Sorry for the slow start, but this is my first story so I'm still learning the ropes :) Things should become much more active/fast-paced than before. Less walls of text and more dialogue (as there are more people to speak to, duuuh :P )

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After registration was completed, the group met up for one last time in front of the academy. It was time for the kids to go their separate ways. Ragnar and Ymil would be staying at the Academy while Mia would return home with Uncle Max, back to Sophia Village.

“So…” said Ragnar hesitantly, “is this where we say our goodbyes?” His eyes went towards Ymil, who could only shrug in response. How was he supposed to know?

“Yes, this is where we leave you,” answered Uncle Max and he stepped up to the two boys. He crouched down to look them straight in the eyes and said, “You guys will be fine, just don’t mess with the wrong people.”

“How was I supposed to know that she was a Noble?!”

“Good looking people have the tendency to be of noble lineage. That girl would have vaporized you if she had the chance,” said Uncle Max. He ruffled the boy’s hair a bit and then went on to Ymil.

“And you, you should know better. Never start a fight with someone you don’t know,” Uncle Max said while looking at him sternly. Ymil looked down and started to shuffle his feet a little.

“I didn’t though, that’s why I let Ragnar handle it…” he said softly.

Those words made Uncle Max smile. “That’s my boy,” he said and then he ruffled Ymil’s hair too. Ymil looked up and it was now possible to see how watery they had become.

“Do you have to leave?! Can’t you stay here with us?” he asked.

“No, this is an important part of your training. I won’t be there to protect you your entire life.”

“But but but I…”

“No buts, Ymil, this is where we part ways. And get rid of those tears, how is Mia supposed to take all this?”

Hearing those words, Ymil wiped his eyes and looked at Mia who was standing behind Uncle Max. The girl was standing there silently, her eyes cast to the ground. Her hair was dangling to the front and it was impossible to see her face, but it was obvious from her posture. She was crying.

“Mia…,” said Ymil as he approached her. He tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she pulled him in a tight embrace before he could. At this point her silent weeping had turned into a full wail. She buried her face in Ymil’s shirt and hugged him with all her might. Her fragile little body was shaking with every sob that came out.

Even though Uncle told him to hold it in, he couldn’t. The moment she held onto him he started to weep just as hard. Tears were rolling down his face and his entire body was shaking. Why did they have to split up?

Ragnar was standing on the side, he’d vowed to himself that he’d stay strong. He stood there, watching his friend and sister weeping without restraint. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, he ran up to the two and clasped both his arms around them. The tears were rolling of his face as well, dripping onto the two in his embrace. His crying joined in with the others, his wail the loudest of the three.

As the three were huddled together, they didn’t seem to notice that everyone was looking at them. They didn’t notice how they had become the center of attention. The only ones in their world, at that moment, were themselves and their sorrow. Swimming, no, drowning in the sadness of having to depart, the trio didn’t let go until someone intruded into their little bubble.

“Ahem,” coughed Uncle Max as he clasped Ragnar’s shoulder. “That’s enough.” Ragnar looked up and noticed that Uncle Max was towering over them. He quickly let go and took a step back, wiping his eyes dry. The other two quickly recovered as well. The crying had stopped but Mia was still holding onto Ymil tightly. Their eyes had gone red and they look each other in the eyes. They remained that way for a bit longer until they both regained their composure and then parted from each other.

“Look at us,” said Ymil, “crying like little babies.”

“Yeah, and you thought you were grown-ups,” added Ragnar mockingly.

“Hay, you joined in as well!” exclaimed Mia.

“Nah, I was only pretending to cry, off course I didn’t,” said Ragnar as he looked to the side.

“Liar!” said Ymil and Mia at the same time.

“Kids, get over it,” intervened Uncle Max. “You guys’ve had your goodbye now. Mia, we’re leaving. Remember, you’re supposed to go to the Big Theatre for the entrance ceremony, it’s really important.”

Mia looked at the boys with a sad look on her face and nodded.

“Remember, this isn’t goodbye. I’ll come get you when the semester ends,” said Uncle Max and he started to walk away.

Mia quickly ran up to Ymil and gave him a kiss on the cheek. That melancholic feeling left him entirely and he started to blush intensely.

“That is so you don’t forget me,” she said shyly and she ran after Uncle Max.

“Hay, where’s my kiss?!” exclaimed Ragnar.

“Ew, you want a kiss from your own sister? Gross!” She said and started to laugh. “Go find someone else’s sister to kiss.”

And with those words she disappeared around the corner.

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The entire room was abuzz with the low murmurs of excited eleven year olds. All the new students had gathered in this huge theatre where an introductory meeting was supposed to take place. In front of them was a large podium with a speaker stand standing prominently in the middle.

Without any sign or warning the entire room fell silent. An incredible presence had just walked onto the stage that caught everyone’s attention.

“It is with great honor that I, Delilah Roseblood, welcome you to my humble establishment. I am the principle of Capital Military Academy and would like to share something with all of you before we start the school year.”

The woman that had just addressed the students was as beautiful as they came. She had slightly dark tanned skin and dark long hair tied to the back in a knot, in her hands a few pieces of paper with, what appeared to be, her speech notes. Her dress was especially beautiful, a burgundy silken robe with golden patterns imbued at the bottom. She had the body that any man would dream and all women would be jealous of. Her dark purple eyes were looking through rimless glasses at the crowd in front of her.

“This year we got 12,326 new students coming to the academy. Yes, there are 12,326 people sitting in this room as we speak. Those that could not attend have been expelled the moment I started speaking,” she said with a serious tone. The children were shocked by this announcement, they weren’t told that this meeting was mandatory.

“Now that you guys have gone entirely silent, I’ll be taking my leave. Master Wux, please continue this meeting.”

As she said that the woman walked off the stage. Nobody knew if they had to clap or not, but they decided not to. What if they got expelled for that too?

An elderly looking man appeared in the silence the principle had just caused. He walked with a cane, his back was hunched forward quite dramatically. Every step he took made a loud ticking noise as it crashed into the ground. For some reason he exuded a powerful aura but nobody could really tell why this old man radiated strength.

*Ahem*

“My name is Wux Paliogar, and I am the head of the History Department,” said the man. “This academy has been established by Mrs. Roseblood herself and she’s always busy, please do excuse her…odd behavior.”

“But what she said is true,” he continued, “This academy does not tolerate such foolish behavior. Yes, Military Academy is mandatory but you don’t have to do it here by any means. We are a proud academy that is known as the best in the entire country. Allow me to tell you about our history.”

The old man started to tap the cane lightly on the ground as he started to explain how the school was founded.

“It all started over 400 years ago, when the country….”

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Ragnar and Ymil were sitting somewhere in the audience. They had been instructed to go so they had no reason to skip it. When they entered it was already fairly crowded with students but only half the seats had been filled then. The first thing Ragnar did, off course, was to look for the red haired girl he fought earlier. He at least wanted to know her name.

But he couldn’t find her and Ymil had to force him to sit down. Ymil was a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of people around them, they had grown up in a remote little village and he’d never seen this many people in his entire life. He was really uncomfortable in this alien setting.

As the man was talking about the ‘glorious’ past of the Academy, Ragnar started to get bored.

“Hay Ymil, think lessons are going to be as boring as this?” he said as he looked to his side. But to his surprise, Ymil was listening attentively to the old man’s rambling.

“You can’t be serious, you actual…”

“Shh, I’m trying to listen,” said Ymil, still facing the stage.

“Fine…” said Ragnar with a grimace. He thought about what he could do and decided to play with his soul manifestation. He focused his energy and in his hands appeared a tiny dagger modelled after his claymore. He couldn’t summon his entire sword but he could still play with the miniature one in secret.

Ragnar looked around and found that everyone else was also getting bored, but they didn’t dare do anything outrageous as they might get expelled. He smiled at this and decided to just practice his knife handling skills. Those could come in handy someday.

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The old man talked for about 2 hours about the proud history of the academy before he would dismiss the students. Almost all students had either fallen asleep or were doing something else entirely, with very few exceptions. The man hadn’t stop ticking his rod onto the floor the entire time and some people had started to imagine musical themes to it.

At the end of the meeting the children were assigned a place to stay. As most students came from throughout the country it was only natural that they had to live on campus. Everyone would be living in one of the six general dormitories. They could pick their own beds, it was on a first pick first serve basis. The only restriction was that the girls and boys had different buildings.

Ragnar and Ymil made sure to sleep together off course. They ran through the large bunk beds and claimed the first beds near the bathroom. They were lucky as most students were still admiring the large room they had just entered.

“I call dibs on the top bunk!” called Ragnar as he jumped onto the top bed.

“That’s fine,” said Ymil as he dropped his stuff on the lower bed. “This way I won’t have to listen to your snoring.”

“I don’t snore!” exclaimed Ragnar and he threw his pillow down.

“Thanks! I sleep much better with 2 pillows,” laughed Ymil and he fell down onto his matrass.

“You little…,” started Ragnar and he jumped down from his bed again. He was going to get that pillow back, no matter what.

“Oh look, two babies fighting over a pillow,” said a voice mockingly from behind them.

Ragnar and Ymil looked up and saw three boys standing next to their bed. The one standing the closest had a yellow bob-cut and blue eyes. His clothes seemed to scream ‘rich’ and the two boys behind him looked like shady henchmen. This was obviously a noble.

Ragnar got up and looked at the boy in front of him. Ragnar was a few centimeters taller and looked down at the boy who just called him a baby.

“I’m sorry, midget, but I think you’re a bit too young to stay here,” Ragnar said.

The boy didn’t let that slide though, and he punched Ragnar full on in the chin. Ragnar flew back, his back arching as he fell a few meters back. He hadn’t expected such a quick action.

The boy had a smug smile on his face as he watched the blue haired boy fall to the ground, but before Ragnar hit the ground the boy’s smile vanished. In its place appeared a sour grimace as a fist had just found its way into his stomach, it hit him with an incredible force. His entire body was thrown at the two boys behind him who were barely able to catch him.

This was Ymil’s doing, he wasn’t going to let some random maniac hit his friend. He hadn’t even summoned his gloves but his barehanded punch was enough to make the boy cough up some blood.

“You dare hit me, Alex Chrysos? My father is a noble you know!”

“Oh, is he? And why would you assume Ragnar’s not a noble?” replied Ymil as he looked at his fist. “His blue hair should be a good indicator of that, shouldn’t it?”

That was true, odd colored hair was usually attributed to nobility. Even though a blue-haired noble was unheard of in the south, it was more than possible that Ragnar was the son a northern noble.

Not wanting to displease another noble, Alex decided to back down. He’d already thrown the first punch and there were quite a few witnesses.

“Let’s go boys, looks like these ‘gentlemen’ don’t appreciate our presence.” And he turned around to walk away. The two other boys hurriedly followed the egotistical young man, afraid of the potential repercussions for punch this noble’s son.

Ragnar got up quickly and looked at Ymil quizzically. “What just happened? I was sure we’d have a good fight here.”

“That guy was obviously a noble. One of the things I noticed is that Nobility seems to think they are untouchable. He won’t try that again as long as he thinks you’re nobility.”

“But I’m not nobility. How long do you think that will take?”

“Let’s hope for the next few years,” sighed Ymil.