Translated and edited by Tianic
“[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hese are Ice Tears.” Winslet untied my pendant and smartly fixed two blue stones on it. She handed the pendant back to me and said, “They are nothing special except for the color.”
“Wow! Lovely stones…” Windsor appeared out of nowhere then begged, “I want one too!”
“I don’t have an extra,” Winslet said, “There are two and only.”
“I don’t care! I’m not coming home without it!”
Looking at the elf girl’s apologizing face. I untied the pendant one more time.
“You’ll have them.”
“Oh yeah…” Windsor smiled and said, “One is enough for Windsor! You take the other one!”
“Well, how sweet of you!” I whispered in Windsor’s ear, “Thanks!”
My friends’ departure grieved me. I made an effort to make farewell less sorrowful, but watching over their carriages spiriting away was not easy.
Five days later, a letter from the Royal Academy addressed to my father was left on his desk. My father glanced at it quickly and handed it over to me.
It was a sunny afternoon. I began reading.
Dear Visual Kheda the Duke,
We have been instructed by the Divine City Security Department to give you written notice about your son Cohen Kheda’s incident at the Grand Altar.
The cause of the fistfight was as apparent that the response was not that of your child’s.
However, your son’s act, which included deadly crotch kicking, eye stabbing, was in serious violation of the Nobleman’s Standard. His behavior and manner are unacceptable to the Royal Academic and the upper class.
The Academy considered it is not appropriate for your son, Mr. Cohen Kheda, to continue his education in this facility.
The Academy now rules that Mr. Cohen Kheda expelled.
We are aware that your son was severely wounded in the incident. Thus the Academy will not enforce further punishment.
We are deeply sorry for your loss in the hope that you will restrain your grief.
Regards,
RADC
“What do you think?” Father asked, facing the opposite side.
“I’m all right.” I threw the letter out of the window and grinned, “Nothing much, it’s a bad breakup, that’s all.”
“Good! Son of mine will come off with or without the Royal Academy!” Father admired, “You’ll set off tomorrow for Webster and Tennessee’s!”
“Are you coming along?”
“Why would I go? He said, “Duty calls, I’m returning Darkmoon. Before I go, remember, Cohen. I’m not asking too much of you, spells or physical training, don’t get over your head. Webster and Tennessee are my sworn brothers, they watched you born. They may not be perfect, but they’ll take care of you.”
Hence I traveled into the mountains hundreds of miles away from DC As the fastest student to be expelled in the Academy history, I started yet another learning journey with my friends. Unlike the old days, this time the two professors were extremely strict, not exactly the nicest guys to be told.
Tennessee, one of my father’s best friends, was an excellent martial artist. He who excelled in tactics and combat was addicted to real-life practice, we vs. him, which always meant us defeated and bruised from top to bottom. Luckily we had the Rhona sisters around to heal us, though ofttimes the two girls were horrified by the wounds.
A half-day training in martial arts and briefly after healing, came the tactics lesson. Professor Tennessee would cut in with scoldings.
‘NO PROGRESS, YOU’LL DIE’ was one of his classics. Regular scolding daily and massive scolding per three days, saliva spits rained on us, and we were not allowed to wipe our faces.
Arch-mage Webster, sfaced (stone-faced), whose face usually stay motionless when he was not using magic as if nothing concerned him in the world. A falling sky will not make him breathe any heavier. But as soon as he looked at us with a depth in his eyes, it was the time we knew things would go south.
Jack and Marfa managed to make do learning while the rest of us was solely there to practice being a target. Things like role play surprise attack, or on-spot rescue during Tennessee’s live dissect, were his ideas.
To be fair, such ways of learning fitted us. Everyone has learned and grown. Wilder and Moya can already swing their massive sword like swinging sewing needles while talking about tactics precisely and logically. The Rhona sisters have advanced in magic so far as to reach a junior mage.
As for me, my body had healed, and my previous knowledge had come back. The good news was that I have become ready to learn spells since I had obtained mana somehow after the altar incident. After taking several days to sort myself out, I put my time into reforming my friends and becoming their third professor.
During the coming year’s time, I took advantage of my past life’s memories. My figure had become much stronger. I’ve yet reached Tennessee’s level but far better than the others.
The only problem was still magic. The anomaly happened when I had gained knowledge in most Lvl.3 spells. Next, no matter how hard I’ve tried, my mana amount remained unchanged. There was not the tiniest bit of sign to increase.
Helplessly and without choices, Tennessee, Webster, and I sat down and studied this matter accordingly.
“What went wrong?” Webster closed his eyes, “I’ve never come across anything like this.”
“Never mind that.” I shrugged, “Don’t I have the basic Level. 3 spells? It’s much better than none.”
“Based on your situation, you shouldn’t be!” Webster glared at me, “Besides, Level.3 is as shitty as it can be.”
“It is what it is, what can I do about it?” I said, “I still got other skills other than spells.”
After studying the matter for a few days, none came up. The only conclusion was, it was time for me to graduate.
“What’s missing for you is a proper weapon and experience.” They told me, “You are better off get out there than wasting your time here.”
“Where am I going?”
“To your dwarf friend’s, they’ll get you a weapon that suits you,” Tennessee said.
“Then to the elf’s, to learn the essence of magic.”
“Forget that. I’m only a Level. 3.”
“You stupid kid!” Webster’ stroke my head, “Even Lvl.1 spells are irreplaceable!”
“I know! I know!” I dodged quickly to not end up with a headful full of balls.
After my birthday, I had to wave my friends and set off in a grey mage robe. Except for a few pieces of clothes, I’ve got no souvenir from my mentors. At the same time, I received two crystal lenses to hide my black eyes, and a vial of dye from Bellatrix to fake my hair color. What was left was to pick a sunny day for departure.
Sigh. I wish people would notice his new changes
Well… They’re not at fault, I honestly don’t see much difference in his personality. I was expecting him to be all badass all of a sudden but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.