Dratworth Academy. 1.1.3

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Disciples, to succeed, must catch up with those who are ahead and not wait for those who are behind.

Aristotle

I yawned sleepily, looking at the plate of pancakes. Sluggishly eating them, I became increasingly confused by the chatter of the surrounding tables.

- He'd disappeared after breakfast yesterday, and they'd found him sleeping with that vampire girl. Man, it's great to be a Great Child! - I heard another conversation at a nearby table.

It only became clear when Kurumi and I came out of that room. She and I slept through the evening, and woke up almost at the same time. I thought it was strange that everyone was looking at me strangely, and not throwing things at me that they wanted to do in the morning. And then I heard the rumours from Lucy. Someone must have found us, but they didn't wake us up. Oh, well.

But there's no time to be sad. Today is the start of the school year, and after breakfast, the first year has a schedule that Lucy's already got for our room. And I'm gonna kick that redhead's arse.

And so the magic bells rang, signalling the start of class in 15 minutes. The girls and I had just finished eating, and we hurried to the training facilities.

***

- So, hello. - a bald man with a small beard greeted us cheerfully. He adjusted his glasses and then continued. - My name is Soran Nave. I'll be teaching your Earth Magic classes.

I looked around at the other people standing next to Mr Neive. There she is Gaby... There he is, the guy Gaby and I met on the tour. I think he's Fountain, who's gonna be our Firemaster. Also, there was a blue-haired girl with some weird stuff in her lip. Most likely to lead Air.

Mr Nave turned to this blue-haired girl, whereupon, she stepped forward a little.

- I'm Heiga Garnel. I'll be your Air Master. Nice to meet you. - she said phlegmatically, standing back in the row. Founter spoke next.

- Fountain Bluster. I'll be leading Fire. Nice to meet you. - He said briefly, smiling cheerfully, and then stood back up. Last to speak was Gabi.

- I'm Gabriella Draughn. I'm your Vodou teacher. Nice to meet you all.

Next, Mr Neive came out again.

- Since this is the first class, we'd like to do some fights to see how much potential you have.

***

I watched the next fight with boredom. This is about the tenth fight. Victoria and Lucy, had already fought, and won a brilliant victory over their opponents. Kurumi, also fought, but there it was over in just a few seconds. Thanks to her vampire speed, she instantly formed a fireball that reached her opponent in just a quarter of a second. And that was the end of it.

By the way, there were only two casualties. One was Vicky's patient, who had fried him, and the other was wounded by some spell of crushing fireballs.

- So... - Mr Neive said thoughtfully, staring at the list after another fight. - Gaspero Kraul!

An anticipatory smile instantly appeared on my face, and I rushed to the centre of the screened field where the fights were being held.

- Your opponent? - Mr Nave asked, looking over that crowd with mockery.

- John Sinens. - I answered readily. The name of this redhead, I had learnt from Victor, during the previous fights.

The old man looked at me with interest, and then with considerable interest shifted his gaze to the approaching Sinens.

- It's going to be an interesting fight. - Neive said. - A child of Darkness, against a member of a family with ancestral dark magic.

What? What's he talking about? I'll have to ask Gaby or someone.

My opponent, meanwhile, stood across from me, continuing to stare at me with a look of contempt.

- Here we go! - came a shout.

A ball of Darkness instantly flew at me, which I managed to dodge. In a roll, I form a ball of Darkness that swiftly flies at Sinensis. I rise up hastily... and see a huge black paw flying at me. I've memorised the weave, +1 spell in my arsenal. At the same time, I heard the teachers talking about some kind of "clan spell".

I grinned at my thoughts, then launched the same paw towards him. Sinens' face changed instantly, becoming shocked beyond belief. In battle, one must not be surprised, amazed, or afraid. You must keep your cool, and then you will definitely win. The very first wisdom my teachers taught me.

My paw, easily dispelled Sinensa's spell, then caught up with the boy himself. My paw began to clench, and a wild, painful scream came from Sinens' mouth.

- STOP!" the teacher shouted.

I interrupted the spell, and the paw fluttered away, whereupon Sinens fell to the ground. I probably broke a couple of his ribs, which was especially satisfying. Now that asshole would know how to piss me off.

I only now noticed that I still had a grin of excitement on my face, which made me grin even wider. The first serious fight of my life had gone well.

***

Once again I was fighting people I didn't know, which wasn't too impressive. Almost all of them used the ball of different elements, and there were no more diverse spells. All in all, boring.

And as soon as the last battle was over, the bells rang. The teachers let us go and went to a table in the corner of the training ground, discussing something fervently. I didn't pay much attention to it, as Kurumi came over to me at that moment, causing my heart to speed up again.

- I have to admit that using the Shinens' clan spell... I was amazed. - smiling brightly, Kurumi started the conversation.

- I don't know what the other clan spell is... but thank you. You're very strong too. - Shaking my hair with a little excitement, I said.

Kurumi smiled sweetly with her palms pressed against her cheeks, causing me to be even more excited.

- Thank you very much, it's my pleasure.

Meanwhile, the others started to look at us, whispers started to spread, and Kurumi and I nodded at each other, understanding the reason, and then went our separate ways. However, in the company of my housemates, there was also a lot of banter.

- Well, lovebirds? Can't get away from each other? - Lucy asked with a sneer. Vika also smiled a little, but immediately wiped the smile off her face. Apparently, she is still offended.

- Between us, nothing like that. - with a slightly flushed face, I said.

- I see, I see..." Lucy smirked.

***

I dropped my head on the pillow tiredly, replaying the day in my head. After the fights, there was the basics of magic, which I knew well from my manor's textbooks, so I didn't learn anything new. Next, there were Fire, Water, Earth, and Air classes. In each of them, however, we were taught the simple truth that I knew. Control, emotion, reserve, practice. That's all it takes to be powerful. I didn't talk to Kurumi anymore, even though I wanted to, but I couldn't think of a reason to.

As it turned out, the homework here was much less than in other academies. As it was explained to us, in Narnaunt students should strive for knowledge themselves, but they are given the bare minimum, which will make us weak but still trained mages by the end of our studies. And to achieve more, you are welcome to go to the library. Naturally, all the people immediately rushed there, but I sensibly reasoned that in such a crowd, I will not take anything, and postponed the collection of books for tomorrow. I had brought a few unread textbooks from the manor.

When class was over, it was 3pm, which made me happy. But then... I learnt that every self-respecting student must be a member of a club, where classes last from 4 to 6 pm. And I was immediately flooded with invitations. I wasn't the only one in this situation. Lucy and Vika were also flooded with invitations, and they were looking through them with me.

So far, nothing of interest. Water Club, Fire Club... in general, clubs according to the elements. Among them, I put aside only the letters on Darkness and fencing. I was always very interested in the latter, but my father, just like with magic, didn't want to hire normal teachers, making excuses like "you'll go to the academy, they'll teach you there". I knew the basics, of course, but... there were practically no techniques in those basics.

Further, there was nothing interesting either. Alchemy, clubs of different magical games... Unnecessary boredom.

- Did you pick anything? - I asked, tossing the last letter into the nearly full wastebasket.

- Fencing and Order. - Phlegmatically, with a touch of fatigue in her voice, Lucy replied.

- Fire and Alchemy. - yawning, Vika answered, even without the already familiar to me, irritation in her voice.

- Fencing and Darkness. - smiling weakly, I presented my choice.

- Great, tomorrow we'll go together to sign up. - Lucy yawned, picking up on a yawn from Vicky.

I glanced tiredly at the clock. 7 o'clock at night. Thankfully, the girls and I had done our homework right after class, and... personally, I had nothing to do. I already knew everything I had to learn, and we'd only get practice from the second year.

By the way, as I learnt, from the next course, the time of the school year will change a bit. That is, this year will end in May next year, and will begin in September. The queen, having returned from the northern lands, introduced such a novelty. And it seemed to me that she didn't care that the training programme for the next couple of years would go to hell.

The emphasis was on the three-month summer holidays. This year, they will also be, however... 3 month holidays!!!! Uninterrupted holidays for 3 months!!!

***

The next day of class was just as boring. We continued to be taught the basics of spells and magic, which I already knew. However, there was an upside. Namely, the first fencing lesson. However, in it, we practised stances, which I also knew how to do.

As a result, I never learnt anything useful. Except that in a week, on the 30th of January, we will go shopping in the nearest town. This news interested me, because I had been to the cities only a couple of times, a month ago, and even then, on purely diplomatic trips. However, I did not understand the point of my presence in them. Both times, I, with the daughter of some very influential count, was sent together to play and socialise. That was all. And, when I asked him questions, my father answered in the style of "you should not care about it, I said, so it is important".

I think she also went to this academy, but I don't know the details. I wasn't interested.

So, after classes, Lucy and I went to sign up for fencing. According to the letter, you can sign up with their head coach, namely, a certain Saur Rones. A black-haired, skinny guy of sixteen. His "office" was located in the common lounge. Actually, the room itself was a common room. That is to say, during the sessions of a certain club, the headman of this club worked in this room, and after his departure, the headman of another club came, and so on. By the way, that Saur was very happy to see us there.

- What a pleasant surprise! Lucy Ordinem and Gasper Kraul have come to see us! - began enthusiastically, probably this same Saur.

- Yes. - Lucy nodded. - We'll sign up.

- Of course, of course. - nodded Saur. - I have to admit that seeing you here is quite a surprise to me. I thought you'd sign up for your elemental clubs and that was it, and you....

- Did you think we had an inflated HEA? - Lucy raised an eyebrow mockingly.

- Well... if, we were talking about Vic, I'd even agree. - I muttered quietly.

Lucy giggled merrily when she heard my remark, and then she took the paper with the club's rules that Saurus held out, then walked over to the table, picked up a quill, and signed it. I repeated her actions, glancing over the rules themselves. In sparring, no spells, no maiming, no sparring with combat weapons. That's pretty much all the rules. Of course, I've simplified it a lot, but if you leave out the complicated, officious words, that's the gist of it.

After getting the training schedule, which was Monday and Thursday from 18:45 to 20:00, Lucy and I split up. I went to the Darkness club and Lucy to the Order club. But... on the way there, I met Kurumi.

- Hi. - She smiled and waved at me.

- Hi. - I smiled back, feeling my heart racing again. - Where are you going?

- To sign up for the Darkness Club. You probably already signed up, right? - Kurumi asked, while tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.

- No..." I was embarrassed. - I signed up for swordsmanship first, and now I'm going to sign up for Darkness.

- Really? - was surprised by the girl. - Well then, let's go together.

- Okay..." I mumbled.

***

- Fencing, huh? - Kurumi smirked. - Will you be someone's knight on a white horse?

- More like on a black one..." I faded my gaze. Her question made me think of me saving Kurumi from a troll. Once again, catching myself in such thoughts, I shook my head.

- Are you going to go anywhere other than Darkness? - I asked, trying to fill my head with other thoughts.

- Blood Magic. - Kurumi replied seriously. - Absolutely all vampires are the best at it. And I, on top of that, was born with a predisposition to Darkness.

- A predisposition? - I questioned. - And how did you recognise it?

- Through ritual, of course. - She shrugged her shoulders, then smiled sweetly at me. - I'm not a Child to know my strongest element without rituals.

I looked away, promising myself to ask my mother if I had any other predispositions.

- And here we are. - Kurumi smiled, pointing at the all-black door, with an iron medal in the middle, in the shape of a month, and then pulled out a flyer of some sort. - So... Carlos Notheim... Seventh year. Well, let's go! - Kurumi smiled, waving her hand at me.

The classroom itself was in the Fire Tower, specifically on the ground floor. The lessons were on the second floor, and the practical classes (which would only start in the second year) were on the third floor. There were also the fourth and fifth floors, but I don't know what was there.

Entering the office, I involuntarily wrinkled my nose. Absolutely all the furniture was black in colour. And coupled with the black wallpaper, carpets, and ceiling... It looked really bad.

Two sofas against the walls, facing each other, a table exactly opposite the door... Austerity, officiousness... in general, neither Carlos nor his predilections appealed to me.

- Greetings. - came the cold voice of the aforementioned Carlos sitting behind the desk. - Kurumi Bloder and Gasper Kraul. Thank you for joining my club. - as coldly and without emotion, he said, and then without giving us a word, with a small pass of his hand, levitated the sheets with the rules of the club to our hands, and then stood still for a moment, also transferred to us the quills with ink.

The rules were the same. No use during non-school hours, no sparring without the instructor's supervision (i.e. Carlos himself) and so on. Class time: from 4 to 6 o'clock every Monday and Thursday. Together with fencing, it was quite a convenient schedule for me. Monday and Thursday training all day, and the rest of the time I'm free.

Kurumi and I signed the paperwork, and after waiting for Notheim's nod, we left. On the way out, however, I still muttered angrily to myself:

- Nice to meet you.