“Hahaha!” Sell laughed, holding her hand over her mouth, “Sorry. I just imagined your face when Uncle guessed all that.”

“I was perfectly calm and collected about it, of course,” Adion said, “I just chose to give away some secrets since he had helped me a lot.”

“Of course, of course,” Sell nodded, still laughing.

Adion and Sell had continued wandering around the Academy, telling each other about what they had been up to since they last saw each other. Sell had found it particularly amusing how Quahim had managed to figure out a lot of Adion’s secrets.

“He never found out about my encounter with the Celestial Phoenix, though,” Adion said, “At least I think he didn’t.”

“I should hope not,” Sell said, “It would take you telling him for him to be able to guess something like that.”

“Whatever,” Adion said, “I’m glad that your family has someone like him at least.”

“Mm,” Sell nodded, “He has never cared for politics or power struggles. So he is the only one who has always been on my side. Unfortunately, he’s not exactly part of the family, and even if he was, he wouldn’t have much influence as an old Diamond mage.”

“A Diamond mage means so little in your family? How many Soul mages does it have?” Adion asked.

“Well,” Sell hesitated for a second, “We have 3 Hard Soul mages and 14 Soft Soul mages, so they don’t give much thought to someone with no chance of reaching that stage.”

“That many?” Adion asked, shocked, “I guess it’s a Royal family. I thought my family would be impressive when Grandpa reaches the Soft Soul stage, but I guess not.”

“You think he will?” Sell asked.

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “I can’t be sure, of course. But I would bet a lot of money that he will advance very soon.”

“That’s great!” Sell said with a smile.

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “I will be able to relax a little more with my family stronger.”

“Yeah, you should relax now that you're here and know that your family is safe,” Sell said. “No need to think about revenge or stuff like that for the moment.”

“I guess,” Adion agreed, “I’ll just try to gain as much knowledge here and try to become stronger. Do you know any classes you will take?”

“Not really,” Sell said, “I’ve heard of a few that sound interesting, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to take a look at what classes will be obligatory and what other options there are. I don’t want to waste too much time in classes, though. I need to focus my time on getting stronger.”

“But isn’t this a rare opportunity?” Adion asked.

“Well, yeah,” Sell agreed, “But I have a pretty substantial education already. And I have no plans of becoming a scholar. I just want to get as far as I can as fast as I can.”

“That’s true,” Adion nodded, “Well, I’ll help you train whenever you want. Even if I have to skip classes.”

“Haha,” Sell laughed, “Thanks. But you will lose a lot of credits like that.”

“Seems like a good use of credits,” Adion shrugged, prompting Sell to smile.

“I guess you will have a lot of them,” Sell said, “You are going for rank 1, right?”

“Mm,” Adion nodded, “Even without revealing my strength, I can just freeze my opponents with my ‘Gift’ and win without a problem.”

“You’re lucky I’m not planning on revealing my Words of Truth,” Sell said, “I’ll settle for second place this time.”

Would she be able to beat me if she used all her power? Even if she’s a Bronze mage?

“You think you could beat me if you used that?” Adion asked.

“I’m not sure,” Sell said slowly, “You’re a bit tricky. If you could keep me still long enough, or if you could teleport fast enough, I might not be able to hit you. But if I did, you wouldn’t stand a chance. Which is why I couldn’t use it even if I wanted. There is nothing but death waiting for someone on the receiving end of that attack.”

“You can’t control it to be a little weaker?” Adion asked.

“Not as I am now,” Sell said. “But it doesn’t matter. I would probably not have used it anyway. And I’m confident at beating people my age even without it. Besides you, that is.”

“Hm,” Adion nodded, “Why don’t you want to reveal it? It would surely make you valuable to the Academy, right?”

“The same reason you don’t reveal anything,” Sell said, “I don’t know what would happen if I do. And I’m not strong enough yet to handle the consequences of a wrong choice.”

“Surely someone wouldn’t do anything to a princess?” Adion asked, “And what would they even do? Wouldn’t they be happy that something so special is here for them to study?”

“Probably,” Sell nodded, “But even the Amyss family wouldn’t stand a chance against Cyalis. And I don’t know enough about the people in power here and their goals for me to be comfortable in letting them decide what to do.”

“That’s true,” Adion nodded, “It’s probably for the best for both of us to get a good idea of this place first.”

“Mm,” Sell nodded.

“But anyway, I think I might have to take a class called ‘Inexplicable magic.’ Do you want to take it together? It seems interesting. It could probably touch upon Words of Truth and maybe help you understand your powers a little better.”

“Okay,” Sell nodded, “Remind me when we are picking out classes.”

“Good,” Adion smiled, “By the way, will you join your sister’s House?”

“I’m not decided yet,” Sell said, “I would rather not. But it is true that I would probably gain the most by joining Soaring Souls. What about you?”

“Well, I don’t know enough about any of the Houses to make an informed decision, really. But I heard about how you had to give credits away by joining a House, and I’ve also seen how my brother needs to take orders from the Head of his House. I wouldn’t like that at all, so I have been thinking of just starting my own House.”

“Starting your own House?” Sell asked, surprised, “If you don’t want to lose credits and not take orders, wouldn’t it be enough to just not join a House?”

“I guess,” Adion nodded, “But a House sounds like a good thing to be a part of at the same time, so I thought I might just make my own. If other people join, wouldn’t I get even more credits to do stuff?”

“I…I guess, but that would be difficult, even for someone like you,” Sell said, “What would you do to attract people to join?”

“I just got the idea today, so I haven’t thought about it,” Adion said, “I would also have to look into what I would have to do. If it is too much work, it might not be worth it.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Well,” Sell hesitated, “I might join your House then.”

“Really?” Adion asked, turning to look at Sell, who had a slight blush on her face,

“I said ‘I might,’” Sell emphasized, “You would have to offer me a good deal to convince me.”

“I will make you an irresistible offer then,” Adion said, suddenly a lot more convinced to start his own House.

“Are you going to have a House focused on fighting or something knowledge-related? And what will you call it?” Sell asked.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Adion said, “I guess fighting is important, but it wouldn’t be bad to focus on other things as well.”

Runes seem interesting, but I’m sure it would take up a lot of time. If I could get some people focused on that in my House, I might get them to work on some of my ideas for me. I should check if Prago has joined a House yet.

“Well, you don’t have to decide anything right away,” Sell said, “Houses make more generous offers if you choose to join them immediately, but for people like us, we would always be welcome even if we take a while to decide.”

“That’s good,” Adion said.

Not long after that, a grand coliseum came into view further down the road.

“That’s the arena,” Sell said.

I’ve been gone for almost two hours. Will Aiden and Ailera still be there?

“Hopefully, Aiden and Ailera won’t be too angry,” Adion said.

“I’m a little nervous,” Sell said.

“Why? You have already met Aiden,” Adion said.

“And he thought I was strange,” Sell sighed, “Hopefully, I can make a better impression on your sister.”

After a few minutes of walking, Adion could see his brother and sister up ahead. But they weren’t the only ones there. Rellitha and her friends were still talking with his siblings.

“My sister is still with them?” Sell said, “Isn’t she busy?”

“Looks like they’re still talking about something,” Adion said.

“Won’t they think it’s strange that we’re together?” Sell asked.

“Why? Aiden and Rellitha know each other, and we are both the most powerful students of the first years. It’s normal that we would get along.” Adion said.

“That makes sense,” Sell nodded.

It didn’t take long before the group of five noticed Adion and Sell coming up on them.

“Sell?” Rellitha looked at her sister, surprised to see her there.

“Hello,” Sell said.

“Sorry I was so late,” Adion said to his brother and sister.

“It’s fine,” Aiden said, looking carefully at the two.

Seems like he understands.

“What are you doing here?” Rellitha asked her sister.

“I met Adion in the admissions building,” Sell said, “We got to talking, and I decided to come along.”

“You…got to talking?” Rellitha asked, looking at her sister like she didn’t recognize her.

“Have you heard about Adion’s Gift, Sellitha?” Klissa asked with a smirk, “Think you can beat him?”

“No,” Sell shook her head, “But I’ll take second.”

“You…Right,” Rellitha nodded slowly, “His Gift is very hard to overcome in a one-on-one fight after all.”

“Nice to meet you, Sellitha,” Ailera stepped out and greeted her with a friendly smile, “I’m Adion’s older sister, Ailera.”

“Oh? Nice to meet you too,” Sell said hurriedly.

“Anyway,” Adion said, “This is where the tournament will take place?”

“Mm,” Aiden nodded, “It’s a big event at the Academy, so don’t embarrass yourself.”

“Don’t worry,” Adion said, “I might not even get to fight. The dean said that he would try to discourage people from going up against me. Besides Sell, there is only one other high Bronze. I imagine I won’t have many challengers after I defeat him.”

“‘Sell’?” Rellitha questioned, surprise evident in her voice.

“Hm?” Adion looked at Sell, only to find her having a slight blush on her face that wasn’t there before.

“Isn’t it natural that people call me that when we’re the same age and strength?” Sell asked.

Oh…I guess most people call her Sellitha.

“I…” Rellitha looked at her younger sister without knowing what to say.

“By the way…” Hether said slowly, “Where did you get that necklace? I didn’t notice it on you earlier.”

“I had it. It was just under my shirt,” Sell quickly made up, but the slight blush on her face was making it seem strange.

As much as I enjoy seeing Sell blush, this is making things very obvious for everyone, no?

“Is that so,” Rellitha looked closely at her sister.

“Well, we should get going,” Aiden said, trying to save the situation, “We still haven’t shown Adion where the dorms are.”

The dorms! I completely forgot.

“Did you find out where you’ll be staying, Adion?” Aiden asked.

“Right,” Adion nodded.

“Oh? Where?” Ailera asked.

“Well…the dorms,” Adion said.

“Yeah, but which dorms,” Ailera questioned.

“So…I might have forgotten to ask that.” Adion finally admitted.

“It was my fault,” Sell said, “I recognized him as people talked to him about his Gift, so I started talking to him and distracted him.”

Rellitha and her friends had been staring at the both of them intently for some time now, and that comment didn’t help.

“I’ll go back and check,” Adion said, “I’ll be quick this time.”

“Haaah,” Aiden sighed, “We’ll come with you. You're just going to get lost or something.”

Aiden then turned to Rellitha and her friends, “It was nice talking to you. I’ll see you all at the tournament, if not before.”

“Mm,” Rellitha nodded, “We should head on. Are you coming with us, Sell?”

“I guess,” Sell said.

“Good luck in the tournament, Adion,” Rellitha said.

“Thanks,” Adion nodded. He then turned to Sell and had to fight hard against his instincts to not kiss her again. “See you tomorrow, Sell.”

“Mm,” Sell nodded, trying to force a smile down.

“Well, that was smooth,” Aiden said in a low voice as they walked off.

Ailera was giggling beside them, “I can’t believe how obvious you are. You actually gave her a necklace? And she wore it?”

“Well,” Adion hesitated, “Who’s to say it was from me? I’m sure Sell can clear it up.”

“Maybe,” Aiden said, “Anyway, let’s head for the admissions building. We at least need to know where you’ll be staying before we do anything else.”

“Mm,” Adion nodded.

Rellitha surely figured something out. But she’s Sell's sister, so we should be fine, right?