New student (1)

"Wake up, Ophelia."

Her brother called out to her, as he shook her body, trying to wake her up.

"…Just a few more minutes, brother…"

Grumbling, Ophelia refused to leave her bed, as it was just too comfortable.

It had only been a little more than a week, since she had been on the Overworld, and one of the best things by far was the feeling of a real bed.

Although she had tried to imitate a bed multiple times, she never quite managed to replicate the soft and warm feeling that she was feeling right now.

Sighing, Zenith massaged his forehead in irritation, a stiff smile forming on his face.

"Sure, honey. If you want to be late for your first day then, so be it. Proceed sleeping then."

Zenith spoke in a dangerously sweet tone before leaving her room, quietly closing the door.

click—

Hearing Zenith leaving in the distance, she chose to close her eyes again, enjoying the warm embrace of the bed.

'It's weird that he gave up that easily, though…'

He usually pestered her until she decided to leave her bed, but he didn't this time.

'What did he say again..?'

Furrowing her eyebrows, she tiredly tried to recall the words he said.

'If I don't wanna be late for my fi— wait.'

Widening her eyes, Ophelia froze up, as she realized what day it was.

It was her first day at Sylpheon.

Jumping up, she rushed to the wardrobe, opened it, and searched for her academy uniform.

A white shirt with a black tie, a beige blazer, and a black skirt.

Quickly, she dressed herself before dashing out of Zenith's apartment and slamming the door.

BAM—!

In the last week she spent together with Zenith, she gradually felt comfortable with him.

Though they didn't have the best start, he did his best to help integrate into the society of the Overworld, which she greatly appreciated.

Although she still wasn't fully comfortable, of course.

'What was my first class again?'

Thoughtfully squeezing her eyes, she tried to recall her schedule.

Her first class on Monday should be…

'Alchemy!'

Right, it was the alchemy class.

In the last week, Zenith worked hard to convince the principal to let her into the academy, even going as far as bribing the principal with something called 'feint casting' and 'double casting'.

Fortunately, it seemed to work.

However, it seemed like she would disappoint his expectations of her within the first day by coming too late on the first day of her class.

"Nobody cares if I use a little bit of ether, right?"

She whispered to herself, before narrowing her eyes, and carefully pumping a calculated amount of ether into her legs.

"Let's take it up a notch."

Swish—!

***

***

She arrived early in class.

As the professor didn't note who was present in class, there was no way that they would've noticed anyway, but she only realized that when she had already arrived.

Looking for a free seat, she sat down next to a blonde Elven girl in the corner of the room. In her surrounding area, she could see boys who kept glancing at her, but the girl didn't seem to notice.

She was deeply immersed in her alchemy book, thus not realizing Ophelia until she had already sat down next to her.

"Hello." Ophelia greeted her when she sat down, snapping the girl out of her immersion.

"Oh." the girl said, her eyes still lingering on the book. "Hello."

"I'm Ophelia. What's your name?"

Ophelia thought that she would have to spend time in Sylpheon at least some more time, so making some friends wouldn't be too bad.

"Ellen Elderwood." She mumbled in a disinterested voice, before pausing for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Just Ophelia? Don't you have a last name?"

"Oh, I do have one. Though I am not used to it yet."

"I see." Ellen giggled for a moment before raising her head and closing the book. "I just thought that you were another prodigy from the mage tower."

Turning her head to Ophelia, she showed a look of confusion for a moment before tilting her head in a friendly smile.

"So, what's your full name, then?"

"Well…" Ophelia scratched her cheek, releasing awkward laughter, as she adverted her eyes. "…Ophelia…Voidwalker…"

Ophelia had already prepared to say it, but actually doing it just felt kind of weird to her.

However, Ellen didn't seem to realize her awkwardness, as she just stared at Ophelia with a stiff smile, blinking mechanically.

"Voidwalker? Like in Zenith Voidwalker?"

"Oh, you know my brother?"

Ophelia was glad that the first person she would talk to today was someone who was acquainted with her brother.

That would certainly mean that she would be able to put up with her, as her brother's personality was a little more…difficult than hers.

"Yes, I know him…That certainly explains why you look like that…"

"Like what?"

"Well, for starters…you look really similar to him.." Ellen crossed her arms while scanning Ophelia carefully. "Aaand you look really young, which means that you probably have a monstrous talent if you got accepted to Sylpheon."

"I guess? I do look similar to my brother. And it's not true that I am young. I am a hundred and four — I mean fourteen, after all."

Ophelia glanced to the side, recalling the words of Zenith.

He had told her that it would've been a hassle if she went around, telling everyone her real age, as she certainly did not look 140.

"That is young." Ellen deadpanned, before thoughtfully putting her hand on her chin. "Anyway, how monstrous are you compared to your brother?"

"Compared to my brother?"

Ophelia tilted her head, recalling the memories of the fight.

Although she was a royal herself, Zenith Voidwalker was a true monster that she just couldn't compare herself to.

His ether attribute was one of the strongest and his racial ability was just unfair.

And if you add that to his overwhelming skill, he, as a person, was just something that no one could compare to.

She would probably estimate his true level even above Tier 13.

Fortunately, it seemed like he went easy on her during their fight. She didn't even want to imagine what would've happened if he actually fought seriously against her.

"A serious me in a fight with a casual him..? I could probably survive for 5 minutes at most."

Ophelia shuddered at the thought of having to fight against him again.

After the fight, with all the adrenaline gone, she realized that she hadn't landed a meaningful hit even once.

She certainly knew that she wasn't weak. On the contrary, according to all the memories she saw, she should've been on a similar level as a Tier 10 mage, probably even a little higher.

"5 Minutes?" Ellen nodded with wide eyes, impressed about Ophelia's fighting prowess."That's very impressive…"

Ophelia rested her cheek on her clenched fist, sighing as she closed her eyes.

The sole fact that it was supposed to be impressive to last 5 minutes against someone who was casually fighting with everything in your arsenal just showed how much of a monster he was.

"Anyway…"

Tired of talking about her brother, Ophelia tried to change the topic.

"Why were you sitting alone, anyway? You seem like a very nice girl."

Ellen chuckled.

"I'm the first Elven princess, so people are hesitant of approaching me, even if they wanted to."

"Oh? That doesn't sound very nice."

"Yeah." She nodded with a serious expression, her mind seemingly being somewhere far away. "I would prefer it if they would look at me as 'Ellen' and not the princess."

Ophelia responded with an understanding smile.

Her brother told her that her name would be a part of her identity, so she really treasured it a lot.

If the people would rather look at her as a 'princess' than 'Ophelia', she would be saddened by it too.

"..I don't know if that would help you…but you are only Ellen to me."

'Well, that is also because I didn't know that she was the Elven princess, and I frankly don't care about the status of people.'

However, that wasn't something that Ellen had to know.

"…I see…" she responded with widened eyes that formed into a crescent shape, as she flashed a wide smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Click—!

Their conversation was ended by the arrival of their professor, Rumia Flora.

***

***

Meanwhile, in the vampire forest, 'Carnivores'.

"How is the king doing?" A handsome man with crimson red eyes asked as he looked over at his old butler.

The man's long hair was a mix of black and red, beautifully braided behind his back, long enough to reach his thigh.

Inside the darkroom of the mansion, the weak light of the torches illuminated his bloody-red lips, making him look like a feral beast.

"I think it would be the best if he would say it himself, your grace."

The butler, who was kneeling down, turned his head toward the big door on the other side of the dark rooms.

Almost as if the doors had just been waiting for that command, they then opened, revealing a little boy standing in front of the door.

The boy's beautiful eyes locked with his.

Bloody-red eyes and jet-black hair that was tied into a low ponytail contrasted with his snow-white skin.

The boy was undeniably their king.

"How long do we still have to wait, Duke Herafen?" The boy asked, in an impatient tone.

"Just calm down, your highness." Herafen chuckled in a rough voice. "It'll be soon. We just have to wait for the blood moon to arrive."

"Do we really have to do it? There's no need for us to wait to kill those measly ants."

Herafen shook his head with a gentle smile on his face. "Let's not be too hasty, your highness."

Snap—!

With a snap, blood jumped out of his wrist, forming a window in the air that reflected the current situation in Transilvania.

Herafen had used vampire magic to create a raven that would watch the forces of Transilvania, delivering the information to him.

-The blood moon is arriving soon and there still isn't even a single trace of them.

The screen showed a black-haired woman with purple eyes crossing her arms, thoughtfully furrowing her eyebrows as she explained her thoughts.

She wore a white coat with a black star on the back, which was the symbol of the empire's mage tower.

-What do you mean, Lady Acedia?

-I just mean...wait..

In a sudden movement, she turned her head to the raven, raising her hands, as she conjured a water arrow.

The water arrow shot through the raven, leaving nothing but darkness inside the blood window.

"See?" Dispersing the blood, Herafen turned his attention back to their king. "The chaos witch is here. We should be aware of her."

"I'll just kill her then."

"No, that would be a waste of energy. Even with the effect of the blood moon, fighting her would be bothersome."

Herafen shook his head before letting out a tired sigh, frowning.

It was a bothersome situation, but not one that they couldn't work with.

"I have another plan."