THE gold key opened the penthouse room on the top floor of the dormitory. Astoundingly, they had the entire floor to themselves. Nichika was stunned by the gorgeous, palatial interior.
“What in the world does Lady Angelica’s family do…?”
The girl she was posing as had kicked the royal treatment at school to the curb and fled to do who knows what instead. Was she enjoying a leisurely walk in a quaint town with her manservant in tow right about now?
Oswald answered her query as he lowered their things on top of the plush carpet. “Your family, the illustrious Rubens, operate inns across the world. You are expected to be in attendance at the academy for the next year, my lady.”
“I am?”
“Please develop at least a basic awareness about your own family. You never know when you might be questioned.”
“Ugh.” Nichika struggled to come up with a good comeback. She didn’t know when or where she might slip up. Averting her eyes, she began muttering excuses. “Easy for you to say when you’ve lived your whole life with a glib tongue meant for deceiving others.”
She didn’t mean for him to hear her, but the butler’s gentle gaze temporarily gleamed with the icy chill of Oswald’s blue eyes. The apprentice sat up straight on the bed and started speaking fast before her master could.
“Y-You are absolutely right! Please give me the papers on them! I’ll cram it all into my brain!”
“Good girl.” Oswald turned from her and crouched behind the wolf intently sniffing every corner of the room, happily wagging his big, bushy tail. “Jon,” he called Wolfie by his undercover name.
“…Hm? Oh, that’s me!”
“There is a big building behind Elminage Castle. If you go inside and enter the second room on the left, you will find an old man who loves dogs. Please befriend him,” Oswald ordered, maintaining his butler voice even with Wolfie.
“Befriend? As in become friends? I want friends! Yippie!” Wolfie leapt with joy. He had grown much more confident about making friends since the incident in Lolo Village. The brown furball shot out of the room through an open window, not the penthouse double doors.
“Oh my gosh, Jon!” Nichika instinctively reached out to stop him.
“Don’t fret, my lady. He’s running along the ledge to get there.”
“What if someone sees him?”
Oswald glanced at the grandfather clock and asked her a question instead of answering hers. “You have one general magic class in the afternoon. Do you wish to attend, my lady?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I?” she asked like it was only obvious.
What was the point of enrolling if she didn’t attend?
“…Well, it won’t hurt for you to find out for yourself,” he replied with hidden meaning.
While a part of her was bothered by the implication there, she was even more excited than worried. Her mind filled with scenes from her favorite magic school books that she had devoured as a kid.
I get to take magic classes! I wonder what they’ll teach. I should really learn more about magic before using it.
When she thought about it, fighting from instinct until now seemed like courting danger. This was the perfect opportunity for her to absorb all sorts of information and new skills.
✦ ✦ ✦
“WHAT the?”
Nichika stumbled into the classroom; everything she envisioned dashed the moment she opened the door.
Though the people here called it a classroom, it was a far cry from anything found at a modern school on Earth. The lecture hall was shaped like a mortar, with the students sitting on the dimly lit flat floor with concave walls rising high above them. It was more like a coliseum than a classroom with its lack of a ceiling. But that’s not what took her by surprise. The second she stepped inside, a row of glowing letters sparked in front of her eyes.
“This isn’t a ballroom, princess.”
I can see that?
“Whoa!”
Before she had the chance to process, new glowing letters started slapping her in the face at the speed of a kid sending hate texts on their smart phone.
“Why don’t you go sip tea and eat off a silver spoon in the comfort of your private rooms?”
“Wizards study here. You don’t belong.”
“How much did you bribe them with? Gimme some spending cash!”
“Real cute!” Nichika huffed, swatting away the tenacious letters.
Their spiteful remarks reminded her of what Oswald said about students being jealous of Angelica for getting in without taking the entrance exams.
Now I get what he was hinting at. She figured it out, but swinging her arms at the ever-increasing “posts” did nothing to stop them from sticking to her.
“Oh, c’mon! Give it a rest already, brats!”
The laughter rising from all over the classroom ticked her off. She clenched her fists and shouted from the pit of her stomach, “I came here to study! Don’t get in my way!”
The annoying letters popping up endlessly around her like a bad computer virus abruptly vanished. A single sentence exploded in front of her eyes after a few moments.
“Why don’t you take a seat already?”
Fired up by their challenge, Nichika hopped off the ledge into the bowl of the hall and claimed the seat at the front of the class. Their childish bullying was no skin off her back. Like she would let them scare her away. Admittedly, the glowing words smacking her in the back of the head like spitballs were beyond annoying. They couldn’t have come up with a more irritating gimmick if they tried.
Ignore it. Ignore it. Don’t light them on fire and get yourself kicked out on your first day of school, Nichika told herself in a weakening attempt to keep from exploding with anger and lashing out.
“You won’t understand even if you study.”
“Why don’t you go crying back to Papa? Not that you know who’s casting this spell!”
“Annoyed, aren’t you? Getting to you, isn’t it?”
Ticked. Ticked. So damn ticked. Nichika was nearing her snapping point, when a brilliant idea hit her and she snapped her fingers under the desk.
BURST.
She grinned from ear to ear as all the posted words went up in flame around her. Magic really was the best way to deal with magic. Hearing the gasps behind her brought such satisfaction she internalized her grinning and faced forward with her features schooled.
The professor had arrived while the students were having their hidden battle of magic words. An elderly witch wearing a pointed hat rode in on a broom from the open ceiling. She landed with a heavy thud and scowled after surveying the hall.
“Oh goodness me. It reeks of magic in here. You all know magic is forbidden in the classroom. All right, get your books out. Class is starting.”