17 Commandments (3)

'Ah, it's Erina~ I haven't seen her in a while~ She looks to be doing well!'

Walking over to her seat next to Healer, Shaman asked, "How are you doing, Heal?"

Sighing, Healer replied, "I'm doing fine... it's just tiring because Bliz started doing her squirmy thing again..." Saying this, Healer began squirming in her seat to imitate Blizzard, "You know this thing where she's like 'Oh it's so nice to be young' or 'Ahh~' it's damn tiring..."

Looking over at Blizzard, Shaman muttered, "Yeah... I'm just going to ignore her..."

"Yeah that would be wise," Healer replied while nodding, pointing towards Erina and Yuiko Healer explained, "Bliz is doing because of those two girls over there around the middle."

Looking over to where Healer was pointing, Shaman replied, "Hm, oka- WAIT!"

Tilting her head Healer asked, "What about it?"

Leaning close to Healer's ear, Shaman whispered, "Well... I know those two! But you know... they don't know I'm the Shaman!"

Giggling, Healer asked, "Well you must be glad that your mask also changes your hair color now aren't you?"

Leaning back into her chair, Shaman replied, "Yeah... but how do I tell Erina this?"

"Hm~ so one of them is called Erina?" Healer asked with a teasing smile on her face, "Care to enlighten me on which one?"

Sighing Shaman replied, "The one with the silver hair... Oh, sh*t... another one is here..."

Trying to suppress her giggles, Healer teased, "What has got the always stoic Shaman so frustrated?"

"What do I do..." Shaman lamented, whispering, "Erina is my niece from my little sis... and Hiroshi, the silver-haired boy also in her group is my nephew from my older brother... So what do I do, Heal?!

Unable to suppress her laughter, Healer replied, "I dunno~! But it seems you got a real talented family, don't you~?"

"Yeah..." Shaman answered, "Though I'm a lot closer to Erina than Hiroshi..."

"Hm, why is that?" Healer asked, "Is there a specific reason?"

Nodding, Shaman replied, "It's nothing personal, it's more just about their circumstances... You see, Erina has a weak body, so she's quite sheltered from her family and doesn't have many friends. On the other hand, Hiroshi has a perfectly healthy body, and is what I would say... quite popular among his peers."

Crossing her legs, Shaman continued, "Whenever I visited, I would just take Erina out into the city and stuff, so that's why I'm closer to her. Also because of these trips, I know Erina pretty well... like she doesn't like how overprotective her family is, she has four friends, the ones in her group, and most of the time she just hangs out with Yuiko, the one with the red hair."

Overhearing their conversation, Blizzard jumped in, "How nice~! But what are you going to do? You already volunteered to be one of the commandments that are going to stay here all year?"

Sighing, Shaman replied, "I dunno... I'll probably show them who I am because knowing Yuiko and Erina they'll find out my identity soon anyway... Plus there technically aren't any rules that ban us from showing our identities to others, like my siblings all know that I'm the Commandment of Shamanism..."

Nodding, Healer replied, "True, true~ Seems like you already know what you're doing!"

Agreeing, Shaman replied, "Yup I guess... Let's continue watching... A few people have gone while we were talking so who's next? Hm... ah, sh*t it's him... the Tamer..."

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Her eyes glued to Shaman as Shaman and Healer had a hushed conversation, Erina sighed, "I don't know who it is... I give up!"

Patting Erina on the pack, Yuiko replied, "It doesn't matter, let's just focus on the rest of the introductions, okay? We can always figure it out later right?"

Nodding, Erina agreed, "Yup! So who's gone so far after the Shaman?"

Looking on stage, Yuiko answered, "Just one commandment, you see the one over there? Yeah, he is the commandment of machines, the Mechanic."

Thanking Yuiko, Erina focused back onto the stage as the next commandment introduced themself.

Using an array of colorful magic shields, the commandment of protection, the Guardian created a light show that entranced many of the students.

"Wow... I didn't know that this branch of Release type magic was this cool..." Erina murmured, "I always thought that protection magic was utility only..."

Nodding, Yuiko added, "I also thought that too... Like I think both of us knew how useful protection magic is, just not so... beautiful..."

"Yeah..." Erina agreed, enraptured by the light show.

Following the Guardian's light show, the commandment of seals, the priest, appeared from a shower of paper seals. Waving his arm around with an inordinate amount of flourish, the Priest cast a seal, sending the word WELCOME in bold yellow letters across the room.

After the seal faded, a storm of arrows began swirling atop the stage, dispersing to reveal a man holding a longbow, the commandment of long-ranged combat, the Hunter.

Appearing after the Hunter was the Scout, commandment of mid-ranged combat. Dazzling the students by shooting an arrow across the room that exploded into a shower of sparks.

After the commotion died down, the last commandment appeared on stage, the Tamer. Finishing his entrance, he unsummoned the beasts, and introduced himself, "Hello students~ It's a real pleasure to meet you here today! Just looking at you all I'm bursting with excitement! All of you will grow up to be such fine magicians~ It makes me feel all tingly inside~"

Just as Tamer finished saying the last sentence, several of the other commandments rushed up and pulled him away to his seat, apologizing, "I'm sorry students! Don't mind what he says, he's just a bit eccentric..."

Being pulled away, Tamer continued, "I look forward to seeing you all grow to be beautiful magicians~"

Leaning over to Yuiko as Tamer was being pulled away, Erina whispered, "Yikes.... he seems a bit... weird? I'm just going to stay away from him if I can..."

Nodding, Yuiko agreed, "I'm getting a weird feeling from him... I respect him for all the philanthropic work he's famous for... but I'm still staying away..."

Waiting for the principal to finish the closing statement, Erina mused, "I wanna sleep..."

Pulling Erina out of her seat when the principal dismissed everyone to go to their dorms, Yuiko replied, "Come on Erina, let's go~ you can sleep once we get to the dorms!"

Stumbling along behind Yuiko, Erina held Yuiko's hand as they left the orientation hall.