The School of Bermuda - Volume 1 - The hunter's daughter

-5-

Anna was startled and turned to the boy behind her. He was the same age but already a head taller than the proud young girl's brothers. His Asian face was as cute as it was stern. His hair, as black as a raven's wings, cascaded in layers onto his shoulders. It was difficult to read his equally dark eyes, but at the moment, one could see mostly disdain, not directed at Lili, but at Anna.

"Izãdo" Anna exclaimed in surprise. "I thought you were going to school with your own boat..."

"Don't be so familiar with me, I've only met you once at a party my father threw, and let me tell you, I certainly didn't appreciate you," he replied.

He brushed her aside and walked towards Ree. The professor's daughter hesitated for a moment before stepping aside from her friend. Lili timidly looked up at the young prince who was looking at her.

"I met your father when I was a child," he said softly. "My mother died that day while protecting me, and it haunted my nights for a long time afterward. I can't forget such a hateful look. Your eyes... are not those of a hunter."

Lili gasped, not expecting those words.

"You... you don't blame me?"

"Why would I blame you? It wasn't you who held the dagger that day... It must have been difficult when he found out, right? Did he hurt you?"

"N... no... Professor Tant was there..."

"Good," he smiled and turned back to Anna, Edward, Louis, and all the other students. "She fears hunters as much as the rest of us!" he raised his voice so that everyone could hear. "And being the daughter of one is even worse. From now on, anyone who messes with her will have me to deal with for the nine years we will spend at the Bermuda school, got it?"

No student spoke, and most of them returned to their breakfast without a word. Anna and her brothers, furious, walked away from the prince and the two friends, while Ree jumped into Izãdo's arms.

"Wow! That was some rescue!"

"Let me go..."

"Thanks, Prince," Lili murmured.

"You don't have to thank me, and call me Izãdo. Here, I'm just your classmate, not a prince. Lulis, come over here!"

A young boy in a blue uniform, smaller in size than Ree and Lili, approached the group and timidly greeted the two girls.

"Allow me to introduce Lulis Ramis," the prince declared, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "He is the son of a servant at my father's castle, and since he was born just a few days after me, it was decided that we would be raised together."

"Ree Tant and Lili Mause," the boy with light brown hair turning pink murmured. "I heard your names earlier. Nice to meet you."

"So," Izãdo said, "what if we take the same secondary classes? I'm quite interested in demonology and divination."

Lulis and the prince took a seat at the table with the two girls to discuss with them.

The journey lasted the whole day, as the ship had to avoid non-wizard shipping routes by taking detours whenever another boat appeared on the horizon. Night was beginning to fall when a horn sounded. The teachers joined their students to take them to the deck. The ship was in the middle of the ocean, with no land in sight.

"What's happening?" asked the first-year student with strands of pink hair.

"We're almost there," the Egyptian teacher replied with a smile. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Nefertiti Mieret, the professor of mentalism. I hope many of you will choose my subject as a secondary course."