Magic Life in the Empire

More and more people cast their first spell; among them, Cedric and Myra both showed excellent results, and only a few people were unsuccessful.

One of the last students to be called was a cold-looking young man. "Finally it's my turn; I'll show you all how it's done." Apparently it was a son of some well-known mage, so he was filled with confidence.

He started constructing the magic circle like everyone had done before, but Cyril noticed that his spell looked different.

Almost immediately the professor shouted with a stern voice, "Stop this, what are you doing!" and tried to interrupt the attempt, but it was too late; the student had already gathered the surrounding mana, and the circle was complete.

The young man's face showed surprise that soon turned into fear as the spell exploded in a small fiery blast, and he was knocked down on the ground.

The professor came over quickly and extinguished the flames on his body.

It didn't take long before some staff members arrived and placed the student with a charred hand on the stretcher, taking him away.

The professor first told that the lesson was over before going away with the injured.

Everyone else was still standing in their place, talking about what happened. The majority agreed that this guy arrogantly thought he could try casting a more difficult spell.

From the looks of it, it was a fireball or something close to that. Looking around, Cyril was able to notice that fear was evident on the faces of some of his classmates.

"Hey Cyril, do you know the guy who got burned?" Cyril's thoughts were interrupted by none other than Myra, who was getting more and more friendly, much to Rhamn's dismay.

"I think his name was Leo Arken. Why?" Thankfully, Cyril remembered the names of his classmates.

"Arken... Isn't his mother a high-ranking mage in the Tower? I have a feeling she will not end this peacefully…" Her face was rather serious.

Seems like that student was a child of an important person; I wonder what the academy will do about this. "I say that guy got what he deserved. He was told to use a simple spell; why blame the Academy for his stupidity?"

Soon they left this place, discussing the events of this lesson; there were still more lessons today, and they couldn't relax just yet.

Their next lesson was math. Cyril never fully understood this subject, and he was not that happy to find out even here they were teaching this.

The professor for this lesson was an old man who looked like he was half a foot in a grave already; despite that, he spoke energetically and appeared to be a good teacher.

Cyril, with a complex expression, looked at all the letters and numbers on his copybook, and his brain started to get confused.

"I can help you if you want it. I think I am pretty good at this." Rhamn leaned in close to look at the same copybook; there was no confusion in her eyes.

What? You actually can understand this? What's the solution here then? After his initial surprise, Cyril was eager to give this a try.

He wrote down everything Rhamn said and looked at the result. It at least looked correct.

At this moment the professor called his name, probably noticing his distracted actions, and asked how would he begin to solve the given equation

Thinking this is a good opportunity. Cyril told 'his' solution, to which the old man was visibly overjoyed.

"Good, good. This was a hard one; very impressive you got that. As you all can see this..." he continued with the lesson afterward.

That's great; you are great. Doesn't that mean I don't have to waste time studying this cursed subject? Cyril felt like he was able to live without math for the rest of his life.

"Thank you, I would gladly help, but if you don't study... then how am I supposed to?" With a snicker, Rhamn broke Cyril's delusions.

Right... I shouldn't be too greedy; I'll be asking for your help in the future a lot. With this, Cyril felt that his condition was not so bad after all.

With her guidance, he was able to easily pass this lesson.

Outside of the classroom, Cyril remembered that he promised to hang out with Ed. Might as well see if we can do that now. It would be a good opportunity to ask him about that healer.

"What a good idea; we didn't see much of the shopping district yesterday." With Rhamn on board as usual, he went to search for his old friend.

...

"So where are we headed?" Finding Edmund didn't take long, and now they were on their way out of the Academy, discussing plans for the day.

"You were there yesterday; it's such a good place for parties; everything is near, and there are lots of fun people around." Looking at him, you could tell Edmund was incredibly excited.

"Alright, let's just not overdo it." Cyril didn't really share his enthusiasm. "Oh, it's fine; tomorrow is a free day." Someone else did.

They slowly made their way to the station, with Edmund behaving like an overly excited child, constantly moving and looking around.

This continued even when they were already seated in the manarail; Cyril was already getting annoyed by his theatrics.

"Calm down. What is up with you? It's not like it's your first time going somewhere." Finally he couldn't keep it in.

Hearing his reprimand, Edmund wasn't upset or hurt. He answered back in a lowered, almost whispering voice with something unrelated.

"Did you notice someone is following us? In the wagon behind, a woman wearing a green hat and jacket, Cyril certainly didn't expect to hear something like this.

While pretending to look out the window, he tried observing the doors leading to the other wagon and caught a glimpse of a figure fitting that description.

"How are you so sure they are following us? Maybe it's someone from the Academy. We are going to a popular street." Slowly turning back to face his friend, Cyril voiced his confusion.

"Please don't doubt my expertise when it comes to this. That person is not even that good at it; they were way too obvious." Edmund still had a smile on his face, looking as relaxed as usual.

"If you say so, and what are we going to do about it? How about confronting them?" He decided to trust his friend on this, who seemed to be familiar with such things.

"I would rather not make a scene here; let's deal with this when we reach our destination." So they decided to wait and see for now.

"He sure looks used to this. Does your friend often encounter stalkers? Is it someone after him?" Sitting in the neighboring seat, Rhamn mused.

I don't know; he never told me anything like that. "Some friend he is."

After patiently waiting for some time, they finally arrived at their destination, and Edmund turned to face Cyril. "Just follow my lead; it shouldn't be too hard."