Act 5: Infiltrating the Magic Academy!
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Chapter 1: Girl, Enrolls
IN the center of Arcanshiel, a lush forest of towering trees surrounded Elminage Academy for Gifted Witches and Wizards. Magic prevented outsiders from seeing past the greenery to the academy grounds, and rumor had it trespassers would be ejected outside the forest.
“So this is the place?” Nichika stood at the forest entrance checking over her appearance for the hundredth time that day. She couldn’t help raising her concerns with her friends. “Hey, am I pulling off this rich girl look okay? It doesn’t scream impostor to you?”
“You’re super-duper cute!”
Wolfie’s stamp of approval helped boost her confidence a smidge. Nichika was wearing the red dress she had received from Makina in Lolo Village. She tied up half of her magically dyed reddish-brown hair with a big ribbon and tapped the tip of her knee-high lace-up boots against the dirt. She looked the part of a fancy young lady from a rich family, or so she hoped.
Confirming she had finished her self-assessment, the wolf sitting at her feet proudly puffed out his chest. “Look at me! Look at me! I get to wear a bowtie, too!”
“Make sure you don’t talk in front of other people, okay?” Nichika reminded him for the thousandth time that day as she straightened out his lopsided bow. He barely passed as a big dog, she hoped.
“Shall we head inside, my lady?” asked an uncannily serene voice behind them.
“……”
Nichika suspiciously turned around. Before her stood an impeccably perfect butler from every visible angle, offering her a dashing smile. Silken locks of brown hair fell on his round glasses, his starched black dress shirt accentuated the broad chest hidden under a waistcoat and matching white jacket. The look was topped off with unwrinkled trousers and white gloves.
After gaping at him with an indescribable expression, Nichika finally managed to say “Excuse me?”
“Yes, m’lady?”
“Why are you so into this, Oswald?”
The young butler was indeed Oswald in disguise. He was normally a handsome man with a frosty edge, but his butler act shockingly turned him into an approachable and charming youth. Amazing was about the only thing she could say for his ability to completely change how people viewed him.
“I believe I asked you to please call me Will, my lady,” her master advised with an affable smile, the entire aura about him shifting to fit his role.
“How can I?!” Flabbergasted, she searched for the right word to describe her problem.
I’d be instantly convinced if he said he was someone else Oswald hired to fill in for him… Actually, maybe that’s exactly what he did?
Displaying a polished smile capable of stealing anyone’s breath away, the butler gracefully offered his hand to his charge. “Come along. We should make haste through the forest before you tire, my lady. Please take my hand.”
“……”
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Any normal girl would have happily jumped at the chance to be escorted by him. Nichika, however, knew that behind the charming butler’s smile was actually her arrogant, narcissist, eccentric master. Cheeks twitching, she pushed passed his proffered hand.
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ANGELICA Rubens, her attendant Will, and pet Jon.
The gatekeeper compared the information on the admittance papers to the actual young lady, young man, and accompanying pet before nodding once and granting them permission to enter.
“You’re good. Your papers appear legit. You’re free to enter.”
“Th-Thank you very much.”
“Congratulations on your admittance. Good luck with your witchery.”
Nichika, disguised as the transfer student Angelica, internalized her sigh of relief as she passed through the poorly lit stone gateway into a magic tunnel invisible to those without permission to enter. Her eyes widened in awe over what she saw on the other side. She had been under the impression the forest only housed a magic academy, but she also discovered a bustling town.
Directly ahead was a castle that screamed of a hidden history, and rows of fascinating shops in peculiar shapes lined the gently sloping hill leading to it. Boys and girls walked in every direction wearing the same black robes that designated them as students. Closer inspection revealed different color fabric lined each of their robes.
Growing more excited by the second, Nichika squeezed her hands together and looked around with stars shining in her eyes. “Oh my gosh! It’s exactly like what I’ve read about in books!”
“What books?”
“There was this children’s book I read a long time ago about a magic school just like this. Wow! I’m so moved!”
The students walking by stared at the enthused Nichika like she was some sort of rare animal let loose into their midst. The butler urged his charge ahead and away from those needling stares.
“Elminage Academy for Gifted Witches and Wizards was originally made up of only the castle you see before you, but the locals slowly gathered here to do business with the students, eventually creating the town you see today,” he kindly explained for her benefit.
“Cool. That’s a graduate for you. You know a lot about your alma—” Nichika darted her gaze around to make sure no one heard her careless slip of the tongue. Fortunately, no one seemed to be paying them that much attention. She unwillingly raised her gaze to the butler beside her, but he naturally changed the topic without a hint of anger.
“I understand the town fascinates you, but let’s finish your enrollment formalities first, my lady.”
“Oh, okay.”
Let down that she couldn’t enjoy the town now, Nichika followed Oswald up the hill. He was being kind today. Too kind. Obviously it was all part of his act, but his behavior threw her for a loop anyway.
He usually jumps down my throat and mocks me like it’s a big deal whenever I goof. It’s disturbing that he’s not doing it now… Hold on! That makes it sound like I want him to make fun of me! I so don’t!
But I also feel like something’s missing… I’ve been totally poisoned by him, Nichika concluded just as they arrived in front of the castle.
A deep moat surrounded the castle, and students had to either fly on their brooms or cross the long drawbridge to enter the grounds. Nichika crossed the bridge trying her best not to look over the side at the rumbling river below.
A girl was waiting for her when she arrived at the imposing arched gate leading inside. She appeared around the same age as Nichika, and a black robe with red lining covered her well-rounded frame. Her green eyes practically shot into her forehead the moment she spotted Nichika.
“You’re five minutes late!” she snapped in a cutting voice.
“I am? I-I’m sorry?”
The girl flipped her flashy pink curls over her shoulder and broke into a shrill lecture as if she didn’t deign Nichika’s apology worth hearing. “Great Spirits, this is why I DESPISE spoiled girlies who hail from the nobility! Hurry up and follow me! Man, why am I stuck with this stupid job?”
The girl marched into the entrance hall and up the imperial staircase ranting complaints under her breath without waiting for them. Nichika hurried after her as she unenthusiastically listed off the names of the different wings and pointed in their general direction…but she spoke so fast it was hard to catch what she said.
“The central wing is for the Department of General Magic and other common area facilities. The west wing that can be reached from here is the Wizard Department. The east wing that can be accessed from there is the Witch Department. If you go straight ahead, you will reach the General Department’s dormitory. Okay, here’s the key to your room.”
“Ooph!”
Nichika barely managed to catch the key the girl tossed in her general direction. She glanced up from the gold skeleton key to where the girl glared scornfully down at her from atop the stairs.
“Not only did you enroll at the oddest time, but you even got the best room in the dorms, and brought along a manservant and even your pet to boot… I bet you’re just after an academic record to score yourself a better nobleman, but this academy won’t be as easy on you as your doting parents led you to believe.”
“Excuse me?”
“I showed you around. Bye.”
The nameless girl turned on her heel and stormed away. For whatever reason, she hated Nichika with a passion, which was a shock to say the least.
“The students admitted into this school are split into two groups: those who passed the entrance exams and those whose rich parents paid their way in through ‘donations,’” her butler explained in gentle tones as he picked up her trunk. “She’s envious because they rolled out the royal treatment for you, not her. You needn’t concern yourself with her, my lady.”
“…Would you give the act a rest already?” Nichika requested, her master’s formalities giving her hives.
“Nonsense. We don’t know who might be listening, my lady,” he rejected on the spot.
His grin was so wide she seriously wanted to ask him if he was enjoying himself that much.