Chapter 24: Who Do You Think Will Win?

𝐎𝑽𝐥xt.𝐂𝗈𝚖

“… Wow.”

This was the first time that Ethan had seen a library as big as the library in the Academy. But, he wasn’t actually amazed at the size of the library, but the books inside the library.

The books were actually flying, and acting like birds. The students that were in the library, would just raise their wands high in the air, and the books that they wanted would fly to them automatically.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, Ethan.” Nicole smirked as she raised her own wand and waved it in the air.

A moment later, dozens of books flew in her direction and merged together forming a projection similar to a 98 inch Flat Screen T.V.

The projection showed the Eastshire Region and all the landmarks, and popular attractions in it.

The beautiful lady with long pink hair then pointed at Brynhildr Academy, zooming in on its location.

“Tadah!” Nicole made a gesture as she presented the complete map of Brynhildr Academy, with all the landmarks available. “Isn’t it great?”

The pink-haired lady then tapped the location of the Great Eagle Forest, which was the forest on the outskirts of the Academy grounds that many wild beasts call their home.

Several of the creatures that lived inside the forest appeared in the projection, making Ethan and Chloe look at it with wonder.

“Lovely,” Chloe commented. “But, why is there no sound?

She had noticed that although the pictures were showing animals as they moved in the wild, she wasn’t able to hear their roars, growls, shrieks, and chirping.

“That’s because, this is the library,” Nicole said as she pressed a finger over her lip. “All the books are in silent mode. If you want to hear the sounds, you can just turn it on using magic. But, do it inside your room, and not in the library, okay?”

Nicole winked at Ethan, which made the blue-haired boy sigh internally.

‘Unfortunately, I can’t use this method because I can’t use magic,’ Ethan thought. ‘But, it’s good to know that I don’t need to spend a lot of time looking for books. I can just ask the librarian to call them for me.’

Several minutes later, the three teenagers continued their exploration.

After going to the library, they went to the gardens of the Academy where the flowers were in full bloom all year round. Several little Fairies, that had butterfly wings, were taking care of the flowers, which made Chloe’s eye sparkle.

These fairies were only a hand tall, and their beautiful appearances could easily captivate those who saw them.

“Fairies! This is the first time I’ve seen Fairies,” Chloe said in awe as she approached one of the Fairies that was sitting on top of a red rose. “You’re so pretty…”

“And you look ugly,” the Fairy replied. “Stupid B*tch!”

“… Excuse me?” Chloe blinked because she thought that she had just had a hallucination after talking to the Fairy.

“Wow! You’re so pretty!” the Fairy said with a smile. “Do you have candies?”

“Sorry, I don’t have candies with me.”

“Then what are you doing here? Scram, Ugly!”

The Fairy then blew something on the palm of her hand, creating a pollen cloud that hit Chloe’s face making her sneeze repeatedly.

“Hahaha! Serves you right!” The naughty Fairy laughed as she flew around Chloe hurling insults at her. “When you want to talk to Fairies, you must give us something sweet! Otherwise, you are in for a nasty treat!”

Chloe was very tempted to shoot a Fire Bolt at the Fairy for playing a prank on her, but before she could do that, Ethan made his move and called out to the naughty, red-haired Fairy who was about to cast another sneezing spell on Chloe.

“I have candies with me,” Ethan said as he presented several candies wrapped in colorful wrappers on his hand. “Take as many as you like.”

“Wow! Thank you!” The Fairy immediately took one of the candies, which was nearly half her size. “I like you! What’s your name, Handsome?”

“Ethan.”

“Nice to meet you, Ethan! My name is Ruby. Can I share the rest of the candies to my friends?”

Ethan nodded with a smile. “Of course.”

Lily gave the blue-haired boy a very sweet smile before facing the garden.

“Girls! We have some candies here!” Ruby shouted. “Come and get it before it’s gone!”

Dozens of Fairies stopped what they were doing and immediately flew towards the blue-haired boy like a swarm of bees.

“You have candies?”

“Got any chocolates?”

“I don’t like sour candies. I only eat sweet ones!”

“Can I have two?”

The candies in Ethan’s hands immediately disappeared, so he had no choice but to take out more candies from his storage ring. The storage ring that he received as a prize didn’t require any magic to activate.

According to the Headmaster, Professor Rinehart, the gem embedded on its center was made from the highest-grade Beast Core that was taken from the heart of a Blue Dragon.

This meant that it had enough magical power to light up the entire academy for fifty years, and would still have power to spare.

When all the Fairies had a candy each, they all said their thanks and returned to their duty of maintaining the garden. However, before they left, all of them said that Ethan could come and visit them anytime, on the condition that he would bring them something sweet to eat.

“I’ll never look at Fairies the same way again,” Chloe muttered. “They’re nasty little buggers.”

Nicole giggled after hearing Chloe’s words.

“Fairies are natural pranksters,” Nicole commented. “It is very rare for them to get along with other races. They also have a peculiar ability to know which people are good or bad. They especially hate those who are mean to little children, and will not hesitate to use their own magic to punish them if need be.

“They also like to hold grudges, and will often call for backup to get revenge on those who wronged them. There is even a saying in the Magical World. You are better off offending a Dwarf, than offending a Fairy.”

Nicole then glanced at the blue-haired boy who was walking by her side with a smile.

“The Fairies wouldn’t have approached you if you were a bad person, Ethan,” Nicole stated. “It seems that you got the Fairy’s Stamp of Approval.”

Chloe pouted. “Does that mean that I’m a bad person because the Fairy attacked me?”

“Of course not,” Nicole giggled. “If you were really a bad person, that Fairy would not have used a sneezing spell on you. They would have immediately unleashed wind blades that can easily cut a bamboo tree in half. Unlike us, they don’t need to use wands to cast magic. They can do it just by thinking or waving their hands.”

After leaving the Gardens, the three continued to explore the Academy until they arrived at the training grounds where Wizards and Witches practiced their offensive magic on test dummies.

There was also an arena on the far right side of the training ground, which Nicole explained to be the place where magical duels took place.

Currently, there was a crowd gathering at the arena, which meant that a magical duel was taking place.

“It seems that Langston is up to his old tricks again,” Nicole frowned after seeing the handsome wizard with short blonde hair and blue eyes standing in the arena. “Now, just who is his opponent this time?”

Nicole shifted her gaze to a lady with long red hair, who had a scowl on her face.

“He’s facing off against Garnet?” the corner of Nicole’s lips rose up to a smile because she recognized who the red-haired lady was. “Looks like we’re about to see something fun. Look closely, Ethan, Chloe, this is a fight that you should pay close attention to.”

Nicole had heard stories of the Second Year student from the Eques Manor, who specialized in Fire Magic.

Her control over her unique ability was so good, that she was given the moniker, Scarlet Witch, by everyone in the Academy due to how reactive her magic, and her temper were.

Ethan had never seen a magical duel before, so she listened to Nicole’s advice and paid attention to the two combatants that were about to hurl spells at each other.

Unknown to the students, two Professors were paying attention to the duel that was about to happen.

One of them was the beautiful professor that gave Ethan the Moulding Ball that he used during the Initiation Ceremony.

The other was a professor wearing knightley clothes, who oversaw everything that was happening in the Training Grounds.

“Who do you think will win?” the beautiful professor asked.

“I have no clue,” the Knightly Professor replied. “All I know is that this is the first duel that has happened inside the Academy since the new school term began. This year’s First Years are a rowdy lot.”

The beautiful professor laughed because she agreed with her acquaintance’s reply. She had indeed seen some promising First Years, and one of them was paying close attention to the match that was about to start.