34 A Familiar Teacher (1/2)
(Outlander, the sun will rise in a few minutes. It is time to wake up and see for yourself if it is true.)
The absolutely not sweet and totally creepy voice of the Viscount resonated in the mind of Leilade. She was used to it, but it was the first time since a very long time that he truly awoke her. Normally, she would only rest her body but still be conscious. However, this time, her own body was very tired and she had to completely shut it down. She still didn't dare to use the energy provided by the potent fruits and vegetables of Genablum to do anything besides replenishing her mana reserve. And right now, the reason why she left her bed at such an early hour was for them.
As she ran in the corridors, she saw absolutely no one and was greeted by absolute silence. Only when arriving close to the entrance of the building did she saw a small silhouette leaving her room. Slowing down a bit, both Leilade and the stranger were surprised to see each other.She was the small girl that she named shorty since she was even smaller than Leilade herself. She didn't appear to be tired or anything like that, meaning that she had the same idea that Leilade had. None of them talked but they still walked side by side toward the nearby canteen.
Right before arriving at their destination, she saw coming from the front Leodagan and grumpy and they showed the same surprise that the kid next to her. The proud son of the magus still showed his disdain for her and quickly looked away, like he didn't notice that she was her. His fellow student was still fixated on her but he was calm enough to not show any emotions. Leilade entered the canteen while the three greeted the others and grumpy patted the head of shorty. The little girl pouted after that act of affection, but grumpy shrugged it off.
The size of the food inside the canteen was definitely bigger than the one displayed last evening. As expected, the early birds got the worms. She had no idea when that part of the facility opened, but she already was seeing numerous students and even some magicians eating inside it. A grand portion of those was having meat on their plate and the line to get it was quite long, even with the few humans present. Taking a smaller portion than the last day, she walked to the same spot and slowly ate everything. Even if the amount of food raised a few eyebrows, it didn't shock anyone and the meal was uninterrupted. To her surprise, the three children were seated only a few meters away.
Whether or not they cared if she listened, they still talked about some important information coming from their families. It was at that moment that she learned the family name of grumpy and shorty. The two were the grand-children of the Magus Artour Rodil.His twin brother had a wife, but she died while giving birth, devastating the poor man. His silent behavior was explained by the fact that the baby didn't make it either. As for the children of Artour, they didn't possess a single bit of talent. Only the second generation was blessed, and it was the truth since both grumpy and shorty had the hope to even surpass their grandfather.
At the same time, she learned that Leodagan was in a similar situation, with his parents being only magicians from the 2nd Circle. However, he had an older brother already in the 4th Circle and a younger sister without any talent. But because the three of them were of the same age, the two families agreed to let them study together, with grumpy being the youngest with his 8th anniversary being two months ago. That surprised a bit Leilade when she realized shorty and Leodagan were both ten, but the youngest was the calmest and the most collected. She shouldn't call them like that either but she should use their real names, Jorien for the girl and Owen for the boy.
Since the three of them had more or less the same potential, she was still a little bit puzzled as for why Leodagan was leading the group. From the looks of it, they knew each other and shouldn't follow him like shadows. Even if his father maybe had a more prominent role in the Academy, that still didn't justify the behavior of the Rodil's offspring. Since it was not important, she didn't try to think too hard about it. But she still heard something far more important than the situations of their families.
The Academy had two magicians of the 6th Circle guarding the facilities, but they were missing since a few days ago. The higher-ups were preventing the news from leaking, but apparently, something happened so gravely and important that the two magus were sent to investigate the news. When they talked about that, they were murmuring and wouldn't have thought that the silent girl a few meters away could hear them. In truth, she was actually the closest to them and the reason they sat here was that the surroundings were nearly empty. If she wasn't the Empress of the Underworld and had her body modified countless times, she wouldn't have been able to hear anything at all.
DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIING
A strident sound suddenly resonated near the four students. They quickly got their cards and held it, shutting down the infernal sound. She didn't need to be a genius to know that this sound was probably heard by every child that arrived yesterday. The poor kids that were sleeping well and dreaming were definitely cursing about the sound that broke their peaceful rest. She looked at her card and heard a message coming from it.
”In half of an hour, stand in front of the building.” Now she understood how the teachers will be able to assemble all the children. They could have used a message written on the card to achieve the same effect, but some children were illiterate, so it was not possible. Before she finished eating, she saw the waves of kids rushing toward the canteen and one boy anxiously waiting in front of the room. His face brightened when a blond haired girl arrived with a big smile. Feeling her intelligence slipping away at that sight, she left the canteen. Barely ten seconds later, the three prodigies left with some unsightly expressions.
The sun had just risen when she stepped on the tender grass outside of the facility. The shoes provided by the Academy were quite good and she had no complaint about them. There were a few trees near the exit, and since she had nothing to do and there were no benches, she climbed it. She was careful to not display too much power but quickly reached a sturdy branch where she could just rest. After that, she saw the group of three arriving and then coming toward her. They hadn't seen her outside and were a bit perplexed but they had the same idea as Leilade. However, instead of climbing, they just sat with their backs touching the tree.
”That peasant, why does he dare to meddle with someone like the princess? He should just know his place and just stay invisible.” Leodagan was clearly angry about the touching reunion between Ronald and Istuienn. Even if he wasn't expecting the princess to fall in love with him, he was still mad that a nobody managed to achieve something that he wasn't capable of doing.