I awake in a freezing room. My breath is visible. A tiny black lizard flies around the room, circling overhead like a vulture just waiting for the perfect moment to pick up the scraps.

“Alastar,” I say, “What are you doing flying around?” when I reach out to him, he flies to the other side of the room, hissing at me.

A putrid smell crawls up my nostrils, causing me to gag. What’s that horrible smell? I cover my nose. Standing up, I close my open window, and gaze at the mess on the floor. A pool of vomit and blood lay frozen on the ground.

Disgusting. How quickly did I fall asleep when I came back yesterday?

I head into the bathroom and pick up a rag to wipe away the mess I caused. I heat the pool with a small flame to get as much back into liquid form as I can. Once I finish, I make the heavy-hearted decision and toss the dirty rag into the trash.

I’d say it was my favorite rag, probably because it was the only rag.

I throw off my torn black clothes and quickly bathe myself. It’s a Monday morning. I have school today, although I wish I didn’t. My ear’s ringing and it’s giving me a headache. The throbbing on that side doesn’t help a headache either.

After cleaning myself enough, I jump out and quickly throw on my uniform. I’ll have to take my clothes to some kind of tailor tonight if I want to meet up with Carlyle and the rest to tell them about what happened.

I store my clothes in my gauntlets and check the clock. I have about an hour before class starts…

I can’t believe I’m somewhat ready already. I need to do something to get my mind off last night. “Alastar,” I call out to him. I haven’t summoned him much. I’ve thought about breaking my contract with him but it was possible that I would need him for future lessons so I kept him around. Now he’s acting like I’m some sort of monster. “What’s wrong?”

I hold my arm out. I don’t particularly remember summoning him, so why is he flying around the room? “Come here.”

I wait and, eventually, he lands on my arm, like a bird. He’s reluctant to get closer but with my urging, he eventually makes it up to my shoulder. Should I send him back or should I keep him out? I don’t feel like I’m losing much mana or any for that matter, so it should be all right if he’s here for now.

I doubt the lizard spirit feels like coming back anyways.

My right-hand twitches. It feels dirty. Like I cleaned the puke up with my hand instead of a rag. I go back into the bathroom and start scrubbing my hand. I scrub and scrub until it’s rubbed red. Even after that, it still feels like it’s covered in something.

Alastar lets out a quiet, throaty roar.

“What’s up,” I ask. I still wasn’t sure how much spirits understood our language but I assumed they knew enough considering Alastar often responds when I speak to him. “Do you want to go for a morning walk or something? I’d go for a run but I’ve only got an hour and I don’t really feel like training today.”

Training...

Alastar croaks in approval. If he’s at least willing to answer me, then I should do what he wants. It’d be a problem if he was to start flying around aimlessly again.

I head out of the dorm building and avoid speaking with any of the other students I pass by on my way out, with some sending odd glances. By now, I know most of the ones who get up around the same time I do. It’s usually only the upper years that get up so early. Though, I often wake up before them as well.

I follow the road until I hit the town square. It only takes a few minutes with my quick pace. There, I ask for directions. Eventually, I reach the tailor shop. An old man with thick glasses sits peacefully, in a corner of the shop, drinking water and reading a book.

“Hello,” I say, looking around the large store. Fabrics hang from the wall and nice suits and dresses are neatly placed on shelves and racks.

“Why hello,” he responds, placing his book down. “What can I help you with? I don’t get too many young people coming into my store these days, especially not someone with a spirit on their shoulder.”

Alastar roars in response. It's not exactly a roar but the same throaty vocal cords he fired up in the bathroom.

"Hello to you," the tailor says.

“Well, I was hoping to ask if this could be repaired,” I pull out my ruined black clothing. “Is it possible?”

He takes it in his hands and pushes up his glasses. His old fingers slowly brush over the clothing and examine each rip and tear. “I don’t think there’s much I can do here. I can try my best to repair it but with all this damage… I’m not sure I can fix everything.”

“Oh,” is that the case? I guess I’ll have to throw together some random clothes and hope it works for disguise. I’ll also have to apologize to my master for ruining his gift to me.

“There is an alternative,” the old tailor says, “It might not be what you’re looking for but I could make a new one for you. With a little altering of what I have, I could create something similar.”

I light up, “That’d be great, thanks. Uh, how much would it cost?”

“Haha. Well, that is not something I can decide right now but I would say anywhere from seventy to ninety silvers.”

My mouth almost drops. Seventy to ninety silvers? I could live in an inn for weeks with that much. “May I ask why it’s so expensive?”

“You don’t know? I’d assume you would by your dress. Not a noble I assume?”

Well, I technically have noble blood but my mother seemed to be disowned and my grandparents on her side seem to favor Aisha over me so… “No… I guess not.” though I’d say Aisha is.

“Ah. This cloth is quite expensive, hence why I cannot repair it, other than the fact it has far too many tears and stitches would only ruin the look.”

Wow. I guess that stingy master of mine actually got me something quite nice… And here I thought they were a little grubby. That’s how I know I’m not actually a noble. “Alright, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

I reach into my coin purse and rummage around for a bit. “Aha,” I pull out the only gold coin I have and set it on the table. “Will this do?”

The old tailor’s eyes widen and he picks up the coin. “W-where did you get something like this?” his fingers once again scan the coin but he’s too afraid to actually touch it so he hovers just above.

I doubt he hasn’t seen a gold coin before. Is there something different about it? “It was a reward for a quest a friend and I took on a while ago. Is the coin a fake?” I never thought about the coin being a fake. The money wasn’t given to us by the guild but by the man and all we did was look for his cat.

The tailor shakes his head, “Oh no. It is very much real. You must have taken on quite the dangerous quest for something like this… It’s a coin only those who are ranked highly in the empire are given.”

Huh? That man obviously wasn’t normal but I only guessed he was a rich noble visiting his kid at most. He handed the coin out like it was nothing, like simple change for him. Noble was the only word that came to my mind at the time. Axel probably thought the same. “So we’re good on the payment?”

“Yes, this is far more than enough. Give me a few days and I will have it ready for you. You can expect something extra along with your clothing as well.”

The old man swipes my torn clothes off the counter and heads to the back, muttering all the while.

"Alastar, it's time we leave. You should return too, I don't think the school would be too happy having you fly around."

The little flying lizard spirit shakes his head in disapproval but eventually disappears.

------------------------------------------------------

For some odd reason, I expected the academy to be closed today. I enter the classroom and go up to my seat. Everyone’s whispering as I walk by but it’s not about me.

“They said the library is closed.” a boy says.

“What? I hope I won’t get in trouble for having an overdue book now.” a second one says.

The girl in the group scrunches her nose, “There are bigger problems than an overdue book. Derrith said he saw some guards rushing inside the school yesterday. There’s been another incident but the school doesn’t want us, students, to know.”

“Of course, they wouldn’t want us to know. My dad already sent me a letter asking me how I was doing and if I felt safe. I wish he’d trust me to take care of myself a bit more,” the first boy responds.

It looks like the news has been spreading. I would hate to deal with the things the Headmaster has to deal with. I might not like him much, but this incident fell on me. I should have stopped those guys somehow. In the end, I really only caught two of their names and found out Rune was a dirty mole.

I look up a row where Blue Hair usually sits. She’s not there despite both Iris and Elis being there. Did she… No. I took care of Jux and guards came pouring in a few minutes after that. I didn’t see her on my way out so someone probably took her to an infirmary.

Despite convincing myself of this an urge to ask them where she is, slowly creeps up on me. I went in without a plan, and I went in late. She was my responsibility at that point.

“Hey, Rai. You there?”

I turn to Axel. He’s smiling, completely oblivious to the night before. “Need something,” I ask.

“Need something? I can get it if you don’t want to talk so early in the morning but you’re usually not this cold. Am I bothering you,” his expression turns into one of worry.

“Just a bit,” I say before remembering the coin. “Axel, could you take out that gold coin for me?”

“Hey,” his eyes dart in all directions. “Not so loud man, some of these guys can hear you!”

Axel… you do know most of the people in here are nobles right? They’ve probably seen more gold coins in one day than we have in our entire lives. “My bad,” I respond sarcastically. “Do you still have it?”

He nimbly fetches it from a place under his uniform. “I made a special spot for it so if I somehow lose my coin bag, I won’t lose this,” he lightly tosses the coin up. “What did you need to see this for? Did you lose yours? If you did, I’m sorry but I can’t give you mine.”

This guy. He’s quite stingy with money. I can understand, of course, it’s a gold coin. “No, rather, I’d like to give you a few coins to get that appraised.”

“Sure, I don’t mind but do you think…” He suddenly turns horrified. “I-is it a fake?”

“No, it’s not. Just go to an appraiser for me tonight and tell me what they say tomorrow.” I place a few coppers in his hand and Miss Ein enters. Axel quickly retreats to his seat.

Miss Ein looks solemn, as solemn as someone during a funeral.

I process my own thought for a second before a lump forms in my throat. Miss Ein is a teacher and Blue Hair’s in this class. It’s possible that her death was told to Miss Ein in advance. It’s possible that it’s her job to tell us, the class.

My stomach churned. Would she end up as another casualty because of me?

“Everyone,” Miss Ein has her hands on her podium. “You may have already heard but the library is closed for now. There was an issue with the bookcases and one seemed to have toppled the others over.”

I want to make a joke, but I don’t feel like it.

“Another thing, Mr. Rune from the third year handed in his resignation letter and will no longer be in this school.”

That one got a few heads turning. I couldn’t make out any individual conversation but it seems like they all think Rune caused a scene last night in the library. It’s scary to think that someone, even a teacher, could be an attacker so they choose to rule that possibility out. I can't blame them, even I wanted to think he was just working for the Headmaster.

The door opens and I immediately shoot up from my seat knocking it over as my eyes widen. Is it real? I rub my eyes expecting her to be gone once I’m done but she isn’t.

“Rainen,” she says. “Rainen, is there something you would like to say?”

“Huh?” I look around, everyone is staring at me. “N-no,” I respond, pulling my chair back up and sitting down. A few of my classmates giggle.

“He probably has a book to return.” the girl from before jokes.

As Blue Hair, yes, the Blue Hair goes to her seat, another student speaks up. “Miss Ein,” a noble girl in the front row says, “Aren’t you going to scold her?” she points at Blue Hair. “She’s late despite the fact that you already warned her once this year.”

Miss Ein’s face stays solemn. This is obviously not the issue she wants to be dealing with right now. “It’s alright,” Miss Ein says. “She-”

But the girl isn’t having any of it, “How come she isn’t getting scolded? I was when I arrived late a few weeks ago.”

“I’m not having this,” Miss Ein sends Blue Hair up to her seat. “The warning at the beginning of the year extended to everyone in this classroom. When you arrived late I did not have you stand up here and give your name while I lectured you. She also has a reason for being late today. I still have more announcements so listen quietly.”

“Yeah,” Elis yells from her seat.

“Everyone will listen quietly,” Miss Ein repeats herself more sternly, gazing up at her.

A few students giggle. I do too. Honestly, I’m thankful for a moment of levity.

“We may have to close the academy down for the next few months.”

Her words come as a bombshell.

“Due to some safety complaints from parents and the absence of the Headmaster at this time along with a recent attack on the Green City by wild monsters, the staff have been deciding on the best course of action. It is not set in stone, but closing the academy for a period of time is a possibility.”

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Author’s Note: Sorry for the late post guys, I said I was going to post earlier but family ended up coming over so I spent time with them. Also had to do with the fact that I was a bit negligent but still, I’m sorry for the late post. It’s also a bit shorter than usual.

I posted this because I wanted some opinions on my writing as it currently is. If you guys notice any errors or any bad habits or things I can improve on, please post it in the comments or in a review. I'll be straight with you guys here, I'm starving for a bit of criticism. I feel like I'm improving a bit but I also feel like I'm not moving anywhere and that my style's going to get worse. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and a special surprise should be coming up soon.