"I want to graduate already..."
"What are you talking about, Aurea? With your brains you could graduate today if you really wanted to."
"I know, Bertha. But Mother wouldn’t accept it. She is adamant about staying here until I’m 17."
We are having a soirée at my place. Bertha, Sieghilda, Liudolf, Ingela, and .
Over the last few years, we’ve beco a closely knit group of friends. A group that one could say gravitates around , which feels kind of weird.
In my second sester at the school, I made an effort to beco closer to them, though Ingela was the one harder to get to.
She was just too shy to easily get into a group with nobles and a fucking princess. Though the fact that I stood up for her and managed to end the bullying directed at her was a great icebreaker.
Over ti, she beca one of the brightest students in our class. The barrier of entry for commoners is still so high that they can only enter (and stay) if they are the best.
I also stopped fighting so much about rights for nonhuman people. Not because I cared less, but because I compromised so I don’t trigger a full-on confrontation with the Church.
And this is how we arrived at this point, four and a half years after I ca to school for the first ti. My fifteenth birthday is next week, so I’m a full teenager now.
And these people sure make it easier for to keep up with this. If I continued all alone in this place, I would have run away a long ti ago.
"But why? Wouldn’t she be happy if you managed to graduate early? It’s a huge accomplishnt."
"Because for her, the goal of coming here is not graduating. It’s for to know the world and the people, to have to deal with a different way of thinking than my own."
"It makes sense. Your mother is a very wise woman. If we get too closed in our own bubble, then when we find people from outside the bubble, we won’t know how to deal with them."
"I know, Liudo. I’m not saying that I disagree with her reasoning or anything. I’m only here because I agree that it’s needed. It’s just that... I’m tired of this place already."
"Tired of us, dear princess?"
"No, of course I’m not tired of you, Sieghilda. Of any of you."
"Maybe we should do sothing new and interesting in the next sester. Like found a new club or sothing."
"A club?"
Ingela is always pointing to practical solutions, and I love her for it.
"Yes. I’ve been thinking the last months about what you said once in the magical theory classes. About casting magic without the help of the System. I would like to try that, and if we create a club, we could apply for the use of a training gym."
"Ooooh, Ingela, that idea rocks!"
"That’s aweso!"
"I want that! To learn proper actual magic!"
Everyone loved Ingela’s idea, and it might be actually interesting. It would help deal with the boredom, that’s for sure.
And I would be able to teach them so magic as well.
"And with in the club, we might really manage to get that training gym for us. Ti to put my social status to so use."
"Yes, Aurea. That will be amazing!"
Of all, Sieghilda sounds the most excited of all of them.
"And I can teach you so systemless magic, then. That would make my ti a lot more interesting."
"Huh? You are able to use magic without the system? I thought that you were talking only in theory."
"Hehe. Actually, none of the magic I do uses the system. It’s all just by reciting the aria."
"What?"
"How?"
"Whoa, I never noticed."
"So I was right!"
"Huh? You suspected, Ingela?"
"Yes... after you said that in class, I started watching more closely when you cast magic during training... And the way you chant the arias is a bit different."
"Different how?"
"When we cast magic through the system, it forces the words of the aria onto our lips, so we follow the rhythm and timing that is brought by it. Which makes the sa aria always have the sa length."
"Oh... And when I sing the aria, it doesn’t matter how much I try; I never match the length of the system’s chant."
"Exactly."
"Busted. But please, word of this doesn’t leave this room. Officially, I’ll be researching the possibility along with you."
"Of course!"
"Yes!"
"I won’t say anything!"
"Yeah!"
"Thank you all. It will be fun teaching you."
"Is it difficult, Aurea, to rember all those chants?"
"The system ones, that I mimic, not that much. They are in Esperansy, and are very verbose to facilitate human understanding. But when you go to more efficient spells, it gets tricky."
"More efficient spells? What do you an?"
"The spells that are registered in the system aren’t very cost-effective. The way they structure the sentences is a bit convoluted, and a lot of extra magical energy is spent to conjure the effects."
When I was about to answer the question, Ingela jumped in and gave the answer herself.
"As Ingela said. It’s impressive that you managed to notice that just from the classes they gave us."
"Heh, it was nothing... I was able to notice it only because of a comnt you said during class, so I tried tweaking the arias and chanting them myself, so it beca pretty obvious."
"Ingela, you’re so aweso!!"
Ooooh... is it a crush that I see in Liudolf’s eyes as he looks at Ingela? That would be so fun.
"I agree with Liudolf. It’s incredible that you found out all that from just a random comnt."
"Thank you, Liudo, Aurea... But, Aurea, you said that one of the reasons for it being less efficient is for it to be chanted in Esperansy. What would be the other way?"
"Heh. Just chant the aria in Draconic, like this."
I open my hand with the palm facing up and chant a very short Draconic aria, consisting of only five words. A gentle gush of warm wind starts flowing out of my hand.
"I use this every day to dry my hair."
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