Leonna had her doubts that he was even a student, but she couldn't deny or prove his real identity since this was her first year of being in the academy. As he looked older than her, she suspected he was a higher-class student.

"What happened to the person who attacked me?" Leonna kept her distance, not letting her guard down.

"They escaped, I wasn't able to subdue them." Replied the boy as he finished his plate in just a minute.

"Anyway my name is Norman, no last name, what about you?" asked the boy with a curious gaze, given the slightly luxurious dress she was wearing, he suspected she might be a noble or at least the daughter of a rich merchant.

"Why would I tell you my name?" replied Leonna.

"Cause I saved your life? what, can't even afford to tell your name to your savior?" Norman asked sarcastically as he leaned lazily in his chair.

".. Leonna, now if you don't mind, I would like to leave this place." She started going backward toward the door she guessed was the exit.

"Leonna. Leonna... Aren't you the granddaughter of grand Maester Fowke that was supposedly attacked and killed in his tower?" 

Leonna stopped moving, her body shaking involuntarily. She glared at the bastard who acted like he wasn't taunting her while saying such a thing.

But she was better than arguing with this suspicious guy, so she kept backtracking before she opened the door. Leaving the house quickly, she found herself in the street of the outer grounds of the academy, where servants and other workers of the academy lived with their families.

'At least he wasn't lying about the house..' She quickly left the area, coming to the center of the outer grounds where a lot of people came and went to do whatever they do. Finally relaxing a little once among the crowd.

'What the fuck happened last night? how could I be attacked while inside the academy itself?' She knew this Einahrt academy had a bad reputation, with accidental deaths of students happening higher than in any other academy.

'Those fuckers, no wonder they put me in this fucked up place.' She wanted to go to a different more expensive academy that had a reputation for producing the best mages in the country, but because of her family, more like an extended family consisting of uncles and aunts, they forced her to go to this academy, saying they couldn't afford her tuition and expense. 

Worse, the only one who could help her, her grandpa wasn't able to be contacted, doing his secret research or whatever. Thanks to her unreliable grandfather, she couldn't refuse to go to this ruined academy, otherwise, her family would get a reason to lower her position in the family further.

Just remembering the reason she was even in there irritated her to no end; she found a restaurant, walked into it, and sat in a far corner, before ordering breakfast.

She looked at the normal people in the room, who would normally talk loudly or just talk with each other completely silently, eating their meal before leaving just as quietly. She would have dismissed the strangeness if she didn't experience the attack last night. 

'What the hell is going on in this place?' She had this strange feeling she was in a prison, a death prison to be exact. Everything she saw was giving off eerie vibes ever since she woke up this morning, including the food presented in front of her. 

'Where could I even go if escape this shithole?' she ate the bland food in silence, worrying about her future. She barely started on the path of a mage, and she didn't even know the base spell, let alone the spell that would form her Spellcore. 

Her plan was for her to finish the academy to the best of her ability, follow in her grandfather's footsteps of becoming a researcher, and work as his assistant or something. But now everything was fucked up.

'It's like the world is punishing me or something.' She stood up, and went to the reception desk, paying her meals.

Outside the restaurant, she looked around for an Inn, and she found it easily, just a quick distance away. It looked like a good Inn as well. As she walked in the street, she saw most of the people showing a worried expressions, looking around them carefully every so often. 

'What's got them so spooked?' She tried to talk to some of the women passing by, but each one ignored her and kept walking with a lowered head.

Seeing their reactions, she just sighed and continued walking toward the inn, reaching its doors a few minutes later. She walked inside, seeing the reception hall that acted as a diner empty. The reception desk was manned by a young girl, no older than 15 she guessed.

"Hi, I would like a room for a 3-night stay, how much will it cost?" She went straight to the point, just wanting to get this done with and find a place she could relax and evaluate her situation. 

"uh..that will be 3 silver for each night. If you want lunch and dinner that would be 4 silver." The girl had a meek look, trying to show a respectful expression to one of the esteemed students of the academy.

Leonna didn't say a word, and took 4 silver coins from the storage crystal, handing it to the girl. The girl accepted it carefully, looking around a notebook before she took out a key, marked the notebook of its use, then handed it to Leonna.

"Here, your room is on the second floor, right side, room 9. It's clean and ready." said the reception girl.

"Thanks, If you don't mind me asking, are you the only one working here right now?" She expected a medium-sized inn of this size would be busy and would have more workers in it.

"Well, it's morning, most of our customers don't wake up till lunch, and my father is out buying groceries." nervously replied the girl.

"I see, I was wondering, has something happened in the area? I saw a lot of people who looked worried." 

".. umm.. father said I shouldn't talk about it. It brings bad luck." the girl was fidgeting now, not wanting to continue this stressful conversation. Mages had a reputation for being overbearing and doing whatever they wanted, and those were the good mages. The Dark mages were a forbidden topic most normal and peasant people didn't dare to talk about in public and with strangers at that. 

Their reputation for skinning and eating people for saying the wrong thing or looking at them the wrong way was well known. Normal people were afraid of them more than they were afraid of monsters or magic beasts.

'Is she talking about… Dark Mages?' now she was worried as well, quickly going to her room on the second floor. Once she closed the door, she sat on the single-person bed, sighing from exhaustion even though she woke up just an hour or so ago.

'Could the person that attacked me last night by a dark mage?' Only Dark mages would be insane or have such motivation to openly kidnap a young girl right in the academy.

'What should I do now?' she lay on the bed fully, staring at the ceiling. She had no home she could return to, she had no power to defend herself with, and no one to rely on at all. To say her situation was precarious was an understatement.