With a rusty shriek, a door opened.

The noise snapped Mael awake from a nightmarish sight of bones, flesh, and blood. As he opened his eyes and sat up on the edge of his bed, the first thing his eyes landed on was the concrete wall just a few meters away from him. Then he saw the door to his cell, which was wide open with a guard standing outside, giving him a simple nod.

Glancing at himself and at how he already had presentable clothes on, Mael remembered what day today was for him.

Sighing, he looked at the side bed and saw a suitcase, which he remembered packing all of his belongings into the day before. The small room he had been in for the past three months had, as strange as it was to say about such a cramped and uncomfortable space with its four walls closing in on him, grown on him. But Mael knew that it was time for him to take his leave.

So, grabbing his briefcase, he stood up and walked past the cell where he had been imprisoned for three months.

The moment he stepped outside the correctional facility, he was greeted by a sun he hadn't seen in a long time, causing him to struggle to adjust its brightness, and just as his eyes finished doing so, he noticed someone standing at the property's entrance, whose silhouette he immediately recognized.

Mael walked up to the person and greeted them, "Hello, Ramia."

"Hi, Mael. It's been a while," she replied, monotonously.

"Yes, three months," answered Mael with the same monotonous voice.

"Yes, three months," the girl repeated, then slowly changed her all-serious face to a less serious but more guenine one.

"Sorry for the trouble I caused, but I’m finally back, Ramia; sorry if it took a while."

"Nah, it was nothing. Just... welcome back, Mael."

Mael reached out for her embrace, which she gladly accepted.

Finally letting go of him, Ramia asked teasingly, "Is it me, or did you gain some muscle?"

"Well, I had three months to work on myself, so that wouldn’t be too surprising."

"I see. So how are you doing now?" She inquired, her tone solemn once more.

"Great," Mael said, noting her guenine concern for him. "These three months allowed me to work on myself and to think about everything thoroughly. I think now I’ve come to realize clearly and realistically what I must, need, and wish to do." Recognizing that he had been influenced by an overly serious mood, he reached out for Ramia's shoulder and declared, "So overall, I'm feeling well, more resolved, and motivated."

"You better be. You don’t know how much work you dumped on me because of your absence."

"Don’t worry. I’ll work hard to make up for it."

"Sure you will. Come on now, I’m sure the others are also impatient to see you. After all, it has been three months since their second-in-rank has been locked away."

***

"Pssst, Ana!" A voice hushed.

It took several attempts for the voice to finally effectively wake the girl from her slumber. "What am I doing here?" She mumbled, confused at not being in her room.

A glance at her surroundings revealed to Ana that instead of being surrounded by her bedroom furniture, she was instead surrounded by young men and young women, all dressed in the same academic uniform. One person, among these scholarly-dressed young people, in particular caught her attention; it was Xavier, the one to whom the voice calling her belonged.

It was only then that Ana remembered that she was not at home but rather on the academy grounds, attending a class lecture that bored her to utter slumber.

Despite her tables being in the very last row of the room, as he gazed ahead, she crossed the gaze of the professor, whose lecture she hadn't listened to a single word of. It was clear that he had noticed Ana's earlier sleeping activity, but the old man, freeing Ana from his gaze, proceeded commentlessly with his lecture.

As Ana heaved out a sigh of relief over being spared a lengthy sermon on her behavior, the professor called out her name: "Miss Analise, can you please explain to us in a few words what's the difference between a chanted magic and a chantless one?"

If Ana was still feeling somewhat drowsy after being woken up by Xavier, the professor's call was the bucket of cold water that completely woke her up, eradicating any remaining traces of sleepiness in her.

Standing up from her seat, Ana asked, "What kind of magic are we talking about exactly, Professor? Elemental one? or the formless one?"

"Erm, let’s say… Fire magic?"

Without hesitation, Ana answered, "If it is fire magic or any of the eight elemental magics, then there is no difference between a chanted and a chantless magic."

"Please, do elaborate."

"Because magic works the same way regardless of whether it is chanted or not. We chant or name magic to instill in ourselves the impression of control over the process we call "magic."

"Indeed. Most of you and I who were blessed with the opportunity to name something unique of our own did so not only to claim the uniqueness of that spell as ours but also to unconsciously engrave the essence of that spell through words within us. Mana is to Spellcasting is similar to what individual letters are to words. Individually, letters don't hold much value and tend not to make much sense, but put together in a particular order, they do make sense and convey meaning. "

For an entire half hour, the professor went on. "You can also, dear students, think of a magic's spelling or chanting, as some sort of empty container, a flash, while your mana can be compared to the liquid you will pour the container with. Mana can take many forms when it comes to becoming magic, and naming it is a safe way to tame the size of your personal "flask." When poured into that flask, water will, naturally, assume the shape of the recipient. That is magic."

"Of course, it doesn’t work the same for every single individual. There are other factors that remain to be considered. Some of you, for example, might have more liquid available, allowing you to pour more flasks than others. Others may be able to shape their magic without using a flask or fill their personal container with less liquid than others. In the case of the former, it is what is most commonly referred to as "nobles blessed with a large mana pool," while the latter is more of what is referred to as "nobles born with talents." Empirically speaking, these two are oftentimes assumed to come in pairs, as has been the case for some of the most well-known nobles across our continent's history."

"If you were not born with an abundance of mana, there isn't much you can do about it, for it is an inherited trait. There is no fixing that. The best you can do is to train yourself with what you have, which I am, through this lecture, trying to give you guidance to achieve, to catch up with those born with a greater mana pool and talent for magic than you. And luckily for you, the Church, over its millenia of diligent service to humanity, has found many ways for talentless-born nobles of humble mana pool to overcome your lack of talent and humongous mana pools, and it is up to us of Aurora academia to bestow this acquired knowledge onto you."

***

Aurora Academia, the establishment which every noble from the continent attends upon reaching the age of 15. Or at least, that’s what it was two years ago.

In the year 4017, seven massive dragons breached the barrier erected by the church to protect humanity from monsters. They not only broke through the barrier, but also traversed the entire continent, triggering the catastrophic events known as the calamities.

As a direct result of the calamities, many young nobles who, at their age, should have been attending the academy chose to temporarily leave or postpone their enrollment.

It had been almost three years since the calamities, and young nobles who had previously dropped out were beginning to re-enroll in the academy, causing a disparity in both age and knowledge between the students. Having taken a sabbatical pause of two years after the calamities, Ana was now 17—almost 18—yet she was still stuck in a first-year program in academia.

Having already gone through this lecture last year, she couldn’t help but be somewhat bored, which eventually led her to fall asleep mid-course.

While the professor's lecture tediously went on, Ana heard whispers of a conversation from a nearby seat.

"You’ve heard of it?" a female voice said. "I heard today is the day, he would be out of detention."

"Yeah, I’ve heard of it." Three months—that’s a lot of time. No matter how you look at it... I can’t see myself being imprisoned for three months."

"Well, after what he was rumored to have done. I guess it isn’t about seeing oneself in his place or not."

"Eh? Do you believe those ridiculous rumors?"

"Not really, at first, but think of it, why would he spend 3 months in a correctional house if he hadn’t done what he was accused of? Especially with his rank."

"Now that you've put it that way,..."

Even with just hearing these small bits of their discussion, Ana immediately recognized whom they were talking about, even if his name wasn’t yet mentioned.

It has been three months since that day.

Three months have passed since Mael Edouard, a name everyone in academia recognized as the second in command of one of the five most powerful factions in academia, the Ascending Nobility, but also as the Silver Prince of the Holy City, the hero who stood his ground alongside his cousins Ramia Aubrecht against the Giant Serpent Dragon, the Water Calamity, was rumored to have been involved in a strange affair that resulted in the deaths of several commoners,

Rumors had it that he was the one directly behind their deaths.

At first, Ana had her reason to not believe that he, out of anyone, had anything to do with this, but as the voice earlier whispered, for someone of his rank to just accept being kept captive for three months, she started to, even if she didn't want to, have some doubts about that person's innocence.

***

"Thanks for the lift during the lecture." Ana said to Xavier as the two finally left the lecture room.

"You’re welcome, but you also owe me one. So what was that sleepiness for? That wasn’t like you? You didn’t sleep last night?"

Sighing, Ana complained, "I tried, but I couldn’t close my eyes."

"Oh, I wonder why?" Xavier teasedly inquired.

"What?"

"Isn’t it because today is the day a certain person is released out of detention?"

"You- Nonsense. That's not it."Ana immediately denied

"Then what is it?"

"Tsk, nothing."

"He still owes you a date, doesn't he?"

Ana didn’t answer; she simply nodded silently.

"Well, he left you out in the cold the last time."

These mere words triggered cringe-worthy and painful memories in Ana.

"If I were you, I would claim it the moment I set eyes on him. Come on, after all, I was there; it was an essential part of the exchange the three of us agreed on. "

The mention of that exchange brought Ana back to that day, nine months earlier, when their manor received an unexpected visit from him. He had come for a sample of Xavier's blood and announced that his cousin would be moving in.

"I know he must be busy; I wouldn’t even blame him if he had forgotten, especially right now after everything that happened. I won’t bother him for just that."

"Hum, what a waste. I gave you the perfect opportunity. That’s what you do with it." Xavier sighed, shaking his head dramatically. "You won’t have a better shot... to ask those questions of yours, you know."

"That’s fine by me."

"You’re sure?"

"Yes."

Ana and Xavier were walking through a large corridor when, from afar, they noticed a commotion. It didn’t take the duo long to figure out the source of the commotion.

Dressed in their Ascending Nobility’s black uniform, they—Ramia Aubrecht, who had clung onto her arm a gorgeous blonde and blue-eyed girl, the young girl was new to academia yet, by many feats, including being part of the Ascending faction board, became a well-known figure among the students, and finally, no one else but Mael Edouard, who was the subject of the duo's earlier discussion, walked in the direction of Ana and Xavier.

Ramia, and the girl, simply walked past the duo, showing no interest whatsoever in them, but Mael, upon reaching the two of them, greeted, "It’s been a while, you two."

"Yes, indeed. Good morning, Lord Mael."

"Good Morning. Are you two going home?"

"Yes, we were, we’ve already attended all our lectures for the day."

"I see," Mael said, turning to face Ana, "Miss Ana about the date I promised, and last time, I-"

"There's no need to bother yourself with it, Lord Mael," Ana immediately, if not straight up reflexively, interrupted.

"But I-"

"It’s okay; I’ve already found someone else to ask about the event of the Night Ecarlate. There is no reason for you to waste your time on this. I’m sure you already have a very busy schedule."

"I see. I’m really sorry for this; I wish I could've done better to help with your book. Is there something else I could do to replace that service?"

"It’s fine, no need to."

"You’re sure?"

"No, it’s fine, right, Xavier?"

"Yeah, it’s... as Ana said, if it’s fine by her, it’s fine by me." Followed Xavier.

"I see. Well, I still have things to attend, so I’ll take my leave here," Mael excused himself, before heading over to Ramia and the girl, who has been waiting for him at the distance.

Just as Ana and Xavier were about to too take their leave, they were called out by Mael, "If you two see, Arte, please tell him… Nevermind, I’ll think it would be better if I tell him myself. Have a nice day, you two."

With these words, Mael and Ramia left.

"I wonder what he wanted us to tell Arte."

"That’s the part you’re wondering about?! Girl, you really messed up big time."

"Did I?"

It was a strange feeling, but Ana felt somewhat disappointed with the direction this short interaction went.

Though she knew he agreed to go as a condition of an exchange the three of them agreed to, the fact that after being postponed for 9 months straight, the date she thought was to collect information from Mael about an event that happened 8 years ago in Mael's hometown, turned out to end like this made her heart swell in disappointment.

"Yes, you did. Let’s go home."