For the next several weeks, nothing noteworthy happened, yet I was kept busy enough that I didn't have time to visit my family.
After school and training, disciplinary committee duties took up all my remaining time. The class I was teaching had a more challenging time than I'd expected when it came to "divergent training," as I had decided to call it.
Focusing mana into a single point proved to be difficult for all the augmenters in the class while reabsorbing a conjured spell was an even more arduous task for the conjurers. So far, out of all the augmenters, only one student had managed to do anything remotely close to what I had in mind. As for the conjurers, only Kathyln had succeeded in reabsorbing her spell and enhancing her body—but even then, she had only managed to augment her hand. Feyrith was a close second, and he was the only other student on the brink of success.
My Deviant Magic Theory class had been moving along quite slowly, the professor had stated that she would begin covering new material after we had finished our mid-semester tests.
On Saturday, we were to have an overnight trip to the outskirts of the Beast Glades with our Team-Fighting Mechanics class. Professor Glory had received permission from the Director, only on the condition that we were not allowed to go past the third floor of the dungeon. The dungeon was just a minor one, it was a popular site for new adventurers since the mana beasts in the upper levels were only E-class. So Professor Glory thought it would be a great way for the class to get in some real-life team-fighting mechanics practice.
Until then a lot of us students were allowed some time off to visit our families. I didn't know how many other people were leaving but I was going to be spending time with my family. It would be my first time seeing them since I was injured, so seeing them again will help me take my mind off things.
Out in front of the academy were plenty of first-year students like me getting into carriages to leave Xyrus academy. Among a large number of students, I saw Curtis talking to Kathyln before she got onto her carriage.
"You have the protection ring Father gave you, right? Use it immediately if you feel like you're in trouble. Promise me that, okay?" I heard Curtis worriedly nag his younger sister.
She gave a simple nod to her older brother with the same expressionless face as she normally has. When she saw I was looking at them she nervously turned her head away from me so I could not look at her.
Curtis decided to walk over to me after he said bye to his sister. "See you tomorrow Arthur, I heard that the professor was thinking of assigning teams. Let's hope we are put on the same team." Curtis says while walking next to me as I arrive at my carriage meant to take me to the Helstea's manor.
"Yeah, let's hope," I repeated back to him as I opened the door to my carriage. I was about to say bye to him when I saw an unexpected guest in my carriage. When I opened the door I saw a familiar pink-haired girl sitting in one of the seats with a bag by her feet. "Oh hello Arthur, hello prince Curtis." She greets us in her 'public voice' because Curtis was also there.
I looked over to see Curtis's face, one of complete shock and confusion. 'Dammit, he got the wrong impression.'
"I- I- I'll leave you to your business Arthur, have a great night." He begins to walk away.
"Wait-" I try to stop him so I could clear up this mess but he had already run off too far for me to stop him.
I sigh as I get into the carriage and place my bag at my feet. I turn to Saya and ask, "Why the hell are you here?"
"That's a rude way to speak to your bond. You should really be taught the proper way to greet someone like myself." She says with a wide smile on her face, she clearly knows what she did.
"Just be straight with me, why are you coming? Don't you have better things to do?" I ask.
"Nothing besides you,"
"Huh, what was that?" I ask confusingly.
She chuckles to herself, "nothing." She smiles as she decides to turn her attention to the window, staring at the people outside.
For the rest of the ride to the Helstea manor, we sat in silence. It was strange for her to be quiet for this long but then again she didn't really have anything to talk about.
We soon reached a stop as the carriage arrived at our destination, "We have arrived, Mr. Leywin. Have a great night." Opening the door, the driver tipped his hat once again as I stepped out of the carriage.
Outside of the carriage was the Helstea manor, and we both got out of the carriage with our bags in our hands. We walked up the stairs to the front doors.
Before I even had the chance to knock, the giant front door swung open and an Ellie-shaped missile shot out. "Brother! Welcome home!" Ellie wrapped her arms around my waist as I struggled to keep us both from toppling down the stairs.
"I was wondering what the noise was. You're back a little late, Son!" My father leaned against the doorframe and gave me a grin.
"The meeting ran a little late. It's been a while, Dad." I gave my father a hug as my sister followed behind me.
"Ah! You're back, Art. You must be so tired." My mother had been upstairs, and now she ran down and wrapped her arms around me.
"Hey, Mom. Yeah, I'm back." I smiled, reveling in the family love I cherished so much.
"How are you? Are you all better now?" My mother examined me, lifting up my shirt and turning me around to make sure I didn't have any wounds left.
"I'm fine now," I laughed. "You're worrying too much." I gave her a comforting smile.
It wasn't until the initial surprise of my arrival had calmed down that they noticed that a quiet Saya was following a decent distance behind me.
My mom and dad both look at her for a few moments before looking at each other with smug faces as if I had done something.
"Oh hello there, I remember you, You are Saya, right? Arthur's friend." She puts strange emphasis on the word friend trying to imply more than what she really said.
"It's a pleasure to see you all again, yes I am a good friend of Arthurs." She smiles, she knows exactly what she is playing into. Why does she have to be so clever?
"Brother, how long are you staying?" Ellie was practically hopping around me as we all headed toward the living room.
"I'm leaving early tomorrow morning," I said with a sigh.
"What? Why?" My sister's face was visibly saddened, her shoulders slumping at my response.
"Yeah, why are you leaving so soon?" my father chimed in, taking a seat on the sofa.
"One of my classes has an excursion to the Beast Glades tomorrow for one night. We leave in the morning, so I'll have to head out pretty early." I was already tired at the thought of waking up before dawn.
"The Beast Glades?" My mother's face turned pale with concern. I wasn't surprised—I'd almost died the last time I was in the Beast Glades. Even my father looked worried.
Saya looked at me in confusion about their worried looks. 'What's so serious about second-rate beasts? Don't they know you can easily kill some of the strongest beasts found there even without your little body flicker technique?'
I could understand her confusion, although I am viewed as a prodigy mage among most of my peers, she is really the only one who knows my true skill.
"Don't worry. We're only going to be on the outskirts, and our professor will be with us at all times. Besides, I still have the ring." I pulled out the ring that the Helstea family had given us from my pocket.
The ring used mana circulation to indicate to the other ring-holder whether I was still alive or not. I had kept it off while I was at school. If anything happened to me there, my parents would be notified right away, but I planned to wear it on the excursion just in case.
"But still… is it mandatory for you to go?" My mother furrowed her brows, the concern refusing to leave her face.
"We'll be fine. It's one of the lowest-ranked dungeons, and we're not allowed to go below the third floor anyway," I said, trying to comfort her. She still wasn't entirely happy with the situation, but she kept silent, giving me a hesitant nod.
The five of us went over to the living room as we shared stories of what we each have missed from each other's lives. Ellie was telling me about her days in the school for proper girls. While I and Saya spoke about recent events happening at the academy.
"Wow, I can't believe you are already a professor at the academy Art." My father is both proud and astonished.
"Am I the only one who was worried he would have gotten in trouble for beating up his teacher?" My mother says.
"It's really fine mom, it was honestly a good thing that he got fired honestly. He wouldn't have even taught anything besides tell stories about his adventuring days in an attempt to get praise out of us."
This gets a big laugh out of my father, he must know tons of people who do stuff like this, it's pretty common for adventurers to get full of themselves with the ranking system and all.
When it grew late, my parents ushered my sister and me into our rooms. They gave Saya her own guest room to stay in.
I was rather tired myself as I almost fell asleep while taking a shower. After drying myself, I sank into bed with a big sigh of relief. It was good to be back home. But before I could get too comfortable, a series of knocks sounded at my door.
I was too tired to get up and see who it was so thankfully they opened the door on their own, "Hey do you mind if I stay in here for a while?" I hear Sayas' voice creep into my room.
"Fine, but I was about to go to sleep," I responded.
"No worries, I just don't feel comfortable sleeping in a guest room of someone else's home." She says as she carries into the room her own blanket and pillow to lay out on the floor.
"So the great asura has some weaknesses after all?" I tease, I am forced to stop chuckling at my joke when a pillow flies at my face; the force of it is so strong I nearly fall off my bed.
"Wow there, don't kill me," I say as I toss back her pillow.
I can hear an angry Saya say, "Goodnight" to me in an attempt to shut me up. But in her tone, I can tell that she was trying to hold back some laughter.
"Goodnight," I say back as I lay back down in my bed and go to sleep.