Chapter 2: Lacking manners
Disgruntled Arian followed his servants toward the buildings. They were like a small village, surrounded by a fence almost as high as the two-story buildings themselves. Their dark grey color gave the houses an oppressing mood and the small windows were more reminiscent of embrasures. Arian reminded the whole place of a prison. Who would want to live voluntarily in such a place?
The prince couldn't wrap his head around it. He missed the luxurious white marble of the royal palace. There, every room and hall was illuminated with natural light, coming through big windows. Surrounded by a lush green forest and guarded by numerous mystical beasts it represented the beacon of humanity.
Wheras this place- Arian stared at the black metal gate, the entrance to all the buildings, noticing rust on its edges. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.
This place, in a miserable hot desert at the very edge of the empire, represented humanity's very bottom.
Death was better than the mere fact of staying in this place. Arian was sure about that, as he read the crumbling chalk writing above the entrance „Akai-Dezato Academy".
Inwardly he cursed his father for condemning him to stay here for a few months. After all, it was obvious that this was the worst beast-taming school in the empire. No one who graduated here had ever made a name for themselves. Arian even doubted if one of them had managed to survive more than a year on the battlefield.
In the east, where the empire hadn't reached yet, beasts still reigned supreme. It was the duty of humans to conquer these lands by either taming or killing these beasts.
Arian understood how dire the situation was. In the northwest, more and more vulcanos were erupting, making their surroundings uninhabitable. Thus millions of refugees looked for other places to live.
But where should they go?
The empire was overpopulated already. So conquering new land was a must.
But fighting powerful beasts was not an easy task. It was a death sentence for every human. Beasts were far stronger and thus the only way to defeat these mystical creatures was with a beast of your own. Therefore academies were created, teaching humans the skill of taming beasts.
These academies were one of the major pillars of human society, without them and the countless heroes who graduated there, humanity would be lost.
Arian was aware of all this, yet he couldn't bring himself to be grateful for the Akai-Dezato Academy's existence. What was the use of its existence when it didn't manage to produce successful beast tamers?
Of course, his father had realized this issue as well. After all, he was the divine emperor. Finding solutions for problems within the empire was his job.
So he sent his eldest legitimate son to this horrid place, to report what needed improvement and to find the cause for the Akai Dezato Academy's failure.
Thank you, father, Arian thought bitterly as he passed the gates, heading towards the courtyard of the school. There the school principal and other important people from the school, probably teachers, were already awaiting him.
Arian suppressed a sigh. He didn't have to come here to find the problem of the school. He already knew it.
This was a school for commoners. The students as well as the teachers were all common people, not even one noble was among them.
With only scum visiting and leading the school, how could anything great come out of it?, Arian sighed inwardly as he mustered the principal with a hint of disdain.
Luckily for him, his face was covered, so the fool didn't notice how disgusted he was.
Arian wanted to laugh at his sorry appearance.
The man in front of him shook slightly, clearly he wasn't used to being in the presence of royalty. Furthermore, besides his heat protection shoes, which everyone had to wear here, if they didn't want to burn their feet, the principal's clothes were ragged robes with holes. He looked like a beggar.
Arian's disdain grew even more as he realized the other teachers looked even worse.
They all seemed nervous though. When he and his servant came to a halt the teachers dropped to their knees, bowing in respect.
"We greet you, Prince Arian. It is an unfathomable honor for us, to be visited by royalty. I hope you have a pleasant stay at our academy, even though... even though it's a bit run down."
What an understatement. This place can barely be called a school!, Arian exclaimed inwardly, while he stared at the principal, whose voice wavered slightly while speaking. He hadn't noticed before, but there was a beast on the principal's back. It was so small he almost overlooked it. Neither did he feel its aura.
The beasts Arian knew of were all different.
Their very presence made one lower your head. Usually, it took all of one's willpower to even just look them into their eyes or to get near enough to touch them.
But this beast, it was different. It looked neither terrifying nor did it possess a frightening aura. Instead, the beast cowered with its head bowed, just like its master.
Arian was baffled, it seemed... it seemed like this beast was truly intimidated by him and his servants.
A beast, intimidated by a human? This was unheard of. It was always the other way around.
Arian had to suppress a mocking laugh. This academy really was pathetic.
His gaze drifted to the other teachers. They too had beasts on their backs. These were even smaller than the principal's.
Arian thought of the beast ranking system, which helped to categorize a beast's strength.
There, the lowest category, reserved for the weakest beasts was called 'Puny'.
All of the beasts belonging to this category were very common. Keeping them was rather easy and training them didn't require any special skills.
It was the category with the most species, too. Nearly two hundred, if I'm not mistaken, Arian thought, while he tried to recall a species whose description fitted the principal's beast.
He thought for a moment before he realized there was none.
He blinked in confusion, as he tried to find the right species for the other beasts.
It took him a few seconds before he came to a shocking realization: All of these beasts had to be weaker than beasts in the last category, which meant... they were so unimportant and insignificant that the empire didn't even know of them.
Arian wanted to laugh. He already thought the school was pathetic. But this was even a dishonor to the word 'pathetic'.
Looks like I have to come up with a new category for the categorization of mystical beasts. One for beasts lower than Puny, the prince contemplated, while his deputy stepped in front of him.
"What is your name?", Arian's deputy finally asked. Even he had needed a moment to process in what miserable place they had ended up at.
" I'm Teacher Javis, good Sir", the principal answered.
"Then we will be in your care. I hope we have a fabulous time here at your school", Arian's deputy said with a tone that indicated he wanted to be everywhere instead of this place.
Javis looked up for the first time, a small smile appearing on his face. "Ahm, sorry for my question, but who might you be?"
The deputy's expression changed from forcefully happy to naturally angry.
He was clearly upset with such a straightforward question. Arian thought it inappropriate as well. This was not how one talked to nobles!
His disdain for Javis grew even more.
Useless, that's what I should call the category for these teachers' beasts, the prince thought.
The principal's hands trembled as he faced the stern gazes of Prince Arian and his servants. "I-I mean, how should I address you," he added hurriedly. "It-it wasn't meant as an insult."
"I am the prince's deputy, Maloc. You will talk to me, as your station is too low to talk to royalty directly. Addressing me with 'good Sir' is alright."
Maloc turned to Arian, asking him in sign language, the language only royals and their closest servants knew, if he wanted to know anything else.
The prince shook his head slightly and signed back to his deputy what he wanted him to tell Javis instead.
A cold smile appeared on Maloc's face, as he saw Arian's signs. His eyes glimmed dangerously, as he faced teacher Javis again.
"His Highness the prince is unsatisfied with your manners, principal. You should have fallen to your knees the moment you saw us, not only once we came to a halt in front of you. Please rethink your manners and do better next time."
Teacher Javis's face visibly paled, he tried to mutter an apology, but the nobles didn't care.
Of course, Arian knew the reason, why the teachers hadn't fallen to their knees earlier. They lacked proper heat protection clothing, thus the sand on the red desert was too hot.
Slowly the desert floor turned the teachers' trousers black. Some even had to hide a pained expression and most of them had taken their hands away from the red sand. Surely their palms were burnt by now.
And yet, etiquette came first.
"Of course, a punishment is only appropriate", Maloc continued with an emotionless tone.
"In the evening you will get ten lashes across your back, teacher Javis."
By now the principal was so pale he looked close to collapsing.
"And the other teachers will receive five because they followed the ill manners of their leader. It isn't so hard to think for yourselves," Madoc added, even though he knew just as well as Arian that it was pointless.
They were commoners. It was only natural that they didn't have a mind of their own. Therefore nobles existed- to guide them away from their own doom.