I had previously mentioned weeks had a span of ten days in the ellari calendar. What I didn’t talk about were the weekends. A concept which didn’t translate very well in ellari. I, somehow, knew my previous incarnation distributed the week in seven days, the first five were workdays, the last two weekends.

Pretty self-explanatory ephemeral knowledge there.

Here the weekend worked differently thanks to the ten-day period. Not only was weekend a misnomer, as the ´holiday´ days were no longer at the end, but there was also one more free day.

There were still the weekends, also two days, at the end of the week, which called to my attention. Why would two separated and different worlds, which didn’t even share the same laws of physics, have a similar structure to organize their time?

If one thought about it, the answer was less grandiose and not a conspiracy. It was probably related to commodity. Having a two-day respite at the end of the week always sounds like a good idea. My previous and ellari culture were so different than they didn´t seem to share a similarity by it. Well, I believe they were different as I got no sense of familiarity with ellari traditions. I could be wrong for all I know and I was just unable to recall correctly.

Oh right, the other free weekday. I had a bad habit to divagate at the first opportunity.

The last free day was located on the fifth day of the week. This meant one would have four workdays, a one-day rest, three more days of work, and finally a two-day weekend. This structure was what fueled my theory of commodity on the ellari week management.

Today, was the fifth day of the week. The third and fourth had passed without a single memorable event, thank you for asking. Another thing to comment about the fifth day was that it wasn’t a holiday like the weekend. One could consider it a semi-workday. Children wouldn’t go to school, but your average...

What’s the most common name for Ferilyn?

Disregard that allegory. Children would have a happy rest, but an average clerk at the market would still work.

The fifth day of the week was commonly considered as a less intense workday, after all.

And that whole rumble was why I was currently at school with my parents even though it technically was a free day. Father wanted to have a talk with professor Accord about my academic position.

I had been in this school for only four days (three and a half counting the first day incident) and seeing the school empty gave me this eerie feeling.

Right now, mother and I were waiting in the reception hall. Father had been called for a preemptive discussion, whatever that may mean. Out of boredom, I started spellcasting to make the most of my time.

Mother placed her hand on my leg. “Edrie, stop.”

“Why?” I sincerely asked her. I wasn’t spellcasting any spells, per se. I’ve just practiced some formulae while flowing mana around my body.

“It is rude to do magic in public.” She explained, half authoritarian, half embarrassed.

This is what I was talking about earlier, who would’ve thought conjuring magic in a magical society would have been seen as bad manners.

“Okay.” I stopped as I didn’t want to be rude. I wish I had brought my spellbook here to give it its weekly reading. I did cycle a bit of mana through my body in the meantime. It wasn’t as optimal as meditation, but every bit helped towards fixing my skewed mana pool.

At least we didn’t have to wait a long time before father came with Accord to greet us.

He began with his characteristic big, warm smile. “Greetings, Miss Asilmani, Master Nightfallen.” The professor made a slight bow.

“My pleasure, professor Accord.” Mother also bowed. I followed her movements to salute, but I stayed silent.

“Here is no place to talk. Please, follow me to my office.” Having Accord and my parents besides one another made me realize the teacher was a titan, even higher than my father. And he was around the two-meter and a half mark.

We followed the professor in silence, mainly admiring the perplexedly decorated corridors to the teacher’s office. The school was already pristine with its intricacy, but these private corridors reeked of the ellari essence of overdecoration.

Especially that tall, wooden-lavender table. It appeared to be more a stool than a table, but it was kept alone at the side of the corridor. It had something akin to a vase on top, connected by a silvery pipe. I wondered what that was.

Professor Accord opened the door for us and invited us to enter. Once we were sat down, he closed the door and followed the gesture.

“I’ve called you here to talk about Edrie’s academic situation.” He began. “I know it’s just the beginning of the school year, but precisely because of that, we need to address his standing in his class. Even though this talk is about Edrie, Miss Farlon also has a considerable academical prowess worth mentioning.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I think you should talk with Marissa’s parents regarding her education,” Father commented stoically.

“But her scholarship is at your name, Mister Nightfallen.” Accord added with a smile. This one had a devilish touch to it. “And I doubt her parents would refuse the opportunity of higher education for their child.”

“While that is true, I still think you should talk to them.” Father was unmovable.

“We got a bit carried away, let’s return to the main subject.” Accord coughed and put the conversation back on track. “Edrie is more than qualified for freshman year. While I can’t certify his common knowledge, Edrie’s magical knowledge is comparable to a fifth-year student. His magical abilities are even more so. A high affinity user like him promises a bright future, so I wouldn’t want to hinder his path by making him learn such inconsequential subjects to his current self.”

Even though his monologue was full of useful information, I was stuck with the high affinity part. Did my parents lie in official documents? What were they going to say once they found out? ‘Oh, he sure has had his affinity upgraded since the last check’. I could see it working but still. Was superb affinity so much of a fuss that they resorted to straight-up lying?

I focused on the conversation again.

“Just by the virtue of his magical skills, I would like to advance him two courses at minimum, maybe even four.” Professor Accord continued. “I had a small talk with his tutor, Miss Salore, and she agreed Edrie is more than qualified for her classes.”

Did Miss Salore really say that? It didn’t strike like her at all. She probably said ‘Yeah, move this obnoxious boy from my class’ or something along those lines.

“As I stated earlier, it is difficult to see the extent of his capacity in common class subjects as he hasn’t even finished the first week. I will reiterate though, as a magics teacher, I only needed a quick glance to notice that Edrie’s skills are top-notch.” Aww, consider myself flattered, professor. “I’d like to propose you two solutions. First, one which I wouldn’t recommend but is available to you either way. Move Edrie and, if possible, Miss Farlon to next year right now. They would start tomorrow on the next year subjects and would have only lost four days of classes.”

The professor stopped for a moment to let us think. This decision was a bit rushed. Not only did Accord think the same, but looking at my father’s expression, I could see he agreed this wasn’t the right call.

He proceeded once more. “Or, secondly, wait until the end of the week, where we will carefully examine Master Nightfallen and Miss Farlon’s performance to see if a skip of one year isn’t enough.”

“These are the only options?” Father asked once professor Accord finally ended his explanation.

“Well, you always have the option to not take these other two. Though I would recommend greatly against it.” He explained still with an optimistic smile on his face.

“This term is a bit short, isn’t it?” Mother commented, specs of wariness on her tone. “Couldn’t it be extended?”

“We would like these two children to have the right education as soon as possible, so as to not affect their progress negatively. One more week should be doable, to further the testing, but one month is beyond acceptable. Such elongated period is fated to destabilize their education.” The man firmly added.

“Hmm.” My father pondered. “Can we have a moment to talk it out?”

“Of course.” Accord smiled at us.

“Edrie, can you go outside? It will take us some time to come to a decision.” Father commented.

While I was offended by this, it was my future after all, I could respect the choice of my father to let the adults do the talking. I was a child, and I was going to act like one. I trusted my father wouldn’t make the wrong decision. Still, it angered me.

“Okay.” I taciturnity stated as I left the office and closed the door behind me.

I walked for a few meters before I stopped in my tracks.

“Huh. What should I do now?” This was the school, after all. Not the park. While the playground may have some equipment for the children, I wouldn’t be entertained by it. “This leaves me with three options.” Or at least the first three that came to my mind.

The first one was to hide somewhere and practice spellcasting. I wanted to be better and making the most of my free time was the way. The second was to see what that vase was for, but something told me I would get into trouble if I touched it. And the third, well… Let’s say I was guided by my moronic, yet sensible, self and tried the latter of my options.

I walked across the school corridors on my way to fulfill my quest. Yeah, yeah, delusions of grandeur. I had nothing to do currently, let me have fun.

The corridors were empty, but that was nothing new. After classes start or end, there would always be no souls in the hallways. It was more about the silence, no children crying, no teachers lecturing. Just the screech of my shoes because it appeared I didn’t know how to damn walk correctly.

I corrected my posture. Menial things like this should be corrected immediately. Now I had a chance of educating my body to not be wasted by slips on my posture or health. I could easily avoid many ailments and future pains just by rectifying my composure.

A deep inhalation followed by a deeper exhalation. Straight back, solid steps. I didn’t let my feet ski over the floor.

I saw myself on a colored window. While the reflection was incredibly distorted, I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of a child trying to act like a gentleman. That didn’t mean I relaxed my posture. I felt a bit taller thanks to it.

Standing in front of a white door, I looked through the window in its center. The room was devoid of people. I sighed. What was I expecting?

“Are you looking for someone?” A female voice asked at my side. I felt as if every inch of my body jumped. I also literally jumped. “Oh, are you okay?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.” I responded as I rotated my head to face the voice.

I jumped again. Too close. Alatea Decourse looked at me with curiosity.

The nurse giggled. “Hmm… It doesn’t look like it. Is your bleeding healed?”

“Yes, I am perfectly fine thanks to you.” I thanked her. “I just came here to salute you; I am totally fine. It only happens that I am in school today with my parents.”

Can I talk like a normal person, please?

“If that’s all, then I’m happy.” She responded with a smile as her violet hands opened the infirmary door. “I wouldn’t like to know you relapsed because you were overexerting.” Alatea looked down at me. I was still a child, but she wasn’t short by any means. “If you excuse me, I have to go back to my investigation. You should stop wandering around and better get back with your parents.”

“…Okay.” I taciturnly responded.

As I finished talking, she gave me one more smile and closed the door. I had mixed feelings when I was next to her. It wasn’t an arrow that struck my heart, but my soul.