"General!" A Feminine, almost imperceptible voice echoed in the room.
The man sitting behind the desk looked up from his stack of papers at the door, one of his brows rising.
"Is someone calling me?" he muttered softly.
"General!!" Came the same voice, this time close enough for him to hear it properly.
*Bam*
The door slams open. Smashing through it, a pretty woman in her late 20s came into view.
"General, good news, it's done, the Mana control method has finally been perfected." She said joyfully.
"Good Emma, that is indeed good news." The general replied.
"Here, this is the audio device with the recording of the method in it. Listen to it." Enma approached him and handed the device carefully.
"Thank you, Enma, you have worked hard, you can go rest now." The general said, clearly in a good mood.
Enma, hearing this, turned frozen solid, her eyes wide open. She couldn't believe what she heard, but she did not waste a second, turning around and rushing to the door, not taking any chances at a change of mind.
"Yes, general, thank you, general, good day!" she said while she hurried to the door, closed it, and left.
"It's done, fucking finally." The general said after a moment.
"I've been waiting for this so long." He continued speaking to himself.
Then the general reached his arm and pressed the button to start the record.
"Testing, testing, everything clear." Came the voice from the machine.
"Initiating recount of the Mana training method." Continued the voice.
"Name: Senturion Control. Class: Master rank." The general's eyes widened at this part.
"The Senturion control is operated on the basis of using the human pores to expel a minimal quantity of mana, with the objective of expelling the least amount of mana in the maximum amount of pores. Warning! Failing in the training brings pain to the user. Next are the calculations that brought us here, and the order of operating it properly." After briefly explaining the training method, the researcher started yapping about numbers and the way to use the training method effectively.
The general paid no attention to the warning. After all, pain and soldiers always walked hand in hand.
Besides, this training method will allow all the soldiers to finally train their mana control well, after all, almost all mana controls had requisites and myrad restriction on properly training it, this wasn't bad in itself but for a soldier that was allways on the move or with too little time, this training method was a god given, being able to use it properly without the need of anyhting and at any moment was a marvel.
Restraining his joy, the general stood up energetically and called,
"Enma"
He waited a few moments and called again.
"Enma?" He then realized that moments ago, he, in his excitement, actually gave his secretary the day off.
Slapping his face with his palm, he murmured "Fuck…" before starting to walk to the door.
It seemed that today he would have to do all the work, but whatever, his slip of tongue will not tarnish the joy that the new training method brought.
....
The sun was starting to show its colours through the mountains when a sound came.
*Knock, knock*
Alex was stirred awake by the noise.
"Alexander." Called Mary yet again, opening the door slowly.
"Oh, you were sleeping, I thought you were awake by now," She said, surprised.
This was the first time Mary had actually woken up Alex. Normally, he was already awake before she even came.
"Perhaps this is the result of all the mischief you and Marc did yesterday."
She continued with playful words, but looking at her closer, her mood was anything but playful.
"Huh, yeah…" Replied Alex, absentmindedly.
"Then wake up, I need you to come with me for a second." She said, but if one were to look closer at her, they would be able to see a tinge of anxiousness and sadness mixed in her face.
"Okay." Replied Alex, not reading the room. His mind was a mess of emotions right now, with what happened yesterday, his nightmare gone, and another dream taking place, his young mind was at an overdrive.
"Are you okay?" asked Mary, seeing that he was a little off since waking up. She first thought it was drowsiness, but now she is sure that it can't be that.
"Ehm, ah, yes!, coming" Alex finally suppressed his turmoil a little to actually pay attention, and when he looked at Mary, he perceived everything he didn't before.
"Wh-whats happening?" He asked nervously, looking at Mary's anxious face. His mind instantly went back to what they saw yesterday and thought that they were caught, that the noble had found them and was trying to silence them.
"We need to talk, come with me." Repeated Mary.
So Alex stood up, put on his slippers, and started following Mary.
She walked them to a detached storage room and signaled Alex to go in. When he did, she followed, closed the door, turned to him, and started.
"You and Marc will be getting kicked out of the orphanage today." She said painfully.
"What?!" Alex replied. His stomach, for the second time in 12 hours, started twisting, his heartbeat spiked, and he started ventilating.
Mary didn't know what to do at such reaction from him. She always knew that Alex was quite mature for his age, but at the end of the day, a kid is still a kid.
"I'm sorry, I am really sorry, Alex." She tried to continue, but a rush of emotions came, hitting her after seeing the boy's reaction to the news.
"Wh-why? Didn't this happen at 16? We are still 2 years away!" Alex was a mess inside, and coupled with what he had already tucked away, it made a supernova of emotions, and tears quickly started rolling down his cheeks.
Mary, seeing the boy break down and cry for the first time since she started working here 6 years ago, started tearing up as well.
She approached him, gave him a tight hug, and started explaining, trying to keep her sobs from interrupting her.
"With all the conflict and wars, new orphans are pouring in, and the people above dictated that they couldn't keep kids here until they came of age, so they are kicking out any kid 12 or up from the orphanages."
Mary said while she embraced him, her eyes closed tightly, suppressing the sadness and anxiety that telling this to him brought her.
She knew Alex was only close to her and barely spoke with any other tutor. So she figured that she was the one who needed to tell him the bad news, even if that was not her job.
"You will be called to office by the principal after breakfast." Mary said, before adding:
"I really wish I could do more for you, but I can't. The only thing I can do is give you this"
She released him and gave him a pouch, inside were some silver coins and some copper coins.
"I know it's not much, but it will keep you and Marc fed for some time."
Alex took the pouch and saw absentmindedly as Mary turned back and started walking to the door.
"I'm really sorry." She said softly once more before stepping out and closing the door, leaving a petrified Alex inside.