The Tale of the Ice Princess

Part 2 - Chapter 5

Early Spring Year 960 , Altradore Calendar . ( Aria Heldor - Age 10 )  

Spring, the season of blossoming flowers , the season of life, the season of grown and rebirth . 

Trees regaining their splendor , buds sprouting ,  bringing with then new and fresh colors , a welcome sight after the white monotonous winter. 

Stunning, i thought as the beauteous scenery passed by . 

I was currently in a carriage, bound for The Academy . The Academy was a one day carriage ride away from the capital , built on the site of the old capital . 

It was surrounded by thin vegetation , not thick enough for magic beasts to lurk , making it the ideal spot for training future knights and lords . 

The carriage suddenly stopped , signifying our arrival at The Academy . Stepping out of the carriage with help from the driver , i took in the beautiful work of architecture . 

One word , "Amazing". 

The Academy building was like a large castle , it was expansive , with many buildings and open areas .

Thankfully , i had already memorized the map i requested Lafina to gather for me . I knew all the common walkways , the less used ones , the best hiding places , the secret passage ways , basically everything inch of The Academy . I even knew who was staying in which room , along with their status and name , curtesy of Lafina's intelligence gathering .

I was lost in the splendor of the building , awestruck , not noticing the Professor standing in front of me .

"Ahem.....Miss Heldor? "

"Ahem ." The professor cleared her throat more loudly . 

I was snapped out of my stupor , blinking rapidly . 

"Oh ...a .... i .....ah .......I , Aria Heldor , greet thee , pleasure to make your acquaintance . " I fumbled . 

"And i am Professor Felicia , i am to direct you to your room and inform you on the academy rules ." She replied , not showing any displeasure towards my daze . 

I nodded in understanding .

Walking in front , Professor Felicia started reciting about the rules , with me walking behind her as per social etiquette . 

"In The Academy , Professors have a higher status than students . Remember this, using your status to pressure professors is not tolerated and shall immediately be reported to the principle.  

Females and males have their own dorm buildings , with either unable to enter the other gender's dorm . 

There are common spaces and room around The Academy for hosting tea parties and the like, to book a venue , have your attendant make a request to the teacher in charge of Socializing venues . 

And......................" Her recital lasted for another torturous 10 minutes until we reached the girls dormitory  . 

Heaving a sigh of relief that she could finally stop talking ,  i entered the dormitory building, leaving her to find her next prey to torture with her boring speech.  .

Students were sent a letter regarding their admission into The Academy a week prior to the start , in the letter it stated all the particulars a student would need  , like the dormitory room number. 

Entering my room for the next 5 years , i took it all in . Perhaps it was due to my lower status as the room was not what one would call spacious . It had a sitting area for receiving private guests if i had to guess , a bedroom , bathroom and an attendant's room.

The bedroom had a singular bed , a desk and a wardrobe . 

So standard stuff . 

Judging from the blueprints i saw , this was on the lower end , in terms of rooms . If i was not wrong , the rooms for those of high status had a king sized bed , with a study room and a large parlor for receiving guests . 

I didn't really care about room size , rooms were just for resting , they need not be luxurious. As Lavina was quite speedily hauling my luggage into my room , i sat down by the desk , taking out my special notebook and pen . 

It was special as it was mana activated with sensitivity to quality of mana. It appears as a blank notebook to everyone , however in reality , it was where i jotted down all my ideas using the special mana pen , invented by me . 

The mana pen converted mana to ink , when written onto the special notebook , the mana stone on the cover activates , concealing the mana infused ink after being jotted down . To see the notes i wrote , i just needed to activate the mana stone. No one besides me could activate it as their mana quality and mana hue cannot compare to my own, making it the safest place to jot down my treasonous ideas . 

I poured mana into the stone , activating it . In the blink of an eye , words appeared on the once black pages.

Hmm where did i stop ............ ohh ya ... outlining the plan if the country is invaded in the coming 10 years. 

I had already had a solid plan going for the overthrow of the corrupt nobles . However , my key player had little to no information available on him in the underworld which made it tough for me to predict his reactions and moves . 

My primary goal attending The Academy at all was to forge connections , alliances and probe several people . Nothing more nothing less . I was just an ordinary student , like most , i had a hidden agenda . 

My eyes started to droop after some time , with me almost nodding off on my desk . 

I'm tired .....

It came as no surprise , after the day-long trip i endured in the carriage . 

Time to get some shut eye .