Chapter 18:

“A test?” Eres looked at Celise, shocked. She finished chewing the cookie in her hand, her attention successfully captured. The other two, Arille and Eliza, listened without word.

“Yes. It appears to be a hands-on exam. I expect we’ll be asked to participate in a trial of sorts. My brother told me that last year, they had to survive three days in the wilderness.”

Surprisingly brutal for twelve-year-olds. Eres wrinkled her nose. She didn’t have anything against camping, but tests were her natural predator. It wasn’t that she was incapable—she was the top student—it was that the effort required normally wasn’t worth it for her. Only rage powered her performance last time.

Eres leaned over the cafeteria table, propping her head up with her hand.

“We’ve only been practicing magic for a few months. They’re really just gonna toss us in…?”

Arille, still upset from her poor performance in class earlier, collapsed on the table. “Ugh, Eres, you’re the worst.”

“?!”

Eres glanced at her, eyebrows raised. The hell had she done to her?!

Arille rolled her empty milk-bottle across the table with a finger, her displeasure evident. “Eres, you’re better at magic than all of us, and you’re still complaining? Top students shouldn’t have rights…”

Celise nodded vigorously. “Studying and training with Leo instead of us. Hmph. The sisterhood we’ve cultivated is being thoroughly discarded for romance…”

“What romance?!”

Eliza, who was sitting uncomfortably close to Eres, looped her arm around hers.

Her ears flattened, eyes teared up as she pouted. “Eres never spends time with us anymore…”

Eres put a finger to her forehead and pushed her away. “Eliza, personal space.”

“Hmmph…” 

She begrudgingly moved about an inch. Ugh. She was so damn clingy. Ever since she’d found her in that box, this little fox had become her shadow. Eres could hardly step out of the dorm without Eliza at her heels. It was only when she was with Leo that she made herself scarce.

She didn’t have an issue with the physical contact, really. Eres found it somewhat adorable. The real issue was that fur. Every time Eres saw those damn hairs sticking to everything in the dorm, she got heated. It wasn’t like she had a lint roller! 

Those tiny imperfections in the otherwise immaculate dorm were driving her insane. So, Eliza had become public enemy number one. Her crime? Disturbance of Eres’s peace. Her lips twitched as she remembered her perfectly folded blanket and sheets marred with tufts of fox hair. 

How did she shed so much?! Maybe she could just shave her tail and be done with it.

Eres smirked at the thought of a bald Eliza. Blissful peace. She glanced at Eliza, her eyes dangerous. Not a bad idea…

Eliza, maybe through instinct, immediately pushed two feet away from her. Her tail stood straight up. 

“Hehe…Eliza, how about a haircut?”

She covered her tail with both arms, shrinking in horror. “…Scary…”

Celise flicked a pea at Eres’s face. “Stop scaring her.”

“I’m just being realistic,” Eres said, rubbing her head, “How will she take care of her tail in the wilderness? It’s white.”

“…The solution isn’t shaving her tail, Eres.”

Eres shrugged. “So critical. Should I let you clean the dorm from now on, Princess?”

Arille froze. She slammed the table. “No!! Eres, please, anyone but her.”

“Huh?” Celise looked bewildered.

Arille flushed, avoiding eye contact.

“What’s the problem with me cleaning…?”

The group looked away. Well, in the beginning, they’d taken cyclical turns for cleaning after Eres complained. The results…

Well. Celise certainly didn’t have a future as a maid. 

Arille clenched her fists. “If you sweep everything under my desk again…”

Celise flushed. “Y-you knew…?”

“Pfft, princess,” Eres laughed, “Did you forget we can see under the desk from the door?”

She froze. Her face changed several times, before settling into defensive impertinence. “Hmm~ maybe Eres can, considering her viewpoint is about right. The rest of us don’t have such luxury…”

The group fell quiet. Arille and Eliza looked at each other with knowing apathy. This again…

Eres stood. She pushed her sleeves up. A tight smile, darkness emanating from it, wrapped across her face. “Celise, I seem to recall neither of us have had our weekly spar yet. If you could be so kind as to oblige.”

Celise’s face paled. She raised both hands in front, shaking. “E-Eres don’t be so rash, my hair still hasn’t recovered from last time…!”

Eres, channeling her mother, appeared next to Celise and pulled her ear. With devastating effect, she kidnapped the princess to the sparring arena.

Celise stood, her posture slack and face moping, holding a wand with a drooping hand.

Eres smiled brightly at her. “Don’t worry, I won’t burn your ends again. I swear.”

The proctor for the match, somewhat sweating from Eres’s pressure, waved his hand. “B-begin.”

Eres didn’t hesitate. She brought her wand up, channeled mana into the runes in her wand, and pulled a pinch of powder from a pouch on her hip, scattering it into the air in front of her.

The wand was something she’d made from scratch—as all students did. Although spells normally required material components, the wand could substitute with lessened effect. Carved with the magic formations mastered by the mage, the wood acted as a mana channeler and focused the spell to cast through a singular point.

In other words, big boom. 

Red energy flowed to one of the circles carved into the wand, activating in a bright flash. The point of the wand was suddenly aflame; the cloud of powder she’d thrown sparked with a roar, forming into a ball of condensed fire the size of her palm. With a high-pitched whine, it shot towards her opponent.

Celise panicked, hurriedly raising her own wand in a sparkling blue. A shield of water appeared just as the fireball reached her, exploding into a mass of steam. Celise ran to the left, popping out of the cloud, clutching a burn on her arm, and circled Eres with a frown on her face.

“Really, Eres? Starting with Fireball?!”

Eres grinned. “Sorry, Princess. I forgot.”

She didn’t. This was the very spell that left Celise with curled, blackened hair in their last duel. She’d actively avoided Eres’s duel requests since.

Eres rushed forward, flicking her wand into the air. Three orbs shot into orbit above Eres’s head, circling in perfect synchronicity. 

Celise, face grim, raised her wand, and a stream of pressurized water shot forth. The jet sprayed from the ground up, cutting into the stone, before reaching Eres. It grazed her arm as she threw herself to the left. 

“Agh…! That fucking hurt!”

Celise smirked. “I can heal you after.”

Eres clicked her tongue. She glanced at the bleeding wound on her arm. Her brow furrowed. That cheeky little…

She stretched out her hand, and the three orbs above her soared towards Celise. 

Celise quickly raised another water shield, extinguishing one, but the other two fire-bolts pierced the same spot, the last one tagging Celise’s shoulder through the evaporated hole.

She hissed in pain. 

It wasn’t over yet. Eres summoned a wall of flame behind Celise, catching her attention, before she sprinted straight towards her.

Celise, distracted and in panic, tried to run parallel to the wall and away from her, but Eres smirked. She brought a finger up and flicked it. 

The wall folded, blocking off Celise’s escape attempt. She looked back with teary eyes, holding her wand like a child against a beast.

“I-I’m a support mage, Eres…! Why do you always bully me!?” 

Celise gathered her mana and shot the water jet towards Eres again. Its path was predictable. After all, it was the only offensive spell she’d learned.

She had, indeed, focused mostly on recovery magic and defensive spells. 

So why did Eres challenge her so often? 

It was fun. And the height jokes. Always the height jokes. 

Eres threw herself to the side, the spray of water droplets bouncing from the concrete into her face. With a delighted flourish, Eres careened another fireball towards Celise.

Whimpering, the girl closed her eyes and accepted her fate. 

At the moment of detonation, the proctor flicked his wand, summoning a protective ward. The fireball passed over her, harmless, only a warm breeze evidence of its passing.

“Victor—Eres!”

The wall of flame blew away as Eres released the spell. She was acting confident, but that spell was no easy feat. It was the strongest tool in her arsenal. The damn thing cost three times as much mana to cast as her fireball, and it had a maintenance cost. She could only manifest it for ten seconds at most. Worth it just to see her face, though.

Eres beamed, walked over to Celise, and slapped her shoulder. “Good game.”

The girl, sulking, said nothing, but followed her out of the arena. She escaped when Eres’s guard was down.

Eres spotted someone to the side she didn’t expect to see here. He smiled at her as she approached, his eyes teasing. “Celise again? Still sore over our match?”

Leo. 

Eres clicked her tongue. 

“Like hell. So smug now that we’re even.”

“Your win-rate might be higher if you learned something other than fire magic.”

“Hmm? And disrespect my heritage?”

His eyebrow raised. “What heritage?”

“Look at me, Leo. I have red hair. If I use anything else, I’ll betray every RPG I’ve ever played. What red-haired mage uses nature magic or ice magic?”

“I…” 

He looked at her, but just shook his head. “I can’t even argue with you.”

“Because I’m right.”

“…You’re something. Food?”

She shrugged, but winced with the motion. Eres looked at her arm. Ah. That girl…!

Where was the heal she was promised?!

A sigh slipped from her mouth. Leo looked over. “Hurt?”

“Mm.”

He halted their steps, lightly tapping her shoulder with his wand. 

Pale green light shined, accompanied by the smell of mint. It was a familiar scent, always lingering over Leo’s spells like a signature. Did her spells have a fragrance? 

The pain faded somewhat, but didn’t disappear entirely. 

Leo frowned. “Sorry. I’ve barely studied healing magic.”

Eres shook her head. “This is enough.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

She moved her arm, beaming when the movement didn’t make her wince.

“Young master, this maid offers her sincerest gratitude.” Eres robotically rolled off her line, voice lacking intonation.

“…So ungrateful.”

“What does the young master require? Need I kowtow?”

“Some bowing would be nice.”

“What, are you a monarch?”

“King of our last duel, at least.”

“…tsk.”

Leo smirked.