Return of the Runebound Professor

After a very embarrassing few moments of silence, they all placed their orders and the waiter beat a hasty retreat, taking the menus with him. Emily, deprived of anything to hide behind, suddenly found the table fascinating.

They said little until their dinner arrived just a few short minutes later. Noah wasn’t sure how they’d manage to get all the food ready so fast, but it smelled good enough that he didn’t ask. He couldn’t help but notice that Lee had opted to order the giant cube of unidentifiable meat topped with neon pink sauce.

It was just as disturbing in real life as it had been in the image. Moxie watched it with an equally doubtful stare as it was set down on the table before Lee, who stared at it like it was about to try to start fighting back.

“Put your knife down, Lee,” Noah said. “And please don’t–”

Lee stabbed the cube like she was wielding a sword. She paused, then slowly released the knife’s handle, leaving it wobbling in the cube. Isabel looked away, trying to hide a laugh. Todd didn’t even bother.

“It was tempting. Sorry,” Lee said.

“We really need to work on impulse control,” Noah said. The waiter didn’t look nearly as amused as he set the rest of their food down and quickly made an escape before Lee turned her attention toward him instead of the meat.

“Sounds boring,” Lee said.

“So… what are we going to be learning now?” Emily asked, grateful for the change of topics. She’d elected to order what resembled a large, jiggling flan topped with fruits and berries.

“Still survival,” Noah said. “Moxie’s going to teach. Unfortunately, my talents lie more in the killing things aspect than the anything else aspects. I don’t think I’m the best advice for this particular exam.”

“We’ve got time,” Moxie said, cutting into the meat pie she’d ordered. Noah recalled her bringing some meat pies to him while he’d been bedridden – she seemed to like them quite a bit. “We can worry about exactly what and how we’ll be preparing after dinner. For now, eat. And don’t play with your food.”

That last statement was directed toward Lee, who was flicking the end of the knife with a finger and watching as it bounced in the cube. The whole thing was far too gelatinous for Noah’s tastes. It looked closer to Isabel’s flan than it did to a real piece of meat.

Everyone dug in. No matter what Lee’s food looked like, Noah’s steak tasted incredible. He mowed through it within just a few minutes, devouring the entire thing and resisting the urge to lick the plate. It had been so long since he’d had a meal this good that he’d forgotten how it felt.

Lee didn’t have any problems finishing off her food either. She actually managed to restrain herself to using her utensils and ate everything properly. Noah took his eyes off her for just long enough to check on the others, pleased to find that everyone seemed to be enjoying their food.

And, by the time his eyes were back on Lee, she’d taken a bite out of her fork. They locked eyes as Lee crunched the metal between her teeth, then swallowed. Noah glanced back at Moxie, but she hadn’t noticed yet.

Lee slowly set the fork back down by the plate and covered it with her napkin. Noah pointedly looked away.

As if the waiter had sensed the lull in their eating, he appeared beside the table. “Would you like me to charge this to your account, Miss Torrin?”

“Yes,” Moxie said with a nod. “Thank you.”

The waiter just nodded. “Thank you for dining with us. Please return in the future.”

He walked off, as stiff as a board. Lee leaned over to whisper into Noah’s ear. “Do you think he saw me eat the fork?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What are you whispering about?” Moxie asked with a suspicious frown.

“Nothing important.” Noah pushed his chair back and stood up, patting his stomach and smiling. “Thanks for the meal, Moxie. That was great. I never get food that good.”

“That’s because you never eat,” Moxie said with a shake of her head. They all stood up and filed out of the restaurant.

“Are we going to get to training, then? I don’t want to waste too much time.” Isabel said as they headed down the street. Noah wasn’t sure exactly where they were going, but he didn’t really have anywhere to be either.

Moxie raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want a break at all? After… everything?”

Isabel shook her head. “No, not really. Do you, Todd?”

“No.” Todd rubbed at his neck, then let out a huff. “The longer I wait, the more likely we get the floor wiped with our faces again. I want to get strong enough to actually be able to fight back. Can we just hit Rank 2?”

“That’s a bit of an ask,” Moxie said with a frown. “You’re meant to hit Rank 2 by the time you graduate in about two years. That’s admittedly not the most aggressive deadline, but there’s a lot more you need to learn than just fighting–”

“Like what?” Isabel asked, cutting Moxie off. “It’s not like we’re going to get much benefit from learning how to deal with nobles.”

“Why not?” Emily asked with a frown. “That’s valuable information. Even if it’s unbelievably boring.”

“I’m not sure if I should be proud of you or not,” Moxie said, narrowing her eyes at Emily. “But Emily is right. Even if you don’t think you’re going to be doing a lot of interaction with nobles, there are a lot of other things in the curriculum that are important. Learning about how monsters move, what motivates them, the best methods to combine Runes, and I could go on. There’s more to this than just fighting.”

“Except most of that doesn’t actually help us,” Todd said.

“It does,” Moxie replied. “Just in the long run. I didn’t want to learn most of it either when I was your age, but it’s much more important than you’d think. Vermil, back me up here, would you? These are your students.”

“You can’t just punch every problem you run into,” Noah said. “Moxie’s right. Having some variety in your understanding is good. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to get you to Rank 2, though. But there’s no point rushing there if you don’t have the skills to actually use your runes. How about a good mixture of both? Moxie covers the talking stuff, Lee and I cover the punching.”

“Why don’t you do any of the talking?” Emily asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Because I did exactly what Isabel and Todd wanted to do and I am now an idiot,” Noah replied promptly. “I’m really good at punching things, though.”

“Not just punching.” Todd glanced at Noah out of the corner of his eye.

“Well, we’ll get our share of both.” Moxie came to a stop at a crossroads in the path. “Emily, what do you think? Do you want to try to accelerate things a little?”

Emily missed a step. She stared at Moxie with wide eyes. “Really? I’ve been asking you to do that for so long! I thought you said–”

“Forget what I said. Do you want to do it or not?”

“Yes!”

“Good,” Moxie said. “Then go get some sleep. All of you.”

“What?” Isabel frowned. “It’s not that late yet.”

“I know. Vermil and I have some work we have to get accomplished today, and if all goes well, you’ll all be waking up very early tomorrow to head out with us.”

All of the students eyes lit up. Emily practically darted off, muttering under her breath about getting ready for a long trip. Isabel and Todd looked a little more reluctant to leave, but they headed off as well.

Soon, the only ones that were still standing there were Moxie, Lee, and Noah. They set off toward the T building. Noah started to go in, but Moxie caught his arm and shook her head.

“What?” Noah asked.

“I wasn’t joking about having other things to do.”

Noah pursed his lips in thought. It took him a few moments to realize what Moxie was probably referring to.

“Oh, shit. I’m still a suspect for killing the Hellreaver, aren’t I?” Noah asked. “I forgot about that.”

“Of course you did,” Moxie said with a dry laugh. “But, if you have any plans of leaving Arbitage without getting someone showing up to hammer you into paste, we’re going to need permission for you to leave. Brayden isn’t around to bail you out again, you know.”

Noah grimaced. “Yeah. I know. Who do we talk to, though? Don’t tell me it’s the A building again. Something tells me that if we try do anything through that, it’ll take them ten business years to respond.”

“It probably would take far too long if we tried to do it that way,” Moxie agreed. “But we don’t have to do that. There are still other Investigators in the area. If we speak with one of them, I bet you’ll be able to get them to give you a pass. After all, given our family names, I doubt they’re going to think you’re on the run.”

“Oh, that’s a good point. There was a guy I spoke with right after I got out of the transport cannon. Neir, I think his name was. He didn’t seem too convinced that I had anything to do with the Hellreaver’s death, so if I told him what was going on, I bet he wouldn’t care much if we left.”

“Great,” Moxie said with a nod. “Let’s go find him, then. As long as he isn’t out actually doing something, he’ll probably be in the Office.”

“You said that last word weird.”

“Capital O,” Moxie said. “It’s what the A building should be. Most of the management for the school is there, and anyone of any real importance would probably at least frequent it. It’s a good spot to start looking. And, even if we can’t find Neir, you can always just tell a different Investigator.”

“Sounds boring,” Lee said. “I’m going to go nap. I’ll see you later tonight,” Lee said, raising her hand in farewell and setting off.

Noah followed Moxie and headed back toward the center of campus toward the Office building. He’d never had particularly enjoyable experiences with the administration of the school he’d worked in back on Earth, but maybe this time things would go better.

They definitely will. Right?

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