A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Introducing his little sister to the facilities, Henry had a some final advice before sending her off inside the administration building, picking classes for himself would be in a different place than the admission of new students.

“As you can see, there’s a cafeteria, dorms, material dispensary and much more. However, none of these places accept currency. In the spirit of the founder, money should not be of value inside the academy, only merit. Hence you can earn points by exceeding in classes, taking part in missions issued at the administration building or turning in material you picked  up inside the Dungeon during classes or missions. There’s also the possibility to submit equipment you forged here under supervision, procuring them outside of the academy is not allowed.

As long as you have sufficient points, you can also buy stuff in the store, which might help you in lectures or during sparring sessions.

And finally, these words come from dad.

During your stay here, you can act as a lady from a Duke Household. You’re a Dharnas after all. As long as you don’t go against the honor of another house, feel free to hold your head high and settle everything as you see fit. If it only concerns the honor of a member belonging to the younger generation, no family is allowed to step in. You can behave as wildly as you want, if you are strong enough to back it up. Of course, I also support you in this, don’t give in to anyone, stand proud.”

Giving her a solid slap on the back, the cheerful young man pointed out the premises she had to head for and left before she could reply.

 

The concept of honor was a strange thing she learnt in court. Personally she would do everything to ensure the survival for her loved ones, yet humans seemed to place honor even over their life sometimes. One particular event she remembered involved the dispute between two barons living near the border. The son of one side had an affair with the daughter of the other side despite being married and the father of the poor girl who was discarded afterwards had demanded the adulterer to take responsibility.

In the discourse of events, the father of the man openly said the daughter must have been a harlot to seduce his heir. Insulting the honor of his family, the baron almost burst from anger and challenged the offending side to a duel with the king as a witness, steam rising from his red head.

As for the outcome, Nisha wasn’t allowed to watch but this was only one of the examples. Honor apparently was very important when even Henry reminded her to take pride in belonging to the Dharnas house inside the academy.

Even before entering the small complex attached to the registration, the dragon could already pick up two voices inside, and to her surprise they were somewhat familiar. She just couldn’t quite put a finger on it since she did not have a face to match the sound with.

“Why do we have to do this personally? This early, none of those spoiled brats will show up. Forcing me to come too, what are you thinking in your head old man, have you finally gone senile?”

Obviously a female voice, Nisha’s impression of the owner was especially fussy. The response, on the other hand, gave her a strong sense of having talked with the man before.

 

“Will you only stop complaining when I die from exhaustion? You said this so often already, the answer won’t change. Remember, Alice, after the emissary established he would be staying in Leandar, things went out of control. Just by applications alone, this year the academy will receive many outstanding young talents from all corners of the continent. As the guild, it is our duty to work together with the Royal Academy to accurately judge their talents.”

Harrumphing at his answer she had heard as often as she complained, the female voice didn’t bother anymore.

Knocking twice on the door before entering, Nisha laid eyes on the pair, seizing them up in order to identify their status.

Sitting behind a wooden table of the finest quality, a brown haired beauty with proportions approaching the size of Bael and Gabriel, she smoked a small amber pipe while being wrapped in a fine dress - the clothing emphasized comfort and being easy to wear instead of following the latest trends.

The gentleman on the other hand had white hair, a well groomed beard and wore a black suit, fitting the distinguished air he carried with himself.

As soon as the elf matched their voices with their appearances, she remembered where they met before.

 

“Excuse me, I came here in order to register for the academy, I wonder if I am too early?”

Holding the letter of introduction Luthais had prepared for her on the day before, retrieved from her [Inner Space], Nisha bowed slightly, displaying her gracefulness and courtesy.

Dressed in a fancy dress from the batch she obtained after visiting the shop belonging to  Aubrey’s family. No matter what, anyone would see the young lady of a noble family from her actions. Enduring the scanning gaze wandering over her body, the old man recovered first.

“Ah yes, this is indeed the registration, you came to the right place. I take it you brought a letter of introduction with you?

I remember to have met you in the [Eel’s Park] before, to think you were so young. Good, good, I’m looking forward to this. My name is Eyle Rotland, I represent the [Adventurer’s Guild] and we are here to issue new cards for the students, they serve as identification inside the academy and are used to collect points.

May I have the pleasure of knowing your name as well?”

Faced by only a young girl which was just registering for the academy, a lofty figure such as this capable elder politely reciprocated the face he was given.

Walking towards the desk and placing the envelope down for them to open, the dragon did not intend to hide her identity as a noble from them since she signed up at the moment.

“My name is Nisha …”

Before she could finish, a loud slam shook the table like a thunder clap.

 

“It’s you!”

Blinking at the table who now had cracks running all through it, the remnants of her documents which were torn apart with the powerful slap, and the enraged woman who pierced her with bloodshot eyes, Nisha tried to figure out if she knew this lady. Apart from seeing her once at the park where she usually plays chess, she had no recollection of having a grudge with her. The aura pressing down on her pressured her slightly, but Nisha was sure she could escape at least if the other party made a move against her. Defeating was not an option considering the powerful energy swirling around the brown haired beauty.

“Every time I have some leisure time at the end of the week, I have to get pestered by the old fools in the park, how it’s such a shame Nisha isn’t here to face me, even when I beat them all! Do you know how infuriating this is? How much I had to endure? And now you tell me the person in question is a barely grown up girl starting to attend the academy? What kind of joke is this?”

Roaring in indignation, the one called Alice earlier finally shattered the remnants of the desk, wooden splinters flying everywhere. None of the currently present cultivators bothered about them, some random debris flying around failed to even rip apart their clothes under the protection of their aura.

 

“Ah, this is bad.”

Satisfied a little that the little girl in front of her understood her troubles, even by a tiny amount, started to appease her burning anger. Alice Rotland had been living the life of a princess, the daughter of the Adventurer’s Guild held that much prestige. However …

“What do I do now? My letter is gone.”

Placing her left hand to her cheek, the elf appeared more worried about a random piece of paper than the brown haired lady boiling with anger.

Truthfully, that was just the case. In any case, Nisha decided this had nothing to do with her and even then, as long as the old man beside Alice did not take action, her situation was relatively safe, an escape possibility was there with the door behind the dragon.

“You! Good, good. You really have no idea who I am, don’t you?”

Jumping up in one smooth motion, her chair was flung far behind the woman. Revolving a dangerously bright light around her arms, Alice was just about to take it out on Nisha.

All of a sudden, the strength of the green light drained away and then vanished. Reaching out towards his daughter with an unapproving look, the old man intervened.

“This isn’t why I taught you how to fight, Alice. Restrain yourself.”

The authority in his voice even made the dragon wary, who lived more unrestrained than anyone else and didn’t even put the king who she met once privately in her mind.

Visibly deflating, the angered lady couldn’t comprehend why her own father, who usually spoiled her and doted on her unless she skipped out on work, would turn against her.

 

“Look at you, raising your hand against a girl barely half your age. Have you no shame? And how exactly is this even relevant to her enrolling in the academy? You destroyed her paperwork, what am I supposed to do now? If you want to prove yourself, challenge her in chess, don’t lose your head and start getting physical. Are you one of the brutes you usually despise so much? Really, I didn’t know you were still that much of a child.”

Looking at Alice with a cold gaze, he sat with a straight back on the single chair remaining intact in the room, giving off an even deeper pressure than his daughter earlier. Under his scolding, the downtrodden brown haired beauty was speechless, even when he left through one of the doors at the end of the room and returned while carrying a new table, albeit one of far inferior quality. After placing it down, the white haired elder even picked up the chair she flung away in the fit of anger earlier, instilling a silent sense of guilt at the same time.

However, his daughter still didn’t think she was in the wrong here and redirected some of the blame towards the elf in front of them. If it wasn’t for her, none of this would have happened!

 

“Father, I apologize. You were right, in my anger I reacted  rashly and behaved inappropriately, your intervention was adequate … but!

I’m not willing to let everything go like that, my side of the story isn’t that simple. While we’re on the topic, I have a proposal.”

Turning away from him, she faced her adversary.

“Before I apologize to you for my actions and your papers” - she ground her teeth at this point, clearly unhappy a piece of writing was considered more important than her by a junior - “it is also true you have some fault in this matter. Every single time on the Day of Darkness, you would avoid me at the [Eel’s Park]. Whether intentionally or not, this has wronged me. To settle our score, you have to play a match of chess against me, and only if you win will I accept your superiority and at the same time I will also approve of you to enroll in the academy. If you lose … hmph, I’ll think of a suitable punishment for the loser then.”

Satisfied with herself for coming up with a scheme to get back her dignity and justify the remainder of her deeds in her father’s eyes, Alice thrust out her bountiful chest, clearly challenging the girl before her, who was still growing.

 

Taken aback by the sudden proposal, Nisha had to think it through for a moment to find the exact point in time where things had gone wrong.

This morning, she went to the academy together with Henry, who taught her about the history of the city. Everything fine so far.

Afterwards, he toured the academy with her, explaining many rules she had to be wary of and generally introducing some of the basic knowledge she needed around here. Still good so far.

Then, she headed for admission while he went on to pick classes, meeting a man she played chess with in the past and his daughter, who were in charge of the registration. Replying with all due respect and manners she had been taught, the elder seemed pleased as well. No problem here.

As she introduced herself, the woman called Alice freaked out and destroyed her papers, almost assaulted her and only prevented by her father from having to flee for her life on the first day. Clearly, this was not how a normal admission was supposed to go.

Reaffirming herself that making an enemy of the blond psycho or even associating with her was a bad idea, she turned her whole body to the white haired gentleman and bowed again.

“Sir Eyle, it seems my papers are missing. I will return home and prepare another set.

Forgive my discourtesy.”

Turning around and opening the door, she almost got away before a pair of hands caught her.

“You’re not getting away that easily!”

Just like that, she was dragged back inside.