“What is magic? Anyone?” A woman stands at the front of the room, glancing around at the students. No one answers. “I see no one read their textbook. Well, then.” She turns around and draws a flowchart of mana to spell to magic. “We all know magic to be the actions caused by utilizing mana, but on a higher level of understanding, magic is the result of infusing mana into a spell, a word or set of words. Since this is the case, why is it harder to execute some spells over others?”

A boy in the front row raises his hand. “It’s harder because of visualization. For instance, it is much easier to visualize a fireball than it is to visualize a gem that contains a memory. It’s hard to infuse mana into a word if there is no intent behind the word, and the intent comes from visualization.”

“Very good, Adrian.”

The teacher continues explaining, and I stop paying attention. Teacher Broffenberg went over this material in our first lessons together. I set my dictation spell and begin my research again. Lovina and her friends have been very protective of me, apparently out of admiration for my skills. Some of them claimed I’m like the perfect little sister and have been coming to find me to play with as soon as their classes finish. Jennis, on the other hand, disappeared for the rest of the week and I couldn’t be bothered to search for him, so I haven’t seen him since before choosing our mage paths.

Luckily, the fake Price has yet to contact me again, but I haven’t tried to find Teacher Broffenberg yet. I have a feeling that the second that I do, something bad will happen to me, so for now I’m making preparations, also known as storing mana in my ring.

Just as I think to hope nothing bad happens, the glass of the windows shatter and cut the teacher off. Ignoring the screams around me, I release my dictation spell and shout, ! Harmlessly, the falling glass shards hit an invisible wall and slide toward the wall. The students in front and behind me look toward me, a few of them expressing their gratitude.

Sighing, I release the spell. Is it really that hard for a person in a fantasy world to live a peaceful life? The door of the classroom opens and students from the classroom opposite of this one stream in to look out the windows with those in the room.

I follow suit and see a humanoid figure standing in the courtyard. The figure’s pale skin is broken apart by blue pulsing lines at various places, and it’s red eyes are clear to see even from as far away as I am. As if sensing my gaze, it swivels its head towards me and meets my gaze.

It’s a first generation demon. But why would it appear here? Why now? I search my memories but can’t find any instance of a demon attack mentioned in the novel. Is it because this place is not the Royal Academy, or did I happen to advance the plot?

Shaking my thoughts out of my head, I glance over at the teacher, who jumps out of the window, like the teachers in other classrooms. They surround the demon and kill it before it can do anything.

As expected, classes are cancelled for the rest of the day. I take out the gem I created in Price’s office and lift it to my ear. Price’s voice sounds almost immediately.

“-told you to control them. Why did one appear here?”

A voice I don’t recognize replies, “I apologize, Sir. I don’t understand what happened either.”

“Did you forget who gave you that job, Lethos? Do you not want it anymore?” the fake Price hisses.

There’s silence, and then, “Meer just informed me that Jakos is missing. We suspect him to have smuggled the demon out. The last anyone saw him was yesterday evening.”

“He’s missing, and you didn’t find out until now? Incompetence. If you don’t find him within the day, don’t think about keeping your job as overseer.”

“Yes Sir.”

Glass shatters, and then I hear, . I put away the gem and smile. It looks like I need to meet this “Jakos.”