It took 3 days for someone to finally cast summon. Who it was turned out to be quite surprising.

“Setu- summon!”

As usual, nothing happened. I had been trying for half a week, and while I did feel like I was making some progress, I still had zero results.

It was then that the constant sound of students chanting paused. Looking around, I saw a small clump of rock floating in front of Mason. It only held for around 2 seconds, but it still had everyone in shock.

If Mr. Donnel was surprised, he sure didn’t show it.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Mason.” He didn’t look like he appreciated the attention at all.

“Alright, good job with your success. Continue practicing until you can do it consistently and hold the spirit for 5 seconds.” Mr. Donnel told Mason.

He then shouted to the rest of the class “All you you, what are you waiting for? Keep practicing!”

Seeing how one classmate had already done it, the class resumed with increased vigor. Mason also kept practicing, trying to hold the clump of rock in place for longer. The floating ball served as a reminder to the rest of us for what we were aiming for. Despite that, the end result was that only Mason had been able to successfully cast a summon that day.

Dinner was different that day. Now that Mason had distinguished himself as special, there was a lot more attention to our table. Chris was the first to point it out.

“A lot of people are whispering about Mason, you know.”

“Definitely. I guess that’s what happens when you’re one of the quickest ever to successfully cast your first spell. And in class D too! Who would’ve thought?” Arnav agreed.

“It definitely was surprising.” Chris agreed.

I thought that Mason would be annoyed at the extra attention, but he ignored it pretty well, and just ate dinner as usual.

Over the course of dinner, we received 3 visits from groups of curious parties.

The first was a group of 4 from class D. I didn’t know their past, but they all seemed to get along with each other, and I had seen them drifting closer over the past 3 days during Mr. Donnel’s class. There was a short red haired boy, a tall blond boy, and then 2 average brown-haired girls.

The redhead introduced himself first. “Hi, I’m Frank. I saw you cast summon earlier! It’s only been 3 days!- how’d you get it so quickly?”

One of the girls said next “Come’on, you gotta tell us!”

As expected, Mason didn’t bother talking to them.

“Mason, I know you like working alone, but it couldn’t hurt to talk a little, could it?” I told Mason.

Surprisingly, he actually took heed of my words.

“I can’t describe it anyways, it’s just a feeling.” Said Mason, though he didn’t sound happy about it.

“Aw man, don’t be like that! You gotta have some sort of hint or something!” Frank said in a whining tone.

There was no response from Mason.

Arnav decided to butt in “he really isn’t the talkative type, you know. Those were the first words I’ve heard him say too. I doubt he’ll say any more.”

“Hey Frank, I think he’s right.” Said the blonde.

Frank listened to him, and stopped prodding. However, he did stay and chat with us for a little while. I found out that they had all been born in the countryside, all except for Sarah, who actually came over from the country far away to the east- Orein. Since I had never even heard of other countries before, I was quite interested.

“Hey Sarah, can you tell me more about Orein?” I asked.

“Oh… Well we moved when I was 5, so I don’t remember much. My parents have always said that it’s a very beautiful place, with troves of knowledge and art. They’ve always said that they wish they didn’t have to move.”

“What forced you to move here then?”

“My father’s job forced him here. Not very interesting, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Eventually, Frank and his group made their exit. They were very friendly, and I liked them quite a bit. I hoped to get to know them better in the future. The next group to come over was from class C. They originally had an attitude that a commoner from the countryside would never be able to cast a spell so quickly-

“Really, this guy was able to cast magic this quickly?” One of them asked.

Stolen story; please report.

“Yes, he was.” Said Arnav. “I was there.”

“Seriously? Is there anything special about him?”

“Not that I know of. He’s just good with magic, I guess.”

“And you guys are all sure that he cast it? Like there was actually a clump of earth in front of him?”

We all replied yes, with confidence.

“Huh. Alright, I guess if all three of you agree, it wouldn’t hurt to believe you.”

Honestly, I expected them to make more of a fuss. But they actually seemed content just to confirm that Mason had cast a spell, and left soon after. As they were leaving, I managed to hear one of them say “if even a class D-er could cast a spell by now, we’ve got to get better at magic, don’t we?”

I was quite pleased that they had decided to make Mason into a rival instead of an enemy. It would’ve been great if the last group had also done this, but reality is cruel.

The last group was much more interesting. It was a group of 3 students from class A. Upon seeing the group, Arnav looked shocked.

“That’s the son of the Grand Duke- Victor Notin! There’s no way…”

The leader of the group, who I assume was Victor, spoke first.

“I heard you were the one who managed to cast summon today. Is that true?”

I decided to answer for Mason, since I figured that he didn’t want to talk with them anyways.

“He doesn’t like talking to others, sorry. But yeah, he did do it earlier.” I told them.

One of the other students in the group said “a class D-er? I doubt it.” It was said in such a way that made it seem like he was talking to his friends, not us.

The last student said “Yeah, I agree. There’s just no way a country rat like you could do that!”

Something in Mason’s eyes told me that remark really annoyed him. However, he didn’t let anything show on the outside, instead just continuing to eat his food. Instead, it was Chris who spoke up for him.

“No, he really did manage to cast it earlier!”

“Look, we believe you. But could you just show us some proof?” The condescending tone in which Victor asked this didn’t match his words at all. It annoyed me quite a bit.

Mason shook his head, indicating no. This was actually more of a reaction than anyone else had gotten from him during dinner, but Victor didn’t know that. For a second, it seemed like he was going to lash out, but that didn’t happen. He quickly regained his composure, while one of his followers said

“So you can’t cast it?”

“Of course he can, but it’s just not worth it for you guys.” I said, without thinking of the consequences. I often think about how different the world would be if I had just waited a moment before responding. But what actually happened was that an ugly look, something of a mix of contempt, anger, and jealousy, covered Victor’s face. He couldn’t do much in the crowded dining hall, but I knew that I had just made a dangerous enemy. Eventually, Victor settled for saying.

“We’ll be watching you, commoner. Come on, let’s go.”

“You’re really going to leave them?” One of his followers asked.

“Well, it’s not like anything’s going to happen here. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of opportunities in the future.” He said the last part looking at us. I didn’t like the look on his face at all.

On the walk back to the dorms, Arnav finally spoke up. He had been quiet throughout the entire encounter with Victor, something that was out of character for him.

“What were you thinking, talking to Victor like that? You know how powerful his connections are?” He proclaimed, with a tone of slight panic.

"Calm down Arnav. He's a student at this school, just in a higher class- how bad can he be?" I responded, trying to calm him down.

Even Mason looked at me weird, which definitely told me that I was off.

"Just a student? Alric! His mother is the king's first sister, and his father is the third most powerful duke in the country. He is so much more than just a student." Arnav told me.

"Okay..." This definitely caught me off guard. Taking a second to think about it, I realized that

"Wait. You're telling me that if something happens to the current royal family... Victor would be in line for the throne?" I exclaimed in shock.

"That's exactly what we're telling you. Honestly, we thought you knew already!" Chris told me.

This made me pause for a bit. The idea that I was going to school with what was practically royalty was insane.

“Alright, I’m sorry. I just kind of lost myself.”

“Well, don’t do it again, alright?”

We had reached Arnav and Chris’s room, and they excused themselves.

Victor's situation was all shocking and everything, but something else was also nagging me in the back of my mind.

Back at the dorm, I tried talking to Mason again.

“Hey Mason, actually how did you manage to cast a spell so quickly?”

No response.

“You heard what Mrs. Genia said about roommates being partners, right? If you really don’t want me holding you back, you could help me a bit, you know?” I told Mason.

This got a reaction from him. “I wasn’t lying earlier, honestly. It’s just a feeling I have, some sort of connection. Just know that the spirit wants the partnership between you two to work just as much as you do, and try to understand it. That’s honestly all I know.” Mason said.

“Alright, thanks for that.” I said, grateful for any help he could give.

The rest of the walk proceeded in silence. I honestly thought Victor and his group would try attacking us or something, but nothing happened that night. I figured that they would wait to learn some more magic before they would make a move, so I relaxed for a bit.

Nobody in class D was able to cast summon on the fourth day either. Mason just kept practicing, reaching a steady 4 seconds by the end of the class. The rest of us remained impressed at how quickly he had managed to cast the spell.

I later heard from some of my classmates that a couple of kids in classes B and A had managed to cast summon properly by the fourth day. Among those kids was Victor, who made very sure that I knew about it at dinner. The interaction went something like this:

Around halfway through dinner, he and the two others from last time strutted over to our table. He said, in a very pompous tone:

“I learned how to cast summon now too! Not so special now, are you?”

Him saying that made me like him even less, and I said:

“Never said we were.”

“You cocky bastard-” Victor pulled out his wand. “Agnis-summon!”

Even his followers looked shocked at this- at the academy, using magic indoors was strictly prohibited. One of them opened his mouth, perhaps in order to stop Victor, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The flames summoned lasted less than a second before disappearing.

“See? At least I’m not too scared to prove it!” Victor boasted, to no reaction.

“Please just leave.” I asked him.

After much more jesting and annoying antics, Victor finally left just before dinner ended.

On the walk back to the dorms, Arnav said:

“What happened to being sorry? I’m telling you, talking like that to Victor will only make things worse!”

I didn’t expect it, but Chris was actually the one who said something.

“Arnav, I think it’s already been made worse. Honestly, it’s really brave of Alric to stand up to him. Plus, I doubt his pride will let him call on others to try to take down some kids from class D.”

“I guess that’s true. Well, Alric, I wish you luck.”