"Why is the professor so late?" Penelope's sigh echoed in my ears.
"Who knows." Denis shrugged. "It probably has to do with the kid that was with him."
"What makes you say that?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
We were waiting in the lecture hall for the professor to arrive. It had already been 10 minutes since the scheduled time for the lecture.
A few personnel from the academy passed by the lecture hall's door. They were wearing black uniforms, exposing their identities as neither students nor professors. They were faction members.
Students were conversing loudly, mostly about the professor being late.
This was the third lecture of the day, at around 1:30 PM.
Professor Damian's lecture.
*Creak*
The door of the hall suddenly made a soft sound.
From behind it, a man covered in a light blue uniform stepped into the lecture hall. Rings set with different gems adorned each of his fingers. His white teeth shone brightly as he grinned ear to ear.
For some reason, despite the grin, the man had a gloomy aura around him.
He glanced at Denis, Penelope and me. It was a short glance, but it had meaning behind it.
It was almost full of assessment. The glance had a confident vibe behind it, like the man knew all about us.
I swallowed and leaned forward.
The lecture hall had no wind, yet his blue robe fluttered as he walked slowly towards the podium most professors gave their lecture on. A few voice amplification spells were cast as he reached the middle.
Voice amplification only required one circuit. He had layered at least three.
Denis looked at me and Penelope, wanting to see if we also noticed.
I nodded.
'It seems like every professor now knows about us. Is that good or bad fortune?' I chuckled a bit.
"You may go out. Professor Damian has taken a leave for the day," The man spoke, his grin contorting with each word. His lips moved half a beat off. No one else seemed to see that.
'Did I imagine it?'
The words caused an uproar in the hall. Students had paid extremely exorbitant tuition fees, how could a professor just skimp out on his class?
"Not only was his first lecture delayed, you also now want to cancel his second lecture?"
"Why would the academy even employ such an incompetent mage?"
"The mage of the century when he can't even give a lecture properly."
All of them had seemingly forgotten about Professor Damian's performance in the first lecture.
A student got up from his seat and directed a question to the man.
"If I may ask, what is the reason for his absence?"
The other students quietened down when they heard him.
The man's grin faltered at the question. One of the rings on the man's right hand flickered faintly then. His grin regained its luster almost immediately.
Denis's eyes flinched slightly.
My brows furrowed in confusion at that. Did he recognize the ring?
"We were given no reason. However, I can confirm that this will be the last time this happens. I swear on my pride as a magician." The man's words did little to calm the students. Again, the man's lips moved half a beat too slow. This time, his tone was slightly deeper as well.
It was unmistakable now. The words left his mouth early, his tone differed with every word.
Was it even him speaking?
"If this professor's third lecture is cancelled as well, or even if he's just late, I'll make sure my father hears of this." A student sitting in the front wearing a uniform marked with a strange sigil threatened the man.
A noble.
That sigil. House Namil.
I grit my teeth, having been reminded of that 8th-circle mage.
I had always hated nobles. This house, especially so.
Shaking my head, I quickly calmed down.
While Arcadia Magic Academy prided itself in its equality, a noble's threat certainly still carried a lot of weight.
The man snickered at the words, but he didn't say anything.
He stood at the door and started talking to a few faculty members clad in a black uniform. The same ones that had walked past the lecture hall a few minutes ago.
"Guess that's that." Denis shook his head in disappointment.
My chest tightened. Was it really a coincidence that Professor Damian was absent the same day the 'dream' happened?
After Penelope's remark that the day felt heavy, I was sure that I wasn't the only one that had experienced it. If I, a student, was able to feel and completely remember it, I doubt a high circle mage wouldn't notice.
That could be why Professor Damian didn't give his lecture. Did he really deem it of such importance that he had to cancel his lecture?
'Dream' might not be the correct word.
A laugh echoed in the hall. It was the blue-robed man.
Well, the first lecture was also delayed, that hinted at a bigger problem overall.
Maybe the 'dream' also happened before the first lecture, but I just didn't notice because my mana hadn't awakened back then. Whether it was my mana that allowed me to stay aware or something else, I couldn't tell. But it was the only explanation that fit.
*KSHH*
A chair scraped the ground loudly.
Students had started leaving the class in droves, a lot of them sending a glare to the man and faculty members he was talking to.
I sighed and got up.
Penelope shot me a stare. "Where are you going?"
"I... Have some business to take care of." I said, my eyes locked onto the red-haired girl in the corner of the hall.
She wasn't packing up, instead still talking to her books. During that entire debacle, she hadn't given any reaction.
In the dream, the area she usually sat in had a feeling of wrongness around it. It was also where I had found the dragon fairy tale in the dream.
The area no longer felt strange, yet my mana stirred uneasily whenever I looked there.
I didn't know if the strangeness of that area was because of her, or just a coincidence. But I had to find out.
She was the biggest clue, and also the easiest to reach.
Denis stood up. "We should leave. There isn't anything to do here anyways."
Penelope nodded and got up from her seat.
"Don't be too late, and don't forget about the mage." Penelope left me a reminder as she walked out of the lecture hall with Denis.
She didn't tell me where we would meet, but I guessed it was the library. No better place to discuss something secretly.
I started approaching the red-haired girl's area. All the desks around her were completely empty.
"Hey." A student called out to me from behind.
I almost jumped when I heard it.
Turning around, surprise filled my face.
"Denis? Didn't you just leave with Penelope?"
"Yeah, I just forgot something. Also, you shouldn't reach out to that girl."
"What made you think I was going to do that?"
Denis stared at me weirdly.
"You've been eyeing her the entire time."
"...Why shouldn't I talk to her?"
"You might not know since you never went to the cafeteria with me and Penelope before yesterday, but she has a bunch of rumors surrounding her." Denis leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"Like what?" I found it ridiculous that Denis didn't want me to talk to her because of some rumors.
The rumors must've been quite bad considering that no one wants to sit around her.
"They say she practices witchcraft. Some even say her mana changes properties depending on who's sensing it!" Denis lowered his voice even further.
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"Oh come on man. Can't you see her talking to her books all day?" Denis stared at me like I was an idiot. "The academy administration has called upon her more than once already."
"Go on, strike up a conversation. You'll soon understand what I meant."
His tone went cold at the last sentence.
Denis went to his desk, grabbed something, then left.
I kept looking at him until he passed by the faculty members.
My eyes met the blue-robed man's.
He tilted his head slightly, smiled, and then waved warmly at me, before resuming his talk with the faculty.
My body shuddered at his actions.
Still, I couldn't afford not to interact with her.
Walking towards her more slowly this time, I noticed the light around her was dimmer. The air thickened, as if something enormous slept nearby.
While that did make me a bit apprehensive, I knew that I had to approach her.
Her body stilled when I entered the abandoned circle-like area of desks around her.
No words left her mouth anymore, no pages turned after that.
My mana screamed at me to run away as far as possible. I felt like prey staring at its natural predator.
Sweat piled up on my back.
A sigh soon left her mouth as she raised her head to look at me.
Her deep scarlet eyes settled on me. It was unnerving. Her beauty felt suffocating, her eyes felt judging.
"What do you want?"