The Academy Houses

***

Night fell as Gian studied every nook and cranny of the system. He could now access it with his eyes open, but he still couldn't use his magic or draw mana from his core. It seemed that although the system and his manacore were linked, they still behaved as separate entities.

He opened his eyes, sweat dripping from the restless hours he had spent trying to squeeze even a thimble of mana out of his core.

The lights in the cabin were off, and only the moon's soft glow guided his eyes. 

He sighed. 'I think it's time to admit that all the spells from my old world don't work here.' This wasn't an easy thing for him to admit. Despite the fact that he wasn't even able to cast half the spells he knew, he had still spent years studying them, understanding them to their fundamentals. Back then, he'd hoped that he would find a way to heal his manacore, and now it was... he just hadn't expected it to come at the cost of his knowledge.

'Time to try is their way,' he decided, reaching into his pockets. He moved slowly to avoid waking up the others. 'Where is it?' 

A moment later, he fished out his wand. 'Ah, there it is.' He gave it a practice wave, trying to mimic the love-potion girl's earlier movements.

He mouthed the incantations, comparing the movements of his lips to hers.

'I wonder if the pronunciation is that important,' he thought, before turning to the seat on his left.

The fourth member of their cabin had joined them just as the bus was about to leave, a quiet girl with thick-framed glasses. The exact opposite of the enchantress sitting opposite them.

He pointed his wand at her and opened his mouth. "Enchantus succubum," he whispered, waving the wand at the girl.

"That won't work, you know," a voice pierced through the darkness of the cabin.

The love-potion girl was staring straight at him, the moon's light reflecting off her eyes. The boy she had enslaved was leaning on her, though she didn't seem to even notice his head on her shoulder.

Gian turned to look at her. "So I need the potion as well?" he asked, sort of disappointed.

The girl scoffed. "You need to be born with an affinity for it," she replied. "What, did you live under a rock up till this point?"

Gian searched his memories for mention of affinities. Nothing once again. It seemed that he had given up a large section of the original Gian's memories.

"I've been thinking about it," the girl whispered, shoving the enslaved boy's head of her shoulder. "And the more I do, the less sense it makes."

Gian slumped back onto his seat. "What doesn't make sense?"

She raised her finger. "You."

"Oh? I don't make sense?" he scoffed. "I'm not the one who lied about knowing a complete stranger," he continued. "I'm also not the one who enslaves complete randoms."

She let out a giggle at that. "Oh, please. We aren't going to some nursery school. Do you have any idea of the type of things that others will be doing in the academy?"

Gian had to admit, he didn't know much about the environment he would be living in. The academy back in Enqauth was more a military school than a place of learning, but even it had laws in place. Enchanting people —if that was possible back there— was definitely something they'd ban.

She looked Gian once over, as if realising something for the first time. "Oh my, you really are a false-breed, aren't you?" she whispered to herself. "I thought that since you resisted my spell, you had some sort of... unique bloodline," she continued.

"But you're just a clueless hick."

Gian studied her. "A clueluess hick you're intersted in," he said with a smile. How couldn't she be? It seemed that whatever spell she had used was strong enough to work on a boy from noble lineage. So to her, he was either someone really special or proof that she was a weak mage.

Both of which could work to his advantage.

"How did you do it?" she asked.

Just then, the girl sitting beside Gian rolled in her sleep. "Mom?" she mumbled, seemingly staring at Gian. "Can I stay up and read a bit more?" she asked.

Gian opened his mouth hesitantly. "Y—Yes."

"Thanks, Mom," she said, before going quiet again.

He focused back on the love-potion girl. "First, tell me what you know about the academy," he said. "Then I'll explain where you went wrong with the spell."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before the girl gave in and nodded.

"Once we reach the academy, we'll be broken up into five houses," she began to explain. "The five daughters of Shalak."

'The one-god,' Gian thought, nodding in understanding.

"The selection process for the different houses is simple," she said, holding out three fingers. "The first hundred students will be hand-picked by the current leaders of the houses," she started, dropping one finger.

"The rest of us will compete in the first year forest for the remaining spots," she continued, dropping another finger. "And those that remain after that, will either be dead, or sent back home."

Gian nodded slowly. It seemed fairly similar to how things worked back in Enquath. Only the houses were called squadrons, and there was no such thing as 'failing' to join one once you were already in the academy.

"So your turn," the girl said, sitting up. "Where did I go wrong?"

Just then, a scream broke out from the cabin opposite theirs. The love-potion girl jolted to her feet, already approaching the door.

"Stop," Gian whispered hoarsely, grabbing her hand before she could slide the door open. "You hear a scream and your first instinct is to head towards it?"

The other members of their cabin were beginning to wake up.

"Is someone screaming?" the girl with glasses asked with a yawn, still stretching.

Gian placed a finger on his lips. "Shhh. We need to keep qui—"

Someone knocked on their doors. "Please, I need help."

The love-potion girl looked back at Gian. He shook his head.

"What's going on?" the girl with glasses asked, now fully awake. The enslaved boy just stared at his master with a vacant expression.

"Shouldn't we check who it is?" the girl with glasses asked.

『The Messiah System has detected a special event string.』

『Quest: 'Beginnings of a Messiah'... invoke quest name for more information.』

Just as Gian started reading the notification, another scream pierced the air, this time it was followed by many others. 

"What in the heavens is going on—"

Their door shattered open, chunks of wood flying in all directions.

By the time Gian had composed himself, he noticed a body on their glass table. A charred hole had devoured its head.

The love-potion girl looked at the body, then at Gian. 

"Fuck."