Ch. 7 - First day of school

|Start of Arc 2: First Year|

In the principal's office, Headmaster Bonner and the magical hat were having a discussion.

Cough! "Did any students catch your attention this year?" (Bonner)

"Well, the blood of the purebloods is becoming purer, and the same could be said about their limitless ego." (Hat)

"What about students outside of the nobles?" (Bonner)

"Not many." (Hat)

"That's very unfortunate. I fear that nothing will prevent the nobles from amassing more power these next few years." (Boner)

Cough!

"Anything going on in the council?" (Hat)

Sigh... "It seems that the noble families and the pure factions have allied. They're lobbying for more extreme anti-thin-blood policies." (Boner)

"It was bound to happen." (Hat)

"Sadly, that is true. It is wishful thinking to believe that the pure faction and the nobles wouldn't cooperate." (Boner)

"Any reaction from the thin-blood governments?" (Hat)

"No, not yet. But we'll probably hear something from them soon. So, hat, which non-nobles caught your attention." (Boner)

"Hmmm, there was that one beast boy by the name of Ronald Moonchaser. I believe with the right training; he can potentially awaken the moon wolf bloodline that is dormant in him." (Hat)

"How *cough* likely is he to become an ally in the future?" (Boner)

"The boy still hasn't formed concrete views of the world yet. Groom him properly, and he'll undoubtedly become a strong ally of ours." (Hat)

"Any other students?" (Boner)

"There was the elf Valde Zinyra." (Hat)

"Doesn't he belong to the noble Zinyra family, though?" (Boner)

"Indeed, however, his viewpoints are opposite with his family. Given what the Zinyra family is like, they might disown him in the future." (Hat)

"You're saying we can rope him in easily?" (Boner)

"Yes, but not easily. Unlike Ronald, he's got a much sharper head on his shoulders. It's going to take more effort to turn him into our ally." (Hat)

"So, it's not impossible. Great. Speaking of which, weren't the two of them quite close with a human boy? What about him? He must have some potential for you to have a private conversation with him in the middle of the ceremony." (Boner)

"...That boy's name is Azrail World. As for him, it's better not even to try." (Hat)

"Why is that?" (Boner)

"That kid is a good kid but grew up in unfortunate circumstances. Potential-wise, he isn't great. His blood is just pure enough to allow him to utilize magic. Beyond that, he isn't going to achieve much." (Hat)

"If that's the only problem, can't we perform the blood ceremony on him then. That would be able to increase the purity of his blood a little bit, wouldn't it?" (Boner)

"That isn't the core problem with this kid, though." (Hat)

*Cough* "What is it then?" (Boner)

"Hidden beneath the exterior of his person is a tortured soul that has found solace in a perverted belief." (Hat)

"Continue." (Boner)

"I looked through the boy's memories. Saying that he has had the worst upbringing within his grade wouldn't be incorrect. The boy believes that the world is made up of filth, and he needs to clean the filth of the world." (Hat)

"What's wrong with that? Isn't that like our belief?" (Boner)

"He believes the ends justify the means. Before being invited by the academy, he killed the bullies that had tortured him. He sees his purpose in this world as the executioner of the sinful." (Hat)

"So, you're saying he is a ticking time bomb." (Boner)

"Yes." (Hat)

"I understand now." (Boner)

----

Cock-a-doodle-do!

"Ehhh..." (Azrail)

Cock-a-doodle-do!

Welp seems like I got no chance of falling back to sleep.

*Yawn*

I drowsily exited the warmth of the covers and slipped on a pair of fresh clothes. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon. I take a look at my watch.

6:02am

"Bitch! What's the point of waking up so early! That damn rooster." (Azrail)

Looking beside me, my pet rat, named Zain, was comfortably sleeping through the rooster's crowing. I nudged him softly in the stomach a few times, waking him up. Zain looked at me with a wtf expression as he was forced to wake up.

Placing Zain, who was about the size of my palm, onto my shoulder, I left my room and entered the common room of the Basilisk House, House of the Cunning. A few other students were in the common room, looking just as tired and annoyed as I was towards the rooster outdoors. After greeting them out of courtesy, I left the common room and headed towards the cafeteria in the center mansion.

In the cafeteria, I was surprised to see that Ronald was already feasting. I assume it must have something to do with his animalistic nature. Seeing me enter the cafeteria, Ronald waved at me, beckoning me to join him.

"When did you wake up, Ronald?" (Azrail)

"Around an hour ago, why ask? (Ronald)

"Nothing, just curious." (Azrail)

Unlike the main room last night where they held the welcoming ceremony for new students, the cafeteria was smaller, and it didn't have magical, inexhaustible foods floating around. Just thinking about it reminded me of how ruthless I was on my stomach last night. Instead, one had to go towards the counter and retrieve the food themselves, which is very reminiscent of the common world.

For breakfast, the cafeteria had the typical foods. Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, etc. Nothing too magical here.

As Ronald and I were eating, more and more students started arriving at the cafeteria, including Valde, who looked just like yesterday, processing no signs of overeating last night.

"Morning." (Valde)

"Morning." (Ronald & Azrail)

"When did you two wake up?" (Valde)

"I woke up recently. Ronald woke up an hour ago." (Azrail)

"Good sleep?" (Valde)

"Yeah." (Azrail)

The three of us finished eating breakfast together and left the cafeteria when most students started showing up.

"Hey Azrail, what class do you have first?" (Ronald)

"I have History of the Magical World. You?" (Azrail)

"Same. How about you, Valde?" (Ronald)

"I also have that class first." (Valde)

"That's great! We're all in the same class!" (Ronald)

"We are probably going to be in the same class for all our classes." (Valde)

"Really?" (Ronald)

"At least for the first half of the day. During the second half, the students are taught per their skill group." (Valde)

"Well, it sounds like I'm going to be in the lowest group then." (Azrail)

"Why do you say that Azrail?" (Ronald)

"Well, I've known the world of magic for a little over three weeks now. It's only natural that I must start from the very bottom." (Azrail)

As we talked, the three of us gradually arrived at our first class of the day, History of the Magical World.

----

Ring!

The bell for the start of class just ringed. Including the three of us, there were around twenty students in the class. It seems like the school splits the freshmen into several different smaller classes to teach.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

From the entrance of the room walked in a gentleman carrying a black briefcase. He carried himself with class and dignity, wore formal clothing and a monocle. He was dark-haired and had a handlebar mustache. I suppose that he was in his mid-thirties.

"Hello students, I am the professor of the History of the Magical World. Please refer to me as Professor Godfried. Now please open your textbook and turn to page 32, magicians before isolation." (Godfried)

I opened my textbook and flipped to page 32 as instructed. Unit one, magicians before isolation, started on page 32. Quickly reading the introduction of the unit, it was about how the ancient people of magic lived when they still hadn't separated from the thin-bloods.

"I will begin my lecture. I advise you to take notes. They will be of tremendous help to you when the exams roll around." (Godfried)

"Before I start my lecture, I would like to explain why we are studying history. Many students believe that learning history is a waste of time because they can't apply the knowledge. For those who share this belief, you are either very uninformed or just retarded. We learn history to learn from our past and to learn from the mistakes our ancestors had made. Those who do not learn from their mistakes are losers, and that is why we need to learn our history." (Godfried)

"Now, I shall start the unit." (Godfried)

"As many of you probably already know, the wizarding world and the common world were not always separated. A long, long time ago, beast people, elves, dwarves, thin-bloods, magicians, witches, and so on lived together on the same plane. In the first unit, we will learn what life was like back then and eventually why we, beings closely knit to magic, decided to separate from the thin-bloods." (Godfried)

——

"Wow, that class was very boring." (Ronald)

"If you had paid attention to the class, maybe it would have been more interesting, Ronald" (Valde)

"Azrail, what did you think of the class?" (Ronald)

"I found it interesting. Everything sounded so surreal to me." (Azrail)

"Just wait till we start learning about the first planer war. You'll be amazed." (Valde)

The three of us gradually made our way to our next class, Study of Magical Creatures. Unlike our previous class, the Study of Magical Creatures was located outside. Upon stepping outside, we were reminded that the school was located on top of a snowy mountain. Inside the academy, one couldn't tell that it was below freezing outside.

Quickly shuffling our way across school grounds, we finally escaped the cold when we entered the "classroom" of our next class. The "classroom" resembled the inside of a barn more than anything else. In fact, it was probably a barn that was repurposed to serve as a classroom. The only essential difference between this barn and typical barns would be the podium, a blackboard, and several chairs in the middle of the room. The most significant difference, though, would be the several atypical creatures locked in the cells. Many of them looked alien in nature, or in this case, magical in nature.

Ronald, Valde, and I sat down on the seats near the back of the classroom. Some students had already arrived and were sitting in the chairs waiting for class to start. As we were waiting for class to start, most of the other students started coming. Like us, they too suffered from the cold and were finally relieved to enter the warm classroom.

Wham!

The classroom door swung open along with a gust of cold wind. Everyone shivered involuntarily when the cold gust swept past them. Entering the classroom was a giant of a man. He wore a thick, brown coat that reached his knees, had long messy hair, and a massive beard with icicles dangling forming at its tips.

In a deep and booming voice, the giant announced, "Sorry I'm late, children. I got caught up with personal matters on my way here." (???)

As the giant stomped into the barn, I could see that he was towing something behind him. Only when the giant hauled the object into the barn did the identity of what he was pulling become evident. The thing was a giant alligator-like creature. It must have been bigger than a car! Besides looking like an alligator, it had many distinct traits that separated itself from the alligators I was familiar with. Not only was the creature's scales bluer in color, but it also had deer-like antlers on its head and had a whopping two tails. Sharp dagger-like scales protruded from the ends of both tails.

The giant dragged the alligator-like creature and tossed it – gently – in one of the bins located on the left side of the barn. In the process of doing so, I could hear the giant mumbling a few words to the creature.

"Alexia…you can't be sneaking out of the barn on your one now, mate. Fortunately, I found you first before she did else I would have to suffer another day's worth of yelling and complaining." (???)

After scratching the underneath of the creature's chin for a few moments, he turned around to face the bewildered class and introduced himself.

"Ahem. Hello students, I am beast-tamer Joseph, your instructor on the Study of Magical Creatures Beasts. Now before class officially starts, could you promise not to tell anyone of the events that had just transpired? And I need you to sign this agreement so that I won't be liable if you get injured or die in my class. Thanks!" (Joseph)

The entire class immediately started panicking.