novelraw Chapter 208: Dragon Pride [3]
Chapter 208: Dragon Pride [3]
"D-Did you have to be so rude with your auntie?" Mirai asked.
"Well, that is how I got this strong right now, so it was definitely worth it," Louis nodded. "More importantly, let's eat breakfast and go."
Louis gathered with his friends once more, ate breakfast, and headed straight to the academy. There was a small welcoming ceremony where the teachers were introduced again, and every student moved to the classes they had chosen.
The first class was Magic Theory. A peculiar professor greeted them: an adorable white-and-gray owl, a literal animal, perched inside a wooden golem body shaped like a human that he controlled.
"Welcome to Magic Theory, everyone. You might have already seen me before. I am Professor Owlstein. And yes, I am an owl," he said. "I will answer some of your questions before we begin, so go ahead and raise your hands if you have any."
"Um, why are you an owl?" The first to raise her hand was the red-haired half-elf girl from Camelot, Fantine, whose emerald eyes looked at the owl sensei with awe.
"Hohoh," the owl laughed. "I am a Divine Beast from Yggdrasil. I awakened intelligence not long ago and have pursued Magic and Golem Creation ever since. I may look small, but my true form is a great divine owl, so do not test me. Hohoho."
After that, nobody asked any more questions, realizing his backstory was rather ordinary, which disappointed Owlstein. He continued the class as normal.
Nothing of great importance was taught. Louis already knew everything, and most students did too, but some clueless ones, mostly commoners not affiliated with any house, were finally learning and understanding magic theory, conjuration, and magic circle formation.
Once the classes ended, Louis and his house had lunch before moving to the second class of the day: Magic Language. There they learned about the many languages of the world and runic inscriptions, which was slightly more interesting.
Louis paid close attention to the peculiar teacher, a slender, skinny entity-like being completely white as charcoal, with no eyes or nose but a wide mouth full of sharp teeth that he always showed in a big grin. He had no ears, and his arms and legs were three times longer than normal, with long fingers and no nails.
He was a Sinner like the students, one who had survived Fantasium Mutation. His name was Professor Everlast. Although he appeared masculine, she had a feminine voice, revealing she was actually a woman. Besides her wide hips, it was hard to tell her gender at a glance.
"Runic Inscription is very special, my beloved students. Aw, aren't you all cute?" she spoke a little creepily while calling everyone cute and adorable. "Anyway, my adorable students. Runic Inscription is the ability to infuse runic spells into items! It is a very basic school yet incredibly complex. If you learn this well, you will one day be able to create wonderful items."
She taught everyone how to forge their own runes. The nobles did it seamlessly. Louis managed to infuse runes into a pencil, making it as tough as a bronze sword. Everyone else struggled. Timothy performed the worst, followed by Selene, who was completely clueless about magic conjuration.
"For now, you should keep training at home," she said. "The basic spells for inscription are Tough, Tougher, Sharp, Sharper, and Lightweight. These will make your equipment tougher, your weapons sharper, and everything lighter overall. It is essential that you know them well."
After classes ended, everyone moved to their first combat practice session, where the houses competed against one another in friendly duels to release steam and practice their abilities.
"Everyone is allowed to challenge anybody to a duel," the professor, Chris Bluefield, explained. "And this is not limited to this class. From now on, duels will happen all the time. You are free to reject a duel, but you will lose points. Points are important for maintaining high grades and enjoying the many benefits and resources the school offers. If you win a duel, you earn a certain amount of points and may choose to take some from the loser. If you challenge someone and lose, you lose twice the points, so choose your opponents carefully. To pass the first semester, you need to accumulate at least 100 points."
It was a simple yet challenging system. Students had to work for what they wanted. Merely being strong did not guarantee an easy year at the academy.
Naturally, the moment Louis stepped into the arena, he was challenged three times.
"I challenge you to a duel, Louis Drakeheart," Arthur Pendragon said, his sword gleaming.
"I challenge you to a duel, Prince Louis!" Ashur from Mesopotamia spoke with a gentle smile.
"I challenge you to a duel!" The third challenger was a tall, strong, muscular blue-skinned oni warrioress, one of the oni sisters, Reina.
"Hoh," Louis smiled and nodded. "I am flattered. Shall we all fight together at once? All three of you are free to fight me simultaneously. You may even cooperate."
"What?!"
"Is that even allowed?"
"Why is he so damn confident?"
"Haha, he thinks he can take two house leaders at the same time?!"
"I've heard Reina is super tough too! She belongs to the rare Blue Oni Tribe."
"Hahaha, I want to see that cocky prince get his shit rocked."
"Huh, things are getting interesting!"
All the students stopped training and sparring to watch the scene, chatting and whispering words that Louis could easily hear with his enhanced senses.
"Director, would you allow it?" Louis asked.
"You're confident, huh?" the director sighed. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Louis nodded.
"…Fine. Do whatever you want," the director shrugged. "Go ahead."
The class, already training in the vast arena, moved aside to give the four space to battle.
Louis stood at the center, facing the two nobles and the warrioress.
"Today I will beat you all with my bare hands."
His hands gleamed with white light as ashes fell from the sky, creating a bizarre optical illusion.
"How cocky. Fine!" Arthur smiled defiantly. "Time for you to taste the dirt, jackass."
"Hahah! I love that confidence," Ashur smiled warmly. "I shall wipe that smile from your face, dear prince. Later, I will take her with me." He glanced at Mirai, making her feel deeply unsettled.
"Hmph, don't slow me down, little princes," Reina said with no respect, holding her naginata while glaring at Louis, her demonic aura surging. "I'm going to beat that bastard for daring to hurt Princess Kaguya…!"
Although the others did not understand what she meant, Reina knew. Even though the princess had not told anyone, when she returned from visiting Louis she had been weaker, slightly traumatized, and her brother was missing a valuable national treasure.
She never spoke of it, but Reina, her sister, and a few members of House Yamato had already begun to suspect that Louis had done something to her. Reina was the only one bold enough to step forward. Unlike the other students, she was already strong, having spent her entire childhood fighting monsters in the mountains with her sister.
"May the duel begin!" the director announced. "And remember not to cause lethal harm or—"
"Very well then, get ready," Louis said, his aura surging. "I will show you the true meaning of strength."
"Hahaha! We'll see!" Arthur laughed, unsheathing his spirit sword.
"Heh, so confident. I love that," Ashur smiled as dozens of golden artifacts resembling statues of gods and pyramids emerged around him, gathering sunlight and firing beams.
"I'm beating you to death!" Reina roared, swinging her naginata forward and unleashing a devastating technique of compressed demonic energy.
All three attacks reached Louis at the same time.
BOOOM!
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