Kane entered the shop for the second time. The inside was still the same as before. He saw a woman behind the counter, in her mid-thirties, perhaps. She wore a green mage robe and a jet black mantle. A symbol of a tiger in the shield frame symbol was sewn on the right side of the mantle. It was unknown which academy’s uniform it was, as he did not know every magic school’s insignia.

“Welcome to Evelyn’s Apothecary. I’m Evelyn. How may I help…” She gasped in the middle of the sentence. “A half-oni?”

“Where’s Jackie?” he asked, ignoring the remark.

“What do you want with my daughter?” Evelyn narrowed her brows.

“I just want to know why she suggested to me the [Lesser Firebomb] spell book,” replied Kane.

“She did that? I don’t know why you would even buy a spell book here, but… please wait here for a moment.” She ascended the narrow wooden stair behind on the left side. “Jackie, come down here!” she shouted, then went back to the counter.

A series of footsteps tread on the stairs. A girl wearing two long white socks, a skirt and a shirt descended. “Why did you call me, ma? I was studying…”

“A boy is looking for you.”

“Who?” she asked, then her eyes darted to the half-oni. “Ah, it’s you again! Kane, right? You’re injured...”

“Yeah, it’s me, and don’t worry about it. Now tell me, Jackie. Why did you recommend [Lesser Firebomb]? I know it’s a trash spell now after somebody told me. I bet you knew that too,” said Kane, slapping the desk.

Jacqueline scratched her head and looked elsewhere. “Because… you wanted an easy spell. So, there you go.”

“Aren’t there other easy spells, like [Earth Shard] for example? Why did you recommend that one in particular?” Kane pressed further.

“Err…” Jacqueline looked at her mother. “Ma, can you help me?”

“Nope. You must answer your previous customer’s questions by yourself.” Evelyn shook her head.

Jacqueline pouted before she sighed and said, “Haaah, you got me. That was because I didn’t think you had much money. Sooo, I recommended that one, the cheapest spell in our store.”

“What’s the average price of each rank?” asked Kane with suspicion.

“Unranked is around 1,500 gold and rank 1 is 4,000 gold. They’re slightly below the usual price, by the way. Isn’t that right, ma?” She looked at her mother.

“True,” Evelyn answered.

Kane’s eyes bulged out, and he stared at her in disbelief. He had never expected the price tag would be sky-high, almost exorbitant. He knew the path of the mage was reserved for the wealthy, yet he still didn’t see this coming. Considering the ease of using it, the price was justified and balanced, he thought.

“I hope you’re not angry, Kane… I didn’t mean to trick you,” said Jacqueline with teary eyes.

“No, I’m not. I just wanted to know whether you’ve conned me or not, which I believe you didn’t.”

“Ehem!” Evelyn coughed. “Although my daughter didn’t lie, she wasn’t being fully honest either. I’m very sorry about this, Kane.” She bowed deeply.

“Ma, you don’t have to—” Jacqueline was forced to bow by her mother.

“As an apology, you can get a 10% discount off any purchases forever and for unlimited amounts!” she shouted, still bowing.

“Hmm, are you sure?” Kane stroke his chin. It was a surprise yet a pleasant one.

“We don’t go against our words. My daughter is still learning, but she’ll be better.” Evelyn straightened her back.

“Alright, I accept your apology,” said Kane. He had an idea to raise the discount to 20%, but that would be too shameless so he discarded it.

“Thank you, Kane. You won’t regret doing any transactions here.” Evelyn put a wide smile.

“I will buy or sell something here in the future. Today, I don’t have any plans yet,” said Kane.

“That’s fine. You can look around if you like,” said Evelyn. “Say, were you actually able to learn the spell?”

“What are you saying, ma? He wouldn’t buy a spellbook if he couldn’t use it.” Jacqueline stared at her mother with confusion.

“Anyone who is a part oni isn't able to use magic, Jackie.”

“Really!?” she exclaimed, then looked at Kane.

“Let’s just say I’m an exception. Here, I can show it to you.” He chanted [Lesser Firebomb]. When the magic circle started to appear, he stopped and it disappeared. This time, he managed to halt the spell before the firebomb was shot.

Evelyn showed a similar expression as Reynar. She trembled in silence. After a while, she regained her composure. “This is unbelievable!”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Kane scratched his ear. It was tiring to see the same reaction every time.

They continued to chat for 30 minutes until Kane left the shop. They asked him questions non-stop regarding himself, particularly after Kane told them that he enrolled in Nifflenia Academy. He had thought to keep it a secret, but then again, they would know sooner or later.

Kane arrived at the same inn and slept like a baby for 12 hours straight.

---

The next morning, the front yard of Nifflenia Academy was crowded with a sea of people. Most of them, especially the ones in uniform, headed to the west toward the building complex, whereas the rest without uniform went to the main building after seeing the notice board.

A young blonde man was walking, blending in the crowd. His ivory vest was too tight for his body and it hovered above his waist. He had tied his glossy white tie around his neck without symmetry. With a hunched pose, he stood near the fountain.

“Morning, John!” A black-haired teen greeted him. He wore the same cloth as the blonde guy except that he was neater.

“Yo, Matt. We’re repeating a year, huh?” said John as he wrapped his arm around Matt’s shoulder. “Can’t believe it’s our third time.”

“Yeah, being a legit mage is so hard.” Matt heaved a sigh. “Maybe I’m not fit to be one…”

“Could be. Then again, lots of us are repeating too, so it’s definitely the academy’s fault.”

They laughed until one of them noticed something. “Hey John, look over there!” He pointed at the left.

John turned his head in the pointed direction. “Is that… an oni? And what’s up with that odd clothing?”

“Seems so.” Matt nodded. “He’s probably very lost or this academy standard bar has fallen low. Like, it got dropped from a mountain directly to a bottomless pit.”

“Heh, I hope it’s the former. If they let a savage oni become a student of this academy, I won’t be surprised to see a goblin roaming around here,” quipped John.

“Hahaha, let’s just quit together when that happens,” laughed Matt. “Anyway, let’s talk more in the class. I’m kinda curious who’s left.”

---

Amid the crowd, Kane moved along with them. He saw a black-haired teen pointed in his direction and was talking about him. It was already the fourth time he’d seen this kind of thing. Kane had thought that he was used to being a center of attention, yet the frequent stares and racist remarks were starting to get on his nerves. It reminded him of a painful event of his childhood in his previous life.

Kane couldn’t stand them; he plowed through the crowd. He didn’t care if anyone got bothered by the push. After a while, he escaped the crowd and entered the main lobby.

As he approached the round desk in the middle, the receptionist spoke. “Good morning, Kane. Are you heading toward the ballroom?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Am I that memorable?”

“Well, being the sole oni here does help tremendously,” she chuckled. “May the Lord of Fortune bless you.”

After the exchange, Kane followed the same path to the ballroom. Two Nifflenia officer mages stood guarding the entrance. One of them was carrying some papers.

“You are Kane Foxsnove, correct? Go ahead, your two friends have entered before you.” They pushed open each door.

“That was quick,” Kane muttered. He had expected some surprised expressions and a series of questions. Perhaps Reynar had notified them beforehand of his arrival.

The ballroom was filled with children on their comfy seats without tables. Noisy chatters reverberated through the room. Somehow the number of people here had roughly stayed the same as yesterday despite the harsh exam. As he observed the crowd, a finger poked his left shoulder.

Kane turned his head and saw Athera standing there meekly. Kane, over here!” she tried to shout, but her voice was drowned in the sea of noise, almost inaudible.

“Ah, it’s you. Where’s Zumi?” he asked with a loud voice.

“She sat over there, reserving o-our seats for us,” Athera replied.

He followed the elf to the destination, traversing the gap in between people sitting. Apparently, the seats were quite in the front row on the left side, which was emptier compared to the back row.

“Hi there, Kane,” Zumi greeted, waving her hand.

“Hi,” Kane greeted back. He looked at her and noticed Zumi was no longer wearing her shoulder pad. “Is your shoulder fine, Zumi?”

“It still stings a little, but all in all, it’s fine,” she said. “Dislocated shoulder seems to heal faster than a cracked one, huh?”

“Well, yes. Obviously.” Kane let out air through his nose. He sat next to Athera who was sitting beside Zumi.

Zumi clapped her hands once and said, “Anyway, for our group’s second meeting, let’s talk about our class placement! Mine is Class B.”

“I’m in Class A…,” said Athera.

“Nice! As expected. Although we’re separated, we can still see each other easily.” Zumi leaned forward and turned her head toward Kane. “What about you?”

“Class E,” he replied.

“Seriously!?” they exclaimed with their eyes bulged. “That’s the worst class in the academy!” Zumi shouted.

“I’m not exactly well-versed in the magic department so… yeah,” said Kane, hiding the truth. “But hey, at least I can be a student in this academy, right?”

“That’s right, I guess. I heard you can climb up the rankings if you’re doing great as well as the opposite. So watch out, Thera!” Zumi warned.

“Um!” Athera nodded with passion.

“I’m not interested in changing class anyway. Not even to Class S,” said Kane.

“Eh!? Why?” asked Zumi in disbelief.

“Because I simply don’t care.” Kane shrugged.

“K-Kane, being in a better class… has really good benefits, you know. Especially Class S…” said Athera.

“Fine, maybe I’ll change my mind later.” Kane gave up.

Upon hearing her words, Zumi bit her lips. “Class S might be impossible for all of us. I can’t even imagine myself entering it.”

“Why is that?” he asked.

“First, you need to have level 5 talent or above. Then, you must have enough mana to cast rank 2 spells 10 times in a row. I don’t know the rest, but those two alone are harsh requirements. I heard this from a teacher here, by the way,” explained Zumi.

In the middle of the explanation, Athera was frowning and humming.

“What’s the matter, Thera?” asked Zumi.

“N-nothing.” She shook her head.

After a while, Reynar’s voice reverberated through the room. It came from the podium. The vice headmaster stood along with other people standing behind him. The speech had begun. He welcomed all new students before thunderous applause filled the whole room. Next, he listed all the rules while carrying a bunch of papers. In the middle of the speech, Kane fell asleep like many other people.

By the time he woke up, the person talking had changed to someone else. He was introducing his class material, but Kane had no idea which class it was for. The speaker finished talking and passed right to Reynar. He proceeded to conclude the speech.

“Ah, on a final note, please do respect everyone in spite of the differences and races. Especially to the one who has two horns on him. Thank you very much for your attention and goodbye.” He left the podium, followed by other teachers.

“Wow, you got mentioned, Kane,” said Zumi, looking at him.

“Hmph, that was unnecessary.” Kane rubbed his nose. He wasn’t sure whether that was an effective message or not.