Chapter 121: A Different Style

His question was answered by the girl two seats to his left.

"Thirty seven seconds this time. I know I'm close to understanding the timing. As soon as I work out the algorithm, I will ace that homework assignment." She whispered.

Karl smiled at her and barely whispered back. "It's not a math problem, it's a human question. How long did you have to wait when you were in the Common Rank dining room?"

The girls considered it for a moment, then one of them shook her head.

"It's a test of patience that only begins once we reach Awakened Rank. But the teachers assigned us to answer the question of why every day's meal has a different time to wait than the one before it.

It's not a thing in the other dining hall.

They start to eat as soon as the food hits the tables. There aren't any seniors there, so your team is likely to have a grand time." The girl replied with a gentle smile.

So that was the question they were asked. Now it made sense why they thought it was a math problem.

Karl turned over the paper with the names of the people at the table on it and took a pen from his uniform jacket's inside pocket to write a note.

[She doesn't eat until all the tables in the other room have been served.] He wrote, allowing them a few seconds to see the answer before folding the paper and putting it in his pocket along with the pen.

"I'm sure you will all understand the timing soon." He whispered, knowing that she would be able to hear their conversation, though she couldn't see him from where she was sitting.

They ate in silence for a few moments, and though the food was simple, Karl noticed that the quality wasn't any worse than what was served in the Golden Divine Academy. The meat was monster meat, and the plants magically infused, but the seasonings were simple and there were no signs of fancy pastries or complex desserts in the building.

What they did have was a rather tasty stew, and a seemingly unlimited mound of rice and beans. The same rice and beans that they served to the poor when they came to visit the small towns.

"I didn't realize that the clergy ate the rice and beans themselves. I thought it was like an alms for the poor thing." Karl whispered to the brunette on his left.

"Every meal except breakfast. The trick is to eat the main slowly while you fill up on rice. The main is portioned by the table in the kitchen, so every table gets an even share, but the rice is unlimited. If you run out, you can just take the platter to the kitchen and get more. But nobody ever runs out. It's barely even possible to eat two thirds of this.

But we will use the wax paper to make rice balls for later, and they're pretty good."

Karl didn't quite understand why they needed rice balls for later, as it seemed that there were three solid meals a day here, but he went along with it anyhow, and when nobody could eat more, he helped them press the leftovers into solid squares.

Then they waited for the head table to finish their meal, and when the High Priestess stood, everyone else in the room stood to join her.

The students quickly wrapped the rice balls in the wax paper, and the short blonde offered him her hand.

"Would you like to come with us?" She asked.

"Sure, why not." Karl agreed after seeing that the table full of boys and Dana were already joining them with another pile of rice balls.

The two Elites followed the young clergy out the back doors of the building, and found himself in the stables, where a large number of horses were eagerly waiting for them to arrive.

That was right. Karl had completely forgotten that the church liked to use horses for transportation when they weren't going too far. Horses didn't need fuel or manufacturing facilities that the church didn't have, and they could make their own saddles the same as they made their own outfits.

That was where the flood of students was going. Right after the meal, they went to groom the horses, with pairs breaking off to go meet a specific animal.

"We all get assigned a horse, two of us per horse, but those on stable duty take care of them all in the morning.

This is more of an informal bonding exercise." The blonde explained.

Most of the animals were eagerly anticipating their treats, which wouldn't make even half a meal for an animal that large. Karl was concerned that rice and beans might not be good for the digestion, but if they did it every day, it couldn't be too bad.

The horses seemed to love the long brown grains, and Karl was about to go make new friends when he heard an angry whinny, and the stomping of steel shod feet on the ground.

One of the horses was not impressed with its assigned pair, and everyone was looking nervously in that direction as it reared up and kicked at them the moment that they approached.

Karl wasn't bad with horses. As a small child, he used to go visit the retired ones that the mines no longer used to pull carts, but those were so tame that nothing bothered them. This was a very different animal.

Karl walked over to the stable stall, where the two students had fled in fear, leaving their package behind. He picked it up, thinking to try to calm the animal with food, but something felt off about the bundle of wax paper.

The balls hadn't been well pressed, as if the students didn't know what they were doing, and there were chunks of leftover stew in the pile.

Karl tossed it aside and held out his hand to the student at the next stall, while the angry horse slammed at the gate.

"Can I get a couple rice balls? The new kids messed theirs up with leftover stew. I think this guy doesn't like the smell of meat." He asked.

"They tried to feed him meat? Horses don't eat meat. They don't even like the smell of our dinner cooking." The older boy chuckled.

He handed Karl two rice balls, and Karl activated [Skill Master] to test a theory. It never said it had to be a magical skill, so maybe he could teach the horse a simple trick.

"Hey buddy, I have a proper snack. Calm down. That's a good boy." He muttered in what he hoped was a soothing tone as he pushed the latch open on the gate and stepped into the stall.

The surrounding students began to panic, but when Karl put his empty hand on the horse, it began to calm down and stop bucking.

"Good boy. Open up for a treat." Karl suggested, opening his mouth in demonstration.

The horse followed along, and Karl put a rice ball in his mouth, only narrowly saving his fingers as the horse's jaw snapped shut around it.

Then he held out his open hand with the other one on it, as he saw the majority of students doing, and the horse more delicately grabbed the other before bumping into Karl for a pat down.

There were brushes lined up along the stall wall, so he grabbed one and got to work, giving the horse a brushing that was making Rae jealous.

[You are totally brushing my fur later. Keep one of those brushes.] She demanded when she saw how much the horse liked it.

[I will buy one from them. I'm not stealing their tools.] Karl replied with a laugh.

He stepped out and latched the gate when he was finished, only to find the pair of older clergy from the Library waiting outside the stall with Dana and two of the rescue team members. Everyone else had cleared the area, and most of the nearby stalls were now empty, as the students had taken the animals with them.

"I hope I didn't hold up any plans. The new students spooked him, so I calmed him down." Karl explained.

"We saw that. But he's never let them touch him before, we assumed that they were doing a terrible job breaking and training him, but now he looks ready to be saddled. Tell me, have you ever ridden a horse?" The old woman asked.

Karl shook his head. "Never had the need or the opportunity."

"Well, let's see how he responds. It's part of the student assessment. Do you know why he reacted so badly to them?" She asked with a curious smile wrinkling her features even further.

"Check the rice pile. They mixed leftovers in with their rice balls." Karl laughed.