The Dustbin

Day 17: Exam Prep Part 1


5th of Harpstring Moon, Evening


"Good evening, class," Karna greeted the Dustbin in another night session at the Black Eagles Classroom, "now that we gained some notoriety as a somewhat legitimate branch of Garreg Mach, we must now meet their heightened expectations, as much as some of you might disagree."

Half of the class nods, with the other half not knowing what the professor meant.

"And since we're already about two full-scale battles and two Demonic Beasts in, I think we're in the process of thinking about our upcoming Promotion Exams, specifically the Beginner's Exams," Karna remarked, "and no, this isn't coming from me, it's from the top-down."

"Been wonderin', the bloody ell' is the exam about?" asked Sorcha.

"Let me explain," Karna replied as he then began scribbling on his chalkboard, drawing a pair of stick figures labeled "Commoner & Noble" beneath the two, "everyone, from the students to civilians who are non-combatants are considered as such. Now, there's nothing stopping them from acquiring a weapon and use to say, for self-defense or hunting, but in order to have a license to kill, or at least have less scrutiny of doing so, 'Promotions' are granted through the use of special devices known as Seals," he stated as he then scribbled down four figures each labeled "Myrmidon", "Fighter", "Soldier", and "Monk", each of which were branching downwards from the "Commoner/Noble" class, "in order to become the following four beginners classes, a Beginner's Exam is required to be taken and passed in order for one's promotion to be approved. And as we've unfortunately gotten too familiar with the four Beginners Classes during our first battle, so I'll keep the rebriefing short," the professor remarked as he pointed to the four figures, "Myrmidons are sword users, Fighters are axe users, Soldiers are lance users, and Monks are magic users. However, there's nothing stopping you from using other weapons outside of the class's specialties, but that's a lesson for another day. Any questions?"

"Okay, but what's stopping the normal people from getting their hands on a Seal and doing the whole promotion thing without the exam?" asked Cyrus.

"That is because it is considered a capital offense if done so," Karna answered as he annotated his notes next to the branching classes, "Class Promotions are state-sanctioned, and if Seals are used without the approval of the governing body, it's immediately considered a felon, with the only sentence awaiting said person being death," the professor pointed out, "while on paper, the conduct itself sounds rather... shall I say, disproportionate, it does make sense in hindsight as the last thing a civil society needs are a bunch of super-powered vagabonds running around and well... it would be bad for the populace."

"If they knew such things would be a possibility, then why did someone create the Seals in the first place?" asked Topaz, "and in hindsight, what's stopping someone from simply training themselves into that skill to begin with?"

"A good question," Karna replied, "for the former, not even the Church of Seiros or their state-sponsored archeology digs couldn't even find the origins behind the Seals, so they just stated to be the work of the Goddess, which even they don't believe those to be the case, other than that they're way more of those things buried around Fodlan, hence such objects of great power are state-regulated in order to keep the potential chaos under control," he pointed out before moving onto the other question, "and while one can train themselves to such sufficiency, Fodlan law technically states that you do that and get caught, to the chopping block, unless you're an anonymous bounty hunter whose name is kept out of your written resume, and you technically have to be caught in the act to be considered culpable, so... yeah, bureaucracy in a nutshell, where much is done to ensure that nothing is accomplished," he answered as he eyed towards the four prior of Black Eagles (Sorcha and Selene) and Golden Deer (Cyrus and Topaz), "but then again, you have be considered a Fodlan civilian to be considered a felon upon breaking the sanctions, so pretrained killers outside of Fodlan like Topaz, Cyrus, and the McCarthy twins are considered null and void, albeit out of technicality."

"... So the reason why the bandits we killed were bandits..." Selene remarked as she recalled their appearance, "... was because of the fact that they were from Fodlan and used the Seals without permission?"

"Amongst other things, yes," Karna remarked with a slight nod, "that said, even if they haven't done anything wrong, they willingly marked themselves for death just by using the Seals without permission, unjust as it sounds. And that's discounting that they were already extorting and harassing their local populace without sufficient provocation, so they had to be stopped."

Karna then hands out slips of paper to the rest of the class.

"These are mock forms of the Beginner's Exams," Karna remarked, "don't worry about failing or passing. Just do as much as you can," he stated, "and to be fair, this is only the written portion of the exam, the other is physical, but that's something we'll worry about later. Begin."

And the entirety of the Dustbin begin with their mock exams.

... By that, most of them just turned them in mostly blank after five minutes, save for Byron, who turned it in two minutes earlier, completely filled out to the edges of the paper.

"... Okay, class dismissed," Karna remarked as he looked at the rather displeasing results of his class, "... we'll work on basic literacy skills tomorrow. Which means, we're going to have to go by the book."

"I still have my textbook with me," Byron pointed out.

"I'll acquire some from the library," Karna sighed out as the rest of the class clears out, "assuming if they're willing to lend any."


6th of Harpstring Moon, Morning


"Please, Tomas, tell me you have copies of textbooks that my class can borrow!" Karna begged at the old librarian.

"I'm willing to help," Tomas replied as he looked through the towering bookcases surrounding the two of them, "but are you sure that they can't even read or write in Fodlanese?"

"With the exception of one, everyone else are products of state neglect or unfathomable mental damage," the professor replied as he was then handed a really tall stack of books from the surprisingly strong old man, "whoa, this much?!"

"Nobody but the children and pages here read these," the librarian remarked with a wry smile creasing the right upper corner of his wrinkled lip, "and even then, it rarely happen. And besides, as long as the cover and pages aren't riddled with silverfish, then it doesn't deserve to just sit there and collect dust," Tomas pointed out, "feel free to ask for more if you need them. Good books that these youth are missing out on."

"I'll take you to it!" Karna replied as he inched his way out of the library, "... assuming if I don't run into stairs-DAMMIT ALL! THIS IS THE SECOND FLOOR!"

"I'll help," Tomas remarked as he rolled his neck and shoulders before taking some of the burden off of Karna's pile, "have to move these old bones once in a while."

"Thank you," Karna grunted out as he and the elderly librarian headed down towards the first floor with relative difficulty, but making it down to solid ground with no injuries sustained.

As the two made their way across the halls intersecting between the Greenhouse, the Fishing Pond, the Mess Hall and the First-Floor Dormitories, a certain, red-haired female student who was sitting by the edge of the body of water trotted towards the two.

"Heya old man!" the girl greeted, "what you up and out this early?"

"Books, stable, heavier than I thought," Karna grunted out as he tried not to spill the pile that he was carrying, "so if you don't mi-eieiei!"

As he stumbled, the red-haired student catches the fallen segment of books before they hit the ground as Karna regained his footing.

"Careful creepy man," the redhead remarked as she held the small chunk of the book pile in a single hand, "you look a little thin to be carrying that much. You been eating little lately?"

"... Does soupy bread rolls soaked in bone broth count as anything substantial?" asked Karna, "sometimes, I do forget to eat. Doubly so when work is involved, or I'm on the move. Once went a whole week without food or water without dying."

"My, to torture yourself while you're still at your prime," Tomas remarked with worry as the now-three people carried the books where the Dustbin were at, "take care of yourself or you might end up like me sooner than me."

"Well, I'm just got paid, albeit, my wage got cut due to 'damages'," Karna pointed out as he laid the pile of books next to the stable where the rest of the Dustbin were sleeping at, "gonna have to work twice as hard compared to the rest of the staff, but what's life without a little challenge?"

"A fortuitous one," Tomas remarked as he and the redhead student placed the books down next to the professor's pile, "I can respect a man who stands on his own two feet," he remarked as he handed the professor a small sack of 1000 gold, "consider that an allowance and a thank-you for lending an ear for an old man such as myself."

"Thank you, once again," Karna remarked as he pocketed the gold while the two left, "oh, and uh, Tomas? Who's the girl's name?"

"Oh silly," the redhead girl remarked as she placed her finger over her lips while walking away still, "a girl's gotta keep some secrets, you know?"

As soon as the odd pair of a young female student and the elderly librarian left his sight, Karna then looks to his students before ringing the rusty cowbell hanging from nearby to wake them.

"Good morning class!" Karna greeted as the Dustbin students all groggily woke up from their hay-bed, "apologizes for the rude awakening, but after most of you turned in your mock exams blank, desperate times call for desperate measures!"

"You know that I aced mine, right?" Byron pointed out as he brushed hay off of his ink-stained hair, "... what gives?"

"You're helping," Karna deadpanned, "be my extra pair of eyes and hands for me, would you? Just so that our class doesn't get driven out of the monastery if preferably possible."

And thus, the Dustbin spend the rest of the week brushing up on how to read and write in the language of Fodlan in order for them to pass their Promotion Exams. At morning, it was the library, where they all went through the basics of language. At noon, the class walked around the campus ground reciting what they've learned out loud. And at night, they're reviewing what they've learned at the classroom, either by reading or spelling out the basics of Fodlan lexicon.

It was a messy process, and throughout the rest of the whole week, expectations were kept relatively low, but progress was progress, and a misspelt word is better than a blank paper after all.

"So here's how the rest of the month will go," Karna remarked as he scribbled down the Dustbin's monthly schedule, "weekdays, we'll be making sure that you folks can actually write on your exams, and on the weekends, we'll be accompanying the Knights of Seiros on their weekly bandit subjugation missions to earn some gold and possibly get some of the weekly stress out by going outside and killing some unsavory folk."

"Wait," Sorcha remarked as she managed to read half of the first page coherently in her book meant for pages, "... ye implying that we gonna have to pay for a chance to take our exams?"

"500 gold per Beginner's Exam," Karna pointed out as the rest of the class let out a collective groan, "combined that with our financial situation of repairing weapons and possible damages caused, buckle up people," the professor remarked, "no rest for us until we pull ourselves together long enough for the bad rep to catch up to us."

"About the money," Byron asked as he helped Vidar how to spell his own name in Fodlanese, "how much does our class have?"

"Umm, combined that each exam costs about 500 gold each, making it about 3500 gold if all us were to take the exams," Karna muttered to himself before turning back towards the class for clarification, "yes, even us professors have to take the exams as well, we don't just sit around behind our desks and get paid for it, you know," he pointed out before returning to his calculations on the other side of the blackboard, "... monthly repairs on weapons, moving Battalion lessons to next moth, total monthly budget adding up to..." the hooded man exclaimed as his voice went into a slight crescendo as he finished up with his calculations, "... about 8000 gold."

He then reaches into his sack, dumps the contents onto the desk, and finds an abysmal amount of gold in it.

"... We have about 1500 gold, folks," Karna remarked before breaking down half-cackling, "... like I said," he accentuated, "... buckle up. Thank the goddess that Vidar doesn't have to be in the mess hall to actually eat."

"Usually, I see him stealing a sausage from a link whenever he isn't eating a rat alive," Topaz pointed out as she was reading her second page of the book written in Fodlanese, "one time, he got so hungry that he almost ate a cat before he was stopped."

"Fair enough," Karna sighed out as he swept his remaining gold back into his sack, "any other questions?"

"... I forgot to ask," Cyrus remarked as he shakily wrote his first five words written in messy Fodlanese, "... but when's the Beginner's Exams going to start taking place?"

Karna looks at the paper with the list of important dates for the Dustbin that Seteth has graciously provided.

"... We're the last ones up," Karna answered, "our examinations are at the 31st of Harpstring Moon!" he barked out as he slapped his hands together as motivation, "pass or bust, let's go!"

"... It'll feel good to pass for once," Selene sighed out as she read through her page's book with a newfound confidence with her new eyeglasses that she had replaced, "at least this time, no more intruding Adrestian noblemen to sabotage us..."

Vidar lets out a grunt of approaval as he and Byron managed to write out a coherent sentence on his paper.

"... Thorn... road... fight... or die."


11th of Harpstring Moon, Afternoon


"Come on ye bloody wankers!" Sorcha roared out as she swung her [Claymore] mowed through several bandits, "hold still so I can pay for me exams!"

"Goddess," Catherine remarked as her [Thunderbrand] was pulled from a rouge [Archer]'s gut as the Swordmaster saw the female student with the massive sword hack through multiple combatants at once, "she really that desperate for money?"

"What can I say?" Karna stated as he remotely held a bandit Fighter aloft with his [Flux H] as Selene shoots him full of arrows from the air, "we're underpaid, so no breaks for us."

"Never in my days that I am gladder to be in a middle of the woods then some raided settlement," sighed out Catherine before she pursed a fleeing brigand Mage and running him through with her serrated sword into his back, "worst that can happen is a Demonic Beast, but I can take em."

"I doubt your strength as much as I doubt that there's a functioning soul in that shell that you call your body," Byron remarked as he hung from the tree while tossing his [Hand Axes] towards the bandits below him, "then again, I am no different. I barely have a functioning soul myself, but that's a story for another day."

"Keh, couldn't expect anymore less from the likes of you," Catherine remarked as she performed a one-two kick-and-slash combo to a bandit Myrmidon that tried to attack her from behind.

"Just saying," Byron remarked before he pounced a rouge Monk from above and slitting his throat with the edge of his [Hand Axe] running across the tube of flesh, "I admire your heart, but your head is solid bone."

Catherine winds up a punch driven towards a charging Brigand before Byron followed it up by casting a [Frost] spell towards where the bandit was planting his feet at, causing him to slip and fall, finished off with a downward thrust that planted [Thunderbrand] into the downed rouge's gut.

"I admit, I usually let Shamir do the more complexing thinking," Catherine remarked towards Byron as she pulled out her sword from the ground, "I'm a fighter first, but that ain't gonna make me a complete idiot."

"Hm, an honest idiot," Byron replied, mildly impressed at the Knight of Seiros's mentality, "I'm sorry that I've assumed worse of you."

Catherine then throws her [Thunderbrand] across Byron's cheek, nailing the Thief that tried to attack the latter from behind.

"Don't be," she replied, "you're still younger than me, so you got lot to take in, assuming that you don't croak first."

"I'll hold myself to that," replied the teen student as he ran off where Vidar and Cyrus were at, currently being surrounded by a battalion of 30 [Iron Axe] wielding Thieves.

And yet, despite the sheer numbers pitting against the two students of the Dustbin, the former were being overwhelmed by the latter. Vidar himself simply latching onto one Thief at a time, with some rouges becoming too antsy to risk striking their own by accident, and Cyrus using both his and Darius's sheer size to seamlessly break through the encirclement with ease before coming back around and breaking back into the formation to send them into further disarray, resulting in utter chaos that both Vidar and Cyrus were orchestrating flawlessly.

"... Do those two even need my help?" Byron asked to himself before an axe-brandishing Thief pounced towards him.

He simply replies by casting a [Frost] spell where his own feet stood at, purposefully slipped on it, and let physics do rest as his toes dug in between the airborne bandit's legs.

The two of them land on each other, with Byron himself having to push the foaming Thief off of him before he got up and drove his [Hand Axe] into his head as the other two finish off the scattered mob next to him.

"They should've brought their own horses," boasted Cyrus, "at least then, I would be more naturally sporting."

"... All... dead," grunted out Vidar as he looked at his dented [Iron Gauntlets] before spitting out a wad of blood from his bandaged lips, "... the... others... where?"

"Come on!" Byron barked out as he led the other two elsewhere in the woods where more fighting took place, "more the merrier, and our pay's gonna get cut!"

The three of the Dustbin students then all make a mad dash towards where the bandits were facing against the Seiros Mercenaries and Knights that were encircling them.

"Cease and desist!" the Knight in the front barked out, rattling his [Steel Lance], "we have you surrounded!"

"To hell with that!" the rouge Mercenary barked back as he brandished his [Killing Edge] before he struck down a Seiros Mercenary footman, "I'D RATHER DIE HERE THAN ON A CHOPPING BLOCK-"

From behind, his neck burst out with a vented rectangular blade. Clinging onto the dead vagrant's back was Topaz, her hand firmly gripped around her [Bolo]'s handle as she pulled the poisoned blade out of the dead body's neck as she skipped onto the bandit group's heads one by one as the encirclement of Seiros-affilated troops choked the rouge group into submission.

Amidst the ensuing chaos, Topaz pilfers the dead Mercenary's [Killing Edge] for herself. As she slowly sheathes her new sword, the little Hassan looks at its distinct, slightly-curved edge's glimmer being nostalgic to the girl's eye.

"Hm, just like an Almyran Shah's [Shamshir]," Topaz remarked to herself as she slung the sheathed blade around her back, "if I can't use it, then I'll sell it for a decent amount of gold, assuming if anyone will buy it."

Gradually, the bandits were all culled down to nothing, ensuring that they won't ever be around to hurt the innocent ever again.

"Alright, no survivors," Catherine remarked as soon as she received a report from a white-armored Knight as she stood before the dirtied and bloodied Dustbin, "good work you lot," she complimented, "although with you here, I was half-expecting a Demonic Beast to show-"

"Ahbepbepbehep!" Karna shushed Catherine before she could tempt fate any further in his or the Dustbin's stead, "... just accept that it didn't happen, okay?"

"... Alright fine, sheesh," the Swordmaster hissed out in annoyance, "because I don't have to put up with you lot next weekend," she remarked before handing the professor a written slip of paper, "here, your paycheck."

The paper read 1500 gold for their efforts, bringing their total sum up to 3000 gold total.

"... Look, just saying," Catherine remarked, "... but if you do pass your exams..." she stammered with hesitation and embarrassment in her voice, "... I'll... I'll acknowledge you lot as somewhat-deserving students. Just don't drag Lady Rhea's good name through the mud, you hear?"

As she stomped ahead of the Dustbin, a thought occurred across their minds.

... She really doesn't talk to other people that much about other than the Archbishop, does she?

Still though, a reluctant offer of acknowledgement was more preferable than outright scorn. Doubly so when it came from one of the Church's strongest combatants.

"Still though," Karna remarked to himself as he pocketed his check into his coat, "I think this is what we can have as a 'normal school day'."


17th of Harpstring Moon, Midnight


"Alright, week 2 of studying nonstop, about two weeks before our exams," Karna remarked as he passed out more mock exams, "and yes, Byron, you're taking it too. Can't afford to give special treatment just because you're a prodigy," he pointed out as he passed by Byron's desk with the form in front of the displeased student, "that and well, Seteth's always on our case, and he's the one holding the pen over our fates if we severely mess up. I consider myself a curmudgeon at my lowest, but not an ingrate."

"I hate bureaucracy as much I hate doing the test I'm forced to take," Byron dryly remarked, "because either way, nothing is ever accomplished."

"C'mon, better to rip the scab then let it itch," Sorcha pointed out.

"Who would ever rip off a scab?" Cyrus pointed out, "it'll get infected and wild dogs will be able to smell the blood!"

"She means 'get it over with it so we don't have to do it later'," Topaz explained, currently on the dredges of her sanity and desperately need of a long nap just so that she can clear her head of hers.

"... I agree with that notion," Selene remarked, "and besides, every day of progress means that more people won't look at us like human garbage, right?"

"... Not... yet," Vidar grunted out, "... the... 31st."

As soon as Karna goes back to his desk, he then takes out an hourglass and places it onto his desk.

"Begin," he stated as Karna turned the sand timer around its head.

As soon as the head of the timer clicked against the desk's surface, the students of the Dustbin grabbed their quills and began writing like madmen. The scratches of their inked pen heads against the paper before them went on beyond midnight and into the crack of dawn.

As everyone turned in their finished papers onto the front desk, the students immediately went back to the stables to sleep without saying a word.

"... I've been pushing them nonstop for a week straight," Karna remarked as he stacked the papers neatly while letting out a soft yawn, "... thank the goddess that I find sleeping being overrated."


18th of Harpstring Moon, Afternoon


"... So," asked Karna, his bagged eyes twitching madly and his brows sweating profusely as Seteth looked over the Dustbin's second attempt at mock exams, "... how is the progress?"

The Archbishop's adherent/desk jockey let out a confused and tired sigh.

"... It's progress, I'll give you all that much," Seteth with a vague tone of confusion, "... but the way things are heading... I'd suggest you all step it up a notch."

Everyone before the adherent's desk looked over at their results. Byron's didn't count because he already had a 100% rating on his written portion of the mock exam by the virtue of being an intellectual freak of nature that he is and knows that he's proud of.

"... 35%?" Sorcha remarked while scratching her head, "... huh, that's new."

"... 49%," Selene sighed out, "I guess just because I know how to make out Fodlanese doesn't mean I can get a passing score."

"32%?!" Cyrus exclaimed before letting out a loud groan of disappointment, "... I have to put up with this torment even more?!"

"45%," Topaz read her score without a hint of emotion, "... it's not 0%, I'll give myself that."

"... Twenty... four... percent?" Vidar grunted out as he read his score of 24% on his writing, discounting the slightly sloppy writing that were present on the rest of the paper, "... did I... say... that right?"

"You did, and let me do the math from here," Karna remarked as he began rounding up the Dustbin's mock exam scores into a discernible average," 100+35+49+32+45+24=285..." he muttered to himself, "divide that by 6, and you get... a 47.5% passing average."

Karna then shutters his mouth with both of his hands to muffle a scream to himself.

"... Okay, we're doomed," Karna deadpanned as he snatched the exams off of Seteth's desk and threw up the mock exams into the air, "because unfortunately, in order to pass the actual exams, we need to reach about at least a 70% passing rate average before the 31st," he pointed out, "so hunker down, people. Because we're not sleeping."

The collective student body of the Dustbin let out a groan as they accepted their inevitable hell awaiting them.

"... I have a suggestion to alleviate that," Seteth remarked as he did his best to ignore the scattered papers littered around his study, "how about opening up your class to the whole student body for a joint study session?"

"... Wait, you're suggesting that there are other students outside of Dustbin that are doing worse than us?" Byron pointed out.

"You'd be surprised," Seteth answered as he showed other results of mock exams, their scores floating around the 40s to 50s in scoring, "lack of motivation, neglect of studies, typical student problems related to procrastination," the adherent pointed out, "might be a good time as any to gain some positive PR for your class's reputation."

"... I'll try and not make this social hour," Karna remarked, "at least after all the garbage is done and over with after my students pass, ale and whiskey will taste a thousand times better."

"... I'll notify a request on the academy's bulletin board," Seteth remarked as he wrote up a request message stating a midnight study session taking place at the Dustbin, "... how does the 19th sound?"

"Acceptable," Karna answered, "... but will they show?"

"Alright, mandatory attendance it is," answered Seteth as he wrote a "mandatory attendance for students below a 50% passing rate on mock exams", "... also, I take that your class today has another bandit subjugation operation spearheaded by Alois today?" he pointed out nonchalantly as he signed his name onto the notice, "2500 gold on the line, you know."

"OH CRAP!" Karna exclaimed as he ran out the door, but only for him to slip on one of the papers that he threw across the adherent's study and land his hooded head on the floor with a loud thud, "... I'm okay..." he grunted out as he got back up before Karna stumbled out the door as he nursed his hit head while the rest of the Dustbin followed from behind, "... just need a helmet under by hood."

As soon as the Dustbin left, Seteth's lip slightly curled up with a satisfied smirk.

"Ah karma," the adherent sighed out euphorically as he got up from his desk, "you magnificent bi-"

He then ends up slipping on one of the other papers that were scattered throughout his office, his back landing hard onto the floor.

"... Okay," Seteth grunted out as his back was laid flat on his study's floor, "... I deserve that," he flatly remarked as the pain began to settle in throughout his body, "... Ow."

Required Gold Amount: 3000/8000

Current Passing Average: 47.5%

Days Left Until Beginner's Exam: 13


To Be Continued...


Author's Notes: Apologizes for a week-long delay. Went through massive burnout and had to take a week long mental health break.

Nothing special about this chapter other than the Dustbin's mad dash for gold and passing C grade. Can't teach away from the book without knowing the basics first, right?

... Yeah, typical RPG grinding in a nutshell. Except shenanigans.

References:

- Karna's description of bureaucracy "much is done to ensure nothing is accomplished" is from [Prahv, Spires of Order] card from Magic the Gathering.

- Byron's line towards Catherine is a reference to Shanotto's line from Dissidia: Final Fantasy.