On the first day of school, every student is required to enter through the front gate and walk up the steps to the gathering hall, including her royal highness Princess Grace Graham and the famous Lady Eleanor Ambrose.

“This place isn’t very wheelchair accessible is it?”

Eleanor sighs when she sees the large stairway leading up to the main hall. She glances back at her conduits who are waiting eagerly outside the entrance like excited puppies. She beckons one of them to come carry her up the steps.

“You can use this lowly one’s body as you see fit, your holiness!”

“Just cast a spell, you moron!”

Grace and Eleanor enter the hall and they are told to stand with the other first year students. Umber Tower has a five years learning programme and the students there range from age twelve to upwards of forties.

“Oh hey, Eleanor!” Carter waves and walks over. “I didn’t know you were enrolling here too!”

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“No… I don’t think so? When we last met you just kinda dozed off when we were talking.”

“Oh… How embarrassing.”

“Adria… I mean, cousin Eleanor, aren’t you going to introduce me to this… Gulp! Tall handsome stranger?”

“Grace, Carter. Carter, Grace.”

“Howdy!”

Carter smiles and shakes the Princess’ hand.

“H-Howdy…!”

Princess Grace’s cheeks turn pink as Carter flashes her a big white smile. As the three of them exchange words, the group of professors walk up the center stage and the buzzing in the hall quiets down.

Eleanor doesn’t pay attention to the entrance ceremony and nods off a couple of times. After it’s over, a number of students—both first years and upperclassmen—run up to her to introduce themselves. They are relatives of her worshipers. Eleanor looks at them with tired eyes, but something peaks her interest.

“Hello, that’s a strong source of hatred I feel,” Eleanor whispers excitedly. “Let’s see, who among these children wants to kill me?”

Eleanor cast her eyes around, but she can’t pinpoint the hater among a sea of faces. She wiggle her nose when the source of hatred suddenly disappears.

“Odd…”

Eleanor, Princess Grace, and Carter are enrolled in different majors. Carter aimed to become a knight so his studies consist of sword training, horse riding, war tactics, and the likes. Princess Grace always wanted to learn magic. She takes the opportunity to attend as many magic classes as she can. Finally, Eleanor who can’t do either physical activity nor cast spells on her own has no choice but to attend the research major alongside most other noble children and academics.

Carter and Grace accompany Eleanor to her classroom before saying goodbye.

“Don’t embarrass the royal name, cousin Eleanor. And if you do, don’t tell anybody you know me, you hear?”

“We’ll catch up at lunch, Eleanor. See you!”

Eleanor enters the lecture hall alongside her new entourage. One in particular is Lady Joanna Jones, daughter of James Jones, captain of the guards and one of Eleanor’s conduits. She is keen to please Eleanor as her father instructed.

Hey, isn’t Lady Jones supposed to be one of the guards surrounding the devil right now? Wasn’t she like Eleanor’s best friend or something? Why hasn’t she said anything yet?

Yup, that brunette on the left of the judge right there. In fact, a number of people here knew Saint Eleanor. That’s why I don’t think they want to chime in unless they know for sure it’s her.

And if it turns out she’s the real deal?

…Let’s not assume anything and just watch the show.

“Pleased to meet you, Eleanor! I’m Joanna, but people like to call me Jo. I usually hate it when they call me Jo, but I’ll make an exception just for you! Oh, shoot, daddy said not to act too casually around you. My apologies, your holiness! Or should I call you princess? Your mother used to be a princess so does that make you one? No wait, you’re adopted! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I’ll just stick with your holiness like daddy told me to! Or if you prefer I can—”

“Joanna dear, I baked this cookie this morning. Would you care to taste it?”

“Gee thanks, Elle! I love sweets! Say there’s this cute little shop in town, maybe we can go there after school and…”

Joanna happily gulps down Eleanor’s cookies and continues running her mouth like nothing happened. Eleanor’s eyebrows twitch when her poison isn’t effective.

Eleanor sits in class, waiting for the teacher to come in while tuning out Joanna’s endless chatter. After a while, a tall friendly looking middle aged man comes in.

“Good morning class, my name is Professor Orlando Oak and I’ll be your homeroom teacher for this year. First, I have to explain that our research major works a bit differently than other specialized studies. Unlike them, you’re not going to be walking from one class to another but rather the professors will be the ones coming in. So you over there, the one in the wheelchair, you should find a better spot to sit because you’ll be spending the rest of the year there.”

Professor Oak points at Eleanor who is sitting at the front of the auditorium. Eleanor looks at the stair leading up to the rows of seats and tilts her head.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. This room is a bit special. It can shift itself to best accommodate the class.”

Professor Oak snaps his fingers and the ground below Eleanor takes her up to be seated. A table is created in front of her.

The students start chatting excitedly and try adjusting the height of their table and the shape of their chairs. Some even make a bouncy bed and hop on it like a child.

“Pretty cool, yeah? This room is possible due to the research that was done on the Central Node—the mysterious source of power that’s at the center of our Umber Tower. Nobody knows what it is or where it came from. We only know that funky stuff happens around it. Unlocking the mystery of the Central Node and tapping into its limitless potential will be one of the main objectives of your studies. No pressure, yeah? Even I have no idea how it works, and I spent most of my life researching it.”

Professor Oak chuckles.

“Without further ado, I want you guys to stand up—not you.” He winks at Eleanor and half the class laughs. “—and introduce yourselves to everybody. Don’t be shy. Being in a room with a hundred other people means you’ll embarrass yourself sooner or later. So you might as well rip off the bandage now. Let’s start with… you!”

Orlando Oak points at a blonde haired boy who is sleeping in the back row. The man sitting beside him shakes his shoulder, waking him up. The boy pops his head up.

“Hey, you gotta introduce yourself, man.” the one sitting beside him says.

The boy looks around the room with a before wiping away his saliva and standing up. The boy is rather tall and skinny with messy blonde hair and dull tan skin. His bad posture and sleepy face doesn’t give people the best first impression.

Wait, isn’t that…?!

Yes, it is him!

Damn, how many twists and turns is this story going to have? This shit is getting ridiculous!

“Yawn… Hi… I’m Xander… nice to meet… you.”

He is Xander Xenos, son of King Xerxes—King of the desert, one of the Heralds of Antediluvian, and the man Eleanor murdered with her own hands.

Eleanor feels a powerful hatred exuding from him and can’t stop herself from smiling ear to ear.