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“Now, team up with your roommates and ride together.”

“…Ye-yes.”

 

They were all hesitant now. I knew how they felt.

I ended up teaming up with Marty.

 

“I’ll try to keep the swaying to a minimum, but you’ll have to hold on tight.”

“Got it.”

 

As this was their first time carrying someone else, the Second-Years also looked quite nervous.

They could barely even ride the dragons a few months ago, so it was no surprise.

 

“There sure is a lot of practical training.”

“We don’t have that much time left at the Academy. It’s a tough job, making full-fledged Dragon Masters out of us in such a short time.”

 

While they had been chosen by the dragons, they were still just ordinary people.

They hadn’t undergone any special training before that.

 

It wasn’t until the dragon mark appeared that they started training. Some of them still didn’t seem to understand what this would mean for them.

 

With just one year left, I could only imagine how tough the remainder of their training would be.

 

“Alright, we’ll start by just moving straight. And then I’ll slowly move on to other things, like turning and suddenly stopping and starting.”

 

“Uh, Marty. Do you have a fixed list of things you have to do?”

 

“Yeah, that’s the whole point. And if we can’t do it all, we’ll have to do some extra training. We lose points if you fall off or get hurt. There’s also a penalty if you die. So I’m going to try and prevent getting that penalty.”

 

“You better do more than try.”

“Haha! Yes. Alright, let’s go.”

 

Ultimately, this training lasted for fifteen days.

On the last day, they made them carry passengers through an obstacle race.

 

And to no one’s surprise, several people were thrown off of the dragons.

And while they were injured, no one was hurt too badly or ended up dead.

 

Did they really do this every year?

I asked Marty about it. ‘They did it last year. But there was no obstacle race.’ He replied lazily.

 

So, the race was something they just did this year. Why?

 

I arrived in the Royal Capital in March, and the opening ceremony ended in April.

 

After that, we had lessons and built up our bodies. Now it was nearing the end of May.

Most of our lessons this month had been with the Second-Years. Which meant we spent a lot of time with the dragons.

 

While our days were hectic, they were also fulfilling. In fact, I had completely forgotten about a certain matter.

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