It has been 2 months since I got into this academy and now we’re at the mid semester. I can’t believe I was able to make it through the first half to be honest. All that heckling I got from Sam really made me a different person today. Well, I didn’t completely changed to say the least but I did improved a lot ever since.

I get to meet a bunch of new people since I got here. I get to know my fellow classmates who would be sticking with each other for five whole semesters and then there’s also my current roommate. I got to know my class’s Cardinal which was Lala who seems to have a very powerful ability. We haven’t talk with each other yet but I hope that will change eventually. There’s also Zed who was one of The Trinity in my class. He’s been rather helpful in class so far. Not to forget Ziggs who is also one of my roommate. He has been busy for the past few weeks and I’ve heard a rumour that he was hanging out with Lala. I’m not sure about that but who am I to bother them?

Other than my classmates, Hemrietta and Aspye have been very helpful in sharing me a bunch of research data from their classes. Oh yeah, both of their class is Magic Advancement. They study about the basics of the development of magic. Pretty soon, they might even develop their own advancements in magic. It could also come in the form of a brand new spell. All it needs is just a bunch of research, some trial and error and you might just get it.

Azreal, Kallen, Ralph and especially Yumiko have been quite a wild ride for me to follow through. Thankfully I’m still alive to this day. Those guys can be quite of a stupid bunch sometimes. I’m not talking about Yumiko of course. But for her, I think she has been the most problematic out of all of them from the Administration Magic class. Plus, she’s also my Watcher. Which just make things a lot more complicated than I ever expected.

Today was a brand new day and I’m all fresh and ready for the day. The peacefulness came to an abrupt when Yumiko suddenly barged into my room and gave me a request from the academy boards. Apparently, it’s related to the mid semester assessment. All Watchers has been tasked to give a piece of letter to the people that they have been paired up with. This letter has been forbidden for anyone to open except for the recipient. After receiving this letter, Yumiko said that I must deliver this letter to a specified location. During this errand, I will be assessed based on what I do throughout it. This will test my trustfulness, dutifulness, and even my curiosity. But still, it doesn’t sound that bad at all. It was just a simple errand made by the academy boards. I bet the letter is probably an invoice of some sorts.

But in any case, the destination that I was asked to go after was Gemhold. I can’t believe I finally get to go to such an amazing place. The city of gems. Gems are mined and sought after in this city. The gems also act as a source of energy to power up most of their machinations that they use daily. It’s not just a gem mining city, it’s also a machine powered city. Without the gems, most of the cities facilities wouldn’t work at all.

“White…” Zenith was with me as well by the way.

“Uh what is it, Zen?”

“You seem to be lost in your thought. I’ve been calling you for seven times already.” She pouted.

I giggled and said, “I’m sorry about that, Zen. I’m just so excited that I finally get to go to Gemhold.” I gleefully said so.

“I’m glad you are happy.” She smiled.

“Anyway, why are you here with me? Don’t you have your own errand from your Watcher?”

She nodded and said, “I’m supposed to go to Gemhold as well and I’m so happy to find out that you’re also going there.”

“Quite a coincidence don’t you think?” I stopped.

“Is something wrong, White?” she tilted her head.

I grinned and said, “Nothing. I just can’t believe that you’ve been improved a lot ever since we’ve met back then. Before this, you wouldn’t even talk to me at all. But now, you’re able to finish a full sentence and all that. I’m very proud of you.

She stuttered, “I-is t-that s-so?” she blushed a little, “Well...t-thanks, W-White.”

I smiled a bit and looked around the place, “But still, to think that we will be going to The City of Gems…It’s very fascinating.”

“It truly is. I always wanted to see what kind of machine they have over there.” Zenith was also excited apparently.

“You think so as well? Well I can’t wait to go and have it a look. It will be a wonderful journey, just to the two of us.”

She stuttered again, “J-just t-the t-two of u-us? Oh y-yeah…”

I didn’t notice her at all so I just end up ignoring her and continued rambling, “I can’t wait to see purple gem mines, the factories and facilities that uses the purple gems and also how the gems will be processed to create something as fascinating like the charms they sold at stores all over the land.”

“White. What is that?” Zenith stopped and pointed at a cottage nearby.

“I think that’s a cottage. You bet that someone lives there?”

The cottage had smokes coming out of it of course there would be people living in it.

She replied, “The people seem to be busy from the looks of it.”

“Yeah…” there were a lot of smokes. “Wait…those aren’t normal smokes…” I’ve began to realize what was going on and shouted, “Zen, let’s go!”

“Roger!”

As soon as we reached the cottage, fires were everywhere. It looks like there was an accident that happened.

“Zen.” I looked at her.

She nodded and ran together with me. We went into the flames.

“Hey what are you doing, it’s too dangerous!” a folk tried to stop us.

“Don’t worry, sir. We’re here to help. Is there anyone else inside the cottage?” I assured the old man.

The old man looked around and said, “Everyone is here except my wife! Please, hurry!”

“Not a problem, sir. Zen, you’re up.”

She nodded and raised both of her arms to the sky. A magic circle started to appear above her. Snow started to come out of the magic circle. A large amount of snow begins to pile up as she douses all of the flames on the cottage. I went inside the cottage but there was nobody at the living room. I tried looking for the lady in each room but there was nobody as well. I stopped for a moment and began to try and searched through the cupboards. As expected, the old man’s wife was hiding inside one of the cupboard.

“It’s too dangerous, ma’am. Come on, I’ll bring you to safety.”

The lady slowly got out of the cupboard and we safely traversed through the burning cottage. The fires began to settle down after a few minutes after that. Everyone was safely brought out of the cottage.

“Thank you very much, you two. Without you two, I would have lost my wife.” The old man thanked us.

“It’s no problem, sir. We’re just passing by and we saw smokes from a distance. Was there an accident?” I asked him.

“It was my kids fault. I’m sorry for stopping you two’s journey.” The old man bowed down.

“Uh…you can stop that, sir. We’re just helping someone in need. But still, that’s was a pretty beautiful cottage.”

Zenith finished my sentences, “And it’s all gone…”

“It’s not really gone, Zen. But…”

The old man laughed and said, “It’s okay, boy. That cottage doesn’t have anything valuable in it. That’s just a small home I made 4 years ago.”

“4 years? But that’s been too long. Don’t you have anything sentimental with that house? I mean, you don’t have a place to sleep now do you?”

He laughed again and said, “Oh not to worry about that, I actually own an Inn nearby. Now that is my real home.”

“Oh? You’re an Inn Keeper. As a matter of fact…” I looked at Zenith who seems to be catching her breath. “We really need a place to stay for the night. It’s going to get dark soon.”

“Well then, you are in luck, my boy. Tonight you will be our honoured guest!” He handed out his hand.

We shake hands.

The old man was very happy and said, “By the way, I’m Jorne and this is my wife, Selene.”

“Nice to meet you.” I greeted his wife.

“Thanks for saving me, you two.”

“Don’t mention it, Selene. I’m White and this is Zenith. We’re actually on our way to Gemhold but I guess we’ve been walking for too long now. We could use a room or two for tonight.”

“Two?” Zenith questioned.

“Yeah. You, me. That’s two right?”

“But…I’m scared of being alone.”

The couple smiled at us. Jorne then said, “It’s alright, you two. Tonight you will be our honoured guest. We will have a feast for you. All of it including the bedroom, for free!”

“For real?!” I was happy to hear that.

Jorne nodded and laughed. “I haven’t seen quite a brave boy like you ever since I start my Inn business. I can’t wait show you our daughters.”

“You’re…daughters?”

“Yup. Seven of them! All seven beautiful princesses!” Jorne laughes.

“Oh wow. That’s a lot…” I nervously said so.

Then for some reason, I felt a piercing glare from Zenith. I could probably tell what she was thinking without even asking her. I just hope this won’t make things complicated…

TO BE CONTINUED