Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

Chapter 20: intrigue

During lunch Yunan met with the prospective training mates, as expected they asked too many questions about how Debauchery taught Yunan, a bit too much, which resulted in Yunan having a bad feeling and down playing the intensity and ingenuity of the training, this did not escape Leol who got upset about Yunan not being completely truthful with his friends, up to the time of the morning exercises which he timed at little before sunrise.

Once Leol and Yunan made it back to their room after lunch, Leol was frowning enough to slam his eyebrows together "calm down Leol, i never lied to them, it felt weird how they went for specific questions about the Debauchery party, it made me suspicious" he quieted down for a moment before seriously looking at Leol " try not divulge much about what we are talking about, even if they mean no harm now, think how many problems will happen if they try the methods of the Debauchery and end up injured or worse, even though it is safe for me because there are 6 elites making sure nothing happens to me, others may not be so careful, there is a reason why 10 year olds only practice with wooden weapons, not even blunt real weapons, if anything happens, you will take the hit for spreading misinformation with intent to cause harm"

Yunan took a look at the calmer Leol, he would not like for his friend to be betrayed or be in an awkward position, therefore he must share his wisdom gained in the orphanage by the trial and error of countless orphans. "I might have not been so suspicious if they only came for the stories and the fun, they skipped that and went straight to the training, which they could just as easy ask their teachers about, yet they came to us because they think we know something others don't, i mean the effect of level up chess is enough to convince anyone with a brain of its worth, now think if there was equally effective methods of training that will yield better results, then add in a noble in a power struggle and you get a scheme to steal our secrets and then spread them as if they created them. do you see my point?"

Leol who was from aristocratic descent knew too well how young can the nobles start scheming, although Leol's family was stable and had very little power struggle, he could see it in other families, as for how Yunan knew about this, being raised in an orphanage you start to scheme before you learn how to walk, such is the cruelty of life.

Thus Yunan went to his dagger training, today he had to battle both Bai and Lucian, this lesson had two parts to it, first was dancing; Leader and Fae taught Yunan the ball dance moves, and he had to dance all the time during the sparring session, second dagger play, Yunan has to touch the daggers coming at him from both bai and lucian with his own, he was not allowed to dodge, every dagger he fails to connect with would translate to one minute less rest, if the total count surpasses ten minutes, the next hits would be added to the next session, although both men were told to go easy on him he still missed more than enough daggers in the first session to keep him from resting the whole afternoon.

Fae won that bet by the way, she gets to ride Balin on the back the entire afternoon and call him bearded donkey. that sight alone, not adding the neighs Balin made, cost Yunan his resting for the whole day tomorrow. by the end of the training Yunan had a better understanding of the speed a dagger needed, it was not a sword which required power, a dagger was at its deadliest when it was most agile.

Leol could not stay in the room and decided to go to the entertainment center to confirm his doubts, at least that way, even if Yunan was wrong he would just make him apologize and not need to have doubts that might affect his relationship with Yunan for something that can be solved easily. When he met his new friends there was another aristocrat with them, Leol could smell his own kind out of a crowd no matter how they hid, as soon as the level up chess tournament started he was asked questions when in the midst of focusing on the game and would be vulnerable to questioning.

Thankfully, his training with Bai had paid off and Leol could process external stimuli even when deep in focus, and the questions were exactly what Yunan refused to answer before, so he made up the answer that he only knew general information and the silly stories about the Debauchery party, by the end of the tournament he understood he was directly targeted by this noble and his henchmen, for being close to Yunan and therefore in the know about how the elites work.

Leol waited for Yunan anxiously, in their room, once Yunan arrived Leol made him sit down with the words " i have really bad news", those words sobered up Yunan, ever since he met Leol he never used the word bad to describe a situation or news, even when they turned superstars thanks to singing with Bai. "what is it?" Yunan was tired and fighting sleep but still sat straight and braced himself for a disaster. "Those guys were sent to us to get closer and fish for information, they want to know how effective is the training more than how it is done, and the kind of guy who sent them is bad news, i met him and he is likely trying to inform on us for some benefit or another, it seems that a whole elite party teaching the same student news is spreading and there are some who want to take advantage of it, tell your teachers about this, even if they are not in trouble they could at least prepare".

Although Yunan might have learned how people act, Leol learned why they act. thanks to his upbringing in a stable family, Leol had a spectator's view of the aristocratic community, and could see how it shifted based on small changes, and why those who vied for power acted instead of how, thus he gradually learned how to guess the reason behind any noble acting for benefits, provided he knew what they did, he never thought he would be caught in a power scheme in the most unlikely of places.