With every ounce of her strength, she pulled Lionel off the ground and dragged him out of the classroom. Eva grunted as she finally reached the last of the stairs and she was on the verge of tears. After Lionel lost consciousness, the teacher didn’t even bat an eye and continued class with everyone else.

If they don’t do anything, then Lionel’s injuries can cause serious effects in the future and Eva fears he may die. So Eva took it upon herself to drag his heavy body to the infirmary, earning strange looks and questioning gazes from the classmates she passed on the way out the classroom.

So what if Mrs. Dewitt silently subtracted her points as a result of missing a class? She can just get it back but there’s only one Lionel Wesholm.

“Hold on Lionel, I’m gonna get you to the healer. We’re almost there.”

Eva knew that dragging his body probably wasn’t the best solution, but nobody would help her. She wishes she could cast a spell and make him float all the way to the nurse but with the damn collar around her neck, she was powerless.

Nobody was willing to lend a hand and the infirmary doesn’t provide such service. The medical staff will aid the patients and do their duties as long as the patient can actually make it to their office.

Almost thirty minutes pass before Eva finally manages to make it to the infirmary.

She cries out as she bursts through the doors, Lionel left on the floor in the hall, “Please help!”

The Healing Chamber is reasonably sized. Against the wall, a desk sits beneath a window, illuminating the area. Behind the desk is a woman with ash blonde hair styled in a ponytail is seated. On the left side of the room, a row of cabinets filled with various vials and potion bottles showcasing an array of colorful liquids. On the right, beds are lined up neatly. In the corner near the healer’s desk, a wooden bowl is secured to the corner wall, which looks to contain what seems to be water.

“Hm?” The healer, who was known to the students as Healer Mira, looked at Eva then at Lionel from her seat with her eyes of rich amethyst color. She was listing something down in her clipboard and sighs, putting the clipboard away. She gets up to help Eva lift Lionel on one of the beds.

“He’s the transfer student, right?” Mira questions, examining the bruises on his face.

Eva nods, “Yes, please help him.”

Mira raises a curious brow at Eva before turning her full attention back to Lionel. “Please leave, I will take care of him.”

“I understand.” Eva turns around, but before she leaves, she asks, “Is he going to be okay? When will he wake up?”

Mira shrugs, “That depends on the kid.”

“...” Eva doesn’t say anything else and leaves.

Mira stares silently at Lionel’s face as she hovers her hand over his head. Before she was able to cast a healing spell to relieve the bruises, she heard several doors creak open. She hears songs of laughter, cheers and childish chatter. Her eyes shift to the door as her hand arm lowers slightly.

“The transfer Student lost his first test!”

“I guess he isn’t that special then.”

“I heard he’s going to the Dungeon of Knowledge! Knowledge!”

“I saw him getting dragged out of the classroom. He already looks dead, can he even survive the Dungeon of Knowledge at this point?”

“HEY F-CLASS LOSERS! WHAT’S THE DUNGEON OF KNOWLEDGE LIKE?! NEVER TRIED IT!”

Mira looks back at her patient, realizing that they’ll probably meet again soon, that is, if he can survive. As punishment for being an F-Class student, he will be sent to the Dungeon of Knowledge.

Now, Mira realizes what’s coming next for the boy. She doesn’t really have anything particular to say or feel about it. In the end, she is only obligated to do her duty as the healer of the school and not leave the healing chamber unless called upon by the headmaster.

Refocused, Mira properly raises her hand over Lionel, enveloped in a radiant green light. Sparks of green snowflake-like particles showered over Lionel’s face, his bruises and black eye gradually faded as if it sunk into his skin, although the blood—an issue she would resolve later—still marked his face.

After dealing with Lionel’s bruises, Mira walks over to one of the cabinets and retrieves a small red vial. She returns to Lionel’s side and places the vial in a small wooden bowl by the bedside table.

Mira’s hands reach out to take off Lionel’s blazer. She carefully rolls his body over to take it off from his back, when suddenly, a notepad falls from the boy’s pocket. Mira pauses, her eyes following the notepad from the start of the fall to the ground it lands on. She blinks, staring curiously as the notepad.

She kneels down, reaching her hand towards the notepad.

“I wonder what method he uses for note-taking…Will it be enough to finish the semester?”

The healer opens the notepad, reading through the first set of notes on Magic Theory.

Just when the tips of her fingers were about to brush against the corner of the notepad, Mira hears a groan from slightly above her. She moves back up, standing properly to see Lionel gaining consciousness. The transfer student hissed sharply at the pain, and it was a clear sign that Lionel was becoming aware of his injuries.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Lionel attempts to push himself up, but could only manage to use his elbow to rest against the mattress. He groans painfully and his eyes look to the side, meeting Mira’s gaze. Lionel blinks, trying to get a better grasp of his vision, but only then does he realize that he’s somewhere else.

“What happened?” He forces his voice to speak out.

“You lost and you were punished.” Mira answers. “You have a big day tomorrow kid. Take off your clothes, they’re bloody.”

“...” Lionel reluctantly gets rid of his upper garments, seeing a large bruise that had formed around his torso. If Jonathan kept hitting, then Lionel wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to break at least one bone or some part of his ribcage.

Then Lionel felt something strange, he didn’t feel the rectangular press against his thigh. Their school uniform’s pants were pretty tight and it was easy to tell if there was something in their pockets. His left pocket felt empty, where the notepad once was. Then, with his blurry gaze, he looked around the room carefully as the healer dealt with his stomach bruise. He sees the familiar notepad in the healer’s other hand.

She didn’t look through it, right?

Lionel wasn’t so sure what he was worried about. It’s just a bunch of notes, but still, he wouldn’t want anyone finding out it belonged to Jane Addawick, especially a school staff member.

Lionel gulps.

It felt like more than hours had passed before the healer finally finished, his face is cleaned, he feels a bit better, but he’s left with a—

“There’s not much I can do with the broken nose and I’ve done what I can do to accelerate the healing process, but this should help relieve any pain and facilitate the recovery.” The healer pops the vial open and pours the red liquid into the small bowl. She hands the bowl for Lionel to drink.

Lionel looked up at her curiously and she tilted her head.

“You think it’s poisoned or something?”

“N-No, it’s just…”

Lionel felt like he could faint any moment from exhaustion and he would gladly do so, but he was facing problems one after the other. Lionel isn’t quite familiar with healing magic yet, so he was curious as to why she couldn’t just heal the broken nose.

The transfer student grabs the bowl and takes a sip.

“Urgh!” Lionel clamps his hand over his mouth, cheeks bulging.

Lionel cannot seem to find the right words for this bizarre test. It’s overwhelmingly bitter, and the mere thought of comparing this taste to the scent of excrement nearly makes him heave all over the bed. He decides to focus on the scorching feeling of when it went down his throat, it was as if he had swallowed a bag of hot spices.

Mira shoots him a harsh glare, causing him to shrink under her stern look.

“It’s delicious!” Lionel grins brokenly.

He steels himself as he lifts the bowl and presses it against his lips. He downs the entire thing in one go.

The healer stares at him for a few seconds before nodding.

“Here you go.” Mira hands Lionel the notepad in exchange for the bowl. “You’re free to go.”

With a faint voice, he conveys his thanks to her, all while pushing through the searing sensation and vile taste lingering in his mouth. Lionel retrieves his blood-stained uniform from the side and slips the notepad into his pocket. He swung his legs over the bed and sat more properly.

Where will he go after this? Back to class? He wasn’t in the mood at all.

His uniform being bloody will probably violate a rule or something with how strict this school is. He should ask if there are any rules regarding their uniform.

“See you tomorrow, kid.” Mira says suddenly.

“...”

That’s right, the Dungeon of Knowledge.

Lionel doesn’t know what’s in store for him, but the fact the nurse is already preparing to meet him tomorrow means he’ll get hurt there physically. Lionel thanks Mira again and leaves the infirmary, feet stepping into the warm, earth hues of the ground from the midday light. There is no one else in the hallways as another set of classes is underway.

I guess I should just go back to my room…

He didn’t want to deal with anything or see anyone’s face right now. Despite the nagging voice telling him to attend classes to avoid penalties for his absence, he turns a deaf ear and makes his way through the school halls.

The sound of his leather shoes clicking against the wooden floor is uncanny, being the sole person traversing the hallway, his heartbeat quickens with a sense of dread. He leaves the school building and enters the open space of the courtyard.

A broad grassy area encircled a beautiful stone fountain, it stirred Lionel’s curiosity from day one. He often wondered what it would be like to take a closer look at that fountain. However, since his transfer, he had never seen any students spending their free time there. The routine appeared to be strictly moving to and from the dormitory and the school.

This space seemed primarily used by Adineas’s followers…Lionel still doesn’t understand why they wore veils of white and walked around the yard for a bit, but that’s a question for another day. He knows about Adineas and a bit of the religion, their beliefs and such, but he’s never read or seen anything like what they do.

With no one around, he figured it wouldn't be a problem to inspect it up close.

However, before he takes the first step into the grass, he remembers that he had more to deal with than this. He smacks his head, physically grounding himself back to reality. Did Jonathan’s punches mess with his mental state? Why was he suddenly caring about what fountains look like?

He shakes his head and walks back to the dorm building, and back into his room. He immediately heads to the bed, kneeling down to grab his suitcase from under it.

Lionel places the notepad inside the suitcase, then moves to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. Lionel sighs at his exhausted appearance. The healer did a fantastic job, but the broken nose made him curse.

Then it finally hits him more clearly now.

The Dungeon of Knowledge.

He’s going there tomorrow.

Lionel doesn’t know when he started to cry, when fear overtook his body that the dam broke, and he stared at himself, crying silently in front of the mirror.

He suddenly feels closer to death.

He questions himself like how Eva questioned his actions at first. What was he thinking? He hasn’t even been in school for a full week yet and he could already possibly die.

A whirlwind of emotions hit him again, but there was nothing he could do. The school was in it, everybody was in it, how could he fight back when he was against such opponents? He couldn’t help but ask himself these questions over and over again. There was no escape. The school was perfectly designed so that no one would be able to hop over anything or climb over anything, there was a tall wall built around them. The only entrance and exit is the gigantic gate guarded by four mages.

There wasn’t anywhere to hide in school.

He’ll be found.

After minutes of standing in the bathroom, he inhaled sharply before finally accepting the inevitable.

He’s going inside the Dungeon of Knowledge, whether he likes it or not.

And perhaps, maybe it can free him from this hell.