Part 1

Shock. That is the only thing I felt when I saw the battles unfolding in front of me.

Many were surprised when the top student of the freshman class was partnered with Valion Notos.

That guy never attended any of the class. It was inevitable for him to fail after the first year.

But here he is with the top student, destroying all the sky ships.

"It was only because they started out too late that they were able to rull that off."

"Yeah the others were practically exhausted when they started!"

"I bet that Aria handled all the controls. That Notos kid didn't even try using the battle simulator in class so he probably has no clue to what he's doing."

They're wrong! As much as I'd like to think that way, handling a sky ship requires at least two people.

One to keep the mana powering the ship steady and raising the shields up to minimize the impact of the magic missiles being fired by the enemy.

While the second controls the ship and utilizes the weapons needed to destroy the enemy ships.

If they studied harder, they would've realized that even if that Valion kid was just powering up the Corus, it would still be a feat itself.

The amount of mana expended by that ship during the battle was huge. A typical student won't be able to use that much mana if his capacity is little.

I carefully analyzed the battle being shown and I can't deny the fact that the shields that defended the ship were Aria's.

She is known to be a very defensive pilot and her combat style is very different with the one being shown.

This style is completely different. It's very reckless but you can see that the accuracy is top notch.

I can't believe that he was able to take advantage of the first years' common flight strategies.

"Elias?"

"Huh?"

"A-Are you alright? You've been silent for a while."

She looked at me with concern. Damn it! I'm overthinking again.

"I'm okay. I was just caught off guard by those two."

"Aren't they amazing? At first I thought that they won't even get a chance to fly but as soon as they started everything went exploding."

The smiling girl talking to me is my partner. Minerva von Eurus. A sophomore of Sky Reacher Academy and is a top student like me.

I always thought that this year's batch was nothing but a bunch of average students barring Aria but I was ignorant of the fact that this Valion is skilled.

It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that such talent has befallen someone from that family. Notos. Because of them, Minnie's family almost collapsed.

My family is the oldest retainers of House Eurus.

Even though her father told me many times that Notos did their best, I always hated that house after seeing what they did to Minnie's family.

Thousands died because of their actions and they get pardoned by the emperor after declaring the collapse of their cursed house?

All of the members of that family should've been hanged. Including that kid. I swear that I will make his life hell.

"You're doing it again."

She looks at me with concern.

"I'm sorry Minnie. It's just that thinking of that Notos brat makes my blood boil."

"Father always told me that House Notos should't be blamed so much. He said that the three houses should all be equally blamed for what happened.

I don't really undestand what he meant but I hope you could see that we don't know the whole story so please quell your anger."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"The day I saw you cry is the day I swore to break that cursed house."

"..Elias."

Part 2

"I am proud to present to our victor, this Year's prize money for the 4th Annual Sky Reacher Freshman Air Battle Tournament."

The dean presented a cubex commonly used in transporting items such as money or other personal artifacts.

Larger types of cubex can even store Air and Sky Ships but those are generally used by the empire and can't be normally obtained by the public.

Aria graciously accepted the prize. Her smile couldn't begin to express how happy she was.

But a small part of her is thinking about her partner who walked away before the awarding started.

"Thank you Lord Chlys."

"Enough with the honorifics. I'll present to you my gift another time so come with your partner to my office."

"Y-Yes. I will visit as soon as I can."

"Remember to bring your partner okay? I will not present it to you alone."

"Understood."

This made her panic a bit. She didn't know where to find him.

The only place she knows where to look is the rooftop but it's not a hundred percent chance that he will be there at this time.

She resolved to find him as soon as the awarding ceremony ended.

Two days have passed since the first competition, Aria is diligently looking for Valion when it's lunch time or if she has any free time.

Unfortunately, Valion is still missing. She even asked her friends to look for him but to her surprise, he was not found.

The only thing she could do now is to ask the teachers themselves about his address.

"You're looking for that.. boy?"

The teacher looked awfully uncomfortable talking about Valion. He was shocked that a girl such as Aria was looking for such a boy with an awful past.

Students usually do not affiliate themselves with people that brought dishonor not only to their family but also to their empire.

They even said that touching someone from a cursed house would make you unlucky for life.

And because of that actions taken by Aria is already considered a social taboo by the people.

"I would really appreciate it if you could provide me with his address. It would be inconvenient if the Dean would wait on us longer than necessary."

"Girl are you trying to threaten me?"

"Of course not teacher! I only want to know my partner's address so that we could finally report to the Dean."

The teacher knowing her motives could only click his tongue as he gave the address of the brat to her.

Aria could almost jump for joy as she finally got a clue on where to look for her partner.

"Partnering up with a boy like that. You'll only disgrace your family.

I suggest finding someone else as your partner. A guy like him will only cause you trouble as the one standing at the top of the freshmen.

You should think carefully about your actions. Everyone knows that your house is on the verge of collapse."

She left as if she didn't hear the words spoken to her. She knew that this was a gamble but when she remembers the smile Valion had when he was in control.

She couldn't help but make him realize that he lives for the sky.

After heading out of the academy, Aria set foot on the town nearest to the academy and looked at the address written in the note.

With a surprised looked, she could only say the words.

"Eh?!!"