A Simple Meal
Standing up, turning all the blood stains on his body into nothingness through a quick activation of his death essence cleaning spell, Cyrus reached his full height and flexed his body checking for any wounds he may have missed.
"I should be good to go, although my clothes are ruined once more" began Cyrus, looking down at his sleeve that was shot to pieces and the two holes over his stomach.
While wonder if the repairs would cost Fidem this time around, he turned towards Minerva and said,
"Thank you for watching over me, and of course for not letting my trust and faith go to waste by coming to my aid."
Minerva stood up as well, tying her sabre back to her belt, and scanned over Cyrus' body carefully.
She then reached out and grabbed his arm, squeezing it, and then punching him in the stomach lightly with her other.
"Good to go? I think not" said Minerva, easily seeing the suppressed wince.
"Quite the eye you have there, well spotted" praised Cyrus, trying to wash over the discovery with some praise.
"Terrible deflection, stick with what you are good at. Now come with me to the Vita department, you need to be healed. If you do not get healed quickly it could create a far worse problem in a seemingly unrelated area, trust me I know well. You can call me an expert in having my body destroyed" said Minerva, using her own past to shut up the overly empathetic unmasked Cyrus.
Cyrus then found his shoulder locked in place as he was half dragged half led towards the nearest healer.
----
Two figures exited from two large white double doors with metallic plating on them arranged into doves. The doors closed shut behind them, causing one's long black hair to sway and the other's partially destroyed clothes to move slightly as a large amount of air was pushed past them.
"That was a unique experience to say the least" spoke up Cyrus, who had been processing what exactly just occurred.
"I agree, those healers appear to have a screw loose. I would not expect that they would be so pleased upon hearing how grievous the wound originally was and then so disappointed upon noticing that you already patched some of it up" replied Minerva, even more shocked than Cyrus.
The two began to walk, this time towards the mess hall to attend the evening meal as much time had passed during their visit to the Vita Department.
"I can understand their interest, for the worse the wound is the more that one can learn from healing it. It could be thought of as intellectual curiosity which is fitting seeing as we are in a place of learning. Do not forget that I also have access to the Vita domain, I also feel much the same although I do not always show it" explained Cyrus.
Minerva followed along with his words, but noticed something that she could not help but point out,
"Is that why you only partially healed yourself? So that you could take your time in learning?"
Without so much as a change in his expression Cyrus replied,
"Yep, but I had hoped that you would not find out. Alas, my hopes were in vain."
Minerva raised her hand towards Cyrus, resisting the urge to smack him into the ground but calmed herself down by breathing a few deep breaths in one after the other.
"Excellent control" praised an idiot, who promptly had their back punched by a small but powerful fist.
"Do try not to be in such a hurry to die. How could you chide me for my mistake during our duel but then do something just as crazy? What if you ran out of will during treatment, healed something incorrectly, or if you outright fail to properly heal something and you just explode from within" chided Minerva.
"I was" began Cyrus, as a memory was forcibly delivered to him by someone with too much free time apparently.
"I criticized my counterpart for the same exact thing, yet I also appear to share a similar flaw. How vexing" thought Cyrus.
"I have learned the error of my ways" said Cyrus, with humility in his voice.
"So long as you understand" said a pleased Minerva.
Thus the two continued along their way towards the mess hall
---
Arriving at the small café, the two took their seats at a small table for two that was closer to the exit than the other seats. Not because they particularly cared where or how they sat, but instead because of how crowded the café was for once.
After they ordered their food, one hearty meal and another more fit for a rabbit than a human, the two looked around and observed their surroundings.
"Segundo Sephtis, Tertius Cornelius, Quattuor Caliban, Sixtus Bavol, and then if you add me and yourself that makes six out of the ten top ranks all present in one place. I suppose it was not without reason that no major conflicts are allowed here, this is an explosive bottle with a leaky lid if I ever saw one before" said Cyrus.
Minerva raised an eyebrow and said,
"You forgot one, look over there in the corner. The fellow surrounded by the most people, that is Septimus Titus."
Cyrus looked over and saw a figure who looked somewhat familiar to him before it finally clicked.
"He is the seventh on the banner? I recall that my other half easily defeated him without even having to exchange a single blow, how is such a man so highly ranked? And why was he not wearing his badge at the time of us meeting…is he even wearing it now?" wondered Cyrus, forcing himself to remember the man now that he was of some kind of importance.
Breaking him from his thoughts was the smooth and calm voice of Minerva, who said
"That's seven out of ten, but I do wonder where the other three have been. There has been little talk of them, I guess these three prefer to hide themselves and their strength rather than display it openly."
The food had arrived at this point, silencing their conversation for a moment until Cyrus thought of a question.
"Is your sense of taste any better? I remember this morning you looked better than you had before, perhaps discussing you know what with another had a positive effect. Did it effect other things though, such as taste?"
Instead of answering Minerva took a spare fork from the table and used it to skewer some of the meat that was on Cyrus' plate, leaving him helpless but to watch it disappear into her mouth.
"Tastes the same as ever" came the reply at last, in an innocent tone.
"Then the medicine of releasing that which was bottled within was not nearly enough, but that is not too surprising considering the hell she went through. There is much to discuss, but this is not the place to do it" concluded Cyrus within, who simply returned to eating his food.
The two's feast then continued, all the way until a new face walked in through the door.
He who walked in the door attracted the eyes of all within the café, not because of his closely shaven hair cut or his light brown eyes, but because of his odd attire.
He was wearing not the familiar uniform of the Academy, but instead an all leather travelling suit with cotton underneath for comfort as well as two large riding boots and a pair of windbreaker goggles that Cyrus had seen on the Scouts that he met on his journey to the Academy.
On his lower back was a large strap that held two small quivers in place, each full of arrows, but with no bow in sight.
Below the strap was a piece of cloth that was tied around his lower waist, green in color and made of a fabric that looked familiar…
"So that is where his uniform went" remarked Cyrus as the man passed him, allowing him to inspect the green cloth up close.
At the same time he also caught a glimpse of a badge that was pinned to his belt, completely out of the way and almost out of sight.
"Ranked 9 on the banner, Novem Gellert" recalled Minerva aloud, as she saw the same sights that Cyrus had.
"So that is the first person you must defeat, the first trial for you to overcome so that you may catch up to me" noted Cyrus. "A bow user whose main domain is Aero, an interesting combination for sure."
Minerva was silent, carefully observing her enemy with a keen eye. Her exterior was as frosty as usual, her face either neutral or one of annoyance or disgust but now Cyrus also saw a thirst for battle and a desire to crush those who stand above them.