Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 6

Once we reach the entrance hall, I find that same group of ten from earlier standing at the end of the balcony for our floor. And almost as soon as we enter the entrance hall, a few of the people within their group turn to look at us. Including the golden eyed girl from before.

“That’s a pretty large group,” Aidan suddenly mutters with a frown as he sees them as well.

The ones that had looked our way continue watching us for a few seconds as we walk towards the stairs before focusing entirely on whatever conversation they’re having again. With the lone exception of the golden eyed girl.

“I would stay away from that group, if I were you,” Cyria suddenly says, sparking my interest. “No good can come from interacting with them. And especially not from interacting with their little princess.”

I raise an eyebrow as I turn to look at her and ask, “Princess? Do you mean the golden eyed girl?”

Cyria turns to me and asks, “You noticed her?”

How could I not? It’s obvious that most of those idiots are fawning over her in a bit of a roundabout manner.

Instead of saying this, I just nod my head, prompting her to turn to look at the group of ten as we walk – who are all once again busy chatting, with the lone exception of the golden eyed girl who is now simply staring at the ground floor, seemingly bored as hell – and continue, “Well that ‘golden eyed girl’ as you called her is Rebecca Hunter, and also happens to be the daughter of Theodore Hunter.”

“Damn, really?” Aidan exclaims before jerking his head to look at the group again. Meanwhile, Sophia – interestingly enough – doesn’t react at all.

Makes me wonder if she already knew that as well.

Anyways, that bit of information is rather interesting.

The Hunter family is the foremost power in all of the Republic with regards to Special Magic. Which generally includes strange mana types that can only do certain things, along with neutral magic spells. They could honestly be referred to more as abilities than magic, if I’m being honest, but they do still have mana, and it can still activate spells.

It’s just that they tend to only use spells that don’t require any particular element in the mana. So, neutral magic spells. Like barriers for example. Or neutral mana bullets.

“Doesn’t the current Chairman of the Republic have a Special Magic affinity?” Aidan asks, not taking his eyes off of the group of ten until I physically grab his head and turn it away, to which he grumbles something in protest but doesn’t fight back.

Surprisingly enough, Sophia answers this one instead of Cyria, “Yes, the Chairman has a Special Magic affinity known as Anti-Magic. It’s a very interesting magic in that it nullifies any mana it comes into contact with, but only if it’s outside of a person’s body.”

Aidan, Cyria, and I all stop to send her weird looks as she continues walking and talking, “But what’s really interesting about it is that it can also interact with magic circles, which are made of solidified mana, allowing it to…”

Sophie finally begins trailing off as she realizes we aren’t following her anymore before she turns around to look at us. “Um, guys?”

Huh… I guess she’s into magic then…

“You’re a magic nerd!” Aidan suddenly says with a grin, only to shout, “Ouch!” as Cyria whacks him upside the head.

I nod my head towards her in appreciation before focusing on her again and asking, “Would it be okay if I came to you for help with anything magic related when I need it?”

Sophia – who had started blushing a little bit at Aidan’s comment – turns to look at me before quickly nodding her head and saying, “Yeah, that’d be fine!”

And with that, I continue walking down the stairs with the others following soon after.

“Why are there so few people walking around?” Aidan mutters as we're about halfway across the distance between one of the two towers and the dormitory. “You’d think there would be more magicians going around in a magic academy…”

Without looking back at him, I answer, “You have to remember that we only just got here today, and the semester hasn’t even begun yet. So a lot of the students are still either not here yet in the case of the upper classmen, or choosing their classes, likely inside of their dorms.”

That said, it does feel a little bit empty. While, yes, most of the enormous fortress really is just a lot of open space with a few dozen shops set up around it, along with the three dormitories, and five towers, it is still a little strange to see it almost empty of people. The fortress itself should be several hundred meters, if not a kilometer in length, after all. And that’s a lot of empty space, despite the shops, dorms, and towers.

Anyways, from what I read in the book, the two towers on the opposite side of the fortress from where we portaled in are meant for the high course students, while the two towers on the side that we came in from are for the low course students. And, of course, the center tower is for the advanced course students.

Hence why it’s damn near connected to their dormitory.

We continue walking for a while until we eventually end up at the tower on the north-east side of the fortress – according to the map. The tower is red and black, with precious few windows, and some sort of strange-looking stone making up its build. It has a simple set of double doors making up its entrance and judging by the few students that I’ve seen enter it, the doors scan us for our key just like the dormitory doors do.

“They really are touchy about students entering the wrong course’s buildings, aren’t they…” Aidan mutters, to which someone responds, “Of course we are, otherwise it would open up a shitload of problems for the faculty.”

We all turn to look at the source of the voice before finding Instructor Leo approaching us from a nearby shop.

Was he shopping there? Or maybe he owns the store?

Anyways, we all pop off a salute to him before shouting, “Sir!”

Surprisingly, Instructor Leo waves us off and says, “No need for that. Just call me Instructor Leo, as I told you before.”

I share a look with Cyria before shrugging and turning back to the instructor.

“Anyways, it’s good to see that there are students in this year that aren’t suck-ups,” he continues, briefly confusing me before the image of Rebecca surrounded by the nine students comes to mind.

Instructor Leo then proceeds to continue past us towards the doors, only to pause again as the doors scan him. He then turns around and asks, “Do any of you happen to have Fire Affinity?”

As if on cue, all three of my companions – more like traitors – turn to look at me before I hide a sigh and answer, “Yes. I do.”

Instructor Leo immediately turns his full focus on me as the doors open up behind him before he asks, “Your name?”

“Nathan Fox,” I answer him, trying very hard to hide how uncomfortable I am with the current situation from him.

He stares at me for a few seconds before a faint grin stretches across his face, only to vanish again a few seconds later as he says, “Then I will be seeing you in Fundamentals of Fire, Nathan Fox.”

The man then turns around and walks through the doors of the tower, with them closing by themselves right after he steps through.

Wait, he’s the instructor for the Fundamentals of Fire class?

I mean, it makes sense considering which family he is from, and it would also be a major boon for me to learn from a member of the foremost family in fire magic in what’s quite possibly the entire world, but seriously?

As I'm hiding my current thoughts from my face, Aidan exclaims, “I wonder how many classes that man’s teaching?”

“Hmm?” I turn to face Aidan with a look of confusion on my face.

Two classes aren’t that-

“After all, from what I’ve heard, he’s also teaching Magical Warfare as well,” Aidan continues with an impressed look on his face, almost making me lose my composure.

I stare at him for a few seconds before turning to face the door and walking to it.

Well shit.