After being in the infirmary for a few days, Allen was finally released. The nurses had to make sure he was all healed up and his mana recovered just fine. It was hard to prove to them his mana was fine since he can barely conjure a spell to begin with, but with a notice from William they knew ahead of time what to expect.
Since he was in the infirmary for a few days, he of course missed a few days of class. Thomas and Cecily had been filling him in with how class had been going when they came to visit each day, but based on what they told him he didn't miss much.
Apparently every single day Allen was out, Ms. Florence had them self-study, so that left the students to study what they wanted. Of course Cecily made sure that Thomas was studying during class and not goofing off.
Allen got out of the infirmary during class hours, so that meant classes were still going on - including his own. He decided he would head for his classroom so he could start to catch up with Thomas and Cecily in their study sessions.
He headed for the F ranked classroom, which of course was near the back end of the academy, where no one but the five F ranked students (including Allen) attended.
When he arrived at the classroom, the door was closed and he didn't hear anything from inside. This most likely meant another self-study session was in place, as Ms. Florence would've been talking if it wasn't.
He opened the door to find Ms. Florence sitting at her desk, reading her usual book. She had looked at him for a moment, and then went back to reading. Thomas and Cecily were sitting at their usual desks, but they were pushed together so they could study. He saw Cecily absorbed into her book, however Thomas looked like he was struggling reading his (this was normal even without Allen there).
The other two students who were also in their class were as quiet as ever. The male student was sitting at his usual desk, looking out the window. The female student who always wore a hood to cover her face seemed to be absorbed in her own studying. For a moment it looked like she looked up at Allen and then back to her own studying, but Allen wasn't entirely sure.
Thomas finally noticed Allen walk in, and waved him over. For a second Cecily thought Thomas was getting distracted again, but looked the way he was looking and noticed Allen. She also gave a little wave as Allen walked over to them, moved his desk so he was next to theirs, and then went to take his seat.
"Looks like someone was finally released from the infirmary!," Thomas grinned as Allen took his seat.
"Yeah, they finally released me today," Allen smiled as he got his study materials out. "So, I didn't miss anything today either, right?"
"No not really, aside from Thomas being dumb and refusing to pay attention," Cecily sighed as she stared at Thomas.
"Why are you looking at me for? You know I would be studying more if these old academy textbooks were actually interesting!," Thomas proclaimed.
"They are interesting. You're just too dumb to understand the content in them and refusing to try to understand," Cecily stated.
"N- no," Thomas muttered, not thinking of anything else to say.
"Cecily, you have to remember that Thomas is a visual learner, like myself," Allen explained. "He learns better on the field instead of in a textbook"
"Sure he does, as that is all his meatheaded brain wants to do. All he has been talking about the past few days is dueling you again, instead of actually trying to study," Cecily stared at Thomas again.
"Well I-, yeah I do want to duel Allen again…," Thomas managed to make out.
"You don't have to be so hard on Thomas, he's trying his best," Allen said as he tried to help him out.
"Yeah, exactly what Allen said!," Thomas pointed at Allen while looking at Cecily.
"Well, he has a lot to learn including yourself Allen," Cecily stated.
"What do you mean?," Allen asked.
"You aren't much better than Thomas with this. Both of you honestly suck at studying," Cecily sighed as she looked at both of them.
"I-," Allen tried to say something, but couldn't as he remembered that he isn't much better than Thomas when it came to their study sessions.
"You do want to pass your exams so you can become D rank, don't you guys?," Cecily asked them.
"Yes we do," both Thomas and Allen muttered.
"Well then, chop chop. Better get back to studying," Cecily said with such a straight face as she clapped her hands together.
Allen and Thomas for a moment looked at each other, back to Cecily, then back to each other again. They both tried to hold in their laughter, but they couldn't. They suddenly started to laugh at the straight face Cecily made while telling them to "chop chop".
Near the end of their laughter, they suddenly felt the room feel tense as they realized Cecily was staring at both of them very intently. It was only in a matter of seconds that both Allen and Thomas were on the floor holding the top of their heads in pain, after Cecily wacked both of them with her textbook.
"Learned your lesson you two?," Cecily casually asked after Allen and Thomas both got back to their desks.
"Yes ma'am," both Allen and Thomas said in unison.
"Good, now back to studying you two," Cecily said as she got back to studying herself.
Minus the time that Allen was practicing with Rose and then his time in the infirmary, the three of them have been studying so they can pass their exam to get to D rank. As Ms. Florence said earlier in the year, they needed to pass both a written and physical exam in order to get to D rank. While Allen has been studying as hard as he can, most of the material they had been studying he already knew.
During the five years he had been training under William, he didn't just train to fight with his magic. William also taught him basic elemental magic knowledge, and how each element is used. He also taught him about fire magic, since Allen has fire magic and he wouldn't be able to really study it anywhere else. Since fire magic is banned in all of England, there is nowhere else he could probably learn about it.
Allen honestly shouldn't have a problem when it comes to his written exam to get to D rank, but it is his physical exam he is worried most about. While he is very proficient in dueling compared to other students, his ability to cast his magic physically is worse than poor. He is physically unable to cast a magical circle, the very basis for casting elemental magic. All he can muster is a small gust of wind, barely noticeable to the untrained eye. It's only enough magic to barely move a leaf. In his physical exam, Allen is sure he needs to do more than to move a leaf with his magic.
However, he wants to help Thomas study so he can get better. Allen wants to get to D rank with Thomas and Cecily at the same time, so they can all remain the same grade. However with Thomas' inability to remain focused, the path to get to D rank remains slow.
"Why must studying be so hard?!," Thomas yelled as he threw his book in anger at the floor.
"Thomas you do realize those textbooks aren't cheap, right?," Cecily stated as she sighed in disappointment.
"Yeah, maybe not cheap in price, but sure as hell cheap in build! Seriously, these textbooks have to be older than any of my grandparents!," Thomas said as he put his forehead into his hands on his desk.
"Your what?," Cecily said, confused.
"Yeah, I don't know what's going on in his brain like half of the time," Allen said as he shrugged.
"I've known him almost my entire life and I've yet to understand any of what he does," Cecily giggled.
"What was that Cecily?" Thomas asked as he picked up his textbook, which somehow happened to still be in one piece.
"Nothing!," Cecily said as she smiled and went back to studying.
"Hm, okay," Thomas said, while still suspicious of Cecily.
For the rest of the class time that they had, the three of them studied together. Parts of which were silent since they were reading by themselves, and other parts where they asked each other questions and worked together (mostly Thomas asking the questions).
While Allen was finishing up with his studying, he reminded himself mentally to head over to William's office when he finished. He will need to discuss with him about the events of the duel and what happened. He thought that Thomas and Cecily might ask him questions about it when he got back to class, but they mostly talked about what happened when they visited him in the infirmary. That left just talking about it with William, and Rose if she happens to show up to his office (which happens often).
"Class is over, all of you are dismissed," Ms. Florence announced as she closed her book.
"Finally! Our long-lasting study session is over!," Thomas said as he stretched in his desk.
"You seem more thrilled than you should be about it," Cecily remarked.
"I- uh well," Thomas tried to come up with something to say, but he was unable to.
"We'll just have to study even more tomorrow then," Cecily said as she wrapped up her book.
"Wait, Cecily nooo!," Thomas tried to plead to her as he followed her towards the exit.
"Well, good luck to you for tomorrow," Allen said as he started to follow them out of the classroom.
"Wait, hold it Fleming," Ms. Florence said right as Allen was about to walk out the door.
"Ms. Florence?," Allen said, confused. "What did you need?".
"Care to tell me why so many important students in this academy keep stopping by here to see you, of all people?," Ms. Florence said with an inquisitive but annoyed look.
"What do you mean? Who is stopping by to see me?," Allen asked, wondering what she was talking about.
"First a student from the student council, then the student council president herself. Now, you got the director's son of all people stopping by to see where you are," she explained to him, still with her slightly annoyed expression as if these events are interfering with what she is doing in class.
"Oh right, I didn't really think about it that way," Allen nervously responded. "Wait, Stephen stopped by here? When?"
"Ugh, it was shortly after your duel with that Nathaniel brat," she sighed. "Apparently he wanted to know where you were. I had to tell him I had no idea"
"So Stephen stopped by here first…," Allen started to think to himself.
"Anyways, if you want to remain in this class, then have your friends visit you outside of the classroom. It gets loud enough as is in here with you and the two others," she said with an even more annoyed look on her face, almost as if thinking about Thomas annoyed her the most (since Thomas was the loudest out of the three of them).
"Yes ma'am," Allen respectfully responded. Last thing he wanted was to be removed from the only class he is qualified to be in (based on rank). Still, he doesn't know why so many students keep stopping by to grab him or to talk to him.
"Hmph," Ms. Florence muttered as she got back to reading her book. Allen has yet to know what she is reading, as she has never told them and Allen could never see what it was without her getting on his case about it.
Now that class was over, it was time for Allen to head over to William's office to discuss with him about the events of his previous duel with Nathaniel. There was a lot they needed to talk about and discuss, including several issues that arose in that duel. Allen half suspected Rose would already be there or would come in there eventually.
As he was walking the halls to get over to William's office, he noticed he was being stared at by many of the students. They would stare at him, and then whisper to their friends. The feeling in the hallways he was getting from this was a little uncanny for him, as he's not quite used to this kind of attention.
Regardless of their whispering, Allen could still somewhat make out what some of them were saying:
"He's the one who dueled Nathaniel Rivertide"
"I heard that he lost, but still put Nathaniel on edge"
"He almost ended up winning, too"
"Even the Blue Rose wasn't able to get that close to winning against him"
All this talking around him started to make him feel even more nervous, so Allen started to quicken his pace over to William's office. Well, at least he wasn't getting full negative attention from students. Normally when he walked the halls, the students would refuse to look at him. Now, they are actively talking about him.
He finally made it to William's office, away from all the other students' attention. As he approached the door to his office, he heard talking from within the room. It sounded like William was talking to someone in there. He could barely recognize the other voice coming from within. Was it Ms. Clark he was talking to?
"Come in," William's voice came from within. Of course he would know when Allen was outside his door. At this point Allen should just expect that William knows he is already here and walk in.
"Hey William," Allen said as he walked in, the door creaking as he opened it.
After he closed the door behind him, he noticed Ms. Clark was once again here before Allen was. She gave Allen a curious look, as if she was wondering why he was here.
"Well, finally out of the infirmary are you?," William chuckled.
"How'd you know? Did Rose tell you?," Allen asked.
"Well she did, but I knew before she told me," William responded.
"Figures," Allen responded. "Hello Ms. Clark"
"Hi Allen," Ms. Clark responded, still a little confused.
"Well, how'd it go?," William asked. "I heard about most of it from Rose, but figured I'd ask the one who was actually in the duel".
"Wait, wasn't he the one who dueled Nathaniel Rivertide?," Ms. Clark asked. "If I remember correctly, something about that was mentioned last time I saw him in here"
"Correct," William responded. "Allen was challenged to a duel by Nathaniel Rivertide. I heard he gave him quite the duel, despite losing"
"I suppose you could say it like that," Allen nervously laughed.
"I have been overhearing the students around the academy talking about it," Ms. Clark said as she was thinking.
"Seems to be quite the subject for the students right now. Allen, if you're not careful you'll become the most popular here at the academy," William chuckled.
"As if I want that," Allen sighed. "That's not popularity, that's just unwanted attention"
"As if you'd know the difference between unwanted attention and popularity. Don't tell me you really have gotten popular now!," William laughed.
"Oh, shut it," Allen mumbled as he crossed his arms together.
"Uh, is this something you both usually do?," Ms. Clark asked, confused.
"Yeah, we are just having a regular conversation," William reassured her.
"A… regular conversation?," Ms. Clark had a blank look on her face.
"Ah, don't worry about it," William chuckled.
"Alright, if you say so," Ms. Clark sighed. "Well, I'll head out then"
"Not so fast," William caught her before she could begin to leave. "You might want to stay for this"
"You sure? I don't mind if you two need to talk," Ms. Clark responded.
"No, I think you should hear about what happened too. This is not just an academy matter," William put his head down on his hands, the thing he usually does when he begins to speak seriously (or if he's making a clever joke, but that's not the case now).
"Very well," Ms. Clark responded as she went back to where she was before. "I wouldn't lie if I was a bit curious as to how this duel turned out"
"Good, we're just waiting on one more," William said as he smirked.
"One more?," Ms. Clark and Allen both said at the same time.
Suddenly, the door swung open really fast, leaving no time for it to creak like it normally does. Rose proceeded to walk in, with what looked like documents in hand.
"William, care to explain why we are behind on our budgets?!," Rose raised her voice as she slammed the paperwork on his desk. "Is procrastinating in here not enough for you? Perhaps you need a nap fit for a princess in here too, hm?"
William was caught off guard for a moment, like he wasn't expecting her to go full assault mode the minute she walked in. Ms. Clark had a really big surprised look on her face, as if she wasn't expecting Rose of all people. Allen chuckled a little as he saw the scene unfold in front of him.
"Well Ms. Rose, we can certainly go over the paperwork later, but unfortunately we have guests," William said as he motioned to Ms. Clark standing next to him and Allen in the chair in front of his desk.
For a moment, Rose had a confused look on her face. Then she turned to look at Ms. Clark. Both of them exchanged awkward glances, but only for a moment. Rose turned around to face Allen, her face flushing for a moment when she saw him. Allen suddenly remembered back when he was in the infirmary he wanted to ask her a question about his past, but was never able to. They both kept staring at each other.
"Ahem," William said as he cleared his throat. "You both can stare at each other later"
"I-," Rose managed to make out before turning back around. "Oh"
"Well now that you are finally here, we finally get a chance to discuss the duel Allen had a few days ago. This may not just be an academy based matter," William remained them as he sat forward into his chair. "Let's begin"