The Headmaster of KAV Academy

On Gramineae, magic was sought by many, but held by few. Magic users, known as Mages, would take on apprentices to pass down their craft, yet it was ineffective.

One such mage set out to make magic available to all. She traveled the world to push for magic to be taught as a core subject in schools, as well as finding mages to teach said subjects. Even after she could no longer travel such distances with ease, she still worked to spread magic.

She had gained more knowledge of magic than any living mage had. It was her turn to teach, so she opened and was the namesake for the first ever magic academy, Kyoho A. Vitis Academy.

That was hundreds of years ago and Kyoho has long since passed. She left behind a daughter to be her predecessor. Pione E. Vitis, who had mysteriously stopped aging. She is the current acting headmaster at KAV Academy, but is known better for her magical discoveries. As a magic scientist, she uses her lifetimes worth of knowledge to delve into the unknown. She discovered mana gems, naturally formed never-melt ice, and solar flowers, as well as invented the first rapid bone repair spell, a blood type changing tonic to mix into donated blood, and made the Mineral Mana Scale, which characterizes how much mana is naturally stored in a given mineral. She is known for all of this and more, but one of her most famous feats is being the first mage to perform magic without a magical circle or the use of any magical items.

She is truly a mage worthy of respect.

“Hum hu hummmm~ Hm hm- hm hm- hummmm~”

A woman who looks to be in her 50s skips down the hall. Her eyes are grape green and she has long dark purple drill curls. She’s dressed in a long olive green and white overdress with black boots. She spins a wooden, hook shaped staff in her hand with a big purple gem hanging in the hook. She hums carefreely, thinking about all the experiments she can conduct today.

“Ms. Vitis! There you are.”

A man in his late 40s marches up to her. Comb backed black with a white streak, an arm full of books, and round, small framed glasses magnifying his sharp red eyes. He’s dressed in a near black purple robe with the KAV insignia and a green pelerine on top. Someone Pione always feels is too serious.

“Mr. Rosary? Were you looking for me?”

“Please don’t play oblivious, Ms Vitis. Where is your half of the paperwork regarding this year’s new apprenticeships?”

“Ah… Is that due tonight?” She hasn’t even started on it.

“As your vice-headmaster, it looks bad on me as well when you don’t get your work as the headmaster done.”

“When did I ever not get my work done on time?” She smirks like she won something.

“Submitting your paperwork five minutes before the deadline is not ‘getting it done on time’.”

“Agree to disagree~”

“Ms. Vitis.”

“I’ll get it done, I’ll get it done. (and stop saying my name so many times…)”

“Ms–”

“Look at the time! If I’m going to get this done before midnight, I’ll have to start on it now!”

“‘Start’!?”

Pione rushes away before Mr. Rosary could get another word in.

.     .     .

Pione steps into her office that doubles as her lab. Faded magic circles, documents, failed experiments, ingredients, and even her desk nameplate lay scattered about in a mess only Pione herself knows how to traverse.

“Now let’s see… Paperwork due tonight should be…”

She moves to the shelf next to her door. Several boxes of various sizes and colors line it with different levels of overflowing paper.

“The blue boxes should be right.” She swishes her staff in an arch shape, causing the boxes to float down to her desk. “Urk- That… is a little more than I remembered…” She sighs at the loss of research time.

She pulls a wax crayon from her pocket and draws on her desk. The pages quickly flutter into the air and stack neatly, with each pile being from a different mentor. Most of the stacks were close to the same size, while two stacks were significantly shorter.

She takes on the piles one by one. Checking for signatures from both the mentors and apprentices and cross referencing those signatures to confirm they weren't forgeries. Making sure no apprentice was assigned two different mentors unless there was proper paperwork. Signing her own name at the bottom of every form after checking them. Magic greatly speeds up this process, but it’s KAV Academy policy to have the headmaster check every apprenticeship document with their own eyes. It’s a bit old fashioned, but helps with preventing errors from spell mishaps.

She finally makes her way to the two short piles. One belongs to Mr. Rosary; he’s only willing to mentor the top students at the academy, priding himself as a jack of all trades mentor. The second pile, which can barely be called a ‘pile’, consists of one paper. ‘Lillian Y. Solanum, apprenticing under Pione E. Vitis.’

“Hmmm? I’m surprised she didn’t file a mentor change request.” With a flick of her wrist, a pen flies into her hand. “Looks like I’m going to have a different year.”