บท 8: Cripple?
The next day, Eli woke up to the alarm clock, quickly jumped out of bed, and went to the bathroom to wash up. After a bath, she headed for the kitchen and grabbed a mug of coffee. The kitchen was full of maids, but Lara wasn't there.
"Is it Lara's day off?" she asked the maid in charge of the kitchen. She sat down, waiting for her breakfast to come.
"No, ma'am," the maid said with a smile as she brought Eli's food. "She was fired yesterday."
Eli's face fell at what she heard. "Why?"
"She was late for a meeting with mistress Eleonora last night."
'It's my fault... She spent an evening with me yesterday.' Eli's face turned pale as she remembered what had happened between her and Lara the day before. Eli clenched her fists so tight that her nails dug into her skin, making her bleed.
"M-Miss Eli?" the maid asked as she saw blood dripping out of Eli's fists onto the table.
Eli snapped out of her reverie and realized she was squeezing her fists so hard she had drawn blood. "I'm sorry." She stood up and walked out of the kitchen.
"M-Miss Eli, your breakfast," the maid exclaimed to Eli's back.
"I realized that I am not hungry. Sorry about that." Eli said, not looking at her. She slammed the doors as she walked out of the kitchen.
'Lara is going to be in a lot of trouble because of me.' she thought to herself. She felt extreme hate for her mother now. For the past week, Lara was the best thing she had in this stupid world, and Eleonora took that away from her.
Eli then went to her room to pack her backpack for school. She took out all her books, notebooks, and other things. 'This accursed family..' she whispered to herself while looking at her bag. She then left her room and went out to school without saying goodbye to anyone.
She walked a block away from home and then manifested wings, deciding to fly instead of using a bus to get to school. 'It would be better to get to school early and have more time to study.' she sighed.
Eli then flew towards the school. Luckily for her, Lara was studying in the same school as her. So she wanted to meet her as soon as possible. She landed close to school after verifying that no one noticed her and casually walked through the school gates. She was quickly greeted by the gym teacher. He was blocking her way, so she just ignored him and tried moving past him; however, he grabbed her shoulder.
"Hello, miss Silver. Do you have time to speak?" Mr. Markson asked her while he still held her shoulder.
Eli glared at him with the same anger and contempt she had on her face when she first met him. 'Should I just snap his neck?' she wondered while looking around to see if there would be any witnesses. She was still angry that during the last PE, this teacher told other classmates to practice throwing fireballs at her. Then she remembered that the school has cameras and clicked her tongue in annoyance. She then sighed. "What can I help you with, Mr. Markson?" She faked a smile.
"I am sorry for the rude behavior last time I saw you, but I'm afraid that I can't let you go." Mr. Markson said. "You haven't shown up in PE for three months now."
'So my classmates could start throwing their magic at me in the gym? No, thank you.' Eli looked at the man in front of her and smiled. "I am sorry, I decided to drop that class." She then looked down and fidgeted with her hands.
The man looked confused and didn't know what to say. "Y-You can't drop the class... To do so, you need to join the hunters' class. And we both know you're..."
Eli nodded politely at the man and extended her palm. On top of her palm, she created a fireball, a beautiful fireball that was like a miniature star. "You're what?" She asked in a mocking tone.
"W-What? How?" Mr. Markson exclaimed, his eyes wide in shock and disbelief.
"I am a late bloomer." She answered honestly.
Mr. Markson stared at Eli in confusion. "W-Wait, you're...So you have mana now?"
Eli sighed and explained how she was able to access her mana circuits now; however, she left out the details about meeting an angel and taking its powers for herself. The man looked shocked at what Eli told him, and he then looked downwards, unable to speak a word.
"Anyway, sir, can you move aside? I am late for class." Eli added politely but with clear annoyance in her tone.
The man just nodded and stepped aside. "Alright, miss Silver." He said in a low voice while still staring at her in disbelief. "I wish you luck in the hunters' classes."
Eli then left the man behind and entered the class. She found everyone sitting down, waiting for the class to start, and took a seat next to Lara.
"S-Sorry, Lara..." Eli said apologetically. She blamed herself for Lara being fired from the mansion.
"Silly." Lara chuckled. "It's not the end of the world. Besides, I can now work with you as an adventurer if you choose that path." Lara pinched Eli's cheek gently. "Besides, the only reason I stayed for more than two days in that job was you."
"L-Lara..." Eli's face was bright red and turned beet red, and her cheeks were flushed red. She could barely hold herself from tearing up. "T-Thanks, Lara."
Lara giggled and touched her cheek to rub her fingers in it, which caused more embarrassment for Eli. "Don't worry! You're my precious lady!" Lara kissed her cheek while still rubbing it gently with her fingers.
Eli blushed even more as she felt the soft touch of Lara's lips on her cheek, causing her whole body to tingle in excitement.
"Ahem! As you all know, we will be learning the basics of summoning spells today." The teacher, Mr. Armsong, announced while everyone went quiet and turned towards him. "But first, I would like to ask some questions." He looked around the class with a stern look.
"What's the main purpose of mana?" He asked.
Eli raised her hand and answered. "To cast magic?"
"Correct. But mana has more purposes. Who can tell them."
The class started whispering amongst each other, wondering what the answer was. Everyone anxiously waited for someone to speak up, and Lara raised her hand.
"Is it to regulate our body functions?"
"That's correct. Mana plays a big part in the human body's development; if you have high mana capacity, you will have a longer lifespan, quicker healing factor, and higher density of your muscles." Mr. Armsong explained. "Which is why people with no mana are much weaker and are called crippled." he gazed at Eli.
Eli frowned but didn't say a single word. 'I will show them during the hunter exams,' she thought to herself, as she was feeling confident now that she could cast any spell with ease now. 'I can fly too!' She suddenly thought of her newfound power. 'I am no longer defenseless!'
"Now, we will learn a simple spell that will help us regain mana quickly." Mr. Armsong said as he opened a box filled with blue mana crystals. "Everyone picks up one of these crystals." he handed them out one by one to everyone except for Eli. "You won't need that."
"S-Sir..." Lara raised her hand as she wanted to explain that Eli does have magic now and shouldn't be excluded from the practice. However, Eli quickly covered Lara's mouth.
"Shhhh... I can avoid participating and play on a mobile phone instead!" She whispered in Lara's ear as she removed her hand.
"Eli! Why did you do that?" Lara gasped and pushed away Eli's hand from her mouth as she stared at Eli in surprise. "Don't you want to learn to regenerate mana?"
"Teacher is a jerk. And if I end up getting good scores in the hunters' exam, I don't want him to claim that my success was due to his help." Eli explained herself as she picked up a phone from her pocket and turned on a dating sim app.
"O-Okay..." Lara awkwardly stuttered and watched as Eli started playing a game. "Have fun with your game..." she added, while not being sure whether she should stop Eli or let her do what she wanted.
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