The greeting of the morning came in the form of dew as they trickled down from their cradle to the flourishing garden of Aelfryn's manor.
Today marks the beginning of Coy's intimate relationship with the Union Academy. After his so-bubbly chat with Baem yesterday, they went ahead to the administration hall to be assigned their homeroom class. Surprisingly, they were in the same class, at which Baem threw a fist to the sky in a form of celebration. He must have really looked forward to being in the same class as him.
Coy was of the same mind, but he wasn't too brash to make the same gesture as Baem. As the older one… in soul and mind, he should be a role model for Baem.
In the dining room, he was currently eating with Aelfryn. The poor elf's eyes looked heavy as dark bags pocketed below them.
Slicing a piece of the well-done piece of meat on his plate, Coy said in amusement, "You're really telling me all of... 'that' is due to paperwork?"
Aelfryn, blindfolded about Coy's train of thoughts, grumbled, "You don't believe me? Should I give you a role beside me so that you can get a feel of this? I'd bet you wouldn't last a day."
Coy scoffed, thinking that Aelfryn was truly exaggerating. For all his life in his office, he usually worked with paperwork, and most, if not all, required little energy. Yeah, the bunch of stacked papers could intimidate you, but it's nothing when you see how fast you breeze through them.
'Perhaps it's due to his age?' Assumed Coy. Aelfryn was merely fourteen years old. It's no surprise if he felt bored doing such things. He was like that in his younger days too.
Glossing over the topic, Coy asked, "I'm too young to do that; rather, did you give her the flower?"
'Flower?' Aelfryn looked at him, confused.
Giving him a blank face, he said, "The flower of stillness you troubled for your master to take you to the abyss."
With widened eyes devoid of any previous tiredness, Aelfryn exclaimed, "No wonder I have been feeling that prickling sensation in the back of my head. I totally forgot!"
Coy merely shook his head and continued eating his breakfast. Aelfryn, on the other hand, was now eager to go to the hell he was avoiding. Although he didn't specify his promise, she was still expecting something. He just hoped she didn't blame him for not forgetting about it yesterday.
With newfound vigour, he urged Coy to devour his food so that they could leave for the academy. Coy grudgingly complied since he could notice the persistent gaze he was receiving.
***
Class 1C… Class 1C. Ah there.
As soon as they got to the academy, Aelfryn ran for heavens knows where, leaving Coy behind. Coy just wished him good luck as he knew how women could hold grudges over promises and whatnot before searching for his class at the first year's building.
Now, standing at the wooden door that was oddly sparkly clean, Coy reached for the handle and opened it. He was greeted with a half-filled class of various students with unique faces and appearances.
The chairs descended from above like stairs, just like the ones in universities back on earth. They were split into three sections.
On the teacher's stand, there was a wide, rectangular black board.
Except for a few who glanced at the newcomer, no one bothered with him as they were busy conversing with each other in groups. Coy eyes crossed past them before settling on Baem waving in the middle section of the middle row. There was also another student sitting next to him.
He walked towards him and greeted, "Good morning, Baem."
Baem smiled and greeted him back before introducing the seemingly shy girl with red hair next to him. She wore a black long-sleeved frilly dress at the bottom over her uniform, which was adjusted to her chest size.
"Good morning, Coy; this fine lady next to me is Yeyl." Baem teased with a cheeky smile, hoping for some sort of reaction.
Yeyl blushed in fluster before saying, "Hi… My name is Yeyl. Nice to meet you."
"A pleasure to meet you too, lady Yeyl."
Yeyl waved her hands around and said, "Yeyl is just fine. You don't have to add 'Lady' before it."
"My mother would snatch my ear off of me if I did that, but I think it's worth the price if it were to make you comfortable, Yeyl." Coy said as he took a seat beside Baem who was in the middle of both.
Yeyl smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."
Judging from her demeanour and the way she spoke, Coy believed that her lineage was probably of a commoner's family. Because no noble would speak like that unless they had some problems with their personality or experienced some trauma.
To test his theory, he asked, "I wonder where Yeyl is from?"
"Me? I'm from Baron Francis's barony. It's quite remote from the capital city."
Baem clicked his tongue, adding, "What a beautiful barony Baron Francis manages. When you look at the serene lake surrounded by the forest from a distance, it gives you this feeling of peace and tranquilly. It's quite the hotspot for artists who search for inspiration."
Yeyl nodded in agreement. "Me and my parents always went there to have picnics. Even though it's been only a month since I came here, I miss it already."
Coy joined in and expressed, "For a barony to have such a reputation, I must visit it one day. I believe Yeyl would give me a tour at that time, right?"
Being called out suddenly like that, a tinge of red took over Yeyl's ears as she said, "If you don't mind," she added, feeling a bit mischievous. "Only if the pay is enough though."
Baem laughed upon hearing that, attracting attention from the few folks near them.
"Then you would have to make it worth my money—or else." Coy left it at that with a cheeky grin, resulting in Yeyl making assumptions so absurd that if they were to flow out of her mouth, they would turn heads red.
Seeing that he had gone too far, Coy admitted, "I'm merely jesting, trying to follow your example."
Yeyl blinked her wide, engaging orange eyes in puzzlement. "Huh?"
'Wait, she was not?' Before he could mull over the question, the door of the classroom opened, and a middle-aged man with wild black hair entered, his face clean of any facial hair but adorned with wrinkles. He wore beige pants and a green blazer over a white silk shirt. Trailing after the man was a young man in his late teens with a long grey cloak over a black robe decorated with complex golden lines. Long blonde hair nestled on his head, reaching up to his shoulders.
The students fumbled around before securing their seats.
The middle-aged man, assumed to be the teacher, walked to the centre of the teacher's stand. He ambically smiled at them, his brown eyes morphing into a crescent.
"Good morning, my name is Zett Fols, this class' homeroom teacher." He introduced himself in a mellow voice before glancing at the young man beside him. "And he is my assistant, Johan Elk, an elder in his last year of the academy. I hope you make it a memorable year for him that he will reminisce about in his future days." He chuckled before waving his hand.
His gesture brought forth small, chained boxes filled with animals of different kinds. Rats, snakes, spiders, and crickets made homes inside them. A fish even occupied one such box that was filled with water, which didn't spill out. A barrier of sorts.
Zett nodded at Johan, who raised his hand, causing the boxes to levitate to the students in an organised form before each one gently landed in front of them.
The students were apprehensive about the whole ordeal, as every animal on their desk was an animal they hated.
Some glanced at it with discomfort, while others adjusted their seats and leaned backwards from the box.
In front of Coy was a viper. 'Ugh, what's going on?' He groaned inwardly.
He peered at Baem and Yeyl, who bore sore faces. Respectively, there was a toad and a salamander in front of them.
[Hmm, Chóros, you have any idea of what's going on?] Coy asked his voiceless companion, who had been terrifyingly quiet nowadays. God knows what he was working on because every time Coy asked, he would say it's about the nature of Ether.
[Seems like a test. I don't sense anything dangerous about that slithering fella, so you should be alright. Anyway, don't bother me with such elementary stuff again; I'm on the cusp of grasping something tremendously impactful!] He tattled before going quiet once again.
'Haa, I just hope whatever you're doing is worth the effort,' Coy thought before he heard Zett's voice.
"Don't be alarmed. They are harmless and won't jump out at you. This is merely a test of 10 minutes with no marks. The purpose behind it—I will explain it after the time limit. However, I will give you a hint—well, in the form of a riddle." Zett proclaimed.
"Preyed in the past, scars attained in the present, accepted in the future; that's it." He clapped with a smile.
One of the students, a dwarven girl with auburn short hair, raised her hand as he nodded at her. She asked, "Are there any rules to look out for?"
Zett massaged his chin, devoid of any hair, and announced, "Rules? Just don't speak to anyone during the time limit."
He then took out two chairs—a board game and a table—before he sat on one and beckoned for Johan to join him, which he readily accepted. The two then started to play and chat like nothing else mattered in the world.
Their voices were the only thing echoing in the room, but that was the least of the students' concerns as they all analysed the simple yet enigmatic riddle. Quite a few crossed their arms and did not even bother with the test since it didn't just give marks; it also confronted them with their phobias.
Coy had already figured out the nature of the riddle; it was just that the answer to the problem would be a headache to many. Mr. Zett was asking them to accept their phobia, one that hunted them in the past and scarred them up until now.
Now Coy was not scared of snakes, but his father had one as a pet, and it reminded him of the betrayal that came from him.
That wretched man with no warmth for his family...
To accept this snake would mean to acknowledge the symbolic significance Coy was subjected to. Truth be told, Coy had already acknowledged the betrayal of his previous father. He might have been rash in his young years, but he was different now. The conclusion he came to? It was pointless.
His previous father's motive was straight, so the consequences of it rarely impacted Coy. Maybe if he had been twisty and treated Coy warmly before betraying him, the result would not have allowed him to accept his betrayal so easily.
As such, he did what everyone else did not expect. He opened the simple locked box and allowed the snake to crawl on his arm, which it did before rolling around his neck and sleeping.