174 Awkward Beginnings

The minute the names were announced, everyone's faces turned grim. Although they were expecting it, all the normal cliques were split up between each other. While they had no deep enmities with each other to say that they were comfortable working together would be a stretch — especially for the people with the blindfolds.

...

Aphina looked a little odd at first before a wide grin appeared on her face. She giggled to herself mischievously. Trevion glanced over and clearly noticed her expression. As intelligent as he was, how could he not know what she was thinking of? Feeling the future was dim for this team mission, he could only let out a sigh. 

...

Eris, being her usual self, gave Efren a playful wink and hooked her arm around his shoulders. 

"It looks like you will be my eyes for this mission. There's no hard feelings from the match, right?" 

"No, it was a fair fight. I was the weaker party. I will try to accomplish this team challenge to the best of my ability." Completely unbothered by her actions, Efren calmly lifted her arm, respectfully placed it back by her side, then took a wide step away from her. Throughout the process, his facial expression stayed at the same cold and apathetic expression.

"Tsk... It's as if you're afraid others don't know you're an 'ice' element magician. How dull..." Already feeling bored, Eris just looked at him with annoyance.

Efren gave her a blank look and promptly apologized with his monotone voice, "my apologies, I was born like this."

"..." Having met her match, Eris felt speechless. Truly, she could never get along with people like Efren.

...

Greyson looked at Cherell. Cherell looked at Greyson. The both of them just felt awkward. From start to finish, there really was not any words exchanged between the two of them until now. To say that Cherell was friends with Keaton would be oversimplifying their relationship, so Greyson did not want to automatically dislike her for Keaton's doings. In the end, she was of a lower rank and was not even the heir to her weak family. She was more of a follower to put it politely.

Perhaps, she did not want to act out against him and was following Keaton's orders? Greyson could only silently hold this hope in his heart. He tried to force a smile to sound her out.

"Hmph!" Sniffing disdainfully, Cherell quickly went from surprised to annoyed then finally calmed to no expression. Obviously, she did not care for being his partner, but she knew she could only hold in her opinions at this time. 

The apprehensive feeling turned out to be correct. Greyson sighed and felt that this would be a long and painful process. He gave a helpless laugh as he took the blindfold the Duke handed over. It was made of fine silk so there would be no issues with discomfort. But couldn't he easily...

Greyson realized he was thinking too simply. Necrospiders were dark element magic beasts whose silk was well known for blocking out light. A lot of curtains in bedrooms have their silk weaved in to keep rooms dark even when the sun rises. It was also thicker and not easy to see through.

Hey, can we help? He heard Lucius's voice echo in his head. It was only then that he remembered he was not alone. At first, he felt excited, but simmered down because he felt that the Duke would not allow such an advantage. However, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Excuse me, Instructor, can I use my magic beasts?" He interrupted. 

Hearing his question, everyone quickly looked over and finally seemed to notice the small animals. All of their eyes glanced at each one and looked back at him with similar strange expressions that read: I see... so you were that kind of person... 

Already used to people having this misunderstanding, Greyson's lips twitched as he tried his best to ignore them. He only kept his attention on the Duke.

"Yes, I already noticed you had them earlier. I cannot allow their participation. Wouldn't them helping you completely defeat the purpose of this exercise? I have to place you guys into situations that will enforce teamwork. If you just work on your own with your magic beasts then this would be pointless. I would just be training you to walk around the forest blindfolded." As expected, he gave a hard no.

Greyson just shrugged and told all of them to get off him and stay here or go run around as long as they don't get into trouble. 

Worry more about yourself. I see a lot of tree and ground hugging in your future. Lucius just scoffed at Greyson's warning and precautions and shot back at him sarcastically.

Thanks, buddy. I can tell you are really sympathizing with me. Greyson dryly responded.

Well, anyway, don't forget about your dragon bloodline. Although you should not use right off the bat, if Cherell keeps messing with you and not taking the exercise seriously then you can use it. With your other senses enhanced, then you might not need your sight to get around. You could also hunt better. That's part of your strength, and I doubt the Duke would disallow something like that especially if you give teamwork a try first.

I know. 

Even without Lucius's warning, Greyson was already thinking along those lines. He truly did want to train in teamwork with the rest and felt that subtly cheating would not be good. But he also did not want to waste his time if Cherell was determined not to cooperate with him. 

"The time limit for this team exercise is 3 days. If you have not brought 10 Jegers to me at that time, then there will be a punishment. Trust me when I say that punishments from me are the last thing you will want to take on. Try your best!" The Duke gave them a smile full of evil intention. Braiden and Aphina also turned extremely pale and showed grave expressions. The rest could clearly notice their changes and also felt that they would not want to find out what kind of punishments the Duke had planned out. Greyson and Eris both looked over questioning the siblings with their eyes: That bad? The sister and brother exchanged looks with each other before looking back at their friends and making the same motion — discreetly cutting their hands across their necks. The other two knew exactly what kind of bad news that meant, so they reinforced their vigor to do better.

... 

Once they reached the edge of the forest nearby, the Duke instructed the Greyson, Trevion, Eris, and Tatyana to put their blindfolds on. Greyson had to make a small gasp of surprise once he opened up his eyes again with the blindfold on. He thought maybe he would be able to make out light at the least, but all that remained in front of him was complete darkness. It stuck to the face a little so that daylight could not peek through the cracks. For the first time since being told about this team exercise, Greyson started to feel nervous. Imagining not being able to see and actually experiencing it were two completely different things. His human hearing and sense of smell were not anything special, so he was really thrown off balance. Maybe if he activated his dragon bloodline, he could move around more confidently. But he already made up his mind to wait a bit for that.

He wanted to reach out and possibly hold onto Cherell, but he only needed a second to give up that thought. While they were not the most conservative culture on the continent, Snow Country still upheld more strict ideas of male and female contact. Normally, he should not get too close to another female by his age, especially a noblewoman. The nobles felt their honor was of the upmost importance. Him, as a commoner, touching her would be a great insult. Greyson was not the only one facing this current conundrum. Colin and Braiden both stood awkwardly not knowing how to approach Tatyana. Eris had no such qualms, but Efren was hesitating. His cold eyes showed some confusion on how to proceed. Only Aphina seemed to look conflicted for only a moment before gracefully slipping her hand around Trevion's elbow. Although she was being a little forward and the two of them were not close, the others could see she was keeping the line of propriety. Taking a note from her, Braiden and Colin led Tatyana's hands around their respective arms. Efren also stiffly approached Eris. However, she did not follow the script and just straightforwardly grabbed Efren's wrist.

"What were you dillydallying for? Don't worry, you can just think of me as a boy if you have to. How will we get through this if you keep trying to keep pointless etiquette?" Even with her eyes covered, anyone could tell that Eris must be rolling her eyes right now.

"But..."

"No buts! Explanation time is over, so I'm guessing now it's just time to go. Right, Instructor?" 

"Yes."

"The early bird get the worm, no? So, let's get going. Lead the way. Those Jegers are not going to catch themselves." Eris pulled Efren in front of her and gave him a little push with her free arm.

"..." Efren was silent, but he did not disagree. He began the trek into the forest quietly leading Eris by the wrist.

Not to be defeated, the other two groups also tacitly agreed and began to move. Unlike Efren and Eris, however, they took a slow pace and kept a polite distance.

Now, only Greyson and Cherell were left at the edge of the forest. He waited for her to approach, but did not feel any presence getting closer to him. He could not even hear the faint sound of breathing, so she must be a decent distance away from him.

"Ahem... Ms. Ashtree?" Not sure how to address her, he thought of the most average and polite way possible.

"Follow my voice." She responded at a normal volume.

"I can do that now, but what about later in the forest with a bunch of trees. Are you going to verbally remind me about everything? Would it not be easier if you just physically helped pull me one direction or another. This way you could also keep a good eye on the ground around me and warn me about twigs when I hunt. If I make too much noise, it doesn't matter if you spot something because I will scare it away. Although it seems quiet to us, Jegers have fantastic hearing. I would sound about as inconspicuous as a loud horn during a parade. I know you have some misgivings about my status, but who would know during this mission? The Duke is not so loose-lipped and neither are the representatives. We just need to peacefully get through this stage. I hope to be a able to trust you and that you could trust me despite the status situation. If we fight together later, would it not be awful to have to watch your back against your own teammate? We have some bad blood due to Keaton in between us, but I would hope that we can bridge this gap for the sake of the competition." Usually, Greyson was not one to say much. He just had the feeling that the Duke had purposefully made this combination because Cherell and Colin were in an awkward position in the group. They get bossed around by Keaton, but that did not mean they were as bad as the former. Most nobles were a little intolerant of commoners, thus their attitude was nothing special or rare. They picked a side once but failed. They also were not close to anyone. If this works well this time, Cherell can grow closer to Greyson and in turn the others while Colin can grow close to Braiden and Tatyana and get to the know the rest of the group. Of course, this scenario would carry out as such in a perfect world. Who knows how that group of three will go, let alone the group of two he was stuck with?

He did not hear a voice respond to him, but he heard some careful steps coming his way. Finally, he felt a cool hand reach out and touch his arm lightly. It was barely a pull, but someone tugged on his clothes to get him to follow. Maybe he got a little too close, because a cold and disdainful voice once again spoke for a second.

"One foot away. That is proper."

"You do realize I cannot see, right? How am I supposed to know if I'm a foot away from you or not? Am I supposed to smell or hear that distance? I'm not an animal or a trained hunter or scouter." Greyson just shook his head and tried to explain the reality to her.

"Just... don't get too close. You should still be able to vaguely feel where I am." Her tone softened with some hints of helplessness. 

"Alright, I will try my best. Let's just get going. The rest have already gotten a head start on us."

... 

With that, the last group also began their travel through the forest.

The Duke watched them all with a humorous look. He seemed to be enjoying a joke only he was aware of.

"Your Grace, we will start our surveillance."

"Go ahead. Follow your orders. Don't get caught." He responded with a quick reminder and a nonchalant wave of his hand.

Once he knew he was alone, the Duke chuckled under his breath.

"I couldn't possibly make this too easy. You all are in for a treat. The punishment is also great. I'm really looking forward to see who will fail this time..."