The following days went by peacefully. Bit by bit classes returned to full attendance. I didn’t expect this many people to take the principal up on their offer, considering it was this early into the school year, and it wasn’t even the first incident of this sort.

Sometime during the second school week I found myself together with Aurelia. I was trying to finalize my schedule for the semester, while she was busy thinking about her campaign. Elections were in a few weeks, and I was wondering whether she even was on time.

We stayed in some sort of common room in the same building our classes took place in. Usually, it was a lot busier here after class, Aurelia told me, but I guess because of the curfew and guards everywhere people just kept to themselves now. And the guards didn’t seem to bother checking the common rooms. As long as we didn’t make any noise, we’d be safe, it seemed.

“I think this is the schedule I’ll be going for,” I said and slid a sheet of paper across the table for Aurelia to look at. Of course, there were a handful of mandatory courses I’d have to take every year. They were a lot closer to what I was used to from schools in my world than you’d expect. There’s Math, there’s Ataraxian (which is the name of the language it seems). Sciences were grouped into one subject, though I assume that would be a bit different from what I knew from my world. The only mandatory classes that undoubtedly had something to do with magic were Introduction to Spell-Crafting III and Elemental Magic III, which was located in the Practical afternoon block.

The electives covered just as wide of a range as the mandatory courses. Of course, I’d be able to do stuff like Summon Crafting, or Theories of Necromancy, but also, I could just choose a generic literature course, which I opted for.

“Well, that seems ... leisurely, I guess. You need to be careful though not to fail any of those courses, or you might fall behind in credit points,” Aurelia commented.

“I know, but I thought since this is my first semester, I’d rather take it slow. Get a feel for the teachers and the overall difficulty level.”

“Makes sense.”

“Also, since I live in the dorms here, I can use the longer lunch breaks to take a nap.”

Aurelia chuckled at that comment.

“Well, I’ll be using all my lunch breaks for the next couple weeks to get that campaign started. I’m so behind because I decided to run for student council president so spontaneously.” She let out a dry laugh.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” I offered out of politeness. In reality I didn’t really see myself on the hallways chanting Aurelia’s name or whatever.

“I’m not quite sure,” she responded. “With Vladi possibly running for vice, having you around is going to be a problem.”

“Oh, right.” For once, whatever this weird world decided to throw at me, worked out in my favor.

“Still, if you could help me with figuring out some of the kinks in my plan, that would be great,” she then added.

“Well, if that’s all ... Show me what you got.”

Aurelia slid my course selection back over the table, together with a sheet of paper she’d been taking notes on.

The header simply read “Campaign Notes” in honest-to-god awful handwriting.

“Jesus. Is that how they taught you to write in Princess school?”

Next thing I knew, she threw a ballpoint-pen against my forehead like a dart. Mind you, plastic didn’t exist here, so it was made of metal.

“Rude,” she complained faster than it took for the pen to hit the floor.

She bowed down and fished for it between our seat and the table. Despite having just been subject to a vicious attack I also looked below the table for the pen. I saw Aurelia’s hand circling around in the air, until the pen magically propelled itself against the metal plates on the back of her palm with a neat clank.

“Nice trick,” I commented as soon as we came back up.

“Magnesis,” she answered brusquely. Her tsundere aura vanished much quicker than it would have, when we first met a few weeks ago, and she earnestly explained the reason behind the shoddy handwriting.

“I’m learning how to use this self-writing pen,” she said, waving around the pen she had just picked up. “It’s really difficult to use, like learning to write all over again. I’m hoping to have it down by the time I’ll start properly campaigning, so I can show it off a bit. If you can master it, it’s much faster than using your hand. And if my hand-writing looks perfect on top of that ...”

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“I get it, you just want to show off,” I interrupted her at the first possible moment.

“Well, yeah. Presentation is everything!”

Though personally it seemed like a bit too much, I honestly admired the amount of thought she’d put into this. I don’t think I’d have spared so much as a thought at how I looked even, for a campaign like this. I mean, student council president, really? Not like she’s going into politics. Though, her being a princess certainly made that political ... somehow.

“That fancy magic trick won’t help you if can’t get anyone to vote for you, though.”

“Ugh, right. I mean, I think I got a pretty good campaign plan, considering I plan to oppose the surveillance of our school. I’m pretty sure it’s in the interest of a lot of students to have the cops leave us alone. But I’ll be in office for a year, so I need to do a bit more than that. However, there’s a lot of students that aren’t sure who to vote for yet, or who won’t vote at all. I’m not sure how to reach those yet ...”

After thinking about it in silence for a short while, I responded: “Honestly, I’m out of my element here, hahah. I’ve never done anything like this, and the only way I’d know how to get you more votes, would be through a good old political scandal.”

“Yeah, that won’t do ... maybe as a last resort.”

I leaned back in my seat and let my gaze drift across the room. I hoped it didn’t look too much like I was thinking about that election, because really, I wasn’t. I let out a yawn. My eyelids started getting heavy, so I lightly slapped my cheeks to combat the sleepiness. I didn’t feel like I had been awake for too long, but a look outside the window told me the sun had already set.

“Oh damn, it’s already dark! Now I’ll have to sneak back to my room because of the curfew ... Hope I don’t get caught. I really don’t want to be subjected to another one of Shelly’s interrogations.” I stood up from my seat and did some light stretches.

Aurelia too stood up from hers. “Let me accompany you,” she offered. “In case someone spots us, I might make use of my princess armor.”

“I wonder how long that will work out for you.”

“As long as it needs to,” she quipped, picking up her pen and notes, and handing me my schedule, which I had left on the table.

I thanked her and let her lead the way out of the room. Just in case some guard was stationed outside.

After sliding open the classroom door, Aurelia went directly to the windows opposite the classrooms. The courtyard could be seen through them. At any other hour you’d be seeing students and teachers bustling about, or simply lounging on any of the sitting accommodations. Now, of course, everything was empty and quiet, and the courtyard, during daytime illuminated by the late summer sun, was only dimly lit by light sources unfamiliar to me.

“The last two years, even at this time of day, this school would be so full of life,” Aurelia said, her expression wistful. “Still, I can’t believe we’re the only ones sneaking around at night!” she exclaimed, pressing an indignant fist against her hip, and turning towards me. The shadows on her face moved, indicating furrowed eyebrows.

“Keep talking at that volume and we might be the last ones to do it,” I cautioned her. Wouldn’t it be fun to get expelled after only two weeks or what? Though, considering my connection to Shelly, I might still wiggle myself out of that.

“Sorry. It’s just, the more I think about it, the madder I get.” She looked back through the window, and as soon as she did, she dropped to the ground.

I did the same, fearing we might have been caught, before cautiously looking through the window.

Two figures moved through the shadows, gradually being illuminated, as they passed the lights. One of them a slender female, wearing a skirt. The other, shorter than the woman, seemed to only consist of a uniform blob, as all of their body, safe for their head, was concealed by a robe. Their only distinctive feature: a silver goatee.

“Huh, that’s Teacher M,” Aurelia remarked. The moment she said it, I realized it as well. And that female figure had to be one of the automatons. Now that I took a closer look, it was unmistakably the one who served me lunch during our banquet.

Not much of note happened. They just passed through the courtyard. The automaton as gracefully, as one could imagine.

As soon as they left our line of sight, we snuck our way along the glass windows so as not to be spotted.

“Wonder what they‘re doing ...” I casually muttered to myself.

Aurelia responded, “Enjoying their teacherly privileges, I guess. Though it’s nice to know, the teachers are still out and about at this hour. This’ll definitely keep me from breaking curfew too much.” She sighed.

“So much for using your princess armor. All bark no bite ...” That last part once more was only meant to be heard by me, but evidently that wasn’t the case, when the princess suddenly grabbed me from behind in a choke hold. This might have been the first time physical contact became part of her tsundere violence, and honestly, I didn’t mind at all!

Those strong arms!

My fascination with the female body almost had me forget the situation we were in, until ...

“Hey, what are you two doing out here this late?”

Aurelia’s grip loosened, as we both froze in shock, before realizing that whoever spotted us, likely wasn’t a threat.

“Syd!” I exclaimed, and immediately covered my mouth. We were still past curfew, and if Teacher M and Syd were around, then other teachers (or their pets) might be as well.

Aurelia freed me from her grip and let out a self-important cough.

“Another eloper,” she said, her voice a tad higher than usual. “Seems the teachers were right to ask my help in guarding the hallways.” A hand on her hip, chin high, she spoke with complete (feigned) confidence.

Huh, so that’s how she decides to use her princess armor?

“Relax! I’m out so late because of Teacher M’s automaton course! It always ends so shortly before the curfew ...” Syd explained, holding out his palms in a reassuring gesture.

“Oh,” the princess said, immediately loosening up.

“Yeah, we kind of lost track of time,” I admitted, having decided to throw the princess’s charade overboard.

“Wanna walk to our rooms together?” Syd offered me, to which I agreed.

As we were about to part ways with the princess, Syd surprisingly called out to her.

“By the way, Alpheena is also in the course. Try not to run into her on your way back. I wouldn’t be too surprised if she decided to snitch on you.”

“Ugh, unbelievable. But thanks for the tip!”

Aurelia gave him a thumbs up and so we walked back to our respective rooms.

***

The next morning another student was found dead.