First night in the manor in Crimson Rose District went by quietly, so everyone was feeling refreshed for the early start of the next day.
The day was really important - first day of the week, and also the day when Mattheia was to go to school for the first time.
The place his parents selected was none else than Nine's alma mater, Black Lotus. While the choice was quite smart, given the school's legendary past, they chose a house in Crimson Rose District, which - as the name suggests - was affiliated with Crimson Rose School.
The naming of the schools within the cities was connected to specific flowers, where Crimson Rose and Black Lotus were located in north-eastern block of the city, while other blocks had two schools each, for total of eight schools across the capital. Aside from this, there was also an elite White Camellia school, which would only accept students who proved themselves in any of the eight other schools - it could be treated as the ninth school of Testroria, but in practice it was like a higher instance to other eight.
Mattheia was already fourteen, meaning he had two more years until reaching the adulthood, and the current level of education he was on right now would be usually completed by reaching age of seventeen. Graduation from the current level was something majority of middle class would get with only the chosen group going for mastery level, reserved only for the best of the best from across the country - White Camellia was such a higher level school, affiliated with the White Tower, therefore receiving support from the mages, who were all considered an elite.
Carrera and Farah wished for their son to get the best possible education, even if the cost was equal to them either selling their land or Mattheia having different duties and no longer inheriting the place.
Of course, the boy was unaware of the plans his parents cam up with for him, so all he was focusing on now was getting the best possible results and returning to Copebell Understicks after graduation. Mattheia was not considering possibility of doing anything education-related past the graduation, and other arts he was trained at by his teachers were merely a bonus and means to help with taking over the family business.
Within the group living in the manor, only Nine was fully aware of plans prepared by Carrera and Farah, and continued guiding the boy towards a goal of being accepted to White Camellia or at least receiving the White Tower's support for magical studies.
It was not like, as Aukkleia of the Nine Magics, she could not provide him good enough teaching to reach a level of High Mage, but without having either White Camellia graduation or the Whit Tower's support, he could not hope to receive an official title.
The titles granted that way were lifelong, and kept by the receivers for their whole life regardless of their way of life - this meant that whether they were good citizens working for the society's welfare or criminals rebelling against the rules, and destroying internal stability of the country, they would be still called by their title.
That was also the very reason why Aukkleia of the Nine Magics still existed, while having really bad rumors around her. She had a number of enemies within the higher class society due to history of her master, and political fights from years prior, but this did not strip her down from the title and glory of being a renowned mage.
When discussing a matter of Mattheia's future, as Farah knew well about Nine's past, she was concerned if returning as Aukkleia of the Nine Magics would be a safe move both for her son and his teacher. However, Nine assured her this should not be an issue since reason for Aukkleia to leave the capital was not fear, but rather disappointment at how corrupt and two-faced many mages were, leading to her master Myrkram's death.
While Nine was acting unfazed for the most of the time, even in the presence of Livia the Dreadful, somehow the sight of Mattheia wearing the school robe put her in unusual mood - usually lively, Nine appeared melancholic.
"Nine, what's the matter?" the boy asked her once wearing the full robe and a hat, all black with a purple shine and accents of the same color "You appear to be sad."
The woman shook her head.
"Nothing of the sort" she declined, and started explaining to her student "The robe you are wearing is simply bringing back so many memories, that I can't help but remember the old times. when Myrkram was still alive."
"Myrkram? Who was he?"
"I've never mentioned that, right? Myrkram was the name of my master, mage who took me in. His full title was Myrkram the Sage of the Seven Paths."
Mattheia made an amazed face - whenever he heard these fancy titles, he was wondering about their origin, and obviously dreamed about receiving one like that sometime in future.
"What are the Seven Paths?" he asked that nearly automatically.
Nine smiled and pat his head.
"I will tell you on another occasion. For now, we need to go to your new school. We cannot have you be late on the first day."
"You surely took your time" Junie, who was already waiting outside as one of the escorts, commented on their arrival "Looking cool in your robe, lad." she raised both thumbs, smiling at Mattheia.
Next to Junie was Kashia, also wearing similar set of clothing, though adjusted to her figure, including the wings.
Originally, this was not planned, but with a request coming straight from lord Eukleis, she was admitted to school alongside Mattheia.
This was quite unusual event, given the Sky People longevity allowing them learn for years, and Kashia being only younger than Nine.
"I really wonder how the grounders' schools are" angel girl smiled "Shall we finally go?"
Everyone nodded, and the four of them walked towards the gate, where they met Catleia.
"I wish you a safe journey" the catgirl smiled at them, and handed some handmade jewelry to Mattheia and Kashia "Please accept these. Should you need help, or be in danger, think of me and I will come rushing to your aid."
"Is this some kind of charm?" angel girl asked after putting on a star-shaped pendant.
"You can think of it that way, sure" Catleia replied with a mischievous smile "Just don't overuse it or else I'm going to be angry."
"Don't worry, we won't need it" the boy told her, after putting on a bracelet "Though I must say it looks quite nice."
"Hehe, I've been always good with my hands."
With that, they went past the gate and started walking towards their destination.
It was not far away, about fifteen minutes walk from the manor. However, since it was located east from their household, it meant a high likelihood of meeting Crimson Rose School's students, and competition between them and Black Lotus was quite, so there were cases of students from two schools bumping heads or going on full throttle combat if students had skills to do that.
During their today's walk, they actually met several Rose students, wearing their crimson robes with flame accents. Some of them even looked as if they wanted to do something, but it was enough for Junie to just flex a bit in order to get those guys walk faster and flee.
"Don't overdo it, Junie" Nine poked her friend "We may be escorting those two, but we need to watch out so no one accuses us for something weird."
"Oh, c'mon, I was just stretching a tiny bit" Junie smiled and did a high kick so lightly it seemed to be something easy.
Looking at her goofing, Mattheia and Kashia started laughing.
Nine shook her head in disbelief.
"Really? It's about time you acted your age!" she said, and started walking faster.
"Nine, calm down, I'll do better next time!"
Remaining part of the route was a calm walk with no interesting events, and they reached the school gate in good mood.
The gate, with enormous black lotus made of metal, was wide open, and a number of students was walking in front of them towards the building made of stones of black and red colors.
"Okay, I guess it's time to go in" Mattheia took a deep breath, and went past the gate, followed by Kashia who was walking fully relaxed, smiling widely.
Nine and Junie let them walk in front, staying a couple of meters behind to have them in vicinity.
"So, did you see anything suspicious on the way?" Nine asked her friend as they were approaching the main entrance to the building.
"If we were to count those kids thinking of picking up a fight, nothing dangerous" Junie smiled as she said that "Not sure if you were hoping for something, but it was literally nothing. I mean that in terms of auras I felt on the way, though I cannot tell if someone is good enough to conceal their presence."
"I'd like for this to be the case all the time."
They walked a several more steps, when someone talked to them:
"Aukkleia of the Nine Magics, I cannot believe you graced us with your presence."
A tall man wearing black robe with big purple markings of a teacher was looking at Nine - he definitely had a strong build, but it seemed to be more of a leftover from his prime, as considerable belly shape could be seen on the robe's shape.
"Are you saying that for real or jesting, Ricaud?" Nine looked at him, squinting her eyes.
"Oh, don't be so cold to me, Kleia" he was now smiling widely "I'm simply glad to see you here. How many years was it? Twenty?"
"Based on the size of your belly, I would bet on over thirty."
Ricaud laughed out loud, scaring a group of girl students, to whom he just waved with a hand doing "shush" sound.
"Nine, would you mind telling us who is that old guy?" Mattheia asked, visibly jealous of the guy who seemed to know Nine.
"Mattheia, behave, he is one of the teachers in this school" Nine explained "He is someone back from my school times, Ricaud the Robust. He may be wearing a robe, so you would think he may have something to do with magic, but he is actually an expert weapon master."
"So he is not a martial artist?" Junie looked at her friend, surprised "Looking at his aura..."
"His main skill was related to weapon mastery, martial arts were secondary."
"Wow, such level for a skill considered secondary."
Ricaud was still smiling as he said:
"Oh, c'mon, stop it, you're gonna make me blush. Though, Kleia, why did that kid call you Nine? Did you cut your name or something? I told you that Aukkleia is a good name."
It was the first time in his life, when Mattheia saw his main teacher looking embarassed.
"Don't say it like that, Ricaud. After master Myrkram died, I needed some time to recover, and being recognized everywhere was not helping me. Over time, I grew used to be called Nine."
The man nodded.
"I get you. I also heard these stupid rumors about you. Don't worry though. Now that you are back, you can go back to the way things were. A lot of time passed, things changed."
Nine sighed.
"Maybe the day will come when I get back to being Aukkleia, but we have more important job to do now."
"So you turned yourself in a private teacher?" Ricaud looked really curious "You are lucky that she agreed to take care of you." he addressed the young lad here.
"I'm well aware." Mattheia gave him a short reply.
"I'll be expecting great things from you, boy. Now, if you excuse me, I need to do my rounds."
He went away, and Nine rushed Mattheia and Kashia to go inside.