Chapter 38: A Student with Glasses and the Rules of Eje.

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: A Student with Glasses and the Rules of Eje.

Draven and Taliah arrived at the place where the welcome speech would take place when most of the students were already gathered.

The area was enormous, and they had prepared an elevated stage in front of a wide plaza surrounded by academic buildings.

The new students were distributed in groups.

Some were talking among themselves, while others seemed too nervous to say a single word.

There were also professors, assistants, and staff members taking care of maintaining order.

Draven looked around and recognized the place, since in the game that zone functioned as a starting point for several missions, so Draven recalled all those missions while walking alongside Taliah.

"Are you looking for Rovina?"

She asked, to which Draven turned his head.

"What?"

"You’re looking everywhere."

"Ah... it’s just that I’m checking out the campus."

"Sure."

"Taliah."

"What?"

"I’m serious."

She smiled slightly.

"I was just asking."

They found a place among the other students and shortly after, several people went up onto the stage.

There were professors, administrative representatives, members of the board, and one of them began to speak.

The speech started with a general presentation of the academy, its history, its importance within Aster, the prestige of its graduates, and the opportunities available for students of different specialties.

Draven listened during the first few minutes, but afterward he stopped paying too much attention, since he already knew a good part of that information.

What really interested him was observing.

There were many faces, some of which were completely unknown, but others were not.

He recognized several minor characters, like a student who would later end up joining the army or a young noble who would end up expelled after trying to manipulate an official duel.

They still existed, but he already knew that didn’t mean everything would develop exactly the same way.

The story could change.

The man who was speaking finished his part, so another person took his place and, after several presentations, one of the professors announced.

"Now we want to present the student with the highest evaluation among all the newly admitted this year."

Draven raised his gaze slightly.

"With you, Lansholt Calenne."

A young woman went up onto the stage and Draven recognized her immediately.

’Of course she would be here.’

Lansholt Calenne had long black hair, but the tips gradually changed toward an intense purple tone.

She wore her hair in two low ponytails held with white ribbons along with soft bangs that covered part of her forehead, and she also wore glasses.

Her appearance was neat, discreet, and she could even seem fragile.

When she reached the center of the stage, she held with both hands the paper she had prepared, but she looked nervous or at least that was how it seemed.

"G-Good morning."

Her voice was low, so several students had to fall silent to hear her.

"M-My name is Lansholt Calenne."

She made a small pause.

"It is an honor to have been selected to speak on behalf of the first-year students."

Draven watched her fixedly and Taliah noticed it.

"Do you know her?"

Draven answered in a low voice.

"No, I don’t know her."

That was technically true, since Draven had never met her personally, but Sam did know perfectly well who she was.

Calenne continued reading.

She spoke about effort, responsibility, camaraderie, discipline, and everything sounded correct and harmless.

’What a good performance.’

In the game, Lansholt Calenne was presented in a very similar way.

Many characters even tried to protect her during the first Chapters related to the academy.

Afterward everything changed.

Calenne ended up involved in one of the most dangerous routes of the story and in several variants she ended up becoming an enemy directly.

Not a minor enemy, but one of the villains that the main group had to defeat.

Draven didn’t remember all the exact details, since part of her story depended on the decisions made, but he did remember something.

That shyness was a façade, since Calenne was much more calculating than she appeared.

"Draven."

Taliah spoke again.

"What?"

"You’re staring a lot again."

Draven looked at her.

"Don’t start with that."

"I’m just saying."

"I’m paying attention."

"That’s what you said before."

"Taliah."

She smiled and Draven returned his gaze to the stage.

Calenne was still speaking, but his mind was already somewhere else, since another concern appeared immediately.

’Elfin.’

Since he had arrived in Astral he hadn’t heard her voice again.

She hadn’t manifested nor had she tried to speak, but that didn’t mean she had disappeared and Draven knew perfectly well why.

’The divine contract of Eje.’

Its conditions had been engraved directly into his mind, so he didn’t need to read them because he couldn’t forget them and Eje had made sure of that.

Draven closed his eyes slightly and recalled the main ones.

The first was simple, since it consisted of Elfin not being able to manifest of her own will.

She couldn’t appear whenever she wanted nor take control just because she desired it and that was already an enormous protection for Draven.

The second condition was more complicated.

If Draven lost consciousness during a battle, Elfin could take control of his body, but only for ten minutes.

The objective was simple: get Draven’s body out of danger.

If someone tried to prevent it, Elfin would be allowed to neutralize them and, after the ten minutes, she had to return control.

The third condition existed for even worse situations.

If Draven’s life entered maximum danger, Elfin could manifest as a last-resort defense and the limit was fifteen minutes.

During that time she could eliminate the threat and take the body to a safe place, but afterward she would have to withdraw.

The fourth condition was one of the most important for Draven, since Elfin couldn’t attack Taliah directly.

But the fifth condition was the real problem, since within three years, Elfin and Taliah would have to face each other.

Draven knew what that meant and it wasn’t a possibility, it was part of the contract.