Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

Chapter 39: Inspection

Thursday morning was promising some stormy weather with dark clouds looming over the backwater city of Mar sara, under the faint light of dawn 3 children were doing laps around the center field of the adventures academy, they were whispering to each other about something. In a dark corner a hooded figure was watching over them, there was tenderness and approval in their eyes. The hooded figure would look into the direction of the only magnificent building in the academy were a bronze telescope was focused on the kids, it seems they drew too much attention to themselves.

Breakfast time was very boisterous today with talk about the group of girls that bit more than they could chew and got beaten to kingdom come. The masses showed reverence to the Yunan, Reina and Leol who were chatting amongst themselves with excited breaths about the results of their morning workout today, they were able to run a full 10 laps with a slow pace, other than that, they each finished the 30 sets of basic exercises, with Reina as the biggest beneficiary. They could conclude one more rule about the Starheart, the more you push yourself the faster you will develop.

The morning class today was combat analysis through general knowledge and scientific research. What is the best way to swing a sword and generate maximum effect, how to best stab a dagger, how does parrying work, what to think about when blocking a sword with a shield, what is the difference between blocking a sword strike, a mace bludgeon and an arrow shot. The practical demonstration was Dustan wielding one weapon after another at Balin who did his best to block it all with a shield bigger than he is.

When the lesson was about to move to the practical trials the door to hall number 5 opened and director Joey Ray made his way inside the hall. One could feel a chill permeating the air, hostility was rising and one could feel death creeping on the hall. Debauchery was angry, and their anger manifested itself tangibly in the hall, the kids stood frozen in place, one move was all it took for the world to sunder and they were not the ones who dared start it.

"Cough, cough inspection" said director Joey, he had his hand near his waist, the other behind his back, he was tense enough to actually touch his hidden weapons to steady his heart. "Knock" the answer came from Lucian who had drawn his daggers. The silent moment felt like a year, again director Joey cleared his throat " young man, you need to show resp" Dustan cut him off mid sentence "knock" his brutal axes were swaying beside his thighs making him look like a true orc for once. "I am the director of thi" director Joey tried to protest but was again cut off by a growling Balin "OUT. KNOCK. WAIT" his tone was more commanding and imperial. The hostility in the are grew louder in the silent hall, it grew loud enough that director Joey actually did as he was told, he walked outside, closed the door and knocked but did not step in. And then like popping a balloon the whole intense atmosphere relaxed with a snicker from Fae, a chuckle from Bai and then Debauchery was laughing like they were not just about to kill a moment ago.

"Did you like our acting?" Leader approached the scared Reina and patted her head gently meanwhile Debauchery pulled themselves together and sent Fae to open the door. Yunan and Leol finally drew a relieved breath and sat down on the floor tired and sweaty as if from intense exercise. Fae opened the door with a smile so bright it could shame the moon and said "Welcome director, to what do we owe the pleasure of meeting you this lovely morning". Boom, a crack of thunder rumbled through the heavens as if to contradict the very vibe Fae was giving off. Director Joey turned pale at the clap of thunder, 'even the heavens is contradicting you, can you please hide the fake smile away' he thought to himself. "Inspection" he said. "Please come in" invited Fae, then with a booming voice announced "director Joey is here for inspection, he looks very cranky" the she hopped and skipped to Reina in a bid to comfort her.

Director Joey murmured softly under his breath and stepped inside the hall, Balin was equipping a shield bigger than him, Dustan was carrying a pile of assorted weapons, Bai and Lucian were helping Yunan and Leol off the ground while Reina was sandwiched between Leader and Fae who were showering her with affection, none inside the hall spared a look at the man coming to inspect them.

Once Debauchery was finally ready, each of the kids took a sword and started hitting the shield Balin was carrying, Dustan was sitting with his back to Balin as they leaned against each other, occasionally there would be a hint or a correction dropped by the adults otherwise there was nothing but the sound of weapons battering a shield echoing in the hall. Director Joey coughed to draw attention, but he failed to draw anything to him, the kids were focused on the shield they were pummeling with a different weapon every few minutes while the adults focused on the children. Finally the director snapped and yelled out loud "this is an inspection, what are you doing" the man steeled himself after his outburst which turned the hall silent once again.

Suddenly Balin hollard back at the director "you be inspecting, we be teaching! Is there anything else to inspection?if you have some bloody questions ask them otherwise inspect silently we are trying to teach here" the last words were accompanied by the sound of the big shield slamming into the floor beneath it. "And whom can i ask?" Director Joey seemed unperturbed by the fuming dwarf who might get violent at any moment. "THE BLOODY CHEERLEADERS YOU NINCOMPOOP" Balin pointed at the adults making bets about how long he could last before bashing the face of the director in.

Courting death was not a trait Yunan would assign with the wizened old director but the current situation is proving otherwise, that is because director flat out pointed at Dustan who had his back massage interrupted and just said "What about the orc?". That got the dwarf silent for a moment then turned to leader "Mary my love, this man is trying to ask a guy questions in the middle of his back rub, i can not deal with this level of perversion, be a darling and get him away from us please, we have about another hour of back massage therapy we need to do, come on kids work for your pay" and with that Balin and Dustan leaned against each other while the kids started pommelling the big shield again with their assortment of weapons.

Yes, Dustan was using the kinetic energy from the impacts between the weapons and the shield to get his back a massage with Balin acting as a shock absorber for him, simply genius.