"Is that..."
"I heard the Crown Prince wants to scout him into his cliche...."
"Isn't he known for being a little...mentally unwell though...?"
Passing by the students like usual, Vivillian ignored them as he made his way to the school's bookstore and trinket shop.
His objective today was to buy a secure sort of journal to write down stuff he may forget, he had been putting it off due to his own pride and confidence of memory, but now he was regretting his decision.
"What's he doing here...?"
"Doesn't he hang out at the library..."
Just by breaking his normal habit of going to library, there seemed to be a stir as Viv entered the bookstore.
"Excuse me." He walked up to the student store clerk, who was not at all paying attention, opting to read the newspaper at the front desk.
"A-Uh..?! H-Hello do you need anything...?" The wide eyed student not so discreetly eyed Vivillian up and down, recognizing him as the recent hot topic inside the magic department.
"Where are the privacy protected magic journals." Frowning at such blatant behavior, Viv let a dark expression coat his face.
"They should be located on the third floor, near the back area..." The store clerk replied quickly, after seeing his expression.
"..." Clicking his tongue, Vivillian left the counter without a thank you and headed straight toward the third floor.
"Do you think he's shopping for a gift for the Crown Prince...?"
"But the Crown Prince could buy this whole store if he wanted to..."
"It's about the gesture not the gift, obviously..."
He should also buy some earplugs as well.
Finally making his way to the third floor, Viv found the secluded corner that had a shelf full of various journals protected by magic.
They were cute trinkets mainly brought by girls wanting to keep secrets in diaries, and most were pink or cute frilled ones, catered towards the younger female audience.
However, there were some ones with greater magic protection, which could be brought at a higher price meant for more serious affairs.
His allowance for being a the top student was 3 gold coins a month, around 300 dollars total just for personal pleasure as the rest of his expenses were covered by the school.
For a noble normal child, 3 gold coins were spare change that they would throw to the streets, but Vivillian Ambrosia was different the spoiled and catered children of nobility.
Looking at the one gold coin left behind in his wallet, Viv felt slightly regretful for spending it on daily snacks and hot chocolate at the library.
Refocusing back to his task, Vivillian began digging through the old shelf that doesn't seem to have been touched much, many of the journals having dust on them.
A book in the corner of the shelf caught his eye, but after taking it out, he froze as he saw the extra frilly white and pink diary looking back at him as he held it.
At that moment, a voice couldn't hold in their laughter as it broke the silence.
"Pfft, I didn't know the scary book freak would be interested in such things."
Emerging from who knows where, Darvillion Darkheart made his entrance dressed in the typical black robes uniform, which suited him surprisingly well.
"..." Scanning the person before him, Viv made the quick decision to ignore him, as he placed the girly book back into the shelf.
"Searching for magical journals? Most of the ones here are easily breakable by any student specializing in magic." Darvillion spoke casually, leaning against the bookshelf while crossing his arms. "Why don't you ask me for any recommendations?"
Sighing, Viv felt like this guy wouldn't go away on his own. "Then what do you recommend."
"Why should I help you though, haha!" Snickering, Darvillion seemed to truly relish in the darkening expression on Vivillian's face.
"You were the one that suggested it, and I was humoring you." Viv's emerald eyes shone, as his voice was tinged in pity. "I wouldn't expect a dark arts practitioner to know well enough what to recommend anyways."
"..."
As the last words left Viv's mouth, the amused expression on Darvillion's expression instantly dropped.
His starry dark eyes shone dangerously as he looked at Viv.
"Oh, is a powerless, low mana discounted mage really trying to tick off a prodigy of the field of magic?"
A fake smile graced Darvillion's face, as he tilted his head.
Inwardly, Viv felt a feeling of satisfaction seeing the expression on Darvillion's face. One of his biggest peeves were people underestimating dark arts, or looking down on the Darkheart family because of their magic specialty.
"I would never. After all, I'm just stating something that I had read before in the library."
Viv shrugged. "It said that dark arts practitioners weren't really knowledgeable on other types of magic other than their own."
"Oh, how interesting. Mind I know what book that stated this?" Darvillion tapped his fingers impatiently.
"Hm, I seem to have forgotten the name. After all, I am a scary book freak, who has probably read one too many books to recall."
Hearing those last words, Darvillion began to laugh in disbelief, grasping his stomach as he looked at Viv with a crazed look in his eyes.
"You're just like that Prince bastard."
Immediately after saying this, Darvllion lunged forward and slammed Viv against the bookshelf, making Viv let out a wince as his head hit one of the shelves.
"Did you know that on the day you collapsed, it was I that brought you to the infirmary with my magic?" Speaking soft and eerily, Darvillion's glowed a dark purple as the area surrounding them began to grow darker.
This guy is casting a cloaking spell!
Viv frowned, as he scoffed.
"You think I didn't notice you creeping around in the corner?"
"..." The black haired boy froze, as a twisted grin slowly crept up to the corners of his mouth. "So you were able to notice me, and you still have the guts to speak like this."
Before Viv could reply, Darvillion's hand shot forward and gripped onto his chin with a strong force.
Listening up Viv's face, Darvillion stared at his features, as if studying an animal.
"Let go of me." Eyebrows furrowing, Viv felt indignant in this position, and his anger started to grow. The pain from hitting his head against the book shelf was beginning to ache more and more, and now his chin had been abruptly pinched by some kid around two decades younger than himself.
"And what are you going to do if I don't, you low mana lesser being?" Taking in Vivillian's facial features, Darvillion grinned. "You and the Prince may act the same, but the difference is I can bully one, but not the other. Watch your mouth if you don't want your little tongue cut off, even the Prince won't be able to heal you if more than 5 hours pass."
At that moment, Darvillion's gaze shifted as he froze.
Right next to Viv's head in the bookshelf, a noticeable sized sprout appeared from the inside the wood.
"Get off." Vivillian's eyes flickered with a quiet rage, as the sprout beside him began to grow rapidly under Darvillion's gaze.
"Ah, that's right. Your affinity is plants isn't it..." Darvillion let go of Viv's chin, as he instead snapped the small plant and uprooted it with his bare hands.
"...?" Viv stared at the random plant that had seemed to appear from nowhere, which was wiggling in Darvillion's hand.
"I never heard of a plant affinity able to grow something from within a dead peace of wood however..." His fist instantly tightened as he stopped the sprout from wiggling and growing anymore, it had grown from fingernail sized to the length of his palm in the matter of seconds, even when uprooted.
Looking at the bewildered Viv, Darvillion let out a hum.
"I'll let you off this time, you have given me something rather interesting to toy around with." Letting out a satisfied laugh, he snapped his fingers, and the ominous dark purple cloak that separated them from the outside world was lifted.
"Oh and..." Darvillion let out a cheeky grin. "I think this is the best magical journal suited for you."
Grabbing a journal from a random corner of the shelf, he threw it at Viv, who caught it sullenly.
"..." As Viv saw Darvillion leave, he didn't whether to dwell on the strange plant in Darvillion's hand, or the fact that he was threatened so harshly and then given a journal recommendation.
Was that my magic...?
Biting his lip, Viv tucked the journal under his arms. It was a relatively normal looking journal with a leather cover, but the lock on it was more intricate than the other girly diaries, and you could tell at a glance it was somewhat special.
Shaking his head, Viv waited for a few minutes before trailing out from the secluded corner and went to pay at the cashier.
"That will be 150 please."
"..." How expensive.
Without missing a beat, Vivillian expressionlessly took out a silver pocket watch and dialed a knob.
On the other side of the campus, Elva felt his pocket watch vibrate as he quickly opened it up, wanting to know what had prompted Viv to use the watch for the first time.
"I'm short 5 silver, can I borrow some from you."
Ah, so it was something like that huh...
—-
As Elva and Viv walked out together after buying the journal, Elva seemed to read the sullen expression on Viv's face.
"Did...something happen...?"
"...no." Viv lowered his eyes, holding the journal.
It was obvious to only Elva that Viv was lying, as his hand stretched forward, and ruffled Viv's hair.
"What are you doing?" A gruff voice sounded, ticked off with irritation, as Viv reached up to push Elva away.
"It's for calling me to run across campus for 5 silver coins."
"...Then I'm not paying you back if you touch my hair." Vivillian's eyes narrowed.
"Fine by me."
"..." Not wanting to deal with the headache, Viv thought silently to himself as they walked back to the dorms.
I don't even know how to cast magic, did the plant grow just by me being emotional...?
If Vivillian's hypothesis was correct, then it would be really dangerous if he wasn't able to keep his emotions in check.
He was lucky today because it just so happened to be a capture target specialized in magic, but what would have happened if it wasn't Darvliion next time?
What if the plant had continued to grow and Vivillian had no way to control it?
Such an annoying curse that's been placed upon him. Ever since he was little, it was sort of like this too.
At the well that day, many nights ago, the plants had bent their stems to try and grow closer to him. And even on the night Elva and Viv were running away from the destruction of their village, it were the plants that seemed to twist towards the children that ran past.
A shiver went up his spine as Viv wondered if this was normal with someone with an affinity to plants, but Darvillion said otherwise, and he's never heard of anyone who caused plants to bend towards them.
He had just finished one objective of his, and now multiple other mysterious lay before him to unravel. And not only that, he also had the Crown Prince to meet up with in a few days...
It was Elva that again, snapped him out of his daze as he led Viv back to the dorm.
"I still have things to do, so don't cause anymore trouble and just stay here." Elva commanded like a nagging mother, waving his finger.
"...Are you, concerned about me?"
Viv turned his head, looking directly at Elva. It was an absurd question to ask, their relationship was mutually benefiting, with Viv having an extra hand and Elva having a nicer place to stay. It was more a relationship of tolerance with one another, but...he couldn't help but ask after seeing Elva's behavior.
"Eurgh, what?"
Elva's face twisted in a stupefied sort of expression, as he raised an eyebrow. "If your mental state is bad and you don't score number one on the next written exam, then I'll get evicted from this sweet place."
"..."
"What?" Elva tilted his head.
"Screw you, and get out!"
With an eyebrow twitching, Viv angrily shouted and threw Elva out of the dorm.
What was I thinking, of course that's why Elva is helping me out to this extent...
Sitting on his bed, Viv laid on his knees.
He's just an npc after all, it doesn't really matter what he does...
Comforting himself with this thought, Viv slowly lay to rest.
..
As Elva walked back onto the field to make up for his missed training time, he looked around to make sure no one was watching, before rubbing his pink, flushed neck.
Was it that obvious...?