Sylphiette - Part 3

"Nice to meetcha. Let's be friends, mew~"

"E-Eh? Um.. Yeah, sure!", I said as a silly smile developed on my face. I couldn't help it. These girls seemed to be about the same age as me and I was excited to befriend other girls my age.

After homeroom, we all left for our respective classes. Surprisingly, Linia and Pursena seemed to take their education seriously and attended several classes. At first glance, they seemed more like the type to laze around and abuse their position as special students.

Unfortunately, none of the classes I signed up for overlapped with theirs, but we agreed to meet each other at the cafeteria for lunch.

When the noon bell rang, I made my way to the cafeteria. The building was massive and had three floors. I couldn't find Linia or Pursena on the first floor, so I decided to go look for them on the second.

On the second floor I immediately noticed a crowd of people gathered around one table. When I got close enough for a better look, I saw Linia and Pursena eating at the table with a whole crowd of students, mostly beastfolk, surrounding them.

I weaved my way through the crowd and sat down next to Linia.

"Sylphiette! How is your first day at school so far, mew?"

"Um... Good so far. I was a little nervous, but my first two teachers were really friendly, and my classmates were nice, too!"

"That's good, mew! I've been thinking the same thing, mew. This school is great!"

At this point, I realized that the whole crowd of students had quieted down and they all seemed to be staring directly at me. 'Is it just me, or do they seem angry at me...'

"Linia, who are all these people?", I whispered into her ear.

"Oh, them? They are just some people we met today that want to be our friends. Pursena and I are basically royalty, so it's only natural we have some followers, mew!"

Pursena nodded in agreement. I could feel the stares of the other students. They all looked like they were furious with me for some reason.

"What is a demon doing here on the second floor?"

"Who does she think she is?"

"Huh, isn't that an elf? Look at her ears."

"Who cares, she has no business sitting beside Linia like that!"

I could hear the whispers among the crowd, talking about me like I was some demon who didn't belong. It brought back the bad memories of my life in Buena Village before I met Rudy. Worst of all, Linia and Pursena seemed oblivious to the matter.

"I'm still hungry, get me another meal", Pursena said to nobody in particular.

"Yes Ma'am!", Several students said in unison as they all raced to get more food for her, pushing each other out of the way.

"Could you also get me some jerky to snack on during my afternoon classes?", she asked some random girl who stood beside her.

"Of course! Right away!", she said as she followed the other three students who ran off earlier.

'These people seem more like their servants than friends', I thought as I watched them.

Over the course of the next month, I made many new friends and received a lot of praise from my teachers. My classmates were amazed at my ability to cast spells without any incantations. Many of them asked for my help during lessons or wanted to spar with me during practical training.

Surely enough, I began to have my own crowd of students who followed me around and showered me with praise wherever I went. They even gave me the nickname 'Silent Sylphy' since I could cast spells without saying anything... and maybe also because I don't talk all that much either. 'I guess this is simply how special students get treated here at the University', I thought.

I really was having the time of my life now, here at Ranoa Magic University. I have so many new friends and most people here treat me very nicely. Everything was going perfectly for the first two months, but eventually, cracks in my perfect life began to form.

As it had become our daily ritual to share lunch on the second floor together, I sat down beside Linia at our table in the cafeteria. Recently, I began to notice that several of my friends who followed me around had been getting into arguments with Linia and Pursena's followers.

Today, a fight even broke out. Somebody had made a comment that a demon like me had no business sitting beside Linia. I'd learned to shrug off comments like those, but one of my friends overheard the comment and took offense to it.

"How dare you say that about Sylphiette! She's far more talented than those lazy slobs you lot worship!"

"Huh! What did you just say about me, mew?!", Linia shouted as she stood up from the table.

The student who called them lazy slobs took a couple steps back but managed to muster the courage to stand his ground.

"How can you let your lackys talk about Mistress Sylphiette like that? You call yourself her friend but you just sit back as she endures all the hateful comments of these jealous fools."

"Who are you calling a fool!?"

"Yeah! You wanna take this outside!"

Linia and Pursena's followers continued throwing random insults his way, but what scared me was the look on Linia's face. She was glaring at my friend as her eye began to twitch.

'Gulp'. Pursena swallowed the piece of meat she had been chewing on as she also stood up from her seat. "Looks like you want to go at it, Linia."

"Yeah. Let's show them who's the boss around here, mew!"

"Wait! Linia! Calm down!", I pleaded to her. Unfortunately, I was met with deaf ears as she and Pursena pushed past me and the crowed backed away from my unfortunate friend who spoke up. I rushed between them and held my arms out to block their path.

"What do you think you're doing, mew! Aren't you supposed to be my friend? How can you let your followers talk to me like that, mew!"

"What about you?", I yelled back. "You let your followers berate me all the time!"

"Can't you stand up for yourself, mew? You're a special student just like us aren't you? If you have a problem with somebody, deal with it yourself, mew!"

"That's not how friends treat each other. If you were a true friend, you would have spoken up and defended me when they said such cruel things."

"Hmmf. What a weakling. I thought you were better than this, mew. If you can't even do that much, then you're not worthy of being our friend", Linia said with a haughty smile on her face.

"Don't let her talk to you like that Master Sylphiette!"

"Yeah! Kick her ass!"

"Wipe that smile right off her ugly face!"

My side of the crowd began hurling insults back at Linia, mimicking the behavior of Linia and Pursena's followers.

I turned to yell at them to knock it off, but before I could say anything Linia responded in a low, angry tone.

"So. That's how it's going to be, mew. You think you're special just because you've gotten a little popular. There's only room for one boss at this school, mew!"

"Grr...", Pursena growled at me. "Let's do this, Linia!"

The next thing I knew, Linia came rushing straight at me. I raised my hand towards her to defend myself, but Pursena had put her hands to her mouth and howled at me. The moment she did that the room seemed to spin around me and I froze in place.

Linia continued dashing towards me, her arm outstretched ready to swipe at my face. I was stunned. I could barely move a muscle. In a last ditch effort, I slammed my hands into my ears to stop the ringing. It was painful, but it got me out of my daze.

Right as Linia reached me and swiped at my face, I ducked down, narrowly escaping her claws, and reached my hand out to her stomach and unleashed a blast spell at point blank range. The resulting shockwave sent Linia flying across the room and slammed her against the wall made of magic resistant bricks.

"Wh-why!?", gasped Pursena.

I took full advantage of her surprise and bolted right for Pursena. She frantically tried to brace herself, but it was too late. I sent her flying into the wall beside Linia.

Immediately, I snapped my head towards the crowd of beastfolk that had been Linia and Pursena's followers, but they were already running away with their tails between their legs.

I reached up to my damaged ears and healed them as I walked towards Linia and Pursena, still laying on the ground across the cafeteria. Once I reached them, I looked down at them and met Linia's eyes as she had just recovered from her daze.

I yelled out "You can consider our friendship over!", and then immediately turned around and left the room, returning to the first floor of the cafeteria. My followers / friends followed me as they cheered and heckled Linia and Pursena.

From that point onward, I ate my lunch on the first floor. Seren saw me one day and invited me to sit and eat with her. Sad as I was to lose some friends, I realized that I could always make more.

Whenever we had homeroom, I sat next to Seren and would chat with her as Linia and Pursena sat on the opposite side of the room, never saying anything to us. In fact, whenever we would meet in the school's halls, Linia and Pursena would move to the side and make way for us to pass. I'm pretty sure I could hear them muttering insults under their breath as they did so, but it didn't bother me. In fact, I would just laugh at the sight, making them angrier.

Not much changed in my school life over the next couple months until I caught wind of an interesting new rumor that spread across the school like wildfire. Evidently, someone had achieved the title of 'Magic God'.