Ardere walked down the hall to her room. since her Summon didn't fall into any of the categories she wasn't given a class and now had free time. Ardere opened her room and sat on her bed. The first day of classes had consisted of introductions and a summary of what each class would teach throughout the school year. However everyone already knew Ardere if they didn't know her for her failed summon then they knew her for her limited Mana Pool.
Ardere shoved a pillow into her face in frustration. "I can't believe I failed already!" Arderes summon was in rough shape and whats worse was he won't listen to her.
Ardere sat for a moment and thought to herself.
'Should i have just let him die and tried the summon again.' Then her thoughts drifted to the boy. He wasn't a Demon his appearance made that clear so what was he if not a Beast.
Ardere got up from her bed and walked to the infirmary. She knocked at the door, but no one answered. When she opened the door she saw that every bed was empty except for one that had a curtain hanging around the bed to cover the person in it. When Ardere walked up to the curtain she hesitated before opening it, but opened it anyways.
The boy no had no shirt on and was covered in bandages. looking closer some of the bandages had a bit of blood on them and the boys breathing was heavy.
"His wounds reopened several times throughout the night and morning. I tried to heal him several times, but was unsuccessful. Were lucky he's still alive."
Ardere turned around and saw a man in a white coat come from a door that was opposite the bed drying off his hands.
"How long do you think it will take before he recovers?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. He should be dead yet here he is still kicking and breathing."
Ardere looked back to the boy and the man spoke again.
"I'm not experienced in this, but with wounds like those and no healing magic it could take him a month before he has the strength to open his eyes."
Ardere heart sank. Without a summon to help her out if she were to be challenged she would lose as soon as her Mana ran out.
"My name is Vincent Locke, but you can call me Mr.Locke." Vincent bowed his head
"I guess i'll be seeing you for the foreseeable future." Vincent said.
"I was hoping it would be sooner, I can't avoid the other students for that long especially not during breakfast, lunch or dinner."
"Patience is a virtue child, don't get too impatient he's lucky to still be alive after seeing those wounds he has it's a wonder he isn't dead yet."
"I wouldn't be so impatient if I didn't have a target on my back right now."
"You're a noble aren't you."
Ardere nodded and with that the realization set in. A noble with no summon to back her and a meager Mana Pool was the perfect target for a ranking battle. One of the schools rules was that someone could challenge you to a mock battle that would determine your rank and final grade in the school. turning down the challenge as a noble would only bring shame upon her family name and if she was challenged multiple times while her Summon was Incapacitated and she lost she would be ranked at the bottom and the hierarchy of the school would treat her as trash whether she was a noble or not.
Vincent sighed as he walked to the back room opened up a drawer and pulled out a scroll. He came back into the room and handed it to her.
"I'm not allowed to favor any students, so you didn't get this from me."
Ardere looked at the scroll and saw a recipe for a healing potion. Her eyes went wide and her mouth went agape. she held it back to Vincent.
"I can't ake this it's too rare for me to just accept."
Vincent pushed it back to her. "The ingredients are too expensive for me to aquire for any conventional use anyways, but something tells me the daughter of a noble won't have much of an issue making it. Besides I already had a scribe make an extra copy for me."
Ardere looked at the scroll and thought for a moment. The ingredients were in fact expensive and not only that, she was not experienced in Alchemy. Ardere closed the scroll and looked to the boy again.
"Thank you Mr.Locke I'll be back."
Ardere left the room and left Vincent alone with the boy suddenly a voice was heard.
"You know you can't help students Vincent."
As Vincent turned he saw Albeon appear in a circle.
"I'm not helping a student, i'm helping a summon. This is some serious damage and Mana supplied by me isn't helping he needs something else."
"So you noticed."
"How could I not notice, the kids got no Mana for crying out loud! He should be dead, in fact he shouldn't exist; even the undead have Corrupted Mana."
"I'm going to need you to keep this between us Vincent."
"I would have told someone by now if I didn't think the same thing. Besides like i said I now have a favorite Summon."
"Just be careful with him, to be able to withstand that much strain and pain who knows what he's capable of."
"So far we have a good idea of what he's capable of."
"Don't be a smart ass just watch him and make sure he doesn't die. It's not our decision to decide if he lives or dies."
"yeah, that's the nobles decision."
In Arderes bedroom she was sitting at her desk writing a letter she sealed the letter and rushed to the common area. The common area was a portion of the dorms the students used to study, talk and entertain themselves. Since all students still had the secondary Magical Beast class going on the common room was empty. Ardere stopped in front of a counter with no one behind it.
"Hello!" she yelled.
A moment later she heard some foot steps and a large woman appeared from a back room and walked up to the counter.
"My apologies I was under the impression that classes were still going on."
"No you are correct, I was excused from this class as my Summon was...Different."
"Well none the less, how can I help you?"
"I need these two items sent to the Daemonium estate as soon as you can get them there."
The lady grabbed the scroll and the letter and wrapped them together.
"The earliest I can get them there is tomorrow night." The lady gave a smile.
"That will do."
"Okay that will be five silvers. one for the extra letter and two more for the express."
Ardere pulled a pouch she had tied to her waist. She pulled out five silver coins and handed them to the lady. Sending letters is expensive in the Academy since it's so far away from any towns most students come from. Usually someone would send their summons to send a letter and use the Academies post to receive or send packages, but in Arderes case she didn't think her Summon would be sending any letters now or ever.
The lady took the scroll to the back of the room and Ardere went back up to her room. Dinner would start soon and it was mandatory for her to attend, along with breakfast and dinner. She had made it through breakfast and lunch without any issues, but Ardere did notice quite a few eyes were concentrated on her.
Ranking battles were not allowed in the first week of school for the first years. This rule was put in place to allow the new students time to bond with their Summons. This was an obvious advantage for anyone who would take the time to train with their summon since it provided them with a battle plan they could rely on when going into a fight. Then there was the relationship between Master and Summon; though the Contract stated that the Summoner was the Master and the Summoned was the Servant the relationship is more like a team. This is why it is frowned upon if a Summon was to die, either the Master was less of a team player and more of a tyrant and the Summon felt the need to attack, or the Master gave a bad order and got their Summon killed.
Ardere pondered the relationship between a normal Master and Summon and then compared them to her own situation. The boy had already tried to kill Ardere and had received the full force of the Contracts punishment, but lived. If Ardere were to give the boy an order he would likely brush it off and disobey, even if she were to request it from him, he would likely decline getting into a fight on her behalf. The situation was complicated and there was no doubt that eventually Ardere would be targeted.
Once the Diner Bell had rung Ardere felt hesitant to leave her room, but her pride got the better of her and she left to the Dinning Hall. The Dinning Hall was a massive room with several long tables where students would seat themselves. When the students were all seated hundred of servants would enter the room placing entrees of Meats, veggies and Desserts. Ardere was eating her meal and suddenly the student in front of her stood up and walked away and not a second later another took the seat.
The student wore a silver ring with a crest on it, he was a noble. The student eyed Ardere for a moment and smirked.
"Well now that i get a good look at you, your looks are as mediocre as your magic." The boy said.
Ardere took a drink from her glass and looked again to the ring. Ardere recognised the crest, it was a diamond star with a bow and arrow pointed up at it, this was the crest of the Landegra family.
"I know what your doing Landegra. I won't fall for it l, so you should just leave."
The boys smirk grew into a grin. "Well I can't do that. I waited all day to speak with you, but I missed you at Breakfast and lunch since none of my...friends were at the table you decided to sit at and please Landegra is my fathers name, call me Ian."
"I have no interest in challenging you Ian and it's obvious you aren't going to challenge officially, so just go back to your table." Arderes voice was firm and calm.
"You know what your right I won't challenge you and as for you challenging me it's for the best that you don't im sure you don't want your summon to end up like your mother." Then in an instant Ardere stood up and threw her drink into Ian's face.
"Don't you ever speak of my mother again. You want your fight so bad okay then you got a fight." Ardere said through gritted teeth as the rest of the tables watched.
Ian had wiped the drink from his face using a cloth that was on the table and smiled up to Ardere.
"See was that so hard?" Ian stood from the table and began to walk away.
"Meet me at the west courtyard after classes the day the restrictions are lifted. I'm sure you'll be there." Ian said as he walked away and out of the Dinning room.
Ardere sat back down and stared at her plate of food. Despite how delicious it looked she no longer had an appetite. She had six days to prepare for the Mock battle and she still didn't have a Summon.