The best magical school in the country was called Aurelis Academy and it stood high on a mountain top, isolated from the rest of the world. Once upon a time, it had been a fortress capable of withstanding a siege for years and now it was a highly respected school. It was large and showy, built in a gothic fashion and with high walls surrounding it. Cale lost his breath as he stared at it, just outside the gate into it.
Autumn had finally arrived, and with it, Cale was finally leaving the house of the Frosthaze family.
Calla was twenty years old and two years behind on his studies, which meant that Cale would be going to a class with eighteen-year-old teenagers.
Hopefully, no-one would notice any changes in Calla's personality.
He trudged up further along the mountain path until he reached the high gate. It was made of iron and colored dark, with spikes at the top that gave off an unsettling feeling. Cale swallowed nervously, suddenly hit by the fact that he was going into an entirely unfamiliar situation. He had never been to a boarding school before and although the affairs of the protagonist were told fancily, that was influenced by the protagonist's good luck and miraculous strength. Even the bullying for being adopted ended once the other students saw proof of his power.
Calla's family was of fairly high standing, high enough that he shouldn't be bullied just because, but he was also famous for being sickly and often ill. There was no telling how that might have affected the student body. This might be his last year alive, he really didn't want to have to worry about bullying on top of everything else.
Cale gave the gate a last glance before he walked to the Gatekeeper to the side. He kept a tight hold of the suitcase in his grasp and said, in a subdued voice, "Calla Frosthaze, final year."
The Gatekeeper, an old man that scowled at everyone and everything, looked down at the book he was holding and started shifting through the pages until he came to the page holding the offered name. He scowled even more fiercely and pulled out his pen to draw a short cross next to the name. "Welcome," he hissed out.
Cale gave him an odd look, but the Gatekeeper was actually a character in the book, so he wasn't going to ask.
When the gate opened up, he didn't wait for it to open all the way, instead, he hurried in through it right away. The Gatekeeper gave him an eerie feeling and he wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
In the story 'Fire & Ice', the Gatekeeper was tied magically to Aurelis Academy, a kind of last line of defense. The Gatekeeper was over several thousand years old and ridiculously powerful and was sort of an ace in the sleeve for the protagonist.
When the villain attacked, the Gatekeeper was able to transfer a large portion of his power to the protagonist so that he could win, but in doing so became a mortal and eventually died a few months later. After his death, it was revealed that he was born from a mortal woman and an ancient earth spirit. The earth spirit was so enraged at his death that he attacked the protagonist directly and was defeated after a long-drawn-out battle. With the earth spirit's death, a series of earthquakes erupted all over the land until a new earth spirit was born.
This caused the deaths of countless innocents.
It was never revealed who the new earth spirit was. Regardless, Cale had no intention of getting caught in the middle of the battle between the protagonist and the villain if he could help it. Which meant staying far away from the allies of the protagonist.
The villain didn't really have a lot of allies, at least not at the academy.
Once through the gate, Cale ventured through the courtyard they opened up to until he reached the doors. With one hand, he held tight to his suitcase and with the other, pulled the door open. It was heavy and he had to lean back and use his weight as leverage to get it to open up all the way. When it was finally open, he hurried through it before it had a chance to close.
The loud bang that sounded as the door fell closed again deafened the area shortly.
Cale flinched and prayed that he hadn't broken anything.
He turned away from the door and let his gaze slide over the rest of the room. Across from it was another person, a middle-aged woman wearing a smart grey suit with a knee-length skirt. She was frowning at him and Cale stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights.
Eventually, he mumbled out, "Sorry."
It seemed to knock the professor out of her disapproval as she clicked her tongue. "I thought you'd know better by now, Calla Frosthaze. You've certainly been here long enough."
Her voice was full of scorn and Cale gritted his teeth so as to not say anything that would offend her. Getting into a fight with a professor on his first day would certainly not be a good way to start off his last year. "It's just been so long that I forgot. My apologies, Professor. If you'll excuse me, I'll go to my room."
"Hmph, do you even remember where it is?" the professor scoffed out.
Cale took a deep breath and turned back towards her, as he'd already started to walk away. He gave her a shining smile and stated, in a tone as sweet as he could make it, "I don't."
He should probably have asked her where his room was, but there was just something about her that he didn't like. He had so many issues that he needed to deal with, handling a professor that disliked him for some unfathomable reason on top of everything else was not on his to-do-list. He wasn't going to go out of his way to provoke her, that would just paint himself in a worse picture, but he also wasn't going to spend an extra second around her. He had no patience for undeserved humiliation.
Now, where could he find someone else to give him directions?
* * *
The first day of classes was two days later.
It was a Monday.
The sun was hidden behind clouds that got progressively darker with every passing hour and the air was humid and damp. Cale packed the relevant books for the day and squeezed them into the new shoulder bag that Calla's mother had gifted him with just before he left the house. After breakfast early in the cafeteria — early enough that he was nearly the only one there — he'd returned to his room to get his things ready.
The uniform consisted of simple and durable black pants, a white shirt and a grey vest with a red tie. He braided his white hair (something he'd gotten uncomfortably good at lately, but Calla's mother started crying each time he brought up the topic of cutting it) and grabbed the bag and he was ready to go. The map given by the councilor was in his other hand.
He left his room behind after locking it.
The school was definitely big and without the map, he didn't doubt that he would have gotten lost. It was even more confusing than the Frosthaze manor.
And far more depressing.
He found the classroom without much trouble.
Cale entered it and looked out at the twenty or so desks arranged in lines that filled the room. It looked like he was the first one there, aside from the professor that was sitting behind their own desk at the front of the classroom. As Cale had no desire to attract unnecessary attention, he walked to the back of the room and settled into a corner next to one of the high windows. The view was of the landscape outside of the fortress. He put the bag at his feet and sat in the wooden chair.
Now it was only a waiting game.
Within a couple of minutes, students started wandering in.
Once every desk had been filled with people wearing Victorian-style suits and vests, the professor stood up from their desk and wrote their name on the blackboard. The black hair fell around his face as he turned back towards the class and said, "My name is Valerio Hallow, your professor in Offensive Magic. This is my first-time teaching, but I attended this school myself, so there shouldn't be any problems. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them."
Cale let his head hit the desk in despair.
All he wanted was to stay out of it! Was that really too much to ask for?!
If he could, he would have groaned, but he wasn't going to do anything to bring Valerio's attention to himself. He was already screwed because he was the protagonist's cousin! Getting on the villain's bad side was so not on his wish-list.
Valerio Hallow was the villain that orchestrated the whole thing. He lured out scumbags and corrupted people and used them to attack the protagonist while he himself used his cover as a professor to always have an alibi for everything. Even when the protagonist started to suspect him, there was nothing to be done, no evidence to be found. Valerio's power rivaled that of the protagonist and moreover, he was from the family that had originally abandoned the protagonist. In short, Valerio and the protagonist were biological half-brothers.
Well, not that they figured that out until their final epic battle that almost destroyed the world.
When he heard Calla's name getting called by Valero, he raised his head just enough to call out, "Present." in response then let his head hit the desk again.
How bad did his luck have to be for him to wake up in somebody else's body, in the world of a novel where the character he woke up as died uselessly, who was also the cousin of the protagonist and then have the hidden Villain Boss be his professor!
There was something seriously wrong here!
Cale spent the rest of the lesson just stewing in his own thoughts, not paying any attention whatsoever to what the professor (who was the Villain) said. His mind wandered over every possibility he could think of, but there was no way to completely avoid the villain. He would just have to hope that he didn't do anything to attract his attention.
When the lesson ended, he grabbed his bag and stood up as the others left, talking amongst themselves. He was pretty sure that he heard one or more of the girls commenting on Valerio's looks, which he had to admit were good, but as the villain that was expected. Thinking about how handsome he was when Calla had a feminine beauty that he couldn't do anything about just soured Cale's mood even further. Just as he was about to leave the classroom, unfortunately the last one left, the villain interrupted him.
"Calla Frosthaze, wasn't it? You didn't listen to a word I said."
Cale froze, his heart suddenly beating wildly in his chest. "Yes I... did."
He grimaced at the obvious lie. For his plan to fail this fast was really like a cruel joke. He didn't dare turn around and look the professor in the eye.
"Hmm..." the villain started, "so you can explain to me what Georgi's Magical Theory is?"
Cale felt his eyes go wide and his heart started to beat even faster, so fast it felt like it was about to jump right out of his chest. He had no idea what the man was talking about. "Sure... it was about the... magical... stones..."
"You should put in more effort if you're going to try to lie to me."
Cale grimaced again and turned around to face the villain, letting his eyes drift over anything but him. "I wasn't trying to lie to you, I was just... worried."
The man rose a dark eyebrow and quirked his lips like he was smiling. "Worried about what?"
Unwillingly, he found himself looking at the man's dark blue eyes. It was unfair how intense they were. "I've been sick a lot. I'm just worried I'm too far behind."
"Ah yes, you're the Frosthaze heir, aren't you? I heard you were behind in your studies."
Cale narrowed his eyes, "Is that a problem?"
The man smiled and answered, "Not at all."
Cale furrowed his eyebrows and stated, "I need to get to my next class. I promise I'll pay more attention next time."
"I'll hold you to it."
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