She arrived to the designated area where five teenage boys awaited her. Two of them were practicing with wooden swords, while the three others were cheering them on, each one rooting for his friend. Tori walked up to the group with confidence and addressed them as actual knights in hopes that she would earn their respect right away. "Alright men. Sir Bartholomew is bedridden for the day per doctor's orders and he has instructed me to take over your class today. My name is Tori and I am a member of the Fairy Tail guild." she spoke, unwavering in her tone as the young men looked at her with a range of looks, each one perplexed and skeptical to a degree. After a short silence, the one who looked the oldest and fancied himself the leader of their ragtag battalion stepped up to address the blonde on his group's behalf. "What are you playing at? Sir Armin sent a woman civilian to train us? A soldier we would understand, but how is a civilian going to keep up with us?" he barked, clearly deep rooted in his views of women and their physical abilities. It was clear that in his eyes, even though she belonged to a magic guild, her lack of military experience did in fact make her a civilian, and she supposed technically he wasn't wrong. But just because she was a civilian, didn't mean she didn't have an edge. "Well, I suppose you're right. You could say I'm a civilian, but I can guarantee that you've met very few civilians like me, if any." she smirked towards the child, waiting for him to ask. "Oh yeah? And why is that?" he snapped, unbelieving that this woman could be anything different. "Well, look at it this way. Sure, I'm not military, but when was the last time you met a Dragon Slayer." she proclaimed, winking at the boy who's face now was painted with disbelief along with his comrades. After a quick demonstration, the boys believed her claim and agreed to do as she instructed, but only if she did it along with them. How many people get to actually train with a Dragon Slayer after all?
Looking at the list of workouts, their first task was a jog around the city. That's fair. No big de--"THE WHOLE CITY!?" she said with a raised voice, her tone shocked. "What's the matter? Can the big bad Dragon Slayer not keep up?" one of the boys egged her on, which really lit a fire under her. "Oh yea? Alright then. How about this. One lap around the city. Any one of you boys beats me back here, and all of you get to leave early today. And just word to the wise, Dragon Slayers have a heightened sense of smell, so I'll know if anyone backtracks." she said before taking off, her trainees at her feet close at her heels. After about 10 minutes, one boy was still neck and neck with her and by some chance was able to make it just past her. Tori checked behind her and the other four were starting to close in too. What Tori didn't realize is that having looked back and slowed her ever so slightly, and the leader of the group was able to take the lead. Tried as she might, Tori was running out of steam until the starting area came back into view. She had no idea how, but he mustered up some kind of extra strength from somewhere and pulled ahead just in time to the final point and beat Tori. The others made it seconds later and all six stood to catch their breaths for a few minutes. "Alright then. A deal is a deal." she said looking over the group before she laid on her back and stared to the sky. "One of you beat me so you can all call it a day early. I'll let Sir Armin know so that you won't get blamed for slacking off or anything." she said in between gasps. The boys picked up their training swords and walked away as a group after saying goodbye.
After catching her breath, Tori returned to Armin who commented on how early it was. "Did you let them go home early?" he asked. "That's not really instilling army level discipline, is it?" Tori shook her head before responding. "Not for nothing. But keeping your word is. One challenged me to a footrace around the city, which was on the list anyway. And I admit, I got carried away and told them if I lost to one of them they could take the rest of the day to relax. Well, you can probably figure out what happened. Even in the military, you're rewarded for your accomplishments, so were they." Listening to her story, the knight laid in bed and smiled. "You're absolutely right, Miss Lancaster. Here is your payment." he said before yawning. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to sleep. Thank you again for your help today." he managed to get out before dozing off. Tori nodded towards the sleeping knight and made her way out of the hospital.
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