Gakaria Magic Academy.
As the most renowned institution on the Sallydor Continent, it drew countless magic apprentices eager to learn superior magic techniques, making it a true holy land of aspiration.
The criteria for student selection were notoriously strict and cautious, with many still racking their brains over how to gain admission.
Xiafuya, who had already arrived at the Bruntrang Branch of Gakaria, naturally had no such worries.
After finishing her lecture on magic theory in a bright and clean tiered classroom, she headed as usual to the school’s beautifully scenic Holy Spring Lake.
In the distance, students at the training grounds were practicing levitation magic on flying carpets—a sight Xiafuya had long grown tired of.
It really wasn’t as interesting as the elbow strikes taught in combat class.
Normally, during this leisure time, some cute senior would approach with a survey booklet in hand, intent on completing a class assignment, and ask: “Junior! Junior!”
“What do you think still needs improvement in our school cafeteria food?”
But today was different.
The usual chatter about arithmetic class being too hard, struggling to wake up for early morning lessons, teachers being ruthless with roll call, or some magic professor accidentally blowing themselves up while demonstrating dragon breath technique—all of it had suddenly shifted topics at once.
“Big news!”
“I just heard from the class president’s assistant—the young master of the Clemence family, Sallydor’s number one ducal house…”
“He’s coming to our school!”
“Is that the most deeply rooted family in the Divine Empire?”
“My father mentioned before that even the proud Elf Kingdom took the initiative to invite the Duke and Duchess of Clemence to visit their World Tree…”
“Right!”
“A few days ago there was also word that the Clemence family has somehow established good relations with the legendary Shilang Bay. Apparently, within that mist dwell an ancient magical creature known as the Lord of the Ocean and a mysterious princess…”
“A place the capital has never even explored, yet the Clemence family alone can befriend it—it’s almost unreasonable!”
Whenever the Clemence family came up, the students’ eyes lit up as they chattered nonstop.
But when the conversation turned to that young master named Lin Nuo, they exchanged glances, eventually letting out a collective “tch” before shaking their heads and falling silent.
Only a few lovestruck girls would casually remark: “I heard that guy named Lin Nuo is actually quite handsome and dashing…”
“Our Bruntrang Branch is the strongest of the three branches. So many magic apprentices rack their brains and still can’t get in…”
“For him, he could probably just enroll directly, right?”
“A guy who can get engaged to the Water Saint Princess without doing anything… Privilege really makes people envious!”
“So what!” A male voice retorted: “If the Clemence family can truly befriend both the Elf Kingdom and that legendary Shilang Bay lost in the mist, that’s all thanks to the Clemence family’s prowess—what does it have to do with Lin Nuo himself?”
“And that engagement with the princess is the same—she doesn’t even like him!”
“If I had been born into the Clemence family, maybe the one engaged to Her Highness could have been…”
“Clang!”
An enchanted broken blade thrown at his feet, followed by an interrupting female voice, caused the boy to shut his mouth instantly.
“Pick it up. Duel me.”
“…”
‘Holy crap! You’re a girl—how are you just as unreasonable as that rumored noble Lin Nuo!’
“Xiafuya junior, I can’t beat you anyway. Why pick on me…”
The boy backed away timidly from this junior who had displayed outstanding magical talent within just a month of enrollment.
“Didn’t I hear you say you really hate Lin Nuo? So what? Your mouth stinks—I hate you even more!”
“…”
Xiafuya raised her hand, magically retrieving the enchanted dagger from the ground.
She crossed her arms over her two small, teapot-like chests, her expression somewhat sullen.
The duel threat was, of course, just to scare him.
She simply hated hearing anyone speak ill of Amidina.
As for that guy Lin Nuo—
‘Curse him!’
‘Curse him to death!’
‘My Amidina was stolen away by him!’
Not long after Xiafuya had arrived here, she learned that Amidina—the aloof princess who held only a nominal student identity at the academy and rarely appeared—had come to help her younger sister Yulilian enroll in Gakaria’s special advanced branch.
Xiafuya had immediately wandered over that day, hoping for a chance encounter to get closer to the sisters.
She never expected… that with just a few treats, she managed to pry an earth-shattering secret from Yulilian’s mouth—everything that had happened after she left!
Amidina had encountered danger at the time! And from what that little glutton implied, she was ultimately saved by Lin Nuo!”
“Yulilian even said… he and Her Highness spent a long time alone together in the same room!”
Even though further questions revealed that Her Highness had only been willing to stay with Lin Nuo out of gratitude, and it seemed nothing had actually happened between them…
Even though Xiafuya’s general impression of Lin Nuo still pegged him as a weak but good-natured guy…
Those initial impressions could no longer cover up the fact that he had once shared a room alone with Her Highness!
And their engagement still existed!
The moment she thought of Lin Nuo, Xiafuya’s eyes took on the look of someone plotting how to deal with her “number one romantic rival,” and she resolved: ‘If he comes here, I absolutely have to find a chance to observe him closely and test him out!’
“Wow, the class president is here!”
The class president served as the student leader of each branch, assisting the branch dean in managing the students.
Some students spotted the president holding the new enrollment roster and immediately crowded around for information.
Soon, a commotion erupted: “Oh my god!”
“Lin Nuo is going to Snow Pivot Branch!”
“Huh? Interesting—he’s actually not coming here?”
Gakaria Magic Academy had three branches, each located in different campus areas with distinct teaching characteristics.
The first was the main branch where Xiafuya currently was—named “Histrang.”
It was the strongest, had the most magic apprentices, offered the richest curriculum, possessed the most powerful faculty, and ranked first among the three branches.
Students here simply called Histrang the “main branch.”
The second was the “special advanced Kihiras Branch.”
Its name reflected its specialty: this branch primarily recruited magic apprentices with unique elemental control abilities among various magic elements.
Most were subhumans or beastkin, and students commonly referred to it as the “special branch.”
For example, Amidina’s younger sister Yulilian, enrolling as a “Dragonborn,” would naturally fit better in Kihiras.
The third branch was “Snow Pivot Eridu.”
What made this academy unique wasn’t just its perpetual winter and flying snow, but rather that it didn’t rely on traditional multi-element magic training to strengthen its students.
Instead, it encouraged students to depend on devout “faith” in the divine.
Legend held that Snow Pivot Eridu was an academy sheltered by the gods.
Praising and believing in the gods could enhance magic control.
The deeper and more sincere the faith, the stronger one’s magic became.
There had once been an outstanding student who received divine power directly from the gods, leaping from a beginner unable to even sense elements to a widely admired divine proxy.
It was true that faith in the gods could accelerate elemental perception in the early stages, but those who could truly gain power from the divine were a tiny minority among minorities.
Rumors persisted that hidden magical creatures targeted Snow Pivot Branch, with multiple incidents of missing students over the years—incidents so thorough that even joint investigations by several principals found no clues.
It sounded eerie and mysterious.
Most magic users who made it to the capital trusted their own talent and the teaching quality of the main branch’s professors.
Those qualified for the main branch rarely wanted to go to Snow Pivot.
Lin Nuo making such a choice caught even Xiafuya off guard.
“Hey, did you hear? He’s in the same branch as you!”
“Speaking of which, his family is as famous as yours, but unlike you he doesn’t seem to have any special abilities… Never thought I’d know someone with that kind of background who inexplicably runs off to Snow Pivot—besides you, that is.”
Xiafuya turned to the girl beside her.
Beneath an elegant cloak dominated by soft lavender tones, the girl’s peach-pink long hair cascaded down from the faintly visible intricate patterns at the sheer collar of her inner layer.
Only half of her plump, fair little face was visible as she nodded: “Oh.”
“You absolutely have to stay far away from him if you see him!”
“Why?”
“Does Lin Nuo’s crimes really need me to spell them out?”
“First, Lin Nuo Clemence is almost certainly a complete beast. Using his status as the princess’s fiancé, he shared a room alone with Her Highness. Yulilian said he even had Her Highness help draw the Frost Soul Bow together—what if he accidentally touched Her Highness’s fair, tender little hand! That’s just too enviable… too infuriating!”
“Second, Lin Nuo Clemence truly qualifies as a complete beast… Yulilian also said he caught a glimpse of Her Highness in a skirt using her slender white legs and dainty little feet to draw the bow, and he even tasted food made by Her Highness. That’s just too enviable… too despicable!”
“Finally, Lin Nuo Clemence is definitely a complete beast! He used food to turn even the princess’s underage little sister to his side. I asked Yulilian about Lin Nuo a few more times, and she actually snapped at me! Hmph! That’s just too enviable… too contemptible!”
“In summary, Lin Nuo Clemence is absolutely a complete beast—he’s extremely dangerous!”
“Mm.” The cloaked girl nodded generously: “I don’t believe it.”
“…”
Xiafuya felt her heart take a critical hit: “How can you not believe it?”
“Yulilian, little sister told me: the smaller the chest, the more a woman lies.”
The pink-haired girl glanced at Xiafuya’s perfectly flat figure.
“She said people like you—steel plates with two screws nailed on—are the most dangerous type.”
“Mm!”
Her heart took another critical hit.
Xiafuya clutched her palm-sized chest and let out a small-animal-like whimper.
‘Wuwu… I only asked that gluttonous red dragon a bit about Lin Nuo—how did Yulilian start targeting me wuwu…’
‘Next time I see her I have to find a chance to spank her butt. Slandering me like that is way too upsetting!’
“I’m upset now. Hurry and call me ‘wife’ a few times—in loli voice.”
“No.”
“Huh? You call Amidina ‘wife’ every day—calling me a couple times to let me have a taste isn’t too much, right?”
Xiafuya counted on her fingers: “Last time I asked you to meow like a cat for me, you refused. You’re supposed to be the Bell Sound Saintess, the top of the Twelve Saintesses and the First Musician, yet you said you couldn’t do cat calls and asked me to teach you…”
“But in the end I meowed in front of you for ages, and you still didn’t make a single sound!”
Xiafuya seriously suspected she’d been played!
This kind of playful bickering was common between girls.
After grumbling for a while, Xiafuya didn’t dwell too much on the cat-call issue. Glancing at the sky, she said: “You’re heading back soon, right?”
“Mm. I came to try my luck and see if I could run into big sis Amidina. A princess who only has a nominal registration here isn’t someone you can meet every day. If she’s not around, I should go.”
“Alright then.”
Xiafuya helped adjust the pink-haired girl’s cloak, then remembered something crucial: “Snow Pivot Branch’s management really isn’t great. They say every so often there’s a whiff of demonic presence, yet they can never find where the creature is. If you run into something like a succubus that goes after both men and women… you have to be careful!”
After gauging the musician’s combat ability, Xiafuya added: “It’s very dangerous!”
“Got it. She won’t run into me.”
The pink-haired girl changed the subject, waving her small hand: “Bye, big sis Xia! Next time I’ll meow for you.”
She then cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted toward a large white rabbit in the distance, which was squatting under a tree munching on verdant tender grass.
It ignored the crowd of students surrounding it with soulstones, exclaiming things like “What a huge little bunny!” without a care.
“Bunny! Time to go home!”
“Thump thump thump—”
The snow velvet rabbit immediately hopped over with a soft squish.
Its two fluffy ears drooped to the sides.
The adorably plump creature crouched down, waiting for the pink-haired girl to climb onto its back before staring eagerly at the carrot dangling just above its mouth on a thin vine, practically drooling in anticipation.
With one wave of her finger, it began running with all its might in the pose of desperately wanting that carrot.
“Thump thump thump—”
“Thump thump thump”
The direction the pink-haired girl headed was precisely Snow Pivot Eridu Branch.
“Whoa!”
“It’s a snow velvet rabbit!”
Only after the cloaked girl rode away on the large white rabbit did someone finally recognize its origin.
“Isn’t that the Bell Sound Musician’s pet?!”
“What?”
“Bell Sound Musician? You mean the top of the Twelve Saintesses, the super-rich musician from the wealthiest Sylphiette Ducal Family?”
“Oh my god! Xiafuya junior actually knows Irin Hanaka!”
The discussion immediately shifted toward Xiafuya.
“Big deal…”
Though Xiafuya kept a calm face and even tossed out a sarcastic remark, the wave of exclamations suddenly drowning out the earlier talk about the Clemence young master’s enrollment gave her a strange sense of satisfaction—like she’d just suppressed her romantic rival.
Now it seemed she—who had already befriended Amidina and Yulilian—was far ahead of Lin Nuo!
And Her Highness got along very well with the Bell Sound Musician too.
That meant prime proximity advantage!
If she seized the right opportunity… she might just get to taste Amidina’s little lips, hehe!
Xiafuya’s two small teapot-like chests instantly brimmed with confidence.
“What does Lin Nuo even have to compete with me!”
“I can practically see stealing Her Highness’s first kiss as just a matter of time!”
She licked her lips.
“Something like that… does a little yellow-haired punk even dare dream of it?”