Chapter 37 - 36: The Fight

Chapter 37: Chapter 36: The Fight

Chapter 36: The Fight

A few days into the Magic Balloon, the nobles couldn’t stand the routine. Outside of the corridors and rest halls they were allowed to enter, there was nothing else to do. The academy hadn’t arranged anything to entertain them, which was unusual for them. As the trip wore on, some of the noble children started using the dining hall after supper to get to know each other. Little by little, these gatherings turned into proper parties.

Noah didn’t want to join. He came for supper and that was it. Usually, he picked a seat off by himself where he could see most of the hall without getting dragged into a long conversation with someone he didn’t know. Over the past few days, he had started to categorize the students one by one. Those who talked a lot but didn’t say anything meaningful. The ones that others gathered around only for their family name.

That night, a large crowd had gathered in the middle of the hall around a blond youth talking with several noble children. Noah had never spoken with him, but it was clear that the others treated him with respect. The way he stood and spoke left no doubt that he was accustomed to it.

The dining hall door opened, and the scion of House Jolnach walked in.

He didn’t so much as glance at the crowd. He went straight to the leftover food, took a plate, and sat at the far end of the hall to eat alone. A few voices dropped for a moment, then picked back up. But the blond youth had noticed him. He stared for several seconds, then left his companions and headed over.

Some of the conversations stopped.

The youth stood beside the Jolnach scion’s table.

"Courfeyrac."

Courfeyrac kept eating.

His face hardened.

"Are you deaf?"

Courfeyrac lifted his eyes slightly.

"No."

"How dare you look down on me, you bastard?"

Courfeyrac went back to his plate.

"Can’t you see I’m eating?"

A short laugh came from somewhere nearby, then stopped quickly.

"This is a night for nobles to gather. There’s no place for a bastard like you here."

"I’m here to eat. What’s your gathering got to do with me?"

"Supper’s over. You can leave."

Courfeyrac raised his eyes to him.

"No. Move your gathering somewhere else."

The silence came back, and the youth’s face went darker.

"Do you know who this lord is?"

Courfeyrac didn’t answer.

The youth lifted his chin a little.

"Gil Gillmere Jolnach. Of the Golden house Gillmere."

The name explained how the students treated him. Gillmere was the strongest house during Jolnach’s rule, and Gil was among the few who had almost reached the level of a low-grade mage. But his blood quality during the test and from what Noah had heard these past days wasn’t like Noah’s or the Jolnach scion’s. It stayed within the early high grade.

Courfeyrac looked at him for a moment, then said something.

"The food is bad enough. Don’t make it worse by saying your name."

Veins stood out on Gil’s forehead.

"You..."

"You think you’re a noble because the Academy gave you a better room and a few things? The Jolnach name isn’t something a bastard like you gets to throw around."

The Jolnach scion’s hand paused for a second, but he went on eating without looking up.

Gil stepped closer.

No reply.

"Just a coward. What else would you expect from someone who doesn’t even know which whore gave birth to him?"

Courfeyrac stayed quiet. His hand started to shake a little.

Gil smiled.

"I heard from my father that some of the clan elders passed her around till nobody could tell who your real father was."

Courfeyrac set his fork down on the plate.

The hall went almost completely quiet.

Gil laughed.

"What? Did I hit something?"

Courfeyrac stood.

His face barely changed, but something in his eyes made a number of the nearby students edge back.

He said it quietly.

"Die."

Gil didn’t answer at first. He didn’t make a show of reacting. But the mana moved inside his body, and his stance shifted in an instant. He stepped forward, lunged, then blocked a wave of mana from Courfeyrac and gave a little ground.

A pale light showed before a mocking smile took its place.

"You bastard. You’ve reached half a step to low-grade mage."

Bang. A fireball shot out of Gil’s hand.

A clear barrier came up around Courfeyrac, thin lines of dark energy running through it, and Gil’s flames vanished against it like they were nothing.

Low voices started to rise.

"A magic shield..."

Noah stopped eating and watched the glowing shield on Courfeyrac’s body with interest.

Gil looked at the barrier, then drew his fist back.

"Hiding behind a tool?"

Courfeyrac didn’t answer.

Gil struck again, more force in it this time.

Bang!

The shield shook, but it held.

He followed with a third blowthen fourth from the front, each one making the surface of the barrier tremble before it settled back the way it was. Courfeyrac stood through all of it with no fear on him.

Courfeyrac raised his hand and a dark force burst out from behind the barrier all at once and hit Gil in the chest. He flew back into a long table, the end of it cracking, plates and cups spilling to the floor.

The voices climbed.

"That’s dark magic. Impossible."

Gil got up fast, blood at the corner of his mouth.

Courfeyrac didn’t stop. A cold look came into his eyes and he started toward Gil.

A cracking sound.

Gil screamed.

Courfeyrac drove a knee into his stomach, then grabbed him and slammed him down on the floor.

Gil lay there a few seconds trying to get his breath back, then started pushing himself up.

Courfeyrac kicked him back down.

Gil spat a little blood, then lifted his head.

"However strong you get, you’ll always be nothing but a bastard..."

Courfeyrac raised his hand again, shaping a dark sword, and came at Gil slowly.

Right then three nobles moved at the same moment and put themselves between the two.

From their crests the three were from different houses, but the thing they had in common was that they were among the few who’d reached a level close to the two of them. One stepped up and caught Courfeyrac’s arm while the others held their hands ready to attack any second.

"That’s enough."