“You must be the new instructor thrust upon me.” A woman wearing a flowing black dress says, her blue eyes watching me carefully from behind her glasses. Draconic ancestry of some kind shows from the circlet of gold scales around her neck, and her age is near impossible to guess with her black hair only showing strands of silver.

I ignore the barbed statement as I smile at her cheerfully. “My name is Arin Devani, enchanter, and yes, your newest instructor. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Silah Silverman.”

“Have you?” Silah says, before moving on without waiting for a response. “My expectations for instructors at this academy are high. We receive some of the most promising students of this generation, and I don’t want to see them wasting their potential.”

“Of course.” I say, my smile faltering slightly at her obvious annoyance with my presence.

“This is a school for future warriors and adventurers, not craftsmen. We only have one other instructor who teaches the basics of enchanting, but with your presence, they have made it clear that they wish to focus their efforts on a more popular subject.”

I shift slightly in my chair, annoyed at her dismissal of the subject I had dedicated my life to.

She ignores me as she continues, “I will only require you to teach one intro level class for the term. The rest of your time can be spent as you please. Try not to interfere with the other instructors.”

My smile finally falters, disappearing into a frown at that last comment.“How large is my budget? We will need proper materials for the class. In spite of what you might think of me, I do wish to give these students a proper education.”

“I have no idea what you wish, Arin. An allowance of forty gold has been allowed for your classroom, use it well.”

This meeting is not going how I’d hoped it would. When Sariah had said that she could get me a job at the Academy, I was overjoyed.

I hadn’t been expecting this resistance from the dean of the school. Maybe leaving my old life behind, and trying to apply as an enchanter while being a completely unknown person was a mistake.

Oh well. It’s too late now.

“Thank you Mrs. Silverman.” I say politely, rising from my chair as my smile reappears. “You won’t regret hiring me.”

“I didn’t hire you.”

“That’s besides the point.” I retort cheerily. “I’ll have everything ready by the time the term starts.”

With that said, I hurriedly leave the woman’s office.

Powerful people have a feeling around them, which you learn to recognize the more you interact with them. Silah Silverman was a very powerful mage, and she exudes an aura befitting one. No doubt she was trying to pressure me with it on purpose.

I take a deep breath of the clean air, appreciating the architecture of the Academy as I head to my new office.

White pillars support buildings taller than giants, the buildings themselves reflect the sunlight in a way that lights up every corner with a soft light. Pristine halls are kept that way by passing servants, who acknowledge me with a nod of the head.

The country that hosts the Academy is nicer to its servants than some of the others I’ve seen while traveling as a Hunter. They are still treated as people, which is nice. I couldn’t stand to live somewhere where servants are given the same value as furniture.

My leisurely walk takes me to a small, but comfortable office. The shelves are empty, and a singular desk occupies the room, with chairs on each side.

I sit down in the instructors chair, comfortably sinking into the cushioned monstrosity. The fur of a killer rabbit coats the chair, making me briefly wonder if I was the Hunter that had killed the creature.

The odds were astronomically low.

But maybe.

With a sigh, I open my eyes, twisting the ring on my finger. With a small injection of mana, I pull parchment and writing utensils from my home, using the ring as a conduit.

I once heard about someone that created a whole other dimension to store his stuff. The process seemed absurdly dangerous and impractical. There are things lying between the dimensions that no one wants to mess with, why would you bother them for a little extra storage space?

Time to come up with a lesson plan! I can’t wait for the school year to start, who knows whose lives I will change? If I’m lucky, I’ll help create the next batch of archmages and artificers. I just can’t wait.

Forty gold isn’t a whole lot when looking for some of the more exotic enchanting materials, but I still have some connections and I might even use some of my own money if I feel the need to do so.

With three weeks remaining before the start of the term, it only takes me a week to gather the most important materials. I find the budget that I’d been given disappearing deceptively fast, but I don’t really mind.

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Occasionally, I see some of the other instructors, but they ignore me, likely focusing on their own preparations.

Sariah, Leon, and Tilah, my old party members, send me letters regularly, keeping me informed of their lives. Sariah’s letters are becoming more vague, which makes me suspect that she is on a mission that requires some amount of secrecy. Tilah is recovering well, and has found a new target for her lust in a young warrior that works as a guard for some noble or another. Leon’s letters are sparse with information, his grief still obvious. He has a sister, a minor noble, who has been looking after him.

Eventually, it’s time for school to start, and I set up excitedly in the classroom I’d been given. Containers of salt were put on each table for each of my students.

Only five students had signed up to take my class, but I don’t really mind. It gives me more time to help each student. My funds would have been brought dangerously low if more students had signed up for my class anyway.

I start humming an old song as the students trickle into my class. Knowing that I’m supposed to wait another fifteen minutes for the class to officially start, I lean against my desk, pull out my knife and start flipping it into the air. I make a little game of seeing how many times I can make the dagger rotate without throwing it too high.

The first person to enter my classroom is a young woman wearing a fancy uniform. Only sixteen or so, she has red hair styled neatly in a bun, two curls framing her face. Purple eyes watch my dagger spin at high speeds through the air with worry. Alera Deensa, the highest ranked noble in the class, with some direct relation to the king of this country.

The next one through the door is a wiry young man who quickly takes in every corner of the room before sitting as far away as he can from Alera. Seventeen years old, his black hair does it’s best to hide his piercing heterochromic eyes, one of which is brown, while the other is a soft grey. His eyes watch my dagger with caution. Eric Lancy is his name, the orphaned son of a knight, he doesn’t have any titles of his own. I’ll have to keep an eye on him, he’s too wary of the world for someone his age. It isn’t good to become too jaded, or life starts to lose its meaning.

The next two are a brother sister pair. Twins to be exact. Both have brown hair and blue eyes, their elven ancestry clear from the slight pointiness of their ears. The sister hides behind her brother slightly, but both walk confidently to a seat away from everyone else. Luna and Levi, the only true commoners in this class, as shown by their lack of a last name. Luna watches the knife flip in the air with amazement, while Levi watches it cautiously.

Class time starts, but the fifth and last student doesn’t show. I frown, catching the knife easily as I sit up from my slouched position. I tap my finger against the blade of the knife for a moment, thinking.

With a sigh, I sheathe the knife at my belt and walk towards the door. “I’ll be back in a moment, don’t touch any of the materials and try not to kill each other over some family feud before I get back.” My eyes flicker to Eric as I say that, before leaving the room.

A small runic spell used for detecting life brightens the world around me. It doesn’t take me long to find four students that are out of place, in an empty room.

I confidently stride to the room, kicking the door open with some annoyance. The four girls in the room jump in surprise.

I didn’t think I’d have to deal with bullying on the first day, but I should know better than to underestimate noble children.

The girl I was looking for had tears in her brown eyes as she turned to look at me, her white hair and upper body drenched with water. Ira Novla, fallen nobility, formerly a duke’s daughter. Her and her older sister are the only two left alive in her family, after her parents were executed for treason. Both her fists are tightly held at her side, one of them even drawing a trickle of blood.

“Excuse me ladies.” I say, easily stepping into the emotionally filled room. “But my student was late for class, and I’m sure that you’re not supposed to be here either. If you don’t want to get into a heap of trouble for being late to class on the first day, I suggest you leave now.”

The three other girls in the room bow to me before leaving. I look at the soaked girl with a sigh. I take off one of my rings, holding it out to her.

“Put this ring on before you freeze to death. It’ll make sure you stay warm.”

She looks at the ring with a small amount of suspicion before slowly reaching out to grab it. I drop it into her hands and start walking, “Come on. I don’t want to start class too late.”

The sound of her footfalls echo behind me as she runs to keep up with my fast pace.

“Thank you.” She says quietly.

“Of course. It’s my job after all.” I say, opening the door to the classroom, where the four teenagers are quietly talking amongst themselves.

I clap to gain their attention as I walk up to the front of the classroom. “Welcome to introduction to enchanting. I’m your instructor Arin Devani, I know what you’re expecting from this class, and I truly hope to blow those expectations out of the water.”

I smile at my five students. All of them are watching me carefully, judging me, no doubt.

“Since I’m not sure how much you’ve been taught about enchanting, we are going to start from the very basics. If you wish to move past that, or want some clarification, I’m almost always in my office. Feel free to stop by anytime, for anything.” I pause for a moment, making sure that I covered everything I wanted to before getting into the practical stuff.

“Almost anything can be enchanted, as long as the enchanter has enough mana and willpower, but certain materials are better than others. Can anyone tell me why I chose salt as our starting material?”

I look over the classroom, waiting for an answer, the room is silent for a moment. Thankfully, Alera answers with a bored expression. “Because while being one of the weakest materials to enchant, it is also the easiest for beginners.”

I smile at her, grateful that at least someone spoke up. “You’re half right. Salt is a very easy material to enchant, but by no means is it the weakest-”

“My tutor, Elena Vardoni, says that salt is practically useless. Are you really disagreeing with her?” Alera asks, obviously expecting me to know the name she mentioned.

I pause, trying to remember anyone important by that name. After a moment of being unable to remember her, I shrug. “Your tutor was misinformed. For many common enchantments, salt is, in fact, very weak. However, if you wish to protect yourself from harm, especially the undead kind, only blood or life essence comes close to it in power.”

Alera huffs at my dismissal of her tutor.

“I’ll prove the power of salt to you next class. Today, I want you to practice making a minor barrier enchantment on the floor over here,” I point towards the floor at the front of the class. “Next class, I will be bringing in a revenant to test the power of your barriers.”

Most of the class freezes at my mentioning of a revenant, but I continue as if I hadn’t noticed.

Carefully, I pull some salt from my podium, and draw the runes that I wanted them to copy on the ground with the salt.

Then I have each of the students copy me, explaining the meaning of the runes as they do.

After two hours, my first class ends, and I watch all of my students leave with a smile on my face.