"Well, that's another way of seeing it."
Raghnall smiled in amusement.
Inna's eyes still didn't lose its shine as she excitedly interrogated him.
"So, what's the class like? Are there lots of girls? Or guys? There are dorms, right? Are the classes also the name of our dorm houses? Like, do we have those 'houses according to the class' kind of thing?"
"Boring. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."
Raghnall counted with his fingers while Inna grinned at her lily.
"Ugh, look at the loser. She's already so happy with being in the lowest class."
A female student holding a Lotus flower sneered. She was together with few other students holding the same flower as well.
"That's what you would expect from a charity case. Just give them your scraps and they'll be on cloud nine."
The girls giggled lightly before walking away.
Hearing their words, Inna's face scrunched up in confusion.
"What did those bitches say?"
"Lowest class?"
She figured that Raghnall knows more about the school than others so, Inna looked at him for an answer.
"They're right. Lily class is indeed the lowest class in the academy. They stuff all the misfits there, like the crazy and unstable people."
Inna looked at him in disbelief as she pointed at her face.
"But why did they put 'ME' there?!"
"Do I look crazy and unstable to you?!"
And without a moment's hesitation, Raghnall answered with a straight face.
"Yes."
Hearing his reply, Inna slapped his arm using the lily.
"You just met me an hour ago! You judgmental prick!"
Raghnall rubbed the spot where she hit him.
"Hey! Don't go hitting me out of the blue!"
"I had my reasons!"
"First of all, you were climbing the stairs to go to the academy. No one did that for like, the past decades. Anyone with common sense would know that they can buy the teleportation scroll, fighters and magic-users alike."
"And secondly, as soon as I said those to you by the gate entrance, you started talking to yourself, screaming nonsense about 'balls,' 'sheets,' 'teas,' and 'mothers.' And you mixed them with words that sounded gibberish. And, I don't know what your definition of crazy is, but you pretty much act like one from mine. So, can you really blame me for thinking that?"
He raised his eyebrow, daring Inna to rebut him.
After hearing his reasoning, Inna was actually convinced that she really seemed crazy. She was so used to being confined in the mansion, only talking to Solomon and the servants, that she forgot that their world and its views are very different from hers.
Inna coughed awkwardly at that. Feeling slightly better from her awkwardness, Raghnall decided to explain more about the class to her.
"Well, if it makes you feel better, the weakest people in the whole academy are dumped there too."
Inna glared at him.
"Hey, no doubt about it. You are weak. And you better accept that. In fact, I can crush you with a single word so don't go glaring at me like that."
Raghnall raised an eyebrow as he continued.
"And usually, no one was sent there on their first year. Well, until you arrived."
"So, congratulations! You made history! Now, you'll either get beaten up by other students or, most possibly, die by the end of the year so, nice knowing you!"
Raghnall patted her shoulder as he turned to leave.
But Inna whacked the back of his head with the lily.
"Don't kill me off just yet!"
Raghnall turned around as he cupped the part where she hit him.
"Woman! Stop swinging that lily around like a weapon! Do you know how much force you put on that thing?!"
He rubbed his head as a little tear leaked out from his eyes.
Inna ignored his childish outburst as she questioned him again.
"Why did you say that I'll die?"
That part actually scared her for real. Because she didn't want to die again!
Nope! She just escaped death! It would be totally lame to die again in such a short time!
"Didn't you see it earlier? What those girls did are just the tip of the iceberg. People from the lily class are bullied almost every day. It's like everyone's past time. Since most of the Lily class consists of commoners or low-class nobles, some higher-class nobles even torture them until near death. Of course, there would be 'accidents' in these tortures that will lead to death. But usually, the perpetrators remain unscathed because, considering their families' background, no one would dare to tattle. So, they have this 'Silence Pact' going on. Hence, the deaths have been deemed as simply 'mysterious' deaths."
"Some students that survived despite the torture, slowly broke. They became unstable and crazy. While some sold their dignity and became slaves just to be able to live a bit more comfortably. But some of them, after a year or two, would ultimately choose killing themselves."
"Well, actually, it's been ages since someone last entered that class so pretty much almost everyone forgot about it as well, even the teachers. And most likely the previous remaining students are probably dead by now so you're probably the only one there at the moment."
After Inna finished digesting what she heard, Inna looked at Raghnall curiously.
"How do you know all this?"
Raghnall's eyes widened slightly. From all the questions she could ask, he didn't expect her to ask that at all.
"My master was a graduate from this school. And like you, I've been picked up too. By him."
He smiled dimly as he got lost in his own thoughts.
Just then, a bell sound echoed towards the whole place.
"Students."
Elder Fang's voice followed after the bell.
"Now that the class selection is finally finished, please hold on tightly to your flowers as they are your keys and symbols of authenticity in order to enter your lodgings."
"I would require you to recite the word, 'Kra-ana' using your flowers as mediums. These will activate the teleportation spell embedded in it. And soon, you will arrive in the gates of your class dorms. There, a teacher will guide you on the house rules and such. This starts your journey as freshmen of Eldora Academy! May we meet again, dear Magic students."
Elder Fang flashed the students a smile before his body was covered in a bright light. And just like what happened with Elder Azai, he disappeared after the light faded.
And moments after, screams could be heard from students attempting to activate the spell in the flowers. Some successfully tried it as soon as Elder Fang left so the place only had a few students left.
"I doubt you'll be able to do it."
Raghnall murmured as he looked at Inna.
Inna raised an eyebrow at that.
"Is that a challenge I hear?"
She roughly held out the lily near his face, wanting to show him he's wrong.
"Kra-ana!"
She expected her body to be enveloped in light just like the other students who did it before her.
But even after a few seconds, nothing happened.
Inna looked at the limp lily in her hands with panic in her heart.
"Hey…"
She shook the limp lily before looking at Raghnall sadly.
"Do you think I broke it when I kept hitting you?"