Campus

When Sakar regained consciousness, he found himself in an unfamiliar setting—a different room and a new bed. Surveying his surroundings, he noted another bed, two lockers, and two tables. The walls were painted a soothing champagne color, and sunlight streamed in through an open window, bathing his face in warm light, yet unsurprisingly, it didn't bother him.

He got up, feeling the cool floor beneath his feet—there was no carpet, which puzzled him. The sparse, functional setup made him wonder if he was in a hospital. His gaze landed on the lockers, and he noticed that one bore a small sticker with the name "SAKAR" printed on it.

*'So, is this mine?'* he thought, curiosity piqued. *'Where am I, exactly?'*

Deciding to investigate further, he opened the locker and found a uniform neatly folded inside, along with a paper note placed on top. The note read, "You are in the dorm of the academy." Signed simply, "Sorella."

Sakar stood there for a moment, holding the note. *'Wow, what a simple note. No further information? Like how I got here? What am I supposed to do now?'* His mind was full of questions, and the brief note offered no explanations.

Feeling a slight annoyance at the lack of detail, Sakar decided he needed to find out more about his current situation.

Confused and still adapting to his surroundings, Sakar ventured out of the room, hoping to find someone who could explain what was happening. He shouted down the empty corridors, but only his echo responded. Frustrated, he exited the building.

The campus was vast, stretching far beyond where his eyes could see. Recalling the daunting punishment he was assigned—to furnish a new building—Sakar realized he needed to start soon. However, he had no idea where this building was located. As he wandered aimlessly, the environment around him suddenly shifted in an instant. One moment he was on a tree-lined road, and the next, he was standing in a room facing Miss Sorella.

"What happened?" Sakar exclaimed, bewildered by the abrupt change.

"I saw that you woke up, and I teleported you here," Miss Sorella explained calmly.

"Teleported? What is that?" Sakar asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Let me show you then," she said, and before Sakar could react, he found himself high in the sky, plummeting towards the ground. After a terrifying three seconds, he was gently placed back on the ground, with Miss Sorella standing beside him.

"Amazing power! How can I learn that?" Sakar was both awe-struck and envious.

"Keep it a secret. I won't teach it," Miss Sorella replied, maintaining her professional demeanor. "Let's return to my room."

In the next instant, they were back in the room, with Miss Sorella resuming her position behind a desk that bore a plate stating: "The Principal."

"About your punishment, when do you think to begin?" she inquired.

Sakar nodded, a bit overwhelmed by the scale of his task. "I don't know where it is. You never told me," he admitted, feeling slightly adrift.

"Oh, sometimes I forget these details. I am older, I forget things," Miss Sorella explained with a slight shrug, dismissing the oversight as a minor hiccup. "The stuff to move is right in front of the building we are in. They will be moved to the edge of the campus."

"Why are you not teleporting them?" Sakar asked, hoping for a more efficient solution.

"Why would I?" she retorted with a slight smirk.

"Because it would be faster and efficient?" he suggested, trying to appeal to practicality.

"When there is an idiot that is enough to the point of getting this kind of punishment, there is no need for me to lift a finger," Miss Sorella replied sharply, her tone half-joking yet edged with sincerity.

"That was mean..." Sakar mumbled, feeling the weight of his situation.

"Mean or not, you better begin working. Go already! I am busy. If you have a question, ask Mr. Cabbar," she instructed, dismissing him with a wave of her hand.

"Where can I find him?" Sakar inquired, already half-out of the door.

"At the campus entrance. He is the security guard," Miss Sorella responded, turning her attention back to her paperwork.

Leaving the room and building behind, Sakar stepped outside and was immediately confronted with the magnitude of his punishment. Stretched out before him were rows upon rows of desks and chairs, a veritable sea of furniture that seemed to go on endlessly. He estimated there were at least five hundred pieces in total. The task seemed daunting, but with no other option, Sakar steeled himself for the hard work ahead.

As Sakar thought about how to move all that furniture, he decided to talk to Mr. Cabbar first, hoping he might know an easier way. "How am I going to finish that?" he wondered, trying to remember where the entrance was.

While walking, something else bothered him. "Wait a moment. I forgot what Miss Sorella looks like again. How does she do these strange things? My 'sexar' never tingled even a little bit. Is all her beauty just an illusion?" Sakar was confused about why he couldn't remember her and why she didn't trigger his special sense, making him question everything about her.

After experiencing teleportation and the intense pain from what was supposed to be a simple spanking, Sakar started to doubt everything he knew. He began to respect Miss Sorella more, amazed by the amount of power and cleverness she had. The idea of being teleported high into the sky and then dropped made him realize how dangerous such power could be. "What a terrifying woman. I better stay on her good side," he thought to himself.

As he wandered around the campus looking for the entrance, he finally spotted the door. Near the door, there was a small cabin. He walked over to it and found Mr. Cabbar inside.

Sakar approached Mr. Cabbar with a tentative greeting. "Hey, do you remember me, Mr. Cabbar?"

"Yes. The idiot who came here one week earlier," Mr. Cabbar responded without missing a beat.

"Come on. Don't call me an idiot, please. I am somewhat clever enough to enlist in this school, you know."

"Many idiots enlist in this school, you will soon meet them," Mr. Cabbar replied dryly, adding a hint of humor to his tone.

Sakar, trying to steer the conversation back to his immediate concern, continued, "Anyway, I came here to learn where the supposed 'edge of the campus' that the new building is."

"Here is the west, the entrance. The new building is at the most eastern part of the campus. Go where the sun rises and you will eventually see it. The building has a huge sign on it, the 'Magic Department'."

"Magic department? I didn't know that this academy taught magic," Sakar said, surprised.

"It didn't, this will be the first time that it will teach it," Mr. Cabbar informed him.

"How the hell was teaching magic allowed?"

Sakar's question came from a place of deep dislike for magic in the City of Old Marmara, where he's from. In this city, everyone really hates magic because the neighboring Kingdom of Zagriba, full of mages, often attacks them. Many people in the city have family members who were hurt or killed in these attacks. Because of this, anyone who uses magic is usually avoided and it's not okay to show any interest in learning it. Sakar himself also doesn't like magic at all, which is why he was so surprised to hear that the academy was starting to teach it.