When their personnel carrier arrived at the academy, the first thing that Wolfe noticed was how empty the place was since they had arrived nearly two days early. The second was the amount of damage to some of the vehicles that were in the parking lot.
Clearly, not everyone had the easy journey that they did through the wastelands.
The moment they stepped out of the vehicle with Professor Ashcroft and the Guards, a wave of gossip started swirling through the assembled students.
The crowd was almost what Wolfe had dreamed of, young ladies everywhere, in the iconic school uniform no less, an above-the-knee length short-sleeved dress with long robes over the top, both in black with either silver or gold trim and badges to mark what class they were assigned to. However, he noticed that a long skirt and blouse with a cardigan were also a uniform option.
What he didn’t see was any Familiars. He had expected to see them wherever there were Witches. Rats and cats and newts, or even demonic imps. The movies wouldn’t lie to him, and Wolfe was looking forward to seeing all of the small creatures.
“The Familiars are hiding in the school waiting for their Witches. They don’t need to be very close for the Witch to benefit, like in the movies. These are just the new students and the ones who wanted to get a head start on putting the newbies in their place.” The Guard whispered to Wolfe, guessing what he was thinking.
That made sense. Most of the older Witches likely didn’t care about the newbies at this point. Before the tests, they didn’t even know which ones were a threat and which were easy targets.
Professor Ashcroft turned to them with what Wolfe recognized as her teacher’s face, a stern and blank expression of mild disapproval that she hadn’t worn before this moment. “Since we are here and there are no bags to put away, Miss Cassie, I will get your paperwork finished and lead you to your Dorm. Wolfe, I believe you will be busy for a few minutes, but the guards will show you to your room.”
Her attitude toward Cassie was suspiciously kind, much different than the Countess had been, and it had only increased after the creation of the wand. If Wolfe didn’t know better, he would say that the teacher had chosen a new favourite student.
Once the teacher was gone, Wolfe expected the students’ attitudes to change, but they still seemed cautious around the two Guards, and Wolfe realized a bit too late that there hadn’t been just one teacher in the personnel carrier. There were some fearful mutters about the hell that was combat class, exchanged in hushed whispers that Wolfe could still clearly hear after the improvements that gathering mana had made to his body.
“So, I am guessing one of you is the combat Instructor?” Wolfe asked.
“Both, actually. We teach the elite classes here at the Academy, and there are four more at the training compound a few kilometres away for the soldiers and squires doing their year-long application.” The Guard chuckled.
“You are bringing this commoner straight to the Academy? Even if he’s one of yours, he will still need to take the servant’s exam.” A nasal male voice complained from somewhere in the crowd, disdain for the instructor clear in his tone.
“Wolfe Noxus, meet Luke Abilene, the butler to the Abilene daughters and a duelling champion all through his youth. Luke, please step forward if you wish to challenge the judgement of the Academy. It is the right of the High Noble Houses to challenge staff appointments in the Academy.” The instructor ordered, rolling his eyes in annoyance with the rule.
Contrary to his voice, Luke was an outstanding specimen of manhood. 190cm tall, lithe but muscular, clean cut, and with a face Wolfe would almost call pretty.
In short, he hated him the moment he saw him.
“Do you have a training weapon handy, or should we bring some? ” The instructor asked.
Someone handed Luke a two-handed wooden sword, and the tall man smirked at Wolfe, who was clearly a commoner and would have no sword skills.
Every courier carried weapons, but none of Wolfe’s were training weapons, and they were all tucked away in his bags, so he turned to the instructor for a sparring weapon.
“Do you have a baton or rattan sticks with you? That shouldn’t cause any more damage than a training sword.”
The quiet instructor took a collapsible baton from his belt and tossed it to Wolfe, who extended it with a flip of his wrist. Not his preferred weapon in a street brawl, but it was an easy-to-use one.
His opponent was a sword-fighting champion, but Wolfe was sure that pretty face had never seen a real fight, at least nothing like the street kids of the lower levels fought.
“The fight is until concession or until I call it. No groin attacks, no biting or poking of the eyes. Fighters, are you ready?” The instructor asked.
Luke took a fighting stance with his sword tip down and his knees crouched but parallel. Wolfe took this as a sign that he would be taking advantage of his reach to try to dominate the fight without getting hit.
Wolfe stripped off his shirt so it couldn’t be grabbed and took a crouched stance, holding his baton in front of him like a dagger.
His opponent looked at him with the same disdain he had spoken to the instructor, and Wolfe nodded his readiness.
“Begin.”
Luke stepped forward and swung his sword high, but Wolfe went low, not swinging the baton but tackling his opponent.
Luke hit the ground with a solid thud, his sword sliding to the edge of the circle of students, and Wolfe immediately laid into the side of his head with the baton.
He hadn’t expected it to feel so good to get a chance to beat the pretentiousness out of a Noble brat who had been demoted to a servant. But it did. It felt really good, in a way that Wolfe was a bit ashamed to admit.
He got three solid hits in before Luke got both hands under his chest and threw Wolfe away, much harder than Wolfe had expected a human to be able to.
That was one of the advantages of being a servant to a Noble Family. He had a strength amulet with him.
Luke took a martial arts stance and motioned Wolfe forward, ignoring the blood streaming down from his temple and his nose. The baton was a liability in a grappling fight, so Wolfe discarded it and smirked at the battered face of the pretty boy.
“You will pay for that,” Luke growled, his voice no longer nasal and annoying.
“I did you a favour. You sound better this way.” Wolfe quipped before dodging a flurry of fists.
Luke was fast now that he had discarded that oversized sword. He must have chosen it expecting to humiliate an unskilled rookie.
Wolfe’s strikes were all blocked, but Luke wasn’t quite fast enough to catch Wolfe in return. To the students, it looked like a stalemate until Wolfe’s foot appeared to slip on the grass.
Sliding Step, a technique from the Kung Fu master at his local fighting gym, looked like a trip, but was actually the start of a spinning kick.
Luke stepped forward to tackle his opponent and return the favour of a broken nose, only to find Wolfe spinning away before a sharp pain made the back of his head pound, and the world went blurry.
Wolfe pulled Luke’s shirt over his head after kicking him, trapping his arms above his shoulders and blinding him before following it up with more punches to the face until the young noble finally got out of his shirt entirely.
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“Break it up. He’s proven he has the qualifications.” The instructor called, pulling them apart just as a spell flew into the arena, knocking Wolfe to his knees.
“Christa, you know that attacking during a duel is prohibited, even if your twin brother is losing.” Someone in the crowd laughed.
A small blonde Witch ran into the ring, hugging the battered form of Luke Abilene before feeding him a healing potion and glaring at Wolfe.
“Anyone who dares to give this commoner healing will answer to me.” She insisted, making many of the students flinch back.
By her aura, she was no stronger than Cassie, so it must be her family influence scaring them, Wolfe decided.
“I appreciate the thought Miss, but I will be fine with a little rest. Most of this blood isn’t mine.” Wolfe told her in his most polite business tone, finely tuned for dealing with rude customers who didn’t want to sign for packages.
From what Wolfe had learned on the way over today, the students didn’t get to keep their own servants at school this year, and Luke had been introduced as a servant of her family, not the Academy. He likely wouldn’t have to see him again, though Christa might be an issue in the future. She looked really mad about the broken nose, though her potion had set back to its original perfection.