Fidgeting around slightly, Yuri shook slightly, matching the slight shaking of the carriage she was in.

It soon halted to a stop and the carriage door was opened by a butler, who also served as the driver of the carriage.

In front of Yuri, where an Academy was supposed to stand, stood a giant castle.

The city of Brokkr could barely be seen in the distance.

Entry in and out of the city wasn’t prohibited to nobles or those of high blood. Jarvis seemed to have somehow made his way into one of those categories, and declared Yuri his relative. On paper at least. Thus Yuri was technically considered a noble and was granted entry to the Academy.

“Do you wish to be led to your room, Miss?”

The butler asked while still holding the door open. Yuri broke through out of her daze and returned to reality.

“Ah, sure. I mean, please do so.”

She had almost forgotten that she was supposed to act like a young noble maiden. Her words fumbled a bit, but the butler didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps he was trained to be thoughtful of young ladies.

Yuri was led through large luxurious corridors and gardens which were set up inside of the actual castle.

All the hallways seemed to be empty, which the butler explained was due to all the students having classes.

After reaching the room she would be staying, the butler asked Yuri if she had any questions.

“Hm, when do my lessons start?”

“Your lessons will begin tomorrow morning, a fellow classmate will come and retrieve you. They will explain things in detail to you, until then you should be free to do as you wish. Please press your thumb here..”

The butler gestured towards a plate on t he door.

“Okay..?”

She pressed her thumb against it, making it glow a slight green colour. A few runes coming into existence for a single moment before vanishing.

“The room is now appointed to you, and can only be accessed by putting your thumb on this plate. Mundane things such as keys are not necessary and will not burden you. Well then I shall take my leave.”

The butler bowed and disappeared down the hallway.

“Just like a finger scanner…”

A small sigh echoed in the hallway.

“If they use magic instead of keys, it means this is going to be a lot harder than I thought..”

Sighing again, she entered her now unlocked room.

The room was incredibly large, comparable to a suite back in her world. It was coloured in various shades of pink and blue.

A large soft looking bed was taking up a large chunk of the rooms space, the room also contained a wide wardrobe, with a table and a mirror, presumably for the students to study and apply their numerous cosmetics.

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“Hah..”

Jumping onto the bed, she sank a few inches into it. Without even taking off her shoes, she just laid there a while, thinking about what she had gotten herself into.

–

Eventually getting bored of sitting in her room, she figured she could seize the chance while the students were busy with classes and explore the castle.

All Yuri was provided with for self protection was a very small concealable knife, hidden inside a strap on the top of her thigh. She doubted it would do much help, but it was better than nothing.

She headed out into the hallway and visibly relaxed when she saw that the students were all still busy with their classes.

A lot of the rooms in the castle were students room, while most of the rest were just classrooms. As she couldn’t peek into either of those, she chose to sit down underneath a tree in the garden and relax for a while.

Walking through the infinite maze that was the castle had made her tired. She chose to rest for a few minutes before continuing.

Opening her eyes, Yuri found the sun already setting. The mumbling of students was obvious in the background.

Yuri quickly got up and cleaned the drool from her face.

Seems she had fallen asleep under the tree. A few students giggled nearby, presumably at her.

“Are you perchance the new student arriving today?”

A girls voice reached Yuri’s sharp ears.

“Huh? Ah yes I am.”

Turning around while dusting off her skirt, she found a girl wearing the same uniform standing behind her.

She was taller than Yuri, her blonde hair was done in a professional pony tail behind her head.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Alice, the one who is supposed to be responsible for you until you get used to life around here, I’m also your classmate”

She smiled while shaking Yuri’s hand.

“Nice to meet you too..?”

Yuri was still slightly confused due to her nap.

“How did you know I was the new student..?”

“Well, you were sleeping in the garden, it’s hard to miss someone like that in this school. The students here collect around anything vaguely interesting. Don’t worry though, I will make sure you get used to life here at Blossom academy, since I’m the one responsible for you, let’s get along!”

Giving Yuri a smile that could charm any man, Yuri ended up getting caught in the charm as well, as she was still a man at heart.

“Y-yes!”

Yuri blushed slightly while she was dragged off by Alice, who began explaining things about the Academy.

Her head filled with important details that could be useful later on, straining to focus.

–

At another corner of Blossom Academy. In a large office at the very centre of a a large tower.

A man with greying hair sat in a large chair at his desk. Covered by the complete darkness of the room, he was twirling something in his hand.

A small black ring rested on the desk in front of him. He seemed to be observing it very closely.

The ring slowly lit up. Through the centre of the ring, something other than the top of the desk became visible.

A large yellow eye moved around inside the ring. A voice flowed from inside the ring.

“Have you confirmed it?”

A slightly raspy, yet incredibly deep and powerful voice shook the table the ring was on.

“Yes, I have confirmed it myself, I believe this will save us a lot of effort in the end-”

The man began to speak, but held his tongue when the voice interrupted him.

“US?”

The voice increased in volume so much that the ring was jumping around a bit, making the view in the ring to shift from the yellow eye to white fur and sharp teeth. Before quickly changing back to the eye.

“Nonono! I meant it would save YOU a lot of trouble and effort, sorry it was a slip of the tongue!”

Drying sweat from his brow, the man desperately denied his previous rude comment.

“No matter. Keep it safe for now. I will personally come to see if what you say is true or not.”

The voice from the ring slowly began to fade away.

“I don’t like being made disappointed.”

The voices last words faded and the image disappeared completely, making the man sigh in relief.

“Oh you won’t be disappointed..”

The black ring was put back on his thumb as he placed the item he was twirling around on the desk.

A small ray of light from a crack in the closed window landed on the item.

A small dagger, filled with intricate small runes forming the image of a certain goddess lay on the table.