Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 7

As it turns out, the lack of customers is entirely due to the price of the food, and not because of the food or the service themselves. Which are actually quite splendid. And thanks to Sophia being with us, we aren’t even being charged a single credit!

Overall, I’d say the food is worth the price it costs. Not to mention the beautiful snow falling around us.

I glance at the watch on my arm before interrupting Aidan and Sophia’s conversation to say, “It’s almost time for Magical Warfare.”

Both of them pause before glancing at each other with a sad look on their faces.

Right as I’m raising an eyebrow, they both immediately turn away from each other, hiding the looks that were there as they begin gathering their things.

Hmm… well that’s certainly interesting.

I wonder how long it will take for them to get together?

Their possible romance aside, I gather my things and stand up from my seat before pushing it in and glancing at Cyria. When I find her already standing and waiting for us, I simply give her a nod and begin walking towards the entrance to the building on the balcony.

Time to see what fresh hell the Magical Warfare class will be…

Uh…

That’s a lot of weapons.

The first thing that greeted me once I entered the classroom portal – which just happened to be on the far side of the tower, placed in between two different flights of stairs – was a large array of dozens of different weapons. These weapons vary all the way from swords, spears, pistols, revolvers, rifles, snipers, and even enormous axes!

“Well…” Aidan mutters, wiping the previously astonished look off of his face, “I guess warfare is in the name of the class…”

“Please don’t block the portal,” I hear a familiar voice shout to the right of the weapons. When I turn to look, I find Instructor Leo leaning against a sword that has its tip stuck in the ground.

I quickly move out of the way before taking in the rest of the room.

Including the large and transparent blue box that’s sitting in the middle of it.

Not sure what that is, but the rest of the room is obviously full of different training equipment, along with over two dozen different cadets ranging from first years all the way to fourth years. What’s more is that there’s some sort of large door in the back of the room that I can see through the blue box.

I turn my gaze back to Instructor Leo to see him nod his head towards me and say, “Nathan.”

After giving him a polite greeting back, I turn back towards the weapons. My gaze quickly locks onto two different weapons in particular. One of them being a sword with a beautiful silver blade, and a black and red sheath laying next to its similarly colored grip. The other one being a black and red sniper rifle laying only a few feet away from the sword.

“If you’re interested in the weapons, you can go ahead and choose two now instead of at the beginning of class,” I hear Instructor Leo say from a much closer distance than I had thought he was. When I turn towards his voice, I find him standing only a few feet in front of me as Cyria, Sophia, and Aidan all move away to talk further into the room. “Although you have to choose one melee and one ranged weapon to learn. No exceptions.”

I glance at him again before alternating my gaze between the sword and the sniper rifle.

It would be difficult to train with the sword without revealing my secret, but if I have to have a melee weapon anyways, I might as well choose the one that catches my eye.

As for the sniper rifle? It’s a pretty obvious choice to minimize the risk of my secret being spilled.

Not to mention that I just like snipers.

My decision made, I walk up to the sniper first – because priorities – before lifting it along with its shoulder strap.

Some of the talking quiets down at this point as I hear the instructor walking up to me and saying, “Good choice for a fire magician. There aren’t very many defensive fire spells, leaving them to have to rely on neutral barriers for defense, so fire magicians often end up closer to the back where they aren’t in as much danger.”

I glance at the other cadets in the class, only to find over half of them watching the instructor and me.

Suppressing an urge to frown at the unwanted attention, I turn my focus on to the sword next before walking up to and picking it up. However, when I lift the sword, I end up lifting it a lot higher than I had meant to.

“What the…” I mutter as I stumble slightly. “Why’s it so light?”

“That’s because it’s made out of Arcadian Metal, which is an extremely durable and yet light metal that can only be found in our nation,” Instructor Leo says, nodding his head slightly in approval of my choice of weapon. “With this choice, you should be set for weapons. For the foreseeable future, of course.”

Arcadian Metal… that’s not something I’ve heard-

My thoughts are interrupted as I notice the whispering and pointing fingers of the other cadets, and even the surprised looks on both Sophia and Cyria’s faces.

Uh… did this somehow draw more attention to myself? Or was it because I didn’t know what Arcadian Metal was?

I’m given my answer as Instructor Leo notices their attention and says, “Yes, there are other weapons made of Arcadian Metal on the rack. No, there isn’t enough for everyone. Yes, you get to keep it if you choose a weapon and I approve.”

Before the instructor even finishes speaking, almost all of the cadets within the room immediately begin rushing straight towards the racks of weapons and digging through them as I blankly stare at them with the sniper’s strap over my shoulder, and the sword sheathed in my hand.

Uh… are Arcadian Metal weapons really that rare?

Also, if it weighs less than a normal sword, wouldn't that affect its ability to function as a sword?

Suddenly, a commotion breaks out between two of the students who begin to verbally fight over one of the Arcadian Metal weapons.

Hmm, guess they wouldn't be reacting this way if that were the case.

Instructor Leo slams the sword he has on him against the ground point first as a magic circle appears beneath the sword and a wave of embers moves around the point of impact. This immediately silences the room, drawing everyone’s attention towards the instructor.

“I will not have any verbal fights over the weapons,” he says before raising his hand for silence as some of the cadets – including the ones that were fighting – begin to raise a fuss, “if you can’t decide on who’s going to get the weapon, then duel over it. It’s as simple as that.”

My eyes widen slightly at that statement, especially after seeing a couple of the other cadets turn their attention towards me.

Fortunately, the instructor notices this and says, “But if the cadet has already had their weapons approved by me, then you can’t challenge them for it.”

The cadets that had focused on me quickly turn their attention back to the others who are contesting weapons.

I let out a sigh of relief before walking over to a place several meters away from the commotion and sitting down on a chair.

That was close, but at least I got an Arcadian Metal weapon.

I hold up the sword to the light from the electrical lights on the very high ceiling before unsheathing it and examining the blade. It has some small detailing on it, with some patterns engraved through the sword, along with… is that an eagle? Or, wait…

It’s a phoenix, isn’t it? Considering the flames engraved around the bird on the pommel of the sword.

The sword has a thin cross guard, with only a very small pommel that just extends slightly from the round, blunt tip of the handle. The pommel has what looks like a phoenix engraved on it, with two clear jewels in the place of the phoenix’s eyes, and the entirety of the sword’s handle is black and red. Although mostly black.

After getting a good look at the sword, I sheathe it again and place it on the ground next to the chair before maneuvering the sniper rifle around me to my front.

I’m not too familiar with guns – not as much as I am swords, considering the blades that dad always kept around the house from his time in the military – but I can tell that the sniper rifle looks to be rather high quality.

I think.

Okay, nevermind. I can’t tell that.

But I can at least tell that it’s almost completely black, with very thin streaks of red running through it. It has a scope on the top, a stand near the end of it-

My thoughts are interrupted as I hear the commotion of the other cadets begin to near me. I raise my head from the rifle to look before finding them all heading towards the blue box.

“C’mon, let’s go watch the duels,” I suddenly hear Aidan from my left. When I turn to look, I find him already walking over towards the blue box with Sophia. Although, oddly enough, Cyria waits for me instead of going with them.

I get up from my chair whilst grabbing the sword and maneuvering the rifle around to my back before following after with Cyria next to me.

Time to see my first duels in the academy.