Duelcrest Academy

10. Frustration

Despite what just happened, not a single student missed class. The reason was simple: the rules of the Academy.

Today's events had made us understand the importance of carefully reading that little book we had been given on the first day of school. Even a small language nuance could be of vital importance for our survival.

Fortunately, in this case, things were crystal clear: an unjustified absence from class resulted in the loss of a whopping 10 points. With the sword of Damocles hanging over the last-place student's head, no one wanted to shoulder that penalty. A single point could mean the difference between life and death.

So, we were all present, but I don't think anyone would have been able to report a single word of what the professor had explained by the end of the lesson.

The atmosphere couldn't have been more different from three days ago. I could hear the subdued cries of several students. Many others were staring at the ranking visible on the right wall of the class.

An ominous inscription had appeared at the top:

"98 students remaining...".

The names of Carl Stuart and Frank Montague were now at the bottom, overlaid with a large X indicating their deaths.

I still couldn't wrap my head around how it could be true. I spent the entire lesson trying to rationalize what had just happened.

Assuming Skylark's words were true, the King not only knew what was happening but also approved of the situation. They wouldn't have had legal issues then. But our parents would surely not have stayed silent if we had simply vanished into thin air. From what I had seen, among my classmates were many children of influential nobles. If dozens of children of counts and marquises disappeared at the same time, it would become widely known.

They must have had a plan to cover it up.

I guess they coudl make extensive use of memory spells. But that was a very complicated branch of magic.

Was it really possible to alter the memories of what had to be hundreds of people, including fathers, mothers, and various siblings?

It seemed unlikely. But then there must be another method.

After all, they had already succeeded.

It was an uncomfortable thought, but there was no point in deluding myself. It must have gone like this:

Sir Aldric was the only person known to have attended the Academy because all his classmates had vanished into thin air. No one probably remembered that they ever existed.

"This is the second time."

An even more sinister thought crept into my mind.

"But then, what about Sir Aldric?"

As a survivor, he was probably the only one, besides the professors and the guards, who knew how things had really gone.

Why hadn't he revealed the terrible truth about what had happened within the walls of the Academy to the world?

Why did the mage I admired so much decided to keep the world in the dark?

Was it possible that he was a monster like Valentine and wanted to hide what he had done to his classmates?

No, it wasn't possible. After all, he had saved our kingdom.

I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on another question:

"Why?"

Why did us students need to die?

If the ultimate goal of the Academy was truly to find out who the strongest fighter among us was, there was no reason why we couldn't just go home once eliminated. They could just wipe our memory like it seems they intended to do with our relatives.