They pull me out of class. Straight to Catrina's office and thankfully not the headmaster's.

"What were you thinking, taking another student with the teleportation stones I lent you?" she yells at me as soon as her assistant closes the door of the room behind me.

She doesn't give me time to even approach, much less greet her or take a seat.

"I..."

"You what?" She stands up from the chair, with her palms resting on the polished wood of her desk.

To say I feel intimidated would be an understatement. I already expected Catrina to get angry, but not this much.

Since I don't answer her, she continues scolding me. She's very tense, the veins on the back of her hands are prominent.

"Don't you realize we've trusted you? I even voted in favor of lending you that set of stones, defending that you seemed like a sensible girl... and now you do this!"

She lifts her palms from the desk and pounds it with her fists. The sound shakes the room and I feel myself shrink.

"I'm sorry, I can explain," I manage to say.

Which was more or less what I had planned to say when they called me about Ronan, but it's not as easy to imagine the situation as it is to live it.

"Well, explain yourself properly, because your stay at this institution is at stake."

She's fuming. She doesn't sit down, she remains standing and leaning against the desk. I take a couple of steps closer, so I don't have to raise my voice, and begin my story.

"Even though I'm supposed to have all this great potential, I feel weak. That's why I wanted to force the mastery by facing real animals, not training against a dummy. I went hunting alone, but the deer got away from me. I decided to seek help but didn't know who to ask."

"And you go to your possible nemesis? To be alone with him and make his job easier?"

So that's why she's so pissed off?

"No, he's not my nemesis, really. He's a very nice guy who treats me with a lot of respect and tried to save me in the practical exam when he thought Darius was attacking me."

"That could have been a ploy to gain your trust."

"But professor, he only has an affinity for darkness. I have six affinities, do you really think he can be my nemesis?"

Catrina exhales forcefully and sits back down. She's still tense, but not as much. It seems my argument must have reinforced something she already thought.

"The truth is, no, but we can't think of anyone else who could have caused the dungeon incident. Besides, we're watching him and so far he's only training with the mace, absurd behavior for a wizard like him."

"I'm telling you, he felt weak when Darius knocked him out with a punch. I don't know why, but he's set himself up as my protector," I drop. "At first, that gave me the creeps with how bony he was and the weird way he sometimes talks, but now... I confess I've taken advantage of him to help me train and he's sworn not to say anything."

I look at her, focusing on seeming innocent, remorseful, and even helpless.

"Drop the act, Bianca. I don't believe you feel guilty. In fact, you seem delighted to have hunted three wild boars," she snorts. "At least, did you get the mastery?"

I relax a bit.

"No, but I must be close."

She writes something in a notebook on her desk.

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"Fine," she tells me next, "you can go with him, but I want you to be alert for any sign that he might be your nemesis and try to hurt you. Don't trust him. Are you following me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Yes, go on, and now you act all formal with me after the mess you just caused... Get out of here before I change my mind. I'll inform the headmaster and tell him it's good for your improvement, that I don't think there's too much danger."

"Yes, thank you."

I turn and head for the door. As she says, quickly before she changes her mind. Once outside, I close it, walk a little, and lean against the wall of the hallway before returning to class. Oh my gosh... I didn't think she'd get so angry. And now it seems she's giving me a vote of confidence and even covering for me. I'd better not disappoint Catrina. The image of how she deals with Sol because of her older sister comes to mind and yes, she's not one to forgive.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully. I gave the money from the wild boars to Ronan, so he could do me the favor of buying the shovels. Since he'll give them to me later, if they follow him they'll think we want them to make some trap for hunting. In the special afternoon training, I meet the professor, an army healer. He's a middle-aged man dressed in an officer's uniform and seems quite strong. I wouldn't say strength has to be a stat to develop in a healer, but since he's from the army, it doesn't seem strange to me either.

As with the other two element professors I've already met, we dedicate ourselves to practicing my basic spell to improve it. It's its understanding, just as it happened with earth magic, that will allow me to learn new spells. When the session ends, I quickly return to the academy and go to the gardens, where Mary is already waiting for me.

"Bianca!" she calls out, relieved when she sees me. "I'm glad you came."

Okay. I realize I arrived a couple of minutes late and that maybe she even came much earlier. But she doesn't have to feel relieved, it wouldn't occur to me to stand her up.

"Sorry for the delay."

"No worries."

She has gotten up from the bench where she was sitting, one of those next to the mermaid fountain, and takes my hands. She gives me a light squeeze and pulls me to sit down.

The truth is, this place is empty. I imagine that since the dining hall will open soon, people aren't in the mood for walks in the gardens.

"Tell me, what did you want?"

The girl hesitates but, I guess because she knows we have little time, she gathers her courage and asks me.

"Come with me to buy a dress for the ball. Theodore has invited me to go with him."

"Oh, Mary, that's wonderful. Do you like Theodore?"

"Yes." She blushes. "We went for ice cream on ribbon day and he asked me."

"And the prince?"

She blushes more.

"Well, the three of them are very kind to me, I owe them a lot."

"You don't go to a ball with a boy because you owed him something," I cut her off.

I'm sorry, I didn't have boyfriends on Earth and I'm the first to turn red when talking about certain topics, but my 21st-century pragmatism has just taken over. There are things I won't let slide.

"No, no... that's not it. If I..." She wrings her hands. "I like all three of them."

Oh... okay. Of course, that's why she's one of the protagonists with the three romantic routes open.

I don't say anything, I let her vent.

"I thought Vincent was going to ask me, but Theodore was charming on ribbon day, so kind... I think, I think we connected. And he must have felt it too because he asked me. I told him yes. Did I do wrong?"

Honestly, with the number of tasks occupying my mind, I'm not up for this. But I can't just leave and leave her like this.

"Of course not, Mary. Just follow your heart. You're very kind, I know that whatever you do will be right. If the prince doesn't like you going with someone else, he'll try to be faster next time or approach you in another way."

"Is that possible? To go to the ball with one but not knowing if you like another more?" she asks me with wide eyes.

Maybe I went too far. No... not at all. It's not like I told her to see all three in secret, which is undoubtedly what my best friend, who loved this otome, would have advised her.

"As long as you don't decide who you give your heart to, as long as you don't tell any of them that you choose him, of course. Theodore and you, at the ball, are just going to get to know each other better. Dancing a few waltzes and chatting a bit doesn't imply a marriage contract," I assure her.

"Thank you, you're a very good friend, Bianca."

Oh, Mary's overwhelming and sincere sincerity. Her smile. Those huge eyes. The weapons of the commoner protagonist. Even I, who have played her, feel myself melt.

I let her give me a hug. She wants to set a time to meet up and go shopping with me. However, I tell her I'll let her know when I can, because my schedule is very tight with the tutor. Well, rather with the bear hunt, but I'm not going to tell her that.

We return to the main building, where the dining hall is. We arrive late for dinner, of course, me passing on bad habits to people.

After dinner, Ronan gives me the shovels. My idea was to go alone, but he insists on accompanying me and hunting a bit on the way. So we go. Judith hasn't arrived at the room yet. A few hours later, we're hunting wild boars. The fire channeling is brutal in the sense that it lasts three times as long. But it doesn't make it easier for me to penetrate their thick skin and their life bar drops just as fast. We end up with no less than five, one of which was unexhausted and we unintentionally got its aggro while fighting the others.

And yes, achieved!

I have my mastery.

Congratulations. You have just learned Sword Mastery. Now wielding steel feels natural. +1 to strength.

Though, I'm not repeating this tomorrow. I need to sleep.