Stealing or Borrowing?

3 days have passed, I can't believe it's been more than a week since Clare went to school at Neuvrost which sometimes makes her dizzy. There are so many formulas that he must memorize, techniques that must be memorized, various kinds of creatures whose names are very difficult to memorize, memorize magic spells, also know the secrets within her.

Every day, after every class Clare locks herself in her room even though all the dorm kids are outside the dorms doing something. Clare also runs out of story ideas for novels when she's bored. Whenever he had time, he would meet Blaire to fill the void and play with Thumbelina in the park.

During this time Clare also avoids Louis and is closer to Gavin, especially in biology and Philosophy classes. Clare is in the same class as Blaire in Magical practice, Dark art, and Performance magic.

Whenever Clare confronted Louis, Louis always pulled her as if Clare had made a fatal mistake and Louis would punish her. Clare was annoyed with his arbitrary treatment, therefore they often had arguments.

One day, again Louis pulled Clare to a place outside the Academy's castle. Clare walks lazily hoping Louis gets annoyed and leaves her. They stopped right in front of a forest that was so silent and terrifying, it seemed like a forbidden forest.

"You want to test your guts again? Sorry, you're alone." Clare refused and turned around and was about to leave but was pulled back by Louis.

Louis gave Clare a piece of paper and Clare took it and read the contents of the paper. Clare's brow furrowed after reading it and glanced at Louis intensely.

"You think I'm your maid? Just tell Lotus to do it." Clare still doesn't want to. Who wants to defy death just for someone else? Especially for nothing.

Louis sighed in annoyance, he had never been rejected before. "Lotus has other jobs. Only you can."

"Don't you have legs? No hands and no eyes? You just need to go into the forest and look for this, I also have other business!" Clare chirped not accepting herself being told to.

"I noticed you were unemployed. Hurry up or I'll throw you now." Louis threatened intimidatingly.

Clare glared at him fiercely. "Not because you're a senior, I just obeyed. I also have self-respect!"

"Self-respect again," Louis mumbled in annoyance. "Pride doesn't apply to me, hurry up!" Louis pushed Clare into the woods just like that until Clare almost fell.

"You..." growled Clare raised her hand to punch Louis but she lowered it again knowing she would lose. Clare sighed for the umpteenth time. "What do you really want? That time you told me to enter the forbidden room now into the forbidden forest."

"At that time just playing games, now serious. I don't have much time, if you come back after 2 hours then I'll assume you're dead." Louis explained flatly making Clare groan in annoyance.

"You're the one who died!" Clare growled a little screaming. Not expecting her fate to be like this and she was helplessly being bullied.

"Do it or I'll throw you!" Louis threatened.

Like it or not, Clare had to obey him. She turned towards the forest and walked as if entering the forest in general without any hesitation or fear because to her, it was just an ordinary forest. Clare kept cursing Louis in her mumbles throughout the journey to find the plant Louis was looking for. For him Louis was too much, sending Clare who could not do anything to the forest alone.

The longer it went on, the further Clare walked into confusion. She kept looking for the plant she needed until she finally found it after a few minutes of walking around the forest. Clare immediately took it and decided to get out of this scary forest immediately.

Just as she was about to leave the forest, she saw the vines moving towards him made her pale. Immediately Clare ran as fast as she could in the direction she was aiming for while avoiding several roots that were attacking her from all sides. Apparently it wasn't just the roots that were haunting him but a huge snake! Clare almost fell and saw the snake was right in front of her.

Clare slowly backed away with uncontrollable fear. The roots that bind Clare's hands make it look as if she is a hostage and in front of her is a huge snake ready to make her sacrifice. The snake opened its mouth wide and advanced to devour Clare. Clare's whole body was stiff even she couldn't scream a bit. Sh could only close his eyes and lowered her head not daring to look directly at the unpleasant sight in front of her.

Srakkk

The voice pierced Clare's ears, making her dare to open her eyes. He saw a girl holding a sword and it seemed that she had killed the snake. The girl also cut the vines wrapped around Clare's hands with the sword with one powerful slash. Clare widened her eyes at the sight of a snake that split open as easily as a piece of cake.

"No need to be surprised, it's normal." she smirked.

"Who are you?" asked Clare. Her body was still shaking with fear, she looked even dumber than before.

She stretched out his hand "Jules Ramsey, 2nd grade dormitory. Looks like we are in the same class, it's just that I didn't attend the orientation period."

Clare accepted his handshake and smiled faintly. "Clare Davish, Class 1 dorm," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"You?" Jules asked back.

"Senior told me to take this." Clare replied showing the plant from the bag.

Jules looked at the contents of the bag with a sad smile as well as a snort. "You are so naive, if I were you I would throw you into the forest first."

Clare was stunned for a moment. She should have just run when Louis forced her and not have to be afraid. Then her gaze fell on the sword Jules was holding, it looked brand new and had blood marks on the tip. "Where did you get a sword like that?"

Jules glanced at the sword in her hand and laughed hollowly. "I took it from Rowler, quietly. He said this sword was very strong, so I came here to try it."

"We'd better get back before anyone notices, you have to give that back to Rowler too." Clare said.

Rowler is a reliable Academy guard. Clare had met him in Philosophy, if I remember that Uncle Rowler really liked a forest-like environment.

They chatted as they walked out of the forest casually. Looking back, Jules is a person who likes to break the rules, but she's also kind, unlike Louis who put Clare into action.

They finally managed to get out of the forest after walking around for so long. Clare decides to accompany Jules to deliver Uncle Rowler's sword to its place not far from the forest.

They arrived at a place still around the Academy where there were all kinds of strange plants and animals. All of this seemed foreign to Clare, she crossed the hedgerows on her right and left to approach Uncle Rowler's house which looked only a patch. Maybe it's like Clare's house inside.

Jules ran behind the house as did Clare and immediately put her sword on the ground just like that then ran back upstairs to get out of there. Suddenly, a man cleared his throat loudly, causing them to stop in their tracks and feel caught off guard.

"I told you," Jules muttered then turned around as well as Clare saw a large man with folded arms staring at them both flatly. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I forgot something so I came back." Jules replied lightly.

"Is it true? I hope nothing is lost." Rowler had always suspected Jules since the first time he met. Because at that time Rowler had been deceived on the first day he met Jules.

Jules rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, your things are safe."

"Some time ago someone came and I lost my sword, you know who it is?"

Jules quickly replied, "Of course not!"

"You haven't come here yet but suddenly said something was left behind." Rowler suspected her again. It's hard to get the trust of other people who have cheated at the beginning of the meeting.

"Rowler, you suspect me?" Jules said looking disappointed. "I'm not even holding a sword!"

"Don't fool me, I know it's you!" Rowler retorted lazily and flapped his hands as if to shoo.

"Rowler!" Jules whined then glanced at Clare. "Clare, tell him I don't hold any sword!"

"Jules doesn't lie." Clare said spontaneously.

Rowler examined it closely. "You're Clare 1st year dormitory?" Rowler guessed.

Clare has no other answer other than, "Ya(?)"

"Don't befriend her if your brain doesn't want to be contaminated." Rowler said causing Clare to grin. Somehow Rowler's attitude, he seemed friends with Jules as well as enemies.

"You think I'm a pest!" Jules said a little pressing because she didn't accept.

"You said it...." Rowler said guiltily.

"Come on, let's go!" Jules pulled Clare so forcefully that Clare almost fell while Rowler just chuckled.

They walked away from Uncle Rowler's place towards the Academy castle. Jules seems to be in a bad mood after that although he was initially happy to have tried Rowler's sword.

"You look displeased." Clare scolded.

"No need to talk." Jules said coldly.

"So you're already a close friend of Rowler?"

"Not really, Rowler is annoying." Jules grumbled.

"How did you know that the sword was so powerful?"

"I listened to Rowler's conversation with Lily. Lily is the keeper of magic items and she should check Roelwer's items too before they are officially used."

"Lily," Clare murmured. "Isn't she on the power selection committee?"

"Huh, that's her job"

"That means Lily also put the magic item in the box?" guessed Clare

"It wasn't Lily who put it. Lily only accepts the box provided." Jules objected.

"Then where did the thing in the box come from?"

Jules rubbed his chin while remembering. "As far as I know, the thing didn't come or was placed on purpose, the thing in the box just appeared according to the owner's mind as well as the owner's ability."

"The possessor's ability..." Clare thought that his zero ability meant that he couldn't do anything like she was now.

"What did you get yourself?" asked Clare, glancing at Jules curiously.

"You act like you're Louis. Apparently being with Louis got you catching his habit." Jules put on an irritated face.

Clare shrugs. "I'm just curious."

Jules chuckled. "You guessed it, I could have taken Uncle Rowler's sword easily without being caught if I took it. And you know that Rowler is a perfectionist."

"You can teleport?"

"It's a common thing, if you learn that technique then you can do it."

"How about being a shadow?"

Jules laughed heartily. "It's also a common thing, the level of tricking people is smaller."

"Then?" Clare is curious.

"Come to think of it, that's the reason why I wasn't put in the 1st class dormitory."

Clare frowns. "Why?"

Jules snorted proudly. "I'm too dangerous and I also don't want those nobles to anger me and cause trouble."

Clare chuckles. "You're just like Blaire."

"You know him?" Jules asked and Clare nodded.

"Lucky for that one child too," Jules muttered. "You are good friends with him?" Jules looks doubtful.

"Our relationship is not very good. Blair is too cold." Jules replied nonchalantly.

Clare smirked. "As long as you treat her well, Blaire isn't as cold as you think."

"Maybe," Jules mumbled. "You're very social. I'm guessing a hostel is your friend."

"Not really, until now I'm more comfortable in the 2nd class dorm."

Jules chuckled. "No wonder you know Blaire."

They chatted cheerfully as they walked to class towards the Magical practice class and met Blaire sitting on a chair. Clare sat next to Blaire while Jules sat next to Clare without knowing that the one next to Clare was Blaire.

Jules turned to Clare and instantly her eyes met Blaire. Jules's face changed like when he left Uncle Rowler's house. Clare who was in the middle of the two sides became confused by their expressions which were hard to guess especially Blaire who looked flat.