16 Normal? What's that?

His past self, not to mention his parents, would have been horrified of what he had become. Of what he had done.

The teachings of his kind mother had flown out of the window after Stillben. The warnings his father had given to him while learning about different herbs and their combinations had burned alongside them.

Amber would have just looked at him sadly. Not with anger, just sadness. Even after he had destroyed everything she had worked towards.

But they would have understood, given time. They would have forgiven him, just like always.

Surely.

"What are you standing around for?" Scarlett appeared behind him, slightly out of breath.

Theo snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at her. The other two still hadn't made it up, but he could hear them.

"Just waiting for the other two." He said.

Scarlett nodded but didn't pay much attention to him as she focused on catching her breath. She was strained just from running up the stairs?

"You know, you should exercise more, if even this is difficult for you." Theo said. "Just because you're going to be studying to become an arcanist, doesn't mean you should neglect your physical fitness."

"Oh?" She tried to calm her breath and flashed him a little smile. "When did you become so concerned about my wellbeing? Are you worried about me?"

The teasing words didn't have the intended effect as she wasn't able to conceal her constant huffing.

"What kind of leader would I be if I didn't worry about my teammates?" Theo flashed her a smile of his own before looking around.

The corridor they were in was just as empty and cold as the one on the first and second floor had been. It was hard to believe that the four of them were the only ones running late.

Maybe it was because they had been looking at the courtyard for so long.

"And where am I supposed to find time for exercise, anyways?" Scarlett asked, still trying desperately to hide her obvious exhaustion.

"Wake up earlier and do it then, like I do." He said and pointed at Era and Lucy who had finally appeared. "See? They're not exhausted at all."

Scarlett looked at the two to make sure for herself before turning back to face him. "That's because they were taking it easy!"

Theo waved his hand and didn't bother to respond. He turned towards the direction of the classroom they had supposed to have been in five minutes ago.

It didn't make sense how Scarlett could remind him of Amber one moment and then become someone so far from her that it was ridiculous.

Just because of her presence, he had become so introspective again. It was annoying.

Yet, he hadn't been able to push her away. He had tried, but it had always been half-hearted at best, and she kept coming back.

'It'll only become worse going forward, won't it?' Theo thought to himself. He could practically hear Amber's mocking laughter echoing in his ears. It only served to make his mood worse.

It seemed like even the sun was mocking him by trying to lift up his mood. Forcing those little beams of sunlight through the windows.

Thankfully one of the trees in the courtyard managed to block off most of it.

"Which classroom was it again?" Era asked curiously. "I forgot."

Theo stopped in front of a wooden door. It was different from all the other ones as it wasn't stone. "This one."

"Era, why don't you be the first one?" Theo asked while smiling.

Era nodded without saying anything, he stepped up to the door and tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge.

"It seems to be locked." Era said.

"Then knock on it." Theo said.

Era obliged but not without some slight confusion. "Why didn't you just do this yourself?"

Whoever opened the door would be the first one the professor would see. That meant that the most attention would be placed on that person, even if only at first. If he could use Era like this, why wouldn't he?

Theo didn't tell Era that, though.

But expecting Era to knock like a normal person was a miscalculation on his part.

One would normally knock on a door once or twice. But instead of doing the normal thing, the idiot started battering the door with his fist as if though it owed him coin.

"What are you doing?!" Scarlett hissed at him but she was too late.

Era raised his hand for yet another knock just as the door knob was turning, but he failed to notice it. He brought his hand down just as the door was wrenched open.

Another hand appeared and took hold of Era's wrist, dragging him inside the classroom. It was so sudden that he stumbled on the raised threshold and stumbled into the figure who had pulled him.

"Oh my~." A voice spoke and Era was soon trapped in a tight embrace, with his face mushed into the chest of the green haired woman. "I thought you were shy, but that was very aggressive~."

The woman started patting Era like a cat. He also made no move to get himself out of his current predicament, and instead seemed like he had given up before even trying. His arms were just limply hanging by his sides.

"You want to become my apprentice that much?" The woman continued speaking. "That's no good. Trying to make yourself more appealing by doing stuff like this will make the others mad, you know~?"

That seemed to get a reaction out of the boy, as he was suddenly filled with energy and struggled to try and escape from the woman's arms.

Theo's group wasn't the only one stupefied by the situation. Everyone sitting in the classroom behind the woman were looking at the spectacle with just as much disbelief.

The classroom was reminiscent of the public lecture halls in Felwinter where the teacher or professor had a stage in front and the students were situated in a half circle facing it.

But instead of a singular, large and curved gray stone desk in each row. There were multiple wooden desks that seemed to fit exactly four people, positioned in multiple rows with a slight distance in between each one.

Every one of those desks was filled by people, except one in the front row.

And they were all looking at them, as the door was situated next to the professor's stage.

No matter how hard Era tried to escape from the woman's arms, it seemed like it wasn't going to work. Then suddenly, he was free, as the woman decided to open her arms.

There wasn't the expected blush on Era's face as he tried to desperately smooth his ruffled robes. In fact, he looked calm everywhere except in his eyes. They were wild.

"Forgive me, Una. I did not mean to offend you like this." Era bowed courteously after he had smoothed his robes. "I also have no wish to compete with anyone."

"Boo!" Una walked up to him and poked him in the chest with one finger while the other hand went up to his head to pat him again. "You have to compete for anything that is worthwhile. Otherwise, you'll never achieve anything."

Was he receiving a lecture all of a sudden? Theo wasn't sure what to think of the current situation. It looked like a mother scolding her son for a lack of ambition. But he doubted many mothers would pat their son at the same time.

'Ah, mine would.' Theo thought to himself as he recalled a memory. He had truly had wonderful parents. Not many had been so blessed.

"I'm fine with that." Era said and took a step back, escaping from Una's continued patting.

She didn't try to pat him again and turned to look at the rest of them.

"I'll overlook your tardiness today since Era's with you, but I hope it won't become a habit." She said with a strict tone of voice.

It was pretty hard to take her seriously after seeing all of that, but they all nodded, nonetheless.

"Good." She nodded, obviously satisfied with herself. "Your seats are the only vacant ones. Now get going, we don't have all day. I have some precious apprentices I need to guide~."

Each of them stepped into the classroom. It mirrored the corridors in that they were almost completely surrounded by the white stone, but the dark wood spirals were more abundant, and there were a few sources of light hidden away in the corners and the roof.

Theo had no idea what they were.

Era was the last to move from his spot. With Theo only slightly in front of him, he just barely heard the words Una said to Era.

"You could be one of them, you know?"

Era didn't respond and followed behind him as they each took their seats. Almost everyone in the classroom was looking at them as they sat down. The staring continued even after Una tried to gain their attention, unsuccessfully.

A sudden, cold gust of wind forced everyone to look at the woman standing on the stage. She had her hand extended and there was a slight smile on her face.

"Focus! I don't have all day to teach you brats. I have my own apprentices to concentrate on." She waved her hand and another gust of wind appeared, picking up a piece of chalk.

Theo hadn't noticed the blackboard behind the woman before.

But that wasn't what really caught his attention. It was the fact that she was creating wind without a visible usage of a spell, more specifically, Theo hadn't seen a single wisp of aether from her.

It wasn't normal wind, either. It was able to force them all to look at her at the same time, and now it was holding a piece of chalk and writing something on the blackboard.

She was able to control it with ease, it seemed. And without any gestures from her hands.

Theo wasn't sure how she was doing it, and it seemed that a large number of the others were just as interested in that as he was.

Una didn't miss that.

"Well? Aren't you impressed by your professor's abilities?" She asked, detaching the wind holding the chalk from the blackboard for a moment to fly it around the room. "I'm especially proud of this ability of mine."

As the chalk passed by their table, Theo noticed that the current of air holding the chalk wasn't cold, but warm.

"Does anyone want to guess how I can do it?" She asked, bringing it back to the blackboard and continuing with the words it had been writing earlier.

There was a quiet wave of murmuring, but no one raised their hand. Except for one.

"Yes?" She pointed at the blue haired boy with similar bunny ears as Lucy.

"You've integrated your soul with a wind beast." The boy said. "Specifically, A Zephar."

The professor clapped. "Correct. I would show you the wings, but I don't want to destroy my robes, again. And the old geezer banned me from disrobing while I'm supposed to be teaching."

There was another wave of low voices as everyone were discussing this 'Zephar'. It seemed like most had heard of it, but Theo had no idea what it was. All he knew was that it was a wind affinity beast, and apparently quite strong, from what the others were saying.

The boy who had answered sat down and was now glaring in their direction, specifically at Lucy. The two looked like they were related.

"Is he related to you?" Scarlett asked Lucy. She had noticed it, too.

The girl had an ever present blush on her as a result of the previous staring, but she nodded as she stared at the professor and spoke quietly. "He's my little brother."

"Why's he glaring at you like that, then?" Scarlett asked while shooting a glance at the boy in question.

"What?" The tone of her voice shifted slightly. Scarlett probably didn't notice it, but Theo did.

She turned her head towards her little brother.

Because Theo was sitting in between Scarlett and Era, he wasn't able to see what Lucy did, but he knew she did something as the boy immediately moved his gaze back onto the professor while looking slightly nervous.

Lucy then turned around as if nothing had happened while still looking as shy and embarrassed as ever.

'Fuck. Why couldn't she have been at least somewhat normal?' Theo thought to himself as he looked towards the blackboard, catching a glimpse of the boy sitting next to him. 'And what the hell is wrong with you, too?'

Era looked almost scared, nothing like the boisterous idiot from before. He twitched almost every time the professor turned to look at him.