MAZE - The Endless Quest

Hera's eyes went wide the second she saw the teacher. Both of them froze the second Mr. Greyson's gaze fell upon them. Hera looked at the teacher, trying to find a moment to apologize for being late. However, the first thing she noticed was that the teacher had a split lip and a few bruises on his arms.

"Are ye gonna stay there or ye going to get in and sit down?" Mr. Greyson asked in a harsh tone.

Hera lowered her head while Kojiro apologized before going inside the classroom.

To their surprise, most of the seats were empty. The only ones who were here already were Alex, Anaya, and Bonnie. Alex gave Hera a soft smile, followed by a confused look. She didn't understand why the class was so empty.

"Ah'm asking ye two the same thing I asked Bonnie. Why ye are late?"

Hera wanted to answer, but she felt ashamed. It wasn't right to say she woke up later than she should. She is the oldest among the recruits. How could she be so irresponsible?

Kenjiro, on the other hand, answered without missing a beat.

"My alarm didn't go off, sir. Or it did, but I didn't wake up."

Mr. Greyson mumbled a few words that the recruits weren't able to hear.

Hera took a deep breath.

"Me too, Mr. Greyson. I'm sorry."

"Honestly, and ye all want to be explorers? If ye can't even wake up on time after some light workout. What are ye all doing here? Ah even gave ye an enchanted energy bar to help ye rest."

Bonnie, Hera, and Kenjiro looked at each other with a confused expression.

"Hera, did you really woke up late even after all that?" Alex whispered to her.

Hera nodded and replied with a quiet voice.

"I did, but he never gave me any energy bar."

Unfortunately, the class was so empty that everyone heard the exchange.

"What do ye mean Ah never gave you the energy bar? Of course, Ah bloody did."

Hera looked down. She never got any energy bars from the teacher. She was sure of it.

"Teacher, the only thing you distributed yesterday were the water bottles. No one got anything else from you." Bonnie chimed in, Hera could see large sweat stains in her blouse, and even the girl's voice seemed to be weak.

"Even ye Bonnie? Fine! A'm gonna prove ye all that I gave you the bloody bars." Mr. Greyson huffed and stormed off from the classroom.

The five recruits were speechless at the scene. Since when was the teacher so childlike?

"Ok, what the hell happened yesterday?" Alex asked Hera.

Hera told what happened. The ones who had to run spent at least three hours to finish the 30km. At first, they even talked a bit, but Mr. Greyson would scold anyone who was walking instead of running. Less than half an hour in, they were all in silence.

To their luck, a few explorers who were training turned on the music. So they at least had something to distract them. At first, Hera wanted to wait for Leo and Blue. When she was finally done, both were still a few kilometers short. She was too tired to wait, so she went home. The only thing Mr. Greyson did, aside from scolding, was to look at something in his tablet.

As they talked, more recruits started to arrive, all of them sweating and with panic in their faces. The last one was Mark, accompanied by Mr.Greyson, who carried a large cooler. After the recruit sat in the last empty seat, Blue leaned in to ask something to him.

"Oh crap!"

Blue gasped before placing both hands in front of her mouth, holding her laughter.

Hera looked at the girl and asked what happened.

"The teacher held the elevator door to Mark. Can you imagine how that ride was?" Blue explained.

Picturing the scene, all recruits who heard her couldn't help but giggle.

"Are ye all done?" Mr. Greyson asked the class, silencing them all in an instant.

"Now, as Ah was told by the first ones to arrive. Ah didn't give ye the energy bars that would help ye rest. They were right." Mr. Greyson opened the cooler revealing 13 energy bars.

"These bars are enchanted with a regeneration boost spell. The spell increases the natural recovery of yer body. It's not just very useful for long fights or missions. If ye eat one before ye sleep, ye will be much more well-rested, even in a day ye ran a marathon."

He picked the cooler with one hand and proceeded to distribute the bars among the recruits.

"Ah apologize for not giving this to ye all yesterday. There is no excuse for it."

After all, students had one of the bars, Mr. Greyson stood in front of the class.

"As an apology Ah'll get ye all some coffee. We will wait for class to start at 8."

Even when Mr.Greyson was apologizing, Hera couldn't help but feel intimidated by the man. The way he spoke made it all seem more like an order than an honest 'I'm sorry'.

The teacher started to walk out the door but stopped midway.

"Someone come with me, Ah can't carry it all by myself."

Hera wanted to help, after all, Mr. Greyson was being nice with the class. But her legs were still sore from all the running. Before she could muster the courage to get up, Alex interrupted her.

"I'll go, most of the class needs to rest a bit." Giving Hera a soft smile, Alex walked off with the teacher.

A part of Hera felt bad for letting her friend do the work, but at the same time, she was very grateful for the chance to rest.

A few moments after Mr. Greyson left the class, the recruits started to talk. Mostly about what had just happened.

"I bet this is the first time he ever apologized to his students." Blue said with her head still resting in the table.

"I don't think so. I mean even someone like him would have messed up in his first class." Leo replied without raising his head.

"I'm more worried about his face, where do you think he got those bruises?" Hera had already opened the energy bar and started eating.

"Well, I'm not sure, maybe he went training after... Are you eating it?" Bonnie stared at Hera.

"Well.. yeah, I'm hungry." She replied cleaning a bit of grain that stuck to her face.

With a jolt, Blue raised her head." Wait, we can eat it already?"

Hera looked at the girl with a confused expression.

"Why can't we?"

"Well, Mr.Greyson said that this helped us sleep better, so maybe, he gave us thinking about tonight?" Leo explained his reasoning, still not moving in his seat.

Hera froze mid-bite, she never considered this could be something for the end of the day. If it was, how much would it cost to buy another one? Could she even eat two in one day?

"We should follow Hera's lead. After all, she knows what the teacher likes. Besides, he said this would increase our recovery speed. I doubt anyone of you will be ready for class in just half an hour." Anaya said from the back, making Carlos and Tiffany giggle. While Kojiro just scoffed.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Blue confronted Anaya while standing up. It would have been much more intimidating if she didn't look like an old lady with back problems right now.

"I'm just saying Hera has the right idea, I don't see what's the problem with that." She replied with a smile that made Blue's blood boil.

"Blue, let it go. Never feed the trolls." Leo said not even looking back.

"But.." Blue protested, but gave up shortly after, she knew he was right.

Hera kept looking back and forth not sure of what was going on. She only stopped worrying when her friend sat down and started to gobble up the energy bar.

"You know, this is better than I was expecting. Usually, these power bars taste so bland." Blue kept eating her bar with a smile.

The recruits kept laughing and talking until Mr. Greyson came back with Alex. They were carrying two plates filled with bread, cheeses and even some fruits. The teacher also carried a large thermic bottle with the label "Coffee".

The two of them set up the plates at the teacher's desk. It was a really nice spread, you could see something like this only in famous hotels. The whole class was just staring at the plates. Not believing their demon of a teacher had gotten such a beautiful breakfast.

"Well? Stop waiting and come eat. But eat the bars Ah gave ye all beforehand. It will help ye through the day."

Relieved, Hera went to grab a cup of coffee. She always enjoyed coffee a bit too much, that's why she was trying to cut back. But today was special.

The atmosphere in the classroom became that of a party. Even Mr. Greyson mingled a bit with the students, talking about the various kinds of foods he found inside the MAZE. Hera was enthralled by his descriptions, looking at the teacher with a spar in her eyes. With that, the half-hour went by quickly, and it was time for class to start.

"All right, everyone back to yer seats. time to start" With his usual clap, Mr. Greyson silenced the whole class.

They all went back to their seats, while Hera walked towards the table to throw away the trash.

"What ye doing lassie?" The teacher asked seeing Hera going for his desk.

"I'm helping with the cleanup." Hera said sheepishly, the way Mr. Greyson spoke made it seem like she was being scolded.

"No need, we will be using that." The instructor's words confused the whole class.

"Right, Ah'm gonna give each of ye one of the items in the table. What Ah need ye to do right now is to look at whatever you get and write it down everything you know about the item. Shape, size, weight, ingredients, vitamins any detail ye know." He started to pass around the bread, cheese, and fruit that was left on the table. A few pieces even had some bites on them.

"Bonnie, not ye. Go to the front desk of the guild and ask for Helena, she has a special training for you. Since the skill ye got yesterday is the one they are getting today." Bonnie nodded and left the classroom. Hera couldn't help but wonder what would be a training session with Helena. A big part of her wanted to mess up so she could have the woman as her teacher. But at the same time, Mr. Greyson was helping her a lot. It would be weird to have a new teacher right now.

Coming back to reality Hera stared at the chocolate-covered bagel Mr. Greyson had just placed on her table. She had to describe it?

"Alright, since we have one hour less, Ah'm giving ye all fifteen minutes with each object. Use yer tablet, a notebook or yer own sweat for all, Ah care but ye need to write it down. It doesn't work if ye don't. And Blue" He stared at the girl with about to bite down on a croissant filled with chocolate "Don't eat the bloody items."

Blue put down the croissant pouting a little. Hera giggled and stared at her bagel, it looked delicious but what could she write about it?