"So what should I call you, your grace?" Cat asked as we entered the tall gilded gates of the academy.
"Pat would be fine," I told him.
"You can call me Cat!" he said with a bright smile. "It's short for Cathal which means mighty battle ruler! It's my grandpa's name!"
"Hmm..." I nodded. I was too busy looking at the surroundings, particularly the tall gates.
I felt a slight vibration as I passed beneath it, indicating that it was riddled with different charms and spells.
The front of the campus was a wide spacey field where tall pine trees line a wide road that could fit two grand carriages side by side.
We were currently walking with several other students. Perhaps the rest finally decided to enter the campus after the page announced the deadline at 4 pm.
My eyes wondered around some more and stopped at a back which looked quite familiar.
It was the blond I saw earlier on the road.
"I have eight older sisters," Cat continued in his introduction. "I'm the youngest, but all my older sisters were crying like little babies when the letter came to our house, telling me to report here in the Royal Mauve Academy. They say all of the men who come here are never the same when they come out. Something about being apprenticed to some Sodam guy... anyway, I'm here to look for my best friend Lycan who came here three years ago, my sisters said I must look for him and become his apprentice as soon as I arrive!"
"Hmm..."
We approached the main school building's arched doorway. It is a wide, three storey building of Romanesque architecture with two tall towers at either side, the right of which housed a clock on its top. Behind it, I could see the roofs of several other towers in the distance.
The Main entrance was wide enough to fit ten people side by side, and the shiny marble interior opened into a wide hall accented by the same gilded silver and gold design as the main gates.
I looked inside as a student by the entrance stopped the rest of us to check our identification cards.
"What's this?!" I heard laughter break inside the hall.
A group of students have surrounded a neophyte.
"What a pity, that this one's defective!"
I saw a big burn scarcovering half of the student's face as they pushed him aside. He quickly covered it with his hood.
"Go straight to your assigned room and stay there!" they mocked him. "Don't you dare show your ugly face in front of us again!"
There were several other people inside who stood in groups.
They were all looking at the blond student in front of me who now walked across the hall.
"So, this is Darius, Duke Ancyon's heir?" I heard someone say as snickering laughter filled the room.
"He's as beautiful as the rumors say..."
"I wonder who the lucky bastard is that gets him as an apprentice?" I heard another person say.
"Darius Everett Ancyon." A tall man with dark brown hair and a long nose called out to him.
"His highness, the first Prince Nigellus Vladimir Indicum V, welcomes you to the Royal Mauve Academy and invites you to his private residence."
The whole hall went silent.
"I am flattered," Dariusanswered in a clear voice, "but I am tired in my travels and wish to freshen myself and rest before I meet with him."
"I'm afraid, this isn't a request," the latter said with a sly smile on his face. "His majesty wants to see you. Now."
"Don't worry, I bet his majesty would be more than willing to freshen you up himself," I heard someone snicker.
"Why does he always get the good ones, isn't his harem full already?" another whispered froma side.
"I-I am not feeling well..." Dariusinsisted. "Please excuse me..."
He was about to move away, when the tall man he was talking to nodded at a group behind him.
Four muscular students made their way towards Dariuswho stepped back and touched the hilt of his sword.
"May I remind you that titles andhouses are left behind at the academy's gates," he told the men approaching him, "and that I have all the right to defend myself!"
But the four men just grinned and pulled out swords of their own.
"Just come willingly, Darius," the tall man with a long nose looked haughtily at the young lord. "You can tell his highness your complaints yourself."
"What's happening?" Cat asked from behind me.
"Damn... I had no idea the rumors about the first prince were real!"
"What rumors?" I asked a chubby, dark skinned young man who was mumbling behind us.
"They say all the beautiful men who enter this academy are dragged to the prince's harem," he whispered. "They are neverseen again, until his highness grows tired of them, or worst..."
"Or worst, what?" Cat asked, his big blue eyes open wide.
"Well..." the man continued, "all I heard was that a lot of nobles fear that their heirs would returnhome inside long wooden boxes..."
"Why would they travel inside wooden boxes?" Cat asked. "Wouldn't that be uncomfortable?"
"It means they return inside a coffin," I explained.
"...Oh..." Cat looked thoughtfully at the scene inside the hall.
Dariushad pulled out his sword and is currently fighting two of the four men who approached him.
I admit, he is quite skilled with the blade, but the four men were bigger and stronger, and a sudden parry from a third opponent sent his sword clattering to the marble floor."
"I'll never go with you!" Darius yelled as he ran towards a stairway, but the other students blocked his way, and soon, he was held by two large men and dragged out of the hall.
I saw his face then.
The Lilac eyes full of rage as he cursed his captors. The thin red lips snarling at the students who blocked his way.
I can see why the crown prince wanted him.
But a harem?
"Next."
I almost forgot that I was next in line.
I went closer to the man holding a list and pulled Cat by my side.
"ID please."
"Give me your ID as well," I whispered to Cat.
He handed me his card without complaint.
"Patrickand Felix Cathan," I said as I handed them over.
"Here's your room assignment." The person handed me back my ID. "You will be in room 328 with your friend, go towards the hallway and exit to the left to get to the east dormitories."
He looked up from the bunch of paper he held and looked at Cat who was still silent beside me.
"Hey, you'rekinda cute," he said with a dirty grin.
"Thank you, we shall be going now," I said as I took back the ID's and pulled Cat after me.
"Cat, for now, I need you to stay quiet, okay?" I told him.
Cat looked pale and simply nodded.
I placed an arm over his shoulder and hid him beneath my cloak, chanting a short prayer as I did, thankful that the other students were still busy watching Darius trying to escape.
"Now, who have we got here?"
Two men approached us.
"This one better be good, I haven't chosen an apprentice all day!" his companion said while three others came closer.
"This one's pretty tall. Is he from a knight's family?"
"Hey, you," called the first one. "Take your hood off."
I raised my left arm and took off my hood.
There was an audible gasp across the room.
"What in heaven's name happened to your face?!" asked one of the men.
"Is he still alive? Perhaps I should practice my skill with the holy sword to rid us of this undead imp?" someone said which made the whole hall break into laughter.
I, myself, smiled at their joke.
"Oh, is that unnaturally long crack on your face supposed to be a smile?" they mocked me.
"But look at his purple eyes..." one of them exclaimed. "It's the clearest purple I have ever seen..."
"You, what house do you come from?" they asked me.
"I'm sorry, but Prof. Laurel Novil told me to leave my family's name behind the gilded gates, as well as my title."
The room went silent for a moment at the mention of the professor's name.
Is he a well known instructor here, perhaps?
The men gave me a final frown before turning away.
"So, who wants this walking corpse as their apprentice?" Again, the hall was filled with laughter.
"Oh, the next one's a pig! Aren't there any other good neophytes left?" complained the rest.
I was glad that they easily lost interest in me.
I quickly made my way towards thehallway. I found the exit at the end as I turned left, and easily found theEast Dormitory.
It was a long four-storey building with arched windows. Several doors lined three halls on every floor, with each floor containing 30 rooms.
It took me a while to find room 328 which was near the end of the third hall on the third floor. As soon as I entered, I took my arm off Cat and looked at him closely.
"Are you feeling okay?" I asked, since he's been shaking for quite a while now.
"Much better than earlier," he replied, teary eyed," I can't believe they didn't notice me under your cloak!"
"I guess they were so entertained by my appearance that they failed to look down to notice your feet," I said with a small laugh.
A smile finally came back to Cat's youthful face.
"I-I guess so," he said, his eyes turning bright again. "So, is this going to be our room from now on?"
We checked out our quarters.
The door opened to one end the room, to the rightwere the foot of four beds with pull out drawers underneath, lined against the wall. Woodendesks and a simple chair separated each bed. At thefar end of the room were two tallarched windows covered by thick drapes.
"This is quite nice," I said as I surveyed the place.
"I get the window bed!" Cat declared.
I was about to chose the one nearest the door, when we were interrupted by a knock.
I placed my cloak over Cat once more and called out. "You may enter."
"Hello," a dark chubby face appeared when the door opened, and the man behind us at the queue entered the room. "You must be my room mate," his eyes disappeared when he smiled. "My name is Elliot,I guess we're stuck together from now on."
"Oh, another room mate!" Cat cried out, throwing my cloak over his head.
"Oh, you're the two kids before me in the line at the main entrance!"
"My name's Cat, and this is Patrick! You can call him Pat!"
"Hello," he extended a hand at us which Cat shook enthusiastically. "You can call me Elliot, it's nice to meet you—"
His words were cut short when I took off my cloak.
Cat stared at me as well.
"Are you sure you're just tired from your travel, Pat?" Cat asked me.
"My Gods! Are you perhaps suffering from some incurable disease!?" asked Elliot. "I have seen people in the slums as thin as you when my father brought me to one of his business ventures in the far-west, they say they were suffering from an epidemic and were half dead!"
"Ah, no, I'm just naturally slim..." I reasoned out as I flexed my knobby arms, trying to show off my non-existent biceps.
"This won't do!" Elliot exclaimed. "Have you had lunch yet? Tea? Dinner?" he continued as he hauled his big bag to the bed nearest to the door. "It's a good thing I brought some food from home! Mother insisted that I brought the biggest bag since we're only allowed to carry one, and told the servants to cook all my favorite snacks to bring with me."
He then took out a small red pouch embroidered with golden grape vines.
It looked empty, but Cat and I were surprised when he placed an arm inside it and pulled out a large covered platter with gold trimmings!
"Is that a dimensional pouch?" I asked him.
"Yup! It can contain up to a hundred pieces of 300 different items, Father bought it from the Magnificat kingdomin the westwhere the great sages come from," he said proudly. "We may hail from a knight family, but my father and his father before him have all been successful merchants in this Empire!"
He opened the container, and at once, the room was filled with the scent of newly baked meat pie. It smelled so heavenly that I couldn't stop myself from salivating!
"That smells so good!" Cat drooled.
"There's more!" Elliot took out one platter after another. "And the best thing is, these enchanted plates can keep the food as fresh as the first time you covered it!"
"Ohh... it tastes so good!" said Cat who is now taking another chunk off the meat pie he held.
"Oh, where are our manners!"
Elliot took out some clean dishes and knives and forks next.
"I thank you for the food then."
My stomach grumbled before I could shove a mouthful of pie inside my mouth. I have just realized that I haven't eaten anything since yesterday's dinner in the small inn the coachman and I spent the night in.
Elliot laughed beside me.
"I have never heard someone's tummy grumble so loudly! Perhaps the reason why you're so thin is because you always forget to eat your meals."
I had nothing to refute what he said.
"What? Why would you miss your meals?" Cat asked when I kept silent.
"Well, I have always been busy doing... other things," I replied with my mouth full.
"Woah, you mean to say, you actually miss your meals?!" Elliot asked in disbelief.
"Don't your servants bring you food when it's eating time?" Cat asked again.
"Now, Cat, not every noble family has the privilege of having servants in their home," Elliot said in a low voice.
"But Patrick is the emperor's great grandpa! It's impossible that they don't have servants at home!"
"He's what?" Elliot asked, confused.
"Well, we do have servants at home," I explained, "but since I'm always lost in the library, the servants have long given up looking for me..."
"Just how big is your family's library?!" Cat asked wide-eyed.
"...and, I can't help it, since I am the first born after all," I added.
"Ah..." Elliot looked at me sadly. "So, your family is also one of those..."
I smiled at him in reply.
"What? What is it?" Cat looked at us both.
"There are some noble houses who treat their first born sons as sacrificial lambs," Elliot explained. "They raise them for the sake of sending them to this academy, and train their second born as the main heir."
"What? Why would they do that?"
"It is because a lot of children who enter this academy never come back home again," I replied.
"That's why most families decide that it isn't worth the trouble to raise their first born as an heir, they don't even bother to get to know them well, thinking that they would probably lose them anyway..."
"You mean... they all die?" Cat looked pale again.
"Not all of them," I said, touching his shoulder lightly. "A large percentage leave their houses and head out to the empire to serve the Emperor."
"W-well, if I were treated badly in my family, I would probably do the same!" Cat said teary eyed. "I-is that the reason why you look that way?" he asked me.
"I bet you were treated as an outsider and was only given scraps to keep you alive!" said Elliot with a concerned frown.
"Ah," I smiled at my two room mates, "this is actually more of my fault, since I often lose track of time when I'm reading," I assured them. "Though, I was also quite sickly as a child," I added as an after thought. "My parents used to worry that I might die early and force my younger brother to take my place as the empire's 'sacrifice'."
I gave a little laugh, but my two companions simply looked at me in horror.
"I can't believe there are parents that evil in the empire!"
Obviously, Cat has a lot of things he does not know of.
"Do not worry!" Elliot suddenly stood up, his plump tummy jiggling as he did. "I, Esox Elliot Lucius III, second son and heir of Sir Elliot Lucius, from his highness' order of Mauve knights, do hereby swear that I will not stop until I feed you back to health!"
"You're a second son?" Cat asked him with his head tilted to a side.
"My twin brother died in an accident last summer when he fell off the cliff near our home, thus I am now here to take his place!" he exclaimed, as if he was proud of the misfortune.
"Oh, I am the youngest in our family," said Cat. "I have eight older sisters before me!"
The two looked at me expectantly.
"I am the eldest of four brothers," I told them. "We have two younger sisters as well."
"Oh, I have three younger sisters myself," Elliot added as he handed me a pastry from another covered platter.
We continued talking as we ate.
It was the longest conversation I had ever had that I could remember, and the most people I had the privilege to eat with.
I knew going to academy would be the best.