I'm not alone on my break for long. Not even a minute after I've left the class, someone catches up with me. "Excuse me. A moment, please." It was the pale blonde girl again.
And now that I finally get a good look at her in the sunlit hallway of the school. I must admit. She might be the prettiest girl I've ever seen. She looked like a teen model. Stunning in every sense of the word. A dream partner for any boy her age.
Sharp, scarlet red eyes, the first thing anyone looking at her face would immediately notice. Her eyes also help to draw attention to her elegant yet delicate facial features. Framed by her flowing pale-blonde hair that shimmers like spun silver in the light, it definitely gave her an ethereal appearance. Like she was some untouchable goddess.
Of course, I don't particularly care what she looks like. `I'm not interested in minors like so many other iseaki main characters seem to be.` So I just quirk an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?"
But unlike what I expected, she didn't come after me to debate or try to discredit my answer. She didn't even come to cuss me out or belittle me. Instead, she respectfully asked me for the rest of the answers. "Would it be all alright if you explained the rest of the answers to me now?"
Her question only made me raise my eyebrow higher in confusion. "Why? I'm about to explain all the answers during the next hour anyway. So just wait a bit and I'l-"
She interrupts me with a hint of urgency in her voice. "Please. Tell me now. Just a hint is enough. I would be willing to compensate you for your help." The suddenness of her offer to compensate me leaves me stunned for a second.
`What? Huh?`"Huh?" My surprise was clearly evident on my face. But she doesn't let up. "Please. I j-" Her words are cut short, however, when a loud female voice echoes through the hallway from behind me.
"Ahh. Elira. There you are." The words instantly cause the girl, who is called Elira, to freeze in place. A flicker of fear passed through her eyes, that is quickly masked by trained composure.
Not fast enough for me to not see it, though. SoIi turn around and check what scares her so about that person down the hall. Who is unmistakably her mother. They look almost identical. Except her mother has a certain coldness to her.
Looking at me with clear disdain as she walks up to us. Just barely sparing me a glance before she speaks with her daughter. "So? I assume you know why I am here, girl?" *Her words instantly cause my eyes to start twitching.
The way she said, Girl. So full of venom. That is just no way to speak to her own child. Or any child, really. Even if the child did something wrong. `If she talked to me like this, I would definitely crash out.`
Elira, however, remains calm. Or rather. She looks defeated. Hanging her head low in shame. "Please, Mother. Can we not-"
Her words are once again cut off by her mother with a harsh gesture. "Do not talk back to me. We are doing this wherever I please." She tears into a shame-filled Elira.
Who just hangs her head even lower. Like she was trying to disappear into the ground. But this wasn't just a normal kid getting caught red-handed in doing something wrong or messing up. The way Elira trembled filled me with tension.
"We've spent years preparing you for this exam. Yet you only come in fourth? Fourth? How much do you want to embarrass us, you useless wench?" Tension that only grew stronger with every word she said. But before I can say or do anything, she continues spitting her bile.
"Do you know just how much money we spent on you? Spent on you getting into this academy. Yet you disgrace us like this." She reached out and grabbed Elira's chin. Lifting her head as she wound up a slap. To which Elira just closes her eyes. Like she was used to it. Like it was normal for her mother to just slap her in public.
But that was enough. My hand shoots out and wraps around her mother's wrist at the same time as I speak up. "Now just hold on. What the fuck do you think you are doing?"
My interference, of course, comes as a big shock to her mom. She had probably completely forgotten about me. Too caught up in her tirade. In her attempt to tear down her daughter completely. But I won't let her do as she pleases.
"Scolding someone if they did something wrong is one thing. But insulting and even raising a hand against your own child? Are you insane?" I yank at her hand and force her to let go of Elira.
Who stumbles backwards with the sudden release and goes back to just looking down again. Like she still expects to be punished by her mother. Unaware that I won't let that happen, even if I have to fistfight her mom. Because child abuse is absolutely nothing to joke about. And I'll stop it wherever I see it. Even if it means getting into trouble.
Which, as it turns out, I am now. In deep trouble. "You filth! How dare you touch me? Do you not know who I am?" `Even if I didn't want to know. I feel like you are gonna tell me anyway.`
Because, as it turns out, she was someone very important. "I'm Queen Serenya Veydris of the Járneldaríki (Jar-nel-da-riki). And I will personally see to it that you are punished for this. You dirty brat."`Ahhh. Shit.` Fate throwing me yet another curveball.
But one of the few things I'm good at has not changed. And it never will. And that is my ability to roll with the punches. "So? Is that supposed to give you a free pass to abuse and hit your child? I'd like to see the law where it says that. Because I can't imagine Eidralûn permitted you to abuse and hit one of their precious students."
My comeback was on shaky legs at best. I'm fairly certain that no one would actually intervene if she decided to beat her child purple right here. Or even if she beat me. The Járneldaríki (Jar-nel-da-riki) is the largest and most powerful kingdom on Draumond. It controls most of the West and parts of the South of the continent.*
And she was the queen of that nation. So if she threw her weight around, I'd be in deep shit. So it would have undoubtedly been smarter to apologize and back down. But that's just not who I am.
However, what happens next is as unexpected as it is hilarious. Instead of shooting back, Serenya just looks at me, stunned. Gasping like a fish out of water. Clearly not expecting me to talk back after she dropped the fact that she was the Queen.
"I... What... You…" She stammers before collecting herself hurriedly. "Who do you think you are, talking back to me? You just signed your own death warrant." To deliver another threat. But this one was shakier than the ones before. Her face flushed. Serenya was clearly flustered.
Seeing this. Recognizing this weakness, I strike again. "My name is Daniel Blackwell. From the house of Blackwell of the Ís smíðaðir. (Is smi-dar)" I introduce myself with a theatrical bow and a playful wink. To throw her off even further. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady."
And my plan works. Her flustered state only got worse. "Who?" She asks with a confused expression. Obviously, not knowing my family name. But she is backing away ever so slightly. `Why would she? I'm just the son of a baron from a whole different kingdom. No way she knows me or my fam.`
"That's funny. That was my reaction to your name, too. Queen who?" And I know how to exploit her shaken state. By attacking where it hurts her most. She was, after all, clearly the type of person to throw her name and status around whenever she didn't get her way.
So pretending that I don't know her will hurt. As that would leave her with nothing in the current discussion. Except for her own verbal skills. Which are lacking since she isn't used to anyone arguing back. "To think a queen is this badly behaved." I shake my head disapprovingly.
Before expressing sympathy for the people she is sworn to safeguard and guide. "I hope the citizens of the Járneldaríki (Jar-nel-da-riki) are alright." My voice was dripping with fake concern. As I really lay it on thick.
More than enough to make her go beet red and shake in anger. The slap she tries to give me is easily dodged by just leaning back. But because she swung so hard, she tripped and stumbled against a window. Where, for a second, she remains to catch her ragged breath before she stomps off in defeat. "I swear you will regret this." Not before spitting out one more threat towards me. Before finally stalking off to lick her wounded pride
It's a threat that I should probably take seriously. It was made by a queen, after all. Yet I just can't find it in myself to do so. So I just shrugged my shoulders and turned back to Elira. Who had remained frozen so far.
But finally, she looks up. Not at me. Instead, she watches her mother leave with an unreadable expression. Before turning around herself and walking away. Probably back to class.
Not even so much as a thank you escaped her lips. Not that I mind. It was my choice to get involved after all. So it was also my decision to deal with the consequences of my own actions.
`Eh. I don't need thanks anyway.` I shrug my shoulders again before I turn in the direction her mother left. With plans to go outside. But at that exact moment, the bell rang to signal that break time was over.
"Bruh." So with a sigh, I turn back around and walk after Elira to class. Where we go right back to answering the remaining four questions of the first exam sheet.
`It seems like no one else had left the room. That's good. So at least no one else saw that altercation outside.` If anyone. Especially those who thought themselves better because of their rank had seen how I talked to Elira's mom; they would probably have lost their mind.
A baron talking back and insulting a queen probably doesn't happen all that often in this world. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I really shouldn't have talked shit either. But too late now. So instead, I go back to explaining my answers. In two ways. The simple and straightforward way. Or the bare minimum to pass away. And the more intricate way. Where I explain the phenomena with chemistry and science.
"The second question is, a mage causes an iron rod to float mid-air without using any Aeromancy, Gravitas, or Motus magic. By what means did he achieve this?" I read the second question off with the same tone I had used before.
Retaking the attention of the people. Even Elira, whom I thought would be depressed, seems eager to listen to my words. Her eyes never leave me as I go back to explaining my answers. "Again. The answer is simple. It's obviously Electromancy."
She wasn't the only one who watched me like a hawk, though. Everyone, including Calveth, did. "But now the question is how he achieved the feat in question. And the answer to that is magnetism."
While the answer to this question was easier than the answer to the first question. It was more difficult to explain magnetism. Not the concept. But showing it was a bit more complex.
But if it were just simple, practical experiments to showcase fundamental forces, I could do it easily enough. "I'm sure you've all experienced magnetism before." I explain while I gather what I need for a simple experiment. To showcase magnetism and how it can explain the answer to the question.
Trying not to veer too far off topic and suddenly start talking about concepts this world might not know about yet. Like atoms and such. "You've all seen a compass or played with magnetic toys before. Magical and otherwise."
And I do this with the simplest method I know. Grabbing an iron needle from a pin Calveth helpfully provides and magnetizing it. By rubbing some coarse fabric over it repeatedly in one direction. "We can magnetize something through static electricity."
I then use the magnetized needle to move one of the iron coins I had in my coin pouch. It wasn't much, of course. The magnetic charge in the needle was too weak to do much. But it, coupled with my explanation, was enough to show everyone what I mean.
"As you can see, it's as simple as that. In this case, to move the iron coin, I didn't even use any magic. So, as you can imagine, using electromancy would easily allow someone to make an iron rod float mid-air."
The reactions I received, however, were less awe and wonder this time. But I'm not surprised by this. Most, if not all, people here had obviously played with magnets before. They weren't blown away by my experiment.
They simply failed to make the link between electromancy and magnetism during the exam. Probably because they were stressed out from the first question and the threat of failing the exam.
And this was similar for the rest of the questions. The third one was: "A mage spins a metal disc using Motus Magic. It suddenly catches fire, but the mage has not cast any pyromancy spell. What happened?"
The answer was that the disc spun so fast that the friction of the motion ignited the surrounding air. The mage made denser using aeromancy. I showed this by simply striking two coins together to explain motion and kinetic force, and how they can cause sparks.
The other students at this point caught on to the fact that the first five questions were actually the easiest in the whole exam. It was simply the way they were written that tricked most people into thinking they were hard.
They were trick questions essentially. Requiring only simple thought and basic understanding. `You can't even call that thinking outside the box for real for real.`
"A mage creates a small localized thunderclap without using electromancy or pyromancy. By virtue of what did this happen?" Was the fourth question.
But this time, when I asked for the answer, someone else actually did my job for me. It was Selvan. Who explained that the mage simply used Motus Magic to compress air to create the sound? Which, of course, was the correct answer.
This showcase was by far the simplest of them all because all I had to do was clap to prove Selvan's answer correct. As my clapping motion essentially did the same as the motus magic in the problem.
And the last question was no more difficult than the others before it. In fact, the answer to it was kind of similar to the first question. "A mage makes a stone floor crack open without using geomancy or gravitas. How did he achieve this?"
Except that in this case, the answer was simple heat transfer. The mage simply heated up the ground quickly using pyromancy. This caused the stone to rapidly expand. Hence the cracking.
The practical showcase is simply done with water in a cup that Clevath heats up with a weak pyromancy spell. While we watch it expand and overflow from the cup. At just about the same time as the bell rings for our second break of the day. And time for lunch at the cafeteria.
---
"So? What did you think about him?" Long after classes had wrapped up for the day, Malrik had called for a certain someone in his office. A certain someone, of course, being none other than Calveth Drosain. Teacher of the first-year prestige class.
"I couldn't… Or rather, I didn't try to understand you before. But now I can see why that boy caught your attention. He is definitely different." At this, Malrik sat up in his chair. Curiosity sparking to life in his eyes. "Ohhh? How so?" He asked excitedly.
Excitement that only grew stronger with Calveth's answer. "He didn't just explain the questions to the other students with a confidence no one could expect from a fifteen-year-old. He even showcased the principles behind the answers through experiments using everyday objects."
"Ohhh? What did those experiments look like?" He requested while leaning ever closer towards Calveth. How shrank back a little at the attention thrown his way by Malrik. But a small smile came to his face anyway. "I figured you would ask about that. So I noted them all done for you to do by yourself. As well as writing down the explanations Adept Blackwell gave." Since he already knew Malrik would like to run the experiments himself.
"However. I believe there is still more to him. Even while explaining these complex concepts, it seemed like he was holding himself back. Like, there was much more he knew about these things." Calveth adds while running his fingers through his beard. "I will definitely keep an eye on Adept Blackwell, as you suggested I should." Malrik's grin widened at Calveth's words.
Though it was only partially because of the old Magister's agreement. It was mostly because of the stack of papers before him that he was happy. He couldn't wait to look and see just how intelligent the student who had caught his eye was. How different someone with a powerful soul like him thinks. So even before Calveth is fully out the door, he is already gathering the materials to run the experiments mentioned in the notes Calveth brought him. Excited to see what will happen. Like a child on Christmas Eve.