Leonheart

"Art… sir… Leonheart… wake UP!"

A blonde woman dressed in a black and red school uniform stood next to a man with black hair. Annoyed, she slapped her book on his desk as her eyes seemed to burn a brighter green.

Thud!

Ugh…

'I was having such a nice dream'.

With a groan, the man slowly raised himself from his desk. He tried to open his tired golden eyes and look for the source of disturbance. Upon seeing the woman, with a hint of sleepiness in his voice, the man asked.

"Has class ended yet, Loraine?"

The woman suddenly froze upon hearing his casual call, displeased she said, "It's miss Azulea to you!"

Ah!

Leonheart was left stunned by her statement. It took him a few moments before his blunder registered, so he quickly apologized. Then, he looked around the empty classroom and quickly thanked her before leaving in embarrassment.

"Thank you for waking me up miss Azulea, and farewell. I apologize if I may seem to be avoiding you, but I have places to be."

With that, he left the academy's premises.

Leonheart didn't mind her distant attitude as he knew his and her positions were too far apart. After all, she was a noble while he was simply a peasant. If not for the certain circumstances that he had gone through, he would have never even applied or be qualified for Burndette Academy.

Throwing these thoughts at the back of his mind, Leonheart quickly arrived at an old and dilipidated store—a soul card store to be exact.

Ching!

The chimes rang as he opened the door. A muffled groan came from inside the store.

"Eric, is that you?"

Tap-tap-tap!

An old and crippled man stumbled outside of the back, appearing before Leonheart from the reception or cashier desk.

"Ah, it is you".

Eric waved his hands and said, "Yeah, yeah, now go home and rest old Ren".

Standing in front of Eric, was the sole reason he was enrolled at such a prestigious academy. Although he didn't look like much, old Ren was once a prominent figure in the card-making industry. However, he suffered an injury from one of his expeditions and never recovered.

Hearing his words, old Ren's lips turned into a grin and he quickly left the premises as he said; "Alright, I'll leave this store to you. I've got places to be".

Stunned, "Places to be? Oi, old Ren, your doctor told us you had to rest today!"

Eric rushed outside, but he quickly found out that there was no old man in sight. Seeing this, he could only scratch his head as he shook it.

"Aish! Alright… goodluck old Ren!"

After that small episode, Eric simply lived his own life and sat down to read a book inside the store. The book was titled, "How To Make Soul Cards: A Book For Novices".

With how lazy Eric seemed, it would seem as if he had lived like this for a few months at the very least. However, he had only been here for a week.

'Why did I have to have a talent for card making? Now I have to learn so much stuff again…'

After failing his entrance exam for the closest state university, an old man suddenly walked up to him and immediately told him about his talent. Then, yada-yada-yada, voila! He was here.

At the thought of this again, he scratched at the back of his head in annoyance.

'I thought I could just go home and live off of my parents' earnings for another few months'.

'Although it's most likely a good thing, as that would pose an even bigger problem—'

Ching!

"Karl, I told you there was nothing special about this shop. It's just sitting in this district to be demolished".

A sound, akin to a buzzing mosquito echoed throughout the room. Ah, it was from a woman who knew not of men's joys—adventuring the unknown and satisfying our deep curiosities.

Author's Note: Sorry for breaking immersion, but I'm not being sexist here. It's just that, I'm describing the woman.

Tch!

Eric clicked his tongue, as his monologue was interrupted by an annoyance of a person.

"Good afternoon sir and ma'am, welcome to Krimson Soul Card Store. How may I help you?"

As if he never clicked his tongue, Eric showed a hint of professionalism in his voice.

At the same time, he scanned his customers or rather; his visitors. Surprisingly, there were three of them. One boy and two girls.

Unsurprisingly, the boy was handsome while the supposed mosquito was somewhat above-average.

Lastly, the latter of the two girls was as silent as the night and even seemed to be quite timid. Despite her average looks, her silence made her a hundred times more appealing than the mosquito.

"Ah, so there really aren't any old masters in this old store?"

Eric's ears twitched in annoyance but just as he was about to speak, the mosquito spoke again.

"See! There isn't anything amazing about this shop. Let's go now, and stop wasting our time".

Hearing this, Eric simply smiled.

'I just have to wait a few more seconds and I'll be free from this mosquito'.

The timid girl suddenly spoke, "Wait, Erika, doesn't our dean have the family name of Krimson?"

Eric's ears twitched even more, 'Fortunately my real name is Frederick and Eric's only a nickname, or else I'd have stood up right now and asked this Erika for a duel. Although I would most likely lose, after all she seems rich'.

After snapping out of my thoughts, I interjected.

"Although the owner of this store is indeed a Krimson, he is not the current academic dean. He should be the grandfather of the academic dean".

"Anyways, are you guys going to buy anything or… not?"

The timid girl spoke, "Ah yes, I'd like to buy fire-attributed material-type cards. My friends just decided to come with".

In this world, card-making relied on more than just talents. It required material-type cards that are born from the nucleus of soul beasts, spiritual plants, and mystic ores.

"No need to explain to me, I'm not a judge. How many cards would you like?"

The timid girl blushed at his words, but she still quickly replied, "Fifty please".

"That's quite a lot, would you like to apply for a Krimson Store Card? Card holders will be able to enjoy benefits like; bulk-buying discounts and the like. More info is on this pamphlet, please read it if you're interested. And, while I go get the cards from the back, please feel free to browse our shelves for any cards that might interest you".

"Ah, okay, thank you sir".

With that, Eric left them to their own devices.

"Now where was it?"

With a flick of his hand hand, a black card with golden lines appeared. The details of the card appeared in my mind.

[Name - Card Search: Area

Grade - 3

Type - Spell-card

Spell-Type - Area/Scan

Attribute - Mystic

Effects -

Area Search - Search for a card inside a 200-meter radius. If one or more similar cards are found, summon them. Can specify the amount of cards summoned. ]

"Card Search: Area!"

The golden lines glowed even brighter as Eric spoke of the card's name. Then, after what seemed to be a few moments, black cards flew out from the shelves. With a wave of Eric's hand, they formed a stack in mid-air before carefully placing themselves on his left hand.

"What! There's even a [Dragon Soul] series card here!".

"Look Karl, the complete [Fairy's Dreamland] series is sold here".

Once he was back, he found the mosquito and the curious boy with excitement written on their faces. While the timid girl stood silently in embarrassment.

After realizing the background of the store, the mosquito became a whole lot more behaved… well, at least she wasn't being audacious anymore. Thus, the following sales went smoothly.

Ching!

With that, silence came back to the store—

"Oh right, sir, where is sir Ren this time? Is he sick?"

The timid girl went back inside to ask. Hearing her question, Eric didn't lie to her and simply told her what he knew.

"Oh right, sir, may I have your name? I am Evelyn Nichtingale".

After giving his name, they said their farewells, and silence finally came to the store.

'Now where was I?'