Chapter 96 - 21. Isabella

Chapter 96: 21. IsabellaSaint Nali University’s student dormitories were divided into male and female sections, located in the east and west of the campus, respectively. With only a few days left until the start of the autumn term, many students had already started returning to school. They needed to come back early to tidy up the unswept rooms left over the vacation and to pre-select courses for the next semester.

Courses at Saint Nali University were elective, and the school only distributed the courses required for degree certification at the time of admission. Some were mandatory, while many more were electives.

Carriages lined up at the entrance, dropping off students. Many families also had servants to help with luggage, revealing that students at Saint Nali University either had excellent academic results or came from well-to-do families.

At this moment, inside the most inner dormitory on the fourth floor of the female section, a black-haired girl, dragging a heavy suitcase, wiped the sweat from her brow and opened her dormitory door.

The dormitories at Saint Nali University were assigned to three students each, complete with en suite bathrooms and living rooms, offering a very pleasant environment. Opening a room that had been unoccupied for a vacation, it was surprisingly clean because one of her roommates hadn’t gone home for the vacation. It was said she was from a city far from Nali and it was too troublesome to travel back and forth, so she had specially applied to stay over the summer.

"Moli! Come... come help me, ha, it’s so hot outside!"

At the doorway, the black-haired girl continuously wiped the sweat from her forehead. Following her call, a girl in a home dress emerged from the bedroom, her bosom larger than average, and her beautiful face exuded an extraordinarily gentle aura.

She walked to the doorway with a gentle smile, taking her roommate’s luggage,

"Welcome back, Milica."

"Ah, I’m so tired, so tired, but thank goodness the cooling magic in the room hasn’t worn off. I talked to Isabella, and she said she’d bring some from home."

"Oh, but that’s quite expensive, isn’t it?"

Moli’s rosy cheeks revealed a bit of worry. The summer in Saint Nali was unusually stifling, and as such, cooling magic items produced by some companies sold very well. Based on their duration, there were those measured by hours, by days, and long-term ones. Last semester, their room used the most expensive long-term ones, which Milica had brought.

Milica pinched Moli’s somewhat chubby cheeks, distorting her cute face and eliciting an ambiguous whimper,

"Don’t worry, Isabella lives in the Golden Palace, she has more pocket money than she can spend. Since she said she’ll bring it back, there’s no need to worry... By the way, you haven’t just been staying in the dorm here all vacation without going out or seeing any plays, have you?"

"I didn’t... I haven’t; it’s too far from the city center, it takes me a long time to get there. What about you, Milica, what did you do during the vacation?"

Talking about this, Milica broke into a smile,

"My dad is a bishop in the Church and had me intern in the Holy Maiden Chorus for a while. I even went to perform in the South Continent! However, Priest Kayu in charge of us was so fierce; a few girls were driven to tears by her. I really dislike her."

Milica stuck out her tongue, the mere memory of Priest Kayu’s stern face annoyed her. Her days in the Holy Maiden Chorus were nothing short of miserable; there, she didn’t have her gentle father but that harsh Priest, causing her to have nightmares every night and couldn’t wait to return to the Western Continent.

The students’ bedroom was just one room, but the space was quite sizable, fitting three beds and desks, although besides Moli’s desk, the other two had become dressing tables.

Milica had many things. She needed to organize all the tasty foods and belongings she brought from home, and then she took out the gifts for Moli and Isabella.

She turned to look at Moli, who was reading at the desk, and then with a mischievous grin, stretched out her "claws" and suddenly hugged her, causing Moli to let out a small animal-like cry,

"Uh... Milica..."

"Hehe, Moli, my Moli, I haven’t seen you for a whole vacation, why is your body so soft, it feels so nice." Milica rubbed against Moli’s soft body, then asked, "Didn’t you go swimming today?"

"I did go this morning... it’s so hot, Milica.."

Only then did Milica remember to turn on the cooling magic, and she ran to the living room to check the still glowing emblem on the wall before activating it again. In an instant, the stuffy room cooled down several degrees, becoming exceptionally more comfortable.

"Moli you silly, didn’t you use this at all during the vacation?"

"I... I’ve been swimming so it was okay, also, I was afraid it’d run out and you wouldn’t have it when you got back."

"Silly, we were sure to bring it back."

Milica rubbed Moli’s soft cheeks, but just as she was about to do more, the door to the dorm was opened, revealing a young girl outside dressed in a pale golden dress.

The girl with golden hair down to her waist wore sunglasses and a faint smile. The pale-golden dress trailed a barely visible tri-ring arc emblem, the mark of the Gedelin Gold Seal.

Due to the heat of summer, below the dress, her long legs were bare except for a pair of white socks at her ankles matched with pale golden low heels, giving her an elegant and beautiful appearance.

"Good afternoon, ladies."

The young and beautiful woman, not carrying any luggage, just smiled and greeted the two girls inside, her pale golden eyes scanning the room’s decor.

"Isabella! You’re finally back, I thought you’d be back later."

Milica went over and took Isabella’s hand, looking down the empty hallway behind her, "Huh, didn’t you bring any luggage?"

"I haven’t had much to do these few days, but that might change later. It’s best that I come back early. My family will be sending my luggage over soon... Hello, Moli, we haven’t seen each other over the vacation!"

"Isabella, hello, welcome back."

"Oh, I almost forgot that people from the Golden Palace can enter the school! If I had known, I would have handed my luggage to you first. It took me so long to move it!"

"Why didn’t you come to visit me during the vacation? I wouldn’t help you then."

"I was on a business trip to the South Continent! Oh, every day I was pushed to train like the devil by a priest, and she wouldn’t even let me eat meat, saying that ’maintaining one’s figure is the most crucial step to becoming a lady.’ Oh, if that were true, she wouldn’t be as thin as a pole!"

"About that, you could ask Moli. I also want to know why Moli developed so well."

"Eh?"

Behind them, Moli’s face turned red again. Even the gaze of her dorm mates towards her chest made her shy, and she instinctively covered herself to prevent them from looking.

After tidying up a bit, the three girls sat in their bedroom and continued chatting. The young girls who had just returned always had endless things to talk about—romantic relationships, family matters, and amusing incidents.

But there were also more serious matters, like the upcoming autumn term classes.

"By the way, has anyone gone to the ’Class Selection Stone’ to check out what classes are available next semester?"

Isabella sat in front of her new mirror at her dressing table and asked her roommates, looking around. Behind her, Milica raised her hand,

"I did. I even used ’Recording Magic’ to record it!"

"Thanks, let’s see what classes I can take next semester. I heard from my sister that the Griffin Party is restricting our school’s curriculum. I wonder what Ken is doing about it. If our Magic Academy doesn’t start classes soon, I think the students will go to the Council to complain."

As Isabella spoke, she and Moli looked at the luminescent stone in Milica’s hand; text from the stone flew out, forming a miniaturized version of the Class Selection Stone on the wall.

The stone was organized by academic departments, listing course numbers, full course titles, teaching professors, and notes which typically contained a brief description of the course content and special instructions from the professors.

Moli and Isabella focused on one wall, while Milica faced another direction since she enrolled with the arts department and didn’t take the same courses as Isabella.

Isabella’s gaze quickly shifted to a highlighted course on the Magic Academy’s selection stone.

"Magic Type 1001A: Magic Introduction"

"Teaching Instructor: Fischer Benavides"

"Note: This course provides the very basics of magic, no prerequisites required, course capacity: 50."

"Recommended Reading: ’Basic Magic Theory,’ ’Magic History Explained,’ ’Magic Logic’...."

Looking at the long list of recommended reading, Isabella was instantly captivated by this peculiar professor.

This Magic Introduction course was taught by two professors; the note from the other instructor read: A profound and interesting classroom of magic theory.

"Fischer Benavides, that name sounds somewhat familiar."

Just as Isabella said this, Milica, who was drinking water behind her, suddenly spit out a mouthful of water, choking,

"Wait... cough, who did you say? Fischer Benavides?"

She quickly turned her head and also saw a name projected on the wall. After confirming it was indeed the Nali Gentleman from her memory, she excitedly said,

"Oh my god, it’s really Mr. Fischer! I can’t believe he’s coming to teach at our school! I thought he was still in the South Continent?"

"Milica, you know this professor?"

"Yes, don’t you guys know him? ’The Rebel of the Royal College’! The proponent of soul magic theory, student of Great Mage Helsen! His papers have been dominating the academic community these days; everyone’s holed up at home secretly proving his theories! When he was still studying at the Royal College, my father hired him as my math tutor. Although my math is still terrible, he really is a great teacher."

"And most importantly..." Milica’s cheeks flushed as she told her two roommates, "He is very, very handsome! Truly the most gentlemanly man in Nali!"

Isabella opened her mouth; although she was raised in the Royal Family, with an older sister and three older brothers, her father wasn’t very strict with her, so her knowledge of Nali’s academic scene wasn’t very deep...

The reason she thought the name sounded familiar—she seemed to recall seeing it... um, on her sister’s desk?

"Fischer Benavides..."

Her pale golden eyes glanced over the professor’s name, adding ’Magic Type 1001A’ to the course plan.