The Royal Magic Academy's Principal

Ashrosaliera groaned, scrambling to grab the edge of the door and throw it open. She caught a glimpse of students already filling the grand staircase inside, their backs turned—too far gone to even notice her.

The quest screen blinked red in the corner of her vision.

Time Left: 00:00:00

"NOO!!" Ash shrieked, slumping to the ground. 

'I knew I shouldn't have tried to stretch my luck,' she cursed herself, cheeks puffed like a pufferfish.

Zofia dusted herself off beside her, standing just an arm's length away.

Then, the shouting began.

"You stupid poopyface! Now we're late! Do you even know who I am!?" Ash shrieked, launching her favorite insult like a firebolt.

"No—you're late!" Zofia snapped back. "I got excused by the principal!"

Ash's ears perked up, and she frowned.

"Oh, what are you then, some kinda nepo nerd? Sabotaging me, huh?" She leaned forward, grinning for a fight. "Come on, shoot me with your [Wind] if you really wanna take me down!"

"I'm not dumb! I'm not attacking you on school grounds!"

"Then I'm going inside. And if you touch me again, I'm [Fireball]-ing you!"

She turned—then froze. Someone was blocking the gate, casting a shadow tall enough to swallow her whole.

A woman stood at the gate, blocking Ash's way. Ash looked up, almost breaking her neck because this particular person was really tall. This time, it wasn't because Ash was so short that everyone else seemed tall by comparison; no, this lady here was taller than Ash's mom, Cecilia. But she wasn't a hunk of meat with wide shoulders like her mom was. This stranger was lanky, and there was enough meat on her body to barely hide the fact.

The lady had long, layered white hair stretching down to her hips. It was a brighter shade than Ash's, almost snow-like, and she had cyan eyes.

She was wearing a bright white dress, which didn't exactly fit her, considering how the chest area was very lacking—almost nothing there. It was not formal attire, which Ash expected from a school faculty member, so perhaps she was a parent dropping off her children.

"Wait… You are…!" Zofia said, gasping with her mouth covered.

The woman had sharp ears, which made Ashrosaliera curious, so she tilted her head to the side to get a better look and saw that this woman had four ears! 

She had two big ears almost identical to humans' but sharper and pointier. Right above those were two smaller ones the size of a thumb.

"You're an elf!"

Ashrosaliera exclaimed in excitement—she had read about them! Her father had told her about the race that was superior in magical innate talent and mana reserve pool. She was told that even though there were very few humans with two elemental attributes, a more significant percentage of elves did have two elements, and a few even had three when they were born.

"You must be strong!" 

Ash immediately jumped up in excitement, pointing her rude finger at the elf:

"I challenge you to an honorary duel."

"Oh… Eh? M-Me?!" The elf pointed at herself, sweating and stuttering.

"Yes, you, and I'll make sure to hold back and not humilia-"

whack

A loud, crisp sound could be heard of flesh contacting. Ash felt a sharp pain on her cheek, and when it finally registered, she realized that she had been slapped by Zofia.

"What are you-" Ash was furious, immediately glared at Zofia.

"What am I doing? What are YOU doing?! You are being rude to the seventh principal of the Royal Magic Academy, Alasta the Holy Elf! I'm so sorry for her rude behaviour, principal."

Ash widened her eyes, astonished. She turned to the elf again and wasn't even mad from that slap anymore because she was surprised.

"You're the principal?!" Ash asked.

"Oh… Um, hi, yes." The elf, Alasta, answered with an awkward smile.

Ashrosaliera was totally confused. This was the principal of the Royal Magic Academy? The most essential academic figure in the whole kingdom? This soft-spoken, cute-looking, lanky woman?

The image Ash had in mind was either a bearded old man or a middle-aged man with sharp beards, and might be a bit handsome with a big chest.

'But looks can be deceiving! An elf is an elf.' Ash told herself.

Despite Zofia's warning, she would challenge the principal of the Royal Magic Academy. But before she could get another word in, Alasta spoke to them.

"Oh… You guys are late. I was getting worried, Zofia Adinberg and Ashrosaliera Säpphroaleryst, are you?"

"Yes, principal." Zofia answered, fixing her glasses and hugging her books near her chest.

"That's me! The [Elemental Empress] to be!" Ash answered, hands on her hips and chest puffed, trying to make her presence more commanding.

After confirming the two late students, Alasta started to turn around, looking out for something or someone with a worried expression, before leaning down to the two girls.

"Oh… You're very late… Come on in quick before the guidance counselor finds us."

Ashrosaliera's expression changed one-eighty. She was cringing, her eyes squinting, and her lips curled to the side, all disappointed. So when Alasta signaled the two to follow her, Ash turned around and whispered to Zofia.

"Why is she saying 'oh' at the start of every sentence when there's nothing to be surprised about? Why must the principal be afraid of the guidance counselor? And why is she such a wimp?"

"Why are you talking to me as if we're friends?" Zofia glanced at Ash with disinterest.

They finally walked past the gate.

A bead of sweat rolled down Zofia's face, but she remained calm, as if she already knew what lay beyond.

For Ashrosaliera, however, her jaw dropped, and her knees nearly gave out.

If the building's size were scaled to the universe, then Ash would be just an inconsequential dwarf planet, orbiting a star in a solar system inside a galaxy, swallowed by the Milky Way, yet still incomparable to the universe.

Ash would be a lone grain of sand lost on an endless beach if the academy were a human.

And if it were a rock, Ash would be so unfathomably small that not even molecules could see her.

Ashrosaliera couldn't see the ceiling, literally. The building stretched forever, and she loved it.

"This seems bigger on the inside! The outside was tall but not this much!" Ash exclaimed, her voice echoed as she noticed people were looking down at her from the upper floors.

"Oh, yes! The academy founders used [Light] and [Dark] to create a seamless dimensional portal, if you will, and we gotta pour mana into it from time to time. The outside only shows the foundation of the building, not the actual academy," Alasta explained with a great, cute-ish smile.

"These are basic knowledge, but still perplexed me." Zofia chuckled nervously.

"I feel so… Eager! To just fly around."

Now that their eyes were off the giant ceiling, Ash and Zofia finally got a better look at the ground floor they were on.

Ash stood still in awe, admiring the giant lobby. It was bigger than even the farmland her town had! The quartz and gold wall had patterns of swirls and waves. In the far left she saw a few crystal balls, and on the far right she saw some... Strawman? She decided to ignore it and turned to the wall. There were 8 sections in total, representing all the world's elemental attributes. Each section had a giant emblem on it, and the walls were painted with the shade of color designated for each element.

Crimson for [Fire]

Azure for [Water]

Amber for [Earth]

Ivory for [Wind]

Cyan for [Ice]

Violet for [Lightning]

White for [Light]

Black for [Dark]

At least those were the names that Ash learned because these colors were shifted and changed so they mixed well together without hurting the eyes.

At the other end of the lobby, there were two staircases. They were built on two pillars and stretched up high to the top of the academy. Ash saw the students using this to get upstairs.

"Welcome, students, to the Grand Entry Hall! This is where… oh, um… It's just a big hall where students hang out. We usually leave chairs and tables out here. Right now, we're using it to evaluate the first years." 

The principal introduced herself with her arms wide, as if hugging the air.

 "I got a longer speech prepared, but I kinda left it somewhere after announcing it to the students who were on time, sorry."

"Principal." 

Zofia spoke up, handing the wet books on her arm over to Alasta.

"These are the books you asked of me, they might be a bit wet and I apologize. It's because..."

"Oh, right! Thank you, no worries about the water. I excused you this morning because you came in early, didn't I? Now, Zofia and Ashrosaliera. Time for your evaluation test."

As Alasta went to receive the books from Zofia, the system popped up in front of Ashrosaliera's eyes.

===

The [New Friend] Questline Has Been Updated.

Ongoing Quest: New Friend [First Part]

Details: Make amends with Zofia Adinberg during the evaluation

Reward: 0.03 System Points

(NEW) Failure: [Medium] Punishment

Status: Ongoing

New Quest: Path To Greatness

Details: Get admitted into A-Class

Reward: 0.10 System Points

Status: Ongoing

===

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Ash exclaimed.