While Inna was contemplating on being nicer to him, Raghnall tapped her armor.
"Hey, we're here. Stop spacing out. After all, you're going to spar with the amazing Elder Azai in a few seconds."
Inna snapped out of her daze. She looked up and saw a huge arch pillar in front of them. It was about ten meters tall, and looked pretty much similar to the arched pillar in the academy's entrance. Well, except for the fact that instead of the academy's name, it had 'Combat' written in it.
Raghnall chanted something before grabbing Inna's hand and running, dragging her along.
While running, Inna saw at the corner of her eye a small transparent looking clock that suddenly appeared.
"What's that?"
Raghnall looked at her strangely.
"The time?"
Inna looked at him with amazement.
"You can look at the time using a spell?"
Raghnall looked at her strangely again.
Then, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, making Inna bump into him.
"Ow! Why'd you sto--"
"We're here."
Raghnall stepped aside to show Inna the stage the fighters used to have mock battles and sparring matches.
Inna peered and saw…
Nothing.
Well, except for a man with plain robes holding a broom and sweeping.
Confused, Inna decided to approach the man.
"Uhm, excuse me?"
The man stopped sweeping and looked at Inna strangely.
"You are excused?"
Inna was shocked of his reply.
Is this dingus joking?
Raghnall saw that Inna was beginning to act crazy again so he decided to intervene.
"Sorry, she just arrived here in the academy today. Forgive her lack of sense since she came from the streets. I hope you would understand."
Raghnall held a sheepish grin while looking at the man.
The man nodded and gazed at Inna in understanding.
"By the way, I heard that there would be a sparring match for Elder Azai here?"
The man nodded while he continued sweeping.
"May we ask what happened? Why is there no one here?"
The man stopped sweeping and looked at Raghnall.
"Elder Azai was called in by the Headmaster at the last minute. So the Elder announced to the public to postpone the match until further notice."
The man replied simply before continuing to sweep.
Raghnall felt like crying.
"Hey, so, no fighting today? That's good."
Inna sighed in relief but Raghnall looked at Inna in tears.
"No it's not good! It's not good at all! Noooooo! My idol! My amazing idol!!!"
Raghnall whined like a child.
"I wanted to see him beat you up! He'll probably knock your sanity back!"
Annoyed by his childish wails, Inna spoke threateningly.
"You'll get to see someone being beaten up soon!"
Inna warned with her fist.
Raghnall immediately stopped his act and smiled brightly.
"Now, now. Let's not be rash here, Ninny."
Then he gave her his best version of the 'Smolder.'
"You wouldn't want to hurt this beautiful face, would you?"
Looking at his expression, Inna froze in her place.
Dammit, he's right. He's too handsome to get hit.
But she'll never admit that!
"Pssshhh. On second thought, I don't want to dirty my hands in punching filth."
She lowered her fist and turned around. After opening the map on her hands, she decided to go back to the Lily dorms on her own.
Raghnall kept smirking at her while he made his way to his dorms too. Both their dorms had similar paths except for a crossroad at the end so Raghnall ended up following Inna. But he decided to walk behind her.
"Hey."
Inna stopped in her tracks and turned around.
"I've been curious about that time spell thing ever since."
He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"You don't know how to check for the time?"
Seeing Inna's blank expression, he already knew the answer.
"It's a spell I learned when I broke through to low rank. Its chant is, 'Timre. Cloccus.' Not sure if you'll be able to do it though. Since you're…. you know."
He gestured at her.
"But the people that can't use magic usually just buy items that are embedded with that spell. Some are rings, bracelets, or usually on things they keep to their body all the time. It makes it more convenient."
Inna nodded in understanding.
"Well, speaking of time, I'm sure you haven't heard of the announcement that on the 12th hour, we'll all gather for lunch."
Inna looked at him in confusion.
"Why am I always excluded in announcements?! Before it was the sparring, and now it's the lunch?!"
Raghnall sighed.
He already knew the answer to that.
"The sparring was probably very recent since even I didn't know about it. But for the lunch, it might be because you're in the Lily class. Every house has a linked speaker that would relay all the announcements the academy had to give. But only the Lily class had theirs unlinked to the academy."
"Why?"
"For two reasons. One was to avoid them being bombarded with verbal harassment by private linked announcements from different classes. This is because a class, under the permission of their dorm prefect, can privately link an announcement towards another class if there is a need to."
"And two, they were not allowed to join any festivities nor special interactions. Well, unless they were able to improve with their studies or until they were stable enough. The Elders said that it might help motivate them into working harder to be better."
"That's ridiculous!"
Inna snapped.
They're not helping in anything!
They're just basically isolating the Lily class!
Raghnall shrugged helplessly at her outburst.
"That's the way this school works. If you're not strong enough, smart enough, and prepared enough, you'll have trouble surviving."
Inna was lost in thought as she tried to figure out how to solve this isolation issue.
If she won't even be included in these, she'd most likely miss out on a lot of things that can help her learn.
Like class trips! Class trips are the ones that she always looks forward to in classes!
There was once where they all went to Singapore for their business course!
It's too much of a waste if she can't explore now that she's actually in a different world.
Well, she could always explore alone, but she'll most likely die early.
Inna sobbed inside.
Huhu, she misses her college and their class trips!
Then, Raghnall spoke up.
"Since I'm such a good person, I can link it myself if you want. After all, what can a genius 'not' do?"
Inna rolled her eyes when he started to brag. But truly, she wanted his help.
"I have a feeling that there is a condition behind this again."
Raghnall chuckled lightly.
"Of course. But first, you'll have to ask your dorm prefect for permission. Don't tell him it's me but say that you've found an expert in the school. I mean, technically, you're not wrong."
He huffed with pride.
"As for that condition, you'll have to owe me a favor. And as for what favor, I'll have to think about it."
He winked.