Relaxing evening

After all of us finished the exam, we strolled back towards the dorm. No more training was planned today and we couldn't use the training hall on our own; there just wasn't any space left.

So we decided to take the rest of the day off. Julian and Lander took off right as they heard Iris suggesting it, though I they didn't tell us what they intended to do. Us girls on the other side chose to have a nice dinner and then go to a place Iris had suggested quite some time ago.

She had long yearned to go into the sauna located in the cellar of the dorms with the rest of us girls.

We quickened our pace after having decided what to do else the sauna might be too full later on. The rest of the first years also had more time to spare today after all. First priority was the meal though; without it I wouldn't join them. At least that was what I told the others so I wouldn't have to skip it.

As always, the dinner today focused on nutrients mostly but that didn't mean it tasted bad in any kind of way. Chicken with rice and some sauce would fit into my stomach at any day of the week. The cooking focused heavily on dishes with meat in them, with a healthier side dish. The meat was either grilled or steamed to keep it healthy as well.

Having finished dinner, we took a short detour to our rooms to change and also to get towels for the sauna. We met up again at the sauna room and to our surprise, nobody else chose to visit it today.

"Surprised? Actually I planned this already in the morning, so I bribed Noelle to reserve it for the whole evening." Iris told us as she started undressing.

"Bribed?" I asked as we chose to do the same.

"Nothing too bad, she just wanted to join us after she is finished with her work. I hope you girls don't mind." Iris opened the door and looked back at us to confirm her assumption.

Well, I certainly didn't and neither did the other girls. Having Noelle around seemed to be even more fun than just the couple of us. At least with her in the sauna we wouldn't talk about training all the time.

We all sat down in the sauna with the towels covering our bodies. Sweat started to run down my body soon later. Iris, the sauna fanatic, had put this thing in full blast and made sure to keep it that way. Althaia soon got uncomfortable and chose to leave the sauna early to cool down. Not much time passed until I also left, leaving only Emilia and Iris behind.

Ten more minutes passed and they both still continued to sit in there; I didn't expect for Emilia to be able to endure it for so long.

Twenty more minutes had passed by now and looking at Iris, she hadn't even started to sweat yet.

"Do you think they can withstand the heat so well because of their celestial energy? They are both certainly quite powerful in that regard", I asked more myself than Althaia.

"I think Iris told me something like this once. She was going on about how she couldn't enjoy the sauna as much anymore as she grew stronger. Emilia is probably the same just as you said", answered Althaia confirming my guess.

It took another ten more minutes, a total of forty minutes till Emilia also decided to get out. Iris followed her along to not be left alone in the sauna.

They rested for a while and then I asked them: "What do you think is the surprise Lisa has for us? She said she would gift us something for completing the exam. I hope it's a new kind of training."

"I think it's a sparring lesson with her or some other super strong fighter she knows." Iris answered with her typical enthusiasm for fighting. Well I shouldn't throw stones sitting in a glass house here, not that I'm any different.

"It can't be training. Maybe she also wants to go into the sauna with us?" Emilia suggested.

"Or she might cook something nice. Her cooking skill are probably incredibly", I threw in.

"Nah, it's none of that", a voice said coming from behind us.

"But you will have to wait until tomorrow till I tell you."

"Lisa, what are you doing here?" all of us ask in unison.

"Don't you remember, Iris, you invited me after all? You told me to come here once I'm finished with working", Lisa clarified.

"Oh right, I nearly forgot", Iris said.

She hadn't however, I could tell from the smile on her face.

With Lisa, Noelle also came down here to join us. She had a weird grin on her face seeing us but I decided against paying it any more attention.

We waited for them to undress and then stepped into the sauna again. This time, I made sure to enter last so I could manipulate the temperature to a lower amount by putting less wood in. The sauna was heated by a big furnace in the middle of the room with stones on top of it. By ladling water on the stones the humidity would rise and a burst of heat would come up. Handling the control over the sauna myself, nobody had to go out early and we had a nice rest of the day.

"If life could only be like this every day", I sighed as we dressed ourselves again.

"Well it can be; once you finish your training. Although this will take until you get a decently high position in the military. You kids certainly have no easy life ahead on you. Just try to make the best out of it and stay together as friends. This will make time flow by way faster", Lisa said.

"Just make sure to not stand out to much even if you want to grow fast. Not everyone has a powerful background to protect them from the military."

"Strong background, who?" I asked.

"Uh- oh nothing." Lisa answered while trying to avoid eye contact with Iris for some reason…