Wizard and Witches: Griffith Academy

New People

Clara didn’t give any chance for Lisa to react. She immediately turned her welding machine back on. The machine’s roaring sound would bury Lisa’s voice, so she took the hint and left the little girl alone.

Lisa walked around to explore more of the shop, but Clara’s words kept ringing in her head. She didn’t understand what she meant by that. Did Fox do something terrible in the past that made people hate him? It wouldn’t be that surprising for him to be secretly evil from the mask and black cloak. But if that’s true, why would Nova let him work as a protector?

The more she thought about it, the more questions popped up. And with each question popped up, the more Lisa felt distrustful toward Fox. However, she felt pity for him. Even though he was a protector, many people seemed to hate him, having only Nova and Clara treat him kindly. There must be something going on. So until she finds out the truth, she couldn’t really trust or distrust Fox.

Fox finally appeared almost the same way he disappeared. The wooden box from before was still firmly in his hands. He tapped the little mechanic’s shoulder before offering the package.

“This is the payment. The principal thanks you for the device,” Fox said just loud enough while leaning in to be heard by the girl.

Clara took the box and put it inside a locker under her working table. Before she could say anything, Fox was already pulling Lisa out of the shop, leaving Clara to sigh and continue on with her work.

The two walked back toward their friends. Lisa could see Nova and Naomi looking around from afar, most likely looking for her and Fox.

Nova sighed. 

“Great, now Fox and Lisa are missing.” 

With Fox and Lisa gone, Nova was left alone with Naomi. Many of his acquaintances passed by, asking whether she was his girlfriend. He always denied it, but he still felt a sense of malice from his companion. The only thing stopping her from beating him into a pulp was that they were in a public place.

“Goddammit, Fox. Where the hell did you go?” Nova cursed as he continued to look around for his foxy friend.

“Uhm, Nova?”

“Y-Yea?”

“There is something I want to ask you. It’s about Fox. W-What’s wrong with him? I mean, don’t get me wrong, but he looks like a villain, considering the outfit and attitude. Not to mention his voice. Why is his voice like that?”

“Well… Fox already looked that way the first time I met him. I tried asking him about it, but he always dodged the question. Even Clara never got any straight answer. Maybe the principal knows. After all, Fox is some kind of his step-son,” Nova rubbed his head slowly.

“Wait, wait. Who is Clara? And what’s that about Fox being the principal step-son?!”

“Clara is a seventh-grader student whose life Fox saved once. Unfortunately, the event was pretty catastrophic, as far as the rumors go.“ 

“Rumors? You mean you don’t know yourself? Aren’t you supposed to be the Protectors’ leader?”

“W-Well-” Nova stopped mid-sentence as he noticed Fox and Lisa walked out of Clara’s workshop. Nova should have guessed that Lisa must have been attracted to Clara’s works.

“You two! Da- Eh? You finally got your order from Clara?” Nova pointed at a small black chip attached to the Fox mask. It explained why he followed Lisa instead of just stopping her.

“Yea. How does my voice sound now?” His robotic voice was not monotone anymore. It still sounded stiff, but at least it had more tone compared to before.

“Meh. Sounds better, but still as monotone as ever. Now, we should continue with the tour.”

The four continued with their tour. Many trees were standing on both sides of the road, enough to cover most of the street from rain but still allow light to shine through. The group then arrived at a massive intersection with a small fountain in the middle of it. There were three roads, each leading to different school buildings. But instead of going down those routes, they walked down the fourth one, leading them to the sports fields. Golf, tennis, basketball, you name it. They even had a pool, for playing around and for competition.

Naomi could only stare in awe each time they arrived somewhere. She couldn’t believe she entered such a prestigious school without doing anything. Her classmates would do anything just to see the inside of this academy. And a lot of them were more qualified than she was. They would love to join it, if not for the Mages only rule.

Later on, they passed by a forest, a cathedral, a coliseum, and some buildings Naomi couldn’t remember. It was all too much for her brain in a day. Then, all of a sudden, the three of them were already back at the dorm. Once again, Fox teleported them when they were too busy listening to Nova explaining some of the buildings’ history.

“There we go! Now, since the tour is over, you can do whatever you want now. Just wake up early tomorrow. We need to train your control over your power. There’s currently a break, so you have a lot of time to settle in before you start going to class. Oh, if you want to go to town again, just follow the road, and you will find it,” Nova excused himself to do some quote-on-quote work and disappeared alongside Fox.

“Lisa! I still want to see some of the shops! There are some pretty looking things there!” Naomi pulled Lisa’s hand without waiting for her response. The two started walking, not realizing that Fox followed them from the shadows.

The two returned to the town and explored the shops they didn’t get to enter before. There was an equipment shop called ‘Dwarf Forgery’ filled with equipment. Everything in there was the real deal. All of the equipment and weapons displayed were made out of various materials by the owner himself. From standard metal to dragon scale, even materials with weird names the two hadn’t heard before. 

Naomi was wondering why the shop had a Dwarf in it until she met the shop owner. The owner introduced himself as Barbero, a short guy with a massive beard and an eye patch. Noticing the excitement in Naomi’s eyes, Barbero went on a rant about various tools and their utility. But unfortunately, students were not allowed to buy from him without a permit from the Protector. The two girls thanked the dwarf and excused themselves.

The next shop they visited was Nuire Magic. Long rows of shelves filled with scrolls. The owner, a young lady named Nuire, said she used magic to expand her shop to make space for all of the scrolls. From a scroll that would transform your looks to one that would turn you invisible, she almost had it all. Of course, all with their respective prices. Some of those scrolls were even more expensive than the weapons at Barbero’s shop. But to Naomi’s disappointment, students needed Protector’s permission to buy scrolls, especially the more dangerous ones.

Feeling tired, the two decided to stop by ‘Fahrent Café’ to rest their legs and quench their sore throat. The owner, a bald male barista with a majestic mustache named Iskandar, told the two to buy anything they wanted since they were new students. He was undoubtedly a nice guy in Naomi’s book.

After filling their stomachs with sweet cakes and milkshakes, the two realized it was getting dark outside. The two decided it was time to return to the dorm. They thanked the barista before leaving the cafe. As it turned out, the trees beside the road also function as lamps. Some of the leaves on the trees glowed dimly and enlightened their surroundings. As a result, the town became even more beautiful at night. 

When they arrived back at the dorm, they found the lobby was already filled with many students. One of the students noticed the two, which attracted the other’s attention, which grabbed even more people’s attention. Many of the students crowded around them. Lucky for them, Fox, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, helped them through the crowd to reach their room.

“Ah, thank you so much, Fox,” Naomi thanked the masked Protector, who only nodded before disappearing.

Inside their room, Naomi let out all of her inner joy.

“I AM SO HAPPY, LISA! THIS IS LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE!” Naomi rolled on her bed as she told her roommate about an armor in the dwarf’s collection that was capable of bursting flame, precisely like the one in her dream.

Lisa couldn’t help but laughed. 

“Is that really what’s on your mind right now? Well, everything here looks cool, and everybody is nice, so it is like a dream. But don’t you… miss your parents?” Lisa suddenly asked. Her friend seemed so quick to get over the sudden change around them.

“Of course I do… But it’s not like my parents are dead or out of reach forever. I just think that they don’t want me to spend all of my time here being homesick.”

“Yeah… You are right. Anyway, what do you think about the shop filled with robots?”

“Eh? Tell me about it!”

While the two talked more about what grabbed their attention in the city, a screen appeared on their ceiling.

[6:00 PM]

[It is time for dinner.]

“Ah… Now that I think about it, I’m so hungry right now,” Naomi said as she rubbed her belly.

“Didn’t we just eat some cake? Are you hungry already?” Lisa asked. She was pretty sure Naomi ate quite a lot of cakes.

“That’s different!”

“Right, I forgot it’s you. The cafeteria is next to the lobby, right? Let’s go there.”

The two walked down to the enormous cafeteria area to find it already filled with other students. It was no wonder why they made the cafeteria very spacious considering the number of students eating there. The two waited in line for a few minutes until it was their turn. As the lady behind the counter served Lisa’s and Naomi’s food, Lisa couldn’t help but admire the lady’s unique facial appearance. She had some dimly glowing thin lines on her face and a blue circle on her head’s temple. 

Suddenly, a screen popped up.

[Maya. Lv 11. Rank D]

“Ah! You two are the new students, right? I have some bonus for you two~” the woman gave them both a bowl of corn soup. Her movement seemed… a bit cranky. It was faint, but Lisa saw it. Two more screens popped up.

[Observation level up!]

[Class: Android Maid]

Lisa hid her amazement as the two looked for a table. Luckily, there was an empty one on the corner. As soon as they sat down, Lisa immediately babbled about her discovery. How she almost blended perfectly, minus the face feature, her social skill, etc. Naomi, on the other hand, tried her best to listen while stuffing food into her mouth.

In the middle of her rant, two students walked up to their table. One was a boy with fiery red hair and black eyes, while the other was a girl with long yellow hair and blue eyes.

[Rhon Akson. Lv 25.]

[Lirya Grith. Lv 28.]

“Are these seats taken?” asked the boy.

Lisa shook her head, and the two sat down.

“I think we should introduce ourselves. I know we already know each other's names, but it’s still common courtesy to introduce yourself. I’m Rhon, and she is Lirya. You’re the new students, right?”

Lisa was too busy reading the screens to respond, forcing Naomi to stop stuffing her mouth with food and respond to the two.

“Yup! I’m Naomi, and this is Lisa. It seems that new students are famous here.”

“It’s always an exciting thing to have new students our age. On top of that, there’s the word New Student labeled under your name for everyone to see. So yeah, I think it’s pretty much unavoidable,” Rhon chuckled before continuing. Both of the girls looked up and just realized they had that writing below their name.

“I figured we are going to be classmates, so there is nothing wrong with getting to know each other from now on.”

“Wait. You already know we are classmates?” Lisa asked as she had finished reading the screens.

“Well….. I have my sources among the teachers-“

“What he meant to say was that he was appointed by the teacher to teach you how the class and such works,” Lirya suddenly spoke up.

“Li! We talked about this!”

Lirya shrugged and instead continued eating. Rhon sighed in disappointment as their impression of him was ruined so early.

“Yea, I’m here to explain to you how the class and school are and give you some tips. With your power involved, everything gets a bit more complicated. Like….” Rhon leaned forward

Instinctively, Lisa and Naomi also lean in to hear what he said. Whatever it is, it must be crucial.

“… The potato here is not that good,” and as soon as Rhon said that, he let out a laugh.

Lirya could only cover her face in embarrassment as Naomi and Lisa stared at him in disbelief. Luckily, Naomi’s mouth and hand were busy with her food. If not, she would have already thrown a punch at him for playing a trick on them.

“Now, now. I was just trying to ease the mood. The potatoes are really delicious. Now, let’s get serious. You see, the most important thing is to know there are students here that need to be avoided, more so than in a normal school. The best example would be the Four Arrow Clan heirs, who have mastered their clan’s special technique. But, unfortunately, they are also arrogant and easily offended. So best to just stay away and make no trouble with them.”

“Wow… The heirs sound cool,” Naomi commented before stuffing her mouth again.

“If being burned, buried, flown, or drowned is cool to you, then suit yourself. But I suggest you guys just steer clear from them and never invoke their anger. You will regret it,” Lirya grunted before continuing on Rhon’s explanation.

“And also, watch your attitude. There is this Protector called The Seer. She sees everything that happens in the academy; some even said she could see around the globe. Before you even finish what you do, or even barely start, Fox will teleport to you and stop you.”

“Isn’t that a breach of privacy, though?” Lisa asked.

“In a sense, yes. But the Seer would be the only one who sees. And I think she once said that she would only see it if we broke a rule. Other than that, you are fine,” Lirya answered.

“Ah... I see.”

“And lastly,” Rhon spoke again this time.

“There is a tournament held twice a year. This year’s first one is a week from now; that’s why there’s a break for school. If you two can use your power properly, I highly suggest you participate. You will get a very high reward bonus score AND win a mysterious prize from the Protector if you win. If not, people know about you. It’s a win-win situation, in my opinion,” Rhon explained.

“That sounds fun! Lisa, we should participate!” Naomi shook Lisa, ignoring that her friend was trying to scoop some food into her mouth.

“You are pretty unique, huh.” Rhon chuckled at Naomi’s enthusiasm.

The four talked about more random stuff in the academy as they finished up the rest of their meal. After they finished their meal, they placed their empty plate back on the counter and returned to their rooms. Lisa instantly fell asleep as soon as she laid on the bed. Naomi was jealous that her friend could fall asleep so fast. She was good at falling asleep unintentionally, but not when she wanted to.

“Ah! I know!” She grabbed one of the study books and opened it to a random page. And just five minutes later, she was already asleep, with the history book covering her face.