It’s been a few months since Sya joined as a fourth year student. During this time I learnt that elven language is even harder to learn than I expected. In a month Sya caught up with the other students and was recognized as one of the smartest students. OK, a smart person like her learnt her mother tongue in ten years. When I heard that I just froze in place for a few seconds; I couldn’t process that information. To learn the elven language you have to use specific words for every sentence and there are particular words for almost any situation. What I knew wasn’t enough to even call myself a beginner. Sya tries hard to teach me the way she was taught and surprisingly enough she is quite good at it

“So how good are you at archery anyway?”

I often see Sya in the courtyard a t night, she is practicing her archery. I wasn’t really interested in archery in my previous world but here archery is pretty important. I’ve watched her practice for almost a month from the dormitory’s roof. The bow was almost as big as her and it seemed to require a lot of strength to use. I remember reading that it the past archers were strong since bows were hard to use. There is one thing that I didn’t understand; the arrows she shot didn’t get damaged even after numerous uses. My curiosity was hitting its upper limit so I decided to go and ask her about the arrows.

“KYA!”

Sya literally jumped a meter backwards when she saw me. She is so hyper during the day; I don’t understand where all that energy is coming from. Now I don’t know if I should be mad or disappointed…I’m anything but scary and that’s not something I said but something that others tell me.

“A…Alex, what are you doing here, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

Ha ha. She actually thinks that I care about that curfew, that’s for other people.

“No, I don’t really need that much sleep; two hours are more than enough for me. How about you, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I…I have to practice! I’m not a very good with the bow and the other elves make fun of me.”

Well, she was just shooting arrows at a tree. The tree was on the other side of the courtyard. It was hit multiple times by her arrows and it looked like it wasn’t going to last long.

“Well, don’t let me stop you, I just want to watch.”

Seeing her in action might be good reference material for later. Being a right-handed person she held the bow with her left hand and the arrow with her right hand. She was standing straight and rotated her chin until it was almost over the left shoulder. After that she lowered her chest downward supposedly towards her stomach and then pushed her shoulders downward.

She took a few deep breaths. The arrow she was holding was enveloped by a white, almost transparent layer of magic. After she finished enveloping the arrow in magic she fired it. The arrow started spinning in the air, leaving a circular trail after her. [Drilling in progress], that’s how fast it was spinning. The arrow hit a different tree this time and the poor tree was blasted in half.

Out of curiosity I went and checked the area. Well, the tree didn’t stand a chance, it broke in two and quite violently; judging from how that arrow looked the tree shouldn’t have been damaged like this. The arrow on the other hand showed no signs of damage; it actually looks like it wasn’t used even once; that’s cool.

“That was so cool!” I said with an excited voice.

I’ve got to hand it to her, that was indeed cool, not only the magic but also her skill. There were a few hundred meters between her and the tree, that alone says something about her skill.

“So, how did you do that?”

“Hm? Are you asking about the arrow?”

“Yeah, I’m really curious.”

The arrow is an Elder Wood one but the only difference from a simple one is its magic conductivity. I don’t know how hard it is for Sya to envelop that arrow with magic but I’m pretty sure that if I tried the arrow would explode almost instantly.

“For elves that is a basic archery technique for elves.”

Oh, look who’s here. I was supposed to train with Maria tonight but it’s not midnight yet, why is she here?

“T…Teacher?”

When Sya noticed Maria she hid behind me. I know that we are outside past curfew but as special students that shouldn’t be a problem. Even if I tell her that I don’t think it will do much good.

“You know about that?”

“Of course; you may think that it’s a technique only elves can use but it’s not. For weapons such as swords, axes, hammers and so on you can use Body Enchantment but for throwing weapons and arrows you must provide them with enough magic to last even after they are launched.”

So, I can compare this to a laptop or any device that uses a battery. So the arrows are made with Elder Wood so magic can be stored more easily.

“I see.”

“You can compare it to an advanced method of filling a magic crystal.”

When I heard the words [magic crystal] I remembered my first attempts to use them and I burst out laughing.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!...Haaa…Sorry, I just remembered my past experiences with magic crystals. Even if I learn how to empower an arrow it will most likely explode in a few seconds.”

“True.” Maria smiled.

“So, how long are you going to stay behind me Sya?”

“But, I’m going to get in trouble.”

“It’s all right, while being outside after curfew is forbidden, there weren’t any assassination attempts for the fast five years and since we are keeping the vampire girl here our security is now better so there should be no problem plus Alex has been watching you for some time.”

“W…Wait, how did you know?” I said with an embarrassed voice.

How did she know I was watching her? I know that I can’t detect her presence but really now; how?

“Oh my, it looks I was right. I know that you spend most of the nights on top of the boys’ dorm so I assumed that you also kept an eye on the surroundings.”

“Oh, I guess that I played myself here. Well, I’m interested in her archery, nothing wrong about that, right?”

“If you are that interested why don’t you ask Elesya to teach you?”

Maria looked at Sya who was still too scared to come out of hiding. Am I the only one here with enough common sense to see that she’s not a bad person or I was so careless that I didn’t see it and just kept going?...Whatever the reason, she needs to stop this.

“Come on Sya, she’s not going to scold you.”

“Is that right?”

“Of course Elesya, but I will punish you. As punishment you will have to teach Alex archery.”

“Eh? Ah…I understand.” said Sya after a few seconds.

Somehow this fake punishment actually calmed her down. I have to make a note of that and try it myself in the future.

The week was going well until Friday evening when a paladin told me, Liliana and Maria to go to the basement where Astrid was.

When I arrived I saw three other paladins there. It’s a good thing that I had to tutor Sya and Jaden or else I would have been caught.

I was amazed, not by the paladins but by Astrid, she regained her true form. I learnt how to get rid of my double visions and focus on a single form but I could tell that she wasn’t sealed anymore; I fear that the day she leaves will come soon.

“The vampire said that she had something to tell you.” said one of the paladins.

“Now that I can look at you without needing to use magic I can say that you are beautiful.”

Whatever the reason is I’m positive that she didn’t call us to fight. All things aside, she really looks sexier like this.

“I apologise for calling you here but there was something I want to announce: Soon I will escape from this containment cell.”

Just like that she declared that she has a plan to escape and we can’t stop her. Ha ha, this is getting really interesting; I want to see how she accomplishes that.

“Alexander, the runes that are keeping me in this cage are written using your blood?”

Well, she found out. In a way I’m surprised that she didn’t find out about this sooner, she drank my blood after all.

“Yeah, that’s my blood.”

“I see; I have to congratulate you. If it weren’t for these runes I would have escaped months ago. Well, no matter, it will not be long before I depart.”

“You three, come with me; the rest of you keep watch.”

One of the paladins ordered us to come with him and the rest of them to guard Astrid. Strange, I thought that the one in charge would look different but they all look the same.

“Is it true?” asked the paladin.

“Yes, Alexander’s blood has the same properties as that of a demon’s. We had a shortage of ink so we had to use something else as replacement.” explained Liliana

“Using a student’s blood for something like…NO, I don’t understand how a human’s blood can be so similar to that of a demon.”

Well, it looks like the possibility of me being a half-breed or something like that didn’t cross his mind or maybe he knows that I’m a human, I don’t know what to think.

“Shouldn’t we focus on the current situation?”

“Do you have anything to say Alex?”

Do I? If I wanted to escape from prison I wouldn’t tell the guards about it even as a joke. Astrid is not the type of person to bluff or lie so there’s a high possibility that her powers recovered to the point of allowing her to escape.

“I don’t think she is lying; she is going to escape and we can’t do anything to stop her.”

“Boy, underestimating the might of the paladins is not something-“

“He is right.” Liliana cut him off.

“What are you saying?” the paladin glared at Liliana

“Little by little her powers are returning and when they do she will escape regardless of how many soldiers you bring and I will not allow you to use this school as a battleground, not even if the king and The Church order me to.”

“Don’t be hasty witch; you seem to forget who you are dealing with here.”

“So do you, a black mage is the only one who can defeat a paladin.”

“Hmph! Very well, I will go to the headquarters and report this, maybe they will send some reinforcements.”

“Then you better get moving!”

I’ve never seen her so angry, it looks like Liliana is taking her role as the headmistress seriously, I’m impressed. The paladin was eager to fight her before hearing the black mage part, after that he realized that fighting her wouldn’t be such a good idea. Well, if there will be a fight I will certainly fight by her side.

“Tomorrow I’m going to talk to her; I can at least ask her to leave without harming the students.”

“Are you sure?”

“It will be fine headmistress; the vampire seems to listen to what Alex says, there is a slight chance that she will listen to him again.” said Maria.

The paladin gave up and went to the basement and the rest of us went to our rooms.

The next day I paid Astrid another visit, alone. I want to know how she plans to escape and if she plans to kill someone else besides the paladins.

“You are awake, good. You said you wanted to escape, can you really do it?”

“You came here to reassure yourself that I’m not lying; I will tell you again: Soon I will escape from here.”

“How?”

“I will destroy this cell and the ones who guard it. Is this why you came here, to ask me to spare the ones who live here?”

“Well…Yeah, I wanted to ask you just that. I am aware that the staff here will try to stop you but at least spare the teachers and the students.”

“Destroying this cell will be difficult so I will refrain from fighting any pointless fights.”

“I see; that’s good. Well then, shall we continue from where we left off?”

“That was not the kind of answer I would expect from someone else but you. Very well, we shall resume.” said Astrid with a smile.

Since she announced that she will leave soon I will lose my chance to learn the demon language. I still have a feeling that something’s wrong here. For someone who declared that will blow up a cell and probably kill some guys in the process she is awfully calm about it. There are no extra guards, no barriers or anything that could stop her, it’s too convenient for her.

After finishing the demon language lesson I went around the school searching for Maria and Lilina. Surprisingly the two of them were in the storage room. Most likely they got what they wanted because they were getting ready to leave.

Liliana was relieved when I told her that Astrid will refrain from attacking the students. I also asked her about the reason why Astrid isn’t heavily guarded but she can’t answer me if there’s no answer. Basically The Church doesn’t give a shit about the people here and we just have to deal with it.

“I have nothing against going with the flow but can we really just stay and watch?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that she grows stronger everyday; even if we find a way to trap her it will be temporary IF we can manage to catch her again. This is a disaster waiting to happen, just as I expected.” explained a frowning Liliana.

Astrid wasn’t getting stronger, her powers were returning to her

“I see…Guess there’s nothing we can do.”

Liliana doesn’t want the students to hear about this; the teachers, her and I should be the only ones who should know and I understand why she would do that but I can’t obey that, there is one more person who should know, Mir.

Before going to sleep I told Mir what happened and what I think about the situation. I thought that she might give me some sort of advice but she didn’t had anything to say…I just told her that a demon just declared that will break free and escape and there’s nothing we can do to stop her, that would fuck anyone up. I have to thank Astrid, because of her I have to play the middle man.