The Sword and The Shadow

Troublemaker

"That woman's always so mysterious I can't figure her out!" Leguna scratched his head in frustration. One gave Leguna the impression she was really important, but everything she said didn't make much sense to him.

"By the way, Sasha, what's your gift?" Innilis asked, concerned about the power of her roommate.

"My gift…" Sasha looked a little troubled, but she shook her head surprisingly. "I don't even know what that is."

"You don't?!" Why would a gifted not know their own gift?

"But I really don't…"

"Maybe she hasn't awakened it yet," Leguna suggested.

Being a gifted himself, he was much better informed about the matter. "Eirinn, you should know that I was no different from a normal kid back then, right?"

"Then when did you awaken it, Big Brother?" Eirinn asked.

"I…" Leguna blushed and scratched his head awkwardly. "I awakened my abilities when I heard you were sold to the slavers by your darned adoptive father. I think I only got impetus all of a sudden, but my gifts didn't actually manifest."

"Is that so…" Eirinn felt a tingle in her heart, but she didn't say much since Innilis was around.

"Well… Alright! Eirinn, let's help Innie and Sasha clean up!" Leguna found the atmosphere a little odd and decided it was best to get back to business.

By the time they put the room in order, night had fallen. They decided to go to the shops on campus for dinner.

While the facilities and size of Second Magic Academy couldn't compare to their rival's, it was far from inadequate for an institution of magic learning. At the very least, there were different kinds of shops and taverns inside the campus.

Leguna took the three girls to a decent restaurant. It had a decent atmosphere. While it wasn't huge, it gave off an elegant and refined feeling, which was to his satisfaction.

"Eat all you want! It's my treat!" Leguna said.

He was only saying that because Sasha was there, since Eirinn and Innilis didn't lack money and they had never held back whenever they ate out with Leguna.

Sasha received the menu sheepishly from the waiter and didn't know what she should order. Every single dish on the menu cost as much as her weekly allowance.

Seeing her looking so helpless, Leguna couldn't help but sigh. He looked at his menu and said, "We'll have herb roast chicken, mushroom lamb chop and a bottle of the finest grape wine. Give us two premium cheese slices too."

"Ah, that's too much…" Sasha hurriedly said. Even though Leguna only ordered two main dishes, he already spent a few hundred gold coins. It was an astronomical amount for Sasha!

"I'm having that for myself," Leguna said. He had been working so hard at Innilis's dorm that he was now famished.

"I want ice cream cake!" Innilis said without holding back.

"Eating sweets at night will make you fat," Leguna reminded.

Innilis was a sweet tooth and desserts like ice cream, cakes and what-not were her favorite.

"Hmph! I'm not afraid of that!" Innilis said.

Though she couldn't eat that much, normal girls who ate the amount of sugar she did would easily see their figures bloat up. Despite that, Innilis didn't seem to grow much. In fact, even her figure hadn't started developing much…

"I'd like foie gras and mussels," Eirinn said.

"Alright, only you're left." Leguna said with a tone of annoyance.

He knew that being encouraging wouldn't necessarily work on her and that sometimes, giving her a little push was what was needed.

"Can I have a salmon?" she said, mustering her courage.

"Sure thing." Leguna shrugged.

Even though he looked nonchalant, he was secretly relieved. If Sasha couldn't do at least that much, how would she be able to survive in this society?

……

While the shop wasn't huge, the internal decorations were beautiful and the dishes they cooked up were rather decent. They enjoyed their meal greatly.

Unlike the shops in the campus of First Magic Academy, those in Second Magic Academy were all owned by the academy. It was an idea Leguna gave Annelotte to make money. Since the academy was semi-open, there was a customer base of students and tourists who were interested in magic. The traffic through campus should contribute a steady stream of money to the academy's coffers.

It's rather decent. Looks like this will be quite profitable, Leguna thought as he wiped his mouth.

"What's the deal with this? I asked for my steak to be medium rare! Why is it burned over here?" a haughty voice rang out. Leguna furrowed his brow at hearing that.

"It's only black pepper, Sir," a young girl explained. She looked like she didn't have any experience in the field to deal with something like this.

"How dare you talk back?!" The young magus slapped the server and caused the girl who was not much taller than Innilis to fall to the ground.

The female server backed away clutching her face in terror. She felt her face burn with pain and spat outa bloody tooth.

"Eirinn…" Leguna knew that the young magus was there to cause trouble. Usually, Leguna wouldn't bother with things like that, but this was Annelotte's academy. He shamelessly considered himself her future suitor and decided that her business was also his.

He definitely had to get involved. But the most important thing now was to help the pitiful server. Eirinn immediately went to heal her.

"Who are you?!" The youth angrily approached Eirinn and looked like he was about to at against her.

"Innie, go ahead and show him," Leguna said with a smile. Even though he could easily deal with this, it would be good for Innilis and Sasha to get some experience dealing with matters like these.

"Watch me, Big Bro!" she said confidently. For some reason, she felt like she could do anything as long as Leguna was by her side.

Eirinn ignored the youth. Her only concern was treating the young server's teeth. She knew Leguna would settle anything else anyway.

"I'm talking to you!" the youth said as he inched forward brashly. He wasn't able to see Eirinn's face thanks to her hair. Otherwise, he'd definitely be charmed. But now, he raised his leg and looked like he was about to kick her away.

"Anything that can be solved with magic shouldn't be dealt with by other means. Haven't you heard that saying, mister?" Innilis said in a mocking tone.

Leguna wanted to see what she could do, so he took two steps back and hid in a dark corner where light didn't reach. Sasha had wanted to follow him, but his fierce glare sent her shivering. Shet stood beside Innilis like she was ready to be her sidekick.

"Oh? Which dumb blonde are you? Oh, there are two of you!" His attention was now focused on Innilis.

Innilis felt an instinctive fear being glared at like that. But when she remembered that Leguna was right there, she mustered her courage and proudly said, "I am a student of Second Magic Academy. So is she."

"Oh, I didn't think I'd meet a fellow student here, the youth said in an odd tone when he looked Innilis down. "What a coincidence. I'm a student of First Magic Academy."

"Since we're fellow magic students, why ruin our reputation by acting like such a savage?" Innilis said without holding back, "I recall that His Highness Geoffrey called his academy a noble one. I didn't think the nobles he was talking about would be someone like you!"

The youth was obviously enraged. "Ludicrous! Do you know that you've just insulted a noble?"

"Don't you remember the oath we swore at enrollment? There's no difference in status or birthright in the academy. We are all students of magic and are nothing but magi," Innilis calmly responded, "So, don't throw your noble weight around here. We're just magi here and nobility has nothing to do with it."

"Since that's the case, why don't we settle this like magi then?" the youth said sadistically. He bowed to Innilis and said, "I challenge you to a duel!"

Innilis was surprised at how reckless the youth was to extend her a challenge. However, she didn't feel afraid. As long as Leguna was there, she could do anything. She returned the bow like Annelotte taught her and said, "I accept your challenge."

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