A Little Weird

GONG! GONG!

The academy bell rings, jolting me awake.

Still tired, I groan and roll over, falling out of bed, making sure to slam my head into the nightstand on the way down before faceplanting into the hardwood floor.

I let out another groan.

Sometimes the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same…

I summon Pudding to keep me company throughout the day, and go through my usual morning routine, except now with the added self-consciousness of being surrounded by other people while I bathe and rub slime all over my face.

Next, I head outside to pick some of the beautiful flowers I’ve seen scattered around campus.

Afterwards, I pop in the cafeteria for a quick bite to eat. Breakfast isn’t a formal meal here, so they just leave out some breads, meats, cheeses, and fruits for those who want it.

I look at the clock, then check my schedule:

7:00 AM - Morning Bell
7:40 AM - Homeroom
7:50 AM - Passing Period
8:00 AM - Class #1
9:40 AM - Passing Period
9:50 AM - Class #2
11:30 AM - Lunch
12:20 PM - Passing Period
12:30 PM - Class #3
2:10 PM - Passing Period
2:20 PM - Class #4
4:00 PM - Free Period
6:00 PM - Dinner
7:00 PM - Free Period
9:40 PM - Curfew Bell
10:00 PM - Curfew

The 2nd and 3rd year students get to choose from a variety of classes based on which combat and non-combat skills they wish to pursue, but 1st years all get the same eight classes focused on making sure we have the fundamentals down.

Mondays and Wednesdays I have Sweeper Travel Skills, Communication, Basic Spellcasting, and Beastiology I.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Sweeper Survival Skills, Battle Tactics, Basic Martial Arts, and Summoning I.

After classes end we can do whatever we want, but I guess most students attend a club for an hour, socialize for a couple hours, then spend the rest of the day training or doing homework.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are all days off, which sounds like a lot, but students typically spend most of them on self-study, club activities, or running Sweeper missions to gain experience out in the field.

As I make my way to Homeroom—a short daily morning meeting for things like announcements and taking attendance—I’m taken aback by how busy the halls feel now with all 1500 or so students, most of whom tower over me as they bustle around.

Everybody’s so serious…

I smack my cheeks.

I need to give this week everything I’ve got too! I can’t just let myself get swept along. I need to figure out what I want to do—for Vincent’s sake… and mine.

***

I arrive at the classroom, but the teacher is nowhere to be found. Still, I walk up to their desk and—

“Ahem.”

I turn around to find Coldheart standing over me, glaring.

“Oh… are you… visiting?”

“This is my class.”

NOOOOOOOOO!

She glances at her desk. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“...Leaving a bouquet of flowers.”

“If you think bribing your teachers is gonna—”

“I’m not—I just… want to let them know I appreciate them.”

GONG! GONG!

“...Take a seat.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I spot Lucas, but sadly there aren’t any empty seats next to him, so I’m forced to sit elsewhere. I scan around the classroom and realize everyone here is from our testing group.

After sitting through homeroom, I make my way back to Coldheart’s desk.

“What do you want?” Coldheart snaps.

“I just… want to apologize… for yesterday. Super G—”

She raises an eyebrow.

“Um, Mister Headmaster… he was right when he said I was behaving immaturely. And you were too, when you said getting to attend this school is a rare opportunity, and that I should take it more seriously. So I will. I promise to work hard and try to be more mature from now on.”

“I hope you realize, Miss Littleroot, that in the adult world you can’t magically fix everything with an apology.”

I nod.

“Actions have consequences.” She smirks. “Your mentor will be learning that the hard way when I go shopping this Sunday and drag him around as my pack mule.”

I can’t help but grin.

Her eyes narrow. “What?”

“You just wanted to go out on a date with him, didn’t you?”

Her face turns pink. “T-that’s ridiculous!”

“If you aren’t honest about your feelings, Vivian’s gonna beat you to the punch, you know.”

“I do not have—”

…

“Why? What’s Vivian up to?”

“So you do care.”

“Out.”

“I—”

“Out!”

Before I exit the classroom, I turn. “I’m serious, you know! I’m gonna work hard!”

She scoffs and turns her head. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

***

My first class of the day is Sweeper Travel Skills, where throughout the year we’ll be learning how to ride various mounts, navigate the kingdom, understand its laws, and other skills a Sweeper may need on their travels.

Our initial classes will be held out on the field, starting with broomstick riding.

Upon spotting the professor, I run up to hand her a bouquet.

“Yer kiddin’! These are fer me? Ain’t you a thoughtful lil’ cutie!”

She’s loud, much like her appearance. She wears the standard professor uniform, but with a yellow, red, and blue striped scarf and a pair of brown goggles fitted with red lenses resting on her head. She has a big mop of messy green hair, thick eyebrows, dark eyes—

…Wait a minute.

“Um, you wouldn’t happen to be related to the We Sell Brooms—”

“Horace Longstraw? You bet’cha! I’m his daughter, Hilda!”

“Ah.”

“Oh, don’tcha worry, sweetie, I can read yer face like a book—I’m a lot nicer than he is.”

“Yippee!”

I race over to Lucas and Jane, who are chatting with each other. We talk until class starts, then I pay close attention to the lecture and take careful notes. Partway through, however, I can’t help but wonder something.

“Miss Longstraw, I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“How come summoners love and work with sprites and other magical creatures like pegasuses or hippogryphs, yet monsters are despised and working with them is typically seen as out of the question? It seems kind of… I don’t know… dumb? Hypocritical?”

The class murmurs.

“Nora!” Lucas whispers. “How could you ask something like that?! Monsters are—”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Longstraw interrupts. “That’s a fair question. Ya see, all the creatures ya listed have souls. Like us, they’re able to gather the mana flowin’ around ‘em.

“Monsters, on the other hand, have mana cores. And while we often refer to these as souls, they’re really two completely different things. Mana cores allow monsters to generate their own mana, but the catch is they gotta rely on mana crystals fer fuel. And when they can’t get any, they have to make their own by consumin’ other life. However, it’s very inefficient.

“Now, weaker monsters, not much of an issue. But stronger ones? When they’re not hibernating, they have to feed like crazy in order to sustain themselves, which is why they end up wreakin’ so much havoc. Make sense?”

“...So, if we could figure out a way to get them enough food, they’d stop coming after us?”

Longstraw laughs. “Tell ya what, ya figure that one out—and they’ll be throwin’ parades in yer honor fer the rest of time.”

The class giggles, and we continue on with the lesson. However, something about that answer just doesn’t quite satisfy me.

“Squee…”

I guess Pudding feels the same.

Eventually, we get to the broom-flying portion of the class.

“Now, what I’d like ya all to do is straddle yer broom and try channelin’ mana into it. The sprite in yer broom will convert the mana into a gust that it’ll use to propel itself forward. And if ya channel wind-affinity mana, you’ll get even stronger results—but take it slow until ya get a feel fer things, don’t want’cha catapultin’ yerselves off yer brooms now. If ya feel yerself spinnin’ outta control, widen the gust ya output. This’ll letcha restabilize.”

I de-summon Pudding, hop on Broomalina, and—

“I thought you were prankin’ me earlier carryin’ that thing.” Longstraw stops me. “Ya can’t ride that—it’s fer cleanin’, not flyin’.”

“But your dad said the shop’s process is always right.”

“Yer kiddin’! Is that—Ha! Ya stole it offa’ him, huh? Well, never seen someone try to ride one before, but give it yer best shot!”

I turn to Lucas. “I’m kinda surprised you didn’t ask me about the broom first.”

He sighs. “I’ve learned to just accept your eccentricities at this point.”

“Awww, that’s so sweet.”

Lucas blushes. “Just fly already!”

“Sounds like a plan!”

I wake up Broomalina and start channeling wind mana into her.

“Alright, Broomalina. Let’s—AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Broomalina starts jerking and zigzagging in every direction imaginable. At first, the class laughs, but after almost hitting several students, the laughter quickly turns to screaming.

“Please! Listen to where I’m telling you to—”

Broomalina suddenly shoots straight up, and I find myself hanging on for dear life.

“Just calm down!”

My grip loosens as we soar.

“I’m begging you! I’ll do whatever you want!”

We soar even higher, the mana in the air growing so dense it feels like we’re pushing through water. My grip is about to give way at any moment.

“I’ll even let you sweep all the dirt you want, see?”

I stop channeling mana into her and switch to channeling it through my finger to fire off some dirt—

“Woah!”

Broomalina suddenly halts and I hear screams from below as I go flying off her.

But as I fall back down, she catches me and hovers in place.

I let out a sigh of relief.

I think I just almost had a heart attack.

I look down at her. “What? Is that what you wanted?”

She uses her handle to nod.

I take a hand off Broomalina and conjure some more dirt—

But she shakes back and forth.

“No? But—”

She taps the tip of her handle against my hand.

“I… I’m sorry Broomalina, but I don't understand—”

She lets out two quick pulses of wind.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t think so. I know what happens when I feed you—”

She taps my hand again.

I gasp.

“You don’t want any more wind mana.”

She shakes back and forth.

“You feed on dirt! You want earth mana!”

She excitedly nods.

I channel some into her, and lo and behold, she starts gently cruising, then comes to a stop when I stop channeling mana.

“Well, not the ideal way to learn to fly, but I guess all’s well that ends well. The only question is—how do we get down?”

She starts gently descending.

“Wait a minute, you can fly on your own?”

She nods.

“But you’ll also let me fly you too?”

She nods.

“Woah! Broomalina! You’re so awesome!”

…Even if you did almost kill me a couple of minutes ago.

Eventually, we touch back down, and Lucas and Jane run up to me.

“Nora! Are you alright?” Lucas asks.

“Yeah, it just, uh, took a little trial and error to figure out how to fly this thing.”

“Thank goodness,” Jane sighs.

Longstraw walks over. “Now how in the world did ya do that?”

“I guess these ones eat dirt mana—I mean, earth mana.”

“Well, I’ll be… What’s yer name again?”

I smile. “Nora Littleroot.”

She smiles back and nods, then turns around. “Alright, let’s keep going, everyone!”

I look down at Broomalina.

Dirt mana, huh?

I guess we’re both a little weird.