Chapter 63 - Kelaila Shadow & Hidden Intentions

“Hmm, interesting. It seems that the globe cannot determine your affinity, though I can see that you have magic in you,” the superior of the administrator said. “Perhaps you have a variant of one of the four common affinities, though the globe should have told us of which affinity the variant belongs to.”

The thin man with the mustache—the superior—muttered to himself for a while. “The globe does not seem defective either.”

“Ahem,” the younger administrator coughed loudly, trying to catch his superior's attention.

“Ah right, right,” the thin, older man said, turning toward me. “The administration shall put you as undetermined for now. It could be that you have a unique magic that is blocking the globe's magic. Anyway, Alzeroth has told me of your role as a bodyguard for student Calina, so we need not really determine your magic, as you will be a special student, an exception you could even say.”

“Ah, thank you,” I said in a polite tone, while thinking of the disaster I had narrowly avoided. It was a good thing, for I had doubts about taking on the majority of the mages in Shail Kingdom. That would have been plain suicidal.

There was a fierce light in the older man's eyes as they look upon me. “I would, however, love to help you find out what your magic is. Sadly, I do not have the time. Perhaps, later...when I am free...”

“Ahem.”

“Right, right. That will be all. You three may go obtain your class schedules and find out your dorm rooms now. It should be fairly quick, I believe.”

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“Fairly quick,” turned out to be a relative term. It took another hour for Phan Tsu and Calina to obtain their class schedules and for the three of us to obtain our academy-provided housing rooms.

All of our rooms, as it turned out, were near each other. Phan Tsu had room 324, Calina had 327, and I had 328.

As for me, I did not have a class schedule because I was a special student. Instead, I would be accompanying Calina to her classes.

There were, I found out, no distinction between the academy rooms. Almost all of them were single rooms with a bed, a set of drawers, a chair, a work desk, and a small bathroom. Likewise, my room was no exception.

The prim woman whom we had spoken to for our rooms had also said that every student is only allowed to wear academy uniforms. No other garments were acceptable, because each student will be provided four sets of academy uniforms, even sleep wear and shoes. This rule was to be effective immediately the day after tomorrow, when classes would begin.

Ah yes, it also seems that each academy room can only be opened by the designated student living inside it. The doors were designed to imprint each student's unique magic signature, which was done through a flat circular disk of a silver hue given to each student. After the imprinting was done, the disk would no longer be needed.

An interesting magic, I must admit. I was curious as to how it worked.

I sat down on the simple chair inside my room. But before I could ponder about what to do next, I heard a knock on the door. I had a pretty good idea as to who it was before I even opened the door. After all, I could count the number of students who knew me here on one hand. That, and I had never been to this place before. Hah.

“Hello, slave.”

I looked at the expressionless girl in front of me, contemplating on what she wanted. Her short black hair was as neat as ever and there was a small hair-clip in the shape of a wolf affixed to the side of her hair.

Yes, as I said before, I am a very observant dragon.

“Hello, Calina,” I said politely. I figured I should no longer keep on calling her mistress as that would attract attention. It would be unwise to do so when I had dark plans broiling in my mind, all of them geared toward vengeance.

Calina softly sighed at that. “I suppose I should tell you the real reason I brought you here as my bodyguard. It would leave a distasteful feeling if you were to die without knowing why.”

“Die?”

“Father,” she continued, undeterred by my question, “is in a conflict with a few other northern nobles. Fearing that I could be in danger, he has tried multiple times to assign bodyguards for me.” Her grey eyes turned hard as they looked into my own green eyes. “I declined them all. Still, he kept on assigning bodyguards. Finally, I became fed up with it and chose my own guard, namely you, since I had heard a bit about you.”

There was a small pause before she continued. “It is disgusting that there are so much rivalry between father and the other nobles. This was the cause of my mother's illness too.”

Calina fell silent, unwilling to supply more information.

I ventured a guess. “Assassins?”

She hesitated, a little unsure, before nodding briefly. It made me believe that assassins were probably just a small part of what she was not saying.

“You must guard your life too, since you have chosen to accompany me. It seems to me that you are not deterred by names or insults. I have tried multiple times and given you many chances over the past few days to make you leave me.” Calina gave a small, weak laugh. “You, however, are stubborn beyond belief. Or you could be just uncaring. I do not know what to make of you.”

Calina walked closer toward me, until we were barely apart from each other. Then she went on her tip-toes and laid a small kiss upon my left cheek. There was a hint of a blush on her face as she half-attempted to avoid my eyes. “Right...also, you need not guard me. I give you free reign over yourself. You decide.”

After saying that, Calina left in full haste, not even looking back once.

My left hand consciously went toward my left cheek, at the spot where she had kissed me. It had been a chaste kiss.

“Hmm...” I spoke softly to myself, “I had not expected this.”

I closed the door to my room and went back to sit down on the chair. I had a small appointment tomorrow to undergo measurements for my uniform, but Calina's revelation had left me much to ponder about. I was missing many pieces of information about the political situation the northern region was in. The most important question, however, was—

Would this affect Malice or even the eastern region of Shail Kingdom? Perhaps the rivalry between the northern nobles was only a herald, an undercurrent to something far greater?

Ashes. I dislike lacking information.

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Night passed quickly after a meal at one of the many cafeterias in Shail Mage Academy. The softness of the freshly baked bread, the savory taste of the potato and chicken soup, and the perfectly grilled beef were a delight.

I soon noticed from the many stares we received that Phan Tsu and Calina were quite a famous duo around the academy. Collectively, they were known as the “Master and Pet” duo among the students. Both of them were also counted among the academy’s few unique magic users—mages who were blessed with rare and distinct magical abilities.

My white hair, along with Phan Tsu's collection of wooden puppets that ranged from doll-sized to as tall as three feet, did nothing to reduce the attention we attracted. “Dog,” “Pet,” or as I preferred to call him, Phan Tsu, had also dyed his bright pink hair jet-black after Calina mentioned she didn’t like his previous hair color. She also said that long hair didn’t suit him, so he had cut it short.

It seemed to me that Calina had become much friendlier lately. Was it because of her earlier confession about why she had chosen me as her bodyguard? Oh well, there was no point in wondering about such small things.

Through some conversations I overheard, I learned that Phan Tsu’s unique magic was the ability to animate wood—a variant of the common earth magic affinity—with just a touch. There were limits, of course, such as needing to maintain contact with the wood and a restriction on size; once the object grew past a certain point, it became impossible for him to control with his current magic capacity.

Calina’s unique magic was Augmentation, a type of magic that allowed her to strengthen her own power or enhance the magic of others. There were limits to her ability as well, but she hadn’t explained the specifics to me.

This, more or less, was how the night went before we all retired to our rooms.

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[271 Days Remaining]

“Is this really necessary for taking my measurements?” I asked in an indifferent tone while the female tailor measured my half-naked body; to be precise, my waist.

The woman currently measuring my waist was a big-breasted female of perhaps twenty-six or so. She had bright, blonde hair and a pair of glasses nestled on top of her high nose. Her light blue eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“Of course,” she said, her hands deftly touching my chest and waist. The tailor then proceeded toward my shoulders. “I heard about a slight disruption that occurred yesterday at the administration. Was it you?”

I was about to answer, but the woman cut me off before I could even begin.

“That was a rhetorical question, love. You are the only student with white hair in this academy.”

“I see.”

“Haha, I like your attitude, love,” the tailor said, her free hand slapping my ass.

“...”

“I see you do not like that,” the tailor said, her hands ruffling my hair similar to the way one would do to a pet dog. “Oh gosh, how is your hair so silky!”

“Please. Do not do that again.”

“Hah, you are so shy, love,” the tailor said, putting away her measuring tool. “Alright, I am finished with you now. Your sets of uniform shall be delivered to you just like all the other students this afternoon.”

That was how my morning appointment with that female tailor of the Mage Academy went. She had been, to say the least, a very direct woman. Befitting of her pretty and confident appearance, I suppose. But what did I know?

Women are strange creatures. Trust me on that.