I walked into the class a minute late but a minute before the teacher could arrive. as opposed to my expectations, no one was giving me a stinky eye and half the class regarded me with pity while the other half regarded me me as if I was a veteran who had made it out of a warzone. I had survived a brutal blow from one of the Asakana clan of the Bami tribe. the Asakana clan was the ruler tribe and the biggest clan of the upper north and they were ruthless and relentless. I dared take a glance at his desk and he had a big scowl on his face which had a promise of pain written behind it. I had just arrived at Sabito school and I had made the worst enemy possible. I turned my gaze away and rushed to my desk where tale was waiting for me with open arms. she squeezed the breath out of me before touching her forehead to mine.
"Don't you ever leave me alone again," she said pulling back and wiped away fake tears.
"I was dying tale, you know I could never leave you," I matched the dramatic girl and we stared at each other with a dire expression before bursting out with laughter The Art War study teacher mister Fuwuka Chimera Bami entered the class. He was tall as he was built and he had his hair in a single braid finished in two red shells just like Kaka's white shell. The only difference was that his head was partly shaved on both sides and kaka had a full head of hair. After all they were from different clans even though they came from the same tribe. the shaved sides symbolized that he was married.
"Be quite" he said in a bored tone and everyone shot up like a bullet backs straight and no one move a muscle.
"I am going to teach you The art of war, not that many of you have a talent for it nor will you understand but I'm only teaching you because the curriculum demands it, I could prefer teaching it to military personnel but I have to teach you delinquents the basics incase you need to defend yourself or if Tagayia's ever went to war and the neighboring states passed through the first line of defense. The latter is not going to happen in the near future seeing as some of our neighbors fade in comparison when it comes to war prowess compared us. everyone knew he was talking about the Kafani state in the north which was was mostly a barren land and the eastern kingdoms which was still under the rule of a great chief whose word was law, it also concentrated more on keeping to themselves and refusing to modernize. the western states however were warlike and they were most likely to start a war.
"I'm going to spend the first lesson to teach you theoretically what war is about and then we are going to the training ground" he said finally a wicked smile making its way to his face as if imagining how he was going to torture us in the training ground. it was the kaya that had p0assed a rule that traditional arts should be incorporated into the system. and those who aced the art of war and the art of the hunt could get a direct entry to the be a soldier in War college. Not that I was dreaming of going there anyway. That was one of the kaya laws I hated most. What was fun about learning to hurt someone. Only kaka ad some few of the northern and western tribes seemed happy and he even smiled with actual joy.
The Art of War and the Art of Hunting were slightly similar but yet different. The art of war taught one how to defend against oneself and mostly the north was centered around it, their entire lives were centered around war and strongest to rule yet they thrived in their own way. the west lived on hunting and they specialized in cornering prey. Both were fierce but the only difference came down to one killed wild beasts and the other killed human. They however made a formidable pair when joined together in war in cornering the enemy and annihilating them. The east and central planes could only join war school mostly as medics and poison specialists or equipment war innovators for the central. All said and done for a military squad to be complete it needed all four.
"In the next class I'm going to need you to be in teams of four, I'll make the groups according to score, so the strong can neutralize the weaklings so as to equate the strength of groups." He sneered at the last part as if disgusted by the weak people. he was like a copy of kaka but mature and worse.
Tagayia's was consisted of three levels of school. the first level is tribal schools for kids under twelve where every tribe had one where the young ones went to learn mostly about their tribes origin, traditions and proper etiquette. They also learned basics about their tribal arts be it in medicine innovation war or hunting and tribal dances and music. rights and tribal marks are also taught here.
The second level is the integrated school. Young youths from thirteen years of age went to this school could learn about World Calculations, Art of War, The Art of Hunting, Building Study, Plant study, Innovation and Technology study, Tribe History study, Tagayia Language Study, Human Anatomy, Fitness Study, Medicine and Weaponry. A total of twelve subjects that could push the youths to the limit. only a genius could get a top[ grade in all of them and only the smart could pass in more than half the subjects. Tagayia consisted of ten integrated schools and they were spread evenly all over Tagayia
The third level consisted only of four schools where youths who had shown prowess in certain field could join. Those who aced the Art of War, Art of hunting, Fitness study and Weaponry could automatically make it to War College to become warriors, protectors and soldiers of Tagayia and also become teachers in the four fields. Those who showed promise in Human Anatomy, Plant study and Medicine study could go to medical school to became healers and even poison specialists or teachers of medicine. those who passed Tagayia Language study and spoke all the five common languages fluently and also passed Tribe history could go to Philosophy College to become language protégées some even managing to speak up to twenty languages. the last group were the backbone and geniuses of Tagayia. Those who showed prowess in innovative and technology, building study and world calculations could go to future college to create new technological equipment and machinery will lead to a new Tagayia, it was by far the largest and most prestigious followed by war college.
"The art of war is a study consisting of strategies and use of war weapons during war," Mr. Fuwuka started. " but having a strategy and weapons doesn't simply mean that you are going to win a war, if your food supply is not enough or you are in a team of cowards and weaklings you can just lose a war, that is where the art of war comes in, it involves the abilities to make decisions under pressure and being agile and fast, yet that is still not enough to win a war.
"Who can tell me what is the most important quality to win a war?" He asked and only a few hand shot up. kaka being one of them.
"Yes you" he pointed to kaka and ignoring the rest as if they were invisible
"Patience and calmness." kaka answered confidently and Mr. Fuwuka smiled thinking inwardly that finally a fellow sadist who can help me torture the rest of the class.
I couldn't help but whine in my heart. he had a twelve year head start in tribal school. what is there to gloat about?
"Answered like a true warrior" Fuwuka gloated and continued with his class picking kaka to answer almost all the questions and sometimes Laga Misato of the west who seemed to also know his wat around the art of war study. theoretically it wasn't boring and I feared more about the field training.
I suddenly started feeling hot and I wondered if it was because of the fear of what was to come.