"Alright, we've completed the necessary materials for today's history class. Take a fifteen minute break and return here for your Enchantment class."
Immediately, my four dormmates came over to my table and struck up a lively conversation. "Uwaa, I didn't realise how complicated our history was", and "ufufu, never did I think we had such a long history" were heard. It seems that our first class was difficult for some of these noble ladies who had not studied far back enough in time to be familiar with the material, or those who came from Houses which figured that since the Academy would teach them this material, it was not necessary for them to teach their children these things.
"Ava-sama, how did you find the class? Was it difficult, as a transfer student?" Simarel asked me in concern. I smiled wryly at her who seemed to be consistently unruffled by the class, being the only one out of my four dormmates who seemed to be familiar with the material beforehand.
"Thank you for your concern, Simarel-sama. Truthfully, the first time I encountered the material was a little challenging, but having reviewed it prior to class, I cannot say that I find myself troubled yet."
"Ara, Ava-sama is a surprisingly hard worker."
"Umu umu! To hear a transfer student say that... my own studies are too lacking!"
"Well, if it isn't the famous transfer student. What are you doing, sucking up to her like that? Don't you have any pride as a noble of Avena?"
Ah, something disgusting has appeared. The two boys had strolled up to us, with mocking expressions as they addressed us. Clearly, they disliked the fact that I already had a good relationship with my dormmates. Behind me, I could feel faint killing intent begin to rise. Bistry and Dresha were clearly already getting irritated.
My attendants, if you are incensed by this much, you have a long way to go... I muttered inwardly.
"Ara, if it isn't Ragus-sama and Brizpyr-sama. Are you intending to make a mockery of our Kingdom with your disrespectful words?" Simarel countered them smilingly.
"Simarel-sama, we intend no disrespect to you. We hail from mere Earl Houses. However, we must not overlook the behaviour of middle and lower nobles like us who express such deference to foreign nobility, especially appointed nobility. They do not have the blood of nobility running through them, and their speech and behaviour are coarse and unruly. We simply seek to prevent our decorated nobles from being tainted by such unculturedness."
Uwa, something outrageous was just said straight to my face, huh? Also, what's up with this forced scenario? It's like someone doesn't want me to live in peace. On the first day, no less. This thought suddenly struck me hard, and I began thinking. Normally, I would think that it might take some time for the whispers and discontent to reach a head, resulting in people beginning to badmouth me to my face a little later on. However, for it to happen on the first day... it is possible that someone knew that I was going to be in the Academy and prepared this ahead of time to provoke me into retaliating, to remove me as soon as possible. And if I were to think about whom the culprit might be...well, it could only be someone in the Archdean office, no? Even if they did not themselves organise this scenario, someone they told must have.
Considering the possibility of a plot, I put on a concerned expression and opened my mouth.
"Ragus-sama, Brizpyr-sama... it truly pains me to realise that the nobles of this decorated Kingdom are so feeble and impotent that their values and decorum will crumble upon contact with foreign nobility. It is truly regrettable that they have to be sheltered so, and I thank you for your teaching. I am deeply inspired and reassured that there are such beacons of guidance and shields of protection such as yourself. To have overlooked such important things in the Kingdom was my mistake. I shall have to study harder."
A silence descended over the room. Then, suddenly...
"...pusu-!" a laugh that could no longer be stifled broke out.
Simarel, too, was looking at me warmly and with rising mirth dancing in her eyes. Ragus and Brizpyr, on the other hand, glared at me with naked hostility and consternation.
"Y-you-!"
"How dare you speak to Ragus-sama like that, you lowly foreigner!"
Apparently, one of Ragus' attendants could no longer take it and blurted out his true feelings.
"Ara, it seems that even your retainers are unruly, Ragus-sama. Please see that they are reeducated properly. I will not have the reputation of the Kingdom be sullied by the rabid barks of a diseased mutt."
Simarel countered this outburst with a steely tone and sharp eyes. While she could accept Ragus and Brizpyr mouthing off a little and chide them noble-to-noble, she could not allow this attendant, who came from a Baronet House, to display the same amount of arrogance and unruliness. Immediately, both the attendant's and Ragus' faces went white, and they both kneeled.
"My attendant has overstepped. Please forgive him."
"My deepest apologies, Medligh-sama."
I wondered at the sudden change in attitude, and as they immediately retreated and returned to their seats, I asked Simarel about it.
"Simarel-sama, forgive my ignorance. Just why did their attitudes change so rapidly?"
"A-ah, about that..." her eyes were swimming suspiciously.
"Ava-sama, you know what the current Medligh House does, but do you know what they are famous for in the Kingdom?" Delmia came to Simarel's rescue.
"Nn? It wasn't in the materials that I read..."
"Umu. In the past, the Medligh House was known alternatively as the Guard of Honour. They would personally 'invite' any nobles who were behaving in a disrespectful manner to the Kingdom and 'reeducate' them. It seems the use of the word 'reeducate' reminded them of that."
"D-Delmia-sama! Telling Ava-sama about such a history..." Simarel flushed and looked slightly frantic.
"Maa, maa, it wasn't so long ago, was it? Simarel-sama's own grandfather was the last Guard after all."
""Scary, scary."" Both Eliszia and Miszia clutched each other and said in unison.
"W-wait! Why is everyone looking at me with such lukewarm eyes..." Simarel sputtered and turned even redder.
"Nn...a flustered Simarel-sama is also a refreshing sight." I added. Everyone else nodded along with me.
"Uuu...you guys..."
Fortunately for her, she was given the time to recover. Ivar-sensei walked back into class, signalling the beginning of our practical lesson. At once, everyone returned to their seats. Her eyes swept over us, noting that my dormmates had all gathered around me earlier, and began her lesson.
"Alright. Today we will be enchanting a simple block of wood to serve as a personal protection talisman. There are a number of ways to go about it..."
Ivar-sensei explained that there were different ways one could enchant this talisman. It could be enchanted to produce a barrier, it could be enchanted to raise
Having checked out the rules of the Academy library already, I knew that while I could enter the library without issue as a student, gaining access to restricted sections required that I be in my second year at least. More than that, gaining access to older archives required that I either be a scholar or professor, or be a research assistant for one. As such, this was the perfect lesson to show off. The runic arrays used in enchanting objects were extremely simple, using only three Greater Runes, [Attribute], [Condition], [Function]. Essentially, on X condition activate Y function with Z attribute. A very simple array. In fact, the fewest number of Greater Runes possible for constructing an array. Of course, for students who had no understanding of [Runic Magic] whatsoever, we were given a catalogue of possible Greater and Lesser runes to use that would allow us to construct the runic array.
I considered how to construct my array. I selected [Space], [Condition], [Function], [Barrier], [Attributeless], and [Number]. This array would activate when anything that could cause damage approached within 5cm of me. It would then open seven spatial portals - one that absorbed the attack and six others that would return it towards the assailant. On top of that, they would be enhanced with my [Attributeless] skills. Once that had concluded, a barrier would envelop the assailant and prevent them from escaping. Over the course of my study of runes, I had discovered that non-attribute skills had lesser runes attached to them, meaning that I could apply their effects into enchantments. In fact, this would allow me to consolidate certain skills if I just knew how...
As Ivar-sensei's lecture concluded, she handed out small squares of wood to us.
"Now, take the rest of class to enchant your piece of wood. You will have to carefully carve or paint the wooden block with runes so that it works properly, so please pay attention to that."
"Sensei, I'm done."
"Are?"
Eight pairs of eyes shot towards me as I said that the moment she finished speaking.
I held up my clearly blank wooden square, earning a snicker from the two boys and a disappointed sigh from Ivar-sensei.
"Student Ava, your wooden square is still-"
Before she could finish her words, I channelled my mana into the square, lighting up the runic array that I had imprinted onto the wood using mana.
"No way, direct mana imprinting?" Ivar-sensei seemed to have lost some composure.
"That is an art that was lost centuries ago! Yet how did you..."
"Sensei, there are many prerequisites to acquiring this skill. Having a catalogue of runes is certainly useful, but it also means that certain shortcuts were taken, leading to fewer and fewer people who know how to do this. Even so, I'm using [Light Magic] to illuminate the runes, you know? Otherwise few people would be able to see them."
"Un, un!" The fervent eyes of a researcher alternated between my wooden square and my face. She took a breath, then composed herself and looked at my array.
"Six nodes?? Let me see...I've never seen some of these runes before, but I can tell that you're using this array to activate a counterattack using [Spatial Magic] and then binding your assailant with a [Barrier]?"
"Maa, more or less. The runes you don't recognise are skill-specific runes. It means that my counterattack will have some of my own skills applied to it. Ah, even if one doesn't possess those skills, they can still use this as a talisman. After all, the rune will draw the skill effect directly from the mana held in the talisman, rather than draw directly upon the available skills in the user's repertoire."
"This is...this is...incredible!!!" Ivar-sensei had lost all pretense of a cool beauty professor, and her eyes were now shining with the pure knowledge-hungry gaze of a scholar.
"Student Ava, given that you know this much about enchanting...it seems difficult to suggest that you need to continue taking this class at all."
"Nn? Whatever do you mean, sensei?"
"Ah, well...this skill with enchantment is far beyond even third-year students, after all. In your third year, you will learn to enchant weapons by attaching artifacts to them on which you have carved a runic array, but even then it uses only a six-node array. Based on how fast you were able to complete this, you can do much more than that, can't you?"
"Un. I've created a twelve-node spell before using a runic array, but I haven't tested to see how much more I can handle."
"TWELVE?? Student Ava, are you...a genius? That's how many nodes are used in the ancient teleportation arrays that we still use until today!"
"Please, sensei. I just happen to have undertaken a perhaps unconventional route of arriving at using runic arrays. The combination of skills that I acquired allow me to use more complicated arrays and a wider variety of runes than the average person, but really I believe all I did was revive an ancient method."
Rather, my question was, how had no one rediscovered it till now???