The Dustbin

Day 18: Exam Prep Part 2


18th of Harpstring Moon, Afternoon


"Another fine work today, ladies and gentlemen!" Alois's voice boomed as the bloodied and worn Dustbin stood in attention before him after the bloody battle near Conand Tower at Faerghus, "even as the bandits have banded together, they were no match for our bound might!"

"... Just listening to his puns is already rotting my brain," Byron grumbled to himself as Alois laughed at his own joke, "... even his improvements at his attempt at wordplay is just agonizing to even fathom."

"Just smile and stay silent," Karna replied as he elbowed his student, "who knows, we might get a bonus for actually dealing with it."

"I'd rather die," Sorcha deadpanned while whispering, "someone, please kill me."

"Good," Topaz flatly remarked, also at the dredges of her patience while not raising her voice to that of a mouse's breathing, "die."

"Ohohoho! Why the long face?!" Alois remarked, "come on, turn those frowns upside down! I heard that it improves a person's mood just by doing it!" the Warrior pointed out as his pearly white teeth glistened when basked under daylight, "it's science, I'd tell you! Come on! Give it a shot! Try it out!"

Everyone reluctantly smiles. Vidar, looking at his classmates in befuddlement, tries to smile, but his teeth were covered in the blood from the throats of his enemies that he bit into after his [Iron Gauntlets] broke mid-battle.

"Big smiles!" Alois remarked, unperturbed at the bandaged student's bloodstained teeth, "bigger! Bigger!" he ordered while keeping his jovial tone, the Dustbin following through by widening their forced grins. "Great! Now keep it like that for the next two minutes!" the captain stated before looking at Vidar, "... except for you. Go find a bucket of water and gargle for a minute. All that blood on the teeth and mouth ain't healthy."

And after two minutes of forced smiles, the Dustbin and the detachment of Knights of Seiros return to the monastery. As promised, they were given a check for 2500 gold for their class account, with an additional 500 gold that they've received from Alois himself as a tip, presumably from complying with Alois's positivity routine.

"... How much longer do we have to put up with this degrading treatment?" asked Cyrus, "I sure as ain't no circus animal from Shangri-La!"

"One or two more jobs," Karna replied as he pocketed the check, "or until our class can stand on its own and keep it as such."

"... Hard... work," Vidar grunted out, "... not... new... thing."

"And our jobs so far has been relatively calm compared to what we went through last time," Selene pointed out, "... although when we go back on our own... just in case, we'd better brace ourselves."

"Worry about the Beginner's Exams first," Karna pointed out, "because tonight, we've got company, because hell is other people!"

The entirety of the Dustbin lets out a disheartened groan as they knew that their day was about to get significantly worse. And to them, it was nothing new, but the pain from the realization never dulls no matter how many times they've become desensitized to it.

"'Hell is other people', indeed," Byron muttered to himself.


One Arduous March and Paperwork Later...


At the borrowed Black Eagles Classroom, six students, two of each coming from the three houses, enter the den of despair that was basically Seteth's study hall, the man himself being present to oversee the whole affair, even if it means sacrificing some of his own well-deserved sleep.

The first pair was a large olive-skinned male with rippling muscles and short cream-blonde hair that sat atop his statuesque face, the other being a comparatively-shorter female student with bright pink hair tied in pigtails that reached all the way down her shoulders. The former took a deep breath as a way to calm himself, while the latter had a distinct pout on her puffed cheeks that just screamed disappointment.

The next pair were both male, with one being a short, gray-haired boy with a freckled nose, the other being a taller, but laid-back redhead whose unbuttoned jacket showed his undershirt. The former looked around nervously, flinching at the feral stare of Vidar looking at him as how would a wolf would spot a squirrel, while the latter let out casual sigh as he went to his seat while keeping the former under his protection, albeit nominally.

The final pair walks through the doors. The first was a short, yet muscular male, whose bright blue hair in a short shave came in with the bundle of energy that clashed poorly with his sweat soaking through his clothes, possibly from his late night training session that seems to be the source of minor noise pollution complaints. The other was a mousey, shy looking girl with purple hair in a slightly messy bob, her trembling hands gripping onto the hems of her hood as she reluctantly walked in while avoiding eye contact.

"And with that, everyone's here," Karna remarked as Byron shut the door from behind the girl, the latter flinching at the thud of the door slamming shut, "welcome to hell, twerps. My name is Professor Karna Yuga, and I do not care who you are, other than you're all failures and degenerates, and I'm here to make you less of that within my abilities."

"H-hey!" the mousey girl cried out as she pointed at Byron while cowering, "w-why isn't he taking his seat?! Isn't he here for the torture-I mean tutoring like the rest of us?!"

"He's literally passed every exam with a perfect score of 100% without even trying, and I needed an extra pair of eyes and hands to deal with you lot, because evidently, no one else is willingly wanted to help out a bunch of intellectual failures like you lot," deadpanned Karna, causing the mousey girl to shrink back further as Byron shot a glare at her, "such is the privilege and curse of being an intellectual freak of nature."

The professor then slams down the stack of books onto his desk as Byron pushed another blackboard into Karna's background.

"Okay, first of all, Seteth has informed in general that the reason that all of you sans my own students are here now are due to reasons that range from basic underperformance to procrastination," Karna pointed out, "can I get any clarifications on why you might've underperformed?"

"I've honestly been studying with Ignatz," the large blonde male remarked, "I mean, my scores are improving and I'm understanding things a bit better, but I feel like no matter how much I read, some things... keep slipping my mind."

"Having a hard time remembering things, do you?" replied Karna, to which the large boy nodded in agreement, "alright, anyone else with a similar problem?"

Cyrus and the blue-haired boy both raise their hands, to which Karna puts them in the same bracket. "May I ask for both of your names?" he asked the two other boys.

"I'm Raphael," spoke the large blonde boy.

"Caspar here!" the blue-haired boy replied.

"Good," Karna remarked to himself as he wrote their names down next to Cyrus's. "Anyone else suffering an issue on why they've scored below 50?" he asked before looking at the gray-haired boy with the freckled nose. "Yes?" he pointed to the boy, "your name?"

"... I'm Ashe," the boy answered with a slightly nervous smile.

"And what is your problem?" the professor asked.

"... I've might've been too preoccupied reading novels about heroes and knights," the boy confessed sheepishly, "I've always wanted to be a great knight of the Kingdom of Faerghus, and... I kinda lost myself to my own daydreaming a tad bit."

"So prone to distractions, I see..." Karna muttered to himself as he wrote down another bracket down on the blackboard, "... anyone else with a similar problem?"

Only Selene raises her hand.

"... Ever since I gained the ability to see things clearly up close, I've began to notice things that I've never seen before," she pointed out, "I mean, I saw those crawly things that were walking in a line that kept biting pieces off crumbs. What were those things?"

"They're ants," Seteth sighed out, "... was your hyperopia that bad that you never saw insects up close?"

"Pa said looking down is askin' for death," Sorcha remarked, "so we always looked straight."

"Thank you for your contribution," Karna remarked as he wrote down both Ashe's and Selene's names below the new bracket, "anyone else with a problem that might be affecting their grades?" he asked as he looked towards the classroom, eyeing at the certain three newcomers that looked disinterested during the whole meeting. "... Tch, anyone actually paying attention here with a problem-"

"What's the point?" the glum purple-haired girl wallowed, "I'm a failure and a degenerate anyway, so why bother?"

"It is because only failures and degenerates actually have the capacity to learn new things," Karna answered, "the curse of being an intellectual monster like Byron over there is that learning becomes nothing to be impressed over. As such, having the reason to learn no matter how painful it may be is better than not having any reason to be here at all."

"... I'd rather not be out of my room if I can help it!" she complained, "... I'm only going to class because I have to..."

"... Holy hell, that's further down than just lack of motivation, it's something even worse," Karna remarked as turned back towards the blackboard before asking for her name, "uh, what's your name?"

"... You said you don't care who we are," she pointed out.

"That means I don't care what you're going through, and that won't stop me from improving your grades," Karna replied, "... does anyone know her name?"

"It's Bernadetta," Caspar pointed out, "... I mean, she coming to class every day, so that's an improvement."

"Oh dear, it's depression," Karna grimaced as he wrote down the girl's name under the third bracket, "and no, I am not a licensed psychiatrist, so as much I like to help, it's not in my jurisdiction unless I want to get fired."

"Glad to see that you're not overstepping your boundaries, Professor Yuga," Seteth remarked sternly before turning to Bernadetta, "also, Miss von Varley, if you have something's that's bothering you, the staff is there to help you sort it out. But until then, please cooperate, for we only wish the best of you."

"... Liar," she muttered out, "... you're all a bunch of liars-"

Vidar then slams down onto his desk before facing towards her, looking at her teary eyes with his unblinking, predatory glare, not saying a single word nor even letting out a single decibel of a snarl.

Bernadetta gulps before she shrinks back into compliance.

"... And before you ask," Byron interjected before Seteth can jump in, "he was holding back. If he hadn't, he would've snapped that desk in two."

"... He only gets in trouble if he breaks anything," Seteth grumbled before he turned away from the tense atmosphere.

After a few moments of quiet, Karna then turns towards the casual-looking redhead. "You there," the professor asked, "what do you think is happening to you that you ended up getting a below passing score?"

"... I haven't studied?" he replied with his eyes turned towards the side, signifying that he's lying.

"Load of pegasus dung," the professor pointed out before asking again, "... tell me the truth."

"Okay, fine, I was out and about town flirting with the dames," he confessed, "... I did not know that one of my dates would end up having myself drugged and tied up on a tree with all my belongings gone?"

Karna then lets out loud groan as do the rest of the class sans a few people.

"And that's why you're here," the professor remarked as he tried not to kill himself out of sheer spite from hearing such sheer stupidity be testified, "... try and make your think with your other upper head and not the other one below."

"Can't help it, I'm a man with needs," the redhead casually remarked, "I'm Sylvain," he greeted the class before he looked at the McCarthy Twins, "and ladies, you're looking great-"

"Touch me sister, I crush yer bawbags with me fingers," Sorcha warned as she balled her hand into a fist.

"Noted," Sylvain replied.

"Fodlan to Sylvain, finish shutting up or I'm siccing you to Seteth," Karna warned, with Sylvain relenting as the professor put the redhead's name below Bernadetta's, the latter in class groaning at the prospect of being in the same group as him.

"... Why are you all treating me like some sort of angry dog?" Seteth asked.

"Because you're the closest to the Archbishop, have my career and my students' futures in a stranglehold, and in all honesty, you're just unapproachable as a person when we're not conducting official business," Karna pointed out, "that, and you want to discipline the boy for his unnecessary philandering escapades as much I want to, but I'm not doing it, because like you said earlier, I'm doing my best to not overstep my boundaries," the professor explained, "and yes, bringing in someone whose job is partial disciplining of the student body is me not intruding someone else's station."

"... Fair enough," the adherent replied, "I can now see that my presence here is mandatory," Seteth remarked, "so please, continue with your organization."

Both pairs of sharp eyes look at the pink-haired girl, catching her attention just by unnerving her.

"... What?" she spoke, "... ugh, this is such a pain."

"Your name?" asked Karna.

"Hilda Valentine Goneril," Cyrus remarked at her venomously, revealing the pink-haired girl's name to the class, "... I happen to owe your brother a lot of favors for what he did to me."

"... Who are you?" asked Hilda, not recognizing him, to which the large student flies into a blind rage, but just before the situation can escalate, Karna casts [Flux H] to keep him suspended in the air as he's flailing helplessly.

"OUT OF THE WAY, PROFESSOR!" Cyrus roared out, "SHE AND HER FAMILY NEED TO PAY FOR SULLYING MY HONOR!"

"Explain," Seteth ordered.

"Almyran war prisoner, turned into the Goneril Family's 'pet', and now displaced foreigner," Karna explained, "might have happened when he was around his early teens, when it's the right age for Battu tribespeople to ride out and become raiders."

"Oh!" the girl remarked, still not aware of the gravity of her situation before her, "you were supposed to be my butler for my sweet sixteen!"

"I am going to kill her," Cyrus growled out upon hearing the perceived insult, "I am going to pick her head off of her neck like a wild berry, wring her headless corpse of all of its blood like a game bird, and send what's left of her back to her family as a present before I bring the rest of my people to dance on their corpses!"

"Excuse me?!" Hilda remarked in an offended tone, "you and your people were hostiles crossing Fodlan's Throat armed to the teeth!" she pointed out, "you have yourself to blame for crossing us when we had no reason to hate you."

"Oh please, anyone would've been fine if they dropped dead shortly afterwards," Cyrus casually remarked, much to the majority's horror, "my first kill was when I was only five years of age-"

"OK, ENOUGH!" Karna barked out as he clapped both of his hands with [Miasma ∆] on each of them together, the ensuing bang causing a loud noise to erupt between his palms.

From the explosion, everyone's ears were ringing like church bells being pulled by wild apes until the noise ceased to be.

"Like I said before," Karna remarked as he glowered before Hilda and Cyrus after he'd landed back on the ground upon being released from his [Flux H], "at here, I don't care who any of you are," he explained, "that means your cultures, your families, your preferences, and your little issues are worthless to the greater goal present; to have all of you succeed. So either shape up, get over it, or at the very least, put your literal differences aside, or I will have to discipline you unruly lot until your collective behinds turn bloody and bruised," he warned, without so much as raising his voice yet his speech carrying the weight of a thousand weights, "and if any of you are going to have a problem with what I just proposed, then get out, fail and flunk for all I care, or stay here, and start, shutting, up."

No one leaves, let alone make a single noise. As Karna went back to the desk after cleaning up the mess in the middle of the class before facing Seteth.

"Sorry about that," Karna apologized, "not only I had to lay down the law, but she also had the gall to insult a fellow human being as someone that can be subdued like property," he remarked as he wrote down Hilda's name below Sylvain's, "that said, I can't afford to play favorites now. Pass the exam or bust."

"Understandable," Seteth replied, "even I had to admit, I would've lost it myself if I were in a similar case."

"With that said," Karna remarked as he set down another pile of books onto his desk, "how about we actually start doing what we came here for?"

"Um, professor?" asked Ashe as he raised his hand, "what about the others? The other twin sister with the claw tattoo, the veiled girl, and Vidar? What group are they? And why are they here for?"

"They can't read or write Fodlanese," Karna answered, "because no one but me was willing to help them, and no, Miss Goneril, prisoners of war from other countries being taught other cultures is technically brainwashing and/or coercion," he pointed out before the pink-haired girl can ask, "to Fodlan, my students are practically non-existent, and they're learning how to read in as a necessity to survive a place that they're don't know."

"... Oh," Ashe remarked, "... so in a way, they're like this, because no one cared about them until now?"

"We'll talk later if I do have the privilege of holding a seminar about cultural sensitivity," Karna stated as he handed out books to the whole class, "until then, everyone group up under the following brackets!"

At the first group was the following, Raphael, Casper, and Cyrus. Their focus being about streamlining their abilities to process information and memorization skills.

The next group were Ashe and Selene, their focus being about how to study while trying to avoid distractions like novels and seeing the world through a new pair of eyes.

Group three were Bernadetta, Sylvain, and Hilda, arguably the most problematic group attitude-wise. Their focus being about trying to gain the proper motivation to actually start applying themselves in their exams, and possibly get over their little personal issues.

And the final group were Sorcha, Topaz, and Vidar, whose primary concern was simply grammatical and literacy competency.

"Okay, everyone well and organized?" asked Karna, "regardless, begin."

Karna, Seteth, and Byron disperse throughout the groups and begin with their tutoring.

Karna himself takes up a double duty of tutoring the first and second group, since focus boosting and trying to curtail senses of distractions are closely tied together.

Seteth takes upon himself to discipline the third group, or at the very least, get them to study in the first place, excuses be damned.

And for Byron, it was business as usual.

"Ugh... why am I subjected to this kind of suffering?" Bernadetta groaned out as she read through her provided study materials, "... I don't deserve this kind of treatment, surrounded by scary people..."

"Speak for yourself, you damn recluse," Byron remarked disdainfully while his focus of teaching Sorcha, Topaz, and Byron didn't waver even as he talked to another group, "I'm suffering too."

"Name one!" she squawked out.

"Being with you," Byron deadpanned as he silently instructed his peers with gestures.

"... Touche," she grumbled as she retreated back to her studies with the other two, Sylvain and Hilda being watched like a hawk by the adherent.

At the third group, Byron was giving pointers of how Fodlan grammar and wording works, minimal improvements being made once at a time, with varying degrees of success. Topaz herself was digesting the knowledge quickly, amending her past works' mistakes at a rapid pace. Vidar himself was trying to streamline his learning process of copying what the others were doing, trying to find his own way forth in order to succeed in his own merits rather than simply continue to live off of others.

Sorcha however, was still showing signs of struggle even reading Fodlanese. Her rashness and drive running her brain, contrasted to Selene's calmer and more analytical side.

"Bloody ell', why is reading so hard?" Sorcha remarked with major annoyance, "I mean, I can make out the words just fine, but I can't understand what each words mean together!"

"... You, never understood sentences before?" asked Byron.

"I can understand people and what they're saying, that's for sure," she answered, "but I feel like I'm supposed know what these words together are supposed to mean, but me head can't get it across."

"So there's a disconnect there," Byron pointed out, "you can understand words when said, but not when written?"

"Brigidians don't write," Sorcha explained, "word of mouth is law. Hell, even me pa can't read, but he was smart enough to not take the deal that screwed me land over. Just because we can't do what the princess can do, me and me sis are treated like dogs."

"Well, no time better to learn new things then the present," Byron pointed out, "I'll try to help with the best of my abilities."

At the first and second groups, Karna himself was keeping tabs on the students' progresses.

"What is it that you don't understand?" asked Karna to Raphael.

"Just something about how the fact there's a difference between being a Fighter and a Myrmidon," the burly student replied, "I mean, they're both classes that let you hit harder, right?"

"True, but there are distinctions," Karna pointed out, "Fighters focus on strength, Myrmidons focus on speed, and Soldiers focus on reach."

"Hmm... I still don't get it," Raphael remarked, convincing Karna to take a different approach.

"Okay, let's try again," Karna sighed out, looking at Caspar, "tell me, how do you compare yourself with him, a fellow gauntlet-user?"

"Hmm, if I have to say, he moves really fast," Raphael pointed out as he recalled seeing Casper fight back at the Mock Battle, "I mean, fast enough that I'm pretty sure I can't match him, but I'm pretty confident about my strength."

"Okay, then what about him?" Karna asked as he looked towards Vidar, steadily writing his notes as he reassesses what he've learned.

"... I think I saw him spar once before he went crazy and got banned," Raphael asked, "the way he whipped out his arms with each blow and coiled his body," he recalled the bandaged student's movements back then, "was almost like a snake's. I assumed that his arms were longer than usual, but the way he'd controlled the distance between himself and his partner... man, and I thought my size alone would be enough, but if I face him head on, I think I might lose."

"Now does everything make sense for you?" Karna asked.

"... Yeah," the student replied with an enlightened look, "yeah, I think I kinda get it now!" he remarked, "Fighters are like me, Myrmidons move like Caspar, and Soldiers have that guy's reach and control!"

"A step in the right direction," Karna stated as he walked towards another student to aid, "do what you know best if things are becoming too hard to understand. Your simplicity is your greatest strength, so nourish it."

Back at the third group, Seteth himself was keeping close tabs on the third group, a batch of students who are capable of doing better, but underperformed due to their personal issues ranging from procrastination to implied trauma.

However, for Seteth, none of those issues weren't an excuse. They're now at Garreg Mach, a place where children grow up to be acceptable members of society as proper adults. In hindsight, the reason why those students weren't put into the Dustbin were the fact that they're all from influential noble families from across Fodlan, all three bearing Crests of the Goddess, hence they can be adapted and be educated for the sake of civil order.

The Dustbin however, were what society considers as "deviants", unfit being that cannot function in an organized society since they weren't born there in the first place. And yet, despite that, the said "deviants" were more driven to succeed compared to the group before him.

He felt like an experienced farmer working an arid and blighted land, where as Karna looked like a nomad with no experience working on a fertile and virgin field.

Even so, thought Seteth as he kept his eye on the three, making sure that they remain focused on their studies first and foremost, I'm not abandoning them just so that you can make a point, Karna.

As the night meeting passes midnight, each one of the students making painstaking efforts to improve their grades, everyone returns to their respective places of rest.

"... Never... again," Hilda shuddered as she walked back.

"Noplacelikehome,noplacelikehome,noplacelikehome!" Bernadetta skittered out as she hustled back to her dorm room doors before slamming it shut followed up by the sounds of several locks clicking behind.

"Late-nighters are the worst..." Sylvain groaned out as he went back to his room.

"... Too late for a midnight snack, I guess," Raphael sighed out, "better get some sleep..."

"Seconded..." Caspar yawned out, "... at least, that's what the noblemen said when they agree on something..."

"Either way..." Ashe yawned out, "... I just hope I don't oversleep tonight."

"Oh boo-hoo," Sorcha deadpanned, "we sleep in the stable and smell like fresh arse."

Only Sorcha had enough energy to walk and talk their way back to their resting place, leaving Karna and Seteth behind together.

"... So, first study night," Karna remarked as he and Seteth stood by the Black Eagles Classroom's doors, "... it could've gone significantly worse."

"I'm more surprised that no one died tonight, given that I've just unearthed a potential quarrel between the Goneril girl and that Almyran," Seteth pointed out, "are you sure that the safety of the students can be ensured? Regardless of relations, my duty is that no one dies during school year."

"Likewise," Karna pointed out, "... after graduation, you know for sure that it's fair game, right?"

"I was afraid that you were going to point that out," the adherent replied with a groan.

"Hey, silver lining, Fodlan ain't gonna tear itself apart from the inside out at this rate," Karna stated, "... I mean, external conflicts don't count, right?"

"I'm going to bed," Seteth groaned out as he walked back to the main monastery building.

As Karna is left alone by the classrooms, he looks up at the night sky with an unamused expression.

"I guess no matter how many people die throughout the course of history, the skies won't change its color in whoever's hands."


At an Undisclosed Location...


"Report," the Flame Emperor spoke.

"My liege, we've acquired the location of the object of interest," reported the Black Mage, "shall we move onto the heist?"

"Negative," the Flame Emperor ordered, "a frontal sneak attack will be easily too detectable," the armored figure pointed out, "we must first muddy the waters before the enemy gets a chance to cross."

"... Methinks that it's time to pique a certain someone's interest," said the Black Mage, "a sacrificial pawn, an unwitting one, no less, to send him and his followers towards the direction of our foes."

"Distasteful as it sounds, it is for the greater good," the Flame Emperor remarked, "the least we can do is to make sure that his sacrifice doesn't go to waste."

"When do we begin?" asked the Black Mage.

"The first midnight after the end of Harpstring Moon," said the Flame Emperor, "the rest of the month, we'll simply watch as the hornet's nest begins to stir itself into a frenzy for the rest of the month."

"Understood."


26th of Harpstring Moon, Evening


Throughout the remainder of the next week, the Dustbin worked themselves to the bone to increase their chances of passing the test while earning enough income to actually take the test in the first place.

However, the lack of sleep and the mounting fatigue began to affect their performances at the tail end of this month, forcing Karna to dial down on his admittedly-draconian efforts to let his class pass the exam. Regardless, everyone in it pushed on, gradually recovering their performance back to a more acceptable grade.

"So, good news, bad news, everyone!" Karna announced during his night class for the Dustbin, "the good news is that our class's passing score average for our mock exams have gone up by a large margin from our 47.5%, and should we be able to take the exam, I'm confident that our hard work won't be wasted!"

The class cheers in response.

"... However, Karna sighed out, the bad news is that we're still short on our funds," Karna pointed out, "our last job yesterday was botched halfway due to sudden reinforcements of bandits coming from our flank, and our initial reward of 2000 gold has been cut down to 1000 for the damages inflicted upon the village that we were supposed to defend" he explained, "in short, we're short on funding for our entire class to take the exam, and out of time to actually go to a mission and earn more gold."

"Oh come on!" Sorcha cried out as the rest of the class did as well, "how the bloody ell' we were supposed to know that they were gonna jump us from behind?!"

"... So in essence, we're presented with two options," Byron stated, "option one, one of us is going to have to not take the exam, or option two, sell one of our belonging to fulfill the financial criteria."

"... And I don't think anyone's gonna buy anything from us," Cyrus pointed out, "and no, Darius would literally kill anyone who's not me when handling him. Trust me, I had to do it this morning. The guy didn't die though, so there's that."

"Shite," Selene cursed, "we're cornered like rats."

"... I'll ... not take... exam..." Vidar stated as he raised his hand, "... others... before... me."

"No," Topaz remarked as she took out her sheathed [Killing Edge] onto her desk, "sell this instead," she propositioned, "I don't know how much this costs, but no merchant would ever turn down an immaculate sword as such."

Karna was now faced with two choices before him.

Either he can cut his losses and have one of his students not take the test, or gamble on selling a rather-unique sword whose price is left undetermined on the market.

"To either sell out one of my own students or gamble away a rare blade..." Karna gulped at the dilemma, "... how unfortunate, for I am the one who'll have to make the choice before the end of the month."

Required Gold Amount: 7000/8000

Current Passing Average: 69.5%

Days Left Until Beginner's Exam: 5

FINAL WEEK - ALL IN


To Be Continued...


Author's Notes: And with that, the second part has come to an end.

College is fast approaching, and I want to finish off my story arcs before the 20th, so the least I can to is to somewhat end it off with a satisfying resolution.

My brain is kinda fried from the mounting pressure, and switching gears from "play" to "work" is still hard, and anxieties are the worst when they're vague.

Now if you excuse me, I need to brace myself for the final weeks of my free time.

References:

- Twofold to Brooklyn 99; Sorcha and Topaz's exchange is from Jake and Amy while they're buried in paperwork in the break room while Alois's line comes from Holt trying to implement the "smile" to improve the workplace environment.

- Alois's "it's science" line is loosely based off of Cervantes's line from Fire Emblem Awakening. Also, "load of pegasus dung" is also from Awakening, this time, Frederick.

- Karna's line of "finish shutting up" is from Jack Griffin from A.P. Bio. Later on, the "start, shutting, up" is also from the same source as the prior example.

- Sylvain's recalling of his date gone wrong is a reference to Inigo/Lazslow's many, many skirt-chasing escapades gone wrong, but I can't recall which support or game.