Having the wind knocked out of me had the unfortunate effect of me not being able to speak. Victor took full advantage of the situation.

“They attacked us first! We didn’t have a choice but to defend ourselves.” He complained to the guardian.

I thought that that claim was ridiculous. Even if you ignored their inherent mana advantage, they had three people when we only had two. Given these facts, I was shocked when the guardian said

“Is that so? In that case, I’ll need you two to come with me to the assistant headmaster’s office with me.” She said to me and Mason.

I couldn’t speak, but my eyes must’ve betrayed the rage I felt after hearing those words. Victor gave me a little smirk behind the teacher’s back.

“As for you three, please return to your rooms. It’s almost curfew.”

Mason and I were led to the administrative building. As soon as I could speak I started protesting.

“Victor was lying- They attacked us first!”

“We didn’t even launch any offensive spells at all!”

Many complaints of this nature were expressed during our walk to the office.

Inside the administrative hall, we were led behind the open area that I was familiar with. This part of the building was decorated much the same way, but the unfamiliarity plus our situation made it feel much more ominous.

The teacher told us to wait outside the assistant headmaster’s office while she went in to explain. I could hear murmuring behind the door, but couldn’t make out individual words.

Eventually the door to the office opened, and we were directed inside.

The assistant headmaster was an older looking woman, though I figure that she must’ve been beautiful in her prime. She radiated the same commanding air as Mrs. Genia did, but her aura felt nicer and more comforting than hers did.

After we sat down in the seats provided to us, she introduced herself. “You can call me Mrs. Rema, and the teacher who brought you here is Mrs. Undertin. This is Alric and Mason, correct?”

We nodded.

“Good. As it stands right now, Victor Notin has accused you two of attacking him, and has claimed that the state Mrs. Undertin found you two was a result of their defensive actions. I-”

“That’s not true! They were waitin-” I cut her off, not caring that my outburst would probably hurt my case in the long run. However, she quickly stopped me.

“I believe you. But I am unable to go against the son of the duke and princess. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to be punished.”

I seethed at the unfairness, but rational thought told me that it wasn’t Mrs. Rema’s fault. The baron that controlled Windale had once unexpectedly ordered all the blacksmiths in his domain to forge weapons for an expedition into the Seduri. My father was used to forging tools and common items, and shifting to weapons had proved to be a tiring task. My father had grumbled every night for two weeks straight, as had almost every blacksmith in the region. Still, no action was ever taken against the baron.

If father had been unable to take action against even a baron, I figured that a duke would be practically invincible.

Mrs. Rema eventually resumed speaking, dragging me away from my train of thought. “The being said, it's not my intention to make you suffer. Since winter break is coming up, I’m thinking that we’ll just give you some custodial tasks during the break. Neither of you were planning to travel anyways, right?”

We both shook our heads. It would take me the entire break just to make it halfway back to Windale, and Mason’s family lived even farther from the school than mine did.

“Then it’s settled. That punishment should be major enough to satisfy Victor."

"Moving on, Mrs. Undertin tells me that you were actually able to stop one of Victor’s spells alone?” She directed this question at Mason. He nodded, and I could tell that Mrs. Rema was surprised.

“In that case... Mason, would you like to move from class D to class C?”

I wasn’t expecting this to happen. Mid-year transfers were almost unheard of- was stopping a single spell that impressive? I could tell that Mason was considering the offer.

“What do I gain?” He asked. Looking back, I should’ve expected this question. His entire goal was to learn as much magic as possible, after all.

This was the second time Mrs. Rema was surprised by Mason. Apparently, this wasn’t an offer that was questioned often. “Moving up classes shows that you’re able to rise above what should be possible with your mana stores. It's an honor to do so!”

“But better teachers, access to more information…”

“Well, no. All first year classes teach the same things, though higher practical classes often involve more mana being thrown around and larger spells.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Mason shot a glance at me. “What happens to Alric?” He asked.

“He’d say in class D. We'll move someone in from the waitlist to partner with him.”

I could practically feel Mason making his decision. “In that case, I’ll stay in class D.”

This was the third (and last) time Mrs. Rema would be surprised by Mason tonight. And surprised she was- as far as I knew, nobody had ever rejected an offer to join a higher class.

After that business was concluded, we were permitted to leave. As we were heading out the door, Mrs. Rena stopped us.

“Oh! I almost forgot to tell you- even if Victor isn’t going to be punished by the academy, we’ll still make sure his house knows about this. I’d expect some sort of summons or invitation soon if I were you.”

That was followed by a thank you (from me), and we were off.

Today had involved frustrating grinding with arrow, a long study session in the library, and an attack to top it off. I was definitely ready to put it behind me.

“Agnis noul- arrow!”

An arrow of fire appeared and flew toward my target. Finally. It wasn’t a sloppy arrow either, but clearly defined. I truly believed that this arrow would be able to take down a smaller bear or something of the sort.

I don’t want to sound calculating or anything, but sticking with Mason was definitely the right decision. He had warmed up to me significantly after the whole fiasco, and his input had been most helpful to mastering arrow.

After getting over the initial hump of casting the basic spell, increasing its power was a relatively simple process. I left class that day in high spirits.

I was headed toward the dining hall with Mason, planning to meet Arnav and Chris there. There were many other students walking along the same path as me, and the knowledge that there was a weeklong break coming up gave the group a general cheerfulness. Of course me and Mason wouldn’t be totally free throughout the break, but all in all there’d still be less work to do. I could definitely get behind that idea.

Me and Mason met with Arnav and Chris in our usual spot in the back of the dining hall. Not even a second after we had set our food down, Arnav asked (rather loudly too) for another recount of our fight yesterday night.

I mentally sighed. I had tried to forget about that unpleasant encounter, but after telling Arnav and Chris at lunch they had been unrelenting in their questioning. I already regretted telling them.

Arnav’s questions lasted for almost half of dinnertime until Chris saved us. I think he had read my facial expressions after each of Arnav’s questions, and I was grateful.

“Arnav, that’s enough.”

“But-” Arnav tried to say.

“You got everything you’re ever going to get 10 minutes ago. These questions now are practically useless.” Chris cut him off.

“Fine.”

“If that’s out of the way, what are you two going to do over break?” I asked. The change of topic was a bit obvious, but I was grateful for a chance to move on.

“Sleep. You better believe I’m sleeping until lunchtime every single day over break.” Chris immediately said, cooperating with me.

I laughed, though Chris’ plan was very relatable. Schoolwork had us up late these days, and if I had the chance to sleep in I’m pretty sure I would’ve taken it too.

“Same, I guess.” Arnav added. “I’m so jealous of the kids who live near the capital. They get to go home and … I dunno, do home-y things.”

“Calm down. Trotter would be covered in snow right now, wouldn’t it? I don’t think I’d want to go back.” Chris said.

“Will you go back during spring break, at least?” I asked. Trotter was still pretty far away from the capital, but during the months-long spring break they could probably go back for a bit.

“Maybe. But spring break is still pretty far away, so I’ll wait on asking my dad about that.” Arnav answered.

The rest of dinner was significantly better than the first half.

From the outside, our room looked completely normal.

From the inside, our room also looked completely normal- exactly as we had left it. That is, it was untouched except for a white envelope on my desk.

To clarify, mail deliverers were allowed to go into student’s rooms for their job. It wasn’t like someone had broken in or anything. However, this was the first time mail had actually been delivered to us.

The writing on the envelope read

“To Alric of Windale and Mason of the Eryndor National Academy of Magic.

Boy’s dormitory, room 111.

From Carus Fromi

Sponsored by the Noble House of Notin.”

It seemed legitimate, with a wax seal and everything. Mason confirmed that the emblem on the seal was indeed the Notin house’s emblem. Apparently all his time at the library had been spent on more than just magic.

The letter was written very neatly. It looked more like a summons than a letter if I’m being honest. Reading the letter only made it seem more like a summons, with its short length and commanding tone. The letter read:

“It is requested that Alric of Windale and Mason of the Eryndor National Academy of Magic visit the Notin mansion for lunch at noon on the first of next week. All conflictions have been resolved.”

An address was on the bottom of the letter, which I assumed was the address to the mansion.

I handed Mason the letter for him to read.

“So we don't need to serve our punishment on that day?” He asked after reading the letter.

“I guess not.” I answered. “I assume that this is for some sort of apology or resolution with the Victor situation, so it shouldn’t be a bad thing, right?” I asked, seeking reassurance.

“Yeah, probably.”

I was in bed when one last question popped up in my head. I thought back to the letter, and how it had stated that I was “of Windale” but Mason was just from the school.

“Mason, why did the letter only address you as ‘of the Academy?'” I asked Mason.

There was a lengthy pause before Mason answered. “Don’t think too hard about it. It’s just that the village I’m from is too small for the kingdom to care about, and it’s not on any maps or official records. They probably just put ‘of the Academy’ as a filler.”

For some reason, I felt like he was hiding something.