Karl realized that he hadn’t even noticed that someone had sat down next to him, and gave the young woman who had been introduced as a Priestess of the Nature God a tentative smile. She smiled back, a truly happy expression, but Karl noticed that under the smell of soap and flowers, there was a coppery note of blood lingering around her.
He must have made some expression as the woman gave a soft laugh and patted him on the shoulder.
“Betty is the same way, she can smell the blood as well. I am a midwife, and there was a birth last night, or technically this morning, at the hospital on the grounds. To everyone else, I should just smell like hospital soap, but for those like the Dragon Priestesses and some really sensitive Rangers and Druids, I tend to smell like blood and babies.” She explained quietly.
“My apologies, I didn’t mean to offend. I was just a bit startled when I smelled fresh blood here inside the Seminary Academy. When there is a lot of it, the smell lingers more than if there is only a scratch. I do hope the young mother is alright.” Karl whispered back.
“Here, in the Seminary Academy Hospital? We haven’t lost a mother during childbirth in most of a decade. Not all the children can be saved, but with magic, the actual childbirth process is much safer.” She replied happily.
Sister Betty stared at the trays of food waiting at the edge of the room for the Matron to enter.
“As you can see, on the outside, we’re all the Golden Dragon Church. On the inside, we all have our specialties. So don’t go falling for those hussies who just want some outdoor adventures, you need to make sure that you’re getting a cleric that can handle the task that you need them to.
I would say that you should pick one of those newly awakened World Dragon Clerics, but it will be years before they’re allowed to play unsupervised, and you’re already much stronger than they are.
The Cleric doesn’t have to be the strongest Awakened on your team, but it helps if they can take a punch.” She whispered.
[Yeah because you should always eat the healers and magic users first. Then watch the rest panic and despair as they’re trapped in the web.] Rae added wistfully, not realizing how her spider instinct still made her sound like an edgy teen human.
“You are smiling at something. Do you hear your beasts in your mind?” The Life Priestess asked.
“I do. Rae, the Bloodbath Spider, said that it’s common sense to target the healers and magic users first, because the others won’t be able to get themselves free of the web.” Karl replied.
The Priestess shuddered at the thought, while the Priest of the Magic God looked horrified. But Sister Betty grunted in agreement. That was part of the reason she put so much effort into her fighting skills.
[I like the dragon lady. Ask if we can polish her scales later.] Thor suggested.
Karl choked on his water as the Lightning Cerro’s voice entered his mind, and Betty smiled.
“It has to be difficult having three more intelligent minds giving you suggestions. I used to have a pet Nekomata, and it got up to all sorts of trouble.” Betty joked, then pulled back her blonde hair to show a long claw mark that ran up the back of her neck and into her hairline.
“She tried to climb my head as a kitten and slipped over the back because my hair was oily.” She added.
“What did your beasts have to say that made you choke?” The Priest of the Magic God asked.
“Thor, the Lightning Cerro, wants to polish Sister Betty’s scales later. He likes her, but then he likes almost everyone.”
Betty smiled. “The only scales I have are on my forearms. But I bet that he has wonderful scales, very smooth and strong.”
Thor made a humming noise that was somewhere between a purr and his happy bugle. [See, she likes scales, I knew she would appreciate my scales.]
“If we have time later, he would be overjoyed to show you his scales.” Karl relayed quietly as the juniors began to bring around pots of oatmeal and soft bread rolls.
They finished the simple meal in silence, not wanting to disturb anyone this early in the morning, and as soon as the Matron finished eating, Betty pulled Karl to his feet and gestured toward a side room.
“There are showers over there. Get freshened up, and pack your bags, we will be meeting in an hour. I will bring you from your room to the bus, so you don’t get lost.” She informed him.
“Got it. I will see you soon.” Karl agreed as he rushed out to get washed.
The signs for the shower rooms were carved into the stone above the door, so there could be no mistakes, even if you couldn’t tell by the different colour schemes. It was a quick wash so that he had time to make sure everything was ready before Betty came looking for him, and Karl began to realize that he had vastly underestimated what the words ‘morning people’ meant.
He got up just after dawn every day for training. But most of the people he had seen were already showered and ready before the sun had fully crossed the horizon.
He wasn’t alone in his timing, there was a constant stream of students coming in to get washed up before their daily chores, and from the talk, there would be even more after them, as some of the chores were dirty ones, and it would be rude to smell that bad all day.
Karl hurried to check his bag, though he hadn’t unpacked anything last night. Everything was still there, loaded up with supplies and herbs for the journey back to the Academy. Sister Betty seemed to have been ready for that eventuality, and only minutes after Karl was done checking his bag, she was at the door, knocking for him to come out.
“Your team will still be a while, but we can go wait for the bus, and perhaps your Thor can come out and say hello.” She suggested.
That would explain the eagerness. Nobody could resist Thor’s charms, even when they hadn’t met him yet.