Chapter 269 (1/2)

”Lady Hohenberg?...”

”Lady Beatrice Hohenberg of Dawn Lake, are you paying attention?”

”Huh?”

A young girl jolted awake, her vision blurry. The girl was fifteen years old, she was about 170 cm in height and was noticeable by her long golden hair. This was a trait of the Hohenberg noble house that was given to its true descendants.

”I see that you are with us again, Lady Beatrice. I know today is the day that you get your summoned spirit but please at least try to pay attention.”

The blond-haired girl saw an uptight glass wearing lady looking up to her. They were in a classroom and the person that was speaking to her was one of the teachers at this noble academy. Beatrice blushed a bit while trying to cover her face with a book, the other people in this classroom started laughing and snickering.

”I apologize Miss Enora.”

The lady stuck up her nose a bit high while looking at the other people in the room. Everyone here was of the same age, it was filled with a mix of boys and girls and all of them were wearing uniforms.

Not everyone had the same uniform, some were white and some were black. There was a clear status distinction between the people here. The classroom was built up high similar to how a movie theater was made. The people in the white uniforms were sitting back up high while the ones in the black ones were down below and closer to the blackboard.

Beatrice was someone that was sitting down at the first desk so her sleeping form was hard to miss. The young girl wasn't able to sleep the whole night as today was a very important event. An event that would decide how her life would play out in the future.

”Good, let me go through today's ceremony. I'm sure that you are all aware of the utmost importance of this magical ritual that you will go through.”

”You have been practicing for this very occasion.”

The glasses-wearing lady teacher had a small wooden wand in her hand. She waved it around while pointing at the blackboard the moment she did the letters started shifting around. They took the form of some kind of pentagram with a lot of runes.

”You will be brought to a room with this magic circle, be sure to go through the ritual as you have been instructed and place your prepared items at each point. Don't make any mistakes as you could offend the spirits.”

”If you fail your ceremony your next one will be held next year. I must remind you that the older the summoner is the harder it is for them to connect to the spirit realm. A person that isn't able to make a contract with a spirit will be deemed a failure at the age of 18 and will have to find a different profession.”'

The teacher continued to talk while Beatrice's heart skipped a beat at the mention of someone failing. This reminded her of how she wasn't allowed to fail, if she wasn't able to procure a strong or even a middle-class spirit contract then the future of her noble house would be put into question.

'I can't fail… everyone is counting on me… the main house might revoke our branch family rights if I fail too…'

She was reminded of her older brother who was that unfortunate person. He was three years older and had dropped out after failing to establish a summoner contract. She wasn't sure what he was doing now, he had left the main house while saying that he would find his own way outside the summoner profession.

This left her as the sole heir to the whole Hohenberg of Dawn Lake family estate. A big burden was dropped on her shoulders and she wasn't sure if she would be able to succeed. The fear of disappointing her parents had taken root deeply in her mind.

There was a certain prestige that the noble families needed to uphold. She was part of a branch family, the main noble house required them to bring forth a summoner as an heir. Without it, the main family would drop their support and they would be stripped of their noble status. Without it, they wouldn't be able to afford their estate that was also rented out through the main noble house to them.

In reality, her branch family was nothing more than the property of the main house. They were just dogs kept on a short leash. If a dog lost its teeth and wouldn't be able to protect its master then it didn't have a purpose of being. Without a proper summoned spirit she wouldn't be considered worth the investment. If that happened there would be only one option, a thing that she knew her parents would do.

'The will probably force me to marry someone... '

She shivered at the thought of being forced to marry some older man and having to bear his children. That was mostly what happened to noble ladies with no status and money. They would be sent out to tie the knot with a rich enough noble that would be able to support the failing estate. Her parents would be secure but her life would be in turmoil depending on who she would be left with.

Beatrice looked at the blackboard that was constantly being changed. The teacher went through the procedures again but she had already memorized everything down to a tee. This didn't mean that she didn't look at the explanation again. Worrying that she might have forgotten something she continued to pay attention.

The lecture concluded soon and the students had to go outside. She remained seated at her desk with all the other black uniform students. There was a certain class rule here, unless all of the white uniforms left the classroom the lower born weren't allowed to leave. This sometimes caused her to remain here for up to an hour if some of the noble ladies got too chatty.

She looked up to a certain person, it was a beautiful noble lady with similar blond hair to hers. The two looked a bit similar in one way or the other but this one was clearly of higher status. She was surrounded by other girls and boys in white uniforms and they were chatting away.

”What do you think Lady Isabella will receive?”

”I bet it will be a legendary spirit king like a white dragon!”

”I think a phoenix would fit Lady Isabella much better.”