"Yes," the students replied in unison.
Mrs. Lilmai smiled and opened the attendance register, a red pen in her left hand. Astoria paid attention to the names of the students. She took note of who to avoid in the class for some apparent reasons. She also learned that the gargoyle she had seen earlier was known as Davitt.
He was part of Leararts Academy's School Council and the class president. That explained why the students listened to him so quickly. Well, some of the students. Remember the four students who later entered the class together with Laurelai? They were known as the troublemakers of the academy. She made sure to make a mental note to avoid them at all costs.
"Nexi. Nexi. Nexi?" the teacher repeated, calling out her name for attendance.
She found herself in a daze as she kept getting distracted by those four students who wouldn't keep their voices down. At some point, the teacher and Davitt had stopped asking them to stay quiet and just let them do whatever they wanted.
"Nexi?" the teacher repeated again, looking up from the attendance register.
"H-here! Sorry, I can't hear you with the noise back here," she said, emphasising the word 'noise' so that those students could hear.
Her temper and irritation got the better of her, and her remark on the noise level caused the centaur and ghost student to scoff and glare at her.
'Well, so much for avoiding them at all costs. Your temper got the best of you, yet again. Great job, Astoria Chambers.'
She internally facepalmed. The teacher nodded and continued with the attendance. At the end of the attendance, she learned that the noisy students who were the centaur, ghost, troll, and witch, and was supposed to avoid, were called Arampos, Misty, Laojin, and Alexa, respectively.
"Okay, looks like everyone is here today. Nexi, it's great to have you back," Mrs. Lilmai said, a grin on her face.
She smiled and nodded. With that, the teacher left, and the class started chatting again.
"So, Nexi," she heard Misty speak, "you have a problem with us being noisy?"
She ignored the ghost student, not even the slightest bit afraid that she might get angry and do something like flip her table or whatever it was that ghosts could do in this world.
"Nexi, I'm thrilled to have you back. I know that I've said that already, but I'm just so happy. I've been so bored without you here, especially since Brady left," the fairy quickly chimed in, an attempt to stop anything terrible from happening between the princess and Misty.
"I wonder how he's doing? Anyway, you also came just in time since we have our third assignment coming up in a week," she continued, "I wonder what we will be assigned to do. I wonder if it's a quest. How many students do you think will be assigned to the assignment?"
"I don't-"
"Hmm, maybe four if it's a quest assignment or it could be an individual assignment. Goddess, I hope not. Nexi, I want some excitement in my life, so I really hope it's a quest. My father prohibits me from doing so much," she cut Astoria off, her hands moving frantically as she spoke.
Misty glared at the fairy, who stopped her discussion with Astoria but let her anger subside. The ghost was not in the mood to fight today. Astoria smiled at the fairy's attempt to save her from a heated confrontation with Misty. She understood that this cute fairy was definitely talkative, easygoing, friendly, and trying to rescue her from not just confronting Misty but the other troublemakers too. She blankly stared at the chalkboard.
"You're really adorable and nice," she softly uttered to herself.
This caused the fairy to stop talking mid-sentence, her mouth wide open in shock and confusion.
"Ah, you heard that?" she asked the fairy, her hand covering her mouth.
She did not mean for the fairy to hear her. Laurelai nodded. Her face was as red as a tomato, and it did not help that her hair was a red colour too. The fairy does not take compliments very well as she becomes a red-faced fairy whenever she is complimented. It is a force of habit she gave up on trying to control.
"Hey, Nexi. You know you can't marry me, right?" the fairy joked, batting her eyelashes and causing her to softly laugh.
"Well, that's too bad," she responded, pursing her lips.
They both laughed, and a male teacher walked into the class. He was a wizard, and when she took out her timetable, she saw that he was the teacher for their first class, Magic History. Before, she never looked forward to history as she was never a fan of the subject in school, but things were different now.
This was not like the typical history she knew. It was Magic History. This would help her get a sense of the history of magic in this Kingdom and maybe other kingdoms. She would definitely be taking notes.
"Please stand," Davitt instructed as the teacher stood by the chalkboard.
The students stood up.
"Greet the teacher," he continued.
"Good morning, Mr. Shawix," the class greeted in unison, Astoria mumbling her greeting as she didn't know or remember his name yet.
"Good morning, class," he greeted back, "you may take your seats."
The class sat and began taking out their textbooks. Astoria took hers out, together with a book to take notes. When she opened the notebook, she found that Nexi had beautiful handwriting. Her notes were simple and easy to understand.
She made a mental note to read some of Nexi's notes when she returned to the palace. Mr. Shawix had stated that today's lesson was based on different types of magic sources found in the various kingdoms.
"On page 108," he began, "we see a magic source which comes from the Eternal Fountain. This magic is found in the Kingdom of Nirean. Different magical energies are said to pulse from the Eternal Fountain. These spread into the Kingdom, enhancing all life forms within it."
Mr. Shawix pointed at Laojin, the troll student.
"You there," he said, staring at Laojin, "has a war ever broken out in Nirean in the past thousand years?"
Laojin was baffled at the question as he looked in his textbook for an answer. Sadly, the answer was not in the text. He asked himself how he was supposed to know such a thing. It's not like he was born a thousand years ago.
"Um, yes?" he replied, unsure of the answer he was giving.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" the teacher asked him.
"Sorry," was all the troll could mumble.
The teacher smiled and held the textbook in his hand, beginning to walk around the classroom.
"Do take note of this class as this part is not found in your textbook," he said as he casually passed each student.
"It is known that no war has ever broken out of the Kingdom of Nirean because of the power of the Eternal Fountain. The reason for this is because the Kingdom has a peaceful balance between itself and nature."
She found that quite fascinating, and she listened attentively, taking notes of everything he was saying.
"This is because," the teacher continued, walking back to the chalkboard, "all the beings rely on the same source for their magic. The surrounding areas of Nirean have also become quite popular as a destination for pilgrimage-like journeys or if you, like me, just want to enjoy the beauty of nature."
"Wow, that's amazing," she said aloud, causing every student to turn around and face her.