I'm running through the hallways as fast as I can, I'm trying to get to my next class quickly, because I'm late. I didn't hear the school bell sounding for some reason, so I overslept. I should have my first history class today, getting late to your first class isn't exactly the best impression to leave on a teacher.

After sprinting through the halls, I finally made it to the room I am supposed to be in. I opened the door and saw that the teacher had just finished introducing himself and was about to start the lesson.

"Please come in, I was just about to begin. Try not to be late next time." The professor said.

I quickly took a seat and opened my book. I'm surprised he is so calm about it.

"As I've said just now, I'll be beginning the history classes with the history of the region that now forms the Silgardia kingdom. After that we'll touch upon the Gaeran war, which has dramatically changed the course of history. I'll then continue on until the founding of Saxonia, the tensions that arose between Saxonia and the Tellingen theocracy. Later down the line we'll discuss the civil war, which will lead to the founding of Silgardia and end with the events until present."

He explained one more time just for me what topics he'll be discussing throughout the year.

He started off talking about a country called Lagerbergen. It used to lie in the middle of what is now Silgardia and consisted of about three fourth of the territory of Silgardia. It was originally just a collection of various smaller city-states that had close economic ties, but they eventually merged to form one singular country, aside from one of the city-states to the far east bordering the Karelia mountains. That singular city state would be called Tussbergen not long after the foundation of Lagerbergen.

An interesting thing about the countries that the professor mentioned is that they actually all share a common ancestor with the dragon-borne. The dragon-borne are a crossbreed between a human and the dragon species, the strongest species on the planet overall. There was an ethnic group of people that came from across the Karelia mountains. They went through the mountain range to reach this place and settle down. They met the dragons on their journey through the mountains and a part of the group had decided to settle in the mountain region. Another part continued further until they reached Lagerbergen and Tussbergen, hence why the names of the two countries and the now still existing country of the dragon-borne called Herbergen, had such similar names.

The three countries would still have close ties with each other, but that would all change when the Gaeran war started.

After already a long explanation about the history of Lagerbergen, the professor went on and started with the even longer explanation that is the history of the Gaeran war.

These are still parts of history that I was never aware of. I only knew about history starting from the civil war until today, from the stories of my parents.

I have heard some things about the Gaeran race, like that they're only few in numbers and that they reside all over the countries right now, but I never thought about why they are so few in numbers. I've also never seen one, let alone even know what one looks like.

The teacher started off talking about the Gaerans themselves as a race.

"Let me ask you this question first. Who has ever seen a Gaeran?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"Okay, next question. Who knows how one even looks like?"

A few students raised their hands.

"If I recall correctly, don't they have wings?" One student said.

Another student also added to what the first student said, "Aren't they also strong? Much stronger than humans?"

"Correct. They look humanoid, but they are very distinct from us. The features that make them stand out are first and foremost their wings. This obviously allows them to fly. Their skin color and hair color are also different. They're usually a dark grey color and their hair colors are also usually a dark shade, almost never a bright color. Their eyes are red as well." The teacher explained.

I was thinking for a bit and wondered why he kept using words like 'usually' and 'almost never'. I then decided to ask him about it.

"Say, professor, I have a question. You said they usually look dark grey, but when are they not then?"

"Ah! That's a great question. The Gaerans can in some rare cases give birth to something that we call 'albino Gaerans'. They have completely different physical features. As the name suggests, their skin is pale and they have white hair. Their eyes however remain the same color. The Gaerans are distinct from humans in terms of features, but they're also much stronger than us, like one of you just pointed out as well. Not only physically stronger, but also in terms of magical capabilities. They're also capable of using demonic magic. In case any of you are curious, we don't teach that type of magic, because humans are not capable of using it and if they do, they had to have thrown away their humanity in one way or the other."

I initially wanted to meet one when the teacher explained how a Gaeran looks like, but after telling us about their capabilities, I'm not so sure anymore if I want to. They might just do something bad to me. Who knows.

The teacher then pulled out an ancient map, which showed all the countries from the past.

"The country of Gaeran was located in what is mostly part of the Mathardia empire right now. Another small part lay within Tellingen. In the past right before the Gaeran war, Tellingen was much smaller. Between Gaeran and Tellingen used to be 6 more smaller countries. All these together formed the Papal states. To the east of Gaeran were 4 smaller countries."

On the map he pointed towards two countries located between Gaeran and the country that would now be called Zolgardia. These two countries were small countries, that didn't have any significance internationally and were mostly influenced by their larger neighboring countries.

He pointed towards the other two countries which were located in between Gaeran and Lagerbergen. He said the same thing about those two.

"The Gaeran country used to be one of the oldest countries that had existed so far at the time. Only behind the Tellingen theocracy. After centuries of peaceful existence, they ran into an issue. The land they lived on wasn't very fertile. This made agriculture quite difficult, making them sometimes not able to provide enough food for their people. To the north lies a huge mountain range, which also isn't ideal for agriculture. To the west was a large ocean. This forced them to do what would eventually be called the Gaeran war. In order to solve their agriculture issue, they had to expand to the south and east, which had much more fertile land."

He went on ahead and talked about how they quickly conquered most of the surrounding countries in a short time, due to their superior strength. They reached all the way into the territory of the country that is nowadays called Zolgardia. They even got to the borders of Lagerbergen and seemed like they were about to invade Lagerbergen as well. In the south front, they captured all of the papal states, except for Tellingen. They reached all the way to the Tellingen borders and were ready to invade.

"They were superior to humans both physically and magically as I've said earlier. Add on top of that the 'Albino Gaerans', not only do they look different, but their capabilities were even greater. Some estimations of the past put them at about a few dozen times greater than their normal counterparts. This made them essentially weapons of mass destruction. When things looked dire, the countries of the region formed an alliance to stop the advance of the Gaerans. The alliance didn't include Herbergen and Liviera. The alliance couldn't make much progress initially, all they could do was stall the invasion. Things all changed when Tellingen invented a new type of weapon that allowed them to get the upper hand."

"What is that new type of weapon?" somebody asked the professor.

"Those are state secrets, which I know nothing about. If I knew them, I wouldn't tell you. If I told you, I would be arrested and probably even executed." He bluntly said.

"Anyways, the course of the war changed completely after this and the alliance started to push the Gaerans back to their original borders, but they didn't stop there, they advanced further-"

The teacher was then suddenly interrupted by the school bells going off, which signaled the end of classes and the start of lunch break.

"We'll continue next time."

We all left the room and had our lunch breaks after.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm in the cafeteria eating my lunch right now together with Silvia and Fynch. We've kind of become buddies now. Yesterday we got divided into our own Houses, but we also got divided into different classes. We three are all in the same class, so we always have the same courses and attend the same activities together.

We were just having a small chat about small things, then I saw professor Yasmin walking in the cafeteria.

I recall that I have a course with her today after lunch, so I'm looking forward to that. Hers seems like it will be the most interesting one so far out of all the ones I've had.

I continued with my lunch until I noticed she was actually approaching our table. I wonder what she needs from us.

"Hello there, Naoki! How are you doing?" She asked me.

"I'm good, just the usual, you know."

"Good, as it should. How are you finding the classes here so far?"

"They're… alright." I responded, not sure how I should have worded it. I think they aren't the most interesting.

"Just 'alright'? Are you being honest with me?" she asks me like it is an interrogation.

"Ehhh… not really, no. I honestly expected more… magic, you know?"

"Ah I see, don't worry, you'll get to see enough magic in later courses, which includes mine of course! The school thinks it is also important to teach certain courses that don't necessarily have anything to do with magic. That's why you also have courses like zoology, history, botany and the likes."

"I can see some truth in that."

"And are these your friends here?" she then suddenly asked, changing the subject on a whim.

"Well… I wouldn't exactly call it friends…" I ask thinking what they would classify as of now.

"I see, is she your girlfriend then?"

"No no no! We're not! It would be too soon for that." Silvia responded while blushing and waving her hands. Wait! Did she say 'too soon'? Don't tell me she considered the idea.

"No, we're not! We're friends, okay?" I quickly responded as well.

"Alright, gotcha."

She then quietly said to me, "Though if I'm going to be honest, she looks like quite the beauty though, you should ask her out one day."

"Hey! I can hear you!" Silvia yelled angrily.

"Okay, I'll stop teasing you."

Honestly, I'm now wondering how the school thought letting Yasmin be a teacher here was going to be a good idea.

"I do have something to tell you specifically, Naoki. The headmaster told me about your… situation and the events of last week. I have decided to also partake in the research, so I'll be examining you more closely during my practical classes today."

At first I wasn't so sure what she was talking about. Then I realized she must be talking about the ambush and my magic.

"Sure, but might it not interfere with your class, since you'll be paying more attention to me then?"

"Don't worry, it is entirely possible to do that. You'll see later."

"If you say so then."

"I'll leave you lot alone now. I'll see you again later during my classes."

"Goodbye, professor!"

"Goodbye, Yasmin"

And with that, she went to the teacher's tables.

"Naoki, did you just call her by her name only?" Fynch asks me like I just insulted her or something.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"You can't just call a teacher by just their name alone. That's not respectful towards them." Silvia then adds.

"Says the one who just yelled at a teacher. But to answer your question, she told me that I could just drop the honorifics."

"Really? How come you are so close with each other? She also seemed awfully casual just now." Silvia asks me.

"Well, I think she is just like that. She gave me a personal tour two days ago and from our short period of interacting, I have concluded that's just her personality."

"I didn't know." Fynch said while he was looking at Yasmin sitting at the teacher's table.

"We haven't really spoken with her before."

After that, we quickly finished our lunch and then went to our next classroom.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We got to the door of our next class, however everyone was still standing outside. We're now just waiting like everyone else until Yasmin arrives. The door is locked, so we can't head inside. Besides, there are no tables and chairs anyways, so there is no point in going inside if we could.

The next class will be done in a smaller group of students. The previous ones were all multiple classes together, however since this will be a more practical one, it will be done with everyone's own respective class.

While waiting, a girl from another class was walking by with a stack of books in her hands. She then accidentally walked into someone, causing her to drop all her books on the ground.

Silvia told me during the House Dedication ceremony that he is Marcus Siliphius.

"Watch our where you're walking." He told the girl, currently on the ground picking up her books again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you. It was an accident."

"Do you even know who he is?" said one of the guys who was talking with Marcus. That guy in question was the same bully who I approached when I first met Silvia. I'm guessing he tried to get close to Marcus, because of his family's standing and influence.

"No, I don't." The girl said timidly.

"He's Marcus Siliphius, his family has a lot of influence. So, keep that in mind when you 'accidentally' run into him next time."

The girl then quickly got up after picking everything up and ran away.

"Ugh, why do they always have to cause trouble like that. They think they're so powerful, because of his family's standing." Silvia quietly says to us.

She is right though. I've encountered some nobles before who passed through my hometown. They seem to always act all high and mighty, thinking they're so much better than everyone else, no matter what country they're from. This is something I've always despised.

I was thinking about approaching them about their attitude towards others, but Fynch actually had the same idea and acted faster than me.

"Hey! Don't you think you went too far?" Fynch says, after approaching the bully and Marcus.

"I just told her not to mess with Marcus. What's wrong with that?" He said almost as a matter of fact.

"We're all students here, nobody is above everybody else, so we should treat each other equally! Not how you just treated that girl earlier."

"You and who else thinks that, huh?" The bully then threw back at us, while looking at the crowd. Nobody responded, some even pretended they weren't listening.

"Me!" I said, now standing besides Fynch.

"Me as well." Silvia said after me. "We've had about enough of your antics. First at the cafeteria and now here again?"

"Oh, well look who we have here again? Seems like you haven't had enough-" he then got stopped by Marcus.

"Nicolas. Hold it." Marcus said. So, his name is Nicolas, huh?

"I was thinking about what you said. Everything about equality between us, no matter their family's standing." He said while walking closer to us. He is about as tall as me and Fynch, so our eyes were at the same height as each other.

"Here's what I think… I think that is the most hilarious thing you could have said." He said almost laughing like it's some sort of joke.

"Us, getting treated the same as you? Where are you even from, probably some poor bum from the country side, Naoki Rhein? Don't get me even started. I don't even know why the school accepts folk like you. If it was for me, I would-"

"You would do what?" came from a voice right behind Marcus.

He turned around and saw that Yasmin was standing right behind him. She had a serious and deadpan look on her face. She seemed to be emitting her aura as well, making her seem very intimidating. This caused Marcus to get scared when he saw her. No one saw her approaching because she is not a very tall person, a little smaller than us. We couldn't see her through the crowd.

"Tell me. What would you do if it was for you?" She asks again, still looking Marcus deadpan in the face.

"Uh… eh… mmm… nothing. I would do nothing! I would keep things as it is!" He blurted out, while looking visibly panicked and frightened.

She kept looking him in the face for a bit longer, not responding at all, before she finally broke the silence.

"As I thought."

Her deadpan face then disappeared and so did her aura, making everyone ease up again.

"You were all waiting for me, weren't you? Sorry for the small delay, but I'm now here, so let's get the class started." She said like nothing had just happened.

After giving Marcus the fright of his life, she quickly filled in the attendance list and we're now outside the campus on a large grass field.

"Welcome everyone! Today is our first lesson of applied magic together. Before I start, I want to do a little test first."

"A test?"

"Aww, really?"

"Not a test…"

People didn't seem very enthusiastic about her 'little test'.

"No worries, I won't grade you on this." she quickly said, trying to salvage the situation.

"You're a small class, so it's not going to take very long. What I want to do is for each one of you to attack me individually using whatever spell you know of."

Now everybody went from unenthusiastic to curious after she explained what the little test was.

"I want to gauge the capabilities of each of you, so I can teach you better on an individual level. How about we start with you." she said while pointing at a guy standing in front of her.

"So, as I said, I want you to use whatever you know of to try and hit me."

"Wait, hit you? Won't I hurt you then?" he asked worriedly about the teacher.

"Don't worry about it, I know what I'm doing. Besides, it's not easy for anyone to hurt me. Not even the other teachers." Yasmin confidently told him.

"If you say so then." he said, still slightly hesitating.

He started preparing a spell, I know because I see the mana starting to flow towards him. I've been noticing this lately, every time somebody prepares to chant a spell, mana collects around the person.

Then I can start seeing something appear in the palm of his right hand. It appears to be lightning surges, so he's going to fire off a lightning attack, huh?

After a few seconds of charging, a large bolt of lightning travelled towards Yasmin at such a high speed, it seemed like it travelled in an instant.

After the impact, a cloud of dust rose and we couldn't see anything. When it finally disappeared, we all see Yasmin still standing there, seemingly not hurt at all. The guy who fired off the spell then looked astonished and so did others.

"I swear I saw the bolt hitting you. It travelled instantly." He said, taken aback by Yasmin.

"You in fact did not hit me. Try again." Yasmin smugly said.

He then started firing off more of the same spell, but none of them seemed like it landed at all.

"How is it that none of them are doing anything?"

"You see, your spell takes some time to charge up. It makes your attacks very predictable, allowing me to dodge them."

So, she was dodging all of them. I thought she was actually blocking the spells one way or another.

"What? You can dodge that fast?" He exclaimed.

"I told you it's not easy to hurt me."

"I'll try this then…" he then started charging up another attack, but this time with both of his hands. After a few seconds, he put his hands on the ground. The ground then started to light up, probably due to him sending lightning surges through the ground.

Yasmin managed to dodge it by jumping upwards, high up into the sky.

The guy then suddenly started smiling and said, "I got you now! Dodge this!" Afterwards he quickly charged up another shot of lightning and fired it at her, while she was still in the air. The bolt travelled towards Yasmin at an incredible speed. We all thought that this was definitely going to hit her.

Yasmin took the bolt head on, she then fell down again and landed on her feet. She then just smiled at him, just casually brushing that attack off, like somebody just gave her a light slap.

"That was a good display of both magic usage and tactics. Very good! Your turn is over."

"Huh? I just hit you directly with my strongest attack, how are you unhurt?"

"Quite easy actually, I just manipulated the flow of mana around me to flow around me. This caused the bolt to follow the flow of mana, so it gets redirected away from me, minimizing the impact and damage." She explained as a matter of fact.

He just looked at her flabbergasted, then went back towards the group.

"Alright then! Next up is…"

We continued for a while. More or less the same thing happened. People thought they got her, but she somehow managed to have a trick up her sleeves every time and get away from attacks unhurt.

Silvia managed to trap her in a wind cage with wind blades spinning inside. But, like usual, she somehow managed to punch her way out. Yes, she literally punched her way out this time. With a singular punch, she broke the wind cage, completely disrupting her spell.

"Not bad, if it was anybody else, they wouldn't have had any way out. Next up, we have Marcus Siliphius. It's now your turn to show me what you got."

"I'll show you guys how it is done." He confidently said, while approaching the teacher.

Marcus put his hand up towards the sky and started to charge up a spell. However, he took us all by surprise when what appeared wasn't a spell, but instead he summoned a sword made from flames. He then readied his flaming sword, ready to attack.

"Oh? Now this will be interesting." Yasmin said.

"Are you sure you want to stand wide open like that?"

"Yes. I'm giving you a chance to give it your all."

"Don't regret it after I hit you." He then charged towards Yasmin. Halfway he swung his sword, which then shot out a large fire blade. Yasmin doges to her right, to avoid it, however the blades started tracking towards her new position, catching her by surprise. She then dashed again to avoid the tracking blades.

"So, you can dodge one, huh? How about multiple ones!" Marcus then started swinging his blade multiple times, shooting out many more fire blade.

Yasmin then did something she hadn't done before, which was putting up a barrier to block the fire blades. I wouldn't blame her though. Trying to dodge or taking on that many blades head on is a lot to ask, even for someone like her.

"I'm not done yet!"

Against everybody's expectations, he then sprouted a pair of flaming wings, after which he started flying into the air. He then summoned another sword and started to spin, creating a tornado of fire, which he directed towards Yasmin.

Yasmin quickly dashed away to dodge the large fire tornado rapidly approaching her.

"Hey! Watch out where you direct that thing towards!" She yelled out.

The tornado missed Yasmin, but it continued going forward, until it hit a tree that was in the way. Upon impact, the tree burst into flames.

"Oh goodness. I have to do something about that before the fire spreads."

Marcus, however, kept firing fire blades, not noticing that he was setting the whole area on fire. He's going too far and so does Yasmin think, judging by the look on her face.

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Yasmin swung her hand towards the tree that was on fire. The tree and the area around it then suddenly froze over completely, causing the fire to be put out. She then looked towards Marcus, who was still in the air and yelled, "Enough already!".

He clearly couldn't hear her in his own rampage. So, she dashes up into the air, quickly approaching Marcus, dodging all the fire blades. After just a fraction of a second, she was behind him already. She then gave him a slap on the back of his head, finally making him stop his fire barrage.

"I told you to cut it out already. Look what you're doing to the surrounding area."

Marcus then finally noticed that he had scorched the entire grass field. It was a miracle nobody got hurt. Both then descended back to the ground after the fighting stopped.

"Your lack of awareness for your surroundings is clearly a problem that you need to work on. Also don't just barrage your opponent mindlessly with fire. It works well on much weaker opponents, but against somebody with similar capabilities, you'll get outsmarted like that."

Marcus didn't say anything in response and just angrily walked back to the group.

"Who haven't we had yet… that's right, you're up next, Naoki."

Looks like I'm going to go up against Yasmin now. I haven't had much chance to practice my newfound abilities, so I'll have to adapt on the go.

"Are you ready?" Yasmin asks me.

"Not sure, but I'll see what I can do."

So far, I've only used fire magic, but seeing how Marcus almost burned the entire field earlier, I'm going to have to be more reserved with my fire magic. Perhaps I can even try and see if I am capable of using others as well.

I start off by doing what I did last time, which was imagining a fireball in my hand. The same thing happened, which was mana flowing into my hand, which then turned into fire.

I then fired it at her, it wasn't anything impressive, but that's because I'm still trying to gauge the amount of mana I need to try to pour into it to create the right size. I don't want to overdo it like Marcus.

Yasmin just casually blocks the fireball.

"You got to put in more effort than that."

That's the sign that I can put more power into it, so I imagined a much larger ball this time. I summoned a fireball about one meter in diameter. This surprised everybody, even Yasmin.

"Now that's what I call a fireball!" Yasmin said while she was bracing herself to take it head on.

I launched the ball at her at a high velocity. It scorched all the grass in its path, at least the grass that was still left after Marcus' onslaught of fire. The fireball hit Yasmin and created a large explosion.

For a second, I was worried about her, but then I saw that she had put up a barrier to shield herself from the blast.

"Wow, be careful with that thing. You could knock out even some of the teachers with that. How about you try something instead of just launching fireballs?"

"I'll try…" I said uncertain if I can do it.

I tried to imagine other things, for example a wind blade, but nothing came of it. I also tried to imagine a lightning bolt, but the same thing happened. Nothing.

"Hey, are you going to do something or did you already give up?" I hear Marcus say.

I internally told him to shut up. I kept trying to imagine any other spell besides a fireball, but I kept failing.

"Heh, guess that's really all he has. Just a pushover." Nicolas said after Marcus' unwanted comment.

This caused me to start feeling frustrated. Why can I not do it, it works for fire, so why does it not work for any other spell?

I was just about to give up, but then the whole world seemed to have suddenly come to a halt for me.

I couldn't move my body. It's the same sensation again. From when I was about to get killed by the bandit a while ago.

Then suddenly I heard the whispering voice again. This time however, I could actually understand him.

"Do you want more power?"

I wasn't sure what to respond at first.

"Do you want the ability to control magic?"

"I… I do…" I responded.

"Do you want to be able to control magic like the others?"

"I do."

"Do you want mastery over all elements?"

"I do!" I yelled out this time. I don't know if I'm making a mistake by answering yes, but I'm too frustrated right now to think straight.

"Then I'll grant you power."

With that, the whispering voice disappeared. I expected the same headache again, but this time, it didn't happen. This time it felt like I was becoming numb. My whole body lost all feelings. Then time started moving again. It was then that it dawned upon me that I actually couldn't control my body at all. I couldn't even speak or move my eyes.

Then all of a sudden, my body moved on its own.

I see my hand being raised up and pointed at Yasmin. A giant lightning bolt was shot out, hitting Yasmin. The attack was more powerful than any of the spells cast by the other students. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After I asked Naoki to try and cast other spells, he looked like he got quite frustrated. He seemed like he struggled a lot to cast other spells.

At one point he even stopped moving at all, just staring blankly at his hands. I was contemplating if I should just end it here, but then he started moving his hands again.

I first thought he was going to continue trying, but what happened next caught me by surprise.

He shot a very powerful lightning bolt at me, making me put up my barrier reflexively.

That was the most powerful spell anybody has cast so far today. Was he just hiding his trump card or something? If he was, then he might be more powerful than I initially thought.

He put up his other hand and started casting another spell. I expected a fireball or a lightning bolt, but it was neither.

He fired wind blades at me. I quickly dodged by dashing to the side.

Something seems off. If he is capable of using so many different elements, then why did he seem like he was struggling?

Naoki then started walking towards me, which then turned into him dashing towards me with a fireball ready in his right hand.

This is not good, if I don't get away, I'll have a fireball in my face at point blank range.

I quickly jumped up into the air to dodge his charge. I looked down and to my surprise, he wasn't anywhere on the ground. I then noticed intense mana flow behind me, which only meant one thing.

I looked around and I was instantly met with a fire spell. I couldn't dodge it because I was in the air and I couldn't block it in time either. That was how quickly he appeared behind me.

I got sent to the ground at a high velocity and was also burned by the fire.

"Damn, that hurts you know! We should maybe call it quits for now. You've proven yourself plenty right now."

But he didn't say anything back to me. His face was also completely expressionless.

"Naoki? Are you feeling alright? Your face seems off."

Something seems fishy about him. It almost seems like he isn't here mentally.

He then fired off an even larger wave of fire than he did before, so I responded with a water blast to block his spell.

"Naoki! You can stop now!"

Still… no response from him.

"He's not right. I need to stop him myself, before he hurts anyone in the process."

"Professor, what's going on with Naoki?" I heard the elven girl called Silvia ask from where the students are standing.

"I don't know. This is the first time I've seen something like this."

If I can't get him to stop using my words, then I have to do so using my fists.

I know it goes against teachers' ethics to use violence against your students, but this is an emergency.

"Naoki, are you sure you don't want to cut it out right now?" I ask him one more time as a final warning.

Again, no response. As expected.

So, I unleashed my full aura, getting ready to take him on seriously.

He readied a fire spell in his left hand and started charging at me again to fire it at point blank range. He approached me quickly, but nothing I can't dodge. I stepped to the right to dodge his fist, then I grabbed his left arm and threw him at the frozen tree.

For a second I thought I got him, but after he fell to the ground, he got up again. He then started firing lightning bolts at me again. Since he's at a distance, he has the advantage now by just keeping firing long range spells at me.

I put up a barrier to shield myself from the onslaught, but I won't be able to close the distance like this.

So, I removed the barrier and started sprinting towards him again, while dodging all the lightning spells. I can tell he's getting sloppier now with his spells, so this is my perfect chance.

Once I've gotten close enough to him, I dash to the left to avoid his frontal attack. While avoiding his attack, I froze the ground under him to immobilize him. I then started running towards him again.

He started chanting another spell, but I dodged it by sliding beneath it on the ice. My momentum then carried me towards him and once I got close enough, I used my special spell that I was preparing.

My whole body started to transform into a current of electricity. I instantly travelled through him, I then reemerged behind him again. Afterwards a large electric blast happened exactly where Naoki is standing.

Naoki then finally fell to the ground. I double checked just to be sure he isn't getting up again. He's indeed completely out cold, so he's not going to attack again for now.

Naoki looks really roughed up right now, so I need to bring him to the infirmary quickly. I then saw the students and was wondering what I should do about them.

"Everybody, you're dismissed for today. I'll bring him to the infirmary right now."

And with that, all the students went away. I was on my way to the infirmary while carrying Naoki's unconscious body in my arms. This caused everybody who I pass to give me curious and worried looks.

Once I arrived at the infirmary, I told the nurses to take care of him.

"He got struck by a lightning spell, after which he was unconscious."

"Alright, we'll take care of him right now."

After they put him on one of the many beds, they cast a healing spell on him, then checked his vital signs just to be sure nothing was wrong.

"He seems to be in a stable state. He's probably just unconscious after getting electrocuted by a lightning spell. I'm sure he'll wake up again after a short period."

This at least put me at ease again. I was worried for a moment that I went too hard on him and heavily injured him. I know I had no other choice, since if I just let him be, he might have hurt somebody else.

It's moments like these that make me regret my powers. I then look at the necklace that I'm wearing. I got reminded again about why I'm wearing this. It was actually something the headmaster made specifically for me, one of its properties is that it suppresses my magical powers. If it wasn't for this, I might have actually killed Naoki.

I then decided to leave the infirmary for now. I will check on him again later when he wakes up. For now, I'll just head back to my room.

I arrived at my room and went to lie down on my bed just staring at the ceiling mindlessly.

My mind slowly started to drift away until I fell asleep.

After a short nap, I was woken up by the sound of knocking on my door. I quickly got up and opened the door to see Sildok standing there.

"Can I speak with you for a minute?" He asked me.

"Sure." I said without much energy in my voice.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thank you everybody for listening. I'll see you next lesson."

I just finished teaching 'magic fundamentals' to the last class for today. After all the students left, I left as well and went towards the teacher's room to finish off some work that I still had left over. I then overheard the conversation of two of my colleagues.

"By the way, did you hear what happened today during Yasmin's class?"

"Yeah, I did. Apparently, a student got hit by a lightning spell and went unconscious?"

"I don't know the exact details of the incident, but it sounds serious. The nurses in the infirmary have also banned people from entering, because of the commotion it would otherwise cause."

After hearing that something bad may have occurred during one of Yasmin's classes, I went over and asked the two about it.

"Excuse me, did you two just say that a student went unconscious after getting hit by a spell during one of Yasmin's classes?"

"Yes. At least that's what I heard from some of the students, who heard it from the students of her class."

"And can you tell me where Yasmin is right now?"

"I don't know, but I do know that after the incident, she dismissed all students, so she's probably not in her classroom."

If she's not in her classroom, then she has to be in her own room then.

"Thank you for the information."

So I hurriedly went towards her room to try and get a better understanding of what happened. Having a student go unconscious during your class isn't something you want to happen as a teacher. Especially if it's because of a spell.

After reaching the door to her room, I knocked on it three times. After the door opened, I asked her if I could speak with her.

"Sure", she said with a rather unenergetic tone, which is unusual for her.

We both sat down in chairs across from each other with a table in between us.

"So, I heard a student went unconscious after getting hit by a spell, could you tell me more in detail what happened?" I asked her concerned.

She first let out a deep sigh, before she started her explanation.

"Where do I begin? I wanted to perform a little test, where the students had to try and hit me with their strongest spells. It all went well for the most part, but then it was Naoki's turn. Initially nothing seemed off, he just used some fire magic. I asked him to try something different, but I could tell he was struggling to do so. He seemed to get really frustrated and looked like he was about to give up. After just standing still for a short moment, he suddenly shot out the strongest lightning spell I'd seen between any of the students. I initially thought nothing of it, but he then started wielding all forms of elemental magic like it was nothing. The weirdest part about it is that he didn't respond to me at all, his face was also expressionless. I tried to tell him to stop, because his magic was going out of control, but he wouldn't listen. So, I had to stop him using my own magic."

"And let me guess, you used lightning magic to get him unconscious, so he would stop?"

"… yes, I did." She answered after a short pause.

"I can see you're struggling with the fact that you attacked your own student, so would any teacher, but I'm sure you had no other choice." I said, trying to console her a bit, because I could tell she was struggling internally with her emotions. She's quite emotionally unstable, because she's had a very difficult past. I know because I was part of that past too.

"How about some tea? I'm sure that will help improve your mood." I suggested.

"Yes… I'd appreciate that."

I went to the stove and started boiling water using fire magic. After preparing the teacup, I set it down on the table.

She took a sip of it and started smiling again.

"Thank you." she suddenly said.

"What for?"

"For what you've done. You're always the first to support me and stand by my side during difficult times."

"I had always treated you like you are my own daughter, so this is to be expected."

Afterwards, we just sat at the table without saying anything, but just looking at our teacups.

"I just remembered something that I had to tell you about. Professor Nivrem spoke with me yesterday, he told me that he asked Naoki a few questions regarding what happened during the bandit ambush. He said that Naoki heard whispers during the ambush, after which he suddenly gained magical capabilities. He said that he was going to ask you about it."

"No, he hasn't asked me about it. I haven't even seen him today."

"But does it sound familiar to you?" I ask in professor Nivrem's stead.

"Hmmm… it doesn't immediately ring any bells. Maybe I could ask him how the whispering voice sounded like."

"Really not? I recalled you telling me a long time ago that you had encountered a similar phenomenon as well. I need to know if it's the same thing, because right now, we're at a dead end. None of the events that he's described so far makes any sense. Like how time suddenly seemed to stop, the whispering voice, then suddenly getting a headache and then being able to wield magic."

"Again, I'll ask him more about it. It was all long ago, so I don't remember all the details."

"Please do. Oh, would you look at the time, I'll leave you again for now, I still have some tasks to take care off."

"Okay, go ahead. I'll see you again." She says, now much more cheerful than before.

I then left her room and went back to the teacher's room.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm just sitting at the table all alone right now. Sildok has already left for a while. I'm thinking back to the words he said earlier. It reminds me again of the past, before either of us had even heard of this academy.

I stood up again and went to the bathroom. I went and looked at myself in the mirror. I see my own dark eyes and my red hair. I then opened my mouth and saw my normal teeth.

"This is not my real look…" I whispered to myself.

I then grabbed my necklace and took it off. My entire face started to change, my hair color changed, my eye color and even my teeth grew fangs. Most important of all, my wings became visible.

"This is how I truly look." I said to myself again. It's been a while since I've taken off the necklace and seen myself. My actual self.

It's all thanks to this special magic tool that I can be a teacher here at this academy. For countless decades have we Gaerans been hunted down, so we were forced to live in hiding. There are so little of us left that I have only met a handful of others in my lifetime so far. I know that there are probably a few outposts somewhere, but I have no reason to go find them, because at this point I don't have any real attachment to them. I know I'm technically the princess, but I highly doubt that people even remember about the Taurcaran royal family at this point. Besides, where would I even begin looking. I don't think this is something you can just ask people around.

Since I'm in the bathroom anyways, I thought this might be a good moment to take a warm bath. I used my mana to power the magic gem hanging above the bathtub, which made it shoot out a continuous spray of water. You can even control the temperature of the water. I filled up the entire tub and then went in it after taking off all my clothes.

This feels nice. After everything that happened, this is exactly what I needed.

After what felt like an hour, I got out of it and dried myself. After dressing myself back again, I drained the water in the tub by pulling a plug, which reveals a hole. The water went into it and into the sewers. It made quite a loud noise, likely the sound of water going through the tubes.

I exited the bathroom and was going to finish the tea that was still in the teacup sitting on the table. However, the next thing that I saw, made me freeze in my tracks.

I saw the door to my room was open and standing in front of the door was Naoki.

I was not wearing my necklace.

"Professor Yasmin?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It all seemed like a dream to me. It felt unreal. I couldn't move my body, it was moving on its own. I couldn't even move my mouth to say a word. All I could do was look how I attacked Yasmin.

When I wanted the power to control magic, this was not what I wanted. I'm wreaking havoc all over the terrain right now. If it doesn't stop, I might hurt somebody.

I tried to scream stop, but nothing came out of my mouth.

I kept trying and trying.

Then I noticed my body stopped running around and I noticed her charging at me. My body was then about to cast another spell and fire it at her.

I tried to warn her about it, but like before, nothing came out of it.

I didn't want to look, but I even lost control over my eyelids.

Yasmin's body then suddenly completely transformed into electricity and after that everything went dark.

After just an instant, I woke up screaming.

"Watch out!!!"

I looked around me and noticed I was lying in a bed.

I then heard footsteps coming from one of the other rooms here.

"What's going on? Oh! You're awake." One of the nurses said while running into my room.

"Where am I and what happened?"

"You're currently in the infirmary of the academy. I've been told you were struck by a lightning spell, after which you went unconscious. Professor Yasmin then carried you here."

It then dawned upon me again what happened. I lost control and went on a rampage.

"Hold on! Is professor Yasmin alright?" I asked the nurse with a concerned look.

"Huh? Uhm… She looked fine to me when she brought you here a few hours ago."

"Do you know by any chance where she is right now?"

"No, but if you want to know, you'll have to ask the teachers in the teacher's room."

I then got out of bed and wanted to go see her again to apologize and try and explain what happened.

"Wait! You can't get out just yet. We may have casted a healing spell on you, but it's better to rest a bit more."

"I'm alright. I've gone through worse at this point."

Once I got out of the bed, I noticed my body felt a little weak, but I pushed onwards. As I've said, I've gone through worse.

I then quickly got out of the infirmary, I could still hear the nurse behind me telling me to rest more.

I knew where the teacher's room was located, so I went there as fast as I could.

Once I arrived, I knocked on the door to ask.

"Excuse me for disturbing you, but does any one of you know where professor Yasmin currently is?" I asked as politely as I could.

"I don't know." One of the teachers said.

"Me neither."

Then professor Sildok noticed my presence.

"Hello there, Naoki. If you're looking for her, she's currently in her own room right now." He said.

"She is? Do you know by any chance where her room is?"

"Just follow the same route towards the student dorms from here, but instead of taking the left halls after the stairs, you take the right one. Her name should be on the front of the door."

"Thank you very much."

I then quickly began making my way towards there.

"Wait, going right now may not-" I heard he was about to say something, but I was already too far away to understand what he said.

I followed the same route he described to me and I made my way to the halls of the teacher's dorms. I then found the door which said 'professor Yasmin'.

I knocked on the door, but nobody responded.

I then tried turning the doorknob, expecting it to be closed, but to my surprise, it wasn't.

I opened the door and saw nobody was present. This made me wonder if she wasn't here but went away and that she just forgot to lock her door.

But then another door in her room opened and out came somebody. I thought it was Yasmin, but it wasn't. At least I thought so.

What I saw was a white-haired beauty with a pair of dark wings on her back, like those of a bat.

She then looked at me and completely stopped moving. She looked at me with a look of disbelief.

"Professor Yasmin?" I asked to confirm if it's actually her.

She doesn't answer me and just stands there and continues to stare at me. I then instinctively took a step backwards.

She noticed it and shut the door behind me with just a move of her hand.

She then mumbled something that I couldn't fully understand.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"Don't leave this room!" She said angrily but also panicked.

She was walking around the room while muttering the words "this is not good" over and over again.

I didn't understand at first what is going on, until I looked at her appearance closely. Her face looks the same as Yasmin's, so I'm certain it is her, but everything else looks different. Besides her white hair, she also had a large pair of wings and red eyes.

It then dawned upon me what she looks like. I remember from history class today about the appearance of albino Gaerans. She looks exactly like how it was described.

"Yasmin… you're a Gaeran?" I asked her to confirm my suspicions.

She then walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders with both her hands.

"You can't tell this to anybody! Do you realize how bad it would be if anybody found out?" She said while looking me right in the eyes with the most serious look I've ever seen her have.

I quickly nodded my head.

Then we both heard a knock on the door.

"Who goes there?" Yasmin asked still looking panicked.

"It's me. Sildok."

I noticed her loosen up slightly after hearing it was professor Sildok at the door.

"Is Naoki Rhein inside with you right now?"

"Yes, he is."

The door then opened and we saw Sildok, who got surprised by what he saw.

"Though we have a big problem on our hands right now." She added.

Sildok only looked for a second and looked like he knew exactly what was going on. He walked into the room and locked the door behind him.

"How could this have happened? Why did you take off your necklace?" He asked Yasmin with a very exasperated look.

"I took it off to look at myself in the bathroom. When I left, I forgot to put it back on. Besides, how could I know if he was in my room?"

He then looked at me and asked me angrily, "Why didn't you knock on the door? Don't you know it's courtesy to always knock on doors before entering?".

"Well, I did knock on the door, but nobody responded, so I assumed nobody was there. I turned the doorknob to confirm if nobody was actually in the room, but I was surprised when the door wasn't locked."

"Ugh… I was hoping this situation would never arise." Sildok said after a loud sigh.

"What do we do, Sildok? This is really bad! Do you know what happens if more people find out?"

"I am well aware of that, but you got to calm down!"

"Maybe you could use your magic to wipe his memories? That would definitely solve-"

*Slap*

Sildok slapped Yasmin across her face, which made a loud noise.

"Yasmin! You got to calm down first! Let's not make any irrational decisions right now! Understood?"

"I… I… understand." She said while she held her hand against her cheek.

"I can't just wipe the memories of people on a whim. It's extremely hard to wipe a precise portion of somebody's memory, so there is a high risk of wiping more than intended, which will have even worse consequences."

"Then what should we do about this situation then?" Yasmin asked Sildok while looking at me, who hasn't moved an inch from my spot.

They thought for a second until Sildok came to a conclusion.

"I think we should just tell him everything."

"What? You can't be serious, Sildok?"

"Listen. Our only realistic option is for him to just keep this a secret. The best way to do that is if he knows the full weight of the situation. Threatening him if he leaks it is not going to work, besides, what kind of teachers would we be if we threatened students."

"I… I need to think about this." She said before going to the bathroom again and closing the door.

"C-Can you actually wipe people's memories?" I asked a bit scared.

"Yes, I can. But relax, I'm not going to do that. I can assure you of that." He said, after clearly seeing that I was on edge.

"Just take a seat for now. Once she returns, we'll fully explain the situation."

After a minute or two, Yasmin returned, but this time she looked the way she usually does again. She sat down next to Sildok, who sat across the table from me.

"So, here's how it is." Sildok begins explaining.

"Yasmin here is an albino Gaeran, as you've probably figured out by now. However, that's not the only thing about her that stands out. You've probably wondered why nobody knows her last name or why she never tells anybody?"

I shook my head to signify that I didn't know why.

"Well, her last name is Taurcaran. Does that ring any bells?"

I again shook my head.

"Seems like you haven't gotten to that part in history class. Well to keep it short, the last king that ruled over the Gaeran kingdom was king Brackis Taurcaran. Yasmin is the daughter of Brackis Taurcaran, meaning that she is the princess of the Gaerans."

I couldn't believe what I heard. Yasmin here is a princess? And of the Gaerans no less? But wait, if I recall correctly from history class, those events took place more than a century ago.

"Didn't the Gaeran war take place over a century ago? How is it possible that she's the daughter of the last king?"

"Well, let's say magic can do hell of a lot to increase your lifespan." Yasmin says.

"Towards the end of the war, she was still a baby. We don't know the details of what happened here, but she got out of the palace that was being besieged through the help of others. That is when I came into the picture. I found her being chased by soldiers, but I saved her and also ended up adopting her as my own daughter."

What he just said came as a shock to me as well. So, she's his adopted daughter? That's why they seemed so close.

"But that's not the main reason why it's important that you don't tell anybody else about this. The main reason is actually what happened after the Gaeran war. The human nations at the time had started what was effectively a genocide against the Gaerans. The Gaerans had to flee and live in hiding, lest they risk getting wiped out."

"So, you're saying if word got out, she would be hunted down?" I asked them.

"Yes, that is what will happen to me if you tell others. I would basically be forced to move out of here and go somewhere else. I'd probably even have to take on a new identity."

"But I don't understand. Even more than a hundred years after the war, why would they still actively hunt your kind down?"

"We think Tellingen played a role in that." Sildok answered.

"The theocracy of Tellingen follows a religion that regards humans above others, like elves, beastmen, dragon borne and of course Gaerans. They wanted the Gaerans to be gone and the war was the perfect excuse for that. They managed to influence the policies of other countries because they gained a ton of political influence after almost doubling their territory after the war. Even though the other nations merged to stand against the increasing influence of Tellingen, it still wasn't enough. Eventually this genocide was done across both Tellingen and Saxonia."

"I see."

"I hope you understand the weight of your responsibility right now and the consequences if you fail to keep this a secret."

"I understand. I'll never tell it to anybody." I replied.

"You swear you won't?" Yasmin asks me again with a very stern look.

"I swear I won't tell!"

After looking at each other for a second for approval, they then decided to trust my word.

"I think he'll be able to keep this a secret. You can go now." Sildok said.

I slowly got up from the chair and walked out of the room. However, I couldn't because the door was locked.

"Oh, excuse me, I'll open it for you."

Sildok then walked over and unlocked the door for me. Before I left, I remembered again why I went to Yasmin's room in the first place.

"Professor Taurca- uh… I mean Yasmin."

"Please try not to slip up when others are around." Yasmin said, looking like she's starting to get skeptical whether I can actually keep it a secret.

"Sorry professor Yasmin. So, I still wanted to apologize for the trouble I caused you earlier today."

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know, when I went on a rampage."

"I remember again! Yeah, that's no big deal. Compared to what just happened right now."

"Eheheh, great to hear it's all good then." I said while laughing sheepishly.

"I'll make my way back to the student dorms then."

And with that I left the room and quickly went to the student dorms.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Didn't you want to ask him a question as well about the whispering voices?"

"Nah… it has been enough for one day. I don't want more trouble for now. I just want to relax."

"Heh, that's the Yasmin I know."

Sildok walked back to the table I was sitting at.

"I still can't believe somebody found out, even if it was by accident." he said.

"I'll have to be extra careful from now on. I've really messed up this time."

"It's rare of you to admit your own mistake."

"That's because this time, it's really serious. There is no point in protecting my pride if I have to leave. All we can hope for now is that he doesn't tell anybody and that he doesn't slip up."