Marina

My fourth and fifth year at the Academy were relatively uneventful, except for a couple of occurrences that I shall note in this little monologue of mine.

First, my tutoring of Alincia ended up bearing fruit, as she ended up reaching Master-level just a couple months ago. Just as I had predicted, she reached it by learning how to cast a Fire-element Master-level spell. 

I would take little to no credit to that however, as I knew how hard she had worked on it, not just with me but on her own as well. At night, she would train in the Academy training grounds on her own, casting spells after spells after spells until she was completely exhausted. In fact, she would even overdo herself so much that she fainted on the spot, only waking up the next morning. I told her not to but she wouldn’t listen. It was as if she was a completely different person than her usual, happy-go-lucky self who never put much effort in her studies.

I knew perfectly well why she applied herself so much however. 

She was preparing herself. For her future confrontation against her sister's murderer. Especially after Elun returned with the grim news of her failure.

I still remembered the day the news came. It was around the middle of my fourth year where Alincia came to me and told me of their meeting. The bubble mage and her subordinates had sprung a trap and ambushed her. She only had a single knight to protect her, so they believed it was the perfect moment—the golden chance to strike at her.

Little did they know that they had severely underestimated the abilities of said knight, and the abilities of the necromancer as well.

Felicia never had the need to go all out in a fight before, and judging by her records in the academy, she was not that impressive of a mage. She had no Master-level spells under her belt, so she should not be a threat to Elun and her subordinates who were all Master-level mages.

Only for her to reveal her impressive prowess in Dark-element magic, leaping far beyond what the academy knew about her capabilities. She already reached Master-level in the element, and it took them entirely by surprise.

They didn’t know whether she reached that level once she left the Academy, or she had just been hiding her true capabilities all this time, pretending to be an average mage in her academy days. Elun even suspected that she might intentionally kill Merinda and her cronies using alchemy, just to hide the fact that she was already that adept at Dark Magic.

And then there was the matter of the knight as well. They had investigated him beforehand but found no particular credentials or history that showed he was more than the average elite knight at best—nothing that they couldn’t handle.

Only for him to display a sword skill that was far beyond their expectations. With a defensive, counter-oriented style, none of their attacks could land on Felicia as long as he was still standing.

Their ambush failed completely, and Elun lost every single one of her subordinates, with her being the only one who managed to escape.

As a result of the disaster, she was now relieved of her task. The Council had decided that for the time being, they would let the necromancer be.

Alincia said that the normally cheerful Elun looked haggard and disheveled as she told her story. Her last words were for her not to pursue Felicia if she valued her life.

And naturally, she still refused to tell which kingdom the necromancer belonged to.

This didn’t stop Alincia however. It only rekindled the flame in her heart, which led to her trying so very hard to learn magic for the past year and a half.

---------

Another big event that occured was me receiving my first love confession.

From who else—Thomas Marjoram, the hobbit that had been stalking me around since second year. It seemed he decided to just drop the innocent pretense and went all out in his offense.

And to make it worse, he had to do it in public as well. As I was returning back to my dorm after having lunch, he walked up to me and kneeled on one knee, offering what I could only assume to be an engagement ring as he confessed his undying love and loyalty to me. I still remembered his exact words even now.

“Oh, Marina, my beautiful goddess! If you would deem this poor hobbit worthy enough of your love, then I swear to you that I would forever be loyal to you and worship the ground that you walk on!”

I didn’t know from which bardic poem he stole those sentences from, but I knew that I would never want to be proposed by such a terribly cheesy proclamation.

However, the other students had a different opinion. They instead clapped wildly and cheered at me to accept his proposal. It was as if we were a circus to them.

I was so embarrassed and humiliated that I lost my composure. My answer to him was to blast him with my wind spell before fleeing, all red faced in anger.

And this had terrible, awful consequences on my social life. I, who had recovered from being a pariah from Merinda’s actions, was now returning on becoming one. I was quickly characterized as a stuck-up and arrogant girl due to my response to that hobbit’s confession. He was actually relatively popular in the school, with many girls admiring him for his cuteness. And for me to trample on his love like that, it was the biggest crime possible in their eyes.

However, unlike with Merinda, I was now skilled enough to fight back. They might try to attack me with their magic, only to realize the gap between our skill.

It didn’t stop the pariah part however. It only made me become a feared personage as well. Just like how Merinda used to be. Only that I wasn’t loved by some as well. I could only sigh as the irony hit me.

I was angry enough to tell his admirers who attacked me that he was a pervert who went to brothels to have girls pretend to be his big sisters.

"Really?"

"Kyaah, so little Tom secretly has that kind of hobby!"

"Don't worry, little Tom! I'll be your big sister if you want!"

...Ah, right. This isn't the Holy Empire where going to brothels is considered a shameful thing. It isn't taboo for a man to unwind in such facilities after a hard day of work.

I suppose my disdain for it came from Mother, who was still somewhat a Milicis follower though she never frequented their churches. She told me never to tolerate unfaithful perverts ever since I was little.

Unfortunately, he didn’t stop there. He then tried to challenge me into a duel, saying that if he won, I would give him my hand in marriage.

Ignoring the fact that I didn’t approve such a method of proposing in the first place, he had no chance whatsoever against me. I defeated him with ease. He was certainly weaker than where Alincia was currently at.

And yet, he still declared that he wouldn’t give up, that he would train to get stronger and beat me eventually. He asked for me to wait until he matured and could be the husband that I wanted him to be.

I took a deep annoyed sigh, before telling him everything that was wrong of him, including the part where I saw him frequenting a brothel a year ago.

“Look, Thomas.” How long had it been since I called him by name? “First of all, I have no intention of marrying anytime soon. I have plans to become an adventurer once I finish my study here so I wouldn’t be settling down right away. Second, even if I do, I would never marry you in a million years. I saw what you did. You like to frequent those facilities in the red-light district, don’t you? And you make those girls call you their little brother. If I were to be rudely honest, that disgusts me to the core.”

When I said that, he flinched, as if I just slapped him with my words.

“I won’t ever marry a pervert like you. So give it up. Stop bothering me and find another girl to chase after. There are many older girls out there that are far more beautiful and attractive than I am after all.”

“N-no! I only like you and you alone, Marina!” He shouted, before averting his gaze. “I-it’s true that I originally only approached you because Grandmother told me to. But after seeing you for so long, before I know, I… I really have fallen in love with you!” He shouted again, returning his gaze back to me. “I-it’s a genuine, honest-to-goodness love! I love how you’re so calm and composed at all times! And I love how smart and skilled you are at magic! A-and everytime I catch a glimpse of your smile, my heart flutters in joy! I want to make you happy, Marina! No, I will make you happy! I promise you that! I-it’s fine if you still want to be an adventurer! W-we can go together! I-if you’re there with me, I would no doubt have the strength to go against what Grandmother tells me to!”

This kid… he’s…

He’s not lying, is he?

For once, I felt something genuine coming out of his mouth.

Perhaps I had misjudged him a little.

“Unfortunately, I have no such feelings towards you,” I replied coldly. Even if he might actually be in love with me, I had no desire to be with him. Not in the slightest. So it would be better to drill it into his head to just give up and find another girl to woo.

“J-just give me a chance to prove myself to you, p-please!”

“There’s nothing to prove,” I quickly replied. “If you think love is about proving anything, then that’s another reason why you wouldn’t be compatible with me.”

Call me a fool if you want, but I believed in the love those boards loved to sing about—the kind of love that was irrational, the kind of love that occured at first sight. If I ever fell in love, it would be with someone I couldn't help but think about day and night, worrying how he was and how he perceived me. I would want to have his everything, while giving myself entirely in return. It would be that kind of deep and intimate love.

With that said, I left him behind, but not without him having the last word.

"I'll make you fall in love with me, Marina! I promise!"

What an idiot… he doesn't understand me at all…

Afterwards, I told everything that had occurred to Hugo via letter, even if I didn’t really want to. I had promised him to tell everything after all.

When I got his return letter, as I predicted, he passionately wrote how he would go here and teach the hobbit a lesson if he kept bothering me. I giggled reading it, feeling happy that he cared so much, but I refused, telling him that I was perfectly fine on my own. What kind of a big sister would I be if I have to get my little brother defending me?

Not to mention that, to my pleasant surprise, he stopped his advances towards me entirely, making me wonder if he had really given up for real.

------

My fourth year then ended, and I returned home for the summer, as usual.

Proudly, I demonstrated to Hugo how I had mastered my third Master-level spell, Rainstorm. I beat him to it after all. Although, I couldn’t help but feel bad, knowing that he still had yet reached his first Master-level spell. He said he had a plan for the kind of spell he wanted to make, but he refused to tell me, saying that he wanted to keep the surprise, that silly boy.

Well, it was time for him to have his own secrets that he couldn’t tell even to his big sister. Just one more year until he’s ten after all.

Me mastering Rainstorm at the opportune moment as well, since this summer was unusually dry, causing a drought that threatened the crops of the villagers under Father’s care. With my spell, it wasn’t a problem anymore, though the villagers praised me as if I was their saviour, which quite embarrassed me. I didn’t feel like I had done something particularly worthy of such praises after all.

It was a quiet summer overall, with nothing else that would be noteworthy enough to talk about.

-----------

I returned back to my fifth year at the academy. And I was certainly approaching that date of graduation that I looked forward to.

Technically, I could graduate earlier if I wanted, since I already had three Master-level spells under my belt (and one would already be enough), but I figured it would just be a waste. Father had paid good money for me to enroll in this place after all. And besides, I still wanted to be by Alincia’s side. The girl could still use me as a friend and I certainly enjoyed her company.

Though if after Hugo’s tenth birthday, he begged me to just start adventuring with him, I might just consider it.

Like I had said before in the start of this monologue, Alincia learned her first Master-level spell at this year, though at the end of it. According to her, her big sister also learned her first Master-level spell at that point, which made her grin ear to ear. She was clearly happy that she could follow on her sister’s footsteps.

There was one big and notable thing that occured in this year, and that was the invitation of the parents of the fifth year students to come in and talk to the teachers at the academy. Officially, it was done to ask how they would like their children’s future career prospects be, as for our last year, the lessons would be completely focused to really be about said career, depending on the student’s aspiration.

There were many career options available to a mage. Ignoring the obvious thing of becoming an adventurer, which the academy didn’t even count as a career option since to them, there was no stability nor prestige on it, you could become the Magocracy’s mage soldiers, or, if you were more skilled, you could become the Council’s elite guards. There was also an option to become a Council member’s personal guard, if there was an opening. As for non combat roles, you could become a construction mage who used Earth magic to build houses and other structures. Or as a fisherman mage who used Water magic to catch fishes. Mind you, not everything was done through magic in this country, since even though it’s called the Magocracy, there were still many of its citizens who couldn’t use magic in the slightest.

Naturally, my parents were also called in as well, so I wrote them a letter, telling them to come and visit.

And two weeks later, they indeed did. But not just Father and Mother, but also Hugo and even Erika, who they believed to be sufficiently old enough to weather a long two-week journey on a carriage like that.

Unfortunately, the academy didn’t really have any extra rooms that the parents could use to sleep in, so they had to rent an inn outside of academy grounds.

Still, I was delighted that they were coming, especially since the exception of Father, this was their very first visit here. Unlike some other kids who were easily homesick, I was fine just visiting them once per year at the holidays.

Little did I know that it wouldn’t be just the teachers that they would be meeting.

--------------

Hugo

When I first read Marina’s letter saying how Father and Mother were invited to come to the Academy, I was ecstatic. After all, it could only mean one thing. 

Another family trip! But this time, we’re not going to the mountains, but to Marina’s school instead! The capital of the Magocracy, Mira! A place like that should be filled with all sorts of magical stuff, right? I can’t wait!

Although, when I asked Marina about it, she told me that the city wasn’t really that different from Aarom, only that it was larger and it had a great pitch black wall surrounding it made out of magical obsidian. And some minor magical things in the academy grounds. It’s nothing spectacular like in the magic cities in those fictions we liked to read. It’s not a city in the sky, nor does it have an army of golems patrolling around in the streets.

Even so, my excitement still remained. I felt that she was just being her usual characteristic self that rarely got excited over anything.

And it’s the perfect birthday present too… if the date we were told to come was two months later, that is. Not that this world had that kind of tradition. Or at least, not in this part of the world.

Argh, what rotten luck! Just two more months until I could register as an adventurer! If I was already ten, we could have our first quest together there!

...Then again, I had promised Sherry to wait for her before we go on any quests. Just one more year until Marina graduates and she returns. And I certainly don’t intend to break that promise.

“Mother, I can come too, right?” I asked after I showed her the letter, giving her the best hopeful smile that I could muster.

“Hehe, of course you can!” She giggled. She clearly was happy by the news. “In fact, I think our whole family can come together! Even little Erika! I believe she’s old enough for such a trip. Though knowing her, she’ll probably cry and scream a lot during it…” She let out a sigh.

Ah, right. That girl gets easily bored after all.

“Don’t worry, Mother! I’ll be there to calm her down!” I patted my chest, switching to a confident smile.

I sure hope I can. Or else this fun trip would be hell instead. Urgh, she can get really loud if she doesn’t get what she wants…