Cursed mage

"Your Majesty. My group was the one to survive against the Sworenyx until knights could subdue it."

"Yes, yes." The king waves at us without looking at us. "Impressive feats cannot be denied."

"So we're in?" Jessica asks. Hydrangea offers her a grin. "Now what?"

"I need to get you ID-ed before a giving you lodging and a meal." Hydrangea waves us onward away from the king. "It won't take long."

The ID is a key to access everything of my knight status. More magical than most things. After finding our rooms, we are placed in a cafeteria. Food is easily acquired too. Not that it compares to what I'm used in the castle.

"Can't believe the final test is the king." Jessica pushes her food around her plate. "I would only assume he'd let me in."

"That Sworenyx made it an auto pass. I'll bet the others are reviewed carefully during final review." Ryan stretches a little. "We got lucky."

"I have no idea how we handled that. After dodging the first charge it looked to lose awareness of me."

"Yeah. Then the knights showed up. We only needed to survive not handle it. As Hydrangea said, a Sworenyx is beyond our abilities."

"Maybe if we had all our skills truly available."

"Do you think even the crown prince could handle it?" I shake my head. "If you hit the red ball or didn't fall down when the Knat showed, I could suggest otherwise."

"The crown prince would probably fail and he has a ton of study behind him." Ryan rubs his head. "Sworenyx is truly above us."

I tilt my head looking at each. "What would you try to do if you had everything available to you?"

"If I had already had my flyer..." Ryan waves his hand about. "I could've stayed safely away. And if Jessica had her bow with some specialty arrows, I could fly her around as she shot at it."

"Then... I'm bait?" I shiver. "I guess... I would..." I wince.

"Sorry." Ryan offers.

What could I ask for to handle such a thing. I could suggest Ryan fly about. And if Jessica had her bow with some specialty arrows made for the fight she'd manage to hit the beast well enough. Probably not on the first attempt though. How long would I be bait? What can I use to protect myself? "Even proper gear wouldn't stop those tusks. One ram by the Sworenyx would do serious damage." That's why I made us unnoticeable. It's only a beast. It would only go for what it can find.

"Then give us a different method. I'm better with bow than sword even if I know both." Jessica looks away taking a bite. There's something more there but she's not talking about it.

"My flyer only has one bonus allowance. Plus who know what the beast would do if we were all out of range."

"Yeah." I think over the possible options. "We can ask for anything for it, right?"

Ryan shrugs. "Generally if you've never used an item before it's useless, but yeah."

"There's Bounce Boots." I think of the item. It's not easy to use well, but should work in my last minute get out of the way needs. If I land wrong... "Ugh. Better to not use something you aren't proficient with."

"Exactly. Or I'd just suggest I get a flyer that has more passenger room. I've never flown a bigger model before." Ryan shrugs. "Not like we'll be dealing with such a thing any time soon. It's far above us."

"May be the test to leave trainee status though." Jessica says. "So we best figure out options."

"That would be a horrible graduation test." Ryan shakes his head. "Lots of other options. Let's hope for something better."

"Yeah." Although if it's just the two of them... It sounds doable. We won't stay with the same people throughout our learning. It's not like I'm in the same room as either. I don't know who are my roommates. There may be no one assigned to me.

Then again, they pointed out the beast would still be aiming. They'd need someone as bait to keep it close and in position. "I'd think instead of using me as bait, we use something else." I think it over. "The beast focuses on certain smells. If we can recreate whatever it would go for..."

"It would be a better bait." Ryan nods. "What though?"

"You research monsters." I turn to him. Ryan frowns. He never dealt with a Sworenyx before then. We went into that battle without any ability to handle it. If not for my cursed magic... Would Jessica be here? I know it says zero have died in the trials, but I can guess extreme cases have happened. "If we have knowledge about what we're facing, then it should be easy to win."

"Exactly." Ryan pushes his nearly empty plate away from him. "I think I'm going to see what's around. Maybe find their library. Or find someone to ask questions of."

"I'll go with you for a bit. I have no idea where I'd get weapons master knowledge from." Jessica looks to me. "Coming?"

"Nah. I'll finish my food first."

"I didn't much like it. Will be something I have to get used to." The two handle their trays before leaving the cafeteria.

I poke at the meal. Minimum of four months here. Learning everything.

Hydrangea sits down opposite me. I look around. Nothing seems amiss. "The king noted your magic here and assumed you snuck into the test. Which is accurate, right?"

I nod slowly.

"I figured you had a reason for ignoring his refusal." Hydrangea taps the table. "He went back to the castle, fyi. You will be noticed soon. He may blow a gasket, but once he signs off on a trainee, only the trainee can agree to leave."

"Can't we fail out?"

"No." Hydrangea scans the room. "You have three years from first entrance to pass the entrance exam before you are removed. Besides that, a trainee needs to agree to leave. We cannot kick you out unless it's extreme."

"Like murdering other trainees."

"Yes." Hydrangea glowers at me. "That's a bad thought. Why did you join?"

"To prove myself. I was only referring to Hyant." I think of the lesson Emerald gave me years ago. "Near impossible to be kicked out, but I didn't realize there wasn't a true way to fail out."

"You have three years." Hydrangea stands up. "Expect him to find you soon. He is allowed to join. He can teach here although no one wishes that. To have the king waste his free time teaching trainees?"

I grunt. "He acts like I'm not crown prince, but constantly gets involved in everything I do."

"He needs to come to terms with things. He questions if you are his child because his life growing up was different." Hydrangea rubs my head. "Good luck." Hydrangea is about my father's age, so I'll assume she knows him better than I do.

Letting thoughts around my father disappear, I clean up my zone and head for my room. Maybe if I give it some thought, I'll figure out how I could handle such a beast. Or at least decide on the direction to train for such an event.