Quake~Quake~Quake~Quake~

It was a loud rumbling sound of an ‘earthquake’ that woke everybody in the Tristain Academy late at night. The intense shaking that seemed to only intensify didn’t really help the crowd of students in panic either. Thankfully it all stopped in less than a minute without any major damage, and the panic was dissolved, but none of them could sleep despite the assurances made by the Headmaster Osmond. Even some of the teachers were too frightened to sleep.

Nevertheless, it was just another day at the Magic Academy, at last, the sun had risen bright and clear on the morning after the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual which happened just yesterday. Every second year student and above had their familiars with them to reassure their scared partners, well apart from a certain second year pinked haired female student. Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière was among the majority who couldn’t get a sleep, but for completely different reasons.

As to the reason, yesterday’s Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual was a complete disaster for her. She was the only one who failed to summon her familiar. So it was a given that she became the laughingstock of her class. Even though she was called ‘Zero’ before, she wasn’t humiliated to this degree, ever... Especially that loose Germanian barbarian woman... She didn’t hold back this time. Compared to this, the earthquake was but a little fly that only irritated her.

She sat quietly on the edge of her four poster luxury bed, her normally vibrant self was nowhere to be seen as her eyes were fixed on nothing in particular. Her teachers had made it clear, gently, but in no uncertain terms that this was her last chance to prove herself.

She had practiced the spell a thousand times to the best of her abilities without actually performing the summoning. But yet again, she proved that she was ‘Zero’. What was she going to tell her mother now? When her mother hears of this, she will probably be summoned and be forced to leave the academy to marry an aristocrat... Probably her fiancé...

”It’s too early, I don’t want that!” She shouted, blushing. She then shook her head as she spoke, being angry at herself for being embarrassed,

“It would be disgraceful of me to marry him if I can not even graduate from this Academy!” She then stopped shaking her head and lowered her head, feeling disheartened,

”Do I even deserve him? Probably not...”

She sighed. As she was further lamenting on her unfortunate life, she heard a girl scream, coming from outside.

To Louise, such scream was probably not a good sign, what followed suit could only be described as mayhem. There were sounds of glass breaking, screaming and magic blasts... when she decided to look for the reason of the ruckus, what she saw in front of the window stupefied her.

“Is that a m-m-m-m-mountain? H-h-how? Why? Is this a d-dream?”

She immediately rubbed her eyes in panic, only to see the same scene when she looked back... It was real, “just what... Wait, just what is that thing all the way reaching to the cloudes? It’s so high... I’ve never seen a mountain as big as this?”

She was definitely at the Academy, there was no question there as she saw many familiar faces all over the corridors once she got her school robes on and went to investigate. When she asked some of the students what was going on, they didn’t know either but they were told to assemble outside, Headmaster Osmond was going to make a speech. So she got outside among many of her classmates and waited for the Headmaster to come out. Thanks to the teachers, the students were more calm then before.

Once the old pervert known by the students as their Headmaster came and started his speech, what he said only managed to calm the students down for the time being. The old man said that due to unknown reasons, a piece of foreign land was now bordering their academy. As students, they were to stay inside their dormitories until further notice. He also informed them that the school already sent an urgent letter with a dragon rider to the Tristain Royal Family which will arrive in a single day. Also they will send an investigative force to discover what the foreign land was all about. He asked for volunteers to accompany Professor Colbert for the investigation. This was not purely for investigation, but for helping the common folk as well. There weren’t any local villages near in that direction, but as aristocrats as well as students of their academy, they were to take responsibility in such times. Of course, the first years were not permitted. Some third years were among the first ones to raise their hands to volunteer. Soon a few second years followed as well.

“Ara, I really want to know what treasures are hidden there so I’m in.” The Zerbst mage student too volunteered to the irritation of Louise...

Tabitha followed her with her dragon, saying, “I’m going if you’re going,”

Louise then raised her little hand and stutteringly said, “O-Of c-course, it is a n-nobles’s d-duty to p-p-protect the p-plebeians. I can help.”

“Oh, Zero is going to help? Are you even a mage? You can’t even cast a simple spell, you will only be a bother...”

“Haa? Shut up you Barbarian! No one asked for your opinion! It’s not like I can’t do any magic! I can cast explosions, they might be helpful too...” She finished talking, about to cry but when the Zerbst woman just raised her hands in surrender, placating the emotionally fragile girl,

“Suit yourself, but be careful not to blast us as well...” Maybe placating is not the word, but in her own way...

Louise just gritted her teeth and went to stand next to Professor Colbert who was helplessly watching them do their usual bickering for the umpteenth time, but he soon recovered himself and then waited for the other students to get in the building, as soon as the last one left, he let out a cough before starting their briefing,

“Alright students of Tristain Academy, for the safety of our school, you have chosen to stand up, for that, I would like to thank you. Now, according to our initial reconnaissance, with the intel we have obtained, we could deduce that we were not transpoted to a different land, but a piece of land has appeared during the earthquake right before us out of nowhere. We do not yet know the cause for this, according to the testimonies of some locals, during the earthquake, they noticed a strange white light momentarily flash before disappearing, replacing it’s place were the long mountain range that suddenly appeared.”

All of the members of the investigation team were listening every detail the Professor was feeding them. The most shocking part was,

“As you may have noticed, there seems to be a part of the mountain that dwarfs the rest...”

To the nods of the gathered students, Colbert announced with an unsure tone of voice,

“It is simply, not a mountain, but a tree.”

“”””What?”””” All of the students couldn’t believe their ears, they weren’t expecting to hear such a none sense. A tree? That big? Appearing out of nowhere? Impossible!

But soon Colbert explained that with enough magnification, they were able to make out the huge branches of the tree, along with it’s leaves...There was no denying it. Something very wrong just happened... Not knowing anything only amplified their unease so, they immediately set off for their destination... The Big Tree!