Aether walked with his head slightly lowered. His eyes focused on the feet in front of him while his mind played through different conversation scenarios.
Leon had not spoken since the confrontation with the two Princes. He had roughly pushed Aether to the side, his face contorted into one pure aggravation. The atmosphere surrounding him was chaotic and dense. Simply being in his presence brought an unpleasant shiver down Aether's spine, making Leon practically unapproachable even for him.
Aether grit his teeth and internally sighed. "Brother," he began, voice soft and calm, but before he could even start his small talk to change the topic Leon shut him down with a hard glare.
"Not a word." He seethed.
Aether bit his tongue at the others' words. He understood that Leon was aggravated by Lucians words, but that didn't give him the right to take it out on him. Especially when he was trying to help him. If Leon wanted to be an asshole, fine, then he can be an asshole as well.
Leon stopped in front of a door in the middle of the hallway. Small chatter was coming from inside, but other than that the surrounding area was deserted.
Leon grunted out in dissatisfaction and opened the door, walking in with a sour face. Aether's eye twitched at the others' behavior. Being mad about what had happened with Lucian was one thing, but being upset about entering the class was another. Was there something he was missing? Did the proudful Leon Frenzel hate attending class?
He shook his head of such thoughts for the time being and changed his face to be calming and gentle. He didn't know if the students inside had heard of him or not but if they did he wanted to let them see a different version of himself. Not one that was weak and pathetic, but instead one that was approachable and kind. It would promote the image that he was easy to kill, but when they find out about his lineage and notice those that surround him, his image would change. People's mindset would change from wanting to kill him to wanting to be on his good side in order to gain favor. It was a simple tactic and one he couldn't wait to see the fruition of.
The classroom was set up like a lecture hall in college. The desks were separated into three sections on four different levels. A couple of students were sitting idly and talking with one another, but when they heard the door opened all the students turned to face them.
Leon had ignored their stares and walked to an empty row in the back of the room. He glanced once at the seat next to him before taking a seat. Aether knew what his brother was conveying, but in order to get back at his brothers obviously rude behavior, he decided it would be better to take it slow.
With as much grace and poise that he could muster he made his way up to the empty seat, silently listening to the whispers around him.
"A new student?"
"So late too."
"Do you think he had special circumstances or is he really weak and is here by accident?"
"Hey, that hair, those eyes, isn't he a Frenzel?"
"A Frenzel? There's no way. The Frenzel's only have two children not three."
"Are you sure about that? I heard from a friend that there was someone in her brother's class that resembled a Frenzel, but they were weak and almost never in class. So they never had the time to confirm it."
"Really? A Frenzel that is weak? Have you gone insane? Have you ever heard of a Frenzel being weak?"
"I'm telling you it's true."
"If it's true why don't you go and ask?"
That seemed to be the question that everyone wanted to know the answer to, but who would go and ask if he was a Frenzel or not? It was a simple question that could be resolved by simply asking him, but they wouldn't dare.
The students in this class are the top of the top. They hadn't simply been placed in this classroom by luck. They had to prove their worth to be placed here. From murder to scheming, it didn't matter how they attained it, what mattered was that they were not to be messed with.
Since Aether had been able to enter this class, that meant that he too had proven himself somehow, but how? The students couldn't afford to make a mistake. It was easy to see in their eyes what they were probably thinking. It was most likely along the lines of 'If he is a Frenzel than we can't approach him, but if he is weak then it would give me a higher standing if I defeated him.' That of course brought them back to the first question and made them question if they shovel approach him or not. Their minds were probably going in circles right now.
Aether ignored the countless ruthless gazes. He refused to make eye contact with them and sat down next to Leon. The seats Leon chose were in the middle back row, so there were seats on both sides of them yet oddly enough those seats remain empty.
"So, it's true."
"He's a Frenzel."
"Since when have the Frenzel's had a third child?"
"Something is strange about-"
The door to the room was opened and the whispers instantly evaporated into thin air. The Professor walked in. Her shoes clicked and echoed in the now silent room. Her wavy blonde hair was pulled up into a tight bun. She had a book in her hand that read 'The Advancement of War Throughout History' with a pen in her other hand. She turned to face the students, her heels clicking together. She wore glasses that reflected the students' faces, but obscured her eyes. Her gaze crossed around the room, landing on each student for a single second before finally landing on Aether.
"It seems the new student has arrived." She placed her book on her desk, "Although Professor Rondell talks highly of you doesn't mean that you are good at every subject. I expect you to keep up with my class." With that she turned around and faced the blackboard.
"Today we will be focusing on the Great Wars and how each Kingdom used this war to showcase their advancement not only in the study of abilities, but also in combat strategy."
Aether eyes widened in amazement as the book beside her began to float in the air, flipping until the Professor snapped her fingers causing the book to stop on a certain page. Simultaneously words began to appear on the blackboard, writing at an un-human speed. Aether leaned forward, his eyes sparkling.
Before he could lean any further, Aether's shoulder was grabbed by Leon and he was pushed back to his original sitting position. Aether frowned and glanced over at Leon with raised brows.
"Can anyone tell me anything about the Great War?" The Professor asked.
"The line of royalty was almost eradicated." A student said from the front.
Another student raised their hand, "If it weren't for this war then the Kingdoms wouldn't have been firmly established."
"Yeah, we wouldn't have come on top if it weren't for that." One student laughed. The students surrounding him laughed along with him.
Aether had pulled out a notebook and was dutifully taking notes. Not only was he writing down as much as he could from the blackboard, but he was also taking side notes on what the students were saying. Every bit of information counted when it came to learning about this world.
"Yes, if it weren't for the Great War then the Soline Empire would have never had the opportunity to prove its strength and separate itself from the others." The Professor said idly, "But, we can't just think about our Kingdom." The Professor turned around, "What can you tell me about the others?" The words on the blackboard stopped showing up as if they were waiting for someone to speak.
At this, the students went silent. Aether tapped his fingers, patiently waiting for someone to speak up. But after a couple of minutes the silence grew awkward and he was beginning to think that no one knew anything about the other Kingdoms.
'Are they so full of themselves that they don't even bother about learning about the other Kingdoms?'
The Professor's face grew cold and her eyebrow twitched as the seconds passed on. Just when Aether thought that the Professor would snap, a deep voice beside him spoke up.
"Although the other Kingdoms lost in the Great War, the other Kingdoms were able to enhance their lands and specialize in certain aspects of abilities. In the end each Kingdom now specializes in either one or two abilities and knows how to use them to their fullest."
Aether's head shot up and turned towards the deep voice. There sitting beside him was the third Prince Nox. His head rested in his hand and his hair half covered his face. He wore the same plain white shirt as last time, the school uniform laid haphazardly on the seat beside him.
'When did he get here?'
The seat next to him had been empty the entire time he had been sitting here. Not only that, but the door to the classroom had never opened sense the beginning of class. Which left Aether confused on how exactly the prince had gotten in.
Leon had a different reaction than Aether. His chair screeched against the floor as fire erupted around him. Aether didn't have time to react before Leon was firmly wacked on the head by a hard book.
"Silence." The Professor's words dripped with anger.
The flames surrounding Leon died on the spot. He glared at the Prince and roughly grabbed his seat and sat down, his gaze never leaving the Prince's.
Aether switched between looking at Leon and the Prince who sat next to him. Leon's gaze was of one who wanted to kill, while the Prince was indifferent. His gaze instead focused on the front of the classroom, not once glancing to the side where the commotion was happening.
It was strange, not only was he not focused on the commotion next to him, but he didn't even react when it came to killing intent that was coming from Leon in waves. Was he not afraid of being injured?
"Now, Leon." The Professor started, her eyes burning with anger as she glared at Leon's head, "Sense you are so eager to interrupt my class, how about you answer my next question, hm?"
A loud thud resounded throughout the hall as the Professor slammed her hand on the desk. "What Kingdom is known for their high affinity to water?"
Leon stayed silent. His lips in a thin line as he glared daggers at the Prince, completely ignoring the Professor.
"I see." The Professor fixed her glasses, nudging them up her nose just a tiny bit before slamming Leon's head against the table. Aether flinched at the sudden action and found himself scouting closer to the Prince who still hadn't moved.
"Uh- Professor." Aether reached out with a hesitant hand. He didn't think that Professors were allowed to harm students like this.
The Professor's head snapped up, her eyes bearing holes into Aether's soul. "Oh?" Her eyebrows raised and with a little hint of mockery she said, "Does the little prodigy know the answer?"
Aether choked on his words, "I-um…" Aether may have his memories from his world, but he didn't have this world's memories and therefore didn't know anything about the history of this world. Heck, how did she expect him to know it if no one else in this room knew it.
He blinked and looked away. He had mentally prepared himself for the students, but never did he imagine that a Professor would be his downfall.
"The Rinlan Kingdom." Nox spoke up beside him. He had finally turned to face them. His bright blue eyes looked past Aether and stared at the Professor. Nox's eyes were dark and devoid of life causing the Professor to flinch at the sudden gaze.
She coughed and fixed herself, "That's correct." She turned away from the two and slowly made her way back to the front, "Since only one person in the entire class actually studies, then I will be assigning a project due in three days. If you fail it then you will not be participating in The Royal Academy's Hunting Competition."
The entire class erupted.
"What!"
"You can't do that!"
"I've been preparing for months for that competition!"
"Yeah, you can't do that!"
The students yelled one after another.
Aether leaned over to his brother's side, meaning to ask him what the Royal Academy Hunting Competition was, but even Leon was reacting to what the Professor had said.
His hands were clenched into fists and he was grinding his teeth. He was glaring daggers at the Professor's head. Aether pursed his lips and leaned back into his seat.
The novel had never mentioned anything called The Royal Academy Hunting Competition. From the sound of it, it should just be a normal hunting competition, but knowing this world it would be anything but normal.
"What could it be?" Aether whispered.
"It's a competition set up by the King. An opportunity for the students to prove their worth." Nox answered. He had leaned back in his chair and was idly flicking one of the pens Aether had brought. His eyes were still dead as he spoke, but a small smile tugged at his lips as he maneuvered the pen into different shapes.
Aether glanced over at Leon, afraid that the other would be upset with him talking with Nox, but the other was still too focused on the Professor. Aether turned his attention back to Nox. Not much was known about Nox in the novel and the one time he had met him, he didn't leave an impression. It was like he was purposely trying to blend in with the background.
Aether bit his lip. He was fighting with himself on whether or not to take a chance and talk to this Prince. Although a part of him was screaming at him to stay silent, he decided to talk. After all, Nox didn't participate in the events in the novel so he couldn't be as crazy as the others, right?
"How do they prove their worth?" He asked. His head tilted to the side with his eyebrows slightly furrowed. His gaze kept flickering between the front and Nox.
Nox hand paused, "By hunting the most demonic beasts."
"Demonic beast?" Aether repeated. He knew that there were demonic beasts, but didn't know they would be so close. In the novel Sean was known to use all beasts to do his bidding, this included demonic beasts, but very few people knew that.
Demonic beasts were not supposed to be in the Soline Empire. He paused before asking, "I thought that demonic beasts weren't in the Soline Empire, how are they supposed to hunt them?" He gave his best innocent glance which wasn't hard to pull off since he had no idea why there were demonic beasts here.
Nox kept playing with the pen, his eyes as cold as ever glanced over at him with a small spark in them. "The King personally captures certain demonic beasts and keeps them in a controlled section in the forest for this purpose." He said.
"Why would he do that?" Aether voiced his questions, no longer caring about who he was talking to, "I mean, why put your Kingdom at risk just for a small competition?"
Nox glanced at him through the corner of his eye, "You don't sound very pleased."
Aether grit his teeth, "It's just, what if the demonic beast got loose? They could cause widespread panic and mayhem. Heck, in the worst case scenario they could even kill half the population and completely ruin the Soline Empire."
"You severely underestimate the abilities of those around you."
"No I don't…" Aether shifted his eyes around the room, "The people around me are all nobles or people with higher standing in life. No one here is a commoner. If the demonic beast where to get out, the commoners would be the first to go."
"But, they are just commoners."
"Commoners or not, they still make up most of the civilization in the Soline Empire. Get rid of them and not only is the Soline Empire smaller, but the economy would also collapse."
Nox was leaning on his arm now, facing Aether with a small smile, "How so?"
"Think about it. The commoners are the ones who do the groundwork of this Empire. They grow the crops that we eat, make the clothes that we wear and even make the weapons that we use to fight. The moment they are gone those things would also become harder to obtain, making them more expensive. Although the wealthy may not have an issue, those people on the bottom won't be able to purchase normal everyday items. Leading them to no longer being able to pay the taxes to the King." He glanced over at Nox, "Do I need to go on?"
Nox leaned back, the smile still on his face, "No. What you said makes sense."
"Then why do they host such a thing?" Aether said defeatedly.
Nox smiled halfheartedly.
"Now, groups are assigned at random. Only two people per group." The Professor's voice overpowered the ruckus in the class. At the same time names began to appear next to each other in groups of two on the board. One after another students would either groan loudly or celebrate.
Aether watched anxiously as the available names began to dwindle. He sucked in a breath when Leon's name appeared, thinking he would most likely be in the same group as his brother Aether's heart eased and he sighed in content. But the next moment his heart froze. His name did not appear next to Leon's.
Leon clenched his fist even tighter than before, the desk slightly breaking underneath him. He watched the board with apt attention like Aether did until Aether's name finally showed up.
"Oh." Aether tilted his head to the side.
"Hm." Nox smiled.
"No!" Leon yelled.