It was a rather windy day with the threat of rain in the horizon as Hannah and I accompanied thousands of students into the royal academy on the first day of the new semester.
We witnessed crying students as they said goodbye to their parents, seniors who made fun of those and annoyed teachers who wished they wouldn’t have to spent their time at the gates.
With my white and blue school uniform, I fitted perfectly amongst the students who were also in a similar age range than I was perceived as. They ranged from thirteen to around eighteen which made this place the secondary education centre for most nobles. There wasn’t really a tertiary one like a university though which meant that one could find all the knowledge of the world in there. Or at least the known and allowed knowledge.
And these students were all thirsting for this knowledge … or the prestigious certificate they would get by taking the necessary exams … or they simply wanted to claim that they were on the royal academy if their daddy was rich enough. Or they were like me … standing out with sunglasses and short gloves which were a grey zone in the dresscode of the academy.
I felt eyes on my back the whole time as I followed Hannah who probably had it way worse. She looked older than the rest of the students and her pointy ears peeked out of her hair from time to time which made her quite the attraction even in comparison to those who had animal ears like the bunny boy right next to us.
But none of us stopped us just like last time. The security either hadn’t learned their lesson, or Hannah knew how to get past the teachers who tried to screen the masses for anyone suspicious.
Well whatever it was, we immediately turned left after entering the school grounds and followed a path which was quite deserted as all the other students were going to the great hall. Afterwards, we went towards the headmaster’s office undisturbed and leaned against the wall near the door. We were waiting there, joking about the hair of a few students who had a misguided fashion sense and about that one teacher who wore weird reptilian shoes where the whole head of the reptile, with skull, eyes and all that, was at his toes. That looked hilarious, I promise.
We weren’t there to make fun of others though, but rather to meet up with the person Hannah already knew.
The headmaster soon exited through the door and walked past us without realising our presence.
“My dear headmaster of this school. Are the boys to your liking this year?” Hannah asked and the man froze instantly.
“You … you gave me all of the evidence you had eight years ago and I did exactly what you wanted. You have nothing to do here.” The headmaster said enraged, he also cautiously as he looked around himself quite often and refused to meet Hannah’s gaze.
“Oh, my. You are right that I am not here because of that girl, but rather because I have another favour to ask.”
“What so you want?” He growled angrily and finally looked me in the eyes, or rather towards my cool sunglasses, and then towards Hannah.
“I heard your magical combat instructor is overworked with alchemy and his other duties, so I came here to fill that gap. Oh, and I can also teach recent history if you want.” She proposed much to the surprise of the headmaster.
“What in the world?” He said, clearly not very keen on having her around.
“All for the cheap price of allowing my little sister here to enrol.” Hannah added swiftly.
“We already have enough teachers.” The headmaster shook his head in denial.
“That so? A happy bird chirped into my ears that the minister for education has a mistress. This school may have enough teachers, but it won’t have enough headmasters if you ask me.” Hannah threatened him rather openly but also gave him something he could use to divert more funds for this academy. It was a carrot and a stick we were handing him at the same time. Whatever he made out of it depended solely on himself.
“… are you threatening me?” He asked and squinted his eyes a little.
“No? I am just voicing my opinion.” Hannah mentioned casually and began to whistle quietly.
“Fine … but you need to take teaching seriously and this girl here shouldn’t mess things up either.” The headmaster said and made it very clear he wouldn’t allow any chaos at his school with that … or at least that was his intention. We all knew chaos followed me wherever I went after all.
“Thank you so much! Oh, and before I forget it we also need a secret underground laboratory for my biology studies. That laboratory must be connected to the outside as well, so if they the magical defences go crazy one day … that was us.” I chimed in and chuckled happily.
“Are you kidding me?” No? An underground facility right underneath the school grounds that made a lot of magical circles defending the school during the semester useless was perfectly normal in my opinion.
“No?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder. Did I really ask for too much? I found my request rather reasonable, especially because I could have asked for an existing laboratory as well.
“What do I get if I allow this?” He asked as he realised I wasn’t joking in any way whatsoever.
“A secret underground facility with escape routes to the outside world? No? I thought everyone wanted to have this … well then, how about ten thousand gold coins?” I proposed. Ten thousand gold coins weren’t even that much considering how much Tom had amassed due to drug smuggling and other criminal activities.
“What the … I could build three new dorms with that money!” Woah, what a wasteful way of spending money. I would use it to buy a pool of dwarfish alcohol. This way, everyone could have something, not just the nerds who wanted to go to school.
“It’s a deal then? Great. Please, we don’t want to stop you from holding your important speech, so do go ahead.” Hannah commented and didn’t have to wait long before the headmaster walked towards the hall where the entrance ceremony would take place. We were just a little bit behind him, right out of hearing distance.
“That was pretty easy.” I commented happily. So far, my first day at the academy went pretty darn well. And if I were to meet Luna which was totally not the reason I wanted to go there in the first place, it could only get better.
“You are aware nobles buy themselves into this school with mere one hundred gold coins?” Hannah mentioned casually which made me wonder if I promised him a little bit too much money.
“That’s because they don’t have any honour. A person with class doesn’t pay with coins he can carry around in their pockets.” I said jokingly … or not, I wasn’t entirely sure about that.
“I see you have a very deranged view on money.” She said, but honestly? I had a very deranged view on many things.
“Money is there to be spend.” I proposed in an attempt to justify my excessive expenditure.
“You know it doesn’t grow on trees?” She said which did surprise me somewhat. I naturally knew that much but that she had to tell me about this was … odd?
“I am painfully aware. But the resources can be mined by slaves underground and then minted using stolen machinery. That’s basically the same as growing on trees, no?” I asked as the headmaster stopped into front of a large crowd of teachers.
“This is Hannah … Hannah …” The headmaster seriously didn’t know her last name? Well, I could only laugh until I realised that I didn’t know it either. I knew most families in the elven kingdom were named, but she never told me her family name.
“Hannah Dove.” She said and pointed towards the little dove on her necklace. Well, it wasn’t her real last name, but I could get behind it nonetheless. “And this is my sister Lucy Dove. We will be in your care from now on.” She could behave like a real and proper adult if she wanted, that was for sure.
“Mrs. Dive will teach magical combat and recent history from now on while her sister is enrolled here. Lucy, please go inside now.” The headmaster said in a hurry. I only shrugged my shoulders went past the teachers and was promptly directed to one of a few empty seats in the big hall full of students in different ages.
Bored, I looked at the murals on the ceiling and tried to discern what they actually tried to say. The main theme seemed to be that this academy is a bastion against the demons as they depicted students on walls defending against a horde of animals or students fighting against them in other scenarios. Sadly, I couldn’t see any blood anywhere, probably not to scare any students away.
“Hey, do I know you?” So far I hadn’t uttered a single word which was the main reason others said this exact sentence to me. But as this couldn’t be the case, it could only mean that there was really someone I met before.
Rising my eyebrows in anticipation, I looked to my right and noticed a blonde haired, blue eyed boy sitting right next to me. He was around thirteen years old, but already wore clothing that had seen better days.
I looked at him, then wondered when I got in touch with any peasants, and then realised who he was. He already sat next to me once before. It was inside the cathedral as I visited the pope of the first and only time so far. That day, we didn’t talk at all, but he still struck me as odd because of his commoner clothes.
“Oh, right! We sat next to each other during church service once. My name is Lucy Dove, nice to meet you.” I said and gave him my hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you once more. My name is Louis.” He shook my head with vigour, apparently because he found someone who didn’t mention his clothing right away. While he was lucky, I certainly wasn’t. Louis … why did it have to be this goddamn name again? Why does this incestuous bunch need to name their children after the same person time and time again. Where were we even? Louis the 42nd? 69th? When would this madness stop?
“Louis Worchester I presume?” I asked, desperately hoping he wasn’t a royal even though it was likely. Maybe, just maybe he was Lous the 1st.
“ … please don’t tell anyone.” He said kind of let down even though he probably shouldn’t be. I kind of respected his decision to stay away from all the troubles coming with being in the royal family because … well, I did exactly the same.
“I won’t.” I promised and wanted to continue speaking as silence envelopes the hall. The teachers were strolling into the hall which also included Hannah who winked towards me secretly once she spotted me. Together, they walked through the middle towards the podium and stood side by side while the Headmaster went towards a lectern.
“Bla bla bla. Blababablaba.” No, seriously did anyone ever listen to these speeches? I certainly didn’t and around half of the students fell asleep with open eyes in an instant. “Blabla. Something about youth being future of humankind ... Blablablabla … compassion … blablabla … friendship …” half an hour of trying to keep the bench I was sitting on intact, the teachers started introducing themselves. Some took a minute, some more but thankfully, nobody went beyond five minutes. I had a clear favourite though.
“Hello. My name is Mrs. Dove. I’m the new magical combat and recent history instructor. Yes, I am an elf. If you have any problems with that we can discuss your issues somewhere private. That’s all. Thank you very much.” Pure comedy gold. Directly pointing out that she wouldn’t mind beating a few students if they got on her nerves was seriously the best introduction she could have given.
“That’s my sister!“ I whispered to my new friend quietly.
“She does seem a bit … violent though.” Yeah … but she was by far the most interesting teachers to all the students especially because she was different.
“Oh, no? She is really kind once you get to know her. It’s just that she likes to keep others at distance.” I explained and directed my gaze towards the podium once more as the next, utterly boring teacher had the word.
Truth to be told, I didn’t need to. It was – as expected – tiring.
It was a rather windy day with the threat of rain in the horizon as Hannah and I accompanied thousands of students into the royal academy on the first day of the new semester.
We witnessed crying students as they said goodbye to their parents, seniors who made fun of those and annoyed teachers who wished they wouldn’t have to spent their time at the gates.
With my white and blue school uniform, I fitted perfectly amongst the students who were also in a similar age range than I was perceived as. They ranged from thirteen to around eighteen which made this place the secondary education centre for most nobles. There wasn’t really a tertiary one like a university though which meant that one could find all the knowledge of the world in there. Or at least the known and allowed knowledge.
And these students were all thirsting for this knowledge … or the prestigious certificate they would get by taking the necessary exams … or they simply wanted to claim that they were on the royal academy if their daddy was rich enough. Or they were like me … standing out with sunglasses and short gloves which were a grey zone in the dresscode of the academy.
I felt eyes on my back the whole time as I followed Hannah who probably had it way worse. She looked older than the rest of the students and her pointy ears peeked out of her hair from time to time which made her quite the attraction even in comparison to those who had animal ears like the bunny boy right next to us.
But none of us stopped us just like last time. The security either hadn’t learned their lesson, or Hannah knew how to get past the teachers who tried to screen the masses for anyone suspicious.
Well whatever it was, we immediately turned left after entering the school grounds and followed a path which was quite deserted as all the other students were going to the great hall. Afterwards, we went towards the headmaster’s office undisturbed and leaned against the wall near the door. We were waiting there, joking about the hair of a few students who had a misguided fashion sense and about that one teacher who wore weird reptilian shoes where the whole head of the reptile, with skull, eyes and all that, was at his toes. That looked hilarious, I promise.
We weren’t there to make fun of others though, but rather to meet up with the person Hannah already knew.
The headmaster soon exited through the door and walked past us without realising our presence.
“My dear headmaster of this school. Are the boys to your liking this year?” Hannah asked and the man froze instantly.
“You … you gave me all of the evidence you had eight years ago and I did exactly what you wanted. You have nothing to do here.” The headmaster said enraged, he also cautiously as he looked around himself quite often and refused to meet Hannah’s gaze.
“Oh, my. You are right that I am not here because of that girl, but rather because I have another favour to ask.”
“What so you want?” He growled angrily and finally looked me in the eyes, or rather towards my cool sunglasses, and then towards Hannah.
“I heard your magical combat instructor is overworked with alchemy and his other duties, so I came here to fill that gap. Oh, and I can also teach recent history if you want.” She proposed much to the surprise of the headmaster.
“What in the world?” He said, clearly not very keen on having her around.
“All for the cheap price of allowing my little sister here to enrol.” Hannah added swiftly.
“We already have enough teachers.” The headmaster shook his head in denial.
“That so? A happy bird chirped into my ears that the minister for education has a mistress. This school may have enough teachers, but it won’t have enough headmasters if you ask me.” Hannah threatened him rather openly but also gave him something he could use to divert more funds for this academy. It was a carrot and a stick we were handing him at the same time. Whatever he made out of it depended solely on himself.
“… are you threatening me?” He asked and squinted his eyes a little.
“No? I am just voicing my opinion.” Hannah mentioned casually and began to whistle quietly.
“Fine … but you need to take teaching seriously and this girl here shouldn’t mess things up either.” The headmaster said and made it very clear he wouldn’t allow any chaos at his school with that … or at least that was his intention. We all knew chaos followed me wherever I went after all.
“Thank you so much! Oh, and before I forget it we also need a secret underground laboratory for my biology studies. That laboratory must be connected to the outside as well, so if they the magical defences go crazy one day … that was us.” I chimed in and chuckled happily.
“Are you kidding me?” No? An underground facility right underneath the school grounds that made a lot of magical circles defending the school during the semester useless was perfectly normal in my opinion.
“No?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder. Did I really ask for too much? I found my request rather reasonable, especially because I could have asked for an existing laboratory as well.
“What do I get if I allow this?” He asked as he realised I wasn’t joking in any way whatsoever.
“A secret underground facility with escape routes to the outside world? No? I thought everyone wanted to have this … well then, how about ten thousand gold coins?” I proposed. Ten thousand gold coins weren’t even that much considering how much Tom had amassed due to drug smuggling and other criminal activities.
“What the … I could build three new dorms with that money!” Woah, what a wasteful way of spending money. I would use it to buy a pool of dwarfish alcohol. This way, everyone could have something, not just the nerds who wanted to go to school.
“It’s a deal then? Great. Please, we don’t want to stop you from holding your important speech, so do go ahead.” Hannah commented and didn’t have to wait long before the headmaster walked towards the hall where the entrance ceremony would take place. We were just a little bit behind him, right out of hearing distance.
“That was pretty easy.” I commented happily. So far, my first day at the academy went pretty darn well. And if I were to meet Luna which was totally not the reason I wanted to go there in the first place, it could only get better.
“You are aware nobles buy themselves into this school with mere one hundred gold coins?” Hannah mentioned casually which made me wonder if I promised him a little bit too much money.
“That’s because they don’t have any honour. A person with class doesn’t pay with coins he can carry around in their pockets.” I said jokingly … or not, I wasn’t entirely sure about that.
“I see you have a very deranged view on money.” She said, but honestly? I had a very deranged view on many things.
“Money is there to be spend.” I proposed in an attempt to justify my excessive expenditure.
“You know it doesn’t grow on trees?” She said which did surprise me somewhat. I naturally knew that much but that she had to tell me about this was … odd?
“I am painfully aware. But the resources can be mined by slaves underground and then minted using stolen machinery. That’s basically the same as growing on trees, no?” I asked as the headmaster stopped into front of a large crowd of teachers.
“This is Hannah … Hannah …” The headmaster seriously didn’t know her last name? Well, I could only laugh until I realised that I didn’t know it either. I knew most families in the elven kingdom were named, but she never told me her family name.
“Hannah Dove.” She said and pointed towards the little dove on her necklace. Well, it wasn’t her real last name, but I could get behind it nonetheless. “And this is my sister Lucy Dove. We will be in your care from now on.” She could behave like a real and proper adult if she wanted, that was for sure.
“Mrs. Dive will teach magical combat and recent history from now on while her sister is enrolled here. Lucy, please go inside now.” The headmaster said in a hurry. I only shrugged my shoulders went past the teachers and was promptly directed to one of a few empty seats in the big hall full of students in different ages.
Bored, I looked at the murals on the ceiling and tried to discern what they actually tried to say. The main theme seemed to be that this academy is a bastion against the demons as they depicted students on walls defending against a horde of animals or students fighting against them in other scenarios. Sadly, I couldn’t see any blood anywhere, probably not to scare any students away.
“Hey, do I know you?” So far I hadn’t uttered a single word which was the main reason others said this exact sentence to me. But as this couldn’t be the case, it could only mean that there was really someone I met before.
Rising my eyebrows in anticipation, I looked to my right and noticed a blonde haired, blue eyed boy sitting right next to me. He was around thirteen years old, but already wore clothing that had seen better days.
I looked at him, then wondered when I got in touch with any peasants, and then realised who he was. He already sat next to me once before. It was inside the cathedral as I visited the pope of the first and only time so far. That day, we didn’t talk at all, but he still struck me as odd because of his commoner clothes.
“Oh, right! We sat next to each other during church service once. My name is Lucy Dove, nice to meet you.” I said and gave him my hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you once more. My name is Louis.” He shook my head with vigour, apparently because he found someone who didn’t mention his clothing right away. While he was lucky, I certainly wasn’t. Louis … why did it have to be this goddamn name again? Why does this incestuous bunch need to name their children after the same person time and time again. Where were we even? Louis the 42nd? 69th? When would this madness stop?
“Louis Worchester I presume?” I asked, desperately hoping he wasn’t a royal even though it was likely. Maybe, just maybe he was Lous the 1st.
“ … please don’t tell anyone.” He said kind of let down even though he probably shouldn’t be. I kind of respected his decision to stay away from all the troubles coming with being in the royal family because … well, I did exactly the same.
“I won’t.” I promised and wanted to continue speaking as silence envelopes the hall. The teachers were strolling into the hall which also included Hannah who winked towards me secretly once she spotted me. Together, they walked through the middle towards the podium and stood side by side while the Headmaster went towards a lectern.
“Bla bla bla. Blababablaba.” No, seriously did anyone ever listen to these speeches? I certainly didn’t and around half of the students fell asleep with open eyes in an instant. “Blabla. Something about youth being future of humankind ... Blablablabla … compassion … blablabla … friendship …” half an hour of trying to keep the bench I was sitting on intact, the teachers started introducing themselves. Some took a minute, some more but thankfully, nobody went beyond five minutes. I had a clear favourite though.
“Hello. My name is Mrs. Dove. I’m the new magical combat and recent history instructor. Yes, I am an elf. If you have any problems with that we can discuss your issues somewhere private. That’s all. Thank you very much.” Pure comedy gold. Directly pointing out that she wouldn’t mind beating a few students if they got on her nerves was seriously the best introduction she could have given.
“That’s my sister!“ I whispered to my new friend quietly.
“She does seem a bit … violent though.” Yeah … but she was by far the most interesting teachers to all the students especially because she was different.
“Oh, no? She is really kind once you get to know her. It’s just that she likes to keep others at distance.” I explained and directed my gaze towards the podium once more as the next, utterly boring teacher had the word.
Truth to be told, I didn’t need to. It was – as expected – tiring.
