Chapter 17: Seran Studies

13:27; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy – Class 3-Plum

Masazumi managed to make sure her attention did not falter even in the deepest midst of Bertoni's most dryly delivered report, one that could as easily had been used as sleep medicine for the chronically deprived. For all the bore it was still important to take in and the contents was both good and bad, though all of it seemed to fly over the head of some people she could name dozing in their seats. "Awah, I've never had such a good nap." she heard Toori whisper and felt like hitting her head against her desk. Of course he took the chance to nap, concealed by a school book that she was absolutely certain hid in turn a porn magazine. The only solace was that their miser of a Treasurer did not let it slide and flicked a crayon at the Chancellor for his laziness.

That was, however, as much a punctuation as it was punishment. Just a moment later Bertoni wrapped it up, "And that concludes the overview of our current domestic economics."

With gusto she put her hands together on the table and stated formally, "Thank you for compiling this for us. It has proven most enlightening."

He nodded placidly and as the man returned to his desk picked up that brass coin he had happened to bring today, the fruit of a personal side-project about potentially reintroducing a proper monetary system to the Stranded. It was mildly bronze, rifles on the flat side and sported a vague image of a human head's profile on one side and a vague emblem on the other that included a very crisp and clear '1' to signify its worth. Musashi's more digital-based monetary system probably wouldn't fly with the primitivized humans out there.

For now the ongoing economic system based on simple bartering sufficed, but it did not stop Bertoni from entertaining ideas.

A shadow briefly fell on the classroom, and Masazumi let her attention be pulled to its originator. One of two skiffs passing them on their way to the commercial district on the "Oume". To help shore up their food supplies the Engineering club had taken to developing some simple boat designs made for the general purpose of trawling for fish. Similarly the patrolling warships had taken to hunting packs of animals they find in no mans land. Mitotsudaira who was on the "Mirai" yesterday came home with a hold full of felled deers, the half-werewolf herself had bagged and lugged along eight of the beasts by the length of her chains – being a predator she doubtlessly looked forward to the venison.

For either development it was cause for celebration to Ginji as well as butchers and food stores in general at the prospect of more work to alleviate their boredom and new wares. And those by far were the most considerable domestic development in the last few days. Externally a couple of more towers had been added to Stranded villages that did not have them, including equipment with specifications tailored to these respective settlements' needs.

Overall it has been pretty peaceful lately, all things considered.

What chatter had briefly built up after the report was cut short as Oriotorai retook her position by the desk and patted a book hard against it. "Attention everyone!" she called, "As you all know, and for those who needs a reminder, next class we will proceed downstairs to designated classroom 'Seran Studies'."

And so the day has finally come. Masazumi mused, it had taken a while for the new indentured teachers to get situated and prepared, but now finally they are ready for action. Not few are those who looked forward to the new subject, and the number very much included herself – the anticipation of it up in the air proved almost palpable.

"Now I shouldn't need to tell you guys this, but I will do it again anyway." Oriotorai continued with a long look toward Malga and Margot in the back who seemed more or less busy with a illustrated draft of a doujin the former had completed. They stopped upon the notice of being in the cold center of their amazonian homeroom teacher's attention. "Be polite. Be courteous. These are people who have gone through much... and for the days prior to the employ their diet was largely made of Horizon's bread and Nenji/Kenji's attention."

"Cruel." Toori snickered, "Way cruel."

Tenzou burst into tears and planted his face firmly against his desk, "So true, so very true!" while comforted by Mary with a pat on the back.

"How about some punishment for our little beast?" Kimi smirked and unhelpfully provided, "All for?"

"Those were your ideas!" Mitotsudaira was not about to take that lying down, her cheeks crimson from anger and embarrassment, "Outrageous woman!"

In response, the brunette merely giggled. "And you gave me permission to~"

"Now now ladies." Oriotorai interjected, "Before there's any teeth on ham..."

"Ham..." Malga thoughtfully beamed in a wicked manner as she cleared a sign frame for her next upcoming work, "I feel my muse speak onto me again!"

Margot looked to her lover, "What about?"

"Little red riding hood with embellishment, starring Mito and Tomo."

Tomo stared at the fallen angel in dismay, "Why me again?!"

"Because you're very womanly, and got a damned fine pair on you." Malga obliquely looked the shrine priestess over and bluntly summarized, "Oh~ My pen is on fire-!"

"Please Margot, please speak some sense into her!"

The blonde angel merely did a slow laugh as the lover started on the first draft at a frenzied pace. Kimi likewise laughed albeit amusedly whilst the silver-maned half-werewolf colored in further embarrassment mixed with resignation.

"That aside, back to what I was saying..." Oriotorai shrugged off the interruption, "I will not place blame here. Just be considerate."

"Judge." several of the students including Masazumi acknowledged, the latter whom looked back to Toori as he futilly tried to ask Malga to let him read the new doujin once done. Would have if not for Horizon holding him down.

"Good. And for now, class dismissed."

That left only one point of preparation for the upcoming class, one solely in the hands of Neshinbara who was the second to head out after the teacher did – hurrying into position to welcome the foreign student who would likewise participate as per agreement with England.

13:35; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Aft Crossroad

"You could not await my arrival at the dock?"

Neshinbara did not rise to the bait. Between his responsibilities and need to study he could not at this time do more than wait in the open area between the Academy and Remorse Way. Not enough time was available to meet them at the 'Tama'. Instead they were met by a guard detail that escorted them to him. The Secretary's heart was rather aflutter though as he saw Thomas Shakespeare approach, flanked by a quartet of riflemen. Less expected, however, was the green-haired dryad who followed in her wake. Grace O'Malley. "I had a lot of work. Could not be helped." he shrugged before straightening his posture, "That said, welcome to the Musashi – though I am curious as to why the 'Granuaile's Captain would tag along."

"A result of our negotiation." Shakespeare shrugged, "Did not your Vice President tell you when it concluded a bare two days past?"

"Oh." he scratched his head and thought on that particular time when Masazumi addressed him about some issue, but, "I guess I was too drowsy at the time to pick that up. My apologies."

"You are hopeless." the fellow author sighed, "Is at least the quarter where we'll stay ready?"

For you it is I know... but for Grace I'll have to check, Neshinbara thought. "O-of course. I would like to note though that the first class of those you wish to observe will start almost imminently. And give me enough time to requisition an additional bed.

Shakespeare nodded, "I guess that's fine. Shall we go?"

"Aye, right this way." he gestured for them to follow and turned to lead on, a motion followed by her immediate presence to his side where she wrapped an arm around his. Neshinbara almost jumped, but refrained and deeply blushed at her closeness and apparent need for intimacy. A nervous look over his shoulder revealed the dough-nut-nibbling Grace smiling wickedly at them. Oh jolly...

If it was meant as a declaration to other students as they entered campus that she has laid her claim on this man and would accept no trespass, it seemed to work as it got the students they passed to whisper among themselves. No doubt the gossip would spread across Musashi in upcoming days. Even if it and her closeness made a good warmth spread across his chest... Gods, how embarrassing it is to be paraded around like some buck.

Certainly that did not help matters when Bertoni spotted them and immediately had Heidi take pictures – no doubt that piece of news would sell well – followed closely by Kimi's presence who gleamed at the new couple with mischief. To the latter Shakespeare tightened her hold on his arm defensively, perhaps intimidated by his classmate's very ample chest.

Then they encountered Malga.

Oh dear...

13:45; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy – Seran Studies

Mere minutes after that occurred, Grace O'Malley sat with perhaps the most evil look ever recorded to dryads everywhere in history plastered all over her face as so very close by Shakespeare chatted animatedly with that Malga, one of the resident witches, about the making of a doujin. Thomas would supply the script while Malga produces the draft.

All while Neshinbara was utterly pink and sat with his face buried firmly in his hands.

Such delicious teen drama, and it seemed like the situation would continue to peak beyond every limit known to exist. Grace snickered quietly at how they utterly spoiled her with all this excitement that had collected to itself a fair amount of attention from surrounding students who watched. Curiosity, amusement and exasperation wafted freely through the air with equal impunity because of that. Pity they all sobered up a minute after the last student, Toori, arrived when finally the door flew open and a quartet of massive and heavily muscled bodies clad in teacher outfits that looked so out of place on them marched in.

Grace was captivated enough by the hunks that had a sort of obscene quality to them that she barely noticed the woman who had in fact led them in, these students' almost amazonian teacher whose name read as Makiko Oriotorai. A confident woman who looked every bit the warrior what with the long sword slung on her back. She took just one look around and across the ocean of students before the first statement was made, "Looks like everyone's here." with vivid approval.

"Were there any doubt?" Grace asked aloud.

Oriotorai smirked at her, "I had none. Hope you can clean up after you when class is over."

She rolled her eyes, of course the teacher had to bring up the matter of the trail of who knows many leaves she shed on the way here. "Tes." she dryly replied, "I'll consider it."

"Good, now I realize there are many among you who haven't met the locals who have lately agreed to tutor you on everything Seran."

Indeed, some were as caught up as Grace herself was with staring at the men that had by now assembled next to the desk and even under intense scrutiny seemed as firmly at attention as a mountain would if it could. Some however knew them, and had wholly a different set of reactions – for example the half-werewolf who almost gleefully ordered beef for lunch on the side - apparently not for the first time.

Oriotorai continued; "So let us start this with a round of summary introductions shall we?" and gave a nod to the man whose outfit included a do-rag that seemed to be the only part of it not to make him uncomfortable.

Up front the blonde man leaned down to the guy clad in that do-rag to exchange a whisper that was responded to with an annoyed "Stow it, Baird." Having dismissed the blonde with that, do-rag guy coughed in preparation.

"Really," Baird had muttered, damned close to exploding from mind-boggled he was. When they were told some of the students they are going to teach aren't humans, they had not dwelled much on it for all of it sounded too fantastical to be true. Now? "do you see the same shit I do?

"Stow it, Baird." Marcus snapped quietly. That said, he agreed with the blonde and took in anew the information written in the sparse student profiles they were provided from memory. To his utter disbelief the student body included that massive creature that chased them out of that ship earlier, and according to the notes is for a fact a half-dragon... and eighteen, which qualified its position as a student. Then there's the blob and 'incubus' that kept Delta company for a session terrifying beyond comprehension. In the back sat a pair of girls each with three pairs of wings which feathers matched their hair color perfectly, a fallen angel and descended angel respectively – Angels for God's sake. Then there is a half-naked huge guy that is supposedly a half-giant. Otherwise the student body included students that are not notably different on the outside, such as an automaton. The girl whose care they were under during those interrogations is a half-werewolf. And the meekest boy in this very room is for a fact a half-god.

A half-god.

Words alone could not quite articulate how completely ridiculous all of this is. For last of note are two other not listed directly. As if seeing his confusion, Oriotorai came close and conveyed, "Got a question?"

"Yes..." Marcus quizzically tilted his head, "We got two more in this class than we were told of."

"Oh right." she nodded in comprehension, "Foreign students here due to agreement." and indicated covertly the bespectacled girl next who sat next to the bespectacled boy, "TRUMPS number six, Thomas Shakespeare. She's a half-elf. And..." she pointed out the woman who to be honest looked several years beyond eighteen beside the unbelievable fact that tree leaves kept falling out of that shockingly green hair of hers, cluttering the floor, "TRUMPS number four, Grace O'Malley. A dryad."

Though he did dwell for an instant on that note of 'foreign students', it was subordinated to the question if all of these part or non-human are results of freak scientific experiments or something else, for the sheer number of them was beyond belief. Almost each and every further thing they learned of Musashi continuously turned reality completely on its head. For all his urge to ask further though, ultimately he needed to begin. Marcus nodded his thanks to the teacher before he rose to his full height:

"Welcome to Seran Studies. My name is Marcus Fenix," he growled to the whole classroom and indicated the line next to him, "and these are Damon S. Baird, Augustus Cole, and Dominic Santiago. We are Delta, and we will tutor you on all things Seran from this point on until released."

Marcus paused to let that sink in before he continued, "That said I'm going to set the mood for this class before any antics – yes we've read up on those – can happen. Answer this question to the best of your ability. What is the Golden Rule?"

First to raise a hand was a golden-haired girl with glasses, Adele Balfette according to the notes he remembered. "Um, the principle that one should treat-"

"No." Marcus snapped, enough steel in his voice that several of them jumped in their chairs. "I'll tell you what the Golden Rule is. Or better yet, I'll have Baird tell you. Baird?"

Baird smiled darkly as he looked onto the stricken students, "Take cover or die."

"Exactly that. And now we will move on to the most vile repetition inherent in every teaching system."

"Oh no," the stupid-looking boy who is supposed to be Musashi's President and Chancellor both – an information that made all four of them do a double-take, so different from Prescott that they could barely wrap their heads around the knowledge – cried out in faked horror, "you wouldn't!"

"That's right!" Marcus barked and smirked, "We are going to do a roll call! Failure to comply will lead to penalty."

The girl with that prosthetic arm, Naomasa, raised her hand and asked, "What kind of penalty would that be?"

He held their attention in silence before he informed them in a most solemn manner, "Porn deprivation."

"You..." several of the boys started at that, especially the boy whose head was covered by a scarf and strangely animate cap, "You... sick monster!"

"Better yet, we'll all do it, a lane each. Now keep up!" Marcus gave but the briefest hint to the others and they nodded before he started to a reeling classroom, "Masazumi Honda."

Baird followed, "Kimi Aoi."

Cole followed, "Toori Aoi."

Dom followed, "Horizon Ariadust."

On the first row, the Vice President raised her hand and declared her presence verbally. Kimi did likewise with a smirk on her lips that seemed constant on her. Toori waved exaggeratedly as he confirmed. Horizon was far more sedate as she declared herself. Soon as one had, the man who called for her immediately near-shouted for another, and the classroom became a whole lot more noisy. Though Oriotorai had already assured that all are present, she let them go at it with a little grin at how the students' attention became tensed and focused.

It continued along until Dom said aloud the name of the girl named Suzu Mukai who jolted in nervous fright and stuttered a response, both which made the former father wince as though in pain brought by an air of regret. Marcus briefly noted to himself the information they had on the last girl, who was apparently blind and navigated with the help of advanced hearing in can detect people and the shape and size of her environment through echolocation. How many people out there would kill for something like that?

"All present and accounted for." Baird declared.

"Thank you." Marcus nodded grimly then stood to regard the class, "Now we begin. All of you expect us to teach you about the Locust Horde right away, but we got other ideas. Baird."

He stepped aside and allowed Baird to take his position. With a stern mind the man started up, "I will start this with a question. How much do you know about the outside world from before your nation's policy of isolation was enacted?"

To this Masazumi extended a hand, "Very little I'm afraid."

"A lot of ground to cover." the blonde exhaled thoughtfully, "What we believe, is that context matters. What we want is to flesh out your understanding of the outside world wholesale, within reason..." he proceeded to snap his fingers.

Cole and Dom parted and picked each their crayon to draw onto the blackboard two large stylized emblems. One was composed of a large cog flanked by a pair of wings, while the other was an encircled lightning bolt, also with its own flanking wings.

"Our starting point wll be the events of nearly a century ago," Baird told them and indicated the two emblems that decorated the blackboard, "when all the nations of Sera was divided into these two massive power blocs – The Coalition of Ordered Governments, and the Union of Independent Republics – engaged one another in a war for resources that lasted for seventy-nine of those years."

"We have less ground to cover with the UIR... which ain't a whole lot relevant now seeing as it was dissolved six weeks before Emergence Day." he paused to sigh, "Six measly weeks of peace before the Locust fucked up everything."

"Cool it Baird." Marcus told him.

"Yeah yeah." Baird rolled his eyes, "We'll start with their founding principles, for all the good it did. Cole, would you like to have the honor?"

"Sure."

Soon as Cole finished reciting the UIR's founding principles Baird went onto the details of the organization in question, which seemed to be made up of approximately half the world's nations. One of the leading nations of this alliance was Pelles, which the teacher did not exactly hold himself back from deriding. Not much information was given about ideology and political system but seemed to score high on individualism.

For all that they learned, Masazumi had the impression that these four did not know a ton about the opposing global power. And quite a bit of what they knew bore the colorization of propaganda. Truth is the first victim in war they say, which has frequently enough been proven as the truth, and this was no exception. Considering the length of the way fought by the UIR and COG propaganda was needed to influence the population so they would remain committed rather than cave in. And for as long as that war lasted even the hardiest to propaganda were bound to be influenced by it.

Much more descriptive was what they told of the UIR armed forces, which infantry were referred to as 'Indies' because it is a whole less cumbersome than referring to them as Union of Independent Republics Infantry. First they went over describing the equipment available to these Indies. It went without saying that appearances are important even on the battle field. Masazumi recalled how these Gears gave such an impression of unstoppable bulk in their armor. It made them bigger and scaries than they are without, and the armor used by Indies was no exception. While the Gears' example implied bulk that will simply not stop, the Indies' focused on that along with terror. Indie helmets had three eyes. One unblinking eye on the right that stared without compassion, and two red optics on the left that seemed wholly alien.

Soon after they went on to a couple battles which the Indies participated in, and used these to explain how the UIR fought. What stood out was the atrocity which was ceremoniously referred to the battle of Irohma Island, on which battle seemed extremely generous. It was populated by an ethnic group referred to as South Islanders who maintained a very low level of technology. Though they put up a brave defense, the Indies' superior technology meant the locals were absolutely massacred in short order, along with every village behind them, resulting on a full on ethnic cleansing that in its scope was an unstoppable tide. Apparently these soldiers' squad once included a survivor of this 'battle'.

Most of the class listened without a sound while they took notes, but someone finally raised a hand. "And where is this soldier now?" Naomasa asked. She originally came from Qing-Takeda, a nation that according to history recreation represented China and the Japanese Takeda clan. With painful memories from there, the question was likely brought on by a form of kinship.

Marcus' rock-like facade broke by a fraction, and with momentary pain in his voice he explained, "Tai Kaliso... was captured and tortured by the Locust. We managed to spring him out from where they kept him, but he committed suicide before we could stop him. If I had not put a shotgun in his hands at the time, maybe he would have been here beside us now..."

Like more a brother than a comrade, Dom moved to Marcus and patted him wordlessly on the back – every motion a heartfelt action – to which Marcus nodded. "Damn it all. I'm alright Dom."

Naomasa reclined, a more grim look on her.

When they resumed it was simply a matter of wrapping up before the recess started, where the students were bidden to go out and get some fresh air. Masazumi and the others did not protest the motion, especially as it was Oriotorai who made the 'suggestion'.

14:46; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy – Seran Studies

Only a matter of seconds passed before the students had already funneled out the door at their homeroom teacher's order. Marcus did not pay attention as he rubbed his brows as it all came back to him about Tai. The man used to be a very good friend, and had survived the worst of both wars with a mind baffling in its serenity... only to be broken to the point of suicide by the Locust. Those damnable grubs had taken so much from each of them.

In that time, Oriotorai approached and put a hand to the desk, from where she fixed him with a look of mild worry. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... just fine." Marcus grumbled as much to himself as to her.

"Guess we kinda asked for it." Cole entered the conversation, "But damn these kids are forward."

"Tell me about it."

Oriotorai shrugged, "Sorry about that. You wouldn't exactly know, but most students in this class carry some form of scar."

"Scar?" Baird muttered, "What do they have to be scarred about in a place like this?"

"You'd be surprised."

"So toss me an example."

"As you wish. Most relevant in this case would be Naomasa." Oriotorai verbally indicated, "She lost her village and sister to an attack. Quite similar to what your Tai Kaliso went through."

Cole blinked, "Damn, no wonder she wanted to know what happened to him."

"And that's how it is." she replied, "As for the others... I encourage you to ask them."

"Later." Marcus sighed, "You've made your point."

Oriotorai nodded and withdrew her hand, "Fair enough. So are you ready for round two?"

Baird huffed, "Bring it on!"

"Knew you'd say that." she said with a little grin.

14:56; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy – Courtyard

"What my impressions are so far?"

"Yeah." Neshinbara replied as they lay on the grass, a slight distance from one another though she seemed to do her damned best to keep his eyes directed at her. Not too hard to realize as she lay on the side, a motion that put an emphasis on what curves she possessed – her hip especially pronounced – even as she continued to jot down notes of what they learned during class in a show of her oft-present nonchalance. "A penny for your thoughts."

"Hm." Shakespeare considered it, absently reaching down to scratch against her emphasized hip, letting him observe how firm it is. Something that the boy recognized with a roll of his eyes as quite a deliberate action. Provoked perhaps by insecurity considering how many mountains and valleys are present in the courtyard. No doubt she'd try to flatten those with a deployment of Chamberlain's men if those tracts of land asserted themselves all too near them. "It's a really messed up world." she concluded simply.

"Indeed it is." he quietly agreed, "But to be fair, our world isn't that put together either." and pointed out. "Wars, revolutions, arms races, atrocities, persecutions and so forth. And we did not trash and escape from that orphanage because we were bored or some such."

"True." Shakespeare shrugged as she eyed him, "I'll allow that neither world is by far perfect. I am on the other hand less than impressed about this one."

The bespectacled boy rolled to face her rather lazily, "Any particular aspect in mind?"

"No. It is more something general at the moment." she said evenly as she continued to write down notes, only stopping for a brief moment to brush aside her beautiful sandy-brown bangs, "After all we have only just started. It is much too early yet to adequately formulate a proper impression."

"Ah, you're right." Neshinbara awkwardly adjusted his glasses, "I am being too much premature..."

"Speaking of premature..."

Neshinbara half-grimaced. The way she spoke implied that whatever she is going to say next would be like throwing fuel into the fire in the eyes of those watching with hawkish smirks on their faces – Naruze and Grace O'Malley being the most obvious examples – and felt intensely grateful as the school bell cut her off and rang. A wide smile accompanied him as he leaped to his feet and in a most gentlemanly fashion offered a hand to help her up. "Allow me, my lady."

For a moment, Shakespeare eyed the elegantly proffered hand and nodded her satisfaction as she accepted it and allowed the male to help her back up, all the while with a near imperceptive smile to accompany the motion. "Thank you."

"Shall we?" he asked once they stood eye to eye again.

The topic she wanted to bring up apparently forgotten, Shakespeare wrapped an arm around his as she gave a most soft reply, "Tes." before they joined the mass of returning students as they marched on their way back in. No good thing lasts forever though, a fact aptly demonstrated just past the entrance threshold when he received a divine correspondence from a man he generally found unpleasant to a great degree. A person he instantly elected would be Masazumi's beast to wrestle with and pitched it over to Tsukinowa. Shakespeare looked to him oddly, "Who was that?"

"A pain." he admitted frankly.

14:59; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy

"Sometimes I wonder if your only purpose in life is to be an earsore." Masazumi sighed at the inconvenience of it when her Mouse popped up and brought up the transmission received by their Secretary. The comment of hers was one far removed from a diplomatic conveyance, but the person who now yelled at her was never known for his pleasantness.

Massy – chieftain of the Stranded based on Vectes – once tried to force himself on her and attempted to annex the COG enclave Pelruan before they stopped him. Since then he has been rather sedate, relatively speaking... until the COG came to settle on Vectes. Now he calls to spit his vitriol about COG 'aggression' every other day without a sliver of verifiable piece of evidence.

"Put a sock in it!" he furiously growled at her, "Thousands of the damned coggers are swarming across the island now, and more are still coming!"

Masazumi rolled her eyes at the new piece of slang and patiently retorted, "I am aware they are bringing people in to settle. You have, however, yet to provide any proof that they intend to shove you and your clan off and into the sea."

"I require no proof!" Massy did not hesitate to reply, "Those fascist pigs are always scheming against honest folks like us. And you can be damned sure those assholes conspire as we speak!"

Honest. She only suppressed the urge to laugh at the obscenity of it with a supreme force of effort, "Assumptions—"

"To hell with that! Deploy the fleet and exterminate them already like you did those pirates!"

"Massy!" Masazumi stopped just outside the class and hissed dangerously, scandalized by the fierce and hateful demand for what was implied to be indiscriminate slaughter, "You do not get to demand aid from us without proof to back up your scurrilous allegations!"

"Now you listen to me-!"

"No." she cut him off, "You will listen to me! If they in one way or another initiate any sort of deliberate hostility against you we will provide aid to resolve the issue. But if you try to force us to fight against them based on nothing but your suspicion, the one dealt with will be you, Massy."

With that statement Masazumi simply provided the insolent man an unflinching glare as though to pierce into his very soul. Massy was absolutely apoplectic with rage yet was stunned into silence as he moved his lips like a fish caught on land. No doubt his thoughts first of all drifted to the barrels he had stared into that dark night and by whatever means his brother's inland forces had been – non-fatally one should note – routed. How she wanted to deal with him though was by and large non-violent in nature. It would be easy to expel him from the Protectorate as Massy is not at all well-liked. The most ideal solution would be if his clan decided to replace him with someone much more level-headed, for she'd rather not throw away a thousand people just because their leader is a complete and utter moron.

However, she found this exchange a sample of what's to come. One way or another contact between Musashi and the COG is inevitable, and the other Stranded leaders may very well not like it. She was perfectly sure though that the arguments she have forged ahead of time would convince them of the benefits of engaging in diplomacy with the COG.

Finally she broke the silence, "Do we have an understanding?"

Massy held her gaze for an instant longer before self-preservation took over and he slumped and deflated in defeat, "Transparently."

"Good. I would prefer not to have this conversation again." Masazumi stated firmly, her tone softening, "Be reassured that we do keep an eye on the situation, and if they do initiate an attack we will act as the Charter dictates to protect your people from harm. Now if you excuse me, I have important business to take care of."

Tsukinowa squeaked adorably as it saw the end of their conversation and shut down the transferred divine correspondence, so she could finally hurry on to attend class as the last one to arrive.

14:02; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy – Seran Studies

"Glad you could finally deign yourself to join us." Marcus grumbled from the desk he had readily reclaimed with fingers steepled and face set into a deep rock-solid frown that could just as well had been chiseled from a boulder.

"I apologize for my lateness." Masazumi had just entered, sheepish at mind, and briefly bowed as low to the quartet of teachers as politeness required, "Had business to take care of that could not wait." and subsequently shot a meaningful look at Neshinbara who raised his arms in supplicated surrender.

The teacher with a do-rag for head-wear shrugged. "Fine. We all need to go to the toilet some time."

"Er, that's not..."

"It's fine. We know." Cole spoke up reassuringly, "Now back to your seat."

"Ah." Masazumi nodded and returned to where she was seated the session before obligingly, "J-jud."

That done and all now present, Marcus stood from his seat and looked over their collection of odd and odder students. "Right. You all probably expect us to tell you more about the UIR, but we are done with them until the third item on the agenda. Instead we will move on to the power bloc that has survived to the present day – after a fashion."

No one had to guess which one, for that one only had to look to the emblem that remained on the blackboard, for that of the UIR had been wiped away. "The Coalition of Ordered Governments." Marcus supplied and gestured to Dom, "Like with the UIR, we will start with the founding principles. Dom; recite the Octus Canon if you will."

"Of course, Marcus." Dom nodded gravely and with a fist to his heart started with a loud and clear tone, the Octus Canon recited with noticeable pride: "I am responsible for myself and my actions; I shall conduct myself honorably, and live a clean and frugal life. I have responsibilities to my fellow citizens. I shall be loyal to them, and humble, because we are elements of a greater whole, and without them I am nothing. I have responsibilities to our society; I shall understand and respect my place in it, defend it, and work to make it prosperous, so that I may receive society's protection, and that we may hand on safety and prosperity to future generations."

What followed this flawless recital was a brief and scattered applause from those who most appreciated such things delivered in loving detail – the authors and Toori being at the forefront of this – to Dom's mild bemusement. "Good work, Dom." Marcus appraised and continued, "The COG started as a Socialist movement theorized by the historical figure Alexiy Desipich before it was founded by Nassar Embry and the Allfathers during the years before the Pendulum Wars. At first it was-"

Dutifully, Baird wrote down the names referred to where the UIR emblem used to be in neat lines.

Mary raised a hand and interrupted him meekly, "Who were the Allfathers?"

"It is a designation given to a group of influential families who aided in the foundation of the COG." Marcus patiently provided.

"And two of them just so happen to be the Fenix and the Baird Families." Baird shrugged, "Who knew."

The do-rag guy grunted in irritation, "Baird..."

Surprise was evident throughout the classroom that got people to murmur amongst themselves. Among these was Mitotsudaira who leaned forward and smiled so her fangs showed as she whispered a slow yet terse, "Very interesting. How very interesting." with faint awe.

"And irrelevant." Marcus dismissed over the noise, "So shut up and let me continue."

Oriotorai smirked as she hefted that sword of hers and tapped it against the floor in a hollow thump, "You heard him everyone. Settle down!"

Silence was forthcoming and immediate as the statement was registered by the student body. Marcus eyed the lot sternly, and satisfied that they are once again quiet and attentive moved on with a nod of thanks to their teacher.

Inevitably yet understandably the information provided about the COG proved by far to be more detailed than what was given on the UIR. Marcus provided a basic rundown on the backgrounds of the founders before he moved on to explain how the COG that originated as a minor political movement became a supranational global alliance during the Gold Rush when Imulsion was discovered and the Lightmass Process was invented in order to turn the liquid into viable fuel.

"Lightmass process you say?" Naomasa inquired in measured interest.

"Yes." Marcus stated simply, "Otherwise, no comment until later. No sooner."

The prosthetic-armed woman in discontent chewed on her jack allen wrench, "Jud."

Dom took over and explained about the governmental structure, and even if premature he helpfully provided the basic difference between then and now. Masazumi was particularly attentive during that segment and wrote a diagram with each little morsel of information provided. Basically, their government in its current state is being led by a Chairman and the highest ranked military leader, which is rather strangely a Colonel, presumably the bald and powerfully built man Tenzou earlier provided an image of. Still, everything else proved to be very interesting. It seemed the COG's a democracy led by elected officials. Or at least it used to be before the Locust attacked and provided an extremely hostile war where a paradigm-shift was required.

"Question." Adele called, "Why is the highest ranked military leader a Colonel? Should it not be a General or Field Marshal?"

"It's a matter of circumstance." Dom hesitated then made his reply, "He fell out of favor with the leadership. And then our last General committed suicide."

The petite thane expressed her gratitude, "Jud. Thank you."

"And that brings us to the COG's armed forces." Dom informed in all promptness, "While I would love to share with you all the culture and values that the coalition holds dear for hours on end, that will have to be subordinated to the military itself. That said, as you may already know, the armed forces are always divided into several branches. For the COG, those are the Army, Air Corps, Navy, and the Engineering Corps." each of these he counted off his hand in due order. "All of you I'm sure are more than able to guess the purpose behind each of these, so I will instead go right into the meat of those who serve the coalition's greatest pride, its Army."

It was probably an excuse so to avoid going too deeply into the assets and capability of each individual branch to the benefit of the government of a possible and potential future enemy. No one commented an observation to this, but Masazumi noticed that almost all the members of the Chancellor's Board seemed to slump, though Futayo scribbled notes furiously about what she did gleam from what little had been provided. Something she herself also noticed.

By calling the Army its greatest pride, Dom implied it enjoy much favoritism over other branches. Consequently the three others suffer from a possible lack of attention and funds and are thus comparatively understrength. And the one that suffer most from this imbalance would be the Navy as it is the least connected to the activity of ground battles where the Air Force and Engineering Corps have a much greater part.

On signal from Dom, Oriotorai snapped her fingers and a shroud on the side collapsed to reveal a mannequin dressed in recognizable heavy armor that had made each of these already huge burly men all the more massive. All it lacked was a helmet, which is what Dom drew attention to at first as Cole pushed the mannequin into position so all could see it up close. Like is the case with 'Indie' helmets, that of Gears also covered the whole head, but according to the explanation given as to its appearance is vastly less intimidating.

"Now then, Baird would you like to take over from here?"

"Sure, why not?" Baird left the spot by the blackboard he had more or less grown comfortable with and paced to where the mannequin stood, "As you kids can plainly see, the misers upstairs did not skirt on money to equip their soldiers. Every coin was spent to make Gears into walking tanks. This here armor is thick enough to withstand light shrapnel and light arms fire, and sufficiently sloped to bounce off stray or shallow shots from heavier weapons that would otherwise had painted the next twenty feet worth of terrain with your blood and entrails. Sure as hell wouldn't stop a One-Shot, but on the other hand it's big enough on the firepower scale not to leave much of a mess."

The blonde man sure did not hold back on squicking the students out. Several boys and girls, including herself, grimaced... but nowhere was the reaction worse than Suzu's, whose skin had turned an alarming green in hue. Tomo looked to the latter with concern and interrupted the man, "Would you hold back on the more visceral details please?"

"You really have to cramp my style, don't you?" Baird sighed with a sidelong glance at the diminutive purple-haired girl who was already being comforted by the close proximity of Naomasa, whose attention to the meek Suzu was much like that of a protective big sister. "Fine," he conceded, "I'll be more careful. Happy now?"

For the remainder of the class, Baird dedicated himself wholly to showing how to dismantle the armor then put it back together in a meticulously cautious process while he pointed out various aspects of the armor that required special attention, and how to clean each part for good measure during maintenance. None of the weapons they had originally brought were shown, still locked away in a vault two ships distant. Despite the newness of these teachers these classes grew to be exactly like any other as they studied, listened, were shown, and entertained antics that the exceedingly fun-loving Cole and the bad-mouthing Baird played along with in each their own way. Like when Toori wanted to know in which part of the armor Gears hide their porn magazines.

Masazumi smiled at it all. It seemed Seran Studies turned out to be a great success.

14:50; 30th June; 1648; Testament Era

Quasi-Bahamut Class Aerial City-Ship "Musashi" – "Okutama" – Ariadust Academy – Seran Studies

For the last twenty minutes of class things had been so raucous that Marcus had not at all noticed that Oriotorai had at a point vacated from class. Apprehension had been high on both sides at the start, yet in the space of a mere couple of hours the atmosphere between them and the freak show of a student body mellowed out considerably... especially over the course of those last twenty minutes.

And now it was finally over, at least for now. Even if all they did was talk, it turned out to be every bit as exhausting as fighting through that fucker General RAAM all over again. Stressful enough that when all the still so energetic students finally started to file out the mighty Gears were left wheezing against whichever surface was the closest.

Last to head out were Masazumi and the rather meager blonde girl he remembered as Adele Balfette, both of whom politely bowed and together offered their thanks for the effort imparted before they finally left the Gears to take a well earned break. "No problem." he had replied.

As if on an afterthought, Dom walked into the hallway and hollered, "Tell that President of yours to leave his porn at home, will you?"

"Can't make any promises." Masazumi called back, "That idiot can be really cunning when he puts his mind to it."

"Honestly?"

"Really!" Adele joined in, "Mitotsudaira just recently found out Toori managed to have a vault in which to store his stash installed underneath the Mitotsudaira household garden. No one noticed until Nate looked out the window one night and spotted Toori opening a door hidden under the grass!"

Dom gaped comically, "Are you serious?!"

"Entirely!"

"Holy..."

"Haha!" Cole guffawed hard enough to tumble off the table he had settled himself on, "Kid's got some serious balls!"

"Tell me about it." Dom agreed and called, "Alright, see you next class!" before he came back in and shut the door behind him then settled on the neighboring desk, "Damn I'm beat!"

"You're not the only one." Baird growled as he glared at the smiley placed on the mannequin like that alone could wipe it off until the door gave away before the arrival of a certain formerly absent woman, a strange crate held in her left arm, "Hey, Miss Intimidation! Good for you to join us again, couldn't you have been here like... ten minutes ago?"

"I was just going to pick this up." Oriotorai seemingly ignored the jibe as she paced like a returning victor to the front desk and idly put down the box, "By the way..." before she consequently put up a dangerous smirk and she hefted her sheathed longsword and leveled it directly at him. An act that would have taken a prodigous amount of strength, "care to run that by me again?"

"Ma'am!" Baird saw what he just did and had started into a burst of formality as he raised his empty palms at lightning speed. As a whole they had little information on just about everyone here, but they had at least picked up from the old headmaster that Oriotorai is a fearsome warrior in her own right. Delta saw first-hand a sample of Mitotsudaira's enormous capacity for brute force when she smashed the until then unstoppable Cole into the ground with a total absence of effort. Then they learned that this seemingly nothing more than a physically fit human being is capable of winning single-handedly against both that silver-haired powerhouse and all of her classmates almost simultaneously. Without weapons no one in Delta squad would piss her off if it can be avoided, yet Baird had slipped and now scrambled to cover his ass, "No ma'am!"

Quick to help out, Cole lent his strength to the situation as he eyed what she brought, "Hey Miss, what's in the box?"

"Oh this?" Oriotorai smiled as she lowered and put aside the weapon to instead open the package without ado under Delta's watchful eyes, only what wafted out of it was certainly not what was expected. A tantalizing aroma that set their nostrils alight, Marcus' eyes widened in recognition as she fished out the first bowl of four and put it down in front of him, "I had Hassan put on some curry for the commemoration before class."

Almost with shaking hands did Delta receive each their bowl and seized the utensil that came with it. Marcus swallowed before even the first taste and was almost blown away by the strong spicey taste that had been absent from everyday food for many years. It was like a steel wall had rammed into his face, yet it felt so good. Hauntingly good in fact.

Cole sampled from his bowl, and subsequently wiped a tear that popped out away, "Damn, how long has it been since I've had something this good?"

Oriotorai smiled, "Congratulations on your first day, men."

Even though they were somewhat out of their depth, far as Marcus was momentarily concerned, the only way this day could be better is if Anya and all the others came to partake in this alongside them.

18:30 – 14 A.E.

Lesser Islands – Vectes – Massy's Territory

"Brother, is it not about time we stop scheming like this and just follow the plan?"

Massy looked from the opposing end of the shack he called the HQ of his territory to John who even this long after that night his ambition was ruthlessly squashed were swollen in places from the blows he took, claimed to be inflicted by a teenage girl. At this rate those blemishes would never go away completely, just like the scars he had inflicted on those women he raped on the mainland before one of them finally struck back in a most brutal fashion – enough so that he lost all his comrades before he managed to flee to here to get away from her. "Excuse me?" he demanded, "Does it not look like I'm following it?"

"We both got eyes and ears." John raised his shoulders cautiously, "She, that bitch of Musashi, doesn't know how things work around here, but she is the one with all the advantage here. Antagonizing her won't do our cause any good."

"You've always been a fool, brother." Massy scoffed and took a bottle of homemade beverage to drink off a sizable mouthful from it, "At this rate all that we'll get is a thank you and some bare trinkets for our effort as mere spies. I did not accept that job from that big shot Lyle just for that little."

"Important spies." the brother countered as he sat on the worn-down couch. With how bad things have been going for them, when that new leader of the pirates called in with a promise for great a reward if they would undertake the simple task of keeping an eye on what Musashi does and report back accordingly they jumped at it. But Massy in his ambition soared and he yearned for more when Lyle said he would link up with Griffin's alliance. "Ain't no one but us who can keep up to date on whatever Musashi goes and does."

He growled, "That is not good enough!"

"More than good enough!"

"It sure the fuck ain't! Imagine what kind of favor or reward we'd get from Griffin if we managed make the COG and Musashi enemies of one another, or if we can at least drive a big enough wedge between them that the newcomers won't come and help even on Pelruan's behalf when Griffin arrive to finally put the boot to the goddamn coalition?"

John shook his head, "A real dangerous game. What if that goes wrong?"

"It won't." Massy reassured most insistingly, "If talking won't do any good, we'll keep an eye on the situation. And when there is a big enough opening..." he slammed a fist onto the table that separated them, "we'll swoop in and plant the seed of distrust!"

"As you say, brother..."

"Damn straight." he took another huge swig and laughed triumphantly at his own cleverness, "It's going to be glorious!"

Author notes: And so has Delta begun to teach, first about the factions that would be involved in the Pendulum Wars. Meanwhile, a certain fool of a Stranded are scheming.

wunwong: And Griffin is very like to take steps so Tres España does not find out.