(Alice POV)

I finally understand why the spiritualist of the village abstained from drinking. When I woke up in the morning my head was assaulted by a heavy headache, my throat was dry and I was lacking the motivation to get up. I was barely able to remember what I did the last night.

"I can't believe I survived yesterday." (Alice)

Yesterday we went to "Sweet Blood" to celebrate my admission to the academy, everything was fine until that happened, the last thing I'm able to remember was Fari giving me a strange beverage. She said that, because I was the star of the show, I was allowed to drink the new prototype of the shop. Hearing the word prototype gave me a bad feeling, so I tried to ask Azazel for advice, but he only said this was hazing and I needed to be ready for the consequences, in other words, he left me on my own. I remembered I took a deep breath before taking a sip, it only took me one sip before everything went hazy.

"Are you finally awake?" (Anil)

Hearing Anil brought me back to reality, I turned my head and saw her in the entrance of my room with a tinge of red on her cheeks. If it was any other day she would have entered without any restriction, but today she was acting strange. 

Suddenly an undesirable idea crossed through my mind. Could it be it was something I did yesterday? I tried to deny that possibility, but the strange attitude of Anil made me think it may be the case. Fearing for the worst I looked at the strange Anil while resolving myself to know the truth of yesterday.

"A-Anil... Tell me something and be honest with it. Did I do something strange yesterday?"(Alice)

Hearing my words made the face of Anil even redder, her gaze wandered all across the room until she finally couldn't endure the silence.

"Ma-Master is calling you... Orie is also with her... don't be late."(Anil)

She didn't answer my question, as she left my room in hurry after telling me why she was here. Her actions only increased my anxiety, as I was still in the dark of what could be the biggest embarrassment of my life.

But with the witch calling me I didn't have time to indagate further, so I put on the academy uniform and went to the witch office. While I was walking across the mansion every maid and worker I passed by was looking at me with a red face while whispering. I wasn't able to endure their gazes so I quickened my steps.

Just as the witch office entered into my sight I entered in a hurry and closed the door with a slam. I knew my face was completely red so I tried to use this moment to calm down, but I couldn't because inside of the witch office was my mom looking at me with an awkward expression and the witch with an unusual embarrassed expression, their gazes sank my heart in a sea of desperation and embarrassment.

I wasn't able to endure more of this awkward situation so I looked at my mom with the intention of end this once and for all.

"Please mom, I beg you, tell me what I did yesterday." (Alice)

Hearing my words made my mom a little hesitant, she clearly knew what happened but it was obvious she was reluctant to say anything. I was prepared for a wild answer, even for an extremely embarrassing story. But in the end, the answer of my mom was wilder than I thought.

"Well... How would you react if I say that you ended up charming everyone you interacted with?"(Orie)

"...Ha?"(Alice)

I couldn't understand her words, is my brain working properly? What does she mean I charmed everyone? I turned my head at the witch hoping for an explanation only to see her covering her red face with one hand and avoiding my sight.

"What a huge mistake, why did I think that the devil brat was an adorable angel?"(Fayna)

The witch may be thinking her whisperings weren't loud at all, but in reality, her words echoed in every corner of the room. The truth was heavier than I thought and hearing a lot of incomplete explanations didn't help at all, I was about to go berserk when Azazel spoke in my mind with a troubled voice.

"I can explain what happened. The drink that Fari gave to you had alcohol, it wasn't a lot but surprisingly it was enough to get you drunk in one sip. After you got drunk you manipulated the devil attribute subconsciously with great dexterity, my hypothesis is because you want to be beautiful in the future your power charmed everyone near you.

I need to say that you were lucky because the way you used it was very subtle, as instead of applying it to the target you used it on yourself, creating a charming aura and enhancing your natural attributes. It was good you still had your mask on, because if that wasn't the case then that night would have ended in a great disaster.

I must add that when you are drunk you have a very docile attitude, you are like a puppy... or an angel...with everyone..."(Azazel)

Thanks to the explanation of Azazel I finally understood what happened yesterday. But instead of being relieved, I was even more worried.

Knowing what I did after getting drunk in a place near the academy didn't help at all, in fact, I don't want to get near the academy for the time being. Sadly, my mom wouldn't allow it, she easily read my thoughts and placed a hand on my shoulder while giving me my white mask.

"I know how you are feeling, but you can think about it later. If you don't hurry you'll be late for your first day at the academy."(Orie)

Knowing that it was futile to go against my mother, I grabbed my mask in a sad mood and was about to leave the office when I heard my mom whispering something horrible.

"I still need to punish Alice for what she did yesterday. How about restricting her of sweet desserts from a month?"(Orie)

It seemed that my future was dark, no matter how you looked at it.

---

(Alice POV)

After running through the entire city I finally reached the classroom. The door was closed and I could hear the voice of the teacher greeting the students, this told me I was just in time and the rest were already inside. I steeled myself and tried to enter the classroom quietly, but my actions made everyone look in my direction in curiosity while the teacher had a severe gaze.

"You are a lucky one, one second later and you wouldn't be able to enter, but because you are the last you need to start the presentations. Begin with your name, age, attribute, stars, and spirit rank in that order."(teacher)

Without any other option, I walked to the front of the classroom and presented myself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Alice, I am ten years old. I possess the light attribute with a total of five stars and a fourth rank spirit."(Alice)

"Very good, now take any empty seat you want."(teacher)

I took a seat in the only empty seat near the window while the teacher was instructing everyone to present themselves. When the presentations ended the teacher began to explain everything about the school.

"Now that everyone here knows each other let's start the introduction. My name is Lariat and I will be your teacher for this course.

Because you are new here, I'm obligated to explain everything. During this first week you need to familiarize yourselves with the terrains of the academy and attend this beginner course. At the end of this week, you need to choose a department where you will focus your studies. There are three departments in the school: Combat, support, and engineering.

In the combat department, although you will learn how to fight in general, you will be trained in what you are better at. That could be close combat, long-range, infiltration, recognition, etc...

The support department works the same. There you will learn everything about taking care of your teammates or saving other people's lives. You can specialize yourself in healing, protection, medicine, exorcism, etc...

And finally, the engineering department. There you will learn everything about creating, modifying and upgrading magical devices, equipment of your teammates or the daily life items of the civilians. After all, not everything is for fighting.

You can only belong to one department, but you can work with multiple specialties. In the case that you have an unusual skill, you will need to talk with a teacher to receive personal guidance.

I think everybody knows about the academy tournament that will be held in two years. If you want to participate, you need a team of six people and be one of the top teams. The top teams are determined by the number of points your team has, these points can be earned by fighting with other teams or completing multiple missions.

That's all for today. Tomorrow we will start training your physical strength." (Lariat)

And just like that the class ended and everyone was dismissed. Without anything else to do, I began to wander around the academy.

The sight inside the academy was really beautiful. You could see between the buildings small terrains covered with grass and trees, giving a relaxing charm to the place.

I wasn't hungry or in hurry, so I walked there and took a little nap to recover my still tired body.

After sleeping for a while I got up a little hungry. I was a little curious about the food so I entered the cafeteria and coincidentally saw Fari and Rine ordering their food. I was a little embarrassed when I saw them but at the same time, I wanted to see the reactions after what happened.

"What are you going to eat?"(Alice)

Fari and Rine turned around and looked at me with a surprised expression, but that changed when they recognized me. The face of Fari was extremely red while Rine had small traces of red in her cheeks.

"A...A...A..."(Fari)

Fari stuttered a little before fleeing. I was a little stunned by her excessive reaction, as I didn't expect her to react like that, sensing my emotions Rine placed her hand on my shoulder while giving me an embarrassed smile.

"You don't need to worry about her, after all, is her fault."(Rine)

I was relieved by the attitude of Rine, so I ordered my food after hearing some recommendations. After receiving my meal, I walked with Rine to their table while talking about my first class. When we got there Fari was eating with a red face and Lapis was reading a book with also a slight red face. I looked at them and decided to finish this embarrassing chapter once it for all.

"Let's pretend that nothing happened that night, do you agree?"(Alice)

It seemed that my words were effective because moments later Fari returned to her noisy attitude. Watching Fari exaggerated actions made us calm down faster, as Lapis was reading her book again and Rine sat in the table with her food. After finishing the meal Fari made an expression of suddenly remembering something and looked at me.

"That's right, what department are you going to choose Alice?"(Fari)

The question of Fari made Rine and Lapis look at me. They looked interested in my answer, fortunately I had my election since the first day the witch told me I was going to study in the academy, so without any hesitation, I told them my choice.

"The combat department."(Alice)

"Good choice. In that case why won't you join our team to participate in the academy tournament."  (Rine)

As soon as I told them my choice Rine gave me a team invitation. I was surprised that they wanted to participate in the academy tournament. From what I previously saw each one of them had their own difficulties already, but I wasn't against the idea of getting in a team with them, so I nodded without hesitation.

"Thank you, I will get you the information about ourselves tomorrow. You better go to rest, for now, Fari, Lapis, and I still have some classes to assist."(Rine)

I nodded at her words and left the cafeteria with them, after walking with them for a while they went to their respective classes. With nothing else to do, I decided to explore the city.

I was walking towards the city when I was stopped by an unexpected person.

"Mom?! What are you doing here?"(Alice)

"Alice, the principal is calling for you to her office in the academy. I'm here to take you there."(Orie)

It seems that the witch had something to talk about, so I followed my mom a little curious while talking about my first day in the academy on the way to the office.