Ervilia

Two days later.

Isabella woke up.

Like the previous morning, she found herself cuddled by her young master.

'Sleep here.' She clearly remembered her master's order when it was time for bed two nights ago.

She wanted to retort but before she could, Adrian pulled her and made her lay down beside him. He wrapped one of his arms around her and closed his eyes. Moments later, he was fast asleep.

She had tried really hard to move his arm but she failed to do anything. Seeing no more ways to escape, she surrendered and went to sleep.

Last night, she again had to sleep in her young master's arms. She was extremely nervous at first. But she got quite accustomed to it. And as far as she had seen, he had no other intentions other than using her as a pillow.

As if he had sensed her waking up, he opened his eyes.

"Good morning." He let her free and got up from bed.

"Good morning, young master." She followed and got up.

Both of them were still in their night robes.

"Finally, our first day of class." He stretched his arms.

"Yes, I am quite excited."

"How was the orientation, yesterday?"

"Nothing special." Isabella smiled wryly.

Apparently, Adrian was the first student in the history of the Academy to miss the orientation ceremony. It caused quite the ruckus.

"The uniforms were delivered yesterday, right? Bring mine." He ordered.

"Yes. Please wait a moment."

Moments later, Isabella brought a folded green-striped white shirt and a white pants.

"Hmm. Not bad." He observed the clothings for a few seconds.

He then opened both of his arms.

Isabella tilted her head a bit. His actions confused her.

Seeing her confused expression, Adrian said, "What are you doing? Help me put my clothes on."

Isabella almost jumped from surprise. She pointed a finger at herself and sheepishly asked, "Me?"

"Yes. Who else? Aren't you supposed to be my maid?"

"But- but-" Her face was completely red, as if all of her blood rushed to her cheeks.

Adrian did not need his demonic eyes to understand what was going on in his innocent maid's mind.

"Come here, I will teach-"

*Ding. Ding*

The bell interrupted him.

"Tsk. Only half an hour left before class begins. I will let it go for today. But you won't be pardoned next time."

She nodded her head like a pecking hen.

"Now go and change. We will be leaving for class together in 10 minutes."

She immediately left, her face still red from overthinking things.

******

About half an hour later.

In an archaic looking classroom, twenty five young men and ladies, most of whom were more or less excited, were busy chatting amongst themselves, or just sitting without doing anything.

Entrance of a woman in her late twenties silenced the class. Everyone went to their own spot, waiting for the instructor to speak.

"Hello everyone. I am instructor Abegail Bell and I will be your class teacher. I will be teaching you everything basic about magic and circles, and also about general geography and history of our Continent, the Continent of Ervilia."

"Classes would normally start through introductions but we will skip the formalities as I already know about most of you through your application forms. But before we begin our lessons, I am really interested in one thing." She was looking through the room until she finally fixed her gaze upon a certain student.

"Adrian Darkheart."

"Yes." He lazily replied, not bothering to stand up.

"May I know why you were absent yesterday at the orientation ceremony?"

"No, you may not." He replied, same tone as before.

The instructor coughed. Everyone was shocked; except for Isabella, who was already accustomed to such behaviour.

Academy instructors were like distant existences to them; though all of the instructors were commoners, every single one of them were special in their own rights. They could fight against circlers of higher levels and still walk out victorious. And the instructors with silver adornments on their coats, like the one standing in front of them, were heroes and veterans from past stampedes or wars.

Anyone would need to think twice before offending one, especially if he or she must study under the instructor for four whole years.

"Pardon. WHY were you absent yesterday?"

"It is a pain."

"Excuse me?" The instructor squinted.

"It is a pain walking all the way from 'Fredrick House' to the auditorium."

"But the Fredrick House and the auditorium are literally located adjacent to each other!" The instructor could not believe it.

"Exactly." Adrian casually replied.

Not just the instructor, the whole class had their mouths wide open. Only Isabella was smiling wryly, because she knew- this was the truth.

The instructor did not know what to say. So she acted as if nothing happened and went to the lessons.

"Today, we are going to learn a little about the Continent of Ervilia. I know that all the nobles here know everything but I doubt that the commoners know anything."

Two students began to laugh but soon enough, they realised their mistake- the level 6 circler standing in front of them was a commoner.

The instructor did not mind, at least not from her outside demeanour, and continued, "The first thing you need to know before starting your journey as a circler is what you are up against and how strong are they. The continent of Ervilia is divided by the Prolix mountain range into two parts- the Northern wilderness, which is uninhabitable by humans and the Southern plains, the home of mankind."

"But the core inhabitants of the South, mankind, are not united. The Empire rules the east while we, the Confederation, defend the west. The Confederation of Kingdoms is an alliance of numerous kingdoms, small and large, founded by the Kingdom of Nemphis to stand against the Empire and the wilderness."

"The kingdoms in the alliance are not equal. They can be divided into three tiers taking their land area, population, military strength, and most of all- circler strength into consideration. Tier 1 kingdoms are small kingdoms, either from the mainland or small islands. Their land area, population, military strength, circler strength are low compared to their higher tier counterparts. So, they have created their own alliance to support each other, and together- they are strong enough to stand up against a tier 2 nation."

Some students, who were from tier 1 kingdoms, clenched their fists from frustration but they knew that this was the truth. And among them was a beautiful young lady named Cornelia de Recruz, the fourth princess of the Recruz Kingdom and the second highest scorer from the examinations.

"Speaking of tier 2 kingdoms, there are three- Northguard Kingdom to our west, Darkshore Kingdom to our south and the Kindom of Aurgoth to our Southwest. The Darkshore Kingdom is a military nation with the strongest military prowess in the Confederation." She paused and cast a glance at Adrian, the only one who hailed from Darkshore in the class.

"Then we have the Kingdom of Aurgoth which shares its borders with almost all the Kingdoms of the Confederation. As a result, the Kingdom is the centre of trade of the whole Organization. It also boasts the largest population and a huge reserve of natural resources. Then comes the Northguard Kingdom, the closest ally of the Kingdom of Nemphis. They can be called the jack of all trades; they come second at everything- be it land, population, military or circler quality."

"Finally, there is only one tier 3 kingdom in the whole Confederation and that is where you are at right now- the Kingdom of Nemphis. It is situated south of the wilderness and it borders the Empire to the east." She stated proudly.

"This Kingdom is not that different from the tier 2 Kingdoms except the fact that we control the most land. Can anyone tell me what sets this Kingdom apart from the others and makes it the second strongest nation in the continent, only after the Empire?"

Dolf Ironcross stood up and replied, "Our circlers!"

"Correct. The quantity and quality of our circlers exceed all others. For example- our academy alone can outshine any tier 2 kingdom when it comes to the quality and quantity of high level circlers."

Everyone, except some students who already knew of this, gasped. Especially the commoners. It was every commoner circler's dream to join the academy. So, their excitement reached a whole new height.

But Abegail was looking at Isabella all the time. She felt really good when Isabella revealed a surprised reaction.

Adrian noticed this action and smiled.

'Daring to steal my maid? Dream on!'