an apology for my comments yesterday. Natt gave me the details of your relationship last night. I was rude, and I hope you can forgive me.”

  The rose gold-haired woman smiled. “I appreciate that, Master Basque. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Kruamian man apologize before. But my attitude was also quite rude as well. I never properly thanked you for saving my friend.”

  Basque sat down next to her. “Honestly, she saved herself. It’s not like I tore the bottle out of her hand.”

  “Well, your influence with her and what you’ve done with this class is what prompted her. Give yourself some credit.”

  “I’ll take credit for prompting her, but she did all of the hard work.”

  “So, who do you think will win? Will it be Miss Reianna again?”

  “Most likely.”

  “I was at the trial. How is she so strong if she’s not a mage?”

  Basque shrugged. “Naturally gifted? I don’t know. I don’t teach her anything that I don’t teach others.”

  “How do you think my Cayelyn will do?” Claurie asked.

  “She’s got a good pod around her. I can see them lasting almost as long as Xav’s pod.”

  The duchess tilted her head. “Xav? The boy from the camps?”

  “Yes, the clown from the last tournament.”

  “Umm, sorry to butt in again, Mistress Norellia, but Master Basque, what’s a pod?”

  “A subdivision of the class. Like a Kruamian hunting group.”

  Norellia sat up straighter. “You’ve already got them in hunting groups?”

  “Yes, it was mostly for their protection in the first semester, but they’re all good enough now that they don’t need it.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous, though?”

  “How so?”

  “You’re limiting their political connections by putting them in groups already.”

  The crowd roared as the announcer welcomed everyone to the tournament. Basque used it as an opportunity to ignore Norellia’s comment. He needed to be nice to her for Natt, but he knew he couldn’t hold back a sarcastic reply if he did answer.

  “Why not Miss Reianna’s pod?” the duchess asked when it quietened down.

  “She’s not in a pod. She’s one of the Yani.”

  “Excuse me?” Norellia asked.

  “Free-for-alls serve no training purposes. They’re going to play Yani and Pods. There will be five Yani and five four-person pods.”

  “Don’t that be too hard on the Yani kids?” Dealin asked. The other parents were looking at Basque now as well.

  “The top fighters are the Yani. It should be a balanced fight.”

  “Do our girl be a Yani?” Trudea asked.

  “No, ma’am. Emilisa and Kyre,” Basque said, looking at Kyre’s dad, “are in pods.”

  Basque wondered how much of the conversation Kyre’s father understood.

  “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! We are ready to start!!!” the MC yelled, and the crowd roared with her.

  “Though they’re cute and they're small, Dyntril first-years are still a deadly force! This time, we’re going to go class D-C-B-A and then E as the show stopper!”

  Instead of its usual uproar, the crowd in the colosseum murmured.

  “As the winner of the Opening Tournament was from Class E, they are the main event! Now, without further ado, First-year Class D!”

  The crowd erupted into its usual tenor, and the students from Class D walked into the arena. Basque recognized the four students who had been regulars with him before Harnel had gotten Basque banned from working with students from other classes.

  Braxton, Luvina, Eoghwin, and Leviah clumped together while the rest of the class put space between each other. Basque tsked. Not only was there no benefit to this asinine tournament, but it seemed as if it was detrimental even to group cohesion.

  “Fight!”

  Class D exploded into action. Most of them fought one-on-one battles, but the four who trained with Basque’s class stayed in their diamond formation. Basque smiled, and pride welled up in his chest.

  While they didn’t move as efficiently as the pods in his class, they looked out for each other well. Leviah used a bow while being in the twelve position. She commanded the others, and they rotated to keep her far from the other students, whom she sniped.

  The students who noticed them occasionally stopped their fighting to take on a larger threat. However, none of them were a match for the group, and soon, only those four were left. They split up, then Braxton downed Luvina, and Eoghwin downed Leviah.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen! Our survivors of Class D! What teamwork! But let’s see how long it will last during the final unshielded round!”

  The crowd went wild again.

  Braxton used a spear to Eoghwin’s twin daggers. It wasn’t a contest as Eoghwin couldn’t get near Braxton. Soon, the hazel-haired Braxton beat down his plum-haired opponent.

  Even though the crowd cheered, there was no joy on Braxton’s face. Eoghwin fought enough to make the fight look convincing, but Basque could see him leave himself open for hard strikes from Braxton’s staff.

  Eventually, with both arms broken, Eoghwin fell to the ground. The match was called for Braxton, and nurses rushed out to cart Eoghwin off.

  Whereas Braxton’s face was pained when he struck Eoghwin, when Emmah and Zophiah were the last two standing for Class C, Emmah cried every time she hit Zophiah with her staff.

  The crowd began booing her. Basque gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

  “Don’t think that you’re the only one who thinks this is barbaric, Ambassador Gerenet,” Norellia told him. “I was a miracle twin. Twins are considered good luck in Kruami. So, my sister and I were spared the normal sibling rivalry of Kruamian nobles.”

  Out in front of them, Zophiah finally went down, and Emmah ran to her. The round was called in Emmah’s favor, but the crowd’s reaction was lackadaisical.

  “She died in one of these tournaments. She was the most precious thing to me in this world. After she died, Natt was the one who picked me up and put me back on my feet.”

  As the system unfroze the students who had “died” during the shielded portion walked off, Norellia joined in the applause of the crowd.

  “I joined Natt in her cause. I went from the daughter of an insignificant baron to my position as a duchess thanks to her. She was going to become an archduchess, and I was going to become the headmaster here.”

  Norellia paused as the announcement of the ten-minute break drowned her out. Once the announcement was done, she continued. “Then she fell. More than fell, she fell into a place I couldn’t pull her out of, no matter how hard I tried. I…began to resent her. Now, she’s back, and the guilt that I didn’t try harder is eating me up.”

  “I’m sorry again for my comments.”

  She shook her head, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Despite all that, I can’t thank you, nor can I truly apologize yet. Not until I see Claurie’s baby girl fight.”

  Basque just nodded and said nothing.

  Uscur came out on top pretty handily in his Class B match. Basque recognized his opponent because Basque had memorized all of the first-year students’ names, but he’d never seen the boy in person before. Uscur didn’t seem as bothered about taking down his opponent as Braxton and Emmah had been.

  Class B cleared out, and Class A replaced them. Avali, despite being from the lower nobility ranks, won out against the rest of her class. Unlike the students who had trained with Class E, Avali’s face was filled with glee as she sliced up her opponents.

  Her grin was feral when she killed Kian. Basque felt sick to his stomach. Avali drowned herself in the applause of the crowd, then vanished back into the waiting room.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, we will now have a ten-minute recess. When we come back, we will have the main event, Class E!”

  Basque swallowed. Though he’d told his students not to worry about the pressure, he couldn’t calm the butterflies in his own stomach. This was going to be hell.