“The truth is rarely pure and never simple”( part 1)

The hall then began to fill with chatter. Some even started getting up to leave.

At the seats of Class S, Csendes stood up, and immediately, the elf girl named Uituba playfully grabbed her shoulder.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch me too often. I don't like it."

Csendes brushed her off lightly.

The elf girl was slightly surprised but simply nodded.

The two headed towards one of the staircases. Their plan was to go straight to the room marked on the map.

A few others had the same idea and followed behind them.

As they climbed the stairs, conversations echoed from all directions. The entire hall was brimming with life.

"Hey! I'm Duga! What do you think the criteria were for placing us in classes, and what didn't they score us on?"

A tall girl, dressed in fur-trimmed clothing, approached from behind.

Csendes and Uituba didn't stop walking but glanced back. The girl had chestnut hair and deep green eyes. She was staring at them seriously.

As Csendes stopped on the second floor and stepped through a door that opened into what seemed to be a long, curved hallway, she spoke to the tall girl behind her.

"Csendes. The number of the class indicates the level, and the criteria… are probably based on our physical and magical attributes."

Uituba, who was admiring the view on the right side, where a vast glass wall revealed the central garden of the building, nodded almost imperceptibly. Though engrossed in the sight, she hadn't ignored Csendes' words. She turned to her and said:

"You ranked fourth. You must be pretty strong."

At this statement, the tall girl blushed and scratched the back of her head with one hand. Her actions made her seem honest and straightforward.

"If we're talking about strength, Sande-nini's first place is far more impressive!"

Her eyes gleamed as she stared at Csendes insistently. However, the girl in question didn't even look back, merely lowering her gaze to the map. Surprisingly, she still responded.

"Well, that's because I'm strong."

Her voice was steady. There was no pride in her tone, yet Duga felt a chill run down her spine. Her instincts told her that the person in front of her was extremely dangerous. Just a simple statement had already sent shivers through her.

Duga's eyes gleamed even more. She no longer regretted coming to this 'cage.' She was eager to see what this place had in store for her.

As they walked, they continued down the long hallway. As mentioned before, the right side was entirely made of glass. Occasionally, furniture suitable for sitting and tables lined the hallway. Bookshelves were mounted on the left wall, and now and then, a door led to a classroom. This floor seemed to house the laboratories.

Many of the doors had laboratory signs, though they didn't specify the subjects.

Each door was a different color. So far, they had passed a green and a blue one.

Their meeting point was marked as the sixth door along this hallway.

From the map, it appeared that this hallway stretched from the petal representing the hall entrance to the opposite petal, which was the teachers' lounge. This meant the corridor curved around half of the building.

Since they weren't in a hurry, Csendes and the two girls following her even took the time to browse the bookshelves.

However, when they tried to touch or pick up a book, their hands met resistance. It was as if an invisible barrier was between their fingers and the book covers.

"We can't take the books? Hmm… Probably not yet."

"I think so too."

After this realization, they continued forward. Strangely, no one was behind them. Many had followed them up the stairs.

"Where did everyone behind us go?"

Uituba puffed her cheeks in curiosity. She kept glancing back but saw nothing. Thanks to the long glass wall, she could even see the entrance they had come through, yet they were the only ones in the hallway.

Duga absentmindedly looked back as well. Her instincts weren't alerting her, so she didn't think too much about it.

"They got caught in a challenge."

"What?"

Csendes spoke suddenly, answering the elf's unspoken question.

"The building has small hidden magic circles everywhere. They aren't dangerous, but they take time to escape from."

The elf and the tall girl stared at Csendes in shock.

"Did we get caught in one too?"

"No. I destroyed them before they could activate."

Duga burst into laughter, and the elf, infected by her amusement, smiled as well. Grinning, they reached a violet-colored door without any obstacles.

"According to the map, this is the place."

Csendes stared at the door, lost in thought.

The three of them were now near the end of the hallway. From here, they could see its conclusion—a door labeled 'Magic.' It was most likely the faculty room for magic professors.

"Should we go in?"

Uituba looked at Csendes. She had recognized her strength and knowledge. Realizing that her own knowledge wasn't at the same level, she didn't feel any negativity. If she didn't know something, she would ask someone who sensed and understood things better.

Often, wisdom meant recognizing one's ignorance.

"Hmm… There's a strange aura on the door. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it feels like a mild curse."

Duga extended her hand but stopped just before touching the handle.

"My instincts are tingling. The danger is very low."

The elf looked at the handle with a complicated expression.

"Curses are hard to remove instantly. We'd need information and materials… What do we do now?"

The three of them frowned unconsciously.

"But why would a professor put a curse on the handle? Is it part of a test, or is it necessary for something else?"

Uituba looked to Csendes and Duga for answers.

"Maybe they want to see our reaction?"

Csendes voiced her thought unconsciously.

"Our reaction?"

Duga looked at her in confusion. "Why? Does our reaction hold value?"

The phoenix girl merely nodded with an ironic expression.

"Forget it. Maybe I'm overthinking."

They stood in silence for a few moments. Csendes seemed absorbed in thought before suddenly placing her hand on the handle.

The two girls beside her didn't have time to react before the door was already open. Their heads snapped toward Csendes.

"Csendes?!"

"Sande-nini?!"

Csendes was already inside the room, completely unharmed.

"It's fine. The curse is causal."

The two girls' eyes lit up in understanding. Each of them grabbed the handle, even though the door was already open, and mimicked the motion of opening and closing it.

Nothing happened to them. They didn't even feel the distinct energy of a curse, confirming it was causal.

"Looks like I really did overthink. Considering those magic circles earlier, I assumed we'd have to face at least one challenge. When I sensed a curse on the handle, I jumped to conclusions. I apologize."

Csendes bowed slightly before them. Her face was hidden from view, but her voice sounded sincere, with a hint of embarrassment.

The elf and Duga reacted immediately.

"That's unnecessary! It's always better to be cautious."

"Yeah, don't worry about it!"

What they didn't know was that Csendes's face showed no trace of regret. It was terribly indifferent. However, her eyes hid something—calculations. All of it disappeared when she lifted her head.

Then, the group had time to take in the classroom.

The room was large. Directly in front of the door stood a tall wall, almost entirely covered by a blackboard stretching from top to bottom. On the opposite wall, there was nothing but glass, making the outdoor scenery clearly visible.

The wall with the door had several shelves filled with textbooks. The desks were arranged in ascending rows, like in an amphitheater, with a total of 80 seats—10 rows with 8 chairs each. They looked incredibly comfortable, even at first glance.

The desks were made of a light, slightly elastic white wood, a material well-suited for repelling spells.

At the back of the room, there were what seemed to be three exits, likely leading to storage areas or faculty cabinets.

The teacher's desk in front of the blackboard was long and made of glass, a beautiful sight.

After taking in the room, the girls faced a difficult choice—where to sit?

- Third row.- In the back.- In the front.

All three of them answered differently, almost comically.

"In the front? Why?"

Duga gave the elf a puzzled look.

"I'm short… What am I supposed to see from the back if someone like you sits in front of me?"

The elf shot a reproachful look at Duga.

The girl in question blushed slightly. She always forgot how tall she was, even in her humanoid form.

"Then let's sit in the third row like Sande-nini wanted."

Without further discussion, they moved toward the third row.

"You know, we don't have to sit together if you'd prefer otherwise."

Csendes remained still, studying the teacher's desk in detail.

"It doesn't really matter where we sit. I assume the homeroom teacher will move us around anyway."

The elf said this but still walked toward the third row. Duga glanced at Csendes curiously but said nothing more.

"I want to sit with you."

Then, she sat at the edge of the row, right by the window.

The phoenix girl said nothing. After finishing her study of the desk, she moved toward the glass wall, gazing at the view of blue and green outside.

The academy was located on an island in the middle of the planet's ocean. The island wasn't very large. It had space for a few flat training grounds and this single building. Most likely, the "island" was actually a kind of underwater mountain that had risen above the water. Then, with the help of magic, more land had been brought in to form the surrounding grounds. The grass was a vivid green, but the lack of trees was noticeable.

They should add more vegetation.

The words slipped from the girl's lips without a clear beginning or end.

Meanwhile, the other two girls had been discussing the insignia on their uniforms for a while.

"By the way, Csendes, why is your uniform black? Shouldn't it be burgundy?"

Duga also seemed interested in the answer.

"Oh, this? I submitted a special request for the design and color of my uniform."

"And they accepted? Can I request one too? I'd love mine to be green!"

"Mine in red! I love red."

"You can try, but I think they only listened to me because I'm ranked number one. The top three get special privileges."

The two girls understood and dropped the subject.

"But where is everyone else? It's been over forty minutes already. Are those magic circles really that difficult?"

The elf looked toward the door, confused.

Csendes's eyes glowed briefly before returning to normal.