The town of Bahal was north of the capital, and with its comparatively cooler summers, it was a popular destination for tourists looking to escape the heat. Additionally, the town was surrounded by nature and had a thriving dairy industry, which made fresh milk and eggs plentiful and easy to come by. This had given rise to streets with rows and rows of highly competitive pastry shops, bakeries, and confectioneries. To survive in the crowded market, the shops were always devising new flavors and unique-looking sweets, and as a result, Bahal boasted a countless variety of unusual confections that couldn’t be found in the capital. Many visitors came from afar, not for sightseeing, but just to visit all the shops.
For Yui, it was like a land of dreams.
Bahal’s train station was connected to the capital by a single line, which meant that they didn’t have to change trains. When they arrived in town, the carriages set to take them to the training camp were already ready to go.
Though the vehicles were called carriages and looked like them too, they weren’t actually horse-drawn. Horses had been used in the past, but with recent developments in magic items, the driver could move the carriage using magic instead of horses. It was a bit pricier, but with just a small amount of magic energy, carriages could now carry more passengers, travel faster and for longer periods of time without any breaks, and there was no need to worry about the horses growing tired or getting hurt. For those reasons, they were being rapidly adopted. However, that didn’t mean all carriages used magic. Around half of them were still pulled by horses because their owners didn’t have enough money for magic items, they weren’t very magically powerful, or for other reasons.
The students were ordered to gather at the carriages so they could all get on. But Yui, perhaps unable to hear it, was standing still, her eyes fixated on the rows of shops. She looked like she was just about to break into a run, so Ivo grabbed her arm. She wasn’t the only one being grabbed; Lyle had gotten ahold of Clois. Though he didn’t look it, Clois had just as much of a sweet tooth as Yui.
“What are you doing?!” Clois shouted. “Lyle, let go of me!”
Yui also shouted, “Let goooo!”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ll have your chance later, Clois,” Lyle said.
“Quiet down, Yui,” Ivo said. He and Lyle dragged the whining Yui and Clois to the carriages and tossed them in without allowing a word in edgewise.
“Aaaah, they were right there!” Clois said.
“Give it up,” Ivo replied.
The carriages started off. Yui and Clois could only watch helplessly as the shops passed by outside their window.
✦ ✦ ✦
Bahal’s train station was in the lively central part of the town, full of people and buildings, but as they traveled, signs of human habitation began to grow sparse. In place of human speech, they began to hear birds calling and insects buzzing; in place of man-made structures, lush, green, tranquil natural scenery spread out before them. The bustling town outside the station had disappeared without a trace.
Yui was sulking because she hadn’t been able to eat even a single treat, but whether she wanted to or not, she had no choice but to give up. Instead, she opened her bag and pulled out a book, which she began to leisurely read. There was nothing to do in the carriage, and Lyle was suffering from an excess of free time, so this piqued his interest. He eyed her book.
“Yui, whatcha readin’? Here we are... Read This and You’ll Be Unbeatable! All Must-Eat Treats! The Complete Expert’s Guide to Popular Bahal Confectioneries.”
Everyone made strange faces as Lyle read aloud. “What’s with that ridiculous title?” Ivo said.
“And ‘unbeatable’? Are you going to be competing with someone?” Finney said.
However, one of them—Clois—seemed extremely interested. “Yui, show it to me too.”
“After I’m done.”
“Tch.” He clicked his tongue. “Whatever. Hurry up and read it.” He sounded frustrated, but he intently waited with bated breath for Yui to finish reading. Then, unable to wait any longer, he peered in from next to Yui. The two of them began enthusiastically chatting about the different sweet shops, saying, “Ooh, this one looks good,” and “Mmm, that one too.”
“What are you two here for?” Ivo asked them.
“To eat sweets in Bahal,” they replied in unison, as if Ivo was odd for suggesting otherwise.
Their answer made Ivo explode with anger. “No! You’re here for the camp!”
His response was exceedingly proper, and any of the other students staking their futures on this camp would have definitely had the same indignant reaction if they had heard the two’s answer. But Yui and Clois were not pleased. Combined with the discontent they felt at having been unable to go to the shops at the train station, their bad moods had reached their lowest points.
“My original goal wasn’t to go to the training camp; it was to eat Bahal’s sweets,” Yui said. “And there’s a training camp next year anyway!”
“That’s right!” Clois joined in. “Next year, the training camp will definitely be somewhere else, so this is our only chance!”
Even though Ivo hadn’t been wrong, he recoiled in surprise, taken aback by the sheer force of their counterattack. Next to him, Lyle quietly mumbled, “Their obsession with food is incredible.”
“All right, that’s enough, you three. It looks like we’ve arrived at our destination,” Finney said.
His words stopped Yui and Clois in their tracks, and all of them turned to look outside.
Ahead on the road, beyond the long line of carriages, the building where the training camp was being held came into view. The single, solitary structure looked like a fortress, and it stood alone surrounded by trees. There were no other buildings or people nearby. A foreboding aura was practically oozing from it, and it made them all think of a prison or a dungeon. It might’ve just been their imagination, but they felt like the air surrounding it looked dim and stagnant.
“Are you perhaps talking about...that?” Yui asked hesitantly.
“We’re living there for two weeks?” Lyle said.
“Apparently so,” Finney replied.
An inexplicable air washed over them. This was not at all what they had expected. While they had known they wouldn’t be staying in an expensive hotel, they had all imagined a typical inn. With their hopes dashed, they all deeply regretted coming to the training camp.
Lyle screamed first. “Nooo! Send me back hooome!”
“I’m going home too,” Yui said. She and Lyle started violently struggling to disembark from the carriage.
“Hey! Calm down! Get ahold of yourselves!” Ivo hurriedly tried to pacify Lyle and Yui, but neither of them stopped.
“Is this supposed to help me calm down?!” Lyle yelled. “There are definitely ghosts there! I’ll be cursed!”
“There’s no way I could sleep there! I’m leaving!”
“Hey! Clo, help me grab them!”
“I don’t think he’ll be of much help,” Finney said.
Ivo looked at Clois and saw that he seemed to be even more terrified than Yui and Lyle. He was clutching his head and trembling.
The inside of their carriage had fallen into a panicked chaos, but theirs wasn’t the only one; the disorder had spread to several other carriages, and shouts could be heard everywhere. Just about all of those were carriages with first-year students, or upperclassmen who were participating in the training camp for the first time. The other students who had already experienced this a few times simply mumbled to themselves, “Not again...” and, as if they were actually prisoners, sank into a resigned silence.