Despite its interesting start, the rest of the dinner was pretty uneventful. After Sheila had announced her as the savior, there were a large number of people murmuring in the hall. It eventually died down quickly as they feared they would get in trouble for talking.
The rules here are pretty harsh, she thought to herself.
Teachers left the hall first, and since she had come in with the them and sat with them, she left too with them. She had missed another opportunity to get to know the others. She could have spoken to them in the dormitory, but she was already tired. There was always tomorrow.
***
By the time she left her room in the morning, all the others had gone to the dining hall. She had completely messed up the timing. Maybe fate was preventing their meeting.
She eventually learned from the matrons that students usually left the dorm earlier than they were supposed to. Layla sighed, it would take some time for her to get used to that.
This time the matrons didn't ask any questions, Layla wasn't sure if they already knew who she really was or if they had been warned not to ask. The second option seemed more plausible; if their head had any intention to tell them, they would have been told already. The students couldn't have told them - Sheila had given a strict warning forbidding that and she doubted the students would break it.
Layla arrived at the hall just before the teachers came in. Again, it seemed like she wouldn't be able to speak to her classmates.
This time she was sitting with them. Her classmates consisted of four boys and three girls. The first class only had five students, three boys and two girls. There were four teachers there, Sheila excluded. The fourth teacher was absent the other night and today even Sheila was absent.
After breakfast, she finally got a chance to speak with the others. The prince's name was Harry. She knew his name but subconsciously referred to him as the Prince.
The others were Nova, Neon, Claudine, Claud, Thomas, and Amber.
Nova had pink hair and purple eyes, Neon had blue hair and eyes, Claudine had purple hair and pink eyes, Claud had red hair and eyes, Thomas had green hair and eyes, and Amber had orange hair and eyes.
Layla repeated their names several times in her head so she wouldn't forget. If she had a book, she would have written them down.
Layla recognized Claudine and Claud. They had attended the same school once, and had met at parties and medical visits. They weren't really close then, so it didn't matter.
The field where they were having their first class, martial arts, was very close to the dining hall. All their classrooms, dorms and the dining hall were all in one place that was unofficially called the School Zone.
Despite its name, the Academy wasn't only responsible for teaching mages. It was responsible for handling and dealing with other issues concerning mages. It was a city for mages.
They finally arrived the location of the class. It was a spacious field paved with stone. There was a section dedicated to weapons ranging from swords, to pole arms, arrows, shields, and types of weapons Layla couldn't recognize. Another section was dedicated for target practice. Other than that, the field was bare.
Soon enough, the teacher arrived. He was one of the men who accompanied Sheila that night. He had short blue hair and blue eyes, and introduced himself as Robert.
"This is your first time in class , so I want to see how you'll perform as it will help me guide you in class. Have you ever engaged in any form of combat training? "
"Yes, I've trained in swordsmanship."
Robert nodded inwardly. He had been expecting that answer. It wasn't uncommon for nobility to train in swordsmanship.
But, being nobility wasn't the only reason she trained. In war, medics were invaluable and they needed some sort of combat experience.
Harry handed a sword from the weapon's section. A small bamboo was placed on an elevated podium. She adjusted her stance as she prepared to cut it.
In one strike, she cut the bamboo in half. The cut was almost clean. She was out of practice, so that was to be expected.
Maybe I shouldn't have skipped practice.
She turned to the teacher to hear his evaluation. He was wearing a smile.
"You are pretty good already, so we don't have to worry too much. We'll just have to touch up a few things."
Layla nodded inwardly. Before the classes began, she had already guessed how she would do. She was expecting to be good in combat training because she had learned swordsmanship. For general studies, she had a good education, so she was expecting to do well there too. The only problem there was that the guide had mentioned that it would include magic. She knew nothing about magic, so she was not expecting to be very good there. The last was potion studies. That was the worst as it was entirely related to magic.
Just as Layla had predicted, all her classes had gone the same way she expected.
But she couldn't remain clueless about magic forever. Especially since her teacher seemed uninterested in helping her personally. Well, she had been told Sheila would take care of her, but no one had reached out to her yet. And it wasn't like she could just go and demand to meet her.
Her last option was to seek help from her classmates. They had advised to go to the library, and now Nova was accompanying her there.
According to Nova, the library was the only one in the entire Academy and had been built near the School Zone for obvious reasons. The library was built like most of the buildings in the Academy. It was large and lined with tall rows of books. There were few non mages and adults present there.
She sat down as Nova placed the book she had picked on the table. Time to understand magic.