* * *
Once admitted to the Pasadian School, contact with the outside world was nearly impossible until one became an official disciple; one could not even leave without a legitimate reason like a mission or a family meeting.
Furthermore, even a brief meeting with family was only possible with permission from above or by demonstrating appropriate merit.
Tragically, the only way to escape this place, if one were to violate the rules, was to give up the magical stage they had achieved and voluntarily destroy their Mana Core, leaving as an almost completely disabled person.
But how easy is it for a former mage to abandon their stage?
There would be countless disciples, like Dylan, who were insulted yet forced to remain in the school.
And it wasn’t as if the high-ranking school members would help.
This was not an academy that was kind to its students.
Anakin gulped and looked around.
She was observing the probationary disciples’ annex, the place where she would have to survive from now on.
Pasadian’s main building could only be used by official disciples, and the annex was the space for probationary disciples.
The annex, exclusively for probationary disciples, included the central hall, research labs, library, grand auditorium, arena, and a hall of corridors called the Nox Hall.
It was a place that was considered to have all the optimal conditions for learning magic.
“The Official Disciple Promotion Exam is held once every 100 days. Of course, you may be promoted faster if you achieve high scores before then or demonstrate your skills to catch the attention of the high-ranking disciples, but… that’s a rare occurrence.”
Lucien, who had been listening inattentively, smiled faintly and asked.
“Hey. The elder grandpas aren’t in Pasadian right now, are they?”
“…”
At his words, most of the 47th cohort, including Anakin, turned pale.
Even Dylan, who had maintained a poker face, looked around with an expression close to shock at Lucien’s remark.
“What are you saying…”
At that moment, Lute, who couldn’t stand it any longer, stepped forward.
“Shut up for a bit. The Elder is our teacher. Even if you are the Elder’s own grandson…”
“W-Wait a minute. The Elder’s own grandson?”
Dylan stuttered, asking again as if he had misheard something.
“Yes. That psycho… I mean, that person, Lucien, is Rapiter Filo-nim’s own grandson.”
“T-That…”
Lana, the blue-haired child, answered, crossing her arms.
Henry, who was next to her, also nodded and agreed with a serious face.
At her words, Dylan looked at Lucien.
However, whether he was completely in his own world or simply indifferent to others, he was calmly looking around the annex, even though everyone’s attention was on him.
“He’s clearly the type you can’t talk sense into, so don’t mind him.”
“Ah… Yes.”
Dylan quickly continued his explanation.
“There are a total of six classes per week. Four are theoretical classes, and practical training is held twice a week. You are free to do personal training otherwise. That’s all for the announcements… On the first day, you may freely look around the building. I will hand out the room keys, and you can rest there… My room is on the 5th floor, so if you have any other questions, please come find me.”
Dylan handed out the keys, bowed, and disappeared like the wind.
After he left, the colleagues who had lost their bearings just stared at each other blankly.
Perhaps because each person had such a strong individuality, it seemed understandable that Dylan would want to escape quickly.
“That rude noble bastard made it this far.”
In the meantime, Lute scowled, glaring at Hilde.
Hilde responded as if he had been waiting for it.
“I guess they’re also selecting people who are just strong and uneducated these days.”
Hilde and Lute, who had been rivals since the exam, seemed likely to continue fighting until they became official disciples…
“Then, I’ll be going now. I hope you all have a good day.”
Kaila offered a short greeting and went into her room first.
Since she wasn’t stepping in to stop the two of them now, it seemed she was the type to only interfere when it affected her.
“We’ll be going too. This one and I are friends.”
Lana and Henry, these two people had stuck together throughout the exam just like Anakin and Hilde, so it was easy to deduce they were close.
When Anakin waved and greeted them, they bowed and entered the dormitory.
As Hilde and Lute remained, exchanging aggressive glances, Lucien, who was much taller than Anakin, suddenly appeared and spoke to her with eyes full of curiosity.
“Hey. You seem to wear that robe all day long. Do you have a scar or something?”
Lucien.
He was the key figure they should be wary of, having committed murder in the examination hall.
Anakin answered with a composed expression.
“No.”
“It’s definitely an Omega scent. It seems like there’s some story behind it.”
Anakin frowned at Lucien’s upward curving lips and backed away.
“There’s nothing. Why are you curious?”
“Isn’t it biologically natural for an Alpha to be interested in an Omega?”
“…Not all Alphas act like you.”
“That’s true.”
Lucien shrugged and backed off.
Anakin, meanwhile, fiddled with the hem of her robe and thought.
She couldn’t live with the robe covering her head forever.
She would have to take it off during training or classes.
Hiding her face at Pasadian would be for today only.
Since Lucien had spoken to her, Anakin took the opportunity to ask him what she had been curious about.
“…Lucien. If you’re the Elder’s grandson, did you learn magic from a young age?”
She didn’t want to get close to him, the one who had killed a peer, but the more information she had, the better.
“Hmm. So that’s what you’re curious about, Anakin?”
Lucien showed a reluctant expression, then finally answered.
“That crazy old man, he must have gone senile, because he treated me like a lab rat and experimented on me with various things. There was even a time when I only ate cheese for about 40 days because the experiment results weren’t coming out properly.”
“…What?”
“What’s even more ridiculous is that he later boasted that he raised me. Are all adults like that?”
“…”
Could his words be true?
Anakin looked up at him with disbelieving eyes.
But Anakin’s intuition was telling her that what he was saying was the truth.
“Did you really live like that?”
“Yeah. Not a very fun story, is it?”
Lucien smiled nonchalantly and looked down at Anakin.
Seeing the look in his eyes, Anakin asked.
“Lucien, then why did you kill your opponent in the exam?”
“That was a mistake…”
“Everyone knows it wasn’t a mistake.”
Then Lucien gave a slight laugh, with a look that suggested he had been caught, and said.
“…Anyway, they said you die if you fail here. He said he took out loans for the application fee.”
At his words, Anakin said with a serious face.
“Even so, does that justify killing him? That’s murder.”
“Why is it murder?”
Lucien asked again as if he truly didn’t understand the reason.
“He had a face that was asking to be killed.”
At that, Anakin’s expression hardened, and she said.
“It’s an unjustified murder.”
Since this was a fantasy world, it was inevitable that murder happened frequently.
Lucien might also have grown up witnessing things worse than that under the Elder.
That’s why he might take murder for granted.
However… not receiving any punishment for killing a child his age was something that should not happen.
“Haa… Lucien. I’m tired, so I’ll go inside now. You should rest too.”
Anakin staggered toward the annex, genuinely tired.
She heard Lucien saying something behind her, but perhaps due to her exhaustion, she didn’t want to stop walking.
I need to build up my stamina first.
She felt that with this body, she wouldn’t be able to handle the school’s high-intensity classes.
As she entered the dormitory in a daze, went up the 4th-floor stairs, and walked down the corridor, Anakin suddenly realized she had taken the wrong turn.
Her room was on the 3rd floor… Had she been walking without thinking?
It was then that she heard voices conversing in the sparsely populated corridor.
When she got closer, she noticed that, unlike the other doors, this one had no doorknob and no room number written on it.
“Execute the plan like that this time.”
“Are we really going to sell them off?”
“They’re needed for the ritual, they say. My brother has also given his permission.”
At the suspicious conversation, Anakin held her breath and concealed her presence.
She couldn’t move from where she was standing, as she felt that even a single footstep would cause them to open the door and come out.
A suspicious conversation that anyone would know they shouldn’t overhear.
She was just looking for her room, but how did she end up overhearing such a secret conversation?
Sell them off? Ritual?
She didn’t know exactly what they meant, but it was clear they were up to no good.
“But Heron. There’s a rat here.”
“Oh, this floor is an off-limits area, so no one should come here… a gutsy fellow.”
She had concealed her presence, but she couldn’t hide the thumping of her heart.
What will happen if I’m discovered?
Will I die right here?
Her mind went completely blank.
Just as the other person’s presence was closing in, someone appeared from behind, covered Anakin’s mouth, and instantly hid at the end of the corridor.
“Mph…”
“Be quiet.”
A low baritone voice was heard from behind. And it was an Alpha…
“Hmm. Did I misread it? That can’t be.”
“Haha. Isn’t your magical sense just too good, and you mistook it for the sound of the wind?”
Fortunately, it seemed the worst-case scenario had been avoided.
The two went back inside the room.
As soon as they disappeared, Anakin tried to look at the face of the man who was completely pinning her down.
But with her mouth covered, it was not easy to move her face.
“…It’s been a while.”
Only then could Anakin properly hear his voice, pitch, and even his manner of speaking.
And the moment she heard it, her thought process stopped instantly.
Her heart pounded.
The name that came out of her mouth as if she were possessed.
“…Harca?”
* * *
