A Brief Encounter (Part 1)

"We need to talk'', said the emerald-haired young woman.

Her lips were tomato red and thin, symmetrical on either side. Her appearance could only be described as elegant and extremely beautiful.

However, despite her noble looks, she had a strange, rude way of speaking, as if she was angry all the time. There was also a certain disinterest in her voice, and the sentences that came out of her mouth had a relatively monotonous cadence as if she were a character in a written novel.

"My name is Celeste, Celeste Lotus Silverin of the noble ducal house Silverin," she gestured with her hands and then rubbed the back of her head nervously. ''This may have seemed sudden, and my tone certainly wasn't suited to the situation, but it's a pleasure to meet you Kailan Rhaast.''

Kailan nodded in agreement, but inside all, he managed to do was let out an unintelligible grunt. Assuming his defiant stance to the end. Kailan sat proudly, although his physical condition was weakened and he felt a little sore.

The young woman who had saved him earlier, but who had a rough language and shook him by the collar angrily moments before, was now in front of him, standing and formally introducing herself.

Kailan gestured for her to sit down, hoping she wouldn't get annoyed over simple things again. And his action paid off, as the girl's previously unmoving face now showed a slightly satisfied look.

"Well, we started the wrong way earlier. But I appreciate that you took the trouble to save me, and also to come here where I'm staying to introduce yourself'', Kailan's manner and tone of speech changed instantly, he sounded like a true noble speaking. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Silverin, thank you very much for the help you rendered to my person when I was about to die."

He placed his hand on his chest and bowed slightly 90 degrees, still sitting in the chair and making no move to get up from it. The young woman followed suit and did the same, saying words like 'it was nothing' and 'I did nothing more than anyone else would have done.

''Before you can say anything serious, can I ask you something? Of course, if it's not a bother.''

"Feel free to do so", she replied.

''What date are we on at the moment? Tell me precisely the date, month, and year if possible. Please'', Kailan begged.

She looked at him as if she found the question strange, but ignored that thought and just answered the question Kailan had asked her.

''It is the twelfth day of the second month of the year 1478, according to the imperial calendar.''

There was the confirmation for his theories — he really had gone back to the past. Apparently, Kailan had been sent during the beginning of the entrance tests to the renowned Draco-merlin academy, seventeen years before the day he died.

The boy fell into complete silence, a little stunned by the realization that he had been reincarnated in the past. But he didn't let it show on his face, maintaining a rigid, immobile expression that indicated no emotion at all. He was a pro at keeping a poker face at times like this, having learned this useful skill in his past life.

"Alright,", said the green-haired woman, snapping Kailan out of the trance he was trapped in. "Anyway, I think we're having some kind of peace and understanding here."

''So let's get to what I really came to talk about.''

She picked up the wooden chair she was sitting on and took a few steps forward, sitting between Kailan and a bejeweled desk, the curtains swinging behind her.

The shimmering light coming from the open window made the outline of her head look prettier than before, and her facial expressions could be seen more easily now.

"Okay, you said you'd like to discuss something serious. What did you mean when you said those words?'', the boy said slowly, crossing his arms and sitting up straighter than before.

Celeste stared at him for a few seconds, but there was nothing pleasant or happy about that look. Instead, it looked unsettling, reminding Kailan of Marian's gaze at him in that hall...

Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to find the right words to say.

''Well, you see. The academy management sent me to investigate some strange things that happened in that place you were,'' she continued looking into Kailan's eyes, searching for the smallest of the twitches his eyes made.

She distrusted him, he knew it. No, she wasn't the only one who suspected Kailan; the academy administration and the entire kingdom were certainly suspicious of him. He no longer had the prestige of a hero that he once had, after all, he had been sent to the times when he was just a useless commoner abandoned by society.

His looks and voice weren't the nicest either, and although people said you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, he knew the world didn't work that way. Therefore, doubting the provenance of such a person's speech was a very easy thing to do.

"I shouldn't be talking about this with you, but an incident involving unidentified magic at immeasurable levels was recently discovered around the kingdom. And shortly after that occurrence, we found you by accident on our frequent patrols through the city. We barely rescued you from that river you were on.''

Kailan was understanding where this conversation was going, and he wasn't enjoying it at all.

''Well, I know it's going to seem very disrespectful of me... But do you for some reason have any correlation with these cases of unknown magic that shook the whole world?''

The once friendly atmosphere in the room became completely tense in a second, and even though his raw amount of power was weak, a certain murderous aura dispersed from Kailan's body throughout the room.

"Why do you ask me this?" Kailan was smiling, but his eyes were colder than ice. "I don't think I need to answer that question, just look at the state I'm in right now because of mere waves. Your suspicions are based on complete superstition and don't even make any sense."

He knew that unknown magic had something to do with the shadow creature and the spell that took him back to the past, but he had to make it look like he wasn't involved in any way.

After all, if they found out about his involvement in that event, he could end up being used as an experiment subject by mages and mad scientists, as he currently didn't have the power to get out of such a situation.

It took a moment for the tension-filled air to ease. Celeste cleared her throat dryly, and Kailan cursed and groaned inside. The girl got up from the chair and walked to the front door of the room.

There was no way to extract more information because of the complicated atmosphere between them, so she would just walk away with what she had now.

"Well, sorry to bother you with that then. I'll get the doctor to examine you, and soon after you'll probably be sent to the academy", she placed her left hand on the doorknob, turning it as she spoke. "I will be there as a sophomore to witness this year's rookie admission test. I wish you good luck."

"Thank you."

Kailan's tone showed no emotion. Be it bitterness, anger, or happiness; there was simply nothing in that word he had just uttered.

The woman studied Kailan one last time and left the room as she straightened up some loose ends of the plaid shirt she was wearing. The same moment she opened the door, the owner of the room where the boy was temporarily housed came to supervise him along with a doctor.

''Not her…''