CHAPTER 36 - ELISE AINDREA P9

~36.9~

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They nodded and stepped back, as did Joey and Kaede. Maya and Elise touched the orb, and the intense aura in the room vanished along with them.

Sanae, Alethea, Mavel, and I quickly returned to our seats, each of us sweating and out of breath.

“I didn’t expect that to take so much out of me,” Mavel said. “I haven’t burned mana like that in a long time.”

Adele and Adara were sweating, but not out of breath. They quietly returned to their seats.

“You shouldn’t make promises you don’t know you can keep,” Mavel said with a glare at them.

“I said don’t underestimate us,” Michelle said, returning her glare. “You think those words were only for them? They were for all six of you. We’ll find a way, Miss Almighty.”

“Tch. At the very least, I don’t doubt your dedication.” A light smile spread across Mavel’s face.

“How did you turn into such a tsundere?”

“What?” Mavel jumped up from her seat. Even I was surprised Michelle said that. “Say that again.”

“Alright.” Michelle stood up and walked right up to her. “How did you turn into such a tsundere?”

Mavel looked at her with a mix of anger and joy. “I can’t believe you just marched your butt over here to me and said that not even a foot from my face.”

“Aren’t they cute?” Alethea held a hand up in front of her mouth and giggled.

“Hey!” Mavel looked at Alethea, her face flush.

Adara reached out and turned her head back. “No, you look at me. You heard what I said. ‘Every version of you.’”

“But-”

“No buts! You’ve started appearing here now and then, but you keep dodging anything romantic. You’re going on a date with me tonight. Got it?”

Mavel was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. Mabel appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pushed Mavel into Michelle. “Adara, please do. She’s been a shut in since you all left.”

“Wha... Mom?!”

“Most powerful person in the world and she’s too afraid to let herself have what she wants,” Velarus said. “Please take care of her, Adara.”

“Dad, you too?” Mavel looked at him, her pupils constricted even further. Both of her parents looked at her with smiles, but everyone knew what sort of smiles they were. Mavel reluctantly flopped back down in her chair and folded her arms. “Fine.”

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Getting back to the story, Eglantine had just invited us to tea. We were set to have tea with her after school, but there was still two more classes after mana class. Similar to the courses in the Royal Academy, the courses there are split by morning and afternoon. Academic classes in the morning and physical activity classes in the afternoon. Mana, magic, and a variety of weapon classes are available.

I took mana, magic, and swordplay, as did Maya. Although we had all three classes in common, there were multiple classes mana and magic for each year, so Adele, Adara, and Luma, who were also first years at the same time, were in different classes than us. We shared magic with Adele and Adara, but the incident with the princes lasted through the mana and magic classes, but we were able to attend the swordplay class afterward. That’s where we met Luma.

We did technically meet on the first day, but that day didn’t have any real classes. It was just the teachers testing us. Not much talking amongst each other. The class was in one of the many training arenas, littered with racks of training swords.

“You see that black-haired girl?” Maya asked quietly.

I raised an eyebrow. “The black-haired catgirl?”

“Yes. She’s from my country. I don’t know her personally, but I’ve heard rumors. She’s supposedly very skilled with the blade. I’m not sure how skilled. We were in different schools and only briefly met at an interschool event last year. There was a swordfighting tournament, and she won, but I didn’t get to see much of her fighting.”

“Too busy?”

“No. Too short. It was all over before I could get there to watch. Everyone said she was incredible, but I didn’t get to see in person, and there were no recordings that I know of.”

I narrowed my eyes, examining the girl. My eyes glowed briefly as I examined her mana. There was a very dense aura of fiery golden mana around her. Light? Fire? Hmm.

“Elise Aindrea,” the teacher called my name.

“Wish me luck,” I said to Maya with a wink.

“Do you even need it?”

I shrugged. “Not really.”

I made my way through the crowd of students and stood before the teacher. “Lady Elise, your records from the Aindrea County are quite impressive. Your previous instructors praised you as something of a sword prodigy, not to mention your performance in other courses, magic especially.” He briefly glanced at the sky.

News spread quickly.

“Wait, isn’t she the one who shot that gigantic blast of fire in the air half an hour ago?” “What, you’re kidding.” “No, a friend saw her with the princes and crown princess when she did it.”

I sighed and turned to my gossiping classmates. “Just ask me directly if you want to know something in the future. Yes, that was me. I made the sky go boom. There, now let’s focus on class.”

I didn’t actually expect them to stop gossiping after that, and the teacher was so surprised he didn’t know how to handle it. Annoyed, I snapped my finger and encased the class in a soundproof barrier.

“Don’t worry, they can hear you, but no sound from inside the barrier can be heard by them or us.”

“I see… handy spell, Lady Elise.”

I glanced at Maya and saw her giggling, then I saw the black-haired catgirl step out of the barrier toward us. “Instructor Shaw, rather than test Lady Elise yourself, might you allow us to spar instead?”

“I don’t mind that, but you just heard her, no? She just confirmed that she casted that monstrous spell earlier.”

She smirked as she eyed me. “That’s why I’m interested. I’ve never had an interesting duel in my life, but here is somebody that has enough mana to light the sky on fire. Even if I lose, this is sure to be an interesting sparring match.”

How in the world? She’s a black-haired catgirl, likes swordplay, is excited at the prospect of dueling somebody stronger than herself... She’s just like Luma.

I hadn’t noticed that my mouth fell open until the instructor said something. “Lady Elise, do you accept?”

I hesitated a bit at first. “May I ask your name?”

“My apologies. I should have led with that. Perhaps I was a tad excited.” She curtsied as she introduced herself. “I am Helena Rosenfeld.”

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Revision: 2025-2-7