Chapter 4

Despite being a professor, Linda looked quite young. Unsurprising considering her history. This young woman is not someone to be underestimated.

“Let's begin with gym clothes…”

Nordeux City Magic University wasn't like other universities in this regard. Back then, high-level education for commoners wasn't common. The university was built with the goal of pulling together the country's most brilliant students; thus, equality was important in forming the ideal learning environment. As a result, the university adopted uniforms, something uncommon in other universities. Of course, some nobles would find ways to differentiate their status from others using the various trinkets attached to their uniforms. It did make the difference less stark.

The university had already sent their uniforms ahead of time, so they could wear it on their first day. Gym clothes, on the other hand, were handed over now. These clothes may be called gym clothes, but they’re very sturdy clothes designed to endure the various magic-related tests the students would need to face.

“Come up when I call you.” Linda then began calling the students one by one. The students were numbered based on the alphabet; thus, Kade was in the middle. Since the university was aware, they made sure that no student was between Kade and Meline, and thus, there were no other students with the letter K, L, or M in class, unfortunate for those who have friends with one of those three letters in front of their names.

“Kade,” Linda called. “Meline,” she said after that. The two received their gym clothes, along with a guidebook for new students.

“Not too shabby,” Meline said after returning to her chair. She had opened the clothes’ packaging and checked their contents. They didn't have to check it now, as if there's any damage or wrong size, then they could trade it in the next day. But neither of them had anything to do while they waited for their classmates, so they checked it anyway.

“Still, very different from the clothes I used to wear when training.” Meline began sniffing it for some reason. “No poison? Wait, does this thing have nothing? How is someone supposed to build resistance to status ailments when their training clothes are this?”

“Umm… Meline, the average person doesn't need poison resistance.”

“It's terrible clothes, I tell you. Made for weaklings.”

They were whispering, so their classmates, who were busy talking with their own friends, didn't hear them. Kade’s grateful that was the case, as Meline's comments could be rather interesting sometimes.

“Isn't that how it was during high school?”

“Well, yes, but both your middle school and high school are just schools in the middle of nowhere. I'm not surprised if it's not good.”

Meline was also forced to attend all the way from middle school, thanks to the link she had with Kade. While she did make some friends and seemed to enjoy herself, she kept insisting that it wasn't fun, that it wasn't interesting. Kade could only hope that she had more fun now compared to back then.

“When I was training, the clothes I wore, the food I ate, all of it would have a bit of poison added in, to build up resistance. This is nothing,” she continued, saying scary-sounding stuff. Luckily, the clothes distribution ended before she could draw attention to herself.

“Okay, that's all. Next, your seniors would show you around campus.”

Each year had ten classes, divided from the letter A to the letter J. They were grouped into two, with classes 1-A to 1-E in one group, 1-F to 1-J in the other group. Their seniors soon arrive to lead them around, showing them the various facilities the university has to offer.

Meline would give her own comments from time to time.

“The gym is small. The one back home is three times the size.”

“Huh, not bad for a library, although the collection is nowhere as complete as the castle’s.”

“A separate building for the clubs? Huh, now this I admit I do not have.”

She kept her voice low, but considering how tightly they were huddled with one another, some of her words leaked out.

“Is she some kind of big shot?”

“She looks like one, but why have I never heard of her before?”

“She spoke of a castle. Is she some kind of exchange student?”

“It appears some rumors had already begun swirling around me,” Meline said, looking proud for some reason.

“That's kind of your fault.”

“No, no, it's alright. I'll let these humans know of my greatness,” Meline said smugly. Kade couldn't help but think this dear demon lord had a cute side to her.

Eventually, the tour finished, and the first day of university ended. While they could go home, some of Kade's classmates came over and introduced themselves. The same thing happened to Meline; the girls were particularly curious about her origins.

“Is it true you have a castle?”

“Hah! A castle? I have multiple!”

“What is your relationship with Kade?”

“I'm his boss!”

The girls turned to Kade, dubious looks on their faces. “Is that true?”

Kade scratched his cheeks. “Kind of?”

He was warned by Linda not to reveal their relationship. In general, it's extremely rare, impossible even, for someone to turn someone else into their familiar. Intelligent beings have a natural resistance to such magic.

The circumstances behind their relationship were still a mystery, so it's best they kept it a secret.

Also, considering the kind of person she is, it's a miracle Meline hadn't let anything leak.

“We're childhood friends, I would say.”

“Yes, I guess you can call it that.” Meline nodded, ignoring the fact that she had just tried to call herself his boss, despite the actual relationship being the other way around.

Kade didn't really mind. To him, Meline really is his senior by a few decades. She claimed that she's still young by demon standards, but demons could live up to half a millennium. A century old for a demon is the same as twenty years old for humans.

“Whoa, are you some influential person, then?” One of the boys asked.

Kade shook his head. “It's a coincidence.”

“A whole lot of unfortunate coincidences, I tell you.”

And with that, Meline began telling the story of how they first met.

“He was crying! Crying I tell you, like a little kid!”

Despite ‘unfortunate’ coincidences, she had a smile on her face as she told her story. Of course, she hid the parts about her being a demon lord, but the rest of it remained intact, including the invasion itself.

“Still, I thought you went farther back,” one of the girls said.

“Aren't ten years a long time for you humans?”

Her peculiar way of speaking did seem to catch some attention, but they tend to ignore it.

“It's long, but not childhood friends' level of long.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I thought you were talking about your entire life together…”

Even if she lied and said they've known each other for longer, no one would know. Kade was a lost child, a term used to refer to children with questionable origins. His vessel didn't have a family. No one would know the original story of how they met, outside the demon that accompanied Meline at the time.

While this allowed them to go wild with the backstory, Meline does insist on keeping the story as close to the truth. Anyone seeing her would reach the same conclusion. She's as far from evil as one could possibly be.

At first, it was just about her relationship with Kade, but soon, she began telling stories of her childhood.

“And the soldier went like, ‘You might be the daughter of our ruler, but no way you can defeat me. It’s impossible!’ so I went like swing swing and then woosh woosh and then I defeated him.”

At this point, only a quarter of the class remained. As interested as they were in Meline’s stories, only so many could hold on for two entire hours. From the expressions on their faces, Kade could tell that most of the class didn’t believe Meline’s stories. Considering the sheer absurdity of it all, that didn’t come as a surprise.

Had Kade not known her true background, he wouldn’t have believed her either. Those who remained thought of her delusions as endearing; no one actually believed her, not to the full extent of her stories, at least.

“Umm… Meline, I think it’s time we went back.”

Meline looked toward the clock in front of the class. “Oh dear, it seemed that my rambling had gone on for too long. My apologies.”

She tidied up her stuff and went to Kade.

“Anyway, see you all tomorrow.”

“See you.”

“Have a safe trip.”

They waved toward their classmates and exited the class.