They stopped a few feet away and bowed low. “Miss Bea, Mia, good morning,” they greeted in unison.
“Good morning, Sir Robin, Sir Reuben,” I replied automatically, and holy shit it was weird that I knew their names already. “What brings you here?”
At my greeting, their stiff postures relaxed, as if they only did it for formality’s sake. Instead, they smiled, accentuating their handsome faces.
“Just want to make sure we’re still up for tomorrow, right?” Robin asked, the more playful one of the two. “No backsies, right?”
Reuben added, “Of course not. We’re a package deal, you and I.”
I nodded along even though I had no clue what they were talking about.
But it’s definitely about attending the academy with me as my bodyguards, so I said, “I promised, and I don’t break them easily.”
Wait, I could have two knights with me? Not just one like my brother?
“We’ve been training hard for the past two weeks to prepare for this,” Robin grinned, placing his fist on top of my insignia. “We promise to watch over you to the best of our ability.”
“Although we don’t expect anything bad to happen.” Reuben paused. “Much.”
Rolling my eyes at their insinuation that they were only coming to catch fights, they smiled wider as Mia giggled.
I had never seen any fights. Monsters existed for thousands of years, but my sheltered upbringing shielded me from them. All my knowledge came from books, illustrations, or stories.
Ihad seen a lot of drunken bar fights. Oh, and I had been to a few underground fighting rings, courtesy of whoever tried to get in my pants at the time. Those were always fun.
“We’ll be in the training yard for the rest of the day, Miss Bea,” Reuben informed me, bowing low again with his twin as a goodbye, for now.
“Just let us know if you need us. If not, see you tomorrow,” Robin waved before they both walked away.
Even though I had been here for two weeks, it never really,reallysunk in that I was in afantasy world.Aside from the time Derrick used a healing spell on me, no further active spellcastingcrossed my path. I assumed either magic was very precious, or it wasn’t used casually.
But when both Robin and Reuben sprinted out of view in a speed that was impossible for a normal human, it finally clicked that I was in the universe of the impossible.
I had to go back.
Chapter Two
This manor was enormous. So much so that I only met my pseudo parents once since my unfortunate demise, during one family dinner when they were not busy with the estate.
Today was my second time meeting them as they said their farewells and well wishes before we start our travel to the Magic Academy of Aerahelm.
“They grow up so fast,” my mother, Ellen, sobbed as she dabbed a handkerchief to her eyes. “First, Alec, now my baby Bea.”
“It’s not like I’ll be gone for a long while,” I smiled, holding her hand. “We’ll be here during breaks.”
She lifted her eyes to my face. I had hoped to lighten the mood, but I saw something darker lurking within her gaze before it quickly vanished. What was that?
“Yes, but you must remember the reason you’re studying magic in the first place.” She said this with an attempt at a neutral tone, but the sadness mixed with fear in her voice was obvious.
The reason — to fight against the Demon Lord.
Of course, in every typical medieval fantasy story, there must be some evil entity causing disasters and conflicts to keep the story engaging, or for the main character to have something to defeat: the Big Bad. The Final Boss.
The war against the Demon Lord had been going on for centuries. While notable events were usually small skirmishes or encounters against groups of monsters, every decade, without fail, the Kingdom faced an epic battle between humans and monsters. Neither side ever wins. Only losses on both.
Regrouping, rebuilding the army, regathering of resources all repeated in a loop until the next epic battle reoccurred. Tension was high in the Kingdom recently because the last major attack was around nine years ago.
I understood my mother’s apprehension. “Alec and I will be safe. The school is one of the safest places in the Kingdom, just on the account of the number of high-ranking mages and fighters residing there. Besides, we can always run back here should anything happen.”
