- Academy Infirmary -

“Urie Loeth, nice to meet you.”

The ashen-haired young boy was slightly bowed while he held his right hand out in greeting towards a young girl with red hair.

“I know...” The young girl mumbled in reply.

Eh? She knows? Urie wondered where she might have gotten his name from as this was their first real interaction. He quickly dismissed the thought after assuming that she must have heard someone mentioning it earlier.

Urie's hand was still stretched out. He started trembling as he waited for his gesture to be reciprocated.

“Isn't she going to introduce herself?” He thought.

Raising his head slightly, he was curious as to why she had yet to respond. She was hesitantly placing her hand on his. It was cold and shaking with nervousness. His eyes met hers and she turned away from his gaze.

“Umm—?”

Even before the conversation had begun, it had entered an awkward pause. Urie opened his mouth in an attempt to solicit the young girl's response when she suddenly bowed her head in imitation of his greeting, while her hand was still placed on top of his.

“Celeste Vareth—“ She bit her tongue.

“Celeste Varethe.” Celeste spoke again in a clear voice to redeem herself.

After a few seconds, Urie started chuckling. The girl was clumsy, he thought.

“Don't you know what a handshake is?” He teased, an amused smile was on his face.

Celeste was puzzled. She had never really had much contact with anyone other than her mother, father, and uncle. She raised her head and saw the smile on Urie's face. Feeling that she was being mocked, Celeste's hand, which was on top of Urie's turned into a sudden grip.

“Ah! “ Urie winced as he felt the strength she had put into her hand. He pleaded for her to let him off but still held on for a few more seconds before releasing his hand.

“I wasn't making fun of you!” He said. ”You really don't know how to do a handshake?”

Although he flinched as he saw her furrowing her brows at his question, he still reached out and took her hand. Shaking it up and down, he said,

“This is how you greet someone when you meet them, it's called a handshake.”

Urie felt pleased as he saw her nod in understanding. He felt her hand start to move with the same repetitions before saying,

“You don't have to shake my hand this long, just a couple of times will do.”

Celeste took her hand away and looked down at the ground, feeling a bit embarrassed. Urie saw this and shifted his gaze towards the other parts of the room while trying to think of how to bring up the topic of the fountain.

His line of sight eventually arrived at the location of an old man lying down on a bed. From this position, the old man looked completely bald as his head buried his scant hair on the pillow.

“Why is grandfather is here?” He whispered to himself.

“I came here with him.” It wasn't directed at her but Celeste still answered.

“Huh?” Urie moved his attention from his grandfather to the girl in front of him. He was surprised.

“What were you doing with my grandfather?” He asked.

“We came here from the big wall.” She was speaking softly.

Urie scratched his head, “Wall? The Erden Wall? Grandfather, I could understand, but why were you at the wall?”

Celeste pointed at his head and continued, “Same hair... He picked me up from the forest outside the wall.”

“Father?” More questions began popping up in Urie's head. It could have been his brothers.

“Then more, people with the same hair and—“ Moving her finger from Urie's head to the old man on the bed, Urie understood what she meant.

She must have met his father, brothers, and grandfather stationed at the wall. Then his grandfather came to bring her here to the city.

“But why are you both here at the Academy?”

Celeste gestured once again at Urie's grandfather, “Said I need to play with others.”

Rubbing his hand on his forehead, Urie felt worn out. From the earlier debacle he had with his mana circulation demonstration, to being pulled into something by that scruffy, white-haired old man, to his current conversation with the red-haired girl in front of him.

Having to wrack his head on what she means by her incoherent sentences, he was just about ready to lay down on one of the vacant beds and take a nap. Intending to ask Celeste one last question, he tried to speak, “The fountain—“ before being rudely interrupted by a sudden shout.

“THAT SENILE OLD FREAK!!!”

His grandfather, like the dead suddenly coming back to life, opened his bloodshot eyes and jumped off from the bed.

Taking a quick look around the room before spotting the two children, Sacha Vinney blinked numerous times before he finally cleared his head. He launched himself towards them and locked them both in a tight embrace before checking them for any abnormalities.

“Urie my boy, Celeste!! Did that old fool do anything to you?” Sacha spoke in such a serious voice that Celeste and Urie both wondered what transpired between the two old men.

“Grandfather, we're alright.” Urie spoke while prying himself away from Sacha's hands.

“What exactly is so bad about that old man, grandfather? He asked.

Celeste, who had a vacant look in her eyes as she was being hugged by Sacha, also became curious as she wanted to know what kind of person that creepy old man was.

Finding himself under the inquisitive gazes of the two children, Sacha grimaced as he recalled the past. Grinding his teeth in frustration, he said, “That old freak likes to hold grudges.”

“When I was at the academy, he stalked and played pranks on me for two years until I left to enlist at the wall. As if it weren't bad enough, his grudge extended towards the next generation!”

Sacha grabbed at the remaining hair on his forehead and exclaimed. “Your mother became the target of his pranks. If it weren't for that child Merea keeping him away, Rivelle might've had to enlist at the wall as well!”

“What did you do that was so bad that he held a grudge for that long?” Urie asked.

At the mention of his mother being bullied, he scrunched his brows and asked Sacha as he wanted to know the root cause of it all.

“Well, that... The sweets that were regularly delivered to his office, he found out about me replacing the sugar that was baked into them with salt. But, that—that wasn't bad enough to warrant a generational grudge!”

Rolling their eyes at his confession, Urie told Sacha that Celeste would return to class with him and did not mention the old man any further, to avoid provoking Sacha into another episode of hysterics. Sacha agreed and left to inform Urie's mother of his arrival.

Celeste followed Urie out of the infirmary and headed back outside to the academy's courtyard where they had agreed to meet the scruffy old man.

- Academy Courtyard -

Instructor Danny had left the infirmary earlier with his students to resume his class on mana circulation. With Urie having done his impressive demonstration, the other students felt motivated and diligently worked to produce results.

“Student Elicia Perid, why not show the others what you can do as well?”

One of his students was seated over at the side with a bored expression on her face.

Elicia was scolded by her aunt, Merea, and told to attend her lesson. She initially protested as she wanted Merea to teach her how to manipulate mana the same way she did when she broke down that wall of ice.

Elicia's face showed disappointment when she was told she needed more time with the basics. Thinking about the two children her age that were already able to manifest fire and ice, her pride from having a so-called high aptitude, brought up with praises from others, started to crumble.

Her gaze going around the courtyard, Elicia caught sight of two people walking along the corridor from the academy building. One with grey hair and the other, red hair.

“Alright instructor, I'll do a demonstration, give me some space.” She declared.

In a last-ditch effort to save some of her pride, Elicia started gathering mana while standing in place. She felt warmth from her mana roots as a yellow hue started glowing from her skin.

Around her feet, small rocks and dirt started floating a few inches off the ground. She raised her right hand to the level of her shoulder and as the light from her body grew stronger, the small pieces of earth started floating around her in a dance.

“Wow!” An astonished cry from nearby caused a lapse in her focus and ended her round of mana circulation.

Glaring towards the source of the exclamation, Elicia saw the two children responsible for injuring her pride.

“Are you mocking me?” She spoke in an annoyed tone.

“What? No, I thought that was incredible.” Urie shook his head.

“Stop insulting me! What the two of you did earlier was much more than this pitiful display!”

Curling her hands into fists, Elicia lost her composure and raised her voice. Any compliment she received only had the opposite effect.

Urie gave her another honest praise, yet it only served to irritate her further. He was lost for words. He didn't know what he had done wrong. Behind him, Celeste felt equally bewildered. She also became a target of Elicia's outrage.

Instructor Danny seemed to blend into the background as he tried to placate the child, thoroughly ignored.

“Elicia!” Someone called out.

Although feeling disgruntled, Elicia quickly shut her mouth. She recognized the voice.

Her aunt, Merea, had arrived alongside the scruffy old man. No longer wearing the red robe, the old man had a loose outfit on, perfect for moving around.

“What do you say Merea? Why not give this hot pepper to me as well? It'd be good to have some friendly competition between the three of them.” He suggested.

Merea didn't immediately refuse. “I won't interfere if she agrees, it's her decision to make.” She stated.

“You heard that little girl?”

The scruffy old man turned to Elicia with his signature smile but as he leaned in closer to her, a resounding slap echoed across the courtyard. A red mark appeared on the face of the old man.

It didn't hurt as it was only the slap of a child but the old man still stood dumbfounded. Merea smirked and expressed approval. Unfortunately, Elicia hadn't noticed.

“Who are you? Why would I go with you?” She hissed.

Who was this old man? Why was he at this academy? Questions Celeste and Urie had forgotten to ask Sacha.

“Little girl, do you not know who I am?”

The old man's expression of surprise turned into amusement and burst out laughing.

“I am Arinndra! The Headmaster of this academy!”

Elicia had a look of doubt on her face when she heard him shout his name.

“Wasn't Arinndra the name of the Forest up north?” Urie asked.

Arinndra's Forest, the source of the flood of magic creatures attacking the wall.

“Well of course! I named that forest after myself!”

The old man calling himself the Headmaster stuck his chest out with pride.