Nocturnio (6.8.9973 AS)
Tristan had been grounded by Nana for the rest of the week, which meant he wouldn’t be able to leave the house till school started. Tristan spent most of his time trying to figure out what kind of invention would bring him the most money and how to start up an enterprise. Although he knew how lucky he was for having survived the encounter with the Frost beast, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed about Nana’s harsh punishment. Because this meant he would have to wait till school started to go to the library to search for ideas.
“Whatever happens today, please promise me you will look after Laura.” Nana said to Tristan, who was eating his cereals for breakfast. “I don’t know what happened in the zoo, but I’m sure you didn’t mean it.”- “Of course I didn’t! I even jumped inside to save that spoiled brat!” Tristan looked at Nana’s displeased expression “I… I mean well behaved and lovely child”- “And what about the promise?” –“Fine, I will look after her, but don’t expect me to jump into a dragon’s cage just because she happens to land in one!” – “That’s better,” Nana said and stroke Tristan’s hair.
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Laura and Tristan were sitting in the center of the large assembly hall of the Guardian Academy. They had arrived at the academy a little bit earlier so they had the privilege to choose their seats. Dolores and Nana had also come to the academy. The two weren’t allowed to sit with the children though. They had to take place on the second floor of the assembly hall.
Tristan hadn’t spoken to Laura since the incident at the zoo and it seemed she had no intention of changing that today. “Listen, I’m sorry about what happened the other day,” Tristan said. “Hmpf, I’m not speaking with you! I’m ignoring you!” Laura said she poked her tongue out at Tristan, who could only sigh at her childish behavior. “If you’re ignoring me why did you tell me that you’re ignoring me?” Laura had turned red like a tomato. “Anyways, I’m not speaking with you, you… you big ‘Blackhornbeetle’!” The Blackhornbeetle was the ugliest beetle Laura knew and it also tasted really bad. ‘What’s up with this girl and beetles?’ Tristan thought giving up to interact with the girl.
As the time for the opening ceremony for the first years grew closer, more and more people started to enter the assembly hall of the Guardian Academy. Most of the children entering the hall were around ten to twelve years old. But all of them had something in common: Anxiety.
“Are those two seats free?” a voice asked. As he was about to say yes, Tristan realized, who was standing in front of him. “Yes, of course.” Tristan smiled at the boy. “Hey, Laura look who is here!”- “I told you I’m-” Laura, who was about to be rude towards Tristan became silent and started to blush. “I… Erm… I’m sorry… Erm… I mean… Thank you! Thank you for helping me out at the zoo!” Laura was more than just embarrassed. This was the boy who had saved her at the zoo. Back then she had acted like a spoiled brat. In her despair she had clung on to the boy standing there. Moreover, she didn’t even thank her benefactor!
Ernesti was accompanied by a girl not older than 7. The similarity between the two was obvious. “Is that your sister?” Tristan asked. “Oh, pardon me! Yeah, you could say so… I guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Ernesti Tod and this is girl here is my half-sister Abigail Letum.” Ernesti bowed his head to introduce himself and Abigail winked. “It’s a pleasure. The cry baby here,” he pointed at Laura “Is Laura Verheerung and-” Laura stabbed one of her fingers into Tristan’s ribs. Tristan twitched a little but played the pain no heed and continued as if nothing had happened. “And I’m Tristan Halblicht.”
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Ernesti took the seat next to Tristan, his sister took the seat next to him. “I didn’t expect to meet you here and now that I know you are a Tod even more so.” Tristan said bluntly. “Well, yeah no one would expect a son bearing the name of one of the three clans to enroll to this school…. But you see; I’m not from the main family. My dad is the younger brother of the clan head. Therefore, he is allowed to use the name Tod.” Ernesti stopped his explanation thinking if he should go further to detail.
He decided to carry on, because he was sure this was information anyone could get if they looked it up in a book. “Also, historically, the Tod clan has been the ones maintaining the closest relationships with the Humans. So it is obvious that most of the people in our clan have to go through military training which includes enrolling into the Guardian Academy.”
That was right. The Guardian Academy was an elite military academy. Its main goal was to ensure there were always enough elite fighters to defend the gates to the other realm and to ensure the safety of the facilities in Terra. To be precise the Guardian Academy’s goal was to defend the good relationship with the Humans that were threatened by the Seraphs.
Although, the Guardian Academy was a military organization, no child was being forced to learn how to fight. The academy was divided into two main branches. One was the military branch; the other was the political branch. Children in the military branch obviously would become soldiers in the future and were trained to fight. Children in the political branch would learn negotiation techniques and how to trade with Humans.
Children could decide which branch they joined after successfully advancing to their fourth year in the academy. One was for sure though, all of them would have to spend at least one year in the human continent: Terra.
The Guardian Academy was the only school in all of Umbra that allowed Demi-Humans to enroll. There was a large amount of Elders visiting this school.
One of the reasons why they would allow Elders to enroll in this school was because Humans considered Elders as their elite. No Human would go against the words of an Elder. This meant if the Elders were on the side of the Demons, the Demons could get better deals during negotiations.
For that reason affairs with Humans were encouraged by the academy. Obviously only students old enough could take part in seminars like ‘How to seduce Humans?’ Because of this and the high amount of Elders visiting the Guardian Academy, there was no discrimination towards them in Nocturnio.
The other was to stay close to their offspring. Many Demons that had children with Human’s didn’t want their children to grow up with the humans. One, because they would be too far away for them to see on a regular basis, second, because their offspring would be easy targets for the Seraphs if they stayed in Terra (the human continent).
Ernesti gestured at his sister and said “I’m also starting the academy so late because I want to look after my kid sister. You know she is a genius. She is only six and she has already passed that test!” Ernesti said proudly. “It took me two years to pass it” He stated a bit ashamed. “How old are you guys by the way? You look rather young.” Tristan looked apologetic at Ernesti and replied. “Five.” “If they allowed me to take that test at that age, I would have passed it one year ago!” Abigail who had been listening till now butted in.
She looked like she wanted to say more, but was interrupted by the voice of the principal. “Attention everyone, I know you are all busy forging new friendships, but this old man has some few words to say…” While they had been talking, they didn’t realize that the hall was already filled with first years and that it was already the time to start with the entrance ceremony. All students looked towards the stage and started to listen to what the principal had to say.