Chương 6: Gaspards.

Ch. 6- Gaspards.

Are orientation tours always like this? Amy adjusted her satchel and sighed as she continued following the headmistress through the Academy halls along with the first-years who were currently the only ones present. Even in the manga, this woman had already given off an extremely quirky feeling, but now that she was seeing her in reality, it was even more pronounced. She really was a weirdo…

"... and if you ever try to enter the Eastern Wing, then be prepared to experience what we call Temporal Displacement," Headmistress Elyndra said with a smile as she walked while looking back at the students.

"We run many of our experiments in there, so I wouldn't be surprised if anyone who decides to ignore my words ends up in a tomb—it has already happened." Even after all that had happened, it was still hard to believe she had been transported to another world, and all these comments talking about death so casually did not help. Could it be she was simply hallucinating? Hah, I wish…

The orientation continued with the headmistress listing more and more ways students had previously died at the Academy as if they were fun facts. Amy had never worked in a factory, but she assumed the first day would be somewhat similar to this one. The other students looked just as perplexed as Amy, as they never seemed to stop muttering to each other. In particular, the two girls walking beside her.

They had actually introduced themselves to her; their names were Stella—an animated girl with red eyes and hair—and Alba, a girl with pink hair who was way more timid than the other. She could tell by the way the others walked and behaved that those two girls were the only non-nobles—along with herself—in this group, which was probably why they had introduced themselves to her. It was actually quite interesting how it already felt like groups were forming among the first-years.

"You see, the Arcanum Academy exists in multiple planes of reality," the headmistress continued explaining, "so what you see right now isn't the true form of this place." Whatever that means…

"Ma'am," a male voice called. He was a tall boy with copper skin and temple tattoos.

"Can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead, Mr. Tallen."

"I heard a rumor that the Academy is actually a living, breathing entity. Is it true?" Elyndra only smiled at him and continued walking, seemingly deciding to completely ignore the question as she went on showing the Academy's layout.

"This," the headmistress said as they reached a room with seven doors set flush against each other in one long horizontal row, each with the symbol of an element drawn on it, "is the Hall of Elements, where most of your practical lessons, such as combat class, will take place." She pointed towards each door.

"Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Light. Shadow. And Spirit. Those are all the fundamental elements and the ones you will be studying this year in theoretical classes—and if they happen to be your affinity, in practical ones too." They soon moved away from the room and, after walking through the halls for a bit, reached a map which the headmistress pointed at.

"Unlike other classes, you students of the highest rank are allowed into certain forbidden parts like the observatory, the vault of relics, and some classified library records. But remember, these privileges aren't free; if you don't use them responsibly, being lowered from Class S or even expelled from the Academy is on the table. You have been warned." [She certainly knows how to set the mood,] the book whispered—unnecessarily—from her satchel.

"Quiet, I'm trying to listen," Amy murmured under her breath.

"Did you say something, Miss Stake?" the headmistress said while turning fully towards her.

"No, ma'am." The headmistress's gaze stayed on her for a second before it went to her satchel. She then smiled and continued walking. The visit continued to a few more places for what felt like hours, until they eventually reached another classroom where, right in front of the door, stood an elderly, stern-looking bald man with a silver-streaked beard and piercing blue eyes. He wore a deep purple robe adorned with very expensive-looking jewelry.

"Ah, Vanheim, right on time. I'll leave them in your care," Elyndra said, then turned towards the students.

"First-years, this is Professor Vanheim, as you probably already know." [Hahahah, bald.] Amy side-eyed her satchel with a frown, then refocused on the teacher.

"Thank you, headmistress Elyndra. I'll take care of them from here on." After nodding to each other, the woman walked away in the direction they had come from and rapidly disappeared from view.

"Welcome to the Academy," Professor Vanheim said in a deep, resonant voice.

"As I mentioned during the entrance ceremony, I am Class S's main professor, as well as the one you should be asking whenever an academic problem that you cannot deal with alone arises.

"But please don't misunderstand. I'm not here to babysit you. As long as you remain under me, I'll keep pushing you past your limits; some of you will not even be here by the end of the semester." [Cheerful fellow, isn't he?] Amy resisted the urge to shush the book again and instead focused on keeping her expression impassive.

"Moving on," Vanheim continued, "I obviously won't be teaching you alone. Professor Lirienne, in charge of Elemental Manifestation; Drayke, responsible for Combat Applications; and finally Kaelen, with Prophetic Arts, will all be accompanying me in your tutelage."

It was right at that moment, almost as if they had been rehearsing, that the three people who had been introduced a second ago came out through the door behind Vanheim; first Kaelen, with his white hair and damn creepy black eyes, then Lirienne, with green hair and eyes, and finally Drayke, who had half of his face covered in scars, as well as a tail, wolf ears, and a mechanical prosthetic arm.

"Good timing," Vanheim said with a nod at the teachers, then turned back to the students.

"Since it seems we are fully prepared, we can finally begin to assess your abilities thoroughly."

"Sir," a voice suddenly called out. Amy turned to see it came from a slender boy with cat ears.

"I thought our abilities were private—""They are, but not to professors, obviously. How are we to teach you otherwise? You can keep it private all you want from your other classmates, but that privacy begins and ends with certain academy personnel." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. What a dumb question… The boy seemed to realize the same thing that Amy did, as he fell silent with an embarrassed expression.

"As I was saying," Vanheim continued, "we will begin to assess your abilities thoroughly. Please keep in mind that this isn't an exam but something purely done to help the teachers understand you better." He looked at each person in the group before his gaze settled on the girl beside Amy.

"Alba Silvermoon, you'll go first. Follow me." The pink-haired girl trembled slightly before stepping forward and entering the room along with the other teachers and Vanheim. Fantastic, I managed to beat one assessment by sheer luck, and now I'll have to deal with another… At least she now had actual powers, even if she really didn't know how to use them…

"Nervous?" Amy turned to stare at the girl with red eyes and hair—Stella—who had introduced herself earlier along with Alba.

"I've never been in a place like this, since I'm from the countryside," she said with an awkward laugh. Amy met her words with a practiced, kind smile. Do I need to keep the mysterious act even here, or can I just talk normally…? Actually, I suppose it's better to keep it going, just in case. Can't risk breaking my character.

"It's overwhelming, isn't it?" Amy asked.

"Yes, it is!" Stella said with waayy too much enthusiasm, scaring Amy.

"Did you hear the headmistress talk about all those student deaths as if it were nothing!? It's insane, isn't it? I'm not crazy, right??" Amy cleared her throat and recomposed herself, and so did Stella, who'd realized she had just lost control of herself.

"Sorry, it's just— Everything has been so crazy…"

"It's no surprise that you'd find it that way, beggar." Stella frowned, and so did Amy at the sudden voice that intruded on their conversation. They both turned to look at Tallen, the copper-skinned boy with temple tattoos on his arm.

"What did you just—""Amy Stake." Stella's words were cut off by Professor Vanheim, who had just returned from the room along with Alba. He looked between Stella and Tallen, but didn't say anything as his gaze returned to Amy.

"It's your turn." Amy gave a glance to Stella, who seemed very frustrated going by her face, patted her on the back, then took a deep breath and walked towards Vanheim. As she entered the room, before Vanheim closed the door fully, she managed to hear both Alba and Stella begin a conversation related to Tallen; in particular, she heard the word "bitch" being thrown out. The door closed behind her.

She had entered a circular chamber with seven doors inside, just like the Hall of Elements, each with the symbol of an element on it.

"This way." They both entered the spirit room. On the other side, she was met with a small room painted fully in black with nothing in it but a small stone table and someone standing beside it—Kaelen.

"Miss Stake," he called with a voice similar to that of a heavy smoker, but not quite—shit, even his damn voice was creepy.

"Please come here." Amy hesitated a bit before approaching.

"I have heard a lot about you," Kaelen said with a smile, beginning to walk toward her.

"I doubt you understand how much I wanted to meet you." Amy stopped in her tracks as a feeling of wrongness took over her, but he didn't. Soon they were right in front of each other. He was much taller than her, so she was forced to look up.

"A seer not coming from my family is almost unheard of; did you know that?" He suddenly took Amy's hand, making her flinch.

"You see, long ago my great-great-grandfather had this very big wish; he wanted a monopoly on divination arts for himself." Kaelen started moving towards the table, all while dragging Amy by their interlaced hands.

"Unlike every other kind of ability, divination manifests by bloodline, so achieving his dream wasn't entirely impossible." He placed Amy's hand on the table, then stood behind her as he wrapped some kind of collar—which, Amy inferred, was a magical artifact—around her.

"Even for a man as tricky as him, it wasn't an easy task." He finished putting the collar around her, then went to her right and began placing a bracelet, this time around her arm.

"It was hard, and it was tiresome, but he eventually achieved his dream of assembling every divination user into a single family." Why is he…?

"You are surely wondering why I am telling you this, right, Miss Stake?"

"..." Amy looked behind her—maybe searching for help—at Vanheim, who was staring at both of them with a frown but did not say anything. So instead she looked at her satchel, trying to convey her thoughts, which somehow seemed to reach it. [Sorry, but I can't intervene that directly…] the book said with that robotic voice it sometimes put on. [Don't expect anything from the teacher or the Academy either. The Gaspards have too much control here.] Amy bit her lip, then looked back at the teacher beside her with an expression she hoped was devoid of any emotion.

"... The reason why I'm saying all this," Kaelen continued, "is because I'm extremely curious about your answer to this question: how do you think he achieved his objective?" Amy took a deep breath before looking into the pure black eyes staring at her.

"Did he kill them all?" Kaelen stared at her expressionlessly for a second before a light chuckle escaped him.

"That would have been a practical and bloody solution, wouldn't it?" he said with a smile, and then shook his head.

"But that wasn't the way he achieved it; he was quite the pacifist, you see. No, the way he managed it was completely different.

"The way he managed to do it was by making every single user of the ability join the family, either through monetary means, coercion, or sometimes marriage." He said that last word with a very big smile on his face, then finally stepped back as he finished placing the bracelet in her arm. He then moved to the opposite side of the table and muttered, "Close your eyes." Amy hesitated for a second before she did. Immediately after, she saw golden threads going in all directions.

Her vision had become something similar to watching through an X-ray machine. She saw so many threads all over the place, some going towards the table, some going towards the teacher, and some even entering through her torso—or at least it seemed that way at the beginning; when Amy focused, she could see that they cut off right before touching her. [Fate's Sight has increased to level 2. Congratulations, Amy.] Amy didn't even have the chance to celebrate her ability finally going up a level after an entire night without sleeping.

"So?" Kaelen suddenly called, earning her attention.

"What do you see?"

"I…" Amy hesitated over what to say, and eventually decided to omit the part where the threads didn't fully touch her.

"I see golden thre—""Good, that's enough." Suddenly, the X-ray vision faded, and Amy nearly stumbled; she hadn't realized it before, but she now did. She was incredibly tired and breathing hard. Kaelen approached her once again—something that made Amy a bit reluctant. Luckily for her, he only seemed interested in the artifacts, just like before.

"You have the same kind of divination as my nephew, Zayd. Did you know you youngsters are actually in the same class?" Amy frowned while catching her breath, sensing where this was going.

"I would really like it," Kaelen continued after taking the artifacts away from Amy and putting a hand on her shoulder, "if you got to know each other. Maybe even help each other with homework and such. Building a relationship would be beneficial for both of you. Who knows, perhaps someday you might need this closeness." Amy once again stared at the Gaspard, expressionless, before giving him a fake smile and a nod, something which he returned with the same gesture.

If this interaction had shown her something, it was that her actions had consequences; it was obvious why that Gaspard was here. It was because of her. This shitty manga was becoming more and more complex by the hour. The timelines she knew from the story were already shifting, and it had only been a single day. The Gaspard hadn't even appeared in the original story, at least in the published chapters she had read, which went up to 225.

Right now she was at chapter 152, which meant she had 73 chapters left of knowledge… so little, and yet so much of it was probably going to become obsolete if things kept changing at such a rapid rate. Man, this fucking sucks… What followed that exchange was Amy finally being allowed to leave, again accompanied by Vanheim, who patted her on the back before she rejoined the other students. [Are you alright?] the book asked from her satchel, its voice robotic.

"Nah…not really," Amy muttered, keeping her voice to a barely audible whisper. That was all she said. She did not add anything more as she kept walking. Time passed, and soon everyone had finished their examination, leaving only one thing left to do: rejoining the second-years in their first official class.