Volume 1 - CH 12

Questions to be Accumulated

“You have grown up indeed, but above all…” the woman spoke in a melancholic tone as her gaze shifted to the boy.

He was just up to her waist when he had first met him. But unlike what one might expect from a child of his age, his persona had already matured a lot even at such an age.

But now? The boy has grown much more and has grown taller.

The woman who called herself his master couldn’t help but be sentimental and melancholic of the past as she realizes that she would be soon leaving the boy all on his own.

The fletching that leaves the dam brings both joy and sorrow to the mother who had painstakingly raised him to be able to fly.

The woman stood in a daze as no thoughts crossed her mind and no words adorned her lips. All she did was stare at the curious boy who was waiting for a response.

*swish*

A sudden jolt of wind in between the forest brought her back to reality.

Her pupils rippled as she continued.

“You need to know more and experience more and build up your knowledge over your already concrete foundation. You need to meet new people and meet new wizards too. If you spend your days in such a manner I am sure that you would be able to find goals that are much more important and concrete than your current one.”

Arum frowned.

“Master, tell me more clearly.”

Arum wasn’t impatient per se. But was his master asking him to loof around hoping for possible enlightenment that had very much a probability of never happening? He would like to avoid it if that were the case.

At least Arum wanted some clues as to what that new goal might be.

Arum hadn’t realized when the hands of the woman had reached out to him, holding onto his cheeks. She looked at him with a look of love that was bound by no chains.

“It’s time for you to get out of this little garden, Arum… you are no longer a boy from the countryside unnoticed by all. You are going to be fletching the would one day grow to be a wizard. The answer to such questions must be found out by you and you alone and not guided by me.”

Arum raised his brows. He couldn’t quite understand what his master was pointing at. But he felt like he couldn’t refuse her. Neither could he look back. The only option for him was to strive forward.

The master reached out her hand with her palm facing upward asking for the boy to hold onto it… asking him to move forward.

It was now her turn, as a master, she needed to push Arum off the cliff so that he could fly and soar in the boundless skies.

The boy took hold of her hand.

“Move ahead, my disciple. I hope that you can achieve your dreams no matter how hard the going gets for you. I hope that you would strive forward no matter how much your wings hurt.”

Arum was pulled along with her master into the forest. He realized that the cold words from her master weren’t blessings but the sorrow of parting forever.

She had come into his life ten years ago. She had been teaching Arum all about magic fuming the spark in his heart into glorious flames.

Ten years they had spent together sharing joy and sorrow. Now it was finally the time for them to part.

[Flashback Ends]

***

Two weeks had already passed since the entrance ceremony inauguration.

By this point, the newbie freshers had already got accustomed to living in the new places assigned to them.

At the very beginning of the school life, everyone seemed to be open with everyone else and talked their hearts out as if they had found their once long-lost brothers and sisters.

But as time passed by and things started to get root in their hearts. They formed factions amongst themselves.

They had worn on a mask on their faces that was rare to find. Everybody had stopped interacting which each other and tend to stay within their peer circle. Not to mention that they had stopped talking about their family matters to those outsides of factions.

But such a negative environment soon gave birth to a positive side effect. With no one bringing up their backing and family background the academy family seemed to be a normal school rather than a circle of nobility where every other person was scared of offending someone higher than themselves in political standings.

It was like a truce that was created… an unspoken rule that would be broken as soon as they were let loose in the outside world. After all, here family backings weren’t going to save them in any way inside the academy which didn’t differentiate between the different noble houses.

Or so was what was written in the academy rules.

However, there were still a few who weren’t affected by such a truce.

“What is so funny?”

“You don’t have to be so triggered…”

“What is that teacher’s name? I have no idea, to be honest. When everyone turned to Arum all at once the teacher seemed to be agitated.”

Arum murmured looking down.

“The topic of the class was so unusual that I didn’t understand some parts. So I just asked a question. What is wrong with a question or two? I felt like everyone was staring daggers at me.”

A group of four people in the cafeteria had little to do with all of those ominous changes among the nobles.

Arum and Lux, who was scolded by a teacher quite a lot, along with Misty and Elmira who were accompanying them on the same table. They had naturally gathered together at the same table drawn by an unshakable habit. The others might claim that they had formed a small faction of themselves but that was hardly the case.

Two of them were from prestigious families, while the third was a noble no less. But the fourth companion was quite unusual being a commoner. Not to mention that he had a duel with one of them making their situation even more interesting.

The other nobles were quite curious about this small faction but the parties involved could care no less. They were quite used to public attention. But none of them cared about it.

The time was already past noon.

Afternoon, it was becoming a daily routine for four people to have chats on various topics at the cafeteria.

Oday was no exception. What was being talked about now, was the first act f today’s lecture.

It was a lesson about the history of Manalil but it was quite unlike the history that one might think. For teaching the students about the actual history of Manalil would be completely pointless.

Beralt Magic academy didn’t spend any resources on generic studies at all! All the resources were spent on teaching magic and magic alone. As such the history that was taught was also a history of the origins of magic and nothing else.

One must note, that most students at the Beralt Magic academy came from noble houses. They had already learned all the generic subjects back at their home under the care of their private teachers before coming here. Not to mention that self-study was sufficient for such knowledge.

But the same wasn’t true for Arum who had to struggle hard to keep up with the others. Arum had read countless books about magic. But none of them were about the history of magic! How could Arum cope with such a situation? He was literally the black sheep of their batch in the history classes.

But even the nobles didn’t know that the main purpose of such simple lectures was to provide some leisure time for the kids. It was the calm before the storm.

But the calmness didn’t come without its own purpose. It was a training exercise devised by the college to calm the student’s mind. Since a wizard’s magic was influenced by his or her mental state. As such the lectures at the beginning of the year were simple with a calm atmosphere on the air to the point where one might even call it boring enough.

But a single line from Arum’s side changed the atmosphere of the lecture to a heavy one.

“Calcesis Ambrosia Albert… Who?”

All of the eyes turned to Arum with squinting gazes as they threatened to pierce Arum’s very soul.

And why won’t it be? The name of their king was suddenly muttered. And such an unusual muttering was followed by an unscrupulous question.

The name of their king was suddenly muttered. And it was such an unscrupulous muttering that it caused all of them to jolt behind and stare daggers at Arum.

It was certainly a bomb that was enough to incite the wildest fires. Arum had got himself in a troublesome position albeit by mistake.

Even the voice with which he had spoken was fluent enough that it couldn’t have been passed off as a misunderstanding. Considering the context of their studies it was indeed their king who was being referred to.

Ignorance was bliss indeed. But ignorance can sometimes even be quite terrifying.

It was an event that had disrupted the calmness of the classroom. Just by looking at their gazes, Arum was made aware of his situation.

But contrary to the three’s expectations Arum began to chuckle.

“I see, it can’t be helped after all. I am a commoner. All I have learned about is magic from my master and hunting from the village. It is understandable that I don’t know about these kinds of things” Arum replied to the other three sitting with him at the cafeteria.

Arum began to reason with himself. His words as if brimming with arrogance for no good reason!

It was as if he was proud of being a problem child and knowing about nothing but magic. He was a magic nerd indeed and didn’t care about the bias of his knowledge compared to the other students who were nobilities.

“Why are you so confident?” Lux asked tilting his head.

But he was soon to hold onto his chin.

“Maybe even in the writing exams of the admission tests you only solved the problems that were related to magic?”

Arum nodded.

“I only knew about those so it couldn’t be helped. I just ended up guessing the others with random answers…”

Lux smiled bitterly at such a response. It was as if such a thing was very natural to the Arum of today.

“Well, that’s why your scores are only about average,” Lux responded.

But that also went both ways. It also meant that Arum had scored full marks in all of the magic related questions!

“Because this is a magic academy, many of the questions were based on magic so it was kind of easy for me to pass…”

Everyone was stupified.

“How could you even sit for the exam without knowing about these basic things?” Elmira asked with her voice containing a stunning nuance that she didn’t even try to hide no matter how rude it was.

But Arum failed to notice the teasing coming from her side as he nonchalantly replied.

“I was just told that my master that I should come to this place because several magic practitioners of young age gather here every year.”

“So, all of us were told the same? Do you mean to say that…”

“Oh, I didn’t know. I didn’t know that it was a school at all. And I didn’t even know that they would be taking an entrance exam. I only got to know that I have to sit for an exam after the examiner reached our town.”

“Oh my God!”

For some reason, the others ended up believing every word that Arum spoke. If it was someone else they might not even have had bothered with it and passed it off as another one of unusual self flattery. But with Arum it could certainly be a possibility. He was a commoner after all.

The whole country of Beralt knew about the Beralt Magic Academy. It was a famous spot renowned among the circle of nobility and many a noble wants their children to be enrolled for the same. But for a kid that had lived all of his life in the boonies? The same law never applied.

“Somehow it feels like he there isn’t even a shred of falsehood. If you combine his miscellaneous background with his ignorance it could certainly be possible. Well, it was never possible for a commoner who knows about magic activities of the wizards so we can assume the same went true for the magic academy as well.”

Lux seemed to be a little reluctant in believing if it was possible and was trying to justify the statements in his own way. But Elmira seemed to be convinced.

“So what about you guys? What about you Elmira? Why did you come here?”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, I was just curious. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Arum was almost talking to himself but by a slip of tongue, the message was relayed to the other thee instead, especially to Elmira. Arum was worried that Elmira would probably give him a sloppy reply and fume his curiosity even further.

But his worries were unfound as Elmira didn’t seem to mind it and answered normally.

“I am representing my Roapis house here. Irrespective of whether we are rich or poor, as long as we can prove our abilities here, I am sure that our house would be recognized. After all, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An impartial stage where anyone can prove their skills.”

The word ‘impartial’ might have touched a sore spot in Arum’s heart but he chose to turn a deaf ear to it.

“So it was like that…”

Arum seemed to have fed his curiosity. But he hadn’t noticed the curious faces of the other two that were intently staring at Elmira.

They were surprised as soon as they heard the name of Elmira’s house as they looked at each other to confirm their thoughts.

Rhapis.

It was a clan that was renowned as the master of fire based magic just a few generations ago. And it was also a tragic clan that had met with its decline in just a mere two hundred years.

A house that was once a towering giant in the world of wizardry wasn’t even acknowledged today. At a position that seemed to be solid turned out to be frail instead as the house went to its decline.

“It must have been hard for Elmira. But to be honest I thought that the House of Roapis have been completely wiped out,” Lux claimed.

“I apologize but actually I too…” Misty spoke as her voice sank into that of a mouse.

“Oh, it is okay. Actually, the wizards of the generation before me were all terrible. So doesn’t come off as a surprise if you thought that way.”

“By the way do you guys also have bloodline magic?”

Arum interjected his eyes sparkling in joy and curiosity.

“There is one. But it seems like anybody can hardly use it except for me.”

Elmira spoke nonchalantly. It appeared as if Elmira didn’t have any particular feelings for the clan. She was more concerned about herself rather than her clan. She wanted to prove herself rather than aim for the resurrection of the house.

Not to mention that she was quite confident in her ability and didn’t care about the inability of the other members of her house, who had failed to match her ability.

“Ah, and the main reason is that I want to trample on the annoying and rich nobles,” she recollected her thoughts.

“So that’s it?”

The other two knew about the condition of the house but Arum didn’t know, He could only wonder what drove Elmira in such a manner.

Was it her loneliness being aloof and different from the other members of the house? Or was it her intense ambitions that wanted to trample on the rich nobles that seemed to annoy her?

Two rich nobles were sitting on either side of her but she didn’t seem to care.

It appeared that Elmira was similar to Arum in ways more than one.

Just like Arum she had no qualms about declaring war against them irrespective of the situation or at least that was what Arum thought.

“You are talking to Misty and Lux every day like this…. Aren’t you completely fine with that?”

Arum couldn’t help but consider the hypocrisy in her words.

“No, I am not. I am just getting along with the Caesius and the Orrick families, hoping to get closer to them.”

Elmira didn’t even try to hide the fact that friendship for her was a computational thing and relayed that as if she didn’t care.

“Oh, that’s right…”

“So you are aiming to have good relations with their families?”

“I told you once already but I would tell you again…”

Arum had told Elmira in advance that she didn’t have to answer his questions if she didn’t want to. But Elmira did so anyway to the point of even repeating her answers.

“I just hate rich and well-known families, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be using them.”

Misty frowned.

“Oy! Do you hate me?”

But Elmira shook her head.

“No, I like Misty.”

“Well, that makes me happy,”