Ed took me near the academy.
I don't want classmates to know I have a connection to the HAZEN family.
Today is the last exam day.
Today we will be given a written test and practical exams.
Not to mention, with all the tension, we're going to have a review with the five professors.
It's all about those five teachers, and I'm already in their evil eye lists.
I bet I'm at the top.
I walked to the entrance of the school.
I already know I might die any minute…
The previous day, Ezabel asked me to go shopping with her, and I forgot about it, chilling with Oliver.
I walked faster to the hall.
Looking back on it, I have never been in the hall before.
The hall is the center of the academy ground.
It's so huge that voice spell accelerators and transmitter spells must be used.
The door is enormous — almost 5 meters tall.
The door I'm at is the east door.
It has six doors — four on the ground and two bridges from left and right.
There are two buildings on the left and right, and those two buildings are the ones connected to the extra doors.
I stepped in, and over 500 students are present.
I didn't know why there were this many students.
I sat down at the top place, while a lot of people were running over each other to get a spot in the front parts.
While I sat down watching every student, someone with a different school uniform came to me.
"Hey, you! What are you doing in our place?"
I looked at him with a serious gaze.
"What the heck do you want?"
He smirked.
"Haa, listen. This is our school's designated place. Go and find yours."
I didn't know what was going on, so I just stood up and excused myself.
It was pretty horrible…
The word 'designated' kept echoing in my mind. Without knowing it, I bumped into someone from behind.
She turned around with an angry face, while I turned around with an excuse face.
"Hey!! Watch it, dumb*ss!"
"Excuse me… Wait, you are… Ezabel's sister, aren't you?"
"And what does it matter to you if I'm her sister or not…"
She turned back.
"So you don't remember me…"
I looked at her while holding her shoulder.
"Would you just get the hell out of my way… Wait, you are JANE… Aren't you?"
She threw my hand and turned back again to face me.
When she was about to pass me, we locked eyes.
"You're noticing now… What a bummer."
I turned around, walking down the stairs.
Now it's her time to hold my shoulders.
As she held my shoulders, I turned around.
Her face looked a bit angry — not just angry, it was beyond that.
She was beyond angry, shouting with a raging face and that attitude.
She mumbled about why I didn't get back to her sister, who wanted to talk to me while shopping.
I forgot, and they stayed for hours there — that's what she mostly blabbered about.
But I stopped, looking dead serious.
"How bad is the situation?"
She played along.
"Too bad… maybe worse than hell."
"By the way, you know I'm a nerd."
"And what does that have to do with this?"
"Well, I mean… I believe numbers say better than words."
She cringed her face.
"So… how bad is it? Just tell me. 1 being it's okay, 10 being I'm dead."
"What if she is going to kill you, and then kill herself to follow you to hell, and kill you there too?"
"That's ridiculous… Haha."
I smiled at her.
"Where are you going now… Have you decided where to sit?"
She crossed her hands behind her back.
She is bold and confident — maybe she had a lot of experience with boys.
"Nope."
"Th—then… maybe we could sit together. Let's go to where I was going to sit."
"Sure…"
---
Moments later…
I regret my choice…
Why did I come here?
What happened was simple.
She took me to a front place after using her family name to get the jerk*ss off their seats.
How could I say no?
I mean, I accepted it.
Front places can't be that bad, can they?
As I sat down, looking straight at the stage right in front of me…
While doing nothing but watching…
I slowly hated it.
Just to let you in on the conversation, I asked her why there are so many students.
She answered, "Do you actually know it or not?" — just messing around.
I told her I genuinely don't know.
As she muttered back and forth, she decided to tell me.
What she told me was a very interesting topic.
She explained:
"As we both know, in this kingdom there are many magic academies.
From each magic academy, students are sent here.
We who took prep here are special — either we have way too ordinary talent in magic, or it's just a Nobel-to-Nobel connection."
"So over 500 students come here, but only 100 get in.
The other 400 are distributed to four different major academies."
I asked her some questions, like, "So how are they going to judge us all?"
She explained, saying that today is Friday, everything will end at the end of Sunday, and the announcement will be displayed through the Scryview.
---
°•°•°•°• INFO •°•°•°•°
Scryview — a spell that creates a magical screen for receiving and displaying images from distant places, like a fantasy TV.
---
Well, I'm going to hear the results with Ed and Riya at home…
Damn… that was the thought that vexed me.
So I'm going to enter an academy filled with magic professionals of my age.
Very interesting.
And that's how it went… until this old man came and blabbered about how to feel good if we couldn't make it in this academy.
I wished I could shout in his face:
"Nobody wants that! Just end this chat already! One single cup of beer is enough — it can even heal the ears that cried out loud thanks to your speech."
But I can't, so I screamed inside.
I need to stand when the crowd stands…
I need to clap when they clap…
It's super annoying.
So, just wasting time like that, I ended up being bored.
---
The stage bloomed with dim light.
Smoke breezed on the stage, surprising everyone.
The stage opened its ground, and a shining light rose out of it.
I felt danger — danger I never felt before.
An old man, with sharp and cold eyes, wearing church clothes, appeared right on the stage.
The very same old man that raised me like a dog…
walked me all over the pain.
"It's you… CHURCH FATHER ATHOS…"
The one and only father of the church I grew up in…
MY VERY FIRST NIGHTMARE!!