* Erwin's P.O.V *

After washing and changing, we finally left our rooms, ready to face our first day here at the academy; for every step I took through the corridors and through the streets of the academy, my heart palpitated more and more from happiness, and my smile grew bigger and bigger.

The morning sun filtered through the windows, tinging the empty spaces of the corridors with golden light as the sounds of student life filled the air. The curious gazes of other cadets danced around us, but my determination was unwavering, and nothing could dim my excitement for the start of this new adventure.

Following the map of the huge campus, we finally made our way to the heart of the academy, where the imposing structure of classrooms stood majestically before us.

"Wow ... it's massive!" I exclaimed in amazement as I looked up to admire the immensity of the building, its brick walls silhouetted against the blue sky. Students crowded around the doors, eager to begin their day of study and learning.

A shiver of excitement ran down my spine as we crossed the threshold of the building, ready to fully immerse myself in the world of learning and personal growth that this prestigious academy had to offer. It was time to leave the past behind and embrace the future with enthusiasm and determination.

As we stepped into the building, we found ourselves amidst a bustling crowd of students, hurriedly shuffling to and fro along the expansive corridor. Navigating through this human tide, we finally reached a signboard strategically placed to aid new students in navigating the labyrinth of classrooms within the building.

"Hm... So, I have to go upstairs, huh?" muttered Brenin, his gaze fixed on the signboard as he located his destination.

"Well, good luck then!" I replied, offering Brenin a fist bump in a gesture of camaraderie. But Brenin's response was met with a peculiar look, and he continued on his way to class, his hand raised hesitantly.

[...We have a long way to go…] I mused to myself, slightly disheartened by Brenin's reaction. Nevertheless, I forced a smile, retracting my fist. While I hadn't expected instant friendship, I had hoped for a warmer reception.

Just as I was about to turn and head towards my own class, my gaze was intercepted by Elaine, who stood before me, her eyes fixed intently on me.

"Hey...?"

"So, you managed to get admitted... To be honest, i'm really surprised..." - Elaine remarked, her tone tinged with a hint of annoyance, disregarding my greeting as she continued to scrutinize me.

"Incredible, don't you think?" I responded with a faint smile, brushing off her sharp gaze as she inspected me from head to toe.

Elaine's scrutiny lingered until it settled on the stars emblazoned on my chest, a mischievous smile gradually spreading across her face, as if she took delight in my placement in section C.

"What's so funny?" I asked, irritated by her amusement, failing to understand the source of her mirth.

"Oh, nothing, nothing... Good luck with your new 'adventure', enjoy it while you can!" Elaine chirped cheerfully before sauntering off towards the stairs leading to the upper sections.

I couldn't quite fathom Elaine's attitude, but her dismissive tone and demeanor hinted at an underlying motive that left me unsettled. Nonetheless, I brushed it off as mere posturing, attributing her behavior to the perceived gap between us.

"Tsk... who does she think she is?!" I grumbled under my breath, vexed by Elaine's demeanor, before proceeding towards my classroom. Unlike sections B and A, our classrooms were situated on the ground floor, prompting me to navigate through the maze of corridors to reach my destination.

Nearly three minutes later, after passing numerous classes, it dawned on me that section C boasted a significantly larger student population than sections B and A. Moreover, I noticed that, after the third-year classes, there were no other upper classes; which was strange, since in theory, we were supposed to spend five long years in this academy. Nevertheless, I paid little attention to these details as I approached my classroom.

Standing before the door, I took a moment to compose myself before mustering the courage to step inside. Instantly, all eyes turned towards me, intensifying the feeling of being scrutinized.

"We have a new face here..." the teacher announced, casting a curious gaze in my direction.

"Y-Yes, my name is Erwin Eda, nice to meet you!" I replied, offering a respectful bow amidst the sea of curious stares.

When I said my name, the woman's look became "strange"; I wouldn't know how to describe it, it was neither an expression of surprise nor curiosity, almost as if she knew who I was;

"Well, Mr. Eda. I am Mrs. Wilson, and I am the professor in charge of "theory of magic" in Section C. If you need help, just ask." - said the professor, giving a slight smile - "Go ahead and find a place to sit."

I lifted my head, looking for a free place to sit; as I climbed the steps leading up to the seats, I began to feel really uncomfortable with all those stares that seemed to be looking into my soul; no matter how hard I tried to ignore them, at some point it had gotten heavy.

But there was nothing I could do about it since it was something that, after yesterday, I had already imagined might happen.

Choosing a seat was difficult, as I did not want to be squared off for the entire 5 hours of class, so I looked for a place away from curious eyes, a place I obviously tht was hard to find; it was only when I gave up that idea that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the only person who was not staring at me at that moment: a puny, pale-skinned, brown-haired boy was sitting in the corner in the room, in the last row of seats. Unlike the others, he stood with his gaze downcast, intent on reading a book on who knows what subject. Moreover, he was literally sitting next to no one, so I found it convenient for me.

[Finally! Someone who doesn't stare at me as if I were a monster!] I thought joyfully, thus approaching the boy in a hurry.

"Can I sit here?" I asked him, a smile on my face.

The boy looked up for a few moments, looking at me with surprised eyes; I didn't understand why, but he seemed almost astonished that I had addressed him.

"C-Certainly, of course! Have a seat!" he said stammering a little, still looking at me with a shocked look.

I was a little confused by that weird behavior, but I pretended not to, and then sat down next to him.

But after I sat down and looked up, the stares of those students who before were full of curiosity were now definitely different, to the point that it scared me a little; I don't know why, but it all started the moment I sat down next to the boy.

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[Perhaps, I am imagining things...] I thought at first, thus ignoring all those looks that were increasingly bothering me.

"I am Brenin, by the way. Nice to meet you!" I said to the boy next to me, extending my hand.

The boy looked even more shocked this time, looking at me almost as if he didn't know how to act at that moment. I found him as strange, almost as strange as those students who did not stop looking at me. We stood for several seconds staring at each other like idiots, sI thought maybe, the boy was shy or didn't want to talk, so I pulled my hand back, focusing on something else.

"I...I'm Oscar..." he said softly, with his gaze still on the book and his face slightly red.

I didn't understand why he was behaving that way, but at least now I knew his name and that was a start!

"Oscar, huh? Nice to meet you! I hope we'll get along!" I exclaimed, giving him two pats on the shoulder.

"Alright, everyone, quiet now!" - The teacher exclaimed firmly, drawing the attention of all the students who finally stopped staring at me. - "Take out your books, the lesson starts now!"

-----

Throughout the night, and during my short walk here to the classrooms, I had imagined my first day of study as the best day of my life, full of interesting and fun things.

Instead, I realized that the reality was far from what I had mistakenly belived; the first hour of class, in addition to being boring seemed to never end, despite the fact that only 50 minutes had passed.

At first, it even caught my interest, since she was talking about the origin of magical elements, but the amount of anecdotal information said by the professor, was so much and so difficult to understand, that it managed to blow my brain into smoke in very few moments.

Besides...I found this shit so boring! I was someone who lived for action, and to find myself sitting in a very uncomfortable chair, staring at a person talking, was almost like staring at the hands of a clock going on for hours on end....Boring!

I thought the others must be exasperated as well, and yet, they seemed hyper attentive, and they wrote everything down at the speed of light; especially Oscar, who marked down every little thing the professor said, without losing concentration, not even for a second.

[They are...monsters!] I thought literally exhausted, scrambling in my chair in search of a position in which I could relax.

"So, having said that, I ask the following question: where do the magical elements come from? From mana? From prana? Or from something even more complex?"

The students remained silent, as did I, who had followed virtually nothing concerning the topic.

Oscar, however, raised his hand after a few seconds, drawing the professor's and the student's attention.

"Yes?"

"...Following what you said, as of today we still don't know why some species develop one element over another. However, being a strictly genetic trait, it is possible that perhaps, our ancestors made some kind of pact with some higher entity."

The answer seemed vague, almost trivial. Yet, the professor smiled, almost happy with such an answer.

"You see, to date, the things we know about mana are few..." - began the prodess, turning to the students - "if we were to make an estimate, we probably know barely half the things about mana, not to mention the fact that, some of the things we know may turn out to be wrong in the future, as has happened many times in our history."

"However, isn't it wrong to say that our powers are derived from some deity without refutable proof?" countered one of the students, going against what Oscar said.

"Well, that's exactly the point! the theory behind the magic and mana always improve by making various assumptions; the important thing, is that such an assumption has a logical basis. What your comrade said, would explain why some people are born with certain elements, combining geneticness and divinity. Obviously, today no one has met an actual deity, but at the same time, what the student said cannot be branded as "wrong."

The boy wanted to counter, but before the woman's words, he did not know what to say anymore, suddenly falling silent.

That last part of the lecture, had left me puzzled to say the least; why teach us anything, if then, as she said, new things would probably be discovered over the years, thus contradicting what had been learned now?

I was the one who thought so, and probably the other students as well, since they had in their looks a certain perplexity about what the woman had said.

"You still don't get it, huh?" - huffed the woman, somewhat disappointed by our puzzlement - "Listen carefully boys, what we teach you is not useless. On the contrary, it gives you a future foundation so that you can develop and learn magic. True, there are chances that some knowledge will be altered, however, what you now know will not be erased, but will serve as a basis for you to better understand future discoveries. Think of it this way, we magicians are a bit like children: when we are young, we have certain beliefs, but as we grow up, those beliefs that we had change with experience and knowledge..."

Those words, although I did not fully understand them, vaguely reminded me of the words Ron said to me; obviously the context was different, but the words used were similar.

Although I was therefore confused, those words caught my attention, so I decided to treasure them, although I was still skeptical about what I heard from the woman.

"Well, the lesson is over. Have a nice continuation of the day!" said the professor, leaving the classroom and then going to her next class.

"Phew! I'm already tired of sitting here!" I exclaimed, as I began to stretch my back.

Oscar looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and after a few moments he let out a little laugh.

What, did I say something funny?" I asked slightly annoyed by that laugh;

"N-No No! It's just that, you know...it's your first day, and it seems strange that you're already tired" he replied in a slightly nervous manner, avoiding looking me straight in the eye and leaving me a little puzzled; the more time passed, the more I realized that there was something wrong with that little boy, judging by his meek behavior. It was as if he was a scared cat whenever I addressed him. And yet, it's not like I'm some kind of ugly monster....

I wanted to understand why he was acting like a scared kitten when my attention was caught by three boys, who approached us.

"New boy ... could you give us a moment with our friend?" said the boy in the center of the group, addressing me in a slightly arrogant tone

"For your information, 'new boy' has a name, old boy..." I muttered, annoyed by the way he addressed me so brazenly.

The latter, along with his two friends, began to laugh after a few moments of silence, but it was obvious that theirs was a fake laugh.

"I'm so sorry if i offended you, pal. I am Marcus Campbell III, son of Senator Lewin Campbell IX.... Nice to meet you. You are...?" said the boy, extending his hand.

There was something I didn't like about this bastard-from the way he behaved to the way he strutted around with his father's title; I thought there was no more arrogant person than Elaine, but this idiot beat her on all fronts! At least, now she had had the decency to present himself properly!

"Erwin Eda..." I replied, without, however, shaking his hand. The idiot was a little taken aback by my gesture, but then gave me a smile, pulling back his hand.

"Well, Erwin, could you do us the favor of getting up from here? We need to talk to Oscar, if you don't mind."

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Oscar's reaction, noting how he was very tense, more than before. I don't know what was going on, but from the moment he didn't say anything, I thought maybe he agree to talk to them; it was my first day, and I didn't want to pry into other people's problems.

"Okay, i get it..." I said, deciding then to get up from my seat and move just far enough away to let them talk.

"Thank you, Erwin... Oh! Let me tell you something!" - said the idiot, resting his hand on my arm, thus blocking my walk. - "You should stay away from Oscar... Haven't you wondered why he is sitting in the last row by himself?"

In fact, it was strange that Oscar and I were the only two seated in that row, while everyone else was crammed in the front.... I also thought back to the moment when I sat next to Oscar, and how everyone suddenly looked at me differently, almost as if they were annoyed by it.

I thought then that perhaps, Oscar had done something bad, but that puny boy did not look like he could accomplish anything bad.

"...Did he do anything wrong?"

"Are you asking if he did something wrong? Of course he did something wrong. That idiot, that dirty individual, is nothing but a miserable peasant who came to steal our place At the academy! He doesn't deserve to be here, that miserable bastard from the 16th district!"

"...What?"

"Exactly! That one there is just a poor guy, a good-for-nothing who wants to steal our place! I told him to stay quiet and leave, but he doesn't listen to me, even though I've been so kind not to kick his ass too hard----?!"

So that's why Oscar was sitting alone? That's why when I spoke to him, he seemed almost like he wanted to run away? Elaine had told me that the people of the upper districts hated us from the slums, but I thought her words were exaggerated, although from the moment I set foot in the upper districts, the way people looked at me made me doubt a little. But this... went beyond anything I could have imagined, and the mere fact that this bastard spoke like that about Oscar made me so angry that I couldn't hold back anymore, throwing a violent punch infused with some of my mana, sending Marcus flying away from us and crashing heavily to the ground, leaving everybody in shock.

I had completely reacted out of pure instinct, and the moment my anger subsided, I finally realized the mess I had just made, triggering laughter in me due to the nervousness I felt the next instant.

"Holy shit..."

TO BE CONTINUED...