The history classroom was a decent sized lecture hall that would fit around 200 people. Chairs sat behind shallow tables on tiers, and each table had stations to mount your tablet as well as a keyboard to type on. We quickly found a table near the front and hooked up our tablets.

  Right at 1300, the professor stepped into the room, causing everyone to stop speaking. She was a human with single silver epaulets—a junior commander. She passed an assessing gaze over each of us before finally speaking.

  “Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. This is doubly true for those in the military. Without a doubt, some of your enemies will understand history better than you and be able to apply it to current situations. My job is to give you as many tools as possible to ensure you don’t fall for the same blunders leaders of the past have made while allowing you to take advantage when your opponents inevitably do.

  “This class will focus on the history of military engagement, from the days of archers and peasant spearmen all the way to the modern era of starship combat. You may feel that levies of farmers wielding poorly-made spears have little to do with your roles in the Imperial Navy, but many aspects of war are unchanged from those early days.

  “I have sent a syllabus to your tablet along with the text for this course. Study the syllabus, and find me in office hours if you have any questions. Let us begin.”

  Even just a few minutes in, I was busy typing as fast as I could to record the important points the instructor was making. While I had been required to study history in-depth as part of my basic education as a princess, she came at it from a different angle, doing an excellent job relating what we were learning to our roles as officers. I could tell this was going to be a difficult, but rewarding class.

  Not so much my next class, Introduction to Naval Law. As soon as the professor started talking, it was clear she was not as skilled a lecturer as my history professor. The already dry material, while important, was not made more interesting by her speaking about it. In fact, the most interesting thing about the class was that she was a demon. Erythralia had conquered the demon empire centuries ago, but they still rarely came to Eryth. I supposed, though, that they were probably common enough in the service, so her presence shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise. Demons were one of the more populous species in our empire, after all.

  Once class ended, Valissa headed off to our room while I wandered around campus for a bit, looking for alternate places to study. As I was walking, I heard raised voices nearby and went to look. Rounding the corner, I came upon what looked like three elves surrounding a felid, one of the furred cat-like people from Leval. At a second glance, though, I realized that I recognized one of them—I couldn’t remember his name and had never spoken to him, but he was a third son or something of one of the less-important dragon families here on Eryth. It wasn’t especially common for dragons to join the navy—part of my cover—but it did happen sometimes.

  Getting closer, I could finally hear him speak.

  “Are you stupid as well as weak? We never should have let your species be citizens.”

  The felid woman stood her ground despite the dragon and his two elven lackeys threatening her, which impressed me. “I’ll say it again—I’m not your servant. I’m a fellow cadet.”

  “How dare you speak to me like that! Do you know who I am?”

  Without thinking it through, I stepped forward. “I believe the lack of epaulets on your uniform means that you’re a cadet, same as the rest of us.”

  His glare turned toward me, and I was glad that my elven appearance was not very well-known, even among the nobility—my public appearances were generally in dragon form, and I was considered a bit of a recluse. It also helped that the few photos of me in elven form, I was so heavily made up as to look like a different person entirely.

  “Who are you to speak to me that way?” he sneered.

  “Dax Juniper, junior cadet—same as you.”

  “We are not the same! I am a noble dragon of the Torlan family.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Last I checked, naval policy states that all family affiliations and ranks are superseded by military ranks. Are you claiming otherwise?”

  This seemed to anger him, as he let out a growl. “You better watch yourself, elf. You’d be surprised what noble rank can get you.” With that, he stormed off, his two silent lackeys following behind him.

  “Be careful—you’ve made a powerful enemy,” the felid said once he was out of earshot.

  “I’m not worried,” I responded, though it was a lie. I didn’t need extra noble attention, but I hadn’t thought my actions through before taking them.

  “I’m Kolo Tamori, by the way.”

  I gave a slight bow. “I’m Dax Juniper. It’s nice to meet you.”

  She smiled at me, something that was always slightly unnerving from a felid, but being a dragon, I was used to sharp-toothed grins.

  “Where are you off to?” she asked.

  “I’m just exploring the campus, looking for places to study besides my room.”

  “Oh, let me show you this place I found!”

  She turned around and darted off, startling me for a moment. It wasn’t hard to catch up, though, as even my short stature for a shifted dragon was significantly taller than the diminuitive felid. Like dwarves, they were noticeably shorter than most elvenoid races, but still taller than gnomes or goblins.

  She led me to a garden where various picnic tables were scattered. It was somewhat out of the way, so I expected that few people would come here often, but it was a beautiful scene filled with flowering bushes and trees that gave ample shade.

  “Isn’t it lovely?”

  “It is. Thank you for showing me this.” Checking the time, I saw it was approaching 1800. “Oh, it’s nearly time for supper. Shall we head to the mess hall?”

  She agreed, and we chatted about our first day of classes. Turns out she was in the healer track—she had a basic degree in medicine, which was enough to be a medic, and she could get additional training for a full medical license.

  After we got our food, I found my usual meal crew and asked if Kolo wanted to join us, which she agreed. Once everyone was introduced, I was happy to see that she got along well with the others—well, everyone except Valissa, who was as stoic and hard to read as ever.

  Once dinner is over, the three of us separated from the guys and headed back to our dorms. We were in the same hall, though Kolo was on the ground floor, in A33. Back in our room, Valissa and I got to studying. We mostly worked on our own, but occasionally asked each other questions. Around 2100, I put away my stuff and washed up for bed, and by 2200, I was out.

  Still unused to the early hour, I awoke groggy at 0530 before heading to the mess hall for a quick breakfast. Even Delroy seemed more subdued, surely a grand feat. Together, we made our way to the practice fields just in time for the 0700 start.

  “Children! I hope you came prepared to run! Five laps around the track. Go!”

  Our elven instructor glared at us until we processed his words and started running. I quickly fell towards the back of the pack, though there was still a decent portion of the class behind me. By lap three, I was barely holding on, but I kept going until I finished. Surprisingly, some of my classmates seemed like they had gone on a brisk stroll while I could barely stand.

  “Pathetic! You call yourselves cadets? Burpees, now!”

  Thankfully, I knew what a burpee was, though in my state, my form was terrible, and I was slow. Our instructor, a marine junior sergeant, was inspecting each of us and yelling at many of us. When he got to me, he continued his tirade.

  “What is this garbage? My grandmother has better form than this! Do it right or leave, cadet!”

  It took all I had, but I cleaned up my form enough that he moved on. I wasn’t sure how I kept going, but I pushed myself. When he finally called for a stop, I could barely keep myself from collapsing on the ground. Unfortunately, he had more strength and endurance exercises for us. After an hour of running, burpees, push-ups, planks, and more, he finally gave us a short break for water.

  “Now that you lot are all warmed up, it’s time for hand-to-hand. You might be thinking that’s what the marines are for, and you would be correct! We are not going to turn you into an expert martial artist by any means, but when the shit hits the fan, you’ll be glad if you can at least hold your own long enough for the marines to show up.”

  He then proceeded to demonstrate the basics before having us pair off to practice. Being tired and separated from my friends, I didn’t pay attention to who stepped in front of me, and by the time I realized it was the Torlan kid, everyone around me had a partner.

  Fuck, I thought before clearing my mind.

  He gave me a leering smile. “Time to put you in your place, whelp.”

  I barely held back a growl. “Well, come on then.”

  He immediately moved in to attack, and it was clear from the beginning he had prior training. I had very basic training with the guard back home—they were more than willing to help me better protect myself, but the little training I had was focused on getting away from an attacker, not responding. Combine that with my opponent being larger and stronger than me, along with my exhaustion, and I didn’t stand a chance.

  He kept his aggression just low enough not to draw attention from the instructor, but that was still plenty to leave me with a kaleidoscope of bruises. Nevertheless, I did improve a bit over the course of the beating.

  Fortunately, despite my growing anger, I had practice biding my time and striking later, at least when the situation allowed. While I wasn’t capable of fighting back yet, I resolved to get better.