Two days have passed since the day of all the main exams for each of the houses and the lessons have officially started. Yesterday, Conall had to register in the student hall to confirm his acceptance in the academy as well as pack his things from the inn to the academy housing.
In his expectation to acquire a roommate, he was surprised to see that he gained an empty room. It was understandable, since most of the students were nobles with mansions in the capital, but a lot of the students were also foreign with the need for accommodation. Not to mention, the academy was increasing its student acceptance annually.
Still, he wouldn’t be surprised if he gained a roommate later in the year. There were many such cases in the game.
Right now, he was headed towards the class of C grades. Since it was officially the first school day of the first years, an introductory lecture was taking place in his designated classroom.
That was what he despised, both in game and in real life. The academy grounds were so vast they were basically just another city. There were even countless different franchises and restaurants unaffiliated with the capital, as well as a full on forest that stretched for a few kilometers.
Although the academy housed thousands of students throughout all the houses and years, they were so big and with countless institutions that congestion rarely ever formed.
Finally, after fifteen minutes, he stood before the lecture hall. Sometimes, people referred to it as the palace, mainly because it was a monumental building that didn't pale in comparison to the imperial palaces scattered around the world, however, most importantly, It was the place countless magical innovations came from.
Entering, he was met with an extravagant interior, truly, befitting a royal palace’s rival.
Staring at the painfully blatant hanging sign with the letter ‘C’, he walked through the hallway, all the way to the end, right where his lecture room was located.
Opening the brawny doors, the peaceful silence of the hallway suddenly disappeared, replaced by a cacophony of excited new students.
Paying no heed to the newcomer, they kept on talking with their friends. Looking around to see if Marthy ended up here, he saw a multitude of different races as well as statues. From beastkin to elves and dwarfs, as well as from servants to masters, they were here all.
Thankfully, he couldn’t see his train buddy here. In the game, after just barely passing the exam, he was assigned to the C grades, but it didn’t turn out well for him. Due to the constant harassment from frustrated students who couldn’t advance their grade, Marthy finally snapped, slowly delving into dark alchemy.
As soon as the academy found out, he was promptly kicked out from the school, which led to his further advancement in dark arts. From an extra in the academy, he became an edgy mid-boss of a dungeon cave near the capital.
Since there was an opportunity, he wished that Marthy wouldn’t end up on that side again and revealed to him the secret of alchemical exams and their lazy examiners.
While he was thinking of the game, the class teacher finally showed up.
“Silence!”
Her voice boomed across the entire lecture hall, sweeping the hair of countless mages and knights. As the professor noticed their obedient little faces, she smiled so sweetly it felt nauseous.
“Good, now I have your attention, you worthless scum. Why even attend the academy if you’re still grade C at this age, huh?”
The excitement on the students’ faces was immediately put down. Any coping hopes of quickly achieving a higher grade also died down. Her haughty voice filled with disdain pierced through each and every one of them.
‘So, it’s her that I got assigned with.’
Conall mused as he stared at the brunette noble standing at the bottom of the lecture hall, in front of the large blackboard.
Miss Morgana Gray. A viscountess of the kingdom, serving as a loyal subject of the king. Though, in reality, she was nothing but a spy of the Witch Tower, monitoring the witches that come to the academy.
She was also one of the major characters in act 2 of the game, where witches got a big part of the main plot.
“My name is Morgana Gray. You will be here with me for the next five years, don’t get so sad and hopeless now, alright?”
She said with a boring undertone. It felt as though she wanted to get over this lecture as quickly as possible. Many students, having noticed this, clenched their fists in anger.
Seeing their ire, Morgana grinned, accompanied by a teasing voice.
“Aww, are you angry? Maybe you should have actually practiced when you were younger instead of thinking the world will bend under you.”
That was the final straw for a lot of them. Having heard her aggravating words, mages prepared their spells while knights readied their swords.
The attacks flew through the room, however, with a single sweep of her hand, the spells vanished while the knights were put back in their place. Without casting a spell whatsoever, she dealt with more than ten attackers.
She couldn’t help but laugh at the egregious effort. She doused their little flames yet again.
“If you’re so eager to fight, prepare yourself for tomorrow. There will be a sparring session amongst you. Specifically, it will be a lecture to let you experience fighting with a mage as a knight and the other way around.”
The professor announced, but their irritation still had not yet ended. But, she didn’t care about them. Keeping her mouth moving, she fully introduced their lessons, actually doing her work for once.
“I will be your main teacher as well as the professor for magic. There will be different professors for other subjects such as aura and mana interference, as well as many other sciences. Once in a while there will be mandatory subjects that you cannot miss. Although they are rare and occasional, they include monster fighting, sparring lessons, dungeon exploration, and field trips. Other than that, you can also register yourself to more lectures from other professors.”
Morgana explained, but the students didn’t really care, nor did she. Almost everyone there already knew all of these things, so it was only a matter of a rule.
“Of course, if you’re a knight that doesn’t practice magic, you can omit my lessons, and vice versa for the mages. Your absence will be nullified if you don’t show up. Just remember not to miss too many of the mandatory lectures, or you will have to go through an additional all-year classification exam to determine whether you should pass or be expelled, and there’s no grade repetition. Other than them, we don’t really care if you leave the lectures, as long as you bring results, though that may be here for your bunch.”
The students nodded at her words before realizing the last part of her monologue.
After explaining a few other unimportant details, Morgana finally started her first lesson about magic. A few of the knights immediately gave up and left the class, while the rest studied as earnestly as the mages.
…
The first day quickly passed by, with all of the lessons lasting roughly six hours. The sun was still high up, piercing through the patchy white clouds. Walking through the main road of the academy, the one that connected countless dormitories, he stumbled across a few shops that he wanted to check.
These little buildings provided a lot for the academy. They sold everything including weapons, staves, potions, and a lot more. There were also countless miscellaneous shops, one of which Conall was particularly interested in.
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The worn down, wooden exterior of the shop didn’t lure in many customers, judging by the dusty windows of the building.
Grasping onto the ornate, silver knob, he opened the squeaky doors.
As the bells of the old doors chimed, the person snoozing behind the counter abruptly woke up.
“Hmm? Young man? Have you lost your way? The smithy is a few buildings away, just keep going forward.”
Already knowing the reason for the youngster’s visit, the old man went back to his nap on the counter.
Seeing this, Conall didn’t reply or say anything for that matter. He casually walked around the shop, calmly checking the shelves filled with antique items. Dusty, old dolls made from wool and used buttons, children’s toys from the past. It really was like going back in time, even though the Kingdom he was in was comparable to the medieval ages of Europe.
With his head supported by his hand, the shopkeeper peeked at the young man, slightly anxious about the eerie calmness with which he was inspecting the items.
Suddenly, his nervousness peaked as he recalled what happened a few days prior.
Realizing that this red-haired young man here was one from the agency, he quickly left the counter before falling to his knees, begging.
“Please, please, don’t take this shop from me. I can’t pay the money because there are no customers, but this shop is all I have left. Without this shop, my life will shatter. Please, oh please, have mercy on this old soul. I really can’t give it up.”
As the poor old man released his worries onto the man, tears slowly formed on the edges of his eyes. Looking at the head that looked down, Conall only thought to himself.
‘The main questline is here.’
“Don’t worry, old man, I’m not one of those guys. I’m here because I like items from the past. So, don’t worry. I will also buy something.”
“R-really?”
The shopkeeper shivered, not knowing whether the young man was telling the truth.
“I will. Once I make a promise, I never break it.”
“Oo-okay, I will go back, then.”
Although the man still didn’t fully trust him, it didn’t matter for Conall. All he needed to do right now was find the item he was looking for.
Since this wasn’t inside the game where one correct click of the mouse equaled the granting of the item, finding it was quite a chore, especially on these unkempt shelves.
Kneeling down on the ground, he dug through the pile of items below the shelves before finally seeing the rusty pommel of the old sword.
Grabbing onto the handle, he dragged the sword before seeing its rusty appearance. He pulled the sword out of its sheath.
It was destroyed beyond repair. There were countless chips on the edges of the blade with the majority of it being covered in gingery rust.
The old man suddenly raised his glasses, as if wondering if he saw correctly.
‘He chose that sword? Not to mention, his soul as well…’
The shopkeeper wondered to himself, but his immersion was broken by the young man.
“How much is this?”
Standing behind the counter, thinking to himself, the man finally said something. If his gut feeling was correct, the boy before him could have something he needed.
“This, just take it, young man. If it's to your liking, please come by again and buy something different.”
“Are you sure?”
“More than ever.”
The old shopkeeper smiled wholeheartedly while Conall swung the sword a few times in the air and inspected the blade.
“Then, I will keep it. No average blacksmith of today could recreate this masterpiece.”
He said absentmindedly, staring at the blade of the sword while the man with glasses raised his eyebrows. He truly didn’t expect for anyone from his generation to be able to tell. Slightly impressed by the boy’s eye, he spoke up.
“So you’re able to see through its appearance, huh? That’s right. It made quite a fine piece of blade back in my days. Tell me, young one, what’s your name?”
The man asked while stretching out his hand in a greeting.
Holding firmly onto the hand, Conall happily replied.
“It’s Conall. Conall Agael.”
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Conall. You can call me Heph. If you wish to visit me in the future, that is.”
The old man grinned, shaking Conall’s hand.
“If there are any more beauties like this, then I will have to.”
Heph burst out into sudden laughter, which made the boy smile in response.
Sheathing the sword back again, he finally left the antique shop.
Strapping the sword onto his belt that came alongside the elegant academy uniform, Conall finally went back to his room in the dormitory. Well, not after a quick meal from the academy cafeteria. They served nice egg salads there, so he made a detour.
While Conall was eating his fill, on the other side of the academy grounds, a certain girl swinging her sword couldn’t focus.
Standing in the shade of an old, large oak, she swung her blade earnestly while aura danced along the sharp metal.
Training control over one’s aura was complicated since it required immense focus, as well as concentration. At the moment, she possessed none of those. It was her mind that ran rampant, wanting to a certain image to played over and over again.
Beads of sweat accumulated on her body, but she didn’t care for them. In front of her, there was nothing. There was only her, her sword, and the path ahead, where she meant to slice.
Yet, once she attacked, alongside the trio appeared a winged, fire fairy with its cute little face that made her heart warm up in excitement, something that even this hours-long training couldn’t do.
“Ugh!”
She fell on the soft grass, sighing. For the last six or so hours, she couldn’t properly swing her sword even once. Instead of progressing, it felt like she was going downhill with her sword skills.
Not to mention, the fire fairy that kept showing up.
It was because of him that she couldn’t keep her emotions in check. Why was the fairy only popping up in her head? Shouldn’t it manifest in front of her? She couldn’t discern the reason for its hideout, but it drained her mentally.
Wishing that she would finally be able to wield elements, she patiently waited for the fairy to reveal himself. However, after almost ten days of nothing happening, her faith completely plummeted.
Left with only her sword, she tried to swing away the frustration, even that didn’t work out.
“Fairy, will you ever show up?”
She said quietly, mumbling to herself with her head buried in her arms.
Suddenly, the sky darkened and rain started to fall, confusing the girl somewhat.
Unnoticed by Juliette, a presence moved through the air, arriving right before the oak where the girl was, watching from above.
“Why do you look so depressed?”
Hearing the detestful voice from above, she clenched her jaw before calmly looking at the stranger that decided to visit her.
“Department head. May I ask what’s bringing you here?”
As the dark-haired man descended from the sky, his violently stern face made her nervous.
‘Are they finally throwing me out?’
However, unlike her wishful anticipation, the head of the department replied with something that she thought would have never happened.
His long cape fluttered as he neared the ground, and those greenish eyes of his quickly changed. From a stern face, he put on an unexpected smirk.
“I’ve come to congratulate you, professor Juliette. After five years of abstinence, the students finally lost their minds. Well, a student, to be exact.”
A weird feeling rose up inside her.
“What do you mean?”
“Congratulations, starting this year, you will be having a student of your own. Also, I’d like to mention that he scored last on the exam. A poor lad, truly, not knowing what he’s getting himself into.”
He sighed after uttering the last sentence, while Juliette sat there, aghast.
‘What idiot…’
She didn’t continue the thought as the head had already explained. A knight that ranked last. Still, was he ignorant of the world? He couldn’t be, right? After all, he still got accepted to the academy. He had to have had some skills.
Did he truly not know of the Daughter of Calamity? She shook her head. There was no way. Everyone knew, they knew from a young age.
Then, she got angry at her new student.
“So arrogant, even though he was last.”
So, he was thinking he could take on a Calamity? She would gladly laugh later after he ran away after their first lecture.
The department head stared at her, who was going through a rollercoaster of emotions. The rain that poured slowly a few seconds ago intensified. It got so dense it was hard to see in front of him.
As if there was a barrier protecting him, the rain couldn’t fall on him, protecting him from the fierce rain.
“You can come to the department later for your schedule. You haven’t been there in a long time. The other professors are missing you. That will be all from me, Miss Talise.”
In less than a blink of an eye, the department head was already flying away from this place, leaving an empty tunnel in the midst of rain.
Gripping the new sword on her side, she quickly unsheathed it, swinging at the raining sky to vent her anger.
After a full minute of constant barrage, she finally stopped, together with the rain. Then, she simply slumped onto the ground yet again, lying under the dark, but dry shade of the sturdy tree.