As I said that all, three of them stared at me with gapped mouths. Elena was quick to compose herself and glared at me but she stopped, as if coming to a realization.
"Headmaster-"
"Both. Both of us don't need the benefits. In fact, I won't be your student if we both don't get what we want." I swiftly cut her off. I knew she would try to plaster me as a crazy man so I knew I had to throw her under the bus. Plus i couldn't let her go. She needed to suffer with me, plus maybe it'll be helpful to her if she experienced law of the jungle with me.
"Hahaha of course! I've never met-" the Headmaster was saying but she was cut off once again.
Elena who was staring daggers into me, quickly said, "I want a dorm with him!"
Maybe a little too quickly though. Her face was turning red and she became flustered, realization setting in from what she just said. Ms. Clare had a flabbergasted look while the Headmaster smirked at us.
"Wait no I don't-" I tried to stop it but I failed.
"GRANTED! HAHA, it's nice to see such a budding couple in this day and age. I think I could die happy now!" The Headmaster humorously said while having a face of pure joy.
'N-No.. you fools, she didn't want that because she liked me.. she wanted that to kill me.'
I quickly looked at Elena who had a devilish smirk on her face, it seemed her previous act of being flustered was merely that, an act.
'It seemed that it's too far gone. Before I'll die though, I'll take advantage of this while I can.'
"Ahem, due to.. some stuff that may happen while we're together, I also wish that our dorm, will be private and be of quality as well." I quickly added. It's not like I disliked meeting new people, I just found it bothersome now.
Ms. Clare who was already flabbergasted, suddenly flushed at the thoughts of me and Elena being alone, while the Headmaster looked at me with a strangely improving gaze. Elena on the other hand, truly looked flustered now as even her ears were red.
"Of course! In fact, you'll have your very own house to live in on this campus." The Headmaster declared.
I didn't really mind being alone with Elena, despite it having the possibility to "ruin" my experience at the bottom. I'm sure there were other rules besides the law of the jungle. In fact I'm pretty sure the law of the jungle is just an unspoken rule where everyone upholds. There would probably be a rule where there's no violence in dorms, besides it's not like I'll be inside of a house 24/7. It was a school so I already knew most of my time would be in class or doing whatever this place had to offer. Of course being alone with Elena is quite.. unfortunate. Although the Headmaster said my mind didn't fear, but I definitely feared her.
'Crazy demon..'
We continued going to the administration office as that was where our uniforms were, so at least we were going in the right direction. But I came to a realization that, what do I call the Headmaster, now that she's teaching us?
"Excuse me Headmaster, what do we call you now that you're teaching us?" I asked merely out of curiosity more than anything, I haven't learned even her name yet afterall.
"Oh dear, it seems I've forgotten even the basis of proper manners. My name is Burnvice Pygon, most students call me Headmaster, as you've been calling me but the professors here call me Headmaster Burnvice. And as for you two, just call me whatever you want, I don't mind." Burnvice turned around and faced us and said. Although it'd be funny to call her casually in front of other people, it's kinda weird as she's like quadruple my age.
"Ok teacher Burnvice." I said, calling her teacher seemingly appropriate to me. She looked at me approvingly and nodded her head while Elena seemed to agree with my choice of wording. Ms. Clare had back on her stoic face but I could tell she had enough surprises for today.
'To think I'd call the Headmaster, "teacher" while the other professors as "professor", people will surely be in a shock, right?'
"What about you two? I just now only realized I haven't caught your names." Headmaster Burnvice asked.
"My name is Elena, Teacher Burnvice I'll be in your care." She said with a slight bow.
"Grey." I said simply. Although it was kind of rude, I disliked being overly nice as it felt really fake.
We continued on walking until we were in front of a door labeled "uniform replacement". We walked entered the door and quickly realized that this place was a mess. There were opened crates everywhere and unopened one as well. There was also a person– a professor I'd assume sorting through the uniforms.
She looked to be of a stoic type of girl. She had brown hair, tied in a ponytail while her eyes were yellow. Her face was matured but still cute in a sense and her skin was tanned. She wore loose white t-shirt while also having black shorts on. Her casual wear definitely clued that she didn't take this job very seriously.
She stopped organizing the uniforms to look at us though and quickly bowed to the Headmaster.
"I need these two trial student uniforms." Burnvice ordered.
The professor widened her eyes but quickly moved her gaze. She finally laid their eyes on me and Elena. She had a calculative look on their faces and signaled both of us to come closer towards them. We walked until we stood only a couple of feet away from the professor while her eyes glowed a bright pink. She stared at us up and down for a uncomfortable amount of time before stopping, her eyes going back to normal as well.
"Yes Headmaster, they'll be ready in a few minutes." She said and quickly excused herself. She went towards the back where there was a door labeled "STAFF ONLY".
"Eh? That was a student? I totally thought she was a professor." I asked out of confusion.
"How would one be a professor just by merely organizing uniforms, you'd have to do better than!" Headmaster Burnvice said, answering my confusion.
Elena looked at me mockingly but I didn't pay her any mind as I knew I was stupid considering that I overlooked such simple and obvious clues.
A few minutes later, the girl came out with two pairs of clothing's. Each pair consisted of a upper half that served as a shirt, and a lower half, that served as pants. The shirt was gray in color and had blue and white highlights to it. There was a logo that probably represented the academy. It looked kind of like a bunch of circles but it was swerved to where it crossed multiple times and stood vertically. The symbol itself was white in coloring, and it was located at the right chest of the uniform. There was also wording that represented the rank and year the student was in, but considering ourselves being trial students, all it said was trial student underneath the symbol.
(AN: It kinda looks like the audi logo)
The upper part of my uniform had a gray base with blue and white horizontal stripes that covered the upper part of its arms, there were more stripes that were in the middle of the band of the stripes, it was in the front and the back as well as the sides. The main part of the shirt had small pockets on the lower sides of the shirt. There was a small pocket at the top, opposite of the logo. The pockets at the lower half went into the shirt like a jacket and the openings of the pocket were white. The top pocket though was closeable as it had a top that could connect it to a button and it was white as well but had a blue outline. The main part of the shirt had a sleek design and was completely gray in color. The collar of the shirt had a white and blue outline and that was when I realized something.
'Why is the collar so.. empty.'
"Um excuse me, I think there's something missing from my uniform." I said to the girl. She stared at it before quickly heading off to the room again and mere seconds later, she came back with two white shirts as well as a blue and white tie that stripped down diagonally.
She handed the them to me and Elena, wordlessly and stared at both of us, probably waiting for us to change.
"Is there a changing room?" Elena asked, obviously not going to change here.
The girl quickly gestured us to follow her and to the left of the staff door, there was a hallway, outside of my view because of the crates. Walking through I saw a door that was labeled for boys and quickly entered.
Inside it was just a standard changing room, with two wooden benches, lockers and a mirror.
I quickly took off my current clothings and wore the white shirt first and then did my best at tying the tie. The pants which I wore next, also had a sleek design. But instead of being gray in color, it was white and had two pockets at its side that dug in. There were also two pockets at the back as well. I quickly wore the outerwear of the white shirt and took a look in the mirror.
'Looks pretty damn good. The uniforms fine I guess.' Finishing checking the uniform out, I quickly got out of the room where I met Elena, who was also just leaving.
Although my uniform still looked good, Elena's uniform made it pale in comparison. She wore a blouse that had the same properties like my upperwear, minus the lower pockets. Her blouse dug into the inners of her pants which were the same as mine, just smaller in size and instead of the tie I had, she had a white and blue ribbon. Overall the uniform only complimented her looks.
She looked me up and down before quickly leaving, I followed from behind. Walking back to the previous room in silence, it made me wonder why she wasn't saying anything. Normally she'd give a snarky remark or something.
When we entered the room, Elena quickly presented herself, looking proud for some reason why I just stood there. The three of them looked at us with approving gazes while Headmaster Burnvice signaled us to come closer.
"Grey, Elena, me and Professor Clare have our hands filled for the time being, and we've decided to find you a proper tour while we're away. Luckily we so happen to have someone here." She explained while directing her hand towards the tanned student.
"Sup, Ashley, but people call me Ash. I'll take care of you two greenhorns." Ash said, introducing herself. It was the first time she spoke directly to us since we met her and her voice was quite carefree, which matched her carefree attire.
While Ash was introducing to us, Ms. Clare and Headmaster Burnvice disappeared into thin air. Ash seemed to notice our panicked looks and snorted. "Don't worry, I'm a senior here. I know this place like the back of my hand."
Ash gave us a amusing look before walking off, towards the exit. We followed after her after exchanging looks with ourselves. As we walked out of the hallway and back into the massive lobby, there were noticeably less people around. Probably due to classed starting, it was still around morning afterall.
"How much do you know?" Ash turned around and said.
"Nothing, we're orphans and mostly homeschooled." Elena explained to her.
Ash gave her a look of surprise before smirking. "You two are in a treat then. I'll show every main building while explaining to you some basic knowledge about this place."
We continued our walk until we were outside, but not the outside entrance, we were inside the academy. Which was more like a large town than a school. There were sidewalks and houses and people chatting as they walked. It was way more populated than I thought and I could see a large stadium far into the distance.
"Pygonrid has over a million students attending it, nearing the halfway mark to two million. Unlike normal schools where students have a schedule and go to those classes. We pride in our rules being free and loose. There's basically no rules as long as you don't overstep yourself, and have commonsense. We also pick our own classes, and can leave or enter whenever we want. There are numerous classes you can take, and normally we'd give you guys a map, but those aren't ready to be handed out yet as the next batch of students aren't coming until next month." Ash explained while we walked to a building.
The building was quite small. It was round in shape like half of a sphere and there was a door that had a cross, like an X. But the lines looked kind of weird as some parts were uneven and there was even a circular thing near the bottom. The point looked very sharp and the overall line looked like something you'd stab someone with.
Ash walked in while me and Elena looked at each other before also walking in. Inside was not what I expected though. Instead of the cramped space I expected from the small size, the inside was way larger. For instance, the outside building looked like a shack while the inside looked like a stadium. There was still a dome-like roof above us though.
"Wow.." Elena let out unwillingly. The place was completely made out of metal while there were people fighting in front of us. The numbered fewed and the people fought in pairs. They gave each other space while there was a "clang" spell whenever their weapons hit. Which looked quite similar to the crossed lines above the entrance.
"This is the swords training hall. People come here to train with each other. It's more like a spar though as many people here wish to just fight for the fun of it. Only people that take swordsmanship classes can enter this place, but considering how we have the Headmaster's blessing, I don't think we'll get in trouble.
"Swords? Is it those weapons they're swinging at each other?" I asked out of interest. I've always fought with my fists and never really thought of using a weapon, probably since I never had a weapon before.
Ash gave us a questioning look as if we were dumbasses but quickly remembered our origins. "Yeah, wanna give it a go? They're pretty fun to use."
As she said that two swords appeared in her hands while she walked up to me and handed me one of them. The sword itself was heavy but not too heavy that I couldn't hold it with one hand. It was made out of mana metal, which is just mana ordered to copy the appearance and properties of metal, but I didn't know which metal it was.
I swung it around a bit, familiarizing myself with it, when I remembered that it looked sharp. Holding it with my hand, I rubbed the edges of it with my thumb, which led to it bleeding quite easily. It was sharp as hell.
Ash looked at me with a humorous gaze while Elena who was quite a few spaces away from me, as I was swinging the sword, gave me a weird look. I looked at Ash's sword and realized I was probably holding it wrong. I copied her grip in which allowed me to swing it better. I also tried stabbing the air but it felt kinda awkward.
Ash who was silently staring at me, changed her posture. Her sword was in front of her and was held with both hands. It was held at her waist and pointed upwards and forward while her right leg was out and her left leg was in. She looked ready to sprint at me and swing but she didn't, she simply waited and looked at me.
Knowing what she wanted, I stopped swinging my sword and looked at her while also trying my best to copy her pose. There was an awkward silence and as soon as I was about to change my stance, as I felt like my body was cramping up. She charged me. Although Headmaster Burnvice said my body couldn't keep up with my mind, there were only two instances of that, that I've experienced, and this would be the third one.
I followed her movement as if she was in slow motion but it made my eyes strain. By the time she was in front of me, I held up my sword with my right hand on its handle and my left hand on the blade, supporting it from the imminent attack. She had charged at me and jumped, with her sword still in hand. But that didn't happen. As if I was looking into a false future, by the time I realized everything that I thought that happened, didn't. A sword stopped at my eyes, just stopping before it touched me.
"W-What? How.. I swear you were–" I stumbled over my words at the experience I just had while backed away from the weapon in front of me.
"Pftt.. BAHAHAHAH, the look on your face was priceless kid! I bet you couldn't even follow me with your eyes, BAHAHAHA!" Ash said while laughing outloud. She was obviously enjoying my suffering. I looked to Elena who I would've thought had a mocking expression as well, but she actually looked at me with worry.
"A-Ah yeah, I didn't even notice you until it was too late. How'd you get so fast?" I asked, admitting my defeat.
"Obviously you wouldn't even notice me as you didn't even enhance your eyes, and I got this fast, due to one thing: Magic." Ash said, explaining my blunder.
I couldn't even learn from my mistakes though as I never tried to enhance my eyes. I've only enhanced my legs which was during the graveyard incident, and my hands, while learning magic for the very first time. To be completely honest, magic just felt so.. incomplete to me. It felt wrong and weird to use it. Maybe I'm just that naturally untalented or, maybe me being a Kairos successor had something to do with it.
While I was once again spacing out, a voice made me regain focus.
"Hey you, fight me."