CHAPTER 33: BACK TO SCHOOL P3
~33.3~
*****
The first class of the day began with a small surprise for Kye and Alethea. When they entered, Liliana immediately stepped between them and the instructor and gave him a look that said she would eat him alive if he misspoke.
“Welcome, young royals and imperials,” Instructor Hansen said.
He was the same instructor that almost a year prior failed to recognize Kye as an instructor.
“Greetings, Instructor Hansen,” Kye said as she took her seat.
Hansen had trouble meeting Liliana’s glare, instead focusing on the book on his desk. “Lady Liliana, please take your seat.”
Sanae sighed as she entered the room and covered Lily’s eyes. “I think he learned his lesson.”
Liliana nodded and took her seat.
“Greetings, Instructor Hansen,” said Athanasia as she entered the classroom.
“Lady Athanasia, hello. I’m so glad you are here.” He gave her a smile. “Quite the heroic tale.”
“Indeed.” She nodded. “I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be here.”
Once the rest of the class shuffled in and took their seats, Hansen stood up from his desk and stepped around in front of it, his eyes firmly on Kye. “A year ago, I made quite a drastic mistake. Fortunately, I have been allowed to learn from that mistake. Lady Kye, I am told you still go by that name?”
She nodded. “That’s fine, yes.”
He bowed to her. “I offer my apologies. The incident last year was the result of no more or less than my own shortcomings. I have taken measures to ensure I will not repeat such a mistake.”
Kye smiled. “Simply apologizing serves only to placate minds that seek superiority or some such. However, claiming both responsibility and correcting the mistake tells me much about your character. That is the true apology. On behalf of myself and the others involved, apology accepted.”
He rose up from his bow and smiled. “Thank you, Lady Kye.”
“That day, you were giving a lecture on astrophysics, particularly about black holes.”
“Yes.”
“Does that field of study truly interest you? If given the opportunity, would you pursue it in greater detail?”
He looked at her, his eyes doing nothing to hide his interest. “I would.”
Kye snapped her fingers, and the room around them transformed into a starry expanse. “An illusion.” She pointed up. She created an illusion of a black hole feeding on a nearby star. “Most believe that due to their immense gravity, nothing can escape, not even light.” She smirked and dispelled the illusion. “So what of people with mana so powerful that we can warp light?” She held out her finger and channeled an immense amount of aether in a small point, then moved it around. The light around the small point of aether was bending as if they were looking through curved glass. “If you would like to observe a naked black hole, I will give you that reward sometime. I can take you to one and allow you to study and even enter the event horizon. However, you’ll need to learn to see with mana, rather than with light. Otherwise you won’t see anything.”
He confidently nodded and grinned. “I’ll take you up on that offer once I have acquired that ability.”
Kye gave him a thumbs up. “Look forward to it!”
“Indeed.” He walked back around to the other side of his desk and began explaining what he planned to teach them over the term.
*****
Throughout the day, various students rushed up to Athanasia asking for autographs. She happily obliged, but began growing frustrated with the sheer number of them. The staff picked up on it and told them to stop, though she ended up handing out over two hundred autographs by the time they stepped in.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Two hundred and twelve?” Louise asked after Athy told them how many she’d signed. “My goodness.” She almost dropped a fry.
“Yes, I was not expecting my first day in public in this era to be so… fan-filled,” she replied.
“That’s… so many.”
Next to Athy, Alethea was giggling. What’s so funny, dear sister?”
Alethea couldn’t help herself. She kept giggling.
“I’m gonna give you something to giggle about if you don’t say something, Aya.”
Kye smirked. “Oh, please do.” Louise and Isabel exchanged glances, and the three watched as Athy tickled Alethea.
The pink-haired princess shrieked and her giggling grew louder. “AH HA HA. ATHY!”
“Pfft.” Kye chuckled as she reached for a slice of pizza.
“You’re laughing as though you’re immune to tickling, dear sister,” Sanae said with a smirk. She was having ramen and ate with chopsticks, and Kye suddenly found the slice of pizza she was reaching for held down by chopsticks.
“San-chan, you had better let go of my slice of pizza or you will be my tickle target.”
“Yeah?”
Athy had stopped tickling Alethea, and the two watched as Kye and Sanae began a staring contest.
“I know exactly where and how much you’re ticklish, sister.”
“Which means I know where and how much you are ticklish.”
Suddenly, both felt hands on their sides. Athy tickled Kye and Alethea tickled Sanae. Both jumped out of her seats and away from the table, each holding their hands in front of them, ready to fend off their attackers.
“““Pfft!””” Everyone chuckled at them. The pair sighed and returned to their seats.
““Eat your food!””
*****
After lunch, Kye had Rei’s class. Sanae and Athanasia sat in to observe. Despite Rei and Sora gaining the hundred years of training, they still had to go to their classes. Kye wanted them to still experience a proper school life. They initially gathered in the classroom. Kye meant to take them to the Farlands, rather than a training ground, so that other classes could use the training grounds instead. Kye was sitting at the desk at the front working on something on her NeuraPhone, and the class started asking Rei and Sora questions.
“Did you really age one hundred years?” one boy asked.
Rei raised an eyebrow, and Sora looked at her sister, curious if she would answer. But then another student asked her the same question.
“You were with her, right, Sora?” “Are you guys really a hundred years older?”
Her eyes widened, she was hesitant to answer. Sanae and Athy exchanged glances, but only observed, wondering how the girls would handle the situation. Kye ignored it entirely.
“You guys, leave them alone!” Kaylie said.
“Kaylie, what about you? Did you go with them? You’re sisters.”
The redhead gave them an annoyed look, but it was Rei that answered. “Yes. Sora and I are a hundred years older. Why is that important?”
“We’re just curious.” “How strong are you now?” “You were already really good with the sword in the first term.”
“Quit asking questions. Everything you’re asking is publicly available online. Just open your Neuraphone.”
“No time for that,” Joey said as she appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. She was in weapon form, specifically as a bracelet on Kye’s wrist, until then. She summoned a copy of her own weapon form and slashed a portal into existence at the front of class. Kye had just finished her work and stood up from her desk.
“Okay, class, enough questions. You wanna find out how strong Rei and Sora are now? Through the portal! Let’s go!” She went through first and waited for everyone to shuffle through. Rather than go through the portal, Rei, Sora, Sanae, and Athy teleported there. Joey closed the portal behind them.
On the other side, the same handful of students were excitedly watching Rei, Sora, and now also Joey. Kye quickly casted search, then turned toward Rei. “Okay, Rei, show them something. There’s nobody else on the continent, so go big.”
Rei shrugged and held her hand out to Sora. “One sword.” Sora nodded and transformed into a single katana. Rei stepped away from the group, channeling an immense amount of aether as she did. She held her blade in her right hand and a turned her body sideways, her right shoulder pointing in the direction she meant to unleash her attack. She brought her sword around to her left side, still holding it in her right hand, then suddenly shouted.
“<
A few moments later, the explosion subsided, the shockwaves ended, and most of the class was stupefied. Only their siblings and instructors were left without mouths agape.
Kye clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “And with that out of the way, you all should know that Rei, Sora, and Joey will still be in class, but they’ve already learned everything I mean to teach you all. Speaking of which, this term, we’ll be working on raw mana output. I hope you’re ready! Let’s begin!”
*****
Revision: 2024-10-28