Volume 1 Chapter 2—Holy Messiah Academy
Translator & Editor: SaltyTank
Loki and Alice walked shoulder to shoulder on a boulevard in the Holy Messiah Academy. The woods were rather attractive in summer, with rays of sunlight permeating through gaps between the fresh leaves in different shapes. The scent of soil also spread throughout the air after raining.
The ma.s.sive academy was situated in the central region of Noegard, surrounded by government inst.i.tutions of the Reiz Empire. There was no need to worry about unrelated people infiltrating the academy. The decorations in the academy were elegant and delicate, apparently the work of professional architects and artists. There were also bronze statues along the sides of the main road; statues of particularly excellent students in the history of the Holy Messiah Academy. Some had already left the world, while others were thriving in the centre stage of the empire.
Loki had changed into the academy"s uniform. He still wore a white shirt and a white kerchief, but the mage robe was now replaced by a black cloak. He also took off the two pins on his collar and replaced them with the student"s badge. It consisted of four circles and a cross; the cross symbolises G.o.ddess Tyran, and each of the circles represented the Senatus, the Papal Palace, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The whole badge together symbolised the power of the G.o.ddess, theocracy, royalty, and citizens.
Alice was also now wearing the academy"s uniform. Her black skirt fluttered as she skipped down the road, her leathering clattering to the ground. However, she did not wear a student"s badge because she was allowed entry to the academy as Loki"s attendant, and the academy had no intentions of registering her as a student either.
The two took a turn and stepped out of the tree shade. A sky-blue structure surrounded by walls of gla.s.s entered their eyes. Under the bright sunlight, the gla.s.s refracted the rays of light haphazardly to create a spectacle of colours. As they walked towards the building, they could see the delicate emboss on the gla.s.s walls.
“This is the Lunar Palace, the central building of the whole academy.” Loki glanced at Alice and continued, “Its original name was ‘Minastein", which means intelligence and diligence in the ancient Rhein language. When looked above, the whole structure"s crescent in shape. The interior is also designed with the theme ‘starry sky" in mind, and there"s a chandelier that looks like the moon hanging from the ceiling.”
“It sure is beautiful, but what"s the point?”
“That"ll depend if you"re a believer or not. This is actually a church for worshipping for the students.”
“Hm?” Alice raised an eyebrow as she noticed Loki quickly walking past the Lunar Palace. “Loki you"re a cleric right? Aren"t you gonna stop by and say hi to your G.o.ddess?”
Loki stayed silent and continued walking towards the boulevard on the other side of the building.
“Go straight ahead and we"ll see the library, the largest structure in the academy. There"s a large variety of books, and pretty much every famous t.i.tle can be found in there, many of which are the only remaining copy left in the world. Just around the library are the teaching complexes, and the cla.s.sroom for Elemental Studies" in Whitehead Building. Hmm, there"s still a bit of time before cla.s.s starts. We"ll make it in time. We might have to introduce ourselves later, behave well and don"t get into trouble.”
Alice pouted. “Got it got it. Speaking of which, you know a lot about this place. Instead of a new student, it"s more like you"ve been here a lot before.”
Loki shook his head in response. “I just took the time to memorise the student"s handbook. These are just basic…”
Loki suddenly turned silent. He seemed to be attracted by a nearby object, his eyes glued onto it. Alice looked over to see a bronze statue that looked just like any other statues lined up along the boulevard. The statue was of a young lady who faced sideways to the road. She held a book in her left hand, a brush in the other. She had a peaceful aura around her, her gentle smile only adding to her tranquil atmosphere. It was impossible to record the girl"s exact appearance through a statue, one could still tell that the sculptor had given his all to recreate her entrancing beauty.
No matter how beautiful it is, it"s just a statue! There"s no way it looks better than me!
Even when they met for the first time, Loki had not looked at Alice in such a trance; it was the first time she had seen him behave in such a way. Those azure eyes, they looked so gentle,and what is this feeling… so sorrowful.
“Loki… If we don"t go, we"ll be late,” Alice said jealously, unable to accept the fact that her beauty had lost to a mere statue.
Loki"s head jerked backwards as if he was forcefully awaken from a dream. He subconsciously held his hand up, small glimmers of light gathering around his pupils; it was the sign of spellcasting. He quickly noticed his blunder and swiftly dispersed the spell. Coldness filled his eyes once again, the gentleness and sorrow just moments ago nowhere to be seen. He then turned to leave without even giving the statue a glance. As the two walked, none of them spoke up. Loki kept his head down the entire time, seemingly thinking about something.
They soon arrived at Whitehead Building, a snow white structure made out of marble. Loki lightly pushed the door, revealing the tiered lecture hall. The lecturer"s stand was at the very bottom, while the floor was pitched so the seats in the rear are sat higher. Due to the incident with the statue, the hall was almost filled when they arrived. The magic instructor was already there at his stand and was about to start his lesson. Elemental Studies was one of the most popular courses in the Holy Messiah Academy; even students who did not opt for this course would sometimes attend the lessons.
There were two ways to learn magic. The best way was to become an archmage"s disciple and live in a mage tower. Disciples would receive the teachings of their powerful masters and study magic that has pa.s.sed down from generation to generation. These disciples were known as “Inheritance Mages”. They had a different understanding of magic from the ma.s.ses and were also called “high mages”. However, these great, mysterious archmages were few in numbers, and each of them would only take in one disciple. If the disciple failed to become an archmage, that would mean the end of the inheritance lineage. As such, archmages were always extremely cautious when picking their disciples. They would only take in extraordinary, one in a million talents to pa.s.s on their legacy. This meant that it was obviously not the mainstream way of learning magic.
For this very reason, another method arose. Professional magic instructors would hold lectures to teach the ma.s.ses about magic, but teaching a group of people was obviously less efficient than one-on-one lessons. Archmages were also vastly stronger than magic instructors; the former were almost like natural disasters, while the latter were scholars who were somewhat proficient in magic and also knowledgeable in the fundamentals of magic. Students who become mages through learning from magic instructors were known as “Orthodox Mages”. They could also utilise the power of magic, but most, if not all, were nowhere as powerful as inheritance mages and would never be. The bright side of this method was that it could nurture lots of mages at the same time and spread the knowledge of magic to more people. Orthodox mages were also consisted the majority of Reiz Empire"s magic forces; inheritance mages rarely served under anyone apart from their masters.
Loki immediately caught everyone"s attention. Hundreds of gazes landed on him, most filled with confusion. Although there were a lot of students in the academy and it was impossible to know every one of them in detail, most students could still recognise one another at the very least. This was the Holy Messiah Academy after all, and every person here could be an ally or enemy in future power struggles. No one would miss the chance to obtain intel for the future.
However, Loki was a stranger. Students whispered among themselves, exchanging what they knew about this new face. In the end, all of them knew nothing and came to the conclusion that he was a transfer student. Alice who was standing behind him also attracted the students, but in a different way. Many lost interest after noticing that she was not wearing a student badge on her collar, leaving behind only the male students" lecherous gazes.
Loki nodded at the magic instructor and the students, then said, “I am Loki Davoral Auxsasy, and she"s my attendant.”
He then immediately led Alice to two empty seats on the back row and sat down. He took out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket, preparing himself for the lesson.
Such a short introduction was enough to stun everyone in the lecture hall for a few seconds. The magic instructor lightly coughed to regain the students" attention, then began his lesson. Although the instructor was giving a great lecture, almost none of the students were actually listening. The term “traitor” was being whispered by many in the cla.s.sroom.
Loki glanced at Alice, and the latter nodded in response. Due to the magic connection between master and apostle, there was no need to order Alice through speech. The students whispered in low voices, but Alice had extraordinary hearing. She reported what she heard from the students to her master in a small voice.
“So he"s the ‘hero" who suppressed the revolt… Although his whole clan were sinners, they were still his family. I wonder how it feels to chop his sister"s head off.”
“Probably excited, he was made an intermediate cleric at such a young age after all.”
“But that"s just for looks, no? It"s a sinecure with no power at all. The Senatus had no choice but to give him some reward, but they can"t allow him to rise through the ranks either.”
“He"s already blessed by Tyran just by keeping his life. If he can betray once, he will naturally do it again. If I was the Pope, I"d not forgive such a mixed breed lowlife.”
“But he"s not a mixed breed, remember? The Auxsasies are pure-blooded sinners.”
Alice could no longer bear reporting such insults to Loki. Rage filled her fiery eyes as she abruptly stood up, flipping the chair beneath her.