“It is just as my older sister told me, you’re very talented. You also seem considerate toward your classmates. I’m impressed.”
With that, Instructor Freya left. She kept her head held high and proud as she walked away. Not once did she show the slightest hint of embarrassment about all of this, which only made the whole situation seem even stranger.
“…I’m going back to my room,” I said with a sigh.
I’ll just sleep off the rest of the day… It’s probably a more efficient use of my time, I concluded, casting aside every other thought in my head.
✦ ✦ ✦
Not far from Aslan Magic Academy, in an area untouched by any man-made light source, stood two people dressed in black from head to toe. Illuminated only by the glow of the moon, the man and the woman carried on a hushed conversation in the dead of night.
“Hey,” said the man, “y’sure you got it?”
“Got it. Scouting only today. Just looking.”
“Fine, but…just don’t get carried away, okay? You got that?”
“Understood. But if we can kidnap, then let’s do it.”
The man sighed. “Why d’you always get so worked up ab—”
There was a flash of movement above their heads, and in an instant, the conversation ended as the two jumped apart.
“Hm, nicely dodged,” said the stranger as he alighted before them. “What incredible physical abilities… Is that magic? Magic tools, perhaps? Or something else?”
The man laughed out loud, his silver hair reflecting the light of the moon above. Yolande—just the sight of him set off deep, instinctual alarm bells. The man and woman both knew this person was far too dangerous for them to deal with now, and there was nothing to do except flee at once.
“…Urk!”
“You get it, right?”
“…Understood. Not that self-absorbed.”
The shadowy figures exchanged a glance, signifying an unspoken agreement: “We can’t fight him. We have to run.”
“Man, I figured it was about time for you lot to start showing up…and to think, I was right on the money! I sure am lucky.”
In the next instant, Yolande kicked off against the ground, using the repulsion between himself and the dirt below to launch himself forward. He traveled at inhuman speed, closing in on the two figures. His victory would likely be assured if he could just get them within range of his attacks, but they weren’t about to just let him do that.
Yolande yelped in surprise as a smoke screen billowed out and obscured his vision.
“You think that this will stop m—huh?”
Assuming it mere smoke, Yolande tried to blow the cloud away with his magic, but found he was unable to. There was some trick to it—something hindering his spells. It took him only a little extra time to clear the smoke, but that proved more than enough of an interval for the two figures to conceal themselves. When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of either of them, no matter where Yolande looked.
“Hm? I can’t track their mana either. I can’t believe it, they’ve actually managed to get away from me,” he said, evidently disappointed.
Yolande sighed.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,” he muttered to himself quietly. “Those two had to be beastlings, I think… This kingdom sees them as an inferior lot due to their lack of mana, but such thinking is foolish. Beastlings have so many uses, after all. They might be unable to use magic, but they’re incredibly athletic.”
Yolande used Flight to rise slowly up into the air.
“Most likely they’re here for Luke, eh? I should assume that news of his Dark element has traveled far and wide. I wanted to hide it, at least until he could develop and mature. Alas, despite this nation of ours excelling so greatly in magic, it seems few know how to effectively gather intelligence…”
He sighed, and after a time, another shadowy figure approached him.
“Sir Yolande. We mobilized fully in search of them, but…”
“Thanks for your hard work, Gordoba. It’s fine. Hard to look for them when they don’t have mana, isn’t it?”
“My deepest apologies…”
“They’re a little too direct to be assassins from the Kingdom of Beasts, I think. Could it be that another nation is using beastlings to disguise their involvement in this…? Our kingdom has a lot of enemies after all…but that’s not really my concern. We’ll simply deal with them either way.”
With that, Yolande and Gordoba disappeared into the dead of night.