"As you learned in your history classes, and I'm sure you've been paying attention to them," Madam Serene gave Kyra a knowing look while the latter just scribbled on her notes pretending to work, "In this world there are 5 great races.
"There are Elves, Dwarves, Giants, Beastmen, and Humans. What a lot of teachers, and even the Academy, fail to mention, is that their is technically a 6th race, one that has been extinct for a very long time."
I knew where she was going with this, but Kyra didn't. She was scratching her head with the feathery end of the quill in an attempt to remember but she had slept through most of Mr. Pelono's lecture anyways.
Madam Serene sighed in defeat, knowing it was hard to get every child to focus when it came to topics like history. It was much more enjoyable to learn about something like magic that you could directly use and 'play' with in a sense.
I personally enjoyed learning history but I understood the kid.
"Lady Kyra, I ask that you make sure you focus on your other lessons as well, and not just magic. It may not seem like it, but history will often show us the evolution of magic throughout the ages. Some magics that we know today were not known hundreds to thousands of years ago, and even every year, we are learning new ways to create magic."
"Yes Madam Serene." Kyra pouted a little but didn't argue, knowing she was in the wrong.
"To be brief since you need a refresher, each race has their own specialties, whether it be in magic, technology, or something else. This also applies to Mana and Magic. Roughly, each of these Great Races are given an element that represents them.
"These elements are just general for their populations, but nowadays there are many people of each race that can use multiple forms of magic. Anyways, you could roughly think of Elves as Wind magic, Dwarves as Fire magic, Giants as Earth magic, Beastmen as Water magic, and us Humans are sometimes considered to be Light magic, since we can use most forms of magic.
"When someone is able to use Light or Dark magic, they are often able to use the other four main elements as well. Back on topic, what's the final race you may ask? That is the extinct Demon race."
Kyra seemed a bit fearful as Madam Serene's gaze was notably darker. From the history lesson and some knowledge I seemed to already possess through stories, I knew that Demons were not the nicest creatures, going out of their way to try and consume the whole world at the whims of the Dark God.
"Demons, while they are said to be extinct, were the masters of Dark magic. Knowing Dark magic, they also knew many other forms of magic, able to utilize the four main elements, but more often than not using fire magic for its highly destructive power.
"Demons were dangerous, and back during the God's era, the human population was much smaller than it was now. On top of that, we are physically much weaker than Demons which allowed them to trample over the other Great races.
"Thanks to the Gods though, we were able to drive them back but since then, Dark magic is often seen in a negative light despite its many uses not just in fighting but also in daily life and even medicine.
"Anyways where was I taking this... oh yeah! All creatures in the world can use magic and that includes Monsters and Magical Beasts. The 5/6 Great Races could technically be considered Magical Beasts, since we are all living beings in this world, however due to our intellect, we are able to use a wider variety of mana and magic.
"Other Magical Beasts can generally use only one element, maybe two if they are lucky. Monsters are the same way, but they are called monsters because they can use Dark magic, and are seen as enemies regardless.
"I hope you remember that not all Monsters are bad, just like not all Magical Beasts are good. As you grow older and learn more about the world, you will see exceptions to everything you learn and you need to know how to correctly judge situations."
Madam Serene looked off into the distance like she was remembered something from her past before bouncing back.
"Now, all this talk about Magical Beasts brings us to our friend, Rollie." She smirked, making Kyra's mouth widen in surprise and look over to me.
'Don't tell me...' I had a bad feeling as she began talking again.
"Mr. Rollie here can use magic." Her words made Kyra bounce in her seat excitedly.
"Wait! Really?! Rollie can you use magic too?? I wanna see! I wanna see!" She patted my shell looking ready to climb on the table to grab me.
"While Rollie here can use magic, he would only be able to use one type of magic." Madam Serene tapped on the board to bring order back to the library, "For an Armored Raptor like himself, he most likely can only use Earth magic.
"It is not a very destructive type of magic, but it has a high versatility as defensive magic and can also be used to help disrupt enemies if used correctly. I doubt he could become proficient enough to do that, but he should be able to learn a simple yet important spell in a Sorcerer's tool kit, 'Protect'."
I was very excited to hear this. It sucked that it seemed I could only use one element, but Earth was a solid choice. Heh.
I would be able to protect myself it seems and hopefully I could learn to utilize it enough to even retaliate if it came down to it. With all the talk about monsters and magic beasts, it seemed like a pretty dangerous world out there, and that wasn't even mentioning the bad people in society who would use their strengths to harm.
And this 'Protect' spell, was this a certain monster collecting battle game or what? I hope I never hear the day when Kyra says, "Rollie! I choose you!" Ugh.
I had to give props to Madam Serene though, she knew her audience well. Kyra was ecstatic about this revelation to the point that she looked like she could survive another lecture from Mr. Pelono without falling asleep!
By "throwing me under the bus" so to speak, she was getting Kyra much more engaged in the medium of magic and hopefully her other studies as well.
"Its a bit late now, but for next week's lesson, why don't we begin learning the 'Protect' spell with Rollie?" She smiled as an eraser floated to the board and began wiping it.
"R-Really?!" Kyra's eyes practically burst out of her head, "Lets learn magic together Rollie! It'll be so much fun!"
She picked me up off the table and began spinning us around. I 'Kwoo'd' in excitement as well, since I was quite interested in this proposal. As a magical beast, I should be able to learn human magic right? I wasn't sure how much of a difference there was but I wouldn't know if I didn't try.
I had thought about trying out magic on my own ever since I first found out about it when I woke up. I hadn't had a chance to myself though and didn't know where to start really, so this lesson would help a lot.
It also seemed like it was the end of the weekdays, perhaps Friday? I wasn't sure if they used the same calendar system I knew or not. Regardless, I was pumped to join Kyra in her practical lessons.
With the magic lessons over, a maid came to grab the overly excited Kyra and got her dressed to say goodbye to her father and Eldest siblings who were prepped to leave. She wasn't super excited about getting dolled up again and having to stand near her estranged family members but she dealt with it.
Her happiness from earlier was enough to keep her going, and she was even willing to wave to Eradessa as they boarded the carriage and left with the knights. Unfortunately, the Mistress stayed behind at the mansion, all too happy to show her contempt for Kyra the moment the doors to the estate closed.
Kyra however, ignored her entirely and ran away to eat a quick lunch. She wasn't willing to let anything else ruin her mood thankfully and she was even able to survive her next history lesson with Mr. Pelono! The middle aged man was pleasantly surprised, which got himself excited about being able to talk to an audience who listened for once.
Over the next few days, Kyra's happy mood continued as she blabbed to the maids in her care about me doing magic with her. Her mood made several of the maids smile, especially Mary, but unfortunately she wasn't able to share that happiness with Herald.
The Head Butler had accompanied the Lord and his eldest children to the capital. I was unsure if this had to do with his punishment for letting Kyra hold me for his 'warm welcome' but it might be a while before we saw our favorite butler again.
Dreaming of thoughts on how to perform magic, the beginning of the next week quickly approached and Madam Serene's practical lesson with Kyra and I, was here.