Raghnall looked at the pitiful-looking flower, sympathy leaking out from his gaze.
"You have no mercy at all. Look what you did to the poor plant."
Inna ignored his mock pity as she tried it again and again.
"Kra-ana!"
"Kra-ana!"
"Kra-ana!"
She did it multiple times until she felt her throat hurt. Still, nothing happened.
Suddenly, she heard laughing from a distance.
"Did that girl really think that she'll be able to do it?"
"Maybe she's thinking that if she says it louder, it'll make it stronger."
Two male students laughed at they stole glances at Inna.
"Such is the thinking of idiotic beggars. They didn't even figure out that this was one of the tests in Eldora."
"Indeed, I heard that there was a hidden time limit. And if someone is late, he'll surely be in the bad side of the teacher!"
Inna raised an eyebrow at their direction.
"Hey assholes, instead of gossiping like girls, it will do you good to focus on your own shit. You didn't even leave yet so quit acting so high and mighty."
She flipped them off with her tongue sticking out.
The male students didn't know what the gesture meant but seeing Inna's smug face after, it still made them irritated.
They audibly huffed in anger.
"We are both Intermediate ranks!"
"Yeah! We were just loitering so that we can see you fail miserably. I mean, if other low ranks had trouble doing the spell, what more for a mere starter rank?"
They laughed together before they casted the spell again.
Inna was beginning to get annoyed at them, but what made her snap, was the fact that as soon as they stopped laughing, their bodies were covered by the same light before they disappeared.
"What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. This. Stupid. Flower?!"
Inna angrily shook the lily flower in her hand as she hissed out the words.
Raghnall felt sorry for her so he decided to help out.
"Here, give it to me."
Inna shoved the limp lily to him before looking around to find something to vent on.
Raghnall closely examined the lily and he found something that made him furrow his brows in confusion.
"Ninny."
He called out for Inna.
"Ninny, there's a problem."
Inna found a wooden stick so she was busy angrily drawing circles on the pile of dirt that she saw, all the while mumbling curses.
"Ninny, seriously, there's a problem."
Inna looked up from her drawings when she sensed an urgent tone in Raghnall's voice.
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure who but someone nullified the teleportation spell in your lily."
Inna immediately dashed towards her flower.
"What?! Why?! Who did this?!"
"I'm not entirely sure…. But if I should guess, I feel like Elder Fang doesn't like you that much so….."
Inna understood what he meant.
The old man must have erased the spell!
He did this to humiliate her!
"It's not just a feeling, I know he doesn't like me at all!"
Inna grabbed the lily and was about to throw and stomp on it but Raghnall stopped her. He firmly grabbed her wrist and spoke.
"You'll still need that for identification. You can't enter the dorms without it."
Inna reluctantly loosened her grip at the poor flower.
"Then, what will I do? I have no idea where this is, and I have no idea where I have to go."
Raghnall felt sorry for her and was about to offer her to stay with him at the Rose class. But, knowing the people there and their attitudes towards the Lily class, he decided against it.
So he just stared at his vibrant rose, deep in thought.
After a few seconds, he finally thought of something and smiled.
"Okay, I know of a way to solve this. It's just that, I need something in return."
He always wanted to ask this but never had the chance to say it without making it seem like he's being overly familiar with her.
Inna looked at him questioningly.
"And what is that 'something'?"
"Take me with you when you spar with Elder Azai."
Inna didn't think it was a big deal so she agreed immediately.
"Sure, why not? Heck, you can even replace me and spar with him yourself."
Raghnall's eyes glistened in excitement.
"No, I'm contented in seeing Elder Azai beat you to a pulp."
Inna glared at him but he simply laughed.
"Actually, he's my idol in fighting. Since I was born a magic-user, the people around me always kept saying how better life is when they have magic."
"Although Anemoly, now, is known for its view of equality between combat and magic, but back then, there were a lot who believed that magic is for magic-users while fighting was for non-magic-users."
"They believed that for those who can do Magic, they should just stay put and learn it so that there will be less competition and more opportunities for people that can't learn magic to become fighters. It's like saying that since you can learn magic, you should train your magic. Fighting is only for the untalented because they can't learn magic."
"And it actually makes sense. Most people see it as a 'fair' way of doing things. So even though it made multiple magic-users constricted with their choice, they still chose to follow it to avoid criticisms."
"But Elder Azai was different. He disobeyed their beliefs entirely."
"Imagine, someone was trained by the most powerful Priest in history, the Sage Priest, but that someone decided to abandon his training halfway to become a fighter. Now, most people would find it such a waste and would even deny that there would be a fool like that in the world."
"But it was soon proven wrong since there is, in fact, a fool like that in the world."
"And his name was Azai."
"Because although he was trained for years by the Sage himself, he became a fighter halfway. And because of that, he garnered harsh criticism around the country and even towards the other countries. They began to call him, 'Azai the Fool.' But you know what he said to those people who asked him why he didn't pursue magic?"
"He simply answered back with, 'What does that have to do with you? It's my life, so it's my choice.'"
"And that inspired everyone to go for the choice they actually wanted. It was a spectacular thing. Most magic-users dropped out of academies and trainings and became what they truly wanted to be, a fighter. Thus, Anemoly after two decades, slowly became what it is now today."
Inna looked at the adoration in the bright blue eyes of Raghnall. And for some reason, she was reminded of her past ten years ago. It was when she too idolized someone so much, that it eventually changed her life.
"Well, that's cool. I never knew he was such a cool guy. So you're saying that you want to be like him? A fighter?"
Raghnall smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I'm not really sure. For now, let's just say that I just want to observe your sparring."
"Okay then, but first we should really get into the dorms now or else there won't even be a sparring."
Inna sighed.
"No problem! Just give me a few seconds."
"Oh, and give me your stick too."