As I listened to the excited vampiric princess, I looked off towards the seat opposite us, in the back left corner of the room, beside the window.
Sitting in that spot was a beautiful young woman, her long brown hair framing her sharp features as she looked outside with a slightly bored expression.
Wearing a plain brown leather combat outfit, the woman looked every part an adventurer, giving her desk mate a raised brow as she looked her over.
Sitting beside the adventurer-esque woman was a thin, petite woman, her golden locks falling onto her white robes as she excitedly and animatedly spoke to the other woman.
"Hey, what're you looking at?"
Jahi narrowed her eyes at me, and I gestured towards the two women, saying "I was just looking around, and those two caught my eye..."
Everyone turned their gazes over to the women I pointed out, discreetly observing them.
"Yeah, the chick in leather looks good..."
Hearing Jahi, we all turned our eyes towards her, making her gulp.
Holding up her hands, she gave a wry smile, saying "It was just an observation; just an observation..."
Keeping our eyes focused on her, she bit her lip as she looked at the floor, before sighing in relief when we looked down at Draka, who was chuckling.
"Yeah, she is pretty isn't she?"
My eyes flickered to Rialo, Fresca, and Poshka, only to frown slightly as they seemed... unfazed by Draka.
"Hmm... what do you think, Rialo?"
The Lamia looked at the woman, her lips pursed before she replied "I don't know, we would have to talk..."
The Dragonkin nodded, sighing.
She looked down at the two maids, who only shrugged at her.
"Fine, we'll see, we'll see... Anyways, hopefully this History class we're meant to take isn't boring..."
Jahi sighed, resting her chin in her hand as she said "Eh, I'll just take a class or two before taking the final... Really, not too interested in relearning the same thing over and over again..."
Anput pouted at Jahi, muttering "If only..."
Chuckling, Jahi cupped the olive womans cheek, leaning closer as she whispered "If you wish, I can give you... some 'private' lessons, dear~"
Stiffening under her touch, Anput's ears and tail twitched as she leaned into the blue hand.
Leone and I chuckled, making the Jackalkin flinch, biting her lip as she looked towards us from under her lashes.
"Alright, get up and follow me; I'll take you to your next class..."
Vice-Headmaster Bijilo rose from his desk, gently tapping his staff onto the floor, getting everyones attention.
Standing up, I followed behind Leone as she walked down the stairs, reaching the old man quickly.
He turned to me, smiling slightly as he said "Miss Zara, I do apologize for calling on you during class earlier. It will... likely cause some problems and resentments from your classmates."
Jahi just chuckled, looking down at the Vice-Headmaster with golden eyes as she said "They can try... Kat belongs to me, and they'll risk pissing me off if they try something."
The old man responded with a chuckle "That's good! Well, as long as you don't cause harm when professors can see..."
That made the blue Demoness and olive Jackalkin grin, understanding his meaning.
As long as no one can prove it was you...
You can do what you want.
Vice-Headmaster Bijilo turned away from us, looking over the large crowd of students.
Opening the door, he led us back out into the hall, back towards the auditorium.
Walking beside Jahi, I pursed my lips slightly as I felt her hand on my waist, making me look up at her.
She leaned closer, whispering "Kat, I know you don't care about what people say; at least, that's what you've said. However, if you hear something, let me know. I'll take care of it."
Her eyes were serious, making me chuckle slightly.
"What makes you think I'll let you take care of MY problems?"
I flashed her a chilling grin, a rune appearing on my palm as I flashed it towards her.
She just grinned down at me, ruffling my ears as she replied "Yeah, I guess so huh? Sneaky little minx..."
Leaving her hand on my waist, we walked down the halls, turning into another long hallway.
Reaching a door with a plaque labeled 'Professor Xiant; History I - IV, Monsterology IV', Vice-Headmaster Bijilo knocked on the door with his staff, waiting for a response.
Sighing to himself, he rapped the staff against the thick wooden door again, this time receiving a muffled "Alright!"
Moments later a lanky man opened the door, his long black hair falling onto his shoulders as he pushed up some large glasses on his nose.
"B-Bijilo!? Oh... Ah, it's that time again huh? Hah..."
Sighing, the man slumped his shoulders before stepping back, revealing the exact same hall as Bijilo's.
"Alright, everyone come inside; find a seat and pour some mana into the crystal, just like you did in the Vice-Headmasters hall."
Quickly filtering into the room, we found ourselves seated in similar areas, some students wanting to change things up.
Pouring my mana into the crystal, I watched as the man, Professor Xiant, sighed as he approached the podium.
"Hah... Call me Professor Xiant; I'll be teaching you history for this year, and if you continue, I'll be your teacher again. This class will be dedicated to two main things; the Labyrinthian, and our Empire, mainly the Labyrinthian. Besides that, we'll be doing very basic monsterology, since most of the lands were formed and created to either avoid certain monsters, or to keep them out.
Now, like you could guess, this will be a more... book focused class, and there will be little hands-on activity in here. Papers, debates, quizzes... yeah, yeah, I know you find it boring, but this is stuff you need to know about. So try to pay attention please? Hah... anyways, just... don't break anything in these thirty minutes? Then you can go have fun outside with the meatheads..."
Collapsing into his chair, Professor Xiant buried his head into the three books opened on his desk, his hand blurring as he furiously scribbled something down in one of them.
"This is..."
Anput sounded despondent, sighing as she looked at Jahi.
"Please help me study; I don't know if I'd be able to stay sane in this class..."
Leone nodded, making Jahi chuckle.
"Yeah, a little group study session..."
I could already see the lust in her eyes as she said that, making me sigh.
However, if there was someone I wanted to help me study history, it would be the large bookworm in front of me.
Jahi knew her stuff, and even if she wanted to... divert our attention, we would eventually know enough to take the final early.
We fell back into discussion, the thirty minutes passing quickly as we talked about what we planned on doing next year.
Sighing when his hourglass grew empty, Professor Xiant got up, opening the door with a yawn.
"Come on, quick!"
He gestured for us to speed up, and we followed behind him as he swiftly led us deeper into the Academy.
Reaching a large set of double doors, he opened them and said "Here are the training grounds; its just a large cave, nothing fancy. Have fun!"
Making sure we were all there, the lanky History Professor bounced away, scurrying back to his books.
Entering the training grounds, we were in awe of the large cavern we found ourselves in, easily larger than a dozen of those lecture halls.
Standing in the center were three people, one of which was Liako.
Seeing us approach, they turned to stare at us.
A tall, bulky man leaned on an equally large axe, grinning at us as we got closer. His two bear ears twitched slightly, and I shuddered at the raw aura surrounding him.
Beside him was a short, thin elf, his serious face contrasting the Bearkin beside him.
On his back was a longbow, and we could see two daggers strapped to his legs. He looked every part the Elven Ranger, his piercing green eyes narrowed as he stared at us.
Lastly was Liako, her long raven black hair pulled into a ponytail as she sheathed her longsword, crossing her arms as her blue eyes raked over us.
"Ha! Look at all the fresh blood! I can't wait to see what they're like!"
"Calm down, you oversized oaf! Hah..."
The elf stepped forwards, nodding at us as he said "I am Hawn Sariel; that idiot behind me is Thorn Oakam, and this is Liako. We will be your close combat teachers."
Liako looked over at us, nodding before turning her attention back to the group.
"Each one of us is a seasoned adventurer, and we know many different styles of fighting. However, we all specialize in something; I used swords, Hawn uses daggers and ranged weapons, and Thorn uses heavier weapons, like axes and maces. Tomorrow we will do mock fights, to determine what you should focus on during our time together."
We all nodded, and this time Thorn stepped forwards, still grinning.
"Listen up whelps; this will be real training, which means it is likely you will get hurt. However, many of you are mages, some having been taught by private tutors over the years. If one of your classmates can't heal you back up, then you'll just need to go to the nurse, or preferably learn to not get injured."
Lifting the axe, he rested it on his shoulder, grinning wider as he continued.
"Besides that, we'll be doing little tournaments throughout the year, to rank each of you. There will be a... prize, for the Top Five students. so try hard, yeah?"
"Hah... we weren't supposed to tell them that till later you dolt! Fine... Yes, there will be incentives to get stronger, but they are a ways away from now. Try to find what you need to improve on first, before worrying about a high rank. Honestly, you all can either leave now or stay; nothing's stopping you. Just know that tomorrow will be much different."
Nodding, our group turned away instantly, Anput and Leone following behind Jahi.
I stopped for a second, a slight frown on my face as I looked over the students.
Someone was staring at me... and they weren't admiring me.
Shaking myself, I left, aware of the gaze lingering on me as I walked.
Hah... well, guess I already earned myself a grudge huh?
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Slow, but the start of a school year was always slow wasn't it?
Besides that, I really need to get back into a schedule; one day break, another late, and today is VERY late... man it's kinda worrying how easy it is to stop doing daily uploads...
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