Arc 1 P2

Valerie headed straight to the faculty room instead of the library. She already knew students weren't allowed access for classified relics, especially those that's tied to the military.

As her luck would have it, the only one present happened to be Feder. He's reading a book on his holographic terminal from what she could tell, but the swinging of the door had already alerted him.

"Pardon the intrusion," Valerie meekly closed the door behind her.

Feder adjusted his glasses. After tapping the frame, he focused at the girl again. "Oh, Miss Neue. To what do I owe the displeasure?"

"The displeasure is mine," She curtsied. Then, her expression hardened. "Erlingier didn't exist."

"Is that so?"

"The official compendium of relics doesn't list one Erlingier as far as I know."

Feder scoffed. He reached for a box and proceeded to clean his glasses. "The compendium, you say? Interesting. However, I'll have to remind you that—"

"—The official list often varies with the actual list etcetera etcetera. I'm not here to answer that, just to remind you too."

Feder chuckled. "Always the sharp remarks. You know, if your classmates saw you like this, they won't believe you're the same top student."

"And their—your opinions don't matter. Besides, playing the part allowed me more leg room."

"And your antics helped me to continue my reputation as a strict professor. It truly was a great proposal. Test scores greatly improved all because of a little… politicking. Don't you really wish to follow your father's footsteps? You'd make a great governor in the near future."

"Just tell me where Professor Wilhelm went," She couldn't bear to hear one more word about her family. In times like these did she find Feder annoying.

"Aww, did that hit a spot? I'm so not sorry," Feder had a condescending smirk on his face. He could sense her unease. It's a normal occurrence in a school full of children from big, influential families.

"…"

He shrugged at the furious glare of the girl. He knew it'd not end well for both of them if he pressed the matter any more. "I don't look like his chaperone, now, do I?"

"Useless as ever," Rolling her eyes, Valerie stormed out of the room.

She scoured the whole Academy for the guy to no avail. What she got instead were a bunch of friendly greetings and small talks. Whenever she got done on one encounter, the corner of her lip couldn't help but curl downwards. Liars. It's not Miss Valerie Neue, it's always Miss Neue for you lot!

Unable to bear it anymore, she headed straight for the washroom. A little trick her etiquette teacher taught was that when things got tough, a splash to the face would help ease the nerves. It's effective, especially for those of high-born families where mask upon mask of facades needed to be donned just to survive.

Reflected in the mirror was one child. Her clear and smooth skin was a product of all the high-class soaps she's required to use. Her glossy hair? Nothing much save for the best treatment available. Her lips? Her lashes? Her nails? Also the best. Where all the other big names go, she goes. She's required to go. The culmination of all that's pretty in the world was her. All the other kids were the same. In the same way, so did their future children.

She's not just Valerie. No, that's nothing—an insignificant extender for the glorious four-letter surname that followed, a house that produced one of the best leaders keeping the city in the right course for generations.

Neue. A bloodline committed to minimizing the gap between the different classes, couldn't even close the widening rift they made in exchange.

Win some, lose some. A single person's wish would never be a priority. It's been the way how things were designed. It's always Miss Neue. Valerie was simply used to identify which one of the great bloodline was next in the prison of mortal judgement and prejudice that is the governor's seat.

"Are you being serious?"

The male voice coming from the toilet cubicle made her froze. Why was there a guy here? And that voice…

For safety reasons, public comfort rooms weren't soundproofed in the event of emergencies. Also, it helped limit uncouth behavior.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Another voice, also male, replied. "Adam's proposal was worth considering if you looked at our position."

"—!!"

The voices fell silent once Valerie gasped. She recognized that voice.

The cubicles opened in sync and out stepped two men, one young and old older. The older one had messy hair stiff from either hair gel or refusal to bathe… Valerie knew it's the latter. The younger one, the more important one, was a dashing man with a piercing gaze and a fiery, vermilion mane.

Both were surprised seeing Valerie.

"Miss Neue, what're you…"

Before her face completely turned into a tomato, Valerie dashed out of the washroom… the men's washroom.

"I see, are you sure you're alright though?"

Instead of laughing it off, the younger man, Professor Wilhelm Rañez, showed genuine concern for Valerie. After all, it's not normal for a straight-A student to wander off into the men's bathroom.

"I-I-I'm alright, thank you," she gently tugged her arm back to prevent the professor from checking her vitals. While it's hardly a physical action as their multi-purpose wrist band showed the important vital signs with a simple gesture, Valerie still felt uncomfortable with letting Wilhelm touch her arm. Had she washed it enough? It should be fine, right?

The science lab was where the three of them gathered. It's relatively quiet around the area for one, and two, there's a bunch of medical supplies here. Since Valerie was reluctant on visiting the infirmary, this was the next logical place.

"I'll get straight to the point, Miss Neue," Antonolov cut her daydreaming off with his gruff voice. "How much have you heard?"

She shook her head like a child. "Nothing important."

The man scratched his head and sighed. "Well, I'll hold your word for that."

"Professor Antonolov," Wilhelm said.

"Oh, no, Wilhelm. I think I know what you're thinking."

"But it's Val—Miss Neue. I believe she can understand."

"No."

"Um…" The girl fidgeted as she was at a loss on the situation.

"Yes?" Wilhelm smiled warmly.

"I was just about to ask about a relic. About Erlingier specifically."

The two cursed under their breath at the same time.

"That damned four-eyed slick son of a—"

"It might be on me," Wilhelm cut him off. "I must've left the file open in my terminal or something."

"Well, that's outright invasion of privacy if I see one!" Antonolov muttered a string of curses as if some sort of mantra. "I swear I'm gonna punch that smug face to a pulp one day…"

"Calm yourself, professor. We have a young lady with us."

Antonolov, being in his habitat, excused himself and snagged some beakers and begun heating water. The white powder sitting nearby didn't look like coffee but the two of them knew it tasted like one despite the color. "If only I could use a relic," he grumbled.

Leaving the old man to his coffee-making ceremony, Wilhelm turned to Valerie. "What is it about Erlingier you wanted to know?"

"Anything I'm allowed to—no, that's way past now. I want to know why it's called the staff of twisted space."

Wilhelm cleared his throat and began. "Well, the relic hasn't been activated as far as I know, but it's tentatively dubbed as 'the staff of twisted space' because the tainted that wielded it produced spatial disturbances."

"Disturbance… does it twist the space at the designated location?"

"Yes and no. The relic does input force to manipulate space but how it does that was still being tested hence the no activation tag."

Just then, their wrist bands lit up. There's a school-wide notification regarding adjustments for clearance levels and information availability at the library.

Students are now allowed access to select military-grade information as of today.