Chapter 4: The Capital's School.
A couple guards stood in front of us, I haven't gone to a city before, but I've heard that to enter, you would need an ID.
"Halt! Who are you- oh wait... You look familiar... What's your name?"
Says one of the guards. I ponder, how do I get in?
"U-umm... Actually... I don't have an ID..."
I say in a nervous tone.
"What?! Then, I'm afraid that we can't open the gates."
"Wait wait wait..! The question earlier... Umm... my name's Vixen..."
"Vixen..? As in Vixen Corr!?"
"Oh, so you know about me, then?"
"Hmmm... Even if you don't have an ID... Well. I guess you could count as an exception."
"Thank you..!"
The guards opened the gates for us, the carriage moves in. It seems like I'm pretty famous, at least in this nation.
I leave the carriage and start walking around. The city is lively, and full of people, it's different from the place I lived in. I explore the city for a bit, buying new things, watching street performances, and eating delicious snacks.
After I was done with exploring, I stayed at a nearby inn for a while, later, I headed into the school where I am supposed to go to, supposedly, the entrance exams starts today.
As I enter the school building, a man sat at the front, waiting. Should I ask him about the school? I don't know much, since this is a pretty new place to me, nonetheless, I approach him.
"... Are you taking the entrance examinations too?"
He says. Oh, it's "Yuqo Zin", one of the teachers around here.
"Uhh... Yes."
I say, hopefully, I won't have to pay for anything, because that would be a bit troublesome.
"Alright alright... Vixen? Is that right? A lot of well known people really are coming here, huh..."
Hm? What does that mean?
"I see. So, do I have to pay for anything? Or do I just have to take the exams immediately?"
"No need to worry about that. Yours are already payed."
"Huh? By who?"
"Hmmm... Let's see... It says that their name is..."
He looks down a desk, he takes out a stack of paper and begins searching for something.
"Oh, there we go. Their name is... Uhh... How do you say this?"
"What is it?"
"Their name is... God, their name is long."
"Let me see."
He hands me a paper, it contains a lot of information and details, but the most important one is the name of the person who payed for me, who could it be? Is it The Rabbit of Earth? How can she even get here before me?
The name of this person is... "Himawarimegumi Yamakamikizune", what a long name..! There's no way someone could have this name, right? Anyways, who even is this person?
"Uhhhh..! Who is this?!"
"Who knows. They came in here wearing a black cloak."
"Black cloak? What a strange person..."
"I know. Anyways. Now you know who payed for you, right?"
"Yeah. I'll try to find this person later. But now... Uhhh... How do I take the exams?"
"Just go straight into the yard. It's going to start right about now."
"Really?! Okay then..!"
I went into the school yard, many students are already in here, they're lined up like an army, I walk up to the back of a line.
A man is standing in front of everyone, must be the principal here, what was his name again..? Right! "Fault Nolet" is his name.
"Good morning everyone! Welcome to Nox Academy! Whatever means for you to have arrived here, you will now prove them by passing this test! Now. Begin!"
He says. Wait, was that all? What did he want us to do?
"Huh..? Was that it?"
"What did he say?"
"Uhh... what should we do?"
The students began whispering to each other, suddenly, a sphere appeared behind Fault, it looks like a sphere of magic energy.
"Haha, sorry sorry! Your first test for now, is to make a crack, or a dent, in this sphere..! However, this is no ordinary sphere. Formed with magic energy and hard materials, it will prove difficult to break. That is, if you're not qualified enough..!"
Fault says. This should be easy, at least for me.
"Heh..! This will be easy!"
"Fireball!"
BOOM
A student casts [Fireball] towards the sphere but it deals no damage, others do the same but reach the same result.
"Hm. You are all just too weak. Earthen Spike!"
CRASH
One of them casts [Earthen Spike], wow, the sphere is actually damaged.
"Woah!! As expected of you, Ettik!"
"No way..! It worked!"
"Well... Even if i tried... My magic energy is not enough to damage the sphere..! You're just too strong, Ettik!"
Ettik? Who's that? Everyone cheered for him, have I forgotten something? I ask one of the students next to me.
"Hey..! Who's that Ettik guy?"
"Huh? You don't know?"
Know what? He must be a pretty famous person if everyone knows him, I wonder why I'm the only one who hasn't heard of him before.
"Ettik Trak is one of the greatest mages in this country! You-... You're Vixen, right? How could you not know?"
"Hmm... I see I see..."
So they're a mage? I see that they chanted to use that spell, it must mean that I'm stronger then, chanting's usually used to boost and enhance spells, but of course, since I'm too strong, chanting is useless, at least, for most spells.
"Piercing Light."
WHOOSH
A beam of light shoots through the sphere, wow, it made a hole, impressive.
"Huh?! Who did that?!"
"A hole?! I can't even make a dent!"
"N-not even Ettik could make a hole in it..! Who was the one that casted it?"
"Hey look! It's her!"
Everyone looks at the caster, hm? They have a familiar face... I feel like I've seen them before...
"H-heheh... Thanks everyone... I-I've been practicing magic for a long time now..!"
I sigh, that's a personality that I don't like. Anyways, I don't want to cause too much attention so I'll just make a little crack in it, I cast [Lightning Strike].
BOOM
"Huh? Another damage? Who did that?"
"Oh! It's Vixen! Another popular person huh..."
Yay, it worked, it was a bit difficult trying not to destroy it, but I can proceed to the next test now.
I walk back into the school building and meet a student standing in the hallways, he's leaning on the wall, who might this be? Suddenly, he began walking towards me.
"Hello there. Vixen Corr."
He says, as he stands in front of me.
"Hm? What do you want?"
I ask, arms crossed, while looking at him cautiously.
"Nothing. Just wanted to introduce myself. Im Fin Dozz. One of the top students in this academy. Your performance earlier amazed me."
Did he figure it out? Most people would think that it was the most I could do with that spell, but for professionals, they should know that it was weakened over 20 times.
"H-huh? How-..!? I mean... I didn't do anything impressive, I just made a little dent into the sphere."
"Really? Sigh... There's no reason to hide it, Vixen. I know that you've weakened yourself. I'm one of the best here for a reason."
I sigh, what's wrong with this guy? He's wasting my time, I need to get out of here quickly.
"So? what if I did? What are you trying to say here?"
"The cult."
Cult?! What is he talking about?"
"I know that you've heard of it before. I need a strong ally in order to fight the cult. You don't look like someone who would betray me, so..."
"Sorry but, I have to go to the next area. No time to waste on your childish games right now."
I walk past him, heading into the next test area, he stays silent as I make my leave, sorry for him, but I already have my own battles.
An artificial forest stood inside, everyone does the same lineup as before. Fault sat at the front, making his announcements.
"Congratulations everyone! Making it into the second test, I am truly impressed..! It seems like this year will be an interesting one. The second test will now begin! Keep in mind that this will also serve as the final test before the written exams. I wish you good luck!"
Everyone ran into the forest immediately, as expected. Also, I wonder how everyone just got here so quickly? I thought there wouldn't even be that much students passing the first test.
"Go go go!!"
"I don't know what to do yet but it seems like we need to go in there!"
I follow behind the crowds, inside the forest, medium-levelled monsters roamed everywhere, they're not a problem for me but the other students won't do well against them.
"Fireball!!"
KABOOM
"AHH!! Why won't you die!!"
The slime monster attacks a girl, looks like she doesn't understand that [Fireball] won't be effective on it. I stood there in disappointment until she noticed me.
"Huh?! Hey!! Can you give me a hand please!?"
Me? Is she talking about me? In sarcasm, I look around and point at myself.
"Me?"
"YES YOU!! HELP ME!!!"
"Fine fine... stop shouting..."
Such weaklings shouldn't be here anyways, I breathe in, aiming my hand towards the blue slime, I cast [Fireball], and it's defeated immediately.
BOOM
"E-Ehhh?!?!"
"There you go."
"How did you beat it with the same spell I just used?!"
"It's simple. I'm just better."
"How simple... Too simple even!"
I sigh, walking away into the forest. Hm? She's following me, how annoying, I don't need someone slowing me down.
"Why are you following me? Go away."
"Khu..! How cold! I just wanted to thank you."
"Really? No problem then."
"Don't just say that..! Let me tag along! I promise, I won't drag you down..!"
"Kh..! Fine."
I let her come along, eventually, we made it out of the forest, a few monsters stood in our way but I took them down immediately.
"Phew..! We finally made it out!"
What do you mean "we"?
"Oh right. I almost forgot about it..! I'm Clar! Clar Fich..! Nice to meet you, Vixen!"
"Yeah yeah. Nice to meet you too."
Haven't heard of her before, must be just a another regular student out here, though, something about her feels off... Fault stood at the front again, there were lots of students who passed too, maybe I was just underestimating them.
"Congratulations everyone, for passing the physical exams! Now it's time for the written ones..! To avoid cheating, I will be speaking to all of you telepathically!"
Telepathically? Guess I'll have to turn off [Soul Protection] then. Drawing attention to myself right now would be a bit troublesome, it's annoying to weaken myself but if I don't, it'll also be the same.
"Hello student! I'm speaking to you telepathically right now!"
Fault says, looks like it worked.
"I will now give a couple questions for you to answer! Don't even try to cheat..! I've given everyone different questions, so asking someone else will be useless!"
It isn't too long until I answered all of them perfectly, they were simple questions about magic, thanks to my knowledge and experience with magic, there was no way that I'd fail them.
"Congratulations to those who passed the exams!! Now, you are all students of Nox Academy!!. School will officially start tomorrow. Be sure to get proper rest before then!"
"Nox Academy", one of the best academies in this kingdom, it mainly teaches magic and sword fighting. Dorms were given to everyone, and of course, I had to move all my items from the inn, back into my dorm.
As I began to fall to asleep, the window opens, and I hear someone enter my room, it's already nighttime so I get up, prepared for the intruder.
"Who's there?"
Noone responds, though, I already see the person sneaking around thanks to my [Night Vision III] skill, it's Clar, what is she doing here? And at this time of night? I get up and turn on the lights.
"Ahh!! Bright!!"
She quietly yells.
"What are you doing here?"
"V-VIXEN!! OH- UMM... UHHH.."
"Well, I can't sense bloodlust from you... So..."
"Bloodlust?!? You can sense that?"
"I'll get rid of you, with force if I have to. If you don't state your reasons for coming here, right now."
"Wait wait wait!!! Alright... uhh... I was... I was just here to check on you! that's all..!"
What an obvious lie, though, it is true that she doesn't look like she has any bad intent.
"Liar. Get out of here, I'm trying to sleep."
"Right right..!"
She then leaves through the window, what a strange girl, but I should worry about my sleep first.
Zzz...
When morning rose, school resumed exactly like how I expected it be. The teacher arrived later as I sat at the back of the classroom.
"Hey there. Nice to see you."
Oh, it's Fin, he's sitting next to me, how great, I don't want a delusional person near me right now.
CRASH
"Hey! What happened!? Are you okay?!"
"Enemy attack?!"
Hm? What's this? The wall next to me just collapsed, oh, a rabbit appeared, is this The Rabbit of Earth's doing? As everyone is confused and panicking about the situation, I pick the rabbit up and find a note again.
"Hello once again, Great Wizard. It is I, the rabbit of earth. I have settled in the city now, you may find me in the sewers, don't worry though, this place is safe."
It says. Sewers? Oh, I almost forgot about it, only humans are allowed in this city, I see why she sneaked in.
"The Book of Epitomy" was useless now, since it was mostly just a book for survival, with a long list of her jokes, the most useful thing it has right now would be the item inside the book, I wonder what it is.
"Someone, fix that wall already..!"
"Got it. Earthen Wall!"
A wall of stone emerges from the ground, replacing the missing one, it was Fin who casted it. After a long silence, the teacher finally began the class.
"Ahem. Hello everyone! I will be your teacher! My name is Rloun, Rloun Coll! For today, we will only be introducing you all to the school, and your classmates of course! We'll start with... You! Over there!"
"Me? Umm.. my name is Bren Face..."
"Alright! Tell us your hobbies, things like you like, and things about yourself!"
The teacher made us introduce ourselves to everyone, the rest of the day went well, I planned on visiting The Rabbit of Earth when suddenly, a girl calls out to me.
"Hey..! Wait..!!"
I look back and see a familiar face, it's the same girl who casted [Piercing Light], what does she want?
"Hm? What is it?"
She stops in front of me, catching her breath.
"Hah... f-finally..! You stopped..!"
"And... Who might you be..?"
"It's me..! Franz Reinhard! I know who you are, haha..! You're the one who saved us from that mansion, aren't you?"
She's one of the prisoners huh. Did she come here to thank me? Wait, how does she even know I was the one who saved her?
"Follow me..! I know where Rabbit is!"
Rabbit? I see. She met The Rabbit of Earth, guess I'll follow her.