Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 6

“Hey, it’s Amelia!” Aidan exclaims with an excited look on his face, only for it to turn worried as he glances at me.

Meanwhile, a hopeful look appears on Amelia’s face once she sees me looking at her. She still has the same appearance as she had when we were in school, so that hasn’t changed. Still the same dark eyes, black hair, and sharp looking features. Even how she always used to wear her hair in a single braid doesn’t appear to have changed.

Movement from the direction of our dormitory catches my eye and I turn away to find another large group of students walking our way. Except this one is surrounding the golden eyed girl – whose name I think was Rebecca.

Right as I hear Amelia begin to call out my name, a cold voice comes from the direction of the new group – directly from Rebecca.

“Amelia Marshall,” she calls out, still ignoring the people surrounding her, “I guess what they said is true. You did come here this year after all.”

I alternate my gaze between the two girls – noticing that Amelia continues to look at me with the same hopeful look for a few more seconds before it turns cold as she focuses on Rebecca and says, “And I see you’re just as lovely as ever, Rebecca.”

The two groups surrounding the girls begin to back away slightly – likely not wanting to get on the bad sides of either of the two girls by being on the other’s side. Meanwhile, Cyria and Sophia look between the two girls in confusion.

Although I do notice that Cyria also seems to be looking at me and Aidan as well.

Guess she heard what Amelia was going to say. Not to mention that Aidan called her out by name when he saw her.

And looking at the way Rebecca is looking at us right now makes me think that she likely noticed the way Amelia was looking at me. Which just complicates this even further.

Sooo… as soon as Rebecca looks back at Amelia again, I begin slowly walking away from both groups in an attempt to sneak away without either of them noticing.

It's best not to get in the middle of a fight between powerful families.

Cyria and Sophia seem to understand what I’m doing, and both join me, followed by Aidan who just shrugs when he sees my raised eyebrow.

I’m betting that those Amelia and Rebecca already have at least some training in magic despite only just now entering the academy.

It’s normally not recommended to learn magic before turning eighteen, strictly because that’s when your mana arcs fully develop and are ready to begin manipulating healthily. That said, the top families – from what I’ve heard at least – have ways to speed up the development of the mana arcs, allowing them to train earlier than most.

“If I’m being honest, I really don’t give a damn what your talent level is,” Rebecca continues, surprising several of the people that were following her, “I just want to know if you’re ready for the duel that we promised each other back then.”

“Of course,” Amelia answers with a bit of a pride mixed in with her voice that I've never heard before as I make it halfway across the distance between the tower entrance and the closest nearby store, “just name the place, and I’ll be there after classes tomorrow.”

Interestingly enough, when I look back at the two girls, I find most of the two groups slowly trying to get away as well without getting on the two girls’ bad sides. But what makes it even better for me is that it’s giving us some cover to continue without them-

My thoughts are interrupted when I see Amelia look directly at me as Rebecca answers, “How about a bit further away from the populated areas? We wouldn’t want to draw any bystanders into our duel after all.”

Yes, you do that. Now please keep talking so that Amelia will be distracted.

I really don't want to be dragged into this.

Suddenly, a loud voice echoes throughout the area, startling everyone – including the two girls, and all of the people trying to sneak away.

“If you don’t want to draw any bystanders into your duel, then why not just use the duel arena? It is what they were built for, after all.”

Before I can wonder who said that, a woman seemingly in her thirties suddenly appears directly in the middle of the two girls in a flash of… moonlight?

Shit.

“Aunt Alexis!” Amelia suddenly shouts, once again drawing the peoples’ eye to her and the woman, who is now confirmed to be who I had thought she was.

Although, aunt?

“This is certainly an interesting mix of high and advanced course students,” the woman says, tilting her head slightly as she looks around at everyone here, only for her gaze to end up eventually resting on the two girls, “and I’m guessing that you two are the reason?”

Right as I’m wondering why she's here, she continues without giving the girls or me a chance to think, “Or could it have something to do with the group of four that were leaving the tower right as everyone else arrived?”

Well shit.

Both girls, along with several of the members of what previously was their groups turn to look at me and the other three.

Amelia called her Alexis – ignoring the aunt part for now – and she's wearing a special uniform, and used lunar magic – a type of light magic. All of this basically adds up to her being the headmistress of the academy.

Only council members get to pick their own uniform’s designs, and the only member of the military that I know uses lunar magic is Alexis Luna. Who also happens to be in charge of the academy.

But, why did she show up now?

“Hmm, yes, yes, I think I can see what you wanted to do here,” the councilwoman says, scratching her chin and tilting her head, causing the strange uniform she has on to shift slightly. Her armor is – unlike every other uniform’s armor I’ve seen so far – blue and purple, with the magi-tech armor itself being practically skin-tight, along with an unbuttoned blue blazer fluttering in the wind over it, and two strange strips of blue and purple fabric falling down from something on her back that’s covered by the blazer. “I recognize the boys over there. They were the ones who you were friends with in high school, right?”

Okay then, that's a little abrupt. And very annoying.

Unable to keep my thoughts from my face anymore after hiding them all day, my eye twitches in irritation.

To my surprise, the woman raises an eyebrow slightly at me as Amelia begins to speak before she shakes her head slightly and says, “Actually, I think I might have been mistaken. It must have been some other students that were your friends back then. These two just look quite similar to them.”

My brows raise in surprise at her words, only for me to lower them again with a faint nod of appreciation.

Huh, so the woman’s actually not a bad person after all.

And the confused look on Amelia’s face is rather amusing to see, considering how much trouble she’s given me today.

The councilwoman turns back to face the two girls again with her hands on her waist and cocks her hip slightly outwards before asking, “Anyways, how about it, girls? What do you say to trying out the brand new duel arena?” she then points towards a large building standing in between the high and low course towers that I swear wasn’t there the last time I looked. “It’s a pretty nice work of art, if I do say so myself.”

I turn to look at Aidan, only to see him shrug and shake his head.

This woman is pretty eccentric. For a headmistress. If not just in general.

Soon enough, both girls give their agreements, to which the councilwoman claps her hands with a smile on her face and exclaims, “Wonderful! The duel will begin at 18:00. Now, I just have a few words I would like to share with young Marshall here.”

“Wait-” Amelia begins with a frantic look in my direction, only to disappear in a flash of moonlight along with the councilwoman.

Hmm, eccentric or not, she’s certainly being a big help to me.

The question is, why? Why is she helping me?

She shifted her attitude when she saw that I didn’t like that she had outed me as Amelia’s friend, but why is that?

Those questions aside for now, I quickly turn around to make my escape from the area with the others following not too far behind as the people in the area chatter about the councilwoman.

Oddly enough, neither of the girls say a word during the entire trip back; even after we reach our rooms.

“I’m gonna take a short nap,” I say as an excuse to get away from the others for some peace and quiet, and to just think about what’s happened, “come get me if anything happens.”

All three of them simply nod their heads in agreement. However, right as I’m closing the door to mine and Aidan’s dorm room, I hear the three talking.

“So was what the councilwoman said true?” Cyria asks.

“The part about us being friends with Amelia was true, although I’m not-”

Deciding that I’ve heard enough, I finish closing the door before heading towards my room.

And the problems continue to grow.

Then again, at least I won’t have to worry about lying to the girls about that.

And with that, I close the door to my own room and lie down onto my bed facing the ceiling.