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Chapter 7
Nox lowered his gaze and even squeezed his eyes shut. If they couldn’t be friends, then why was he still tightly holding both of Selli’s hands?
“I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“If you ever see me again, pretend you don’t know me.”
“…What?”
“You’ve never met me. And don’t tell anyone I was here.”
“……”
“And don’t be hurt if I’m different from today. It’s not your fault.”
“Alright. But why do you have to do that?”
Nox lifted his head and opened his eyes.
“There’s no time to explain.”
People were already rushing toward them after spotting the flying ship landing on the lake.
“I have to disappear before I’m discovered.”
Behind the confused girl’s flame-colored hair, twilight light burned like a halo.
“I have to go back before the sun sets.”
The moment Selli heard his panicked, muttered words, her heart dropped.
“Ah! I have to take my medicine before sunset too!”
Or the full moon would rise.
She quickly pulled out the nearly empty potion bottle from her bag and drank it all in one gulp. The bitter taste made her wince—but when she opened her eyes again, the boy was gone.
“What…?”
He said they would meet again, but they couldn’t be friends?
As she tried to decode Nox’s strange words, a cliché thought suddenly popped into her head.
“Don’t be my friend. Because I’ll end up falling in love with you—ugh, cringe! Is this a romance fantasy? Am I the heroine?”
If someone fell for her just because she defeated enemies with potatoes, their taste was certainly unusual.
“No way. I’m only focusing on studies.”
Selli stepped off the flying ship and took her first determined step onto the academy grounds.
A crowd had already gathered like an ant colony, staring at her with wide eyes. As she approached, they parted like the Red Sea.
While they stared at her like she was some strange creature, Selli also looked back at them.
“Wow… it really is a magic school.”
Men, women, and even non-human races all wore long robes and wizard hats. Only now did it feel real—this was a magic academy.
While everyone continued staring at her, a stern-looking woman holding a clipboard and wearing triangular glasses called out.
“A new student?”
“Yes. Hello… are you a teacher?”
“You made quite the entrance. I’m the girls’ dorm supervisor. What’s your name?”
“Sellen… something?”
Ah, foreign names are hard.
Her real name, seen only on the acceptance letter, was still confusing. She quickly checked the document in her pocket.
“Lorelheart.”
At that, murmurs spread through the crowd.
“What? Lorelheart?”
“That kid?”
Why are they reacting like that?
The dorm supervisor—who looked like she had sold her soul to corporate life—suddenly sharpened her gaze with interest.
“Which Lorelheart are you?”
“Huh?”
Not understanding, Selli tilted her head. The suspicion in the supervisor’s eyes immediately intensified, then cleared again as she pushed the clipboard forward.
“Place your fingerprint next to your name.”
Selli pressed her finger down.
A message appeared:
“Identity confirmed! Welcome to the dormitory!”
“Hm… it really is you.”
Still eyeing her suspiciously, the teacher made a gesture into the air.
Jingle!
An old key appeared floating between them.
‘My room key… My first dormitory ever in my second life!’
She wanted to see it immediately. She was exhausted from traveling all night.
She reached out for the key, but the supervisor flicked her fingers—and it floated away slightly.
The teacher frowned.
“New student, didn’t you read the rules? Personal flying vessels are not allowed to enter the Hungry Lake, and you were supposed to use the scheduled school boats before the opening ceremony.”
“I didn’t receive the first letter.”
Well, she technically did—but she never received it herself, so it counted as not receiving it.
And if they resend it but leave out important instructions, what’s the point?
“Also, that’s not my flying ship.”
The supervisor’s sharp eyes softened slightly at Selli’s explanation.
“It’s the human trafficking group that kidnapped me. You can ask them inside. Oh, right—they’re all poisoned with solanine and unconscious. You might need a doctor. And police.”
While the teacher stared blankly at the ship, Selli quickly grabbed the floating key.
Pushing through the crowd, she finally reached the gate.
Above the fortress gate, a curved black iron arch held glowing golden letters:
Spellmore Academy
The name shimmered as if enchanted.
Selli’s eyes sparkled.
‘I’m a student of Spellmore now!’
She proudly stepped inside.
Looking up, the castle was so massive it felt like its mouth would never close. The top she had seen from the sky was now completely out of sight.
Beyond the vast plaza, the main gate stood open like a monster’s jaws.
Even the carvings were enormous—so tall she could barely make out the emblem above, except for a dragon spreading its wings.
Selli crossed the plaza and rushed forward—then stopped.
‘It’s even more impressive inside?’
Statues, grand staircases—everything felt overwhelmingly majestic.
‘This is like touring a European castle.’
Only when she looked down did she properly see the emblem engraved on the floor.
Fire, air, earth, water.
The four elements of the world.
‘…But before I died, there were 118 elements discovered.’
Well, maybe this world is different.
Suppressing her overly analytical instincts, she looked at the motto beneath the emblem:
Civilization begins and ends at Spellmore
…Wow, how arrogant.
But it was also true enough that she couldn’t argue.
She recalled something from her old history books:
After the invention of magical engineering, civilization advanced more in one century than in the previous thousand years. The lives of all races changed entirely. Some scholars even said it was thanks to magic engineering that the Demon King was defeated.
There were many magic schools, but Spellmore was the leader in magical engineering.
‘So I’m standing at the edge of civilization’s frontier?’
Her heart beat faster again.
“Hey, are you a new student?”
A bright, youthful voice came from ahead.
A boy and girl in uniforms were waving her over from the grand staircase.
Selli joined the group of new students in plain clothes.
‘Are they dwarves?’
One girl was only half her height, smiling maturely.
“Welcome to Spellmore. We are second-year representatives assigned to guide new students. I’m Flint Smelter.”
“I’m Idril Silvergrove.”
The tall boy beside her with pointed ears looked like an elf.
‘Wow… amazing.’
It was her first time seeing fantasy races this closely, aside from spirits.
The representatives had shining badges shaped like the academy emblem on their ties.
“Now, shall we begin?”
And so the second-years began introducing the academy.
In a way Selli could never have imagined.
