Dratworth Academy. 1.1.7

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- GASPER!!!!! - Was the first thing I heard upon waking up.

- Where are my black hairpins? - Came Lucy's quieter, but no less anxious, voice.

I squinted sleepily, trying to get used to the bright light from the window.

- Get up, you lazy carcass!!! - Vicky's voice boomed again.

- What's wrong? - I lazily rolled over onto my back.

- The snow is melting! Quickly get up and run outside! - shouted Vika, while trying to pin some hairpin on herself.

I was interested, and after lying down for a while, I realised that interest was in the lead in the battle with laziness, and then I got down from the bed and went to the window.

The view was really incredible. The green field, with small islands of almost liquid snow, coupled with the bright blue, clear sky, looked simply amazing.

- Hmm... Since the snow has started to melt, will the balconies be open soon? - Turning my head, I asked.

- Yes, they already came in, they said that in the first half of the day, free teachers, will come to the rooms, and remove the sealing spells. So, before leaving for classes, it will be necessary to put things in order. - Vika told me.

- And I don't have to do that either... unlike some people. - I smiled wickedly, pointing first at my usurped desk, where all the books, quills, ink and notebooks were in perfect order, and Vicky and Lucy's desk, which they were using more for magazines, currently lying in disarray, than for study materials.

- Pfft! I could do that in a heartbeat! - Vika turned up her nose, putting her hand out towards the desk.

The girl instantly tensed up, trying to restore order with her telekinesis. But only... Telekinesis, for all these three months of study, did not want to give her, and constantly she failed. Or got it wrong...

And now, instead of stacking, the magazines were flying in all directions, hitting the floor.

- You need more practice. - Lucy said nonchalantly, but for a moment, I could see the anger in her eyes for ruining the magazines.

- I know. - Vika gritted her teeth in anger and began to pick up the magazines by hand.

I waved my hand, concentrating on the magazines, and then they all flew up into the air and over to the table, where they stacked up.

- Clumsy. - I said, smiling wryly.

- Rrr..." I heard Vicky say, but she didn't answer.

***

I was enjoying the cool breeze with my eyes closed, breathing in the fresh air. We were standing on the wall that connected the Fire and Air towers. Besides us, almost half of the academy was here, mostly because this wall offered the most beautiful view of the field.

- It's beautiful..." I heard Lucy's quiet voice to my right.

- Mm-hmm..." I nodded without opening my eyes.

The view was truly magnificent. The patches of snow were completely gone, so nothing was spoiling it.

- What's first today? - I asked Lucy, involuntarily realising that I had to leave this beauty and then go to breakfast and classes.

- Outside science. - answered the girl, and then, pulling Vika by the sleeve, headed towards the dining room.

I think it's worth clarifying. This academy, unlike the others, also taught outside sciences, which were crammed into one subject. History, geography, calligraphy, anatomy, economics... All of these sciences were taught at this academy only in the classes called 'outside sciences'. The first two classes, taught by a red-haired guy of about 25, named Castiel Boutefaro, were about the current economic situation in the country, namely the crisis due to the recent full mobilisation against several large, unexpected orc attacks, practically in the centre of Dratworth.

I sighed, then cast one last glance at the field before following my friends.

***

- Hello children. - Mr Butefaro said cheerfully. - Today, in honour of the long-awaited melting of the snows, we will remember the 14th century. In the year 1321, the largest war between humans, elves and orcs took place. During the war, all three armies lost 2/3 of their forces. Also, the First Child was killed. At the same time, a war was also raging on the Human mainland, but it was a civil war. New generation mages were against the war with elves and orcs, as they wanted to change the orders in the country to more... martial. With the help of their magic, swordsmanship and firearms, the battle mages gained the upper hand in 1323. And so, as early as 1325, the North Elven mainland found itself overrun by humans. However, due to laxity of vigilance on the borders with the Orcs, a part of Carnaseir's lands were overrun. As a result, the humans had to abandon the Northern mainland in order to recapture Carnaseir. By the time the territories were finally retaken, a peace treaty had been concluded between the elves and humans, and the Orc attack army had been completely defeated. Further, there followed a complete change in many laws, for example, in the old world, as the world before the war is now called, mages were considered incredibly important persons, about on a par with nobles. In the new world, new laws came out, for example, about mages fighting peasants. In case anyone doesn't know, which is unlikely, because as far as I know, you've already travelled to the city once, a mage has no right to use magic to humiliate, kill, and injure a peasant without a good reason. In general, the laws in our country are very... malleable. If you know them, you can almost always evade the guards. For example, the law on self-defence. If you are attacked, you have the right to use battle magic on your opponent, regardless of his status and position in society. However, nothing prohibits you from forcing a person to attack you, by insults and the like. In general, we will talk about this later, and now, let's continue discussing war. The old mages considered cold and firearms to be absolutely useless, and they paid for it. Combat mages, who just the same and mastered swords and revolvers, easily defeated the old ones. At the moment, all the magic academies were cultivating battle mages. Yes, many academies are so poor at teaching swordsmanship and shooting that... it doesn't matter.

***

To be honest, I almost dozed off at the end, but Lucy kept kicking me, so I couldn't fall asleep. Next, we had a water class, which I have to admit was a lot of fun. We tried to create a ball of water in our hand, from the moisture in the ground after the snow had melted. However... I wasn't too good at it. It felt like the water was intangible, which made it very hard to focus on it, and as a result I only managed to lift the droplets off the ground a little bit, but more than that... not much else. Many of the students failed even that, and the only one who managed to create a balloon was, oddly enough, Lucy. Gaby, attributed this to the fact that Lucy's element was Order, allowing her to focus on anything easily.

Upon returning to our room, there was nothing particularly interesting. A small balcony, overlooking the practice area that was by the Fire-Air wall. The girls occupied it immediately, sitting in their chairs with their magazines. I, on the other hand, headed for my bed, picking up my Water Magic textbook.

By the way, the new holidays were only a month away... And then, three months at home. Not that I'd miss them, but... still wouldn't mind seeing Seran again... Delvic... Cora... Eh.....

***

I found myself back on a pure white field, with the sea visible in the distance.

- Hi Mum. - I said without turning round.

- You know, it's pretty unusual for you to fall asleep while reading textbooks. Is something wrong? - I heard my mum's voice next to me.

- I was thinking about what I was going to do at home. And..." I hesitated, kicking myself for being distracted and not finishing the paragraph.

- "Gasper," I heard my mum sigh. - You shouldn't wait so long to come home. Trust me, nothing good awaits you there.

- Why not? - I was surprised.

- You're... perhaps you're old enough... to realise that not all things in the world are as beautiful as they seem. And your father is one of those things. - Mum said.

- What are you talking about? - even more incomprehensibly, I asked.

- Oh..." she sighed again. - Never mind. You'll understand after a while. I didn't realise right away either. - Mum laughed.

- You're kind of weird today... - I said with a glance at my mum.

- Oh so!?? - Mum exclaimed cheerfully, and then started tickling me.

***

28 May. Training ground.

I swung my sword to the right and then swung it at my knee. Saurus dodges, trying to get my head with a spinning kick. Yeah, he's been hitting me in the head lately. I barely manage to dodge, and the ends of my hair are thrown sharply to the right by the blow. I try to undercut Saur's arm from underneath, but at that moment he kicks me in the chest, and I fly backwards, and hastily do a flying somersault to my feet, instantly making a stand.

Saurus has been eyeing me thoughtfully the whole session, but his skill has not changed at all! I rush back into the fight. Saur throws a simple right jab, but I duck under it, trying to jab the guy in the ribs. He moves out of the way of the blow, and he also manages to kick me in the ribs. I turn around and attack again, but Saur doesn't throw a punch.

Saur doesn't strike, and I instantly realise that he's going to dodge to the right and strike me in the neck with his palm. I shift my sword for a comfortable position to strike... as suddenly Saur just grabs me by the hair, in addition to kicking me in the stomach.

- Enough. - Saur said calmly, without the cheerful tone that usually comes after each completion of my training. - You've done very well, Gasper.

Saur walked over to me, who was kneeling on my knees and holding my aching stomach. After that, the guy passed his hand over me and the pain disappeared instantly. I opened my eyes in a daze, not understanding where this kindness was coming from. Usually, he only reduced my pain to a certain level in the worst cases and sent me to the nurse's station for treatment. But today, he cured me completely. Although, maybe that's because the next class is three months away....

- Thank you. - Breathing heavily, I said, accepting the hand that Saur extended to me.

- So, the next session will be in three months, but don't you dare neglect your training! If you fight the same way, or God forbid, worse... the punishment will be cruel. - the boy grinned merrily.

- Ha ha... - I laughed, however the next moment I coughed.

- I'll miss you Gasper. - The smiling Saurus ruffled my hair and then handed me the handle of my sword.

- Ah... - I began incomprehensibly.

- Actually, it's forbidden... - Saurus grimaced. - But my best student, I allow you to take the training sword with you. Just don't lose it! - The boy smiled.

- S-thank you..." I said in shock, picking up the roll of cloth with the blue handle sticking out. It was blue because the sword was mine and no one else's. Saur had always kept it, as well as a couple of other swords with red and yellow handles that had belonged to his other students who had died a couple of years ago.

- Go on, then. Just don't die over the summer. - Saur grinned cheerfully.

- You too. - I smiled lightly, shaking the hand of the guy who was already a head taller than me, instead of a head and a half at the beginning of my acquaintance with him.

After saying goodbye, I headed to my room to pack... except I was very surprised to find a maid, in our manor's uniform, putting my things into bags. Lucy and Vika were sitting on the beds, talking to the maid about something.

- Um..." I stretched out, slowly entering the room.

- Young master! - The maid shrieked, turning sharply towards me and falling to her knees, bowing.

Apparently my face was... peculiar, since Vika and Lucy laughed like that.

- And who are you? - I asked, glancing at the Fire textbook that had fallen off the table from the maid's sudden jerk.

- I'm your servant, the one Mr. Kraul hired to escort you home. - Without lifting her head, the woman spoke in rapid succession.

- First of all, get up. Secondly, enough of this officiousness, I'm sick of it. - I frowned unhappily. - Thirdly, what are you doing here?

- A carriage is already waiting to take you to your estate. I'm packing my bags to take them to the boot. - said the maid.

- Ohhh... That's how... - I said sadly. - In that case, go ahead. I'll say goodbye to my friends and we'll be on our way. - I nodded, turning to the girls.

- I am certainly happy that I won't have to see your face for three whole months. - with a strange look on her face, started Vika. - But... I'll miss you. - she smiled.

- Gasper, I'll miss you. - nodded Lucy. - Just in case... Harented village. - With an embarrassed smile, the girl finished.

- I'll keep it in mind. - I smiled. - I'm... going to go say goodbye to someone else. - I was embarrassed.

- Heh-heh-heh... - Vika laughed. - Go already, you're our man of honour.

I grumbled unhappily, but there was no time for bickering, so I ran out of the room... and bumped into Kurumi, who I was on my way to. Behind her were Aria and Victor, who I was also going to see.

- You're in a hurry, aren't you? - Kurumi smiled.

- I... wanted to say goodbye. - I hesitated.

- I'll miss you. - Kurumi smiled even brighter and... hugged me.

I instantly increased the saturation of my complexion colour, somehow managing to hug Kurumi back.

- Okay, that's enough! You're not the only one who wants to say goodbye to Gasper! - Aria shouted, with some strange notes in her voice.

Kurumi giggled, but she let go of me... and I found myself in Aria's arms again. I felt like I was going to melt from embarrassment, but I managed to save myself by unhooking myself from Aria and stepping back to Victor.

- Handsome. - Victor whispered, smiling brightly and showing me a furtive thumbs-up.

- See you later. - Breathing quickly, I said as I heard the door open behind us.

- Bye! - Victor smiled, shaking my outstretched hand.

***

- Mister, everything is ready! - The maid exclaimed.

I looked at the carriage and the familiar coachman who had brought my father and me here almost five months ago. There were two pairs of horses on either side of the carriage, with battle mages hired by my father and familiar to me.

- Try not to die over the summer! - I heard Vicky shout from the window of our room, from upstairs.

- I've heard that somewhere before. - I grinned as I climbed into the carriage.

- Are you ready, sir? - I heard the maid ask from upstairs.

- Aye. Let's go. - I shouted back, casting a farewell glance at Vika, Lucy, Kurumi, and Victor who were leaning out of the window. And knowing Kurumi, I can assume that Aria wanted to come into the room too... Except that my lover, and I've already admitted this, due to my mum's constant jokes, threw her sister out.

- So... I'm going home. - Smiling at my thoughts, I said out loud.