'So that was Elfrida Alegre.... Her traits are as they are described in the game.' Ken muttered inwardly.
Elfrida was a hot-tempered but a sweet woman as per the game.
"A tsundere...." Ken mumbled under his breath as he continued to walk.
Of course, only her fiery temperament was highlighted in the early stages, but changes as the story mode nears it's first half; though the changes could arrive at anytime since his current life wasn't a game but rather a reality.
A harsh and cold face slapping reality.
'Should I help her gain control over her element, or make her a bit stronger a bit faster?' Ken thought.
"Meh." He shrugged and continued to walk towards the academy.
Ba-thump.....
Hearing and nearing a not-so-human heartbeat,
"Excuse-" Ken called out, but
"EEEIIP!!"
".....me?" Hearing the cute yelp, Ken completed his words questioningly while asking himself whether he did something wrong or whether he called out at the heartbeat in a wrong time.
"Eeehhhh..... O-oh, I, I'm sorry!!!" A beast-man, a cow woman or a were-cow, yelped as she turned to face Ken and bowed, no, nearly kowtowed.
".... Why....." Ken muttered, dumbfounded.
"Y-yes!?" The triangle body-shaped cow woman with a darker skin complexion asked. She had dark brown, shoulder-blades long hair with big round, black eyes, cute facial features, with a pair of curved horns protruded out of the sides of her forehead, slightly behind and lower of which her big ears were seen facing her shoulder. Her power-packed muscles were out in display even through her clothes, which gave her a strong and prideful fighter-like aura; she had A-cup boobs, a whip-like black tail with dark brown hair at its ends while dense muscles marred her wide thighs and her feet had hooves instead of toes; she was a perfect muscle mommy for those with certain fetishes.
'Her heart's palpitating like crazy....is she scared?'
"Hello, I'm Marken." Ken held out his hand trying to ease her fear and anxiousness.
The cow-woman held strongly clasped his hand, shivering like a puppy in rain, "..... B-by whom?" She asked fearfully and innocently.
".... No, no, I haven't been marked by anyone, its my name. My name is Marken." Ken muttered as a small smile found its way onto his lips.
"O-oh, I, I'm so-sorry...." The cow-woman lowered her head in embarrassment.
"I, I'm Fleta from the cow tribe." Fleta introduced herself.
'Right, beast-men, elves, dwarfs, and dragons existed in Miorus.'
"So, you are from the cow tribe...." Ken muttered, listening to which Fleta was dumbfounded for a second, since anyone who saw her could tell that she was were-cow, but that thought only flashed in her mind before she glanced up at Marken's handsome face and exclaimed an cute "Oh!" noticing his blindfold.
"I, I'm s-sorry, I didn't notice." Fleta mumbled.
"You are quite strong." Ken said and at his words Fleta glanced down at the hand she had been clenching and instantly retracted her hands.
"I'm sorry!!"
"It is quite alright. From your clauses and big palm structure, you seem to be a bare-handed fighter, so your strength is something you should be proud of. Anyway, if you could do me a favour and lead me to the examination grounds, I would be thankful." Ken commented as he asked for a favour.
"O-of course!!" Fleta exclaimed and grabbed his hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world and began to guide him. He was about to tell her it was enough if she merely lead the way, but Fleta's way of apologising for every minute thing felt annoying and just the thought of having to hear her apology again irked him, so he didn't bother to speak to her let her lead him however she saw fit.
Since she held his left arm in between her right arm and her chest, he could feel her shotput ball like biceps she had and didn't mind the other soft ball touching the back of his big forearm.
*
As they walked, Ken broke the silence many times, thanks to which Fleta felt at ease and began to speak freely; unfortunately for Ken, she had yet to stop speaking once she began.
From her rambling, he found out that she too was a examinee, who had arrived to the academy in hopes of joining it. Her tribe's people had been against it at first but upon their chieftain speaking, they quieted down and let her join the academy's entrance exam. Since everything outside her tribe was unfamiliar for her, she had been quite scared and anxious, but thanks to Marken speaking to her, she was quite at ease.
She left his side for a few seconds and went somewhere after asking him to wait, then returned to him and said that they were to take a seat in the training ground and were supposed to get on the stage when their names were called upon.
"..... And they would be disqualified if they didn't arrive at the stage after a minute passes and the arrived person would have to fight the next examinee to join the academy, or wait until the rest of the matches were over to fight against the lecturers who are going to test the examinees." Fleta explained.
"That's quite simple." Mark said.
"That's right! I thought so too!! Come! Let's go!" Once again, she dragged him to the pair of seats in the middle of the crowd and sat right next to him after making him sit next to her.
The training hall was as big as six football fields with six parted areas where six different matches were being examined at the same time. Due to the empty and plain sight, the hall was more of a sparring ground rather than a training hall.
After waiting for half an hour, the destined time finally arrived as both Fleta's and Ken's names were called out loud.
"From what I know, nobody except for the academy's staff and me should be strong enough to defeat you, so don't lose, Fleta. Else I might be very disappointed." Ken stated as he was being lead to the arena-5, where his name was called out from, by Fleta whose arena was the 4th parted ground.
Fleta, who heard those words shuddered at the abrupt chill creeping up her spine and nodded her head vigorously before rushing towards her sparring area.
"Marken, correct?" A hoarse voice sounded in front of Ken, who nodded in response.
"Alright, I'll go call out your opponent." The man was kind enough to explain after noticing Ken was blind, but before he could walk away, Ken called him out.
".... Can you help me trace the area I should be fighting in after or before you call out for my opponent?" Ken asked.
"Of course, that shouldn't be a problem." The man answered politely and channelled mana into his throat before he called out Ken's opponent before bringing Ken around the parted area. Whispers and roaring comments on how lucky Ken's opponent to be fighting a blind fuck and similar comments resounded throughout the training hall, but Ken didn't bother minding them, because, if not for people like them, then the strong and weak people would have never gotten stronger.
People who aren't able do well are bound comment about those who are trying to do well, in hopes of dragging the one trying, down to their level to ease and inflate their ego that they were trying to do something impossible and failed.
'98 foot long and 89 foot wide.' Ken muttered inwardly.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
A minute passed yet Ken's opponent hadn't appeared; again, comments about 'how unlucky the fighter must have been to have missed an easy win' resounded throughout the hall, but Ken paid no heed to them, which seemed to have infuriated the commenters even more as curses flew in hall.
BAM-!
"Examinee Fleta's win!" Announced the examiner woman.
"W-well, that's was easy?" Fleta's stuttering and questioning voice trickled Ken's ears, making him smile slightly for reasons unknown.
A few seconds later, "Marken, I won! Now it's your turn to win!" Fleta yelled as her hooves footsteps sounded which seemingly halted outside the area Ken stood in.
Ba-thump...
"Watch me." Ken turned to face in the direction of Fleta's now familiar heartbeat and muttered under his breath.
"Examinee Ken, your opponent hasn't arrived. You can either fight against the next examinee or fight against me after the rest of the examinees have completed their tests." The examiner man gave Ken a choice.
"Isn't it possible if I want to fight against you right now?" Ken asked in his normal cold and husky tone, and for whatever reason, the entire hall turned silent. While those who followed others examples and turned silent whispered questioningly as to way everything turned silent, which filled the hall with whispers and loud gasps, and by the time the same rumour which started with "He wants to fight against the instructor right now?" trickled back in Ken's ears, it had turned into "He dared to challenge the instructor for a fight?"
"Hm? It is possible.... Would you like to fight now?"