VII. Morning Meet

"Halt." Said Scythe, ordering everyone to stop on their feets.

It is still approximately 6 in the morning, the sky was shimmering in deep blue hue with thick clouds moving along the hasty wind, outside of the wooden shack that became the house of 10 people, was a small open field quite similar to the one where they met the instructors for the first time, this one was much smaller, but its not like it matters anyway, the scythe's group was about to start their day, and from the wooden scythes that was scattered on the ground, it seems like they're going to train with their instructor.

"What's with those wooden scythes, they're stained with mud." Kalioseth whispered curiously.

No matter how tame the situation might be, Calea and everybody else cannot shake off this feeling that tells them if they progress through whatever Scythe is about to tell them, they will suffer in one way or another, that's why everyone was so tense and feeling anxious.

"I don't know, but most likely is that— I think he's going to train us with the scythe.." Hughen whispered back.

"Seriously?—" Endi said, feeling a little bit lost as to how they're gonna use a scythe as a weapon. "I never heard of a warrior using Scythe as a weapon, that's just ridiculous.. Isn't it supposed to be a tool for farming?"

"I have no idea either, for now.. Just be quiet and listen to whatever that Scythe guy has to say, because we'll never know when these instructor's mood change, remember that our lives are in their hands.." Hughen responded.

Calea who heard their whispers can only agree with what Hughen said, it's true that their lives are on the hands of the instructors, however there's one more thing that bothers Calea's mind, she has been thinking about this since yesterday and haven't been able to come up with a reasonable answer.

'Their conversation last night.. Carsel said he was from a noble family in Widewent Kingdom..' She thought. 'That's the neighbouring kingdom in the Northeast of Lunarfall, so the people that were kidnapped was not only from Lunarfall, they came from many different kingdoms and regions..'

'But what i'm still confused is.. That guy called Seir Medd— He said he came from West Mazionese!'

At first glance, the name Mazionese might sound like a normal region, with the full name being Mazionese Trade Company, it could be just an average trading organization at one of the kingdoms or nation, but the truth is, Mazionese Trade Company was not only a trading organization that handles almost everything that involves business, but it also has grown so large that it was considered a nation, it's not an exaggeration to say that the Mazionese Trade Company basically controlled the entire world economy through its trade routes and marketplaces.

This world landmass was divided into 2 continents, the west continent, and the east continent which roughly shared the same size, Lunarfall Kingdom that is located in the middle of the east continent, only covers about 35% of the land there, while on the other hand, Mazionese Trade Company not only had claimed a small part of regions in the east continent, but it also covers about 50% of the entire west continent landmass, for a single nation, that is an astronomical size of a place, that is also why some people called the west continent as the Mazionese Continent.

'Seir specifically said that he was from The West Mazionese, that means he came from an entirely different continent from me— Now the question is, how do these instructors and all of the people who were involved in this kidnapping scheme managed to go to the west continent and came back in just one day..' Calea thought. she remembered the day when she first wakes up in this place, everyone was talking about how they've been kidnapped, and it all happened at the exact same time.

If that's true, then Seir who claimed to be from the west continent before being kidnapped, should have no way of arriving in this place in just a few hours, considering that there's no land route to either continent, the instructors must use a ship to traverse through the deadly ocean full of monsters and raging waves.

'This doesn't make sense.. How are they doing it, where is this place— and who are these people, truly..' Calea thought, her head slowly being filled with more questions than answers.

Scythe collected all of the wooden scythes that are on the ground and held them in bulk in his hand, the wooden scythes was approximately the same height as him, that is pretty high up considering that Calea calculated that Scythe's body might be almost at 2 meters tall, to be holding all of those wooden scythes with with such ease despite the combined weight is no joke.

'Ugh... Here it comes..'

"Come here and take this." Scythe said nonchalantly.

Everyone soon walked forward and each grabbed one wooden scythe from the instructor Scythe.

Surprisingly enough, every one of them had the same reaction upon holding the wooden scythe with their own hands.

'HEAVY!' Calea screamed in her mind as she tried to keep the wooden scythe in the air without touching the ground below.

She was the first person to take the wooden scythe from the Instructor, and long story short, everyone didn't quite expecting her to react like that, one after another, the boys began taking the wooden scythes aswell, some showed the same reaction as Calea, while some showed a slight struggle to hold it straight in the air.

"Mghh— This is.. Heavier than i thought.." Said Carsel. "But i can do it.."

'What the hell? How are we supposed to use this thing? I don't think i can swing this scythe for more than 10 times..' Calea thought, a few drop of sweats began to form on her face.

Despite the freezing morning and muddy ground, everyone including Calea didn't seem to be cold anymore, they're way too heated now and their body instead need this cold to cool down, what once thought to be an inconvenience and struggle turned to a blessing in disguise.

"Listen up." Scythe said, his voice sounded more loud than usual. "The real game starts now."

Everyone looked at Scythe with confusion, what did he meant by the real game, why he started smiling after saying that even though his mouth was almost covered by his scarf, why his eyes started to glow even though he's wearing a hood on his head, and the fact that an ominous aura and pressure began to build up around Scythe as time goes on, they all seems way too odd.

"You're here as my slave, but not only that, you also will learn the art of the Scythe, so in a way— You're all my students" He said, his voice now sounded more energetic and excited. "Before we begin, there's a set of rules you must follow, the consequences of breaking each rules may vary from each instructor, but in my case, breaking any of them will result in your death– So don't be naughty, all right?."

"Rule number one, obey your instructor, that's me. Even if the request is ridiculous, you must comply and do it with no excuse."

"Rule number two, don't even try to escape, any of your funny escaping plans will not work, there's more than a hundred guards that is keeping a watch for any escapist, and not only that, all of your instructors have a connection with the Collar on your neck, so we'll know when one of you is too far away."

"Last rule, number three.. Be selfish, care only for yourself, don't try to help your fellow slaves, even if they're dying or suffering."

"That's all, now i will personally train you to the brink of death, until you throw away your sanity, your conscience, your feelings, and your empathy, none of that will help you, in this place, from this point on– Everyone is your enemy, race to be the strongest, and take all of our crowns, if you really want to escape this place, be ambitious and kill us you piece of shit."