Emmeline's Predicament

The Eldoria continent is surrounded by the elven continent, Alagaësia in the north east, dwarven continent, Durinheim, in the west and demon continent, Nefarious in its south.

These group of 4 continents form a single piece of land. Other than this, there is another island type uninhabited continent, in the southeast direction at a distance from Eldoria.

The Royal Magic Academy, situated at the center of the Royal Capital of Eldoria, is considered to be the best academy for magic and weapon studies in the whole continent. It is quite famous among other species as well. I don't know the numbers exactly, but considering the orthodox fact that its built for only nobles, even if the students come from all over the continent, their number shouldn't cross 200 per class, meaning 600 maximum students in the academy considering 3 years of study.

After graduation, you can either join the dark nights' squad, administrative services for the empire or your respective state, other technical officials or conduct research in your particular field of interest. But its a given fact that if you successfully graduate from this academy, then for the rest of your life, either you do any job or pursue higher education for research, the empire will aid for everything.

It is bestowed with a humongous area containing all kinds of facilities. Apart from huge buildings for theoretical lessons, there are training grounds, facilities for recreational activities and most prominently 6 dorm buildings for each gender of each of the 3 classes. The academy is therefore considered to be a city inside a city.

For this terrorist attack scenario, I made a complete map of the academy with the help of Christiana and Harald. And I was making good progress with the planning. 

But that piece of info was a little concerning. 

Christiana is suspicious of Emmeline. Not like she told it directly, but I am sure she is. And probably she is the only one. The other members of student council are too busy with this students' dispute that they don't seem to be agreeing with her.

Well, that's a relief for now. But if they find out that Emmeline is related to this planned attack, then my mission of completing the task would be over. So, it would be better for me to extinguish that little fire of suspicion inside Christiana.

Wait. There is the other option of alleviating it too. If I fill in those suspicions with more then probably she wouldn't tell this anyone else considering the risk of info leak. In that process, I would be able to gain some data on Emmeline too by making Christiana spy on her. Let's try that route too.

By the way, this deal of info exchange is just between the 3 of us. Harald comes here just to observe me, and train with Christiana in spare time. Cecille also knows about it, but I doubt she would tell anyone in the faculty. That's why my position is not revealed till now.

It has been 4 days since we agreed on this. From my knowledge of the novel, I am able to give them some data related to the terrorists and their plan. They believe it to be true because I had to tell them something related the academy management, which turned out be true.

Well, working in the shadows like this is kind of cool, don't you think?

[Typical chunni behavior.]

...

Anyway, ignoring that message, let's come back to the main topic.

Its related to the guards. In the novel, terrorists killed some of them during the attack and injured the rest. But in this modified storyline, something is up with them, even before the attack. That means its worth investigating.

"Okay. That's it for today. Please look into them for tomorrow."

"Alright."

With that affirmation, the meeting was over.

'The picture is getting clearer now.' I thought to myself, gradually getting the grasp of what exactly is happening. 

***

{Midnight, Inside a room of the girls' dormitory for first years}

Slow mumblings of a girl in deep sleep could be heard. Her whole body trembling in fear, and covered with beads of sweat. 

Basked in the moonlight, the room was being cooled down by the flow of breeze from the window.

The room was dimly lit by the flickering light of a single candle on the bedside table. Emmeline lay in bed, her usually vibrant and energetic demeanor replaced by a look of troubled restlessness as she tossed and turned under the covers. Her long, black hair was spread out across the pillow, her face scrunched up in distress.

In her dream, the familiar warmth of her home was replaced by a cold, oppressive atmosphere. The walls of her childhood house seemed to close in around her, the shadows lengthening and twisting into menacing shapes. She could hear the muffled sounds of shouting from the next room, the angry voices of her parents cutting through the air like shards of glass.

Emmeline, younger and smaller, stood frozen in the hallway, her emerald eyes wide with fear. She clutched a worn-out teddy bear to her chest, her tiny hands trembling as she listened to the escalating argument.

"You worthless fool!" her father's voice thundered, the sound of something breaking following his words.

Her mother's voice, usually soft and nurturing, was now sharp and filled with pain. "You're a monster! How could you do this to us?"

The sound of another crash echoed through the house, and she flinched, tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to run, to hide, to do anything to escape the nightmare unfolding before her, but her legs felt like they were made of lead.

Suddenly, the door to the living room burst open, and her father stormed out, his face contorted with rage. He didn't see her standing there as he stomped past, muttering curses under his breath. She could see the fresh bruise forming on her mother's cheek as she stumbled out after him, her eyes filled with sorrow and resignation.

"Mommy?" her voice was barely a whisper, but her mother heard it. She turned to her daughter, her expression softening for a moment before another wave of pain washed over her features.

"Go back to your room, sweetheart," her mother said, her voice trembling. "It's not safe here."

"But I want to help," She pleaded, her voice breaking. "I don't want you to be hurt."

Her mother knelt down, gripping Emmeline's arm tightly. "You can't. Just go away from here."

Before she could react, her father returned, his face twisted in anger. "What are you doing here? Get back to your room!" He grabbed her other arm, yanking her away from her mother and shaking her roughly.

She cried out, the pain and fear overwhelming her. "Daddy, please!"

Her father's grip tightened, and he slapped her hard across the face, sending her reeling backward. The impact left a stinging pain on her cheek, and tears streamed down her face. Her mother, instead of offering comfort, added to her torment by pulling her back and slapping her again.

"You always cause trouble!" her mother screamed, her eyes wild with anger. "Why can't you just do as you're told?"

She fell to the floor, her body curling up instinctively as she tried to protect herself from the blows that rained down on her. Her father kicked her in the side, and she gasped for breath, the pain sharp and immediate.

"You deserve this," he snarled. "You're nothing but a burden."

The dream shifted, the hallway melting away into a swirling vortex of darkness. Emmeline found herself back in her bed, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding in her chest. She sat up abruptly, her breathing ragged as she tried to shake off the remnants of the nightmare.

For a moment, she just sat there, hugging her knees to her chest, the weight of the past pressing down on her. The pain and fear from her dream still lingered, but she forced herself to take a deep breath, pushing the memories back into the recesses of her mind.

Emmeline swung her legs over the side of the bed, standing up and running a hand through her tangled hair. 

"Hah! Why is that scene coming to my mind now?"

"This is my new life. I have started over everything and built a place for me."

"For that reason alone, I would do anything to protect this place and my friends."

"After all, I am the only who knows what would happen in the future."

***

"You want to know about the scholarship scheme?" Cecille asked with curious eyes.

Don't look at me with those eyes. Are you that surprised of a completely broke student wanting to pay his fees through scholarship?

"Yeah. I don't know the process. So, I was wondering if you would tell me about that."

"Sure. It is not something too complex. You know that our academy is filled with children from noble family, don't you?"

"Yes, but there are some commoners studying here as well."

"Exactly. For reducing pressure on them about paying tuition and dormitory fees, this scholarship plan was implemented. But in recent years, the number of commoners attending our academy has increased and many nobles from country side also apply for it. So, the management has decided to assess individual applicants on a monthly basis and release the name of the students eligible for this scheme. They would be exempt from paying any fees for that particular month."

"Do you know about the criteria for the assessments?"

"There is no fixed criteria actually. But they assess you mainly on the basis of regularity in attending classes and your scores in theory & practical lessons."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, that's about it. But are you applying for it as well? Aren't you a noble?"

"Well, I am banished from my family, so technically, I am a commoner now."

"If you are applying then best of luck. Was that all you wanted to ask?"

I know about the scholarship now, so I would apply when my suspension period is over. Now comes the vital part.

"No, there was something I wanted to know about."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Can you teach me anything about magic barriers?"