The following morning, in Cycelia's Academy room…

The golden sunlight floods through the narrow window. Cycelia groggily opens her eyes, blinking a few times with a soft grunt, and Straf opens his.

「Straf… Good morning… Nnhhh… Were you sitting like that the whole night?」

She groans quietly, and asks as she props herself up on her elbow.

「Yup. Good morning, Lia. Did you get over yourself yet?」

Thump-creak…

「Hmpf!」

Cycelia responds with an angry puff out of her small nose, drops down on her bed, and rolls away to face the wall with her arms crossed. Straf lets out a resigned sigh.

「Tsk… Do you want to go to the city, then?」

He asks, as he scoots over to the edge of his bed and drops his feet down onto the floor.

「…Yes.」

She replies, after a brief moment of silence.

「Alright. Let's go, then. Let's get that oil… And try to read at least the basics of this magic drivel before bed, Lia.」

Straf stands up from the bed, places his hands in his pockets, and heads for the door.

「Can we go find a shop with snacks?」

Cycelia jumps up in her bed, throwing the blanket off of herself.

「…Will you stop being angry at me if I buy you something tasty?」

Straf asks, looking at her over his shoulder with his mouth aslant.

「I want to buy a thank-you gift for Leila!…」

She pouts, and her emerald gaze shifts aside.

「…And I might forgive you if you get me snack.」

Cycelia adds, innocuously tapping her fingers together. Straf sighs.

「Tsk. Fine. If that gets you to finally stop sulking…」

Crrreak…

He shrugs, and exits the room while Cycelia slips her boots on…

…

Straf and Cycelia descend the stairs, and Straf continues shoving the students that get in his path by ramming his shoulder into them. The two navigate the now-memorized path through the hallways back to the entrance.

「Lia, have you at all felt kind of a… Presence, I guess, lately?」

Straf abruptly asks, while they're on the way to the Cursefire Brazier.

「Hm? Presence?」

She tilts her head at him, blinking her green eyes under her furrowed brows in confusion.

「Yeah. Y'know… Like someone is standing over your shoulder… Or, kind of watching you from somewhere…」

He says, looking up at the ceiling as he thinks, while practically bulldozing through the students.

「…Or reading your search history and placing you on a list…」

Straf adds, mumbling quietly.

「I can't say I have- What?」

Cycelia's eyes join him in the search of something vague on the ceiling, before they snap right back to him and her head tilts again.

「So, nothing at all? Forget it, then. I think Lily is giving me a withdrawal.」

Straf shrugs, and his gaze returns to the anxious faces before him. Most of the students wisely jump out of his path ahead of time, but a few still have yet to make their acquaintance.

「What?」

She asks, and her question remains unanswered as they turn the corner into the Cursefire hall. The large, bright purple flame dances away with fervor.

「…That's strange. It was pretty dark in here.」

Cycelia remarks, looking up at the hovering brazier with her brows furrowed while they walk through the well lit hallway. Her eyes glitter, reflecting the flame's bright light.

「Maybe someone tripped one time too many, and cursed whoever thought this was a good idea into stubbing their toe for the rest of their life?」

Straf theorizes with a scoff, smirking at the flame as they walk past underneath it. They exit into the main hallway towards the stairs to the entrance door, but Cycelia's worried eyes are locked onto the Cursefire behind them. She looks at it over her shoulder, before her gaze sinks beneath the top of the stairs as they descend. They go outside, headed to the gate. Straf and Cycelia notice two men dressed in mage robes standing in front of the gate, facing the interior. While they approach, the robed men watch them attentively, maintaining eye contact as they stand in place.

「Halt. Nobody is allowed out.」

One of the men comes closer, holding his palm out towards them.

「But we want to go to the city-」

Cycelia explains with her brows furrowed, pointing past their shoulders.

「Nobody is allowed out, for any reason until further notice. Headmaster's edict. There will be an announcement regarding this at noon in the gathering hall.」

The man sternly reiterates. Both of the robed men look at Straf and Cycelia with concerned eyes, and troubled faces.

「But-」

「Buddy, and how do you exactly intend to stop us if we leave anyway?」

With his hands in his pockets and a snide grin on his face, Straf asks as he gets in the man's anxious face.

「If you leave, you will be expelled effective immediately and permanently.」

The second man chimes in, and steps up to his fellow's side. Their eyes dart nervously between Straf and Cycelia seemingly at random.

「Permanently!?…」

Cycelia exclaims as her head perks up in shock.

「Well, you're shit out of luck, because I'm not a student. I'm her bodyguard, so I guess I'll just-」

Straf scoffs, but the man cuts in.

「She will be expelled as well if you leave.」

He says with a visibly uneasy expression. The mage's gaze remains unyielding and fixed onto Straf's eyes, however.

「Please, just return to the Academy. The headmaster will explain everything.」

The second mage chimes in again, trying to plead with and placate Straf. He glares at them both in return.

「Straf… Forget it, then. Let's just head back.」

Cycelia steps closer, anxiously fidgeting with her medallion. Straf glances at her over his shoulder in silence.

「Straf, let's go. Forget it, we can get the oil some other time.」

She says, lightly tugging at his forearm back towards the Academy building.

「Oil? For a lamp?」

The man who stopped them asks.

「Yes. We wanted to go to the city to buy some… And some snacks…」

Cycelia nods her head as she explains. The men glance at each other, and one nods his head forward towards the main building, gesturing to the other.

「…We might have some spare. Come, I'll get it for you.」

The man says, and walks past them. He looks over his shoulder, waiting for them to follow. Straf clicks his tongue and relents, turning around with a sigh.

「…So, I guess you'll be mad at me for the rest of the term, huh?」

「…It's fine, I'm not even angry anymore. I can't be mad at you for long, and I was already feeling kind of bad about it yesterday.」

Cycelia shrugs as walks by Straf's side with her arms wrapped around his. They follow the robed man back to the Academy building, in a prolonged silence.

「…Shame about those snacks though, right?」

Straf remarks. Cycelia lets out a large, disappointed sigh…

…

Half an hour later, after navigating through the dense student crowd and up a few steps of stairs…

The three arrive at an unassuming door in the adjoining building. The mage reaches into his robe through his collar, and pulls out a large ring of keys, tied to a string hanging off of his neck.

「Say, we never were in this building before. What is it for?」

Cycelia asks while the man fiddles with the keys, searching for a specific one.

「It's uhh… It's for specific research. Alchemy, magic power, lost techniques, summoning, and so on… Seldom anyone has a reason to go here, really.」

The man shrugs, too focused on the keys to elaborate. He seemingly finds the one he was looking for, and slips it into the door's lock.

Clack-clack.

He turns it, and the lock opens noisily. He pushes at the handle, and opens the door to the dark storage room.

「Wait here, it's kind of cramped in there.」

The man flashes his palm with a partial turn towards them, and enters. Straf shrugs and leans onto the nearby wall with his back, while Cycelia idly fidgets with her medallion for a few minutes.

「Found it. Here.」

He exits the room, and hands Cycelia a small clay pot with a matching lid. She peeks inside, and it indeed is full of oil.

「Um, thank you, we will return it when-」

「No, keep it. Nobody's gonna miss that.」

The man dismissively shakes his head and hand, grimacing a little. He turns around to shut and lock the door, then slips the ring of keys back beneath his robe. Straf bounces off the wall, and they follow him back through the skybridge joining the two buildings. Another moment of silence begins.

「I am really sorry about the whole situation, but it is what it is…」

The man abruptly stops, turning about on his heel. He looks at them both with the same and consistent troubled face, holding his hands low in front of himself.

「…We don't make the rules, we only enforce them. If you have an issue with the edict, you'll have to raise it to the headmaster. He has a good reason for this.」

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

He apologetically explains, and shrugs his hands. He takes half a step towards the main building.

「And the reason is?…」

Straf asks with his brow inquisitively raised. The man aborts his turn, just as he was about to continue on his path. He looks aside, shrugging his hands over and over again before joining them once more, only to then shrug again. He grimaces heavily, though his face is still very obviously seeping turmoil regardless of how it shifts.

「…You'll have to wait for the announcement.」

He anticlimactically responds after all the buildup, shrugging his arms. They limply flop down, and noisily pat at the sides of his robes. Straf and Cycelia glance at each other, then continue following him back to the main building…

…

After a while, the two part with the man in one of the halls, and he heads back to the gate. Meanwhile, Straf and Cycelia return to their room.

Crrrreak…

Straf shuts the door behind them, and Cycelia gently sets the clay pot down on the very scarce free space remaining on the desk. They both sit down on their beds, and look at each other. A brief silence begins.

「…Straf, what if the edict is connected to the Cursefire? It wasn't like that when we first arrived.」

Cycelia says, greatly furrowing her brows with her hands anxiously clasped between her thighs.

「Yeah, it obviously is.」

Straf concurs, and plops down on the bed.

「Huh? You think so?… Why?」

She tilts her head, blinking at him.

「Hmmmm… I dunno yet.」

He hums, then shrugs after a momentary pause.

「Ah, figures…」

Her shoulders slump, and she lowers her head with each nod.

「Do you want a descending list of my guesses, though?」

「Uh, sure?」

「One, murder mystery. Two, they're going to lock up the failing students in magic coal mines. Three… I don't know, the dark lord is back, or some shit.」

Straf shrugs his hands, before continuing enumerating.

「Four, someone did something really, really stupid and they're really embarrassed about it, and don't want the word to spread. Five…」

He says, pulling his thumb away with two of his fingers. His eyes snap to Cycelia.

「…Zombie apocalypse.」

Straf concludes, and throws his arms up with his mouth scrunched.

「Zombies!?」

Cycelia exclaims, with her emerald eyes wide open in fright.

「Yeah. But that'd be sooo laaame!… 」

He nods, then throws his hands up in dismay.

「They probably are keeping them contained here, but it'll soon spread… Oooorrr… It's the outside that's experiencing a zombie apocalypse, and we're safe here…」

He theorizes, gesturing lazily with his hands on his stomach. He then extends his index finger, looking at Cycelia.

「…For now.」

Straf ominously adds, and scoffs with a grin.

「Huh!? But I don't want to be stuck with zombies!」

Cycelia says with furrowed brows, and pulls her dainty hands up to her large chest for comfort.

「Hmmm… Depending how you look at it, Lia, you'll be stuck with zombies either way. If they're on the outside, well, it's only a matter of time. If they're on the inside, then at least there's a chance for it to be contained…」

He briefly humms, and explains, once again lazily gesturing.

「…Until the sequel comes, where we'll find out it actually spread to the whole world! Yippee. Who could have expected that?… Me. And the rest of the world. Just have to keep raising the stakes higher, huh?…」

Straf grumbles, with his mouth heavily scrunched to the side.

「…Do you not think this is a good time to start reading some books, Lia? We have nothing to do until noon. You might as well.」

He nonchalantly asks, looking into her frightened eyes with a bored expression on his face.

「What's the point if everyone is going to be a zombie!? That makes no sense!」

She loudly asks, furrowing her brows at him.

「Well, Lia, If there's dark days ahead, having a head full of knowledge might help… And a zombie apocalypse is not an excuse to shirk learning. It's my least probable guess, anyway. Don't get too excited.」

Straf explains, and sits up. Cycelia sighs in relief, and looks at her baggage.

「I don't know, I guess I could read a little…」

She shrugs, and looks back at Straf with her mouth slanted a little.

「Great. As long as it's enough to make you smart but lazy, Lia. Clocking out of the mediocrity factory and never clocking back in is definitely the way to go.」

He chuckles, grinning at her as he shrugs his hands.

「Factory?…」

She asks, opening her baggage and rummaging through the books within, as she momentarily glances at Straf every few seconds.

「Too early, Lia. We'll get to the industrial revolution soon. Perhaps its consequences, too.」

「What are you going to do in the meanwhile, Straf? Do you want something to read?」

Cycelia asks, as she pulls out a large tome and cracks it open.

「Nah, don't worry about me, I've got ways to keep myself occupied…」

He scoffs in reply, and assumes his meditative pose once again. Cycelia shrugs, and turns the tome to the first page…

…

In the afternoon, in Cycelia's room.

「All students requested to the gathering hall. Presence is mandatory… All students requested to the gathering hall. Presence is mandatory…」

A clear, loud female voice says from beyond the door. It echoes a little, and while it seems like someone is speaking from right beyond it, it also very obviously is not the case, due to how distant it sounds. The announcement repeats a few times, and the voice seems to depart, slowly becoming an inaudible noise. Doors outside open and close, followed by a rumble of footsteps. Cycelia and Straf look at each other.

「Let's go.」

Cycelia says as she places the red bookmark string in the center of the tome, and shuts it, placing it down on her bed. They get up, and exit in a hurried step…

…

The two arrive some fifteen minutes later at the gathering hall. On entry, they pass by two Academy mages, who peek into the hallway to see if anyone else is coming through. Another mage arrives.

「I think these two are the last ones.」

He says, and they close the door behind Straf and Cycelia.

Though they were here before, the sheer scale of the room inspires awe in Cycelia once again. The enormous auditorium has enough seats at its long benches for all of the students, and then some, though most of them are packed full. Thick, imposing columns that dot the room keep the high ceiling from collapsing on everyone's heads. At the far end of the room, the Academy's professors watch the students from a stage, with grim expressions on their faces. Aria with her gigantic hat is among them, too. Straf looks for an empty seat, and quickly finds two spaces free. He sits down with Cycelia, and they wait.

「Well, Lia… If it is the zombie apocalypse, it's the outside type.」

Straf remarks, shrugging his shoulders.

「Huh? What makes you say that?」

She tilts her head.

「'Cause if it's the inside type, calling this stupid would be putting it very, very mildly.」

He side-glances at her with his mouth heavily scrunched to the side.

The room is filled with a low murmur of the students talking quietly, forced to speak louder and louder over each other. With his arms crossed and his face in a tight-lipped grimace, Straf looks at Aria on the stage, while she and the rest of the teachers idle with their hands held behind their backs in a dignified manner. She notices him in the dense crowd, and they briefly stare at each other. After a moment, her eyes lose interest, and they jump away to another point in the room. Roughly another ten minutes later, the headmaster climbs up onto the stage from the stairs at its side.

「Finally. I was getting tired of waiting for this guy.」

Straf grumbles to Cycelia, looking at the old mage as he walks to the center of the stage, also holding his hands behind his back. His step is uncharacteristically rushed, and while his expression is the same as Straf remembers from before, his brows are minutely raised, and the squinting eyes behind his spectacles have a hint of suspicion or concern in them. A small, blue, slowly spinning runic circle hovers perfectly fixed in the space before his mouth, obscuring it just a little. He takes the center, and faces the students with a serious face.

The crowd goes silent, and he stares at the audience for a few seconds without saying a word.

「Dear and esteemed students, thank you for coming.」

Corvus says in a calm tone, with a slow nod of his head. His voice booms across the room, just like the announcer at the tournament.

「I would like to begin with an apology. First, I'd like to apologize for calling you all here so suddenly.」

He continues, looking left and right as his eyes leisurely scan across the crowd. His gaze briefly pauses at Straf, before moving on elsewhere.

「Second, I would also like to apologize for making it mandatory. I know that you have better things to do, than to listen to a boring, old man talk…」

「Yup.」

Straf nods his head with a tight-lipped grimace.

「…Be it studying, making acquaintances, friends. Perhaps simply relaxing after long travel to our Academy. For that, I apologize.」

Corvus nods his head again, and briefly pauses, letting the audience stew in the silence.

「I have one more thing to apologize for… However, it ties into the main topic of my announcement. One of them, at least, so I may as well begin.」

He shrugs, briefly glancing at Straf again.

「Yeah, get on with it already. I'm gonna hold my breath, and you surprise me. Huuuuuurk.」

Straf says, and loudly takes a gasp of air, holding it with puffed up cheeks. Cycelia looks at him with her brows furrowed, then glances at the headmaster. Straf is much too far, and far too quiet for Corvus to be able to hear him.

「You've been told that the term will begin in two weeks… Less the days that have already passed. That is no longer the case. A new date has been set.」

Corvus declares, and a brief murmur begins once more. He waits a few seconds for it to quiet down, and Straf's brow rises.

「Dear and esteemed students, the new term begins effective tomorrow.」

「Oh wow.」

Straf blurts out, with his brows elevated in surprise…