The carriage had taken several days to cross the distance from the estate, through the town of Trasan, and finally into Arcadia. The journey wasn't difficult though I kind of wished it wasn't as boring. "Not a single bandit ambush or monster attack, and we're already here…" I moped, leaning my head against the window looking out at the line of carriages and merchant carts filtering through the right-side passage, waiting to get into the gate.
The light but stern formal tone of Miss Fennec brought my eyes on her as she gave me a brief, "Ahem!"
"What?" I asked the maid. What was she mad about this time?
"You really shouldn't be pining for a fight so badly, master Drace."
I laughed to myself, eyes turning back out the window "Its, not that I want a fight I just like being able to let loose a little."
Miss Fen scoffed at the idea, "Well, now that we're actually entering the capital you should be mindful not to 'let loose' while in the city."
Was Fennec that scared I was going to cause a catastrophe every time I was out in public? You'd think she would have just a little more faith in me than that. "I'll be on my best behavior, I promise."
"Hmph." She huffed and looked back out the window.
Soldiers stationed at the front gate were going about, getting identifications from travelers, carriages, and merchant carts. Now is that for identification checks or for taxes?
One soldier greeted our coachman before receiving the badge that would indicate his employer. The soldier immediately gestured for our carriage to pass through the gate through the middle, ahead of the line the middle passageway gate was opened for us.
"I guess his title really does carry a lot of weight around here." I stated as the carriage lurched in motion again. Sebastian had assured me prior to the journey that we would have no trouble getting into the city. His authority in Arcadia would get us to where we needed to go, at haste.
Miss Fen adjusted her glasses which framed her amber eyes, sunlight glanced off of the lenses which obscured them. "Master Sebastian left me instructions to have you visit a local business in town. An acquaintance of his, a Tristan Giles, will handle your wardrobe needs while attending school."
"What's wrong with what I am wearing?" I gestured to my combat gear. If the trip had taken on any unwanted complications of the danger variety I had been prepared. Other than the casual wear I had stashed in a case of luggage strapped on the back of the carriage, this is all I had. Nothing fancy at least.
The pair of amber eyes held firm, "Your uniform needs to be tailored and adjusted, as well as your wardrobe for special occasions not limited to dinner parties, dances, celebrations, or any official summons. Mr. Giles will see to it that the academy's uniform will be passed through his establishment before finding its way back to your suite."
"Dances?" One of the aspects I had to learn from my lessons back at the estate. So, I really would have to put that to use? "How many does the academy put on during the year?"
"Three. The first will occur during the Lunar Solstice Festival." Miss Fennec said.
The Lunar Solstice Festival was that time of the year when the two moons in the sky would both be at their closest in their orbit, and both be visible for an entire week together as they came close. At the peak of their orbit and while they eclipsed each other, our world experienced a kind of magnetic resonance that lit up the sky with a brilliant aurora that very night. An event that we called the Convergence. The city usually erupted in a large-scale festival that took place over the course of several nights. Master Sebastian brought me once two years ago to enjoy the festivities.
So if the Academy had its own celebration, it would be a grand party with gourmet dining, dancing and music under the stars while the sky opened up and shined, surrounded by fellow students and friends I might make by then. It sounded beautiful honestly, a night to remember. I'll definitely be looking forward to it.
Miss Fennec and I spent our time discussing further arrangements. She would be joining me at the Academy in the suites, which had a room for personal staff such as maids or bodyguards for the first week while I get settled into school. I liked having her around because she helped keep my in line with my impulsiveness, so I didn't mind it as much. After that time, she would depart back for Sebastian's manor.
I watched outside the windows of the carriage while it passed through the city. There were so many different kinds of shops that we passed by that looked fun. Jewelry and food, cloths. Elixirs and potions, armor and weapons. I definitely wanted to come back and check out that new weapons shop I just saw pass by.
The carriage took a right turn after a bridge that spanned over a canal that cut through the city. I looked down to see colorful fish and thin oar-propelled boats down in the water. People hauling some cargo as well, I assumed this would feed out into the bay, that way they would be able to go right to their ships rather than taking it all through town.
"… even listening to me?"
"Not right then, no." I admitted. Whether it was the act itself or the lack of shame that earned her ire, I couldn't tell, but she just huffed and continued on with a scowl. "We're just about there."
Right on cue, the carriage came to a stop on the side of the street, right in front of a large two-story building. I stepped out and down onto the stone, then regarded the window sets that showcased a bit of what was to come. Well-designed dress suits, and extravagant dresses.
A well-dressed gentleman, a butler of sorts, stepped through the door and held it open for me to step through. An amazed gasp escaped me as I took in the interior.
Looking like it all was fresh and spectacular, on the left side of the room were rows and rows of many-colored dresses, sashes, gowns and more, and even various ranges of shoes, from the modest slipper the most scandalous of heels. The right side, clearly the more down-to-earth and masculine side of the room, were just as many rows of formal wear for men. Trousers, dress shirts, dinner jackets, tuxedos, and every range of darks and whites to the occasional blue or…
Pink? Yep, that is definitely a fully pink tuxedo. Keep it WAY over there, thank you.
Speaking of the head maid herself, she stepped in at my side as she regarded the room. Her eyes immediately betraying which side she preferred, then immediately went into business mode. "Call for Mr. Giles please, he should be expecting us." she said to the gentleman, who hurriedly walked to the back room.
Moments later, the same man walked out with what had to be his employer following him. A lean man, dressed just as well as his merchandise, wearing golden metal frames with circular lenses laying over his nose.
"Welcome!" He crowed. "If it isn't the lovely Miss Fennec!" The both of them exchanged a brief exchange of courtesies before the man turned to me. "And you must be the young prodigy that master Sebastian spoke of in his letter. Though he hadn't provided your name." His hand eased forward to welcome me.
"Sebastian means well, but he rarely dishes out information if you're bound to learn it soon anyway. It's just kind of how he operates." I shook his hand. "The name is Drace. No surname."
"None to speak of? Despite your apprenticeship to master Sebastian?" he asked me.
This Mr. Giles was inquiring about my lineage. I knew what he was getting at, though I did find it a rude that he would bring it up. Orphans such as I that had no knowledge of a family name didn't carry one, as he well knew. Since my time that I could remember with my adopted parents I hadn't had any name other than Drace. I had brought the subject up with master Sebastian once, who quickly told me that if it weren't for the burdens of his family name or the weight that it possessed then I could have adopted his. Oddly enough I always admired how Sebastian's surname reflected both his magic and his appearance via the shade of red that was the namesake of "Claret". Maybe one day I can find my real family name, and what it might mean for me.
"Just Drace. And I would appreciate it greatly if you would keep something like that to yourself." I warned the bespectacled merchant. Truthfully I didn't mind what I was, but I needed this man and everyone else to know that family or not, my achievements will be my own and I will be just as important without a surname.
He clasped his hands and rubbed them together as a gesture, to convey his agreeable personality perhaps, as if to hide the previous slight. "Of course, of course, my apologies young master. Now that we've gotten the formalities out of the way, shall we get started?"
I smiled, though it didn't quite reach my eyes, "Absolutely."
The better part of the next hour, I was stood in front of a mirror where Mr. Giles personally surveyed my measurements by tape measure. Occasionally, pieces of clothing like jackets and trousers were brought from various racks around the store to be compared with others when I wore them. Mr. Giles assured me this was to get a good idea of the kinds of colors and styles that best fit me, which kind of unnerved me because while I wasn't spartan with my self-image, I certainly did not consider myself one to strut about as if flaunting colorful feathers like a bird might.
He seemed to agree that purple accents worked best with primarily black to go with with my eyes and hair.
Miss Fennec spent this time folding and retrieving garments while silently watching. She did her part to remove any unnecessary pieces from my vicinity, which were promptly folded and placed elsewhere for the merchant's employee to pick up when he was not busy with other matters. Occasionally she would offer suggestions to the merchant and not much more.
After much of the fanfare had subsided, I was given a letter to pass onto the Academy that stated where they could send their uniforms for tailoring. Supposed that would be it. Miss Fennec did take this time to relieve me of my combat gear in favor of my casuals, though she couldn't relieve me of the coat. I love my coat.
What I was wearing now was a simple white undershirt with the v of my collar bound loosely together with cotton twine and dark trouser pants that were stuffed down into my boots.
"Thank you for joining us today master Drace." Said the merchant with a flourished bow. "The letter should take care of everything. On the name of Tristan Giles, your formal effects and uniforms shall be delivered long before the opening ceremony with the Academy of Magic. Best of luck to you and do please come again!"
"Thank you, I'll certainly take you up on that if I need anything else." I answered, making my way through the door outside, my maid following close behind.
"Shall we get going?" Miss Fennec asked me while gesturing to the parked carriage.
Truth be told I would have liked to explore the city more, but the faster I got this letter to Student Resources the better and the faster I could get my uniform. A little trip around sightseeing could wait until after I got settled in.
Might even be able to make some friends, then they could join me, I thought with a smile on my face.
…
The carriage ride through the upper districts didn't take very long, though Miss Fennec was yet again going on about my schedule over the next few days. Things I would need to take care of.
An annoyed twitch started in my eye. At times like these she really did act more like a secretary than a maid. More often than not it really played on my nerves the way she directed me when in reality I wanted to do my own thing sometimes.
"We have arrived, young master." Miss Fennec announced.
Looking out the windows of the carriage I spotted the pillars first. Huge marble columns that circled the stone courtyard. The street carved in towards the entrance, circling a large water fountain and statue at its center depicting a dragon. The Academy itself was very grandiose, arching rooftops and peaks of towers, large glass windows, finished with simple yet stylish gothic architectural designs.
I was in awe, "It's even bigger than I thought it would be."
Even as the carriage parked out front of the entry and we had offloaded into the courtyard with our things I still had my head on a swivel, admiring the castle-like school. I'd never been to Arcadia before, but its city and even more so its academy was something special to behold.
"If you can find Student Resources inside, I'll go ahead and take our things to the dorms and make sure it's ready by the time you get back. I believe the administration wing is on the second left." Miss Fen suggested.
I nodded then handed her the bag I carried that was full of my clothes. She gave a short bow of her head, then scurried off via the sidewalk that disappeared towards some more buildings.
The interior was just as impressive as I walked among the marble flooring. Magnificent archways reached across the ceiling, crossing and spanning the hallways. Every few archways there would be a door or hallway, the occasional statue of a knight. If I would have picked my jaw up off the floor I would have noticed the body I had just crashed into.
"Ow!" A markedly feminine voice cried out as a pile of books crashed across the floor.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention." I admitted as I rushed to help the girl back up with an outstretched hand. When she looked back up at me I got to see the victim of my carelessness.
This girl was cute.
She was naturally dressed in the Academy's uniform, complete with black leggings and modest calf-high boots. Her hair was chocolate brown, and loosely tied behind her head, with some of it hanging out to frame her freckled face. Hiding behind large circular glasses, her eyes were colored like honey.
After a moment she took my hand and allowed me to pull her up off the floor, to which I immediately worked to pick her books back up as she dusted off the checkered silver and black skirt of her uniform. "No, no, it's alright. It was my fault. I couldn't see properly because of the books."
Now that I could see how tall she was, she really wasn't. I estimated about five foot two.
I laughed, "Now where were you off to with all of these?"
"The library actually, to return them." She answered.
All of these? I thought to myself. Half of these books were very large and judging by the covers they ranged from fairly new texts to old pieces of informational literature. Advanced Tidal Spellcasting, The Biography of General Galus Lequiox, The Lunar Phases and Casting Effects. These are…
"Forgive me if I'm being nosy, but you're a Tidal Caster right?" All of these seemed best fit to be studied by a water mage that could make use of them.
The girl looked at me for a moment, taking in my clothing before nodding enthusiastically, with particular interest in my arms just below my shoulders. I must've looked like I was out of place, not having my uniform yet. "Yes that right! How did you know?"
I had about half of the books off the floor, "Well all of these are about water magic. But it's the biography that gives it away that you're a Caster. General Lequiox was one of the most prominent Tidal Casters in our history."
"You definitely seem to know your stuff. I've actually hit kind of a wall with my magic, so I've been hoping to find some insight by looking into his biography." She muttered.
"Oh?"
"I have no trouble with casting larger spells, but when it comes to holding and maintaining specifically a field spell I lose control of it." Her eyes dipped low as if she were embarrassed. Maybe she was just shy. If I didn't hit on this topic she might not even be talking to me right now.
"Have you tried practicing your control with a large amount of smaller spells rather than just large ones?" I inquired.
"Mhmm," she nodded, "I still can't hold them after a certain amount, and I want to eventually be able to cast large field area spells like [Leviathan's Domain]. But I can't seem to even maintain any smaller field spells like [Entropic Current]."
Caster mages specialized in area-of-effect spells and long-range casting. At a distance, they had the clear advantage. A type of advanced spell that Casters use is called Field-Type Magic, Field Spell, or just Field for the sake of abbreviating it. It involved saturating an entire area in their element type, essentially converting it into their domain, like a home advantage. Some of the most powerful Field Spells could effectively take control of an entire battlefield. If [Leviathan's Domain] was this little scholar girl's goal, she intended to send her enemies into the dark abyss of her magic.
Well, that's a comforting thought, I grimaced internally.
"Here." I had all of the books off of the floor, but I handed her only just under half of them and held the other myself. "If you'll show me to the library and Student Resources, I'll help you take these back. Deal?"
She smiled at me, thankful that she no longer had to crane her neck to look around the massive stack of books to see where she was going. "That's very helpful of you, thank you. My name is Rachael by the way. Rachael Bayern."
I returned her smile, "My name is Drace, pleasure to meet you Rachael." Thankfully the library seemed to be in the same direction I was going, the administrative wing, or at least close to it. I chose to continue our conversation, as I was just as interested in the subject.
"It could be your control over the mana itself. My mentor is a Caster as well, you see. He always told me that as far as you progress with spell casting, it won't mean anything if you neglect strengthening your control over mana itself, I would also try seeing if it has something to do with the integrity of your spell arrays." I stated.
Mages tempered large amounts of ambient mana in their downtime. Your body was a vessel for it, and the more you absorbed the raw mana of your element, the more you could hold and control. This involved tempering the raw mana with your own body and acclimating yourself to it like you are a furnace and the mana is the iron to which you forge your blade. This process was called Mana Tempering.
Rachael hummed like she acknowledged the statement. "You could be right about that. All of my first year I've been so focused on learning new spells, it could be my arrays but I'm quite confident in my ability to memorize them," A second year student then. "I haven't spent much time on tempering. You're master sounds very smart, what element is he?" she asked me.
"Oh, my master Sebastian is an Inferno Caster." I said without thinking. Rachael had already stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"You don't mean the Ignition Battalion do you? Lord Sebastian Claret?" She breathed.
Is this how it's going to be with all of them? Ugh.
"Um, yes?" I tested the waters, figuratively.
"I heard he had an apprentice, but I never imagined you would be my age!" She exclaimed, her honey-colored eyes widening over the books in her arms.
I huffed at that, a tad humored, "And how old were you expecting me to be?"
Rachael pursed her lips and raised her brow at the ceiling, pondering the question as if it were floating there for her to see. "I don't know, just older. He's an Arch Mage, for him to take on someone as young as you as an apprentice can only mean you're extremely gifted for your age for him to take notice of you."
I felt my cheeks warm at the unexpected praise, "I wouldn't say that. He helped me out when I was younger, and I showed some talent. Nothing special." Even if that was kind of an omission, I didn't want people to see me differently because of who my mentor was. Part of the reason I was here was to make friends after all, and that might be hard to do living in Sebastian's shadow.
This seemed to spur her back on track, as she continued on walking. We came upon a large set of double doors that were propped open, the expansive library just inside.
"What element are you anyway? Single or Compound?" she probed while we walked in to set the stacks on one of the tables. She scanned me with her eyes. Trying to gauge my mana?
"Single element, just Wind. I'm an Incursor." I remarked.
"Hmm, I would have thought Lord Sebastian would take an apprentice of the same mana type." Rachael stated.
"Why is that?" Why would that be important?
"House Claret is known for most of the well-known fire mages in Arcadia's history, just as Galus is for water types like me. They're very prideful of this fact and tend to shun the other elements thinking they are inferior to them." Rachael began sorting some of the books into piles to go into different sections of the library, setting them on one of the nearby tables inside. I looked around and saw students and even some teachers roaming about the triple storied archive. "I can't speak for Lord Sebastian's opinion though. It must differ from the rest of his house if he took you as his apprentice. But the rest of House Claret regularly ostracize the other elements, and occasionally clashes with the other elemental houses of Arcadia."
So, I would be considered "Lesser" to the rest of House Claret. It made sense now why Sebastian couldn't just adopt me into his family. If a wind user was given the name Claret, there would be hell to pay, most likely for both me and him.
Rachael turned to me then with a small curtsy, "Thank you so much for helping me, I would have crashed again with all of those books sooner or later. If you take a left further down the hall you will find the admin wing. Student Resources will be the second door on the right."
I smiled at the girl and gave her a polite bow in return, closely tied to noble society indeed. "You're very welcome. Maybe we will see each other more once classes start up for the semester. I'll be looking forward to it. I haven't made any friends just yet here."
"Then you can consider me as such, I look forward to it as well. Good day to you, Drace." Rachael waved her fingers as I turned and walked out of the library, left to my own thoughts now as I kept on towards my initial goal.
House Claret, the name of that noble house burned in my thoughts. They might not have taken too kindly to Sebastian training me personally, was that why Sebastian couldn't put off his family much more? Would they have an issue with me, try to get in my way maybe just because they do not approve of me?
If they do get in my way I'll just have to remove them by force if necessary. Let them come.