(Outlander, the sun will rise in a few minutes. It is time to wake up and see for yourself if it is true.)

The absolutely not sweet and totally creepy voice of the Viscount resonated in the mind of Leilade. She was used to it, but it was the first time since a very long time that he truly awoke her. Normally, she would only rest her body but still be conscious. However, this time, her own body was very tired and she had to completely shut it down. She still didn't dare to use the energy provided by the potent fruits and vegetables of Genablum to do anything besides replenishing her mana reserve. And right now, the reason why she left her bed at such an early hour was for them.

As she ran in the corridors, she saw absolutely no one and was greeted by absolute silence. Only when arriving close to the entrance of the building did she saw a small silhouette leaving her room. Slowing down a bit, both Leilade and the stranger were surprised to see each other.She was the small girl that she named shorty since she was even smaller than Leilade herself. She didn't appear to be tired or anything like that, meaning that she had the same idea that Leilade had. None of them talked but they still walked side by side toward the nearby canteen.

Right before arriving at their destination, she saw coming from the front Leodagan and grumpy and they showed the same surprise that the kid next to her. The proud son of the magus still showed his disdain for her and quickly looked away, like he didn't notice that she was her. His fellow student was still fixated on her but he was calm enough to not show any emotions. Leilade entered the canteen while the three greeted the others and grumpy patted the head of shorty. The little girl pouted after that act of affection, but grumpy shrugged it off.

The size of the food inside the canteen was definitely bigger than the one displayed last evening. As expected, the early birds got the worms. She had no idea when that part of the facility opened, but she already was seeing numerous students and even some magicians eating inside it. A grand portion of those was having meat on their plate and the line to get it was quite long, even with the few humans present. Taking a smaller portion than the last day, she walked to the same spot and slowly ate everything. Even if the amount of food raised a few eyebrows, it didn't shock anyone and the meal was uninterrupted. To her surprise, the three children were seated only a few meters away.

Whether or not they cared if she listened, they still talked about some important information coming from their families. It was at that moment that she learned the family name of grumpy and shorty. The two were the grand-children of the Magus Artour Rodil.His twin brother had a wife, but she died while giving birth, devastating the poor man. His silent behavior was explained by the fact that the baby didn't make it either. As for the children of Artour, they didn't possess a single bit of talent. Only the second generation was blessed, and it was the truth since both grumpy and shorty had the hope to even surpass their grandfather.

At the same time, she learned that Leodagan was in a similar situation, with his parents being only magicians from the 2nd Circle. However, he had an older brother already in the 4th Circle and a younger sister without any talent. But because the three of them were of the same age, the two families agreed to let them study together, with grumpy being the youngest with his 8th anniversary being two months ago. That surprised a bit Leilade when she realized shorty and Leodagan were both ten, but the youngest was the calmest and the most collected. She shouldn't call them like that either but she should use their real names, Jorien for the girl and Owen for the boy.

Since the three of them had more or less the same potential, she was still a little bit puzzled as for why Leodagan was leading the group. From the looks of it, they knew each other and shouldn't follow him like shadows. Even if his father maybe had a more prominent role in the Academy, that still didn't justify the behavior of the Rodil's offspring. Since it was not important, she didn't try to think too hard about it. But she still heard something far more important than the situations of their families.

The Academy had two magicians of the 6th Circle guarding the facilities, but they were missing since a few days ago. The higher-ups were preventing the news from leaking, but apparently, something happened so gravely and important that the two magus were sent to investigate the news. When they talked about that, they were murmuring and wouldn't have thought that the silent girl a few meters away could hear them. In truth, she was actually the closest to them and the reason they sat here was that the surroundings were nearly empty. If she wasn't the Empress of the Underworld and had her body modified countless times, she wouldn't have been able to hear anything at all.

DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

A strident sound suddenly resonated near the four students. They quickly got their cards and held it, shutting down the infernal sound. She didn't need to be a genius to know that this sound was probably heard by every child that arrived yesterday. The poor kids that were sleeping well and dreaming were definitely cursing about the sound that broke their peaceful rest. She looked at her card and heard a message coming from it.

"In half of an hour, stand in front of the building." Now she understood how the teachers will be able to assemble all the children. They could have used a message written on the card to achieve the same effect, but some children were illiterate, so it was not possible. Before she finished eating, she saw the waves of kids rushing toward the canteen and one boy anxiously waiting in front of the room. His face brightened when a blond haired girl arrived with a big smile. Feeling her intelligence slipping away at that sight, she left the canteen. Barely ten seconds later, the three prodigies left with some unsightly expressions.

The sun had just risen when she stepped on the tender grass outside of the facility. The shoes provided by the Academy were quite good and she had no complaint about them. There were a few trees near the exit, and since she had nothing to do and there were no benches, she climbed it. She was careful to not display too much power but quickly reached a sturdy branch where she could just rest. After that, she saw the group of three arriving and then coming toward her. They hadn't seen her outside and were a bit perplexed but they had the same idea as Leilade. However, instead of climbing, they just sat with their backs touching the tree.

"That peasant, why does he dare to meddle with someone like the princess? He should just know his place and just stay invisible." Leodagan was clearly angry about the touching reunion between Ronald and Istuienn. Even if he wasn't expecting the princess to fall in love with him, he was still mad that a nobody managed to achieve something that he wasn't capable of doing.

"Let it be. You will be able to crush him easily when the real exercises will arrive. What he has is just a good face and some sweet words. But in this world, only power, wealth and strength can prove something. Except if he wants to work in a brothel hahaha."

Shorty, Jorien calmed a bit the hot-blooded boy and her last sentence even made him laugh and snatched a smile from her brother. They knew a few other sons and daughters of magicians, but they had limited talent. Yet, they were still all much stronger than the average kid and already knew the basics. To crush the pride of a country bumpkin will be as easy as possible. Thinking about that, Leodagan mood suddenly turned sour when he remembered the girl in boy clothes.

"There is still this weirdo, with a warm face and a cold voice. The entire ordeal of pushing the princess will be impossible to think about for a commoner. Not that she lacks courage, but she had no reason to do that. I am fairly certain of the noble girls did it and they made her the scapegoat. But why admit it and then in front of my father, she held her ground. She is definitely weird."

"Wait, she faced her father and she didn't cower in fear?" Grumpy, Owen was slightly shocked, like his older sister. No Magus was as terrifying as Alexander Arastil when he meant it, but that girl didn't felt anything and even argue? They didn't know that and only thought that his father didn't help his son.

"Yes, the moment he saw the both of us, he was already exasperated. At first, I thought it was because of me and he still warned me about the rules of the Academy. But the more I try to remember, the more I think there is something weird between the weirdo and my father. But that wouldn't make any sense. A link, between a Magus of the 5th Circle and a commoner that arrived the same day."

None of them noticed the fact that the person they were talking about was just above them and listening to everything. She had no idea that she made such a powerful impression on the arrogant boy. She kept listening to them, but they diverted the topic to other things. Like, who will be their teacher, what will be the contents of the first class, will they have to wait for the illiterate commoners to catch up? When the time was up, they all heard a powerful voice, a voice that was familiar for Leilade.

She jumped in front of the trio, making the only girl of the group scream a bit. For the first time since she met Owen, she saw his calm stance broken and he was extremely shocked and then embarrassed. The same emotions were shared between the three of them because they realized that Leilade probably heard everything they said. She didn't even look a second at them after landing and walked toward the smiling old man.

Oscar Moo saw her and the reactions of the other children and was extremely pleased by that. He still didn't know what was her talent, but with her behavior, the other kids will be in a world of trouble if they angered her. Before the rest of the class arrived, he took her apart, to learn about the results of the test.

"So, little girl, how was the test? 3th Circle? More?" Old man Moo was clearly expecting a lot from her, but unfortunately, his hope will have to be extinguished. Using the same laconic voice that was her signature, she lied to him.

"Not even 2nd Circle, impossible to reach 3th Circle."

"NONSENSE!" His pick of anger was noticed by the surroundings and he quickly calmed himself. But it was impossible for her to be like that, she already could cast the [Fireball] spell at such a young age and without a teacher. But the impassive visage of the small girl showed no clues about the truth. Smelling something weird, he decided to ask for an explanation from Alexander. In the meantime, he will let Leilade in peace.

"Go with the other, but this is not the end of it. Alexander doesn't have the power to intentionally reduce the potential of a commoner just because he wants to do that. Don't worry, you will not be wronged while you study under me."

If it was any other child, they will be extremely happy and grateful for that. But for Leilade, it will only mean more problems in the future and provoke make Alexander be even more regretful of his decisions. Before it was just his son and his friends that were suspicious, now even the teacher was in the lot. She truly hoped that this small trip will be worthy soon enough, she already had enough of those shenanigans.