The sound of each step echoed in the empty hallways. Amalia glanced at the pocket watch she took out beneath her coat. Any minute now, it would be the opposite.
On cue, whispers filled the corridor as students poured out from their classrooms, signaling that classes concluded.
Amalia sighed as she slipped the watch back into her pocket.
'Why are you so rigid? Everything's in place!'
Unfazed by her spirit beast's shrill voice, she simply looked outside the window. "As it should be."
'It's not like everything will crumble down with one mishap.'
She saw three small figures in the arena, one with distinguishable black hair, and the other two she knew as her close peers. "We are unsure of that."
She noticed that the other person that should supposedly be there due to her punishment was not present. Of course, she expected. Hera would not easily admit her fault. As much as the girl wielded tremendous power, she would be a pain with her childish, almost brat-like, attitude. She wondered how Bridget and Hera have polar temperaments considering they grew up in the same environment.
'Ugh, why are you like this? Can't we at least have some fun? Come on, let me out! I want to explore and eat good stuff!' The voice whined inside her head. If Amalia were to see her spirit beast's form right now, the fox would have been dramatically lying on a sofa, singing 'woe is me'. What a little dramatic feline she picked up.
Amalia rolled her eyes. "You are aware of the rules. We do not use affinities within school grounds except in training facilities."
'The rules only stated to not use affinity, not summon your spirit beast. So, technically, you're not breaking any rules.' The fox shrugged with a sly smirk.
Amalia narrowed her eyes when she saw them goofing around.
'You're watching her again, aren't you?'
Amalia responded, never taking off her eyes on the trio. "Keeping her would not benefit us, at first, I thought."
'Will you report it to your father?' the voice spat the last word in disdain.
"I'm certain he already knows."
The edge of her lips turned down for a fraction before she furrowed her brows. The duke gave her a task to gather details of the headmaster's actions and motives. It is a duty she must do. Compared to her disappointment of an older brother, the so-called heir, she must live up to the duke's expectations.
It was such a shame she did not acquire the family's water affinity, rather she had the opposite element. Such a shameโshe often heard those words passed from one's tongue to another's ear.
Her lips tightened.
'No, cherry, I meant the other night,' she stated as she materialized around her contractor's neck, her voice slightly higher as if it's a matter-of-fact.
"Ah, the other nightโฆ"
They indulged themselves in silence. Amalia drowned in her own thoughts while the fox waited for her response and let out an annoyed cry, knowing her contractor was in the state of reflection.
"โฆ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต." ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ.
๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฐ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ดโ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ-๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต.
๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ช๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ-๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ.
๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.
She heard enough that every information she deemed valuable. Raised by an Adhelian and now trained to infiltrate Letheriaโhaving a real black-haired person to do the job would minimize the risk of getting exposed. She doubted at first whether Adeleine truly was innocent and wasn't posing as a clueless person in disguise sent to infiltrate Heloire Academy. But apparently, that wasn't the case.
Keeping the plan secretโthat, she understood but, keeping it even from The Circle?
The headmaster's distrust towards the others was apparent. Consequently, The Circle harbored grudge towards him, well, most of them. He was a thorn on their side.
She sighed. The drop of hesitation in her mind rippled.
The fact that he kept all of his movements reclusive made him suspicious. But for The Circle to make him appear to be an enemy, why?
It would have been easy to have access to answers if she was the chosen heiress, but all she could do at the moment was to observe.
As far as the man was indulging himself in his little games, being shady, and poking his nose in other's businessโall in all, being detestably annoyingโhe hasn't done anything to betray the empire.
He must only have poked their ego. He played devil's advocate most of the time.
To be divided by something so trivial such as pride, Amalia scoffed. They had the audacity to call themselves The Circle, composed with the four main families of Adhelis, when in fact, they were mere descendants from the glory of what their ancestors worked for.
'Ugh, cherry, are you there or not?' The fox waived her tail in front of her contractor's face.
"What?" she flatly replied.
'Will you tell the duke or what?'
Her amber eyes narrowed once more as she kept her eyes on them. "I should, as always."
'You're blind. He's using you.'
Amalia made no reply as she strode, heading down to the arena.
~~
"What ranks do each of you have?" Adeleine asked out of curiosity as she poked a bitten apple from the ground with a long stick and dumped it in the sack she held in the other hand.
Meanwhile, Ria kicked the orange peel in the air and twirled, hitting it to aim at the direction of an unsuspecting Bridget. The shorter one yelped as it landed perfectly in her sack. "Shoot!" Ria pumped her fists in the air.
"So?" Adeleine looked at them expectedly, only to see them distracted.
"Oh, um, what?" Bridget brushed her bangs.
Adeleine pursed her lips while Bridget apologized profusely, noticing her annoyance. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Rankings, yada-yada! It doesn't really matter." Ria placed her hands on her waist. "What matter is we all have fun together." She threw her hands in the air and locked both of them in her arms, flashing a cheeky grin as they both struggled free. "-right?"
"Let- go-" Adeleine pushed her away but, the senior had a tight lock. She didn't expect her to have this amount of strength, or maybe this was skill, she thought, dubious. Adeleine still has a lot to learn in the arts of combat.
She gasped for air as she took steps back when Ria let them both go. That was too close for comfort.
"Still I want to know," Adeleine frowned.
"Well, sure you do. Haha, silly me," Ria playfully rolled her eyes. "Mir! That's my rank! There, did that make you feel better?" She slung her arms over her shoulders to which Adeleine reacted by removing it before scooting farther.
"Can you please not-" She inhaled. "Not do that." Emphasizing the last word, she furrowed her brows.
"You mean what? Hugging? No can do, sistah. Everyone needs hugs." Ria attempted another one but Adeleine swiftly dodge to the side.
"Oh I'mโฆmir," Bridget softly spoke.
"We're the mir gang!"
Her eyes widened. Adeleine didn't expect Bridget to be that high. With the girl's disposition, it's hard to imagine Bridget winning in duels.
"What? How?" She leaned closer to Bridget.
"I- um. Uh, er- don'tโฆ" Bridget averted her gaze as she leaned back from Adeleine's curious but scrutinizing gaze. She felt like a rare specimen under inspection, and she doesn't like how it made her feel. Pink tinted her cheeks.
"What?" Adeleine raised her brow, annoyed. "You don't want to tell me? Well, that's fine." She turned up her nose and continued picking up trash.
Oh, no, no, no. Bridget panicked. She didn't mean to be rude! "I- uhโฆ have water affinity. It's healing," she squeaked as she shut her eyes and grimaced, waiting for the other to tell her to shut up or go away. She disrespected her so, it's only natural.
"Healing affinity? Woah! Really?" Adeleine, instead, had sparkles in her eyes like a giddy child marveling at a new toy. Bridget blinked, taken aback by the unusual response.
"Hold on. Healing isn't offensive. Isn't the ranking a merit system where you win duels and you rank higher?" she added.
Ria giggled. "No, silly. We aren't knights, you know? That only exists in books. Our ranks are based off by the magnitude of our affinity."
"So ranks are set in stone, then why are there duels? Don't tell me it's just for fun? That would be a complete waste of time and effort since rankings aren't based on it." She criticized. "It's useless."
Closing one eye in thought, Ria hummed as she stroked her chin. "You're right! Although, I don't know what's the use of it too but," she shrugged, "it sure does look fun! Plus, the crowd goes wiiiiild!"
"Duels are not entirely meaningless." Someone interjected. Their attention shifted to the person behind them with her hands laced behind the arch of her spine, her amber eyes were like watchful hawks under the straight bangs, while her hair combed back to a neat ponytail, and lips fined to a thin line. "Victors are given points added to their monthly allowance that serves as the academy's currency. Given that you are new, it is understandable that you are unaware of it."
Amalia la Liga Soffi-Azura. Secondborn of the prestigious household that governs the water dukedom with the largest lakes and fjords. The Azura owns the largest fleet in the empire due to their territory mostly covered in bodies of waterโฆor that's what the other two told her. Their family's status is right below the imperial family that rules the whole Adhelis continent.
The person standing before her is basically one of the royalties. But Adeleine doesn't give a crap about that.
A bullet of sweat swept the side of Adeleine's face feeling her gaze on her as she held back her discomfort. She didn't want to be seen affected by the other senior. It's a sign of weakness others would most likely exploit.
"For emerging victorious against a Mir, you are rewarded with one thousand points. That could already be twenty regular meals. Defeating a Sett would be five hundred points, Kael is two hundred points, Bav is one hundred points, a non-ranker is fifty," she continued.
"So, you get this rewards on every duel?" Adeleine asked as she raised her brow, feigning skepticism to hide the cunning smile that threatened her lips. With every win of every duel, there's a reward. She could negotiate with someone, fake every challenge again and again. They both could accumulate a large number of points without the need to injure themselves to a degree. She just needed someone willing.
A flaw in their system that she could take advantage of. How can she let this opportunity pass? She'll be able to buy limitless!
"If you think that you've found a loophole," she crossed her arms and sent a warning glare. "I will inform you that with every lose, you lose the same amount of points your opponent gains. Think of it as your points being transferred to their account. Let's take your duel as an example. If you lost, your fifty points will transfer to Hera. But when you won, one thousand points was transferred to you, Transferred points are based on the defeated's ranking." She pulled her lapel and raised her chin. "I've worded it the simplest way possible that I doubt you wouldn't comprehend."
Adeleine pursed her lips. That means...she wasn't the first one who thought of it, and whoever did it before must have been the reason why the rules changed. Well, that screw that person.
"If there's a storing system like that, then how are you guys keeping track of every student's record?"
"Quite large, indeed but, nothing our record keeper can't handle. They keep track the all the changes."
"How do they keep track of it? Do they have a book? Or likeโฆ" Adeleine gestured with her hands.
Amalia curtly replied, "That is kept as secret, in case anyone would want to sneak in and make some changes in their logbooks."
Adeleine's shoulders drooped, matched with another disappointed purse of her lips.
"I've already wasted my time," Amalia said, glancing at her pocket watch. "I'll be taking my leave with Bridget."
"H-huh, me?" The small lady pointed at herself while glancing nervously at the two. They weren't done with the cleaning so it'd be rude to leave now.
But Ria pushed her. "Alright, commander, she's all yours!"