I wiped the leftover soup from my mouth with my napkin, then turned to face the unwelcome brat... Only this time, the brat had brought a much taller, much older clone of himself.
"Now, Lukas, remember what we talked about. You must be polite to your... peers."
I bet those words tasted like vinegar, didn't they, you asshat?
The man that could have only been Lukas' father was around five-ten and was built much in the same way a fencer or a swimmer would be. He had waist length dark blonde hair, dark eyes, and a complexion that almost matched his son's in color, though Lukas was a shade darker. He wore an ankle length dark-blue mage robe with golden trim over a silver vest, black buttoned-up shirt, and gaudy white pants.
He also had the same 'I'm better than you' look as his son, but that was to be expected since the walking cliché must have picked it up somewhere.
The fact that his robes had an empty sleeve on the right side due to exactly that attitude must have slipped their minds.
"You're far too kind, Mr. Malkfey." I replied while standing up and facing them.
If I was going to get stabbed, at least I could look my attacker in the eyes while they did it.
"Lord,"
"I'm sorry?"
"It's Lord Malkfey. I am a Duke, and you will address me as is proper."
...
"Funny you should mention that since, you know, I was just referred to as 'pig' not twenty seconds ago."
He grinned a too perfect smile and said, "Ah, but that is between you and my son. I have raised him to speak his mind as is his right as my heir. He will learn to reign in his tongue as he ages."
...
"Of course, I completely understand, my lord. After all, that tongue of his almost got him into trouble the other day." I replied with a grin.
"... What is that supposed to mean, child?" He asked with a cold look in his eyes.
"He didn't tell you!?" I exclaimed in mock surprise. "You should have seen him, my lord. He was foaming at the mouth, insulting the princess, insulting his peers. Why, if I was a less educated person, I would probably have said something like 'He's just like his father.'"
...
"But, of course, I would never say such a thing to you, my lord."
He went completely stone-faced as he stared down at me.
"Aren, is everything alright?"
I turned to see my father walking towards us.
"Everything is fine... Right, Mr. Malkfey?"
I couldn't react to the slap that resounded throughout the room and set my left cheek on fire. My head was knocked to the side and I jumped with the blow to give it a little more... presentation.
You've done it now.
I smirked as I hit the ground with a thud and moaned in pain.
The ballroom went eerily silent, with only the sound of my moans to fill the void that had so suddenly appeared. I heard, rather than saw the emperor, his wives, the princess, and my mother shove their way through the crowd. My mother and the princess almost simultaneously called out my name as they rushed over to check on me.
Aside from some blood in my mouth and the welt that was beginning to form on my face I was perfectly fine. Compared to Gabriel's 'work-outs' that slap was like getting hit with a pillowcase... But I had no intention of telling them that.
"What have you done, Tomas?" I heard the emperor sigh.
"The boy insulted me. I only taught him a lesson."
"A lesson that was not yours to teach, Malkfey." I heard my father hiss.
"I only—"
"Silence."
The entire room went silent at my father's command.
"Don't think I didn't hear your words to him, Malkfey. Your son has been calling my son a pig for... how long?"
"I don't—"
"Aren, How long has this been going on?"
...
"Answer me."
"A few years." I sighed.
I had no way of knowing if that was true, but it was a fair bet that it was... Besides, it's not like he'd listen to them if they tried to contradict me at this point.
"I see... We're going to have a long talk about why I'm just now hearing about this, later."
"Understood." I replied as I sat up. And immediately I wanted to play dead because of the terrifying look in my mother's eye as she stared at the lord Malkfey.
"Your majesty, I would request an arena."
"Now, Ulfric, let's talk about this—"
"Yes or No."
"Tomas?"
"Hmph." He turned stepped up to my slightly taller father. "Give us the arena. I've been dying to settle this with you for years, Ulfric."
"Very well," The emperor sighed. "A duel will now commence between lords Ulfric Ulvani and Tomas Malkfey." The Emperor motioned to a portly middle-aged man with a balding head and a full black beard that hung down to his waist. The man wore a dark gray cloak over a white shirt, black pants, and a pair of massive boots adorned his feet.
The emblem on his right breast was that of a yellow tower-shield.
The man nodded his head and with a wave of his hand, a massive transparent green dome formed around the two men.
"There will be no killing here, gentlemen. I'll not have our children's nights ruined by either of you. Is that understood?"
"Yes." Tomas replied while pulling off his robe and throwing it on the floor.
My father merely nodded his head.
"Very well, begin whenever you're ready... I've got a hundred gold on Ulfric! Any takers!?" The emperor yelled.
The gathering nobles all started yelling out their bets on who would win the fight.
...
Figures, he just couldn't stay serious for one night, could he?
The two men inside the barrier ignored the commotion going on outside and focused intently on each other.
"Lend me your power, Melte!" Tomas intoned with a wave of his hand.
His body glowed with a bright blue light as runes I could never hope to recognize appeared in the air behind him and merged into his skin.
His skin quickly shifted from a golden hue to that of fallen snow. The color of his eyes faded until it was near nonexistent, leaving him with crystal clear irises. His blonde hair turned a silverish color and what appeared to be either extreme heat or extreme cold caused the air inside the barrier to steam.
My question was answered when his previously missing arm was replaced with a nearly transparent prosthetic made entirely of ice.
"Rise and destroy my enemies, Ignis." My father intoned immediately after Tomas' transformation began.
His skin briefly glowed red as runes floated in the air behind him and merged into his skin.
His skin quickly turned the color of lava, his eyes completely disappeared beneath the mask of flames that appeared around his face, two three-foot-long devilish horns grew from his forehead and curved backward over his head, and massive glowing red bat-wings exploded free from his back.
This is what I wanted to see. This is what it meant for an expert level arcanist to battle. To fully take on the form of your contracted spirit and to fully merge your body with them... It truly was a sight to see.
The barrier bulged and shifted due to the highly concentrated mana circulating around their bodies. The extreme nature of their elemental spirits caused visibility inside the barrier to gradually worsen as the extreme cold and heat warred against each other.
A flash of blue light exploded against the barrier with enough force to surprise everyone watching. Then, a massive pillar of orange flame burst through the back of the barrier, causing the rest of it to pop like a bubble. A wave of heat so intense I felt my skin blister as it reached us seconds before the steam cleared and my father and Tomas were revealed.
Tomas was on his knees with his chin touching his chest, and I could hear him gasping for air from over twenty feet away. Meanwhile, my father's demonic appearance stared down at him for several more seconds before his spirit released its transformation and he retur
ned to normal... Albeit with a slightly singed robe.
"Control your son, Tomas. I do not wish to deprive Ziral of a mage of your talent, but I will if this continues. Do not force my hand on this."
Tomas glared at him through defiant eyes but eventually nodded his head in acceptance.
...
Then my father turned those eyes on me.
"Now, we're going to have a nice long chat about what else you're keeping from me. Is that clear?"
...
I wonder if I ran away right now and changed my name if I could live out the rest of my life as a farmer or something...
A hand on my shoulder prompted me to turn around and see the face of my mother watching me as a cat would watch a mouse.
"You will come with us, right?~"
...
I'll take that as a no...
* * *
Interlude: The curriculum
* * *
First-year curriculum
Greetings student, my name is Annika Le-Doux and I am the head-mage of the imperial academy.
I have sent this letter to you and students like you who have been put into a unique situation because of the emperor's actions.
The usual process of events we at the academy follow is thus,
Six months from now, you are meant to be brought into the academy for your M.P.E.E and are evaluated on campus. Should you meet or exceed our requirements, you would then be given your student robes and a room we have assigned to your student I.D.
Classes would then begin the following week.
However, because our glorious emperor has seen fit to preemptively test this year's students. We, at the academy, have unfortunately been caught with our pants down. Last year's students are still occupying the first-year dorms and classrooms and we currently lack the necessary space to house the four-hundred incumbent students.
So, here's what we're going to do.
Six students, led by miss Veronica Gilfer: fifth-year, will board the train and assist in getting the lot of you settled while we figure out what to do with you.
Classes for new students will not begin until the second day of Otun, as is scheduled. However, per the emperor's instructions, all new students will be housed on campus until classes begin.
Please, take this time to carefully decide which electives you would like to take, as this cannot be changed until the following academic year.
First-Year Class Schedule
Mirtas— 7:00 Mathematics 1, 8:30 History of the Empire 1, 10:00 Free Period, 11:30 Mana Theory 1, 1:00 End of day.
Tustas— 7:00 Elective 1, 8:00 Elective 2, 10:00 Free Period, 11:30 Physical Education, 1:00 Practical Mana Usage, 3:00 End of day.
Caltas— 7:00 Mathematics 1, 8:30 History of the Empire 1, 10:00 Free Period, 11:30 Mana Theory 1, 1:00 End of day.
Tiertas— Free day
Firtas— 7:00 Elective 1, 8:00 Elective 2, 10:00 Free Period, 11:30 Physical Education, 1:00 Practical Mana Usage, 3:00 End of day.
Sertas— 7:00 Mathematics 1, 8:30 History of the Empire 1, 10:00 Free Period, 11:30 Mana Theory 1, 1:00 End of day.
Sutas— Free day
Electives
The maximum number of electives a student can sign up for is two.
Please place a checkmark beside your chosen electives, or leave the page blank if you wish to opt out of the elective classes, and turn in this paper sometime before classes begin so we can properly accommodate other students.
Alchemy 1
Enchanting 1
Divination 1
Magical Beast study 1
Rune Carving 1
Rituals 1
The academy also has a martial course, so if you'd like you can opt out of one or more electives and replace it with a martial course.
Swordsmanship 1
Spearmanship 1
Archery 1
Pugilism 1
Axemanship 1
For questions, comments, or concerns, please come see me in the administrative offices at the front of the castle.
Best regards,
Annika Le-Doux, Head-Mage
* * *
Chapter 11: All Aboard
* * *
The princess and I walked through Zilren's train station, the rapid transit hub with rails that span nearly all seven-thousand miles of the empire's territory, with our bags in our hands and our heads down. Neither of us wanted to attract attention here, so we avoided bumping into people as much as possible and traveled at a steady pace. We were just two kids heading to the academy, and that's exactly the image we wanted people to see.
I'd been forced to brush the shaggy bird's nest I called my hair into a semi-presentable bed head. I wore long black trousers, a disheveled black buttoned-up long-sleeve shirt, and the Imperial Academy's standard first-year robe, which was just a solid white robe with a hood that hung down to my knees. It opened in the front and had the crest of the emperor on the left breast.
The princess, on the other hand, had cut off nearly seven inches of her hair so it would hang in straight lines to just past her chin. She was wearing a plaid black and yellow skirt, a pressed white buttoned-up shirt, and the academy's robe. Though unlike me, she wore her robe with the front closed and securely fastened.
Just from a glance, you'd never know she was the empire's princess... Which was kind of the point. The academy had one major rule that everyone had to follow if they wanted to stay enrolled in the school.
You left your title at the door.
The moment we board the train to the academy she is no longer 'Kami, the Ziral Empire's first princess.' She was just... Kami Di-Lian, first year. I honestly had no idea where they'd gotten the Di'Lian name from, but hey, it certainly fits.
Likewise, I will no longer be the son of the 'Devil of War'. I'll just be Aren Ulvani, first year.
Aside from special occasions or holidays. The academy is going to be our home for the next seven years. And we'll be forbidden from returning home until we either graduate... or are kicked out. Though being kicked out of the academy is an extremely rare occurrence, the last Aren managed to get himself kicked out as a seventh year and was disowned by the Ulvani family the next day... Such is the price of being kicked out of the academy.
We stepped onto platform nineteen and I spotted our train.
It was between twenty-one and twenty-two-hundred feet long and was supposedly enchanted to get even longer if the conductor deemed it necessary to accommodate the students. it's current twenty-one cars, not counting the engine, was made almost entirely of dark-steel and looked like the steam-powered trains of nineteenth-century earth, except for the transparent wheels made of mana conductive metal that kept it on the rails.
I had no idea how fast this thing could go, but I certainly was eager to find out.
"Kami!" A girlish voice yelled excitedly.
The two of us turned to see Shana and Carla rushing towards us with their heavy looking bags bouncing around on their shoulders.
"Why are you running?" I asked curiously.
It's not like we were running late or anything. It was slightly past seven-thirty in the morning and the train didn't leave until eight, so running made almost no difference in this scenario.
"Y-You forgot your ticket." Carla wheezed out. She held up a piece of bright yellow paper, about four inches long and two inches wide, that read '0-9-4' in bold letters, which was the train's designated number.
"Ticket?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the exact same piece of paper.
"But... I have mine?"
Then it hit me. I glanced at a red-faced Kami out of the corner of my eye and sighed.
"Thank you..." She said quietly as she took the ticket.
"Of course!"
The two girls took their places at Kami's side while I dropped back and started walking by myself.
It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to them... I just wasn't comfortable with having the attention of three beautiful girls on me.
I volunteered to take our bags to the luggage car to give me some alone time before I was most likely shoved in an enclosed space with the three of them for an unknown period of time. So I took Shana and Carla's bag in one hand and lifted Kami's bag onto my shoulder with mine.
The girls stared at the bags and then at me in what I assumed to be surprise, but I just ignored them and walked towards the back of the train.
Yeah, I'm stronger than I look. It's just one of the benefits of being a heavyset guy, I have a lot more weight to throw around in situations like this.
After arriving at the back of the train and seeing a teenage boy wearing an 'attendant' badge on his right breast. I watched as he took the names and ticket numbers of the bag owners, wrote them on tags that he then tied to the bags, then he handed them to another young man to put in the car.
I waited in line with the other students until it was my turn, then I lifted the bags and sat it on the table in front of the attendant.
"Name and ticket number?" He asked without looking up from his clipboard.
"Aren Ulvani, 0-5-1"
He ripped the ticket off his clipboard and looked at the table in front of him.
...
"Those all yours?"
"Yeah."
I didn't begrudge him for asking since it was a little weird for a twelve-year-old boy to have four bags: a plain black canvas bag, a soft white-leather bag, a purple-leather bag, and a green canvas bag with white flowers sewed into the fabric.
He looked at the bags for a few more seconds, then shrugged his shoulders and made three more tags. He attached them to each bag and informed me that I would need my ticket to reclaim the bags at the end of the trip.
I nodded my head and stepped out of the line to watch the younger boy carry them onto the train. Only after I was sure the bags were onboard did I head for the last passenger car and climb into the train.
The inside was fairly spartan in that the only thing on the walls was some off-white paint and the doors were made of extremely thin steel inset on tracks so they could be easily opened and closed by children. The only 'adults' on the train were the staff and there simply wasn't enough of them to waste time opening doors all day. Of course, older students were onboard as well, but no one expected them to stand around opening doors the entire trip either.
I'm the Bad Guy Page 8