54 Happy Childhood (1/2)
”Now, now, stop crying and shouting like that, you won't be able to do anything in such a state. Take some deep breaths, like that, Hmmmmmmf, Pfffffffffffff, Hmmmmmmmf. Yes, exactly, again, do it until you think that you are calm enough. And that should serve as a lesson for anyone else that thought that magic was easy.” The teacher Oscar Moo was currently standing near a kid that had half of his face slightly burned by his spell. Normally, since it was just the most basic introduction to spells, the worst should have been his hand hurting him. But in a moment of panic, the kid fell and he ended up burning himself.
The little boy was still crying, but under the stare of the old man, he kept standing still and breathing. The result of that small demonstration still managed to produce its effect, because a lot of kids were beginning to realize that magic was not a simple toy. If an event like that could reduce the carelessness of his students, Oscar would gladly burn more of them. Well, letting them burn themselves, not him doing it. Even some older magicians, for the sake of creating something new, died horribly because of their experiences. But it was impossible to grow without risking something.
”While your little friend is feeling better, can someone tell me what were his mistakes and what he should have done after doing those errors?” Instantly, Owen raised his hand, but the teacher kept looking around him like he didn't see him. Just in that week, Moo realized that it was worthless to let any of the three small magus say or do anything because it would be more or less perfect. Making all his preparations after they should have failed totally useless. At the same time, he wanted to make the rest of the students participate more, something impossible if three people monopolized everything.
”Nobody, well, let's pick someone totally randomly of course. Let's just say, Ronald!” The boy in question rolled his eyes after hearing the shameless sentences pronounced by the old man. Sometimes, some interested kids, whether they were commoners, nobles or sons of magicians would answer. But if no one was making any effort, the red-haired kid would always be the target because it would catch the attention of the princess near him. Otherwise, the empty-headed girl would just snooze in the middle of the course.
”Ehh, he, ehhh, didn't maintain his concentration?” The pathetic argument was immediately sneered by Leodagan. Even Jorien was shaking her head, thinking that a baby could come up with that. Because of his relationship with the princess, the boy was ostracized by both the group of three and the rest of the class, so no one came to his help. As for his only friend, she was still sleeping for the moment and he didn't want to wake her up for something like that.
”Yes, you are right. The moment he created the flame, it was fine, but for some unknown reasons, the spell began to act erratically and finally, he fell on it. One could say that it was his main mistake since he was burned because of this. But do you remember my question?”
The old man was smiling at him, but not a single trace of sympathy was seen in his eyes. Some fortunate orphans and poor kids were trying their best to understand magic because of that chance that was presented to them. They were working hard to learn to read and had no one besides themselves. On the other hand, the effort that Ronald was providing was too little, especially since he had the help of Istuienn for a lot of things. Oscar Moo was very disappointed with that type of behavior.
”Yes, you say to point out his mistake, right?”
”Mistakes, not a mistake. And there was something else after that, but we should still do something at your level. And until someone else resolves this, you should think about your answer.”
The rest of the students were not idle either, except the few that already knew what really happened. Small groups of friends were discussing how many mistakes did the boy made and what could have prevented more to happen. It was not to help Ronald but for themselves since it was the last day when their afternoon was entirely free.
Letting the red-haired kid breathe a bit, the old man roamed in the class and listen to the numerous hypothesis proposed. Some were totally crazy while others were very close to the truth. Each time he approached a group of kids, they began to work harder, making him smile. It was the most basic behavior of a student, to suddenly do everything when the teacher was getting closer. He finally arrived at the end of the classroom and saw the habitual position of Leilade.
After some many days, if he hadn't understood that something weird was happening, he would have frozen himself eternally in shame. He still was unclear about the exact details, but he now knew that Alexander and Leilade made a deal or had an agreement about something. After thinking about that even at night, he realized that only one thing was possible since she was definitely not the child of someone very important. It was the possibility of her being so talented that she could obscure even Istuienn.
Following this, for a very brief second, he was ashamed to be part of something like that, something that could destroy the childhood of the little girl. Past that brief second, he remembered that she would have destroyed it anyway, for her behavior was totally incompatible with the word happiness. From the moment he saw her, the number of times she smiled or even reacted strongly at a situation, dangerous or strange, was a grand total of zero time. But because he still didn't want her to be always alone, he often talked with her.