"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
"I apologize for Principal's smoking habi–"
"COUGH! COUGH!!"
"Principal can't calm down if he doesn't smoke. Once again I apologi–"
"COUGH! Fucking hell..."
Just a moment ago, I talked with the Principal, who turned out to be a damn smoking addict that even his room barely had breathable air left. I couldn't even clearly see his face or features.
So, after 15 minutes of some talk about what I can and can't do in the academy, I asked my leave because even my rather extraordinary constitution wasn't enough to stay long in that smoke-filled room.
And now, I got into a coughing fit.
'I feel like I lost a little bit of my lifespan with the smoke I inhaled for just 15 minutes…'
"COUGH! COUGH!!"
The Vice Principal, who wholeheartedly apologized to me several times in a row while I was coughing, began to tremble slightly but I couldn't care less.
She could have warned me about the Principal's smoking habit. At least I could prepare myself and hold my breath for some time, about ten minutes, to effectively reduce the damage to my body and mood caused by excessive smoke.
After all, coughing was not something I enjoyed. Who would even enjoy it?
Some time passed while I was coughing. My throat was parched and I needed something to wet my throat.
However, when I turned Vice Principal to ask for water, I couldn't find her. She must have gone somewhere else while I was struggling. In the end, she was still Vice Principal of Aurora Academy. It was to be expected that she had a lot of work. She wasn't someone with lots of free time. At least I assumed so.
'Damn... I don't like substituting real water with conjured one but...'
Blue Spiritual mana moved with my will and flowed from my Spirit Body to the physical realm. A series of formulas passed in my mind and a small, very basic magic circle manifested above my hand. The spiritual mana that was processed by the magic circle, became a ball of water and floated into my mouth.
Gulp.
My parched throat cooled down instantly and finally, I managed to take breaths easily.
"Oh, so you knew magic, Sir Caelum."
The Vice principal's voice came behind my back. She saw my use of magic, but strangely I couldn't sense her presence while she was right behind me.
In the hands of the Vice Principal was a cup of water, which she extended towards me.
'She is surprisingly used to the servants' job.'
"Thanks." I gave my appreciation to the Vice Principal and downed the water in one gulp.
"I didn't know Sir Caelum was a mage. That was such a perfect use of chantless magic." Vice Principal complimented.
"Mmhm."
I didn't answer but merely nodded.
Giving away information about myself to random strangers wasn't something I was fond of. In the first place, I wasn't even thinking of showing my magic to the vice principal, even the basic ones. But because of her strangely small presence, I couldn't detect her and carelessly used magic.
'How troublesome. Fortunately, the magic I showed isn't something important, or else I would have no choice other than to eliminate her.'
Luck was on the Vice principal's side. Her life might have ended early if she saw me using more powerful or unique magic than very common water-conjuring magic.
But now that I learned about her extremely faint presence, I could always be careful about her.
"Anyway, where is my room? I need some quiet time."
"It is not far away, Sir Caelum. If you don't mind, I can lead you there." The Vice principal bowed, her short brown hair covering her face, hiding her expression.
"You are a bit too subservient, aren't you Vice Principal? It doesn't befit your position. Just tell me the way, I can go myself."
'What a polite person. She is polite by nature, not because of her fear towards me.'
The Vice Principal's innate politeness moved my heart a little. 'I will try my best to not show my secrets to you, and if you still witness them, your death will be at least peaceful.'
The Vice Principal nodded at my word, oblivious to my thoughts about murdering her.
"Then I am going."
I turned my back to leave after the Vice Principal told me the way to my room that they prepared beforehand.
I expected them to put me into the professor dorms or something but I didn't expect them to put me into a damn students' dormitory.
'Is this arranged for me to easily watch over princes and princesses of other kingdoms?'
My room was located in the Royal Dormitory, which was reserved for truly high-ranking people.
The Royal Dormitory was in a "U" shape and separated into 3. Male students stay at the right, female students stay at the left, and lastly, people like me, who were sent here to do various things, stay in the middle section. Plus, the said rooms weren't different from average-sized houses. It contained a living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc.
Truly, in the academy everyone is equal.
I wasn't disappointed in the academy's unequalness, in the end, I knew how this world was working, and I wasn't even complaining. After all, I wasn't a commoner student with rebellious thoughts.
And, why would I complain? I was going to have a very spacious house-like room. I could always come to my room to slack off whenever I wanted.
Being privileged was the best. At least, it was better than being underprivileged.
Following through the ways that the Vice Principal told me, I arrived in front of a red building with golden decorations.
The corner of my lips lifted a little with the thought of getting some rest that I definitely deserved.
I made my way towards the door but in the halfway, my eyes caught something–no, someone.
Pure white hair that radiated slight light flowing to her back, bright golden eyes that were no different than a couple of miniature suns, fair porcelain skin, delicate complexion, ethereal and gentle, almost angelic atmosphere.
'She must be the Saintess Celeste of the Holy Empire.'
I immediately recognized the saintess from her appearance. Her beautiful appearance was rather impossible to miss.
This holy woman was dressed in a priestess robe and was sitting on dirt ground. She was leaning her back against a tree, reading a book in the shadow of the tree.
After observing her for a while, I went my way. There wasn't any reason to watch her more right now. She was just an ethereal beauty that was reading a book under the shadow of a tree.
****
After Caelum entered his room, the Saintess, Celeste, threw a look at Caelum's room and smiled gently.
She whispered something under her breath but her gentle voice wasn't loud, barely audible only to her but it was a soft and infinitely warm murmur.