Volume 1 - CH 1.1

I have a bad feeling.

Seeing the notice hanging on the bulletin board in front of the classroom, Sable was aware of a greasy sweat running down her entire body.

++ +

Call for students

Third-year students, Nezumi class, Sablee.

(nt:This can be translated as 鼠 which are Muroidea a large superfamily of rodents. It includes hamsters, gerbils, rats and mice, but I'm really not sure).

To the Rector's office after school.

++ +

It is the spring of the third year, just before graduation the following year.

It should not be a reason to feel honored to be summoned by the president at this time.

A circle of other students had formed around the announcement and Sable.

They look at Sable from afar and whisper among themselves.

"Who is this Sable person? Is there such a person in third grade?"

You know, that shady guy who's always in the back of the class.  His facial muscles are so expressionless he looks dead. 

"What did he do to deserve a call from the principal?"

"You were at the bottom of the grades, right? Won't he be sentenced to be expelled from school?"

They can say whatever they want.

But it is true that Sable is not well known, and his grades are the worst in the school.

There is no denying that his facial muscles are dead. Even in this situation, Sable's expression remains sleepy and somewhat unmotivated.

"The director is really scary, isn't he? I hear he's a descendant of a famous witch."

"I heard she used to collect a lot of fallen beasts. To lock them in a dungeon and drain their blood."

"What a beast? You know, in our school there are people like that, right? They're a mix of human and beast, like a monster."

The murmurs continue.

And then he mercilessly hunts Sable's heart.

The principal is a busy person.

He is rarely seen in front of his students, and even fewer have ever exchanged a word with him.

Sable had never seen the rector either. It is said that he only gives a brief speech to new students at matriculation time, but matriculation time for Sable is out of sync with that of the other students around him.

When she woke up, there was a woman at the admissions desk in front of me, and the next day she introduced me to all the students, saying I was a transfer student. But only because I was a week behind everyone else.

I had no idea that the rector of my school was someone with such a bad reputation.

I wonder if there isn't at least one good rumor I can hear.

Sable listens to the voices around her.

"Is it true that the rector poisoned the former king of the anti-witch faction?"

"They said that in class, didn't they? A few years ago, I was fighting a war against the country.At sixteen!"

There were only signs of the wound spreading.

Sable chuckled.

She pursed her lips and spun on her heels, and the circle of pupils surrounding Sable and the poster widened from left to right.

"I have a bad feeling about this. ......"

But...

Once you're called, you can't ignore it.

Sable walked down a long hallway that led to the president's office.

The Royal Academy of Magic in the kingdom of Wenias, it's only been around for five years and it's still just starting.

A five year old school, which has yet to produce a single graduate. If expelled, Sable would be the first student to be expelled from the academy for poor results.

And of course, if expelled, he would not be able to become a magician.

Not only that, but he would be expelled from the school, blocked from all knowledge of magic and made to forget that he had even been expelled from magic school.

It was explained to him by the lady in the office when I entered the school, so there was no question.

For Sable, who woke up in a magic school and barely remembered anything prior, it was pure terror.

If his memories of magic school were sealed, Sable would be truly empty.

I want to somehow avoid being just expelled from the academy.

I'd like to do something about it by crying, but Sable's facial muscles are dead.

He tried to look at himself in the hallway mirror and put a sad expression on his face, but only succeeded in looking like a corpse that had begun rigor mortis. ( NT:Literally means 'stiffness of death'. It is used as a masculine noun locution to refer to the stiffness that a corpse acquires within hours of death.)

The facial muscles, which had not moved in three years, could not move now all of a sudden.

It's not that I had no feelings, but....

I was not comfortable with strong emotions. Emotions that affect my body so much that they manifest on my face are naturally suppressed before they appear on the surface.

After passing through the dark-colored hallway, I came to a flat door made of black wood. This is the door to the president's office.

The door, devoid of any decoration, is almost like a wall, and has no handle to open it from the outside.

A quiet, inorganic sense of intimidation that repels anyone coming in.

Overwhelmed by its majesty...

"Why, this door, doesn't it have a handle? I heard the president's office was here, but was I fooled? Have I been fooled again?"

I try, but the presence of a previous customer prevented Sable from doing so.

A girl, probably the same age or younger than Sable, was wandering in front of the rector's office, muttering to herself and shaking her fists, breaking the heavy air in the rector's office with all her might.

"Hey, come out Albus, no use hiding today!"

Albus is the Rector's name.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that she is not a student.

"You know I know you're in there! Can't you hear me? If that's the case, I'm really stupid now, aren't I? I don't like that... It's terribly disgusting ... If that's the case, you better not dare to ignore me..."

"Excuse me?"

When I call out to her, the girl suddenly stops moving.

She had long, honey-colored hair, so long it almost reached her heels. It melted to the touch, and I thought it might even be sweet if licked.

Her hair is braided with bright purple ornamental strings, held in place with a striking spherical glass.

On the transparent sphere of the glass, which contained not a single scratch or bubble, a faint scarlet flower bloomed softly.

The spherical glass ornament is difficult to make, even for a skilled craftsman.

Not only that, but trapping a flower inside is an incredibly advanced technique, however little knowledge the amnesiac Sable knows that.

And yet, the girl not only had hair ornaments, but ornaments made of glass spheres that glittered all over her clothes. That's not meant to be glamorous, and it fit perfectly with a girl's attire, just like the ribbons girls wear every day.

Her chubby cheeks were pink, and her round eyes, like those of a startled cat, had a mysterious hue that could not be described as any color.

The cane in her hand was disproportionately large for her body, and was also encrusted with a black sphere the size of a fist.

"What's the matter with you, what do you want from me, bright young man?"

It's a difficult question to answer when one's promotion is in jeopardy.

The girl is not here on any particular business.

The girl's face grew increasingly grim, as Sable remained silent.

"What's the matter?  You're a very uninteresting boy to be silent. 'Such a pretty girl as this praised you at the beginning of our meeting-why don't you show yourself a little pleased with yourself?"

"Oh, you said so yourself ......"

The girl casts a wistful glance at Sable, who has spoken unintentionally and does not seem offended.

"The most important thing to remember is that you can't be too modest. Humility is a time-wasting crime. I am more than capable of appreciating myself without words like "No, you're not, you're cute" from others. And as you can see, I'm busy. Go away."

She waved him away and almost reflexively obeyed, but Sable also had a business for the other side of this door.

The girl who had seemed unhappy suddenly perked up as Sable silently pointed to the door.

"Do you have any business - beyond this door?"

"Yes, The director called me."

In response to the girl's question, the honorifics jumped to sobriety.

The other person was a girl of the same age-possibly even younger-but she may have been swept away by the old-fashioned tone of voice.

"Not you?"

"I don't."

"Excellent, I take it back!"

The girl clapped her hands in delight and ran to Saville, clinging tightly to his back. Sanle is relatively tall and the girl is very short.

Standing upright, the girl's head only reached Saville's chest height, but the force with which she pushed him back, telling him "Come on in," was stronger than her height would suggest.

Despite his reasonable resistance, Saville's slender body approaches the door to the president's office as he is pushed.

"You have business in this room, don't you? You want to come in, don't you? I welcome you. I congratulate you, I encourage you. Come, open the door that stubbornly refuses to open for me."

My God, what should I do?

I should not open this.

When Sable bent down, the girl narrowed her round eyes and looked at Sable.

'Hey, kid. I'm not of a patient nature. You'd better obey me while I ask you calmly.'"

"What happens if I don't?"

"A whack with the cane."

Said the girl with a straight face. In her hand is a huge, heavy wand that seems to work well as an instrument of torture.

"That looks painful."

Saville replies seriously.

'Yes, it does. sometimes to the point of bloodshed."

"I see, you're really going to hit me."

If you hit me with that cane as hard as you can, I'm sure my forehead will crack.

"But if the rector doesn't open the door for you, it means you weren't invited, right?"

"...... uhh."

"But if I let you in by accident, I'll be in trouble with the rector. For me, that would be scarier than being hit with a cane. ......"

I'm already in danger of losing my promotion.

I want to do everything in my power to refrain from further acts that would damage the dean's reputation.

Given a choice between bloodshed and expulsion, Sable would choose the former.

"Mm-mm-mm-mm ......! That's a good argument. I love a good argument. All right, I forgive you! Here's the deal!"

The girl picked up her wand and brandished it in a wide circle.

The black sphere stuck in the wand transformed into a sharp blade, which grabbed Savile's neck before he could raise his voice.

Saville stopped breathing.

The transformation of the wand and the girl's movements, everything was so vivid that he was more surprised like a child being shown a magic trick than terrified that a sword was being pointed at him.

The girl's plump lips arched happily.

"It's more dangerous than being hit with a cane. To protect your life, beg proudly for this door to be opened to you. Go on, cry! And beg for your life! Albus must welcome me to this door."

"Ah..."

Sable looked up. Behind the girl with the axe-spear, a shadow remains silent.