Chapter 7
Knox dropped his gaze and even squeezed his eyes shut. If they couldn’t be friends, why was he holding Selly’s hands so tightly?
“I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“If you see me again… pretend you don’t know me.”
“…What?”
“You’ve never met me. Keep it a secret that I was here.”
“….”
“And even if I’m different from today… don’t get hurt. It’s not your fault.”
“Okay… but why do I have to do that?”
Knox lifted his head and opened his eyes.
“There’s no time to explain.”
People, startled by the airship landing on the lake, were rushing toward them.
“I have to disappear before I’m discovered.”
Behind the confused girl’s flame-colored hair, the twilight light glowed like a halo.
“I have to return before sunset.”
The moment Selly heard Knox mutter those fearful words like a whisper to himself, her heart dropped.
“Oh! I have to take my medicine before sunset too!”
If she didn’t, the full moon would rise.
Selly quickly pulled the nearly empty potion bottle from her bag and drank it down to the last drop. She grimaced at the bitterness. When she opened her eyes, the boy was gone.
What…?
He said they would definitely meet again, but couldn’t be friends?
As Selly tried to make sense of Knox’s mysterious words, a cliché line popped into her mind.
“I can’t be friends with you… because we’re going to become lovers! Ugh, that’s so cheesy! Is this a romance fantasy? Then am I the female lead?”
If he fell for someone who defeated enemies with potatoes… that was quite an unusual taste.
No. I’ll focus only on my studies.
Selly stepped off the airship and boldly set foot on the academy grounds.
By now, a crowd had gathered like a swarm of ants, their eyes wide as they stared at her. As she approached, the crowd parted like the Red Sea.
While everyone seemed to be watching her, Selly watched them in return.
Wow… this is really a magic school.
Men, women, young and old, every race wore long robes and wizard hats. Only now did it feel real.
While everyone stared at her like some strange creature, a strict-looking woman with triangular glasses and a clipboard called out, stopping her.
“New student?”
“Yes. Hello. Are you a teacher?”
“You made quite the entrance. I’m the dorm supervisor for the girls’ dormitory. What’s your name?”
“Selena… what was it again?”
Foreign names were hard. She still wasn’t used to the one on her admission letter. She pulled it from her pocket to answer fully.
“Laurelheart.”
At that moment, whispers began spreading through the crowd.
“What? Laurelheart?”
“That little kid?”
Why were they reacting like that?
Even the dorm supervisor, who had eyes that looked like a salaried office worker selling her soul, suddenly had a spark of surprise.
Staring at Selly with a mix of suspicion and awe, she asked:
“Which Laurelheart are you?”
“Huh?”
Selly asked, confused, and the suspicion in the teacher’s eyes intensified. She held out the clipboard.
“Place your fingerprint next to your name.”
When Selly touched it, glowing letters appeared:
Identity confirmed! Welcome to the dormitory!
“Hm… it’s really you.”
Still staring strangely at Selly, the supervisor waved her hand in the air.
Jingle!
A worn key appeared between them and floated in the air.
My room key! My first dormitory move-in in both lives!
Selly was eager to see her room. She was exhausted from traveling all night without sleep.
She reached for the key, but the supervisor flicked her finger and it floated just out of reach.
The supervisor gave Selly a stern look.
“New student, personal airships are not allowed to enter the Hungry Lake. You should have used the school boat, which runs hourly the day before the entrance ceremony.”
“The first letter never arrived, so I didn’t know.”
Even if it had been sent, if she hadn’t received it, it was as if it hadn’t come.
“And that isn’t my airship.”
The supervisor’s eyes widened at Selly’s next words.
“It belonged to the kidnappers who abducted me. Go ask them inside. Oh, but they’re currently unconscious from solanine poisoning, so they can’t answer. You might need a doctor. And the police too.”
While the supervisor stared blankly at the airship, Selly jumped and grabbed the floating key.
Breaking through the crowd, she reached the academy gates, where a black iron arch curved above, the golden letters greeting her:
Spellmore Academy
The name shimmered as if enchanted. Selly’s eyes sparkled too.
I’m finally a student of Spellmore!
She proudly stepped into the academy.
Looking up, the castle was enormous, its top now invisible no matter how far she tilted her head.
Beyond the vast square, the main gate loomed like a monstrous mouth, its height so great that only a dragon with spread wings could be discerned atop the colorful school emblem.
Selly crossed the square boldly and ran toward the gate—but froze.
It’s even more magnificent inside!
Statues, massive staircases, everything was imposing.
Amazing… it feels like a European castle tour.
Looking around, she finally noticed the symbols on the school emblem on the floor:
Fire. Air. Earth. Water.
The four elements of the world.
…But there were 118 elements discovered in my world before I died.
Well, this world must be different.
Suppressing her instinct to overanalyze, she looked at the flag below the marble emblem, which bore a motto:
Civilization begins and ends at Spellmore.
…Wow. Such arrogance.
But it seemed justified. Selly recalled a passage from a history book:
After the invention of magitech, the world advanced more in a single century than in the previous thousand years, transforming the lives of all races. Some scholars even claim it allowed the defeat of the Demon King who had long coveted the land.
Many magic schools existed, but Spellmore led the way in magitech.
Then maybe I’ll be on the frontier of civilization too.
Her heart raced.
“Hey there, new student?”
A sharp, clear voice called out. Looking up, she saw a boy and a girl in uniform gesturing for her to come to the grand staircase.
Selly approached and stood behind a group of casually dressed newcomers.
Is she a dwarf?
A girl barely half her height smiled maturely.
“Welcome to Spellmore. We’re the second-year representatives guiding the new students. I’m Flint Smelter.”
“And I’m Idril Silvergrove.”
The tall boy with pointed ears beside her looked like an elf.
Wow… amazing.
It was her first time seeing fantasy races up close.
Selly stared at the two second-year representatives with sparkling eyes. Their ties bore gleaming gold badges of the school emblem, a symbol she hadn’t seen on other students—probably representing their status as grade representatives.
“Alright. Let’s get started.”
And so, the introduction to the academy by the second-year representatives began, in a way Selly had never imagined.
UNLOCK SOON!~