A New Dawn 28 A rebel studen

At that time, the old grumpy man would have been jumping in joy to discover such potential in a commoner child. First of all, to make all the nobles magus less arrogant since the last magus that wasn't from one of the noble families died a decade ago. And of course, since it was probably his last few years on this planet, to groom a powerful disciple was the dream of every elder magician. But it was not Moo that grabbed this treasure but Alexander Arastil himself, by sheer luck.

"What is your name, little girl?" For the first time since his days as a student, Alexander kneeled in front of Leilade. He discarded all his tricks and facades and seriously spoke to her. To become a magus, one couldn't be stupid and even if he was not attentive to the behavior of the kid, he still noticed her strange reactions. Since she was not a normal kid, she will be treated as an adult.

"Leilade."

"Leialde … something else? Or just Leilade?"

"Just Leilade." The two voices had the same lack of heat and while the magus was specialized in ice, he didn't gain the upper hand in that battle. He thought about how strange it was since her fire element was clearly the strongest of all. And the behaviors of the fire mages were cheerful, frivolous and temperamental. Not calm and collected like the girl, but she was probably the exception that confirmed the rule.

"Do you have any family?" Alexander really hoped she will say no, even if it was cruel. That way, only the small kid herself will decide of her allegiance and he had a huge advantage on that.

"No."

"Great." Of course, Alexander didn't say that loud and only thought about it. The laconic tone that answered his question was disturbing for someone at such a young age and he was thinking about what could have happened to turn her like that. Numerous possibilities were present, from kidnapping and massacres to a catastrophe or a monster attack.

"What happened to them?"

(So you agree on that story or not?)

"Do I really have to look that pitiful? Can we have something else as a backstory?" While the magus was searching for a weak point to use on her, Leilade and the Viscount were battling on her fabricated past. He was thinking about using her original past, the one where she was caught by dark mages. It was the easiest way but Leilade wanted something more common. While they had destroyed the Church of Torment and could easily match their movements, it was still highly different than the past of the rest of the students. So a potential investigation could be conducted. In the end, she had no choice but to fuse the truth with some lies.

As she told Alexander all that happened to her, the magus felt his heart grow colder. He really thought that it would be something terrible but not that terrible. Her family slain by dark mages, herself captured and subject to numerous experiments. He wasn't even sure if he could survive such an ordeal but she was still alive. Also, he understood why she was like that and so different from the usual joyous and curious children. When she stopped talking, he was unsure about what he should say. He was not heartless and if someone found out that he exploited such a pitiful creature, he will suffer an immense backslash.

"I am … eh, … sorry about what happened to you. No one should suffer such a fate. In the future, you will be able to personally hunt them and end this madness once and for all. In the meantime, there is still something that I want to ask you." The handsome man tried to change a little his voice while saying this but it was as cold as ever. And some concern was still visible on his face. The last sentence, however, piqued the curiosity of Leilade.

"You are an orphan and had already been abducted once. Therefore, to prevent another accident like that, I want you to hide your potential. If you are just a normal student, no one will try anything on you. I know, it is a weird request, but don't worry. At the same time, I want you to get close to this person."

"[Mirror]" The magus casted a spell and in the middle of the room, the portrait of a beautiful girl was seen. Not knowing why, Leilade found a resemblance with the princess Muirnë.

"This is Istuienn Gwendhir. She is ten years old and will enter the Academy this year. She already mastered some basics of the 2nd Circle and will be heavily guarded by everyone. She will at the same time be taught by the most eminent magus of this school. If you became close to her, you will enjoy the same treatment while still be irrelevant to the other powers. And don't think that this place is safe, the reason why no one would dare to attack her is thanks to her family. While you have no one to rely on and kidnapping already happened here. I will talk with the Sword Saint and Istuienn will probably learn why you need to be close to her. But if that fail, you can still try by yourself to become her close friend."

Leilade realized that even that arrogant and smug noble was trying his best to let her enjoy the best treatment while still being safe. It was a plan with numerous flaws and such, but it was still really well made in such a short time. And he has not finished apparently.

"If that doesn't work, I will still teach you when I can. I am part of the Punishment Council, so you will have to be quite a rebel to have me all for yourself. I know that this all depends on whether you accept or not, but if you truly display what you can become, I assure you that in less than 10 days, someone will try to either capture you or kill you. I know three or four magicians of the 4th Circle that are potential traitors but I have no evidence. They will drop the mask if a potential 6th Circle Magus appears here. As for why I am telling you that, well, something weird happened a week ago. I can't tell you about it, but dark times are coming. So, be efficient, because the clock is ticking. What is your answer?"

"Yes." The same laconic tone answered his heated speech. But instead of being upset by the lack of reaction, Alexander smiled for real. Following this, he taught her everything he knew about the young Istuienn. Her cheerful personality, her curious behavior, the fact that she liked bright and colorful clothes. The average behavior of a girl at that age. Besides that general information, however, Alexander Arastil knew nothing. He promised Leilade to get more news in the future. Right before he left the room, he stopped and turned around to look at the girl one last time.

"From now on, you are a trash commoner that will have a hard time reaching the 3rd Circle, your best attribute is wind. The fact that you were here is just due to the kindness of teacher Oscar. You are a disgrace of the Academy and should just leave this place before tainting the reputation of this place."

He said those harsh words full of mockery and disdain while scanning the face of Leilade. Her lack of facial expression led him to sight a little.

"I understand."

Her cold words made him shook his head. He had to ruin her childhood even more than she already experienced. But he knew deep down that it was the best thing to do. He heard of strange reports coming from the South West of the kingdom. The two 6th Circle Magus left the day before without even saying anything. He still didn't know if a war was brewing or something even worst. From the location of the problem, maybe the fallen Kingdom of Pankow will rise from its grave and attack for the first time in its history. This time, however, none of the churches moved, meaning that the Gods were also unprepared or it was not a threat to humanity.

While thinking about the dark future, Alexander led Leilade to the same room that was occupied by the scared boy. After accomplishing his task, he didn't even look at her while leaving, like she was a waste laying on his path. That attitude was noticed by the small boy that regained his color after waiting alone. He approached he, visibly wanting to talk to her. Noticing her lack of reaction, he got angry and began to exclaim.

"You poor peasant, what did the test said? I am sure you can't even beat a noble like myself." The boy was visibly venting the anger in his heart after constantly madding a fool out of himself during the travel. Unlike him, Leilade never did anything wrong and that made her his target to bring down.

"2nd Circle, Wind." Her commanding voice made him retreat a little, but when he realized that she was worse than him, he charged once more.

"Hahaha, I knew it. Acting all and mighty with your attitude but still trash in the end. Later, ten of you won't even be able to touch me. And with your scars, you won't even be able to find a good husband. However, if you accept to be my maid, I can take you with me when I will ascend."

It was true that no servants were present in the Academy. Only mages and magicians were accepted in the walls and the knights taking care of the magical beast were not able to enter the buildings. Of course, for a mage, to wash or clean a room was extremely easy. But at their arrival, they still had to search water to the river and do all their chores by themselves. For a previously pampered noble child like the boy, it was inadmissible. His family was very influent in the remote location where he was born, but that was it. He was still only an 8 years old kid and didn't think about the rest of the world. He only knew that nobles were superiors compared to the commoners and that's why they ruled them.

Alexander, however, heard this even at this distance. He decided to check on his protégé before letting her alone. He seriously didn't expect such an arrogant boy to be present. Even her sons wouldn't dare to behave like that inside the Academy and he shook his head while cursing the country bumpkin. His future was destroyed before he even was admitted. After that, all he heard was someone choking and desperately trying to breathe. Thinking about the worst, he dashed toward the room, only to find Leilade strangling the boy. The boy was getting paler and paler but instead of running to save him, Alexander calmly walked toward Leilade. "Why did I ask her to be a rebel?" were his thoughts.

Chapter end