Elijah looked him dead in the eye and said, “First of all, he’s a scholar mage student. Arthur is just as much a mage as any battle mage student. Second, why would I go with someone who blatantly looks down on my best friend and roommate? Third, it’s obvious you’re not here out of kindness toward me but because of hostility toward Arthur, so stop your childish show and go piss off.”

  I had to admit that when my friend put on a serious expression, coupled with his naturally sharp features, he did look quite formidable.

  Issuing duels inside a facility not designed for battle was prohibited; using magic inside the dining hall would result in a harsh punishment, but that didn’t stop Mr. Ravenpor.

  Wind gathered around him as he struggled to keep his anger under control. “Jack!” he roared. The wind settled down as one of his minions stepped forward, a boy with the face of a thirteen-year-old but a body that looked much older.

  “Show these brats how things work around here,” Charles growled, stepping back.

  Jack looked a little hesitant but Charles barked that he’d be properly compensated. At this, Jack revealed a wicked grin as he slid a pair of clawed gauntlets over his fists. “Sucks for you,” he said with a smirk, cracking his neck before splitting the table in half.

  The dining hall was in a commotion by now as the students all gathered around, some standing up on the tables to get a better view.

  Elijah threw his hands up in surprise, protecting his face as the table split into pieces. I remained unfazed, however, sitting still with my legs crossed as I took a sip from the cup of water I was holding. Sylvie had fallen asleep.

  “Are you crazy? This is a dining facility!” Elijah shouted as he stood up to face Jack, who flexed his clawed fists.

  “Don’t matter. Boss is going to take care of everything anyway. Keep your teeth clenched now.” His right fist glowed with non-attribute mana.

  He was a second-year student as well, judging by the two stripes on his black tie, but even without an attribute, his core was still dark orange—which, for his age, was pretty damn good.

  Elijah’s right hand glowed, his two rings a dim yellow as he prepared a spell, but I’d already noticed that Jack’s killing intent was directed at me, not my friend.

  I kept my head down and prepared to settle this quickly—but before I got the chance to do anything, vines shot out from the ground and wrapped tightly around Jack.

  48

  Reminisce

  It only took a couple of moments for the vines to completely encase Jack. As he struggled to break free, the vines twisted tighter, turning his face an ugly shade of purple.

  While most were confused, Charles seemed to know exactly what was going on. His face paled and he immediately stepped away from the commotion he’d created. Elijah was surprised as well, his head turning left and right to see who had cast the spell, but the person responsible had yet to show herself.

  Standing up, I faced the suffocating Jack, who’d stopped struggling against the vines. The atmosphere in the dining hall was tense as everyone waited silently for the perpetrator of the spell to show up. Giving Elijah a meaningful glance, I silently lifted my arm, placing my palm on the vines as I released my Torrent spell. Carefully controlling the amount of mana I used, I willed a sharp gale of wind from my palm.

  The Ravenpor groupies behind Jack covered themselves against the blast of wind as they were caught in the attack. I freed Jack from the vines that were choking him—but in the process, I shredded his clothes as well, leaving him the same way he had come from his unfortunate mother’s womb.

  Jack plopped to his knees, coughing and gasping for air. With neither a word nor a change in expression, I turned and walked toward Charles, who was discreetly trying to make his way out of the dining hall. He was by the wall, almost in front of the main doors, when I unsheathed the disciplinary committee knife I’d received from the director, imbued wind mana into it, and threw it. The knife cut through the air and pierced his blazer, pinning him against the wall.

  “What the hell?” he yelped as I came face to face with him.

  “Maybe it’s just me, but I find it pathetic when brats from noble families, like you, beat your chests about something you never even earned. Before bragging about how powerful your family is, at least be competent enough not to embarrass them.” With one swift gesture I pulled out the knife he was struggling to remove; then I walked through the door and left, not looking back.

  The brisk autumn air greeted me as I closed the door, my breath becoming visible in a cloud in front of me.

  ‘It’s Mama!’ Sylvie’s head shot up from her perch atop my skull.

  I ignored my bond, looking up at the night sky, illuminated by countless stars, as I spoke. “You know, you could’ve killed him if I hadn’t disrupted the spell.”

  Just a few yards away to my left, the familiar voice responded. “I was going to cancel it once he passed out. Besides, I know you were going to handle it.”

  “Oh, now you leave it up to me? What stopped you from doing that this morning after the ceremony?” I snickered. I walked toward the figure leaning against the wall of the building, her features masked by the shadow of the starry night.

  By her silence, I could already picture what sort of troubled expression she wore. I stood in front of her, close enough to see her face, but she was looking down so I could only see the crown of her silvery gunmetal hair, which shimmered in the moonlight.

  “Ahem,” I coughed awkwardly, covering my mouth with a fist. The silence between us felt like an eternity. Finally, she glanced up, revealing her face as she fiddled with her hands behind her back.

  “I’m sorr—Oww!”

  The awkward atmosphere instantly dissipated as we head-butted each other in our attempts to bow in apology at the same time.

  I burst into laughter as I rubbed my throbbing head. “I think I heard my skull crack just then.”

  “Shut up.” Tess massaged her head too, but she continued to look down. Then her shoulders began trembling and I heard a sniffle.

  I leaned forward to see my childhood friend’s face. “Tess. Are you crying?” I teased, gently wiping her tears with the inside of my sleeve.

  “I-It’s because it hurts,” she sniffed, avoiding my eyes but not moving away from my touch.

  “Did it hurt that much?” I softened my voice as I stood back up, carefully running my fingertips over her head, checking for a bump.

  “Yes! It hurt a lot!” She smacked my hand away, then buried her face in my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist as she began crying in earnest.

  The seconds seemed to elongate as I felt her body tremble with her erratic breaths and hiccups. I looked back at the night sky, feeling my face burn as I clumsily returned her hug.

  “I th-thought you h-hated me,” she said, her voice muffled in the fabric of my shirt.

  “Even if there are times when I get mad at you, I would never hate you, Tess,” I said softly.

  “I… I don’t want that either.”

  “Don’t want what?”

  “I don’t want you to get mad at me,” she mumbled.

  “Well, this time I was in the wrong. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that.” Even now, having barely reunited after years apart, I recognized that I treated Tess differently than everyone else. I didn’t feel a reason to get mad over most people—besides maybe my family and Elijah—but it was like my emotions ran closer to the surface when Tess was around. Even in my old life, I’d never been good at this sort of thing.

  “No, I was wrong too. I shouldn’t have called you out like that in front of all of those people. But I have to be the strict student council president in front of everyone, you know?” She looked desperate when she finally raised her face to mine; her eyes were red and a little puffy from crying.

  Footsteps thudded from behind me and Elijah called out, “Art! You should’ve seen everyone’s faces after you—oh my heavens.” Elijah stopped short as he spotted who I was with.

  I gave him an embarrassed look, realizing that Tess was still wrapped tightly around me.

  “I’ll see you back at our dorm,” he said quickly, then darted off, nearly tripping over his own feet.

  “Tess, I think you should probably let go of me now.” I smiled as I watched her face turn crimson.

  “Oh, right.” She immediately released me, taking a step back as her gaze shifted down, too embarrassed to look at me.

  I had to laugh a little—my childhood friend really hadn’t changed. “Do you want to take a little walk with me?” I gave her a smile as Sylvie jumped from the top of my head into Tess’s arms.

  “Kyu!” ‘Long time no see, Mama!’

  TESSIA ERALITH

  Each of his steps was light and confident, as if always certain of his direction and purpose… Was it the way he walked?

  Those eyes that looked calm and poised, yet still a little playful… Was it his gaze?

  Or was it his smile? The way it glowed even when it was this dark outside…

  What was it that made me so stupidly attracted to him? He was just another boy! Another rather talented, rather well-mannered, and rather handsome boy. That was all.

  So what was it that made me become so foolish around him, and why did I keep doing things to embarrass myself whenever I saw him?

  I unconsciously let out a defeated sigh.

  “Is something wrong?” He looked at me with concern, his gentle voice sending shivers down my spine.

  “No, nothing’s wrong.” I laughed nervously and felt my face turning red again, so I started petting Sylvie faster as a distraction. Gosh dang it!

  I could feel his eyes studying me as we walked along the marble path, our only source of light the moon peeking between the trees that arched over the walkway. When we had met earlier today, we had barely spent a few seconds together before things went bad, so really it had been almost four years since we’d last seen each other. I would’ve stared at him, too, but I knew I was going to turn bright red, so I just keep my gaze down.

  I wondered if he looked at other girls like this. I hoped not. I wanted his attention all to myself, just like now.

  As we walked, we talked about what we’d both been doing these past few years. His stories about his time as an adventurer were exciting, but I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that he had been with that girl Jasmine the whole time.

  The corners of Art’s eyes crinkled as he laughed softly, revealing his bright smile.

  “What?” I held Sylvie up in front of me defensively.

  “I’m just enjoying the different expressions you’re making while I tell you my story.”

  I caught a glimpse of his eyes and felt myself turning red again. This was getting ridiculous.

  I would’ve been chilly without Sylvie to warm me, but Art didn’t look cold at all. I wondered if being a beast tamer made his body impervious to the elements. I flushed with embarrassment as I remembered hugging him for so long.

  He was really warm, though.

  I relaxed a little as we talked. I told him a bit about my training with Grandpa, but focused more on Grandma Cynthia and the things she was teaching me.

  “You call her ‘Grandma’?” His head tilted a little in curiosity.

  Nodding, I replied, “She told me to call her that, since I was her only disciple and she didn’t have any children.”

  “I see…” He seemed to be pondering this.

  I went on, telling him about the strict training I’d gone through and the difficulty I’d had in improving my plant-attribute magic because of the lack of reliable teachers. There weren’t any other races that could manipulate plant-attribute mana, and even amongst elves there were very few people who were skilled in plant magic. Some noble lineages did have the capacity for it, but they usually ended up focusing on another element instead. Learning plant magic was very difficult.

  “So you’re a dual specialist in plants and wind, huh? Wow, I knew you’d be talented.” His genuine admiration made me feel proud. I often got over-embellished praise from all sorts of different important figures, but I was surprised to realize that just a simple compliment from him could make me this happy. He continued, “I’m not surprised Director Goodsky decided to teach you herself.”

  I wanted time to stop, but all too soon we reached the dorms. Why were they so close to the dining hall? They should’ve been on the other side of the school.

  “We should both get some sleep. It’s getting late and tomorrow is a big day.” He touched my arm gently, for just a moment, and it burned as if his hand was imbued with fire-attribute mana. Couldn’t he have held it there just a moment longer?

  “Yeah, you’re right. Congratulations on becoming a disciplinary committee member, by the way.” I tried my best to smile, but I felt mostly disappointment that our walk had been so short.

  Arthur just grinned as Sylvie hopped back on top of his head. “Thanks.”

  I stared at his back as he started heading to his dorm. To my surprise, he turned around after only a few steps.

  “I almost forgot!” He pulled something from his pocket and pressed it into my palm. “Here. This will probably help you a lot.” Letting go of my hand, he gave me a playful wink, then turned back toward the dorms. Sylvie waved her small paw at me as he left.

  He didn’t even give me a chance to thank him.

  Looking down, I studied the small, dull green orb. It didn’t seem special at all, but it did mean a lot to me just because it came from Art. Knowing him, though, this wasn’t just some bobble.

  “I wonder…” I willed a bit of mana into the orb and almost dropped it in surprise, my hands trembling uncontrollably.

  “This… This is—!”

  ARTHUR LEYWIN

  ‘Papa, you’re really happy. Is it because you made up with Mama?’ Sylvie teased as I walked up the stairs and back to my dorm room.

  Can it, Sylv. And can you stop calling her “Mama”? I pinched my dragon bond’s ear, making her squirm.

  Tessia and I had been walking slowly and had stopped often while we talked, so it was pretty late. I opened the door to Room 394 carefully, just in case Elijah was asleep, but I almost jumped with surprise to see him sitting cross-legged, facing the door, his eyes bloodshot.

  “Oh. I see you’re still awake.” I waved awkwardly.

  “Hell yes, I’m awake.” He crossed his arms and used his chin to point at my bed, signaling me to sit.

  I sighed helplessly. “Go on,” I said, making myself comfortable as my best friend released his barrage of questions.

  It was almost four in the morning when he was finished. The two of us were sprawled out on our beds, worn out both physically and mentally; Sylvie had fallen asleep hours ago.

  “I can’t believe you were hugging her.” He was shaking his head.

  “I told you, I’ve known her since she was five. It’s not surprising that she’d be more comfortable around me,” I said.

  He shook his head again. “After you left, I heard the students talking. Some of them suspected it was the president who had used the vine spell—she’s the only one who can use plant magic that well. Do you know what they call her?” He sat up and looked at me.

  “No, what?” I asked, a bit interested.

  “There were two things I heard the most.” He leaned in closer. “One: the Untouchable Princess,” he stated.

  “Untouchable? Why? Is she that much stronger than everyone else?” I asked.

  But he ignored me. “And two: Lunar Goddess.”

  “Huh? Why ‘Lunar Goddess’?” I chuckled at the juvenile nicknames.

  “Because she’s like the moon, Art. The moon looks like it’s so close you can grab it, but no matter how hard you try, you’ll never touch it. But you! You touched the moon. You hugged the moon!” He flailed his arms in defeat and plopped back on to the bed.

  “Go to sleep,” I retorted.

  We were both too tired to even try to wash up, and my head was already hurting at the thought of how tired I would be in the morning, but memories of what had happened tonight kept me awake. I kept wondering if I had done the right thing in the dining hall. It was a habit I’d acquired when I was a king—overthinking my past actions and always planning my future ones. In the bed next to me I could hear Elijah, fast asleep, mumbling something about the moon again.

  “Wake up!” I smacked Elijah on the stomach as I finished fastening the shoulder strap for the knife that represented my status as a disciplinary committee member.

  “Oof!” Elijah bolted up in surprise but groaned when he realized how tired he was and how much pain he was in.

  “I can see why you don’t like being woken up like this,” he mumbled as he rubbed his stomach.

  Smirking at my friend, I walked to the door. “I’m leaving now, so hurry up and get ready. I’ll see you in first period.” Without looking back, I gave him a wave and headed toward the auditorium. I would be formally meeting all the other members of the disciplinary committee this morning, and I was excited to see what kind of people they might be.

  Sylvie kyued in excitement as well, swaying her head from side to side. After today, everyone would know I was part of the disciplinary committee. I grinned to myself, imagining what the Ravenpor group’s faces would look like after they realized what my uniform meant.

  Arriving at the auditorium, I straightened my shirt, vest, and strap. Then I opened the door, feeling tired, sleepy, curious, and a bit excited.

  49

  Disciplinary Committee

  When I opened the door to the back entrance of the auditorium, I was met with an unexpected greeting.

  My hair was blown back by a bloodcurdling roar. Sylvie had to cling to my head to avoid falling off. Along with the deafening shout of the mana beast that greeted me came bullets of saliva that showered my face and upper chest.

 

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