Knight (16 page)

“Ah, Corvan. Finally. Lead Valeriana to her class.” Seraphina handed him a paper. “I have quite important things to do myself, so I won't be able to.”

She flashed the boy a look before diverting her eyes to Seraphina. His uniform nearly matched hers, though in a more masculine way of comparison.

So 
he was a member of the Celestial Circle? It wasn't half-shocking.

She made the decision to focus on the current event. “Why is it always Corvan who has to show me around? Can't it be another person?”

“You should stop questioning and just be grateful.” He told her bluntly.

“Rude jerk.” She huffed.

“Okay, that's enough. Proceed and I'll see you later. Corvan's the only one here you know and the only one I can trust so far not to try anything foolish.” Seraphina gave them both a gentle push on the back and waved before disappearing from their sight.

Valeriana's eyes followed Seraphina as she walked along side of Corvan. “What's with the rush?”

Corvan sighed in exasperation. “So you’re now the fifth. Quite hard to believe.”

“It's not like I chose to become a member of the Celestial Circle.”

“I don't know about your world, however . . .” He paused and tugged on the sleeves of his uniform.

“Hmm?”

“The curriculum promotes subjects that are considered a great necessity for survival. For example, we have a variety of lessons we select. Like Alchemy, Forging, History, Demonology, and Weapon's Art, which is either archery, swordsmanship, whipping and so on and so forth. We also hold a survival class to ensure that everyone who graduates in the academy knows how to handle themselves in times of crisis. This is for the Knight's Department.”

“Okay . . . that is so . . .”

“Your first class is History.” He seized her hand and placed a paper on her palm. She looked down at it with uncertainty, reluctant to see what it contained. She decided to put it in one of her pockets, thinking she should just read it later. “You chose being a Celeste as a preferred occupation?”

“There are terms that the Court Leader gave me. One of them is that I have to become a Celeste when I graduate.”

“That explains why. You can't use any of the controls but you'll still learn how it works. In any case, after classes, ask someone to lead you to the library. I'll be busy so I won't be able to lend you much of my time. You need to learn how everything is done around here.”

“Right, like that's any easy when I think practically everyone here hates my guts.” She grumbled. “By the way, what year are you in?”

“Second. Now, keep quiet.” He told her with obvious irritation.

“Fine, but you don't have to be so mad about it.” Valeriana childishly rolled her eyes and combed her fingers through her hair. “Oh my god,” she yelped. “I forgot to tie my hair.” Despite wanting to stop, they continued walking. Valeriana knew it would be a waste of time to run back to her room since they already reached the main door of the girl's dormitory.

“Just leave your hair down. It isn't a big deal.” He said, not even giving her a single glance. Valeriana looked up at his face in curiosity and scrutinized his expressionless face with her big, azure eyes.

“But I don't leave without tying my hair! It bothers me.”

“Then you should just go bald.”

“Shut it. You don't know how it feels.”

“Oh, really.” His tone was a matter-of-factly tone which drew Valeriana's eyes to his crowning glory.

The guy had longs locks. How could she forget? He probably did know the struggles of long hair. Most guys didn't.

She stopped herself from facepalming and muttered incoherent things under her breath instead.             

She took all of the strands of her hair into her fists and smoothed it on her shoulder. “It's grown so long already. I really need to get it cut. Aren't you planning on a cut yourself?”

“Cutting hair is not preferred in Valemnia.” He told her.

She swept it back once more, letting it fall on the curve of her lower back. She twisted around and stared at its length. “It wasn't that long last night.”

“If you're talking about its length, then I am guessing Valemnia's power pressure has triggered its fast growth.” Corvan said, not sparing her a glance. “If I look closely, you look much older than you did a while ago.”

They sauntered out of the dormitories and stopped at the front porch. Valeriana halted and gazed up at Corvan. “Huh . . . what do you mean?! I got older?” A look of fear plated her face. “Oh, gosh. I'm gonna die of old age. Literally. And fast.”

Her hands immediately flew to the necklace around her neck. It was supposed to serve as her asset to help her withstand Valemnia's power pressure. Was it broken? “Oh my god, don't tell me this thing is not working anymore. I totally can't die here. Hurry! Do something. I might've been suicidal but that doesn't mean—”

Corvan brought his eyes to look directly into hers and stared at her for a moment. While she probably looked like she was going to die in shock, a smile broke into his face.

Feeling like she's just been fooled, Valeriana curled her fists into balls so tight that her nails were already digging into her palms. She gritted her teeth in anger, blushing furiously.

“It—it's not funny.” She grumbled.

Corvan didn't stop. He still had that annoying grin as though he hit the lottery.

The flustered, young lady could only blush madly as she watched Corvan's annoying smirk.

“Stop that!”

He did not answer her and instead went on.

“You really are a jerk!” Valeriana yelled. Her fists clenched as tightly as achievable and her shoulders tensed. “You can't make fun of a girl like that!” She grabbed a wooden object that was placed on top of a table and threw it at Corvan, hitting him at the back.

His grin faded and he stared down at the object that tumbled on the floor after hitting him. “What?”

“Well?” She bit back.

“Take back what you said.”

“Then you should learn that I do not like being made fun of, especially by you.”

“Do you want to be killed?”

“Let's see who kills who first!” She pounced on Corvan, wrestling with him on the floor.

He didn't seem to expect this and was caught off-guard. She jumped on his back and tightly snaked her legs around his neck, locking her feet together and squeezing as hard as she could. Corvan was struggling under her iron grip, slowly turning blue.

“What are you doing . . .” He said. He was probably at shock to realize he was in this sort of situation.

“Die! Die!”

It was comical how Corvan looked so helpless. Valeriana had bound him good. Where and when did she know how to do this?

“Now apologize!” She exclaimed, squeezing harder.

Inwardly, she was laughing like a mad witch. Her father often needed a good smack up the head and wrestling him was not unusual. It was also their way of bonding, for some weird reason. Janus had brute strength, but she knew techniques. Certain techniques taken from John Cena.

Corvan groaned as he tried to wrench out of his current position. No blood supplied his brain with oxygen. He wasn't even sure how long he would last. “No way in hell.”

“So you would rather die?”

He made a pained noise at the back of his throat as he grinded his teeth together.

“Ha! Might I just inform you, even if you are so good with whatever, you won't be able to beat me in wrestling! I do this to my brother and father all the time when they piss me off, and trust me, no matter how strong they were, they were not able to break out of this grip!”

“Are you serious?”

“You've been annoying me since the beginning, so even if killing you would send me to jail, I'll gladly commit a crime for this opportunity.” She began to cackle at his misfortune, as if she found pleasure in his suffering. Corvan guessed he must've really gotten on her nerves, something he found himself regretting for some reason. This girl could be seriously malicious that it sent chills down his spine.

“You laugh like a witch, which you probably are.”

“What did you call me?”

“A witch.”

“I'm not a—apologize! Now!”

“No, I won't.”

Valeriana glowered at him between her legs. “You leave me no choice.” She grabbed the object she threw at him a while ago and hit him right between the eyes with a loud
bunk
. “Now you won't only die of oxygen deprivation, I'm going to make sure to bruise your pretty face so you'll look ugly in your funeral!”

“Alright! Stop it. Let go!” He said, pain pounding between his eyes.

He needed to breathe.

Valeriana released him automatically, her face flushed with anger. Oddly though, she felt satisfied. It had been a while since she engaged into this kind of activity. Heck, that sounded so wrong.

A loose frown lingered on his lips and he rubbed his neck. “You're such a weird girl.” He scowled. “You've been insulted so many times, yet this is the only time you acted in that manner.” He tugged off the ribbon keeping his hair together and handed it to Valeriana as if he was forcing himself to. “Here, I guess this is my loss.”

“Uh . . .”

“You're welcome.” He said, his hair falling freely on his back.

“Where's the sorry?”

“This will be the first and last time I'll apologize.” He swore. “Still, I won't take back what I say.”

“I want the sorry. Not a ribbon.”

Corvan gave her the eye.

“Well? I'm waiting.”

“If you're forgetting, we already—”

“I'm waiting.” She cut him off, tapping her foot. “Oh come on, just say it!
I am sorry
. Eight letters, four syllables, three words.”

He sighed. “I—” He looked elsewhere, as though this embarrassed him more than anything. “I apologize.”

Valeriana rolled her eyes. “You made it longer. That was five syllables, two words, ten letters. Whatever. Let's go!” She patted his chest once and walked past him.

Corvan breathed deeply and sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose with the wrinkle between his brows.

“Keep up, Your Highness!” She called out to him, working with the strands of her hair and putting them together in a thick bunch to form a ponytail. She wound the ribbon as tight as she could and secured it in place.

“Whatever.” He grumbled with obvious annoyance
.

Chapter Fifteen ♣ First Day

C
orvan made his way inside a building the size of Buckingham Palace. The actuality of its height and width had gotten her dizzy just by staring at its size.

“Remember,” Corvan told her. “The academy is divided into areas for the different year levels. This one is your building until you move to your second year.”

Corvan made no hesitance to slip past the gigantic doors which reached an ominous height about more than ten feet tall, so Valeriana followed curtly. Stepping in made her feel like entering a grand mansion. The first thing she saw was a large, curved marble staircase that was narrow on top and wide at the bottom.

Students were huddled in groups and their unannounced arrival immediately attracted many of their attention.

They continued to climb the steps in silence, not minding the many stares shot their way. After reaching the top, they turned to their right and traveled through the corridor to their left and stopped in front of the sixth door by the right.

“You should smile more.” Valeriana boldly told him. “It looks better on you. If you keep frowning, you'll have wrinkles. It’s too late for you though, I can see the lines becoming visible.”

Silence.

Valeriana frowned in aggravation from his attitude. Being with this guy certainly was pissing her off. His attitude was so provoking.

“Really.” She muttered, rolling her eyes.

“I'll be busy with my own business so ask someone else to guide you around.” He then left after that. “Good luck on meeting the quota.”

“Quota? Geez. Way to go ignoring me. He keeps telling me I'm weird, but look who's talking.” Valeriana slowly twisted around and stared at the brass knob of the wooden door standing before her. She took a deep breath and grabbed the knob, pushing it open. The creak made her heart pound in her chest and she peeked into the room through the small gap she made. She slipped right in immediately and was confronted by the image of—thank goodness—a typical college classroom. With a few modifications of course.

She was afraid she would spot something more . . . unusual.

As she breezed through the room to find an empty and unoccupied seat, the feeling of eyes following her every move did not cease to make her feel uncomfortable.

“Hey!” Someone waved at her.

Valeriana followed the direction of the voice and saw a girl patting the empty seat next to her. Feeling relieved, Valeriana started to climb the steps.

Just as she took another step, a boy about her age stuck out his foot and tripped her. Valeriana gasped as she felt her body losing its balance. She painfully landed on her front with a loud bang and high-pitched shriek, causing the whole class to erupt into gleeful laughter.

Valeriana felt embarrassed that she couldn't even show her face. She wanted to scream in frustration but bit her lip to prevent herself from humiliating herself any further. She instead decided to stand back up on her feet without saying anything.

Maybe the thing about being a member of the circle was a bad idea after all.

Valeriana cleared her throat and dusted off her clothes. She looked down at the foot of the dude who tripped her. It was still sticking out, so as revenge, Valeriana lifted her foot and brought it down harshly. Her feet landed with a
thwack
on his foot.

The boy screamed in agony. Valeriana felt a little rush of pleasure from it, so she put more pressure on it intently, chewing on her lip until she heard something crack. Valeriana then took a step back, pretending to not realize what she had done until then.

The laughter immediately died down and everyone fell quiet.

“Oh,” Valeriana gasped, feigning innocence. “I'm sorry. How stupid of me. I already tripped over it but I still didn't see. I suggest you keep your foot to yourself, so none of us would get hurt.”

Valeriana then yawned and stretched out her hands. She swung them side to side until she
accidentally
hit the boy who tripped her on the face . . . hard. It caused the poor, unfortunate guy to groan at the impact.

“My hand slipped!” Valeriana breathed, pulling her hand back.

Some of the students snickered.

She sighed. “It's better for me to get a seat. I'm really sorry.” She then breezed through the room and settled in the seat the girl who was waving at her recommended.

The girl had big, brown eyes with brown hair stylishly wound into French braid. She leaned on her table and stared at Valeriana's face. “That was so funny!” She giggled.

“Erm . . . yeah, I guess.”

She pouted. “Julian had always been a jerk. That gave him a taste of his own medicine.”

Valeriana laughed.

“It's my first time ever talking to one of the Celestial Twelve. You lot are always hard to approach.” She jerked her chin towards the girl sitting on the other side of the room, looking well-mannered and reserved, and a boy who was running his forefinger on his table while wearing a bored expression. “Those people at the back are also members of the Twelve.”

“Huh?” For a moment, their eyes connected. Valeriana hurriedly dragged her gaze away and turned her attention back to the girl. “I thought it was Celestial Circle.” She was quick to try and not pay a thought to the awkwardness of the incident that just happened.

“Circle or Twelve, they're still referring to the same group.” She said. “So . . . you're a human.” The way she said it was teasing as though she was saying that Valeriana had a boyfriend and she saw the two of them in an
awkward
situation.

“Y-yeah,” Valeriana was scared of what she was going to do next. “My name's Valeriana.”

“I know. The name's Chavi Audwin.” Chavi laughed and held her hand out for her to shake. Valeriana reluctantly held out hers and shook it. “You are the talk of all the students in the academy.” Both of them pulled their hands back. Chavi crossed her legs and leaned back on her chair, looping her arms over her chest.

“I see.”

“I saw you fight yesterday.” She started. “You were impressive with how you defeated Courtney.” She whispered, looking sorrowful. “Are you really human?”

Valeriana laughed at her statement and scratched her head, feeling ridiculously flustered by her speech. “I think what happened was just pure luck. Courtney was a really good fighter.” She said, trying to be humble.

“Really?”

“I—” she was cut off when the door shot open with a loud bang.

Hollering voices just outside the door echoed, primarily including the voice of Lady Seraphina and the Headmaster. “Zip your mouth shut, Kylon! I won't tolerate you playing tricks on me like that!”

“Pardon me, Lady Seraphina.” Headmaster Kylon laughed. “I really—”

“Don't talk to me!” Three loud booming noises came in a row and the tables shook with the tremor that vibrated throughout the building. Valeriana cringed, hearing sharp punches that cracked the wall.

“Lady Seraphina's element is Earth.” Chavi softly informed.

“I-I see,” she stammered, clearly clueless of how she was going to react.

Lady Seraphina stomped into the room with the headmaster hot on her tail. “Get out of my sight, you barbarian! I don't ever want to see your face again!” Doing the unexpected, she kicked the door close which hit his face.

She walked into the room and smacked her palms on the top of the wooden desk positioned in front of the class. Everyone vigilantly stood from their seat all together. Valeriana almost fell off trying to catch up.

“Take your seat.” Lady Seraphina strictly instructed and everyone complied. “No further explanations. I'll be your teacher from now on.” She said.

She's going to be my teacher!
 A sense of excitement bubbled inside Valeriana.

“I apologize for barging into the room like that.” She put the book she was carrying on top of the table and flipped it open to a page.

I wouldn't want to get on her bad side.
 Valeriana thought.

Seraphina carried on with the discussion casually. “I want you to properly introduce yourself, Valeriana. Though most of the students here have watched your victorious fight with Lady Courtney, I am guessing some people aren't that acquainted with you yet.” She said. “And you arrived a week later after classes started, so it's better if you say a few things about yourself.”

Valeriana rose from her chair. “My name is Valeriana Kerrigan,” she spoke. “I'm seventeen and . . . I come in peace.”

That was a pun for aliens, considering she came from another world. They didn't look like they got it though. She sat back down, feeling the rate of her heartbeat speeding up.

Well, that was horrible.

“Seventeen? Isn't she so terribly young?”

“Humans look so old in that age already?”

What?
Valeriana was alarmed.
Is that person saying I look too old? How dare her!

“Seventeen?” Seraphina looked confused.

Oh, please!
She exclaimed mentally, frowning in annoyance.
Not you too!

“Ah!” The lady knight said, realization dawning on her. “I forgot to tell you that our ages are numbered differently.”

“What?” She deadpanned.

“In order to not get confused, your equivalent age to Valemnian years is thirty-four. Valemnia's time frame is different from Earth's.”

“Huh?”

“Alright then, since Valeriana is done with introducing herself, I want to make things clear.” Seraphina placed a hand on her waist and smacked the surface of the table once more.

Doesn't that hurt?

“I'll be serving as your instructor in History starting from today. I expect nothing less than good performance from you all, whether a commoner or a noble.” Seraphina flipped the page of the book to the next.

Seeming to remember something, the woman took out envelopes and started calling names. “Dion Fer? Remain in your seat. These are your quotas for this week.” She looked around and saw a boy raise his hand.

Valeriana was clueless. As though the lady knight detected this, she shot a brief look the girl's way and decided to explain. “For all the newbies, perhaps I need to explain. As you all already know, the main point of this school is to raise knights capable of slaying demons.”

She didn't like how this sounded.

“And this school aims to increase your experience in that matter. You are tasked to fulfill these quotas as a part of your weekly training. If ever you fail to meet what number is assigned to you, you will be put under probation that will probably result to expulsion. Not only that, to all the members of the Celestial Circle,” she waved towards the kids at the back that caused all eyes to turn to them. “You get five times the normal quota given to regular students.”

Valeriana's mouth fell.

“Valeriana Kerrigan.” Seraphina sent a blue envelope with a golden seal the girl's way. It was different from the normal envelopes given out to the others.

There were three more same envelopes and they were given to Brindon Jintaci, and Zevlin and Genevieve Sabian. These three must be members of the Twelve as well. Not wanting to shock herself from the contents of the envelope, she decided to keep it away for now.

“Don't worry. You don't kill real demons. They're just simulated. The Development Department is responsible for them, if you don't already know.”

When Seraphina was finished handing out the envelopes, she stepped before the blackboard and started. “Today, I'll start with the basics. We will recall the things you have learned before. Valeriana will be an exception for now. I won't call on you to answer, but listen carefully. You're given a month to get accustomed to the academy's ways and learn the basics. Use your time wisely.”

“
Yes, ma'am.”

“Raise your hands, those who can answer.” Seraphina said. “About how many demons are out there, so far? The latest official count this year.”

A hand shot up almost instantly. Seraphina nodded towards the girl. “Yes?”

Her classmates curiously directed their stares at her as she rose from her seat and answered the question asked. “Nine hundred and sixty-seven thousand, eight hundred and thirteen . . . and counting.”