Emily rolled her crimson eyes as the five half-armored young individuals approached her. The blonde closest to her held an arrogant ugly sneer, the four following behind rapidly dropped their looks of confusion as they realized the situation.

"Are you deaf you filthy abomination, I asked you a question?! How did you sneak past the gates? There is no way the guards would let something like you through without a good reason!"

His loud voice made Emily's big ears twitch uncomfortably. Several bystanders stopped to look at the commotion. She came to a halt, they had gotten close now, spreading out to block her from walking past them. Several of them had similarly disgusted faces as the leading blonde, but two of them, a man and a woman to the left, mostly just seemed uncomfortable with the situation. Emily looked the arrogant blonde straight in his eyes as she answered.

"No, I'm certainly not deaf. I take it that you are not part of the city guards then? In which case, my presence here is most definitely none of your business."

Her smooth and light voice reflected the increasing annoyance she felt, further fueling the rapidly bubbling rage in the young man in front of her. Emily continued before he could reply.

"But for your information, I didn't sneak past any gates, the guards let me in after I showed them my ID and told them I was joining the mage academy."

"LIES!!" Yelled the man. More people were stopping to watch now. The entire street came to a halt.

"The mage academy only lets in the gifted and talented and you are neither! The guards would never fall for such outlandish nonsense!"

"You sure about that?" Chuckled Emily back.

"They looked pretty convinced when they saw my guild ID".

The armored female on the left spoke at this point, head turned towards the blonde.

"How do you know that she has no talent for magic Marcus?"

The blonde, Marcus, snapped his head towards her. If looks could kill, Marcus's fierce gaze would put him on trial for war-crimes. The woman didn't notice her attempted murder, as she had her full attention on Emily now. Her curious blue eyes narrowed as she spoke again.

"And why would seeing your identification papers convince the guards to let you pass?"

Emily shrugged while summoning the card into her right hand from her storage. A small grin on her face, showing unnaturally sharp teeth for an otherwise presumed herbivore.

“I don’t know. Maybe they liked the color?”

Utter silence.

The five individuals in front of her were stunned. One or two going pale, starting to think they were making a mistake. Several bystanders muttered “ruby adventurer” amongst themselves. They didn’t need to hold the crimson colored adventurers ID in their hand to recognize the rank signaled by the striking hue.

Despite the impression made, the best outcome did not come to pass, as instead of admitting being at fault and backing down, the blonde moron decided to take the worst possible course of action. By drawing his sword and brandishing it, intending to attack.

“P-preposterous! The dirty thief obviously stole it! Or it’s a fake! This will not stand! I, Marcus Wellington, third son of Count Wellington, squire of the royal knight order, will put you to justice! Prepare yourself you we-”

Emily Blinked.

Appearing two blocks down less than a split second later, she was now standing just outside the bounds of the frankly massive academy campus. She stood still for a moment, collecting herself while rubbing the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed. She could probably have done a thing or two differently to avoid a direct confrontation, but to hell with it. Acting meek would get her nowhere. Especially not when dealing with racist classist nobles. She had run out of patience and decided that suddenly disappearing was a better option than leaving five large puddles of blood on the clean paved road. A poor water-mage would be tasked with cleaning it up after all.

A few uniform-clad students had noticed her sudden appearance, and were staring at her befuddled, unsure of how to react. The three female students, dwarf, orc and elf, of which only the elf carried a noble’s house emblem on her chest, tensed up. The dwarf suddenly held a glowing stone, the elf's eyes radiated a golden light, and the female orc took a protective stance in front of the two other girls. Emily thought all three of them looked pretty hot. She wondered if the academy had any rules prohibiting intimate student relations, or drinking alcohol.

The orc took another unsure step, fists raised, a golden shine starting to cover her green skin and bulging muscles, the large-chested elf having cast a protective buff from behind. Emily tried to stop having lewd thoughts. Failed. Then decided to distract herself by preventing another confrontation. She figured she could kill two bandits with a single punch, by asking for directions. She didn't know her way around the academy after all.

“Do any of you know where they do the admittance testing? I’m supposed to be assessed today. Hopefully I’ll get to know you better when they let me join.”

Again, the three students were unsure how to react. The cute dwarven girl was the first to speak, in a traditional dwarven accent.

“A-are yeh joining the academy too lass? Yeh spooked the everlivin’ shait outta us.”

The glowing stone disappeared from her hand, and the two other girls no longer held a battlestance, the golden shine disappearing from the tall orcs' lovely skin.

The orc licked her left protruding tusk, before speaking in a raspy voice.

“You should be careful with appearing out of nowhere like that, I almost smashed your face in.”

Emily almost laughed at that, but managed to reduce her mirth to a small giggle. As if.

“it’s a good thing you didn't then.” Emily was kind of bad at holding back. “So, registration?” She tried again.

“Yes” answered the large-chested elf, voice soft and velvety. “That would be in the lobby of the main administration building. Would you like us to take you there?”

“Yes please!” Answered Emily, a bit too loud, and a bit too fast. The orc raised an eyebrow at that, the two others just giggled.

“All right then, just fo-”

“HOW DARE YOU RUN AWAY FROM THE ENACTMENT OF JUSTICE YOU SNAKE-LIKE WHORE!”

Emily put her right palm over her eyes and rubbed her eyebrows. “This dumbass just doesn't quit, does he?” She didn’t have to turn and look, to know that the arrogant blonde was back, having followed her knowing that she was headed for the academy. She turned anyway, to look upon the idiot among idiots, sprinting towards her with all he had, sword raised above his head without form or reason, and his face red and veins bulging, making him look like he was in the middle of a stroke and a seizure at the same time. He was still some distance away, approaching fast.

“YOUR INSOLENCE WILL BE PAID FOR IN BLOOD! YOUR CRIMES WILL BE LAID CLEAR FOR ALL TO SEE!”

The shouting had grabbed the attention of everyone milling about at the front campus, directing dozens of eyes towards the running madman. The orc huffed behind her.

“What’s that racist idiot doing here? Did he cause you trouble too? What did you do to him? He looks pissed.”

“Aye” The dwarf chimed in. “That noble brat is known to cause trouble with non-humans. The more exotic yeh look, the more violent he gets. Yeh want some help fendin’ ‘im off?”

“Nah” Answered Emily. “He’s a noble after all, better if I deal with him myself. Thanks though.” Emily was about to take a step, but froze and turned to the dwarf again. “That idiot is clearly trying to harm me without a reason for it, so if I hurt him, it’s in self-defense right?” She had a dangerous glint in her eyes, making the dwarf pause before answering.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ah, yer one of them types.” She scratched her head thinking, and continued. “Sure, there’s plenty of witnesses here, as long as he attacks first, and yer truly innocent of the crimes he's already accusing yeh of.”

“I would still advise against killing a noble thought, regardless of innocence” The elf butted in with concern. “Always a bad idea.”

“Right.” Emily said. “Let him attack first, and don’t kill. Simple enough.” She started walking away from the girls, and stopped after a short distance. The annoyance had caught up, and was now upon her. He kept closing the distance, until he was within striking distance.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE ADMITTED TO YOUR CRIMES WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE!”

He held his sword with his right hand as he swung at Emily’s left shoulder. He kept shouting through his unbearably slow attack. She didn’t dodge or attack first, to make sure that everyone saw him make the first move. Only when the blade was inches away from her, did she finally act.

“LET THERE BE JUSTI-”

He didn’t get to finish delivering his justice. He fell to the ground without his sword or right arm, having been torn from his torso and flung a few meters away. After having liberated the man of his sword-arm with her bare hands, Emily stepped back to the position she was standing in moments prior, making it seem as though she hadn’t moved at all. There was sweet silence for a few seconds, before the maimed adult toddler started screaming. The rest of the half-armored squad came running now, having caught up to their now dismembered squad-member.

Emily turned and walked away, deciding that the loud noises behind her were in now way whatsoever related to her. Walking back towards the three stunned girls, she looked down and checked her shirt and pants. Almost no blood. Score! She probably didn’t have much on her face either. No blood-bunny here. Nope!

She looked to the elf and gave her friendliest smile, showing off her sharp teeth. “So, the administration building. You were going to take me?”

The elf swallowed, clearly intimidated, but still managed to answer. “R-right. It’s this way.”

She turned to walk, the two others flanking her. Emily walked to their left, next to the dwarf. They were heading towards a massive building at the edge of the campus plaza, dead center across from the street entrance. The building itself, made of gray stone, was only a few stories tall, but sprouting from the center of the building was a tall brick tower.

While walking, the dwarf eventually cleared her throat, and attempted to initiate a conversation to ease the tension. “So… yeh sure don’t hesitate, do yeh? We just gonna walk away from that by the way?”

“He was being annoying. And yes, we are.”

The two others were keeping quiet, but paying close attention.

“Are yeh… normally that quick to action, against people who annoy yeh?”

Emily gave it some thought before answering, stroking the base of her left ear. “Well, it wasn’t that quick. He had already harassed me before I appeared in front of you. Besides, I tend to be a lot more patient with females.” She winked at the cute dwarf as she finished.

The tension eased a little, as the dwarf chuckled. “That makes sense, but am’ sorry to disappoint lass. Yer not mah type. And these two…” She pointed to the orc and elf. “Are already hopelessly walkin’ around the porridge, so to speak.” They both looked away from the dwarf as she spoke, blushing furiously, albeit not denying it.

Emily giggled. “That’s a shame. What is your type then? My name is Emily by the way.”

“Name’s Vera, and am not telling yeh that!”

The two others had gotten over their initial embarrassment now, and joined the conversation.

“I am called Nazrilka Stone-Fist” the orc announced proudly.

The elf curtsied quickly whilst walking, reaching across her chest touching her family emblem as she introduced herself. “Eliandra Leafcaller. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss Emily.”

Having reached the main administration building, the elf, Eliandra, pointed through the large open doors in front of them. “Just talk to the lady at the administration desk just inside, she’ll help you. Hopefully we’ll see you around!”

Emily thanked her three new acquaintances for showing her the way, and turned from them to enter the large building. Inside was a neat and professional lobby, couches and low tables to both sides of the entrance, an expensive chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling, and a massive desk towards the wall, at the back of the large room. There were doors along the wall behind the desk, and a corridor both to the left and right hand side of the large space. Behind the desk, was a serious looking middle aged woman, helping people standing in a queue in front of the desk. There were other people in the lobby, students, staff wearing different types of uniform, and people in expensive noble clothing, either standing around or going somewhere.

Headed towards the line in front of the large desk, Emily crossed a soft carpet, feeling nice under her large furry feet. Conversations died out as she approached the back of the line, grabbing the attention of all by her mere presence. She didn’t even bother to contemplate why that was, furry bits, blood splatters, commoner clothes, red eyes, the list went on. She was too damn old to care about people staring. She didn't care. Nope.

The lady behind the needlessly large dark-wood desk was apparently quite good at her job, seeing as she rapidly resolved the issues of every person in line. Within a few minutes Emily was standing before the professional Lady, who was staring at her with a frown. She spoke with a strained professional tone, reflecting her dismay.

"You appear to be covered in blood. Did you kill someone on academy grounds? If you did, we are going to have a problem.”

Ah, so it was the blood. Emily thought she was pretty clean though. Must have been more on her face then. Or the people here weren’t used to violence and gore. There were no other conversations being held in the room now. All were paying attention to what was being said, having long foregone trying to hide their eavesdropping.

“Nope! It was just outside in the street, right outside the campus plaza. And I only ripped his arm off, the idiot is probably still alive.” Her cheery words were carried far on the silence. No one moved, not wanting to attract the attention of this small monster in front of them.

The woman in front of her seemed at first glance unaffected by the blatant confession of aggressive dismemberment, but Emily could tell she was getting nervous from her increased heartbeat, sweat, and miniscule muscle twitches. Had it not been for her over the top sharp senses, Emily might have even missed the activation of a magic rune below the desk, a silent alarm no doubt. Ever the professional, the woman continued, words almost completely steady.

“And was this a sanctioned duel? Open violence without cause would warrant an investigation all the same.”

“That’s fine.” Answered Emily, still completely unbothered. Security of some kind would probably be here soon, but she hadn’t done anything wrong at all today. Everything was fine. “It wasn’t a duel, but he attacked me first without a reason. I just ripped his arm off in self defense. There were plenty of witnesses, so I don’t care if someone investigates. Anyways, my name is Emily. I’m here to join the academy today.”

The professional mask finally cracked, and the woman's eyes went wide. She was left speechless for a few long seconds, processing the impact of several important statements. Meanwhile, Emily picked up the sound of two individuals jogging down the left corridor behind her. Her attention was brought back to the administration lady, as she finally spoke up again, more collected now.

“So, miss Emily. You were attacked on your way to the academy, defended yourself against harm by ripping the assailants arm off, still outside academy grounds and with multiple witnesses, and now you wish to apply to become a student here, did I get all that right?”

“Yes, that is all correct.” She nodded, ears flopping a little forward with the movement.

The jogging individuals rounded the corner into the main lobby now, slowing as they approached the main desk, flanking Emily from behind. A bulky male in half-plate armor and several weapons strapped to their sides, came up on Emily's left. A slender female in mage armor and a focus crystal around her neck, came up on Emily’s right. Even with her head turned forwards, she could still sense their rough outlines, and followed their every movement, ready to either kill or flee without warning.

Luckily Emily didn’t have to hide a lobby’s worth of dead bodies, nor flee the capital today, as the administration lady signaled for the security to stand down as they came closer. She continued to speak, seemingly having regained her composure with security present.

“In that case, the investigation of the violent incident outside falls on the city guard, and is entirely not my concern. As for you becoming a student here, are you familiar with the admittance procedures?”

Emily nodded again. “Yes, somewhat. I will be tested for basic combat and spell proficiency, and also have to pay the tuition fee in its entirety before being admitted.”

“Excellent! That is correct. Although I must warn you, the tuition must be paid in full before you will be tested, and should you fail either test, you will lose the entire tuition.” She held a stern face. “This is to prevent people from wasting time and resources applying to be tested without being remotely ready for the advanced education we offer.”

“I understand, and would still like to apply.” Emily answered without hesitation. Even if she failed the testing, the tuition was pocket change. She spent more money in a year drinking and fucking, respectively.

“As you wish, miss Emily. Who is the sponsor for your education?”

Emily chuckled, knowing their following reaction. “No one. I will be paying my own tuition in full.”

There were gasps from several people behind her. The lady reached up to rub the bridge of her nose with her right hand. “I’m not even surprised at this point.” She huffed. “Fine, put the gold on the desk, and let's get this paperwork out of the way.” She then addressed the armed male behind Emily. “It appears as though I have let my nerves get the better of me, Bennett.”

The male behind Emily, Bennett, chuckled again before answering. “It’s the same every year Mrs. Goldfire. You always overwork yourself with the influx of new students.”

“And that’s only focusing on the absolutely necessary. I swear this entire institution would collapse without me. Since you are already here Bennett, could you and Miss Brisket escort Miss Emily here to Lyndis once we are done filling out the correct paperwork. She is to be tested before admission.”

The female mage, apparently called Brisket, shifted her posture and grunted with displeasure, not liking to be bossed around no doubt. Bennett on the other hand bowed and replied immediately. “Anything for you Mrs. Goldfire.”

Emily smiled. Things were going well.