Alira hid behind a tall student to sneak a good, long look at the professor up and down. Now that she was up close, she could confirm with her own eyes that the novel’s descriptions of the woman were indeed accurate. It sure wasn’t exaggerating to say that if the word elegant were a person, it would be Professor Daw. Matching ashen grey eyes and hair tied up in a neat, symmetrical bun, she was a character of strict beauty.
“Follow me,” Professor Daw said, leading the way out of the hall. The group left through the door on the side rather than the one at the back that opened to the teleportation chamber. A corridor, suits of armor on one side and glass display boxes with curious items on the other, extended outside the door.
Alira followed at the back of the group, along with Maria who remained glued to her side like a chick that had imprinted on her. She counted twenty-one heads ahead of her, excluding the professor. In the Dual POV, First Class had a total of nineteen students. The number seemed to match if Alira and Maria were taken out of the picture.
Raine, as he always did, followed close behind the professor at the very front. Closest to him was a familiar head of purple locks, Lillian Orllel. The other three girls who had been with Lillian during the first encounter were also with her. Alira more or less recognized the three of them and eight other students as children from various noble houses. The rest were either children of well-off families or sponsored by such.
Same as everywhere on Staywes, humans made up the majority of the population. Alira noticed a black-haired Elf, most likely a foreign to the western continent, as almost all elves were, and another hybrid like herself—a bunny boy, or girl, she really couldn’t tell for sure, with rich brown-red hair.
She was noting her classmates down purely out of habit. None of them really mattered as they were just characters she likely, and hopefully, wouldn’t need to interact with.
Her gaze returned to Raine. Especially him.
“Miss. Do you, uh...” Maria whispered, getting on her tiptoes in an attempt to reach Alira’s ears. Alira leaned down, tilting her head to allow better access. “Do you want to go talk to him after this? I’ll go with you!”
Maria looked at Alira with her big brown eyes and a small grin on her face. Alira stared back in stupor. Talk to who? She turned her head ahead, her eyes landing on Raine’s back. Oh. She realized her weary scrutiny of the protagonist had caused Maria to misunderstand. No matter. She did have to find a way to tell him the novel’s plotline at some point.
“Maybe,” Alira replied casually.
She noticed that Maria’s eyes seemingly became a bit brighter at that, but she let the teenage girl have her own thoughts and fantasies. Alira used to play match-up with some people she knew for fun, shipping whoever looked good together, when she was Maria’s age. And she still did, to some extent.
She shifted her attention to the displayed items she was walking past instead. Cryptic symbols were marked on wooden signs in front of the boxes. Despite never having seen the words before, Alira perfectly understood them as Staywes’s Common Tongue, the most spoken language which could be somewhat viewed as this world’s equivalent of English.
‘Great Serpent Fang.’
‘Pillar’s Fragments.’
‘Withered Petal.’
To Alira, they all looked like ordinary junks that were given fancy names. Though she guessed they were likely artifacts, items from Ancient Times with unique, extraordinary abilities. Just out of pure curiosity regarding how a single dried petal could be an artifact, she used Narrate on the Withered Petal.
Grey smoky runes emerged on top of the artifact’s display box.
[ A small petal sat inside a clear glass box. Withered Petal is a petal from the Eternal Flame Flower that has fallen off its root and has been withering away. The Petal longs to return home one day. ]
That wasn’t much information in terms of what the artifact actually did. Eternal Flame Flower. The name did ring a bell. Alira thought for some time before recalling that the flower was the national symbol of the Fenhua Empire, the homeland of the second protagonist, Xia.
Return home... Did it mean the artifact could go back, and maybe bring its owner as well, to Fenhua?
She used Narrate the second and last time she would be able to in this ‘Scene’.
[ Withered Petal senses a warm wind to the east. Soon, the wind will carry the Petal away. ]
That sounded like some foreshadowing. Alira’s gut instinct about anything mysterious was that it likely had something to do with the protagonists. Let’s not get involved.
Alira wanted to try the aspect out on a few other artifacts, but Maria was getting more and more restless as they were left behind by the crowd. She could have left her behind, too, but no. Alira had no choice but to give in, and the two moved to rejoin the group.
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Professor Daw finally took a turn to lead them into a different room.
The hall was about one-fourth the size of the one they had been in just now and was half as brightly lit as well. A single crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling at the center, casting a dim blue light that dissolved towards the edges of the hall.
With the corners shrouded in cool shadows, the place felt more cramped than it actually was. Professor Daw stood at the brightest spot to face the group of huddling students.
“You may call me Professor Daw. I’m the class mistress of First Class and also the head professor of your entire intake,” she began. “Try not to end up in my office too often.”
Alira tried not to meet her eyes as she was planning to pay the professor a visit at her earliest convenience. After all, Professor Daw was the head teacher for the alchemy department. Who else would be a better person to bother about the alchemic bind on her?
“Normally after the orientation ceremony, you children would be left to yourself to get acquainted with each other. Miss Rohan, that’s your vice-headmaster for those of you who weren’t paying attention during the ceremony, decided that this year, you’ll do that among your respective classes instead thanks to some commotions during the previous intake.” Professor Daw continued.
Alira mentally spoke along with her word-for-word as the professor followed the same script in the novel. A timely reminder that she was indeed inside a scripted scene, standing and breathing together with the novel’s characters. It certainly was an experience. She couldn’t help but zoom out from the scene to imagine herself with a bunch of puppets on strings that extended from a height unseen.
Puppets on strings were exactly what the characters appeared to her as they followed a fixed plot to their doom, believing everything was their choice. Could it still be called free will if things were already decided for them?
“Miss Ravon,” Professor Daw called. For a moment, Alira didn’t associate the name with herself. Fortunately, Professor Daw wasn’t waiting for her reply as she proceeded, “Mr. Raine. And finally, Mr. Cinnamon. The three of you have unique Roles as far as I’m concerned. I’m here for any questions or if you want to discuss anything related to the matter.”
Mr. Cinnamon... That's a character name.
Alira looked around with her eyebrows raised in disbelief when she made direct eye contact with the rabbit hybrid. She felt herself getting sucked into his powder-blue eyes that seemed to pull everything into their dull quietness, unable to look away despite herself.
Cinnamon. Alira’s chest tightened. A bunny hybrid with that name. She could roughly guess what his character backstory was like. She wetted her lips, an action only half-aware to herself, and swallowed a lump down her throat.
Just when she was about to awkwardly look away, Cinnamon flashed a small, warm smile to her. His eyes crinkled as the smile morphed his face into what it should look like: soft, innocent, and endearing. Exactly what someone would expect a rabbit hybrid to look like.
Alira responded in a stiff, teethy smile before quickly turning away. She duly took a mental note to keep herself far, far away from him. None of the background characters in First Class had any description or dedicated scene apart from Lillian who had a couple of lines about her blushing and gazing as Raine’s fangirl number thirty-something.
Still, her gut feeling warned her about this particular boy named Cinnamon. It was like those instances where you encountered an NPC in a game and just knew they would give you a rabbit hole of quests and character plotlines to dive into.
No, thanks.
Alira would have wholeheartedly shaken her head if she didn’t care about the bunny boy’s gaze still lingering on her. Maybe he felt a kinship or something. She tried her best to ignore him.
Maria, who was standing beside Alira, scooped even further in, the two almost attached at their side. The girl stepped in front of Alira, acting as a protective shield. Only she was about a head shorter than Alira, with a smaller frame. Alira would look like an elephant behind a pole if she tried to hide behind Maria.
“What’s wrong?” Alira asked. Though she already had a guess.
Maria pointed her chin at Cinnamon in a wordless ‘what do you want’, who didn’t even blink at her before finally looking away. Maria huffed and lowered the hands raised to block Alira from him.
Oh, dear.
Alira placed her hand on top of Maria’s head and didn’t resist the urge to ruffle her hair and mess it up a bit. She sure wasn’t expecting to have a knight that resembled more of a hoarding hamster.
“Thanks, Maria. But it’s alright,” Alira reassured her.
Maria patted her ruffled hair down and mumbled something Alira didn’t catch. Her attention was abruptly shifted to something else when wriggling worms crept into her field of view.
[ LoveFurries: Guess who’s my new favorite character other than the mc?? ]
Of course, it was this LoveFurries person(?) again. Alira rolled her eyes.
[ Guest1898: Ughhh three more chaps of nth burger. So many things could have happened already but no, we just touring around in da academy. I sure hope the entire academy arc won’t be like this. Where? Where?! Where the heck is the action? ]
[ Guest1221: ?
[ Guest1898: No! The plot is too mild. Like, come on. there could have been a fight among students. Maybe a cultist break-in or whatever. It just starting to feel too safe, too sol, yk ]
[ Guest1221: ?
[ LoveFurries: Intro said furries. And we’re getting exactly that :3 ]
[ Guest1898: ughh ik... Just the new cover/concept art got me all riled up. Can’t wait for all the cults and bloodshed I signed up for. Fingers crossed it doesn’t take a hundred chap before we get anywhere that resembles a forest ]
The what? Alira wanted to groan. Though she actually had a clue what they were referring to. The forest and the story beats that would take place there. She, too, had her finger crossed, praying she wouldn’t still be stuck here by that time.
[ Guest1898: Esp after I heard some...whispers about what dwells in the forest ]
[ Guest1221: Ok. Let’s not discuss spoilers here. None of us wants a visit from the law, I’m sure. ]
Alira frowned. They mentioned this ‘law’ thing before. She had no idea what it was exactly, but it sure sounded like a headache.
With a small sigh, she raised her hand to grab Professor Daw’s attention. The professor stood where she was, silently watching at students getting to know each other or lack thereof.
“Yes, miss Alira,” she said. “Come closer if you want to talk. I won’t eat you.”
Alira laughed a little and shook her head. “No, I was wondering if there’s anything else, or if we can retire.”
Professor Daw stared at her a moment before nodding. “Alright. See you later in class.”
UNB on July 17th, and it's 144 days old today (the day this chapter went up)! Currently, I'm working on Book 2 of UNB.
You can find UNB advance chapters on Patreon if you want to support me!