The heavy luggage that kept dragging down her steps was finally put down. She breathed a relief sigh as she quietly gazed down at the massive building before her.

The eight-storey building was wide and old and was long erected aeons ago. The architecture was ancient, even the walls were greyed by time. The surrounding area was surrounded by a huge garden where thousands of plant species were gathered from all around the world. The big lake stretched from left to right like a river. Fountains with sprouting waters dancing in the air. She couldn’t help but feel enamoured by it.

“So beautiful.” 

In the past, she wouldn’t believe she had the chance to study here. However, thanks to her master’s friend, she transverse through the sea and land to reach a foreign country where this school was located, the Holy Empire of Grand Meadow. But, unfortunately… Due to certain circumstances, she missed the opening day. This was bad news for her.

“I hope I’m not too late…” 

The soft feminine voice was then letting out a heavy huff as she continued to drag her big suitcase back. She moved forward once again as she needed to clear out the final hindrance first.

****

“So, you accidentally missed the registration days because the ship you boarded was sent to an unknown island?” An old man, who looked like he was reaching his 80s, was staring sternly at her. “That’s very unfortunate for you.” His dark purple robe mostly covered up his figure, the fairly long silvery beard hanging on his face and his wrinkled hand reaching out a piece of paper. “However, since you came here under the recommendation of Madame Constance, I already see that you already cleared most of the school tests.”

His skinny fingers combed his long beard. “And your name is?”

“Echo. Just Echo.” The girl finally introduces herself properly. Her dark maroon long and wavy hair looked so unkempt, even though she already tried to tidy them before entering the headmaster’s room. Her black dress was simple, as she wasn’t coming from a well-off background. 

The old man gave her one last look. The semester had already started for two weeks. The girl in front of him probably missed out on a lot of things as a new student. However, it wouldn’t be bad to give the girl a chance. Especially when Madame Constance sent her all the way from a far country.

“So, Miss Echo. Welcome to the Windsong Academy.” The Headmaster welcomed the last student of the current year.

“May the Asta’s divine light bequeathed you all her blessings.”

****

Echo kept spinning the piece of paper she held. She tried to read it. When she left the Headmaster's office earlier, an academy staff handed her a few things. She hadn’t checked out all of them yet but she found the academy map among the things she had right now. The staff told her to go to her designated dorm, Midwood Manor. Yes, she perfectly saw Midwood Manor on the map, however trying to navigate there was a challenge of its own. 

“Why is this academy so big?”

Echo surveyed her surrounding area. Based on the map, she was probably on one of the pathways leading to places but she didn’t exactly know where she was right now. All she saw were domineering trees and some small buildings she didn’t even recognise. Even the academy area itself was isolated from the rest of the country. She had to take a horse carriage and go through a teleportation portal just to reach the main entrance. 

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Windsong Academy was a renowned education center, where their students came from inside and outside of the country. Even the nobilities and royalties went into this academy. There were multiple ways to become a student of Windsong Academy. A standard route where candidates took the tests at the academy ground. Recommendations from the professors from outside of the academy. And lastly, through the VIP route. 

So the academy welcomed various types of students here. That being said, Echo saw a group of female students gathering in one place. And they were noisy about something. 

“He’s here! Is he taking a short stroll right now?”

“I didn’t expect to meet him here. Is this the sign of my luck today?”

They were talking about someone. This made Echo curious. She tried to join the mass and took a peek at whatever they were gushing about. Then she saw what she assumed to be the centre of attention right now. A tall man with shining silver hair. A beautiful handsome face like no other. His gestures were so graceful like the clean stroke of water. When he noticed the girls were staring at him, he gave them a wave and a sweet smile painted on his face. 

The gesture gave the girls an elated glee when he acknowledged their presence. But, Echo understood what the hype was. If people said that he was an angel, she would believe it right away. The aura he emanated was like a pure light descending from the sky. 

“He must be someone famous around here,” Echo muttered to herself. Since she was a foreigner who just come to this land, Echo was entirely unfamiliar with everything here. She looked back at her map. There was something more important that needed to be done. 

“He looked at us! Should I go talk to him?” One of the girls talked to her friend while giggling. 

Her friend quickly replied in excitement, “You’re sure about that?”

“Hello…..” Echo soft voice tried to call the girls. 

“Now please accompany me–” The girl grabbed her friend's arm and tried to grab her along. 

However, her friend refused to move forward. “Ehh~ Do it yourself!”

“Hello!” Echo voice went even higher. She almost screamed out her throat. Even then she tried to keep it not so high so as not to attract everyone there. And luckily it worked. The two girls from earlier finally noticed Echo.                                                                                                                      

“......Uh?” The excited girl was confused looking at Echo. A kind of gloomy girl who didn’t even wear her school uniform suddenly reached out to them.

Echo continued on. “I want to ask this…” She showed the two girls the map. “I want to go to Midwood Manor. But I kind of lost…” An apologetic smile accompanied her face.

The two girls stared at her. “Oh…” One of them responded first by observing the map Echo had shown. “Midwood Manor ... .It is the one that is pretty far from here right?” She was eyeing her other friend.

“Probably right. I never go anywhere near there. I think…” The other girl pointed at the map. “You have to take this road here…Go far to the left. Oh, I think you have to cross the small river here. I heard that the place is surrounded by a pretty gloomy forest.” Her eyebrows frowned like she was imagining something scary.

This sounded like going to be a long road for Echo. But well, at least, she finally pinpointed her current location. “Thank you for–”

“Wait, did that girl just come out to him?” 

“Huh, what? Urghh, her again?!”

The girls’ attention immediately went back to their subject of adornment earlier. Echo didn’t even get her to say her thanks. Those girls already ran off to the centre of the crowd. 

Echo was stunned a little. But it was not a problem for her. Due to the gloomy aura she exuded, like a vague and dull colour, people rarely paid so much attention to her. Even when she caught people's attention, it was usually not a good sign for her.

“Haa….” She sighed in low spirit. It was not a time to reminisce. She picked up her heavy suitcase again and made her way out from the crowd.