“Now, first years, it’s time for all of you to be sorted with the Appraisal Stone,” Professor Rinehart said. “However, before that, let me introduce to you the Five Pillars of the First Years.”
Professor Rinehart pointed at the five people who were standing at the VIP area near the Appraisal Stone.
Every school year, the chosen Professors would look for the most talented Wizards and Witches in the Magic World that were between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. These students would be brought to the Brynhildr Academy and their school tuition, and other school expenses, would be waived by the academy.
They would also receive a monthly allowance of 500 Gold Coins, which wasn’t an exuberant amount of money, but it would allow them to live a comfortable life in the academy.
(A/N: the Potato Chips that Ethan wanted to buy were 5 Coppers coins.
1 Silver Coin is worth 100 Copper Coins, and One Gold Coin is equivalent to 100 Silver Coins.)
“Everyone, please introduce yourselves,” Professor Rinehart smiled at the five teenagers who had been chosen to become the Pillars of the First Years.
A handsome blonde-haired boy stepped forward, making everyone look at him.
“Langston Kerr,” Langston said in an arrogant tone. “I look forward to working with all of you this year.” 𝗈𝒱𝗅xt.𝗰𝓞𝐌
Murmurs spread among the students as they looked at the handsome, yet arrogant teenage boy that had introduced himself.
“Kerr? Is he a member of that Ducal Family?”
“I knew that he wasn’t simple. So, he has that kind of background. Lucky him!”
“Good looks, and born as the son of a high-ranking noble. Such a deadly combination.”
While everyone was talking about Langston, a beautiful lady with long pink hair also stepped forward to introduce herself.
“Nicole Asta,” Nicole said with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to make everyone’s acquaintance.”
“So, her name is Nicole. What a beautiful lady!”
“I think I’m in love!”
“Dude, you fall in love with every beautiful girl you see. This is the 99th time you’ve said you’re in love!”
Gathering her courage, the cute girl with curly blonde hair, also stepped forward and faced everyone with an energetic smile.
“My name is Lily Langley,” Lily stated as she waved at the crowd. “Everyone, please look after me in the Academy!”
“Nghhh! How cute! She looks energetic as well.”
“An angel has descended!”
“I think I’m in love!”
“Dude, there you go again. Can you stop?”
The fourth member of the Five Pillars was a boy with dark-brown hair. He gave the noisy First Years a look of annoyance before adjusting the glasses on his face with his middle finger.
“Kurt Hale,” Kurt said simply before crossing his arms over his chest.
“Well, he doesn’t look bad, but he looks scary.”
“Eh… he’s okay I guess?”
“For some reason, I want to punch his face.”
“Same bro, same.”
After the Four Pillars introduced themselves, all gazes landed on the handsome blue-haired boy, who had a look of resignation on his face.
Knowing that he could no longer do anything, Ethan also stepped forward and introduced himself in front of everyone.
“Ethan Gremory,” Ethan stated. “I just turned Seventeen a month ago.”
“… He’s so good looking.”
“He just turned seventeen? I wonder if he has a girlfriend?”
“Damn, another good looking guy appeared! How are we singles going to survive this school year?!”
“I never heard of the family name Gremory before. Have you?”
“Maybe he came from another continent?”
Everyone gave Ethan looks of curiosity, which made the butterflies in his stomach churn once more.
Even so, the blue-haired teenager was able to keep a calm expression on his face, making the girls look at him favorably.
‘It is indeed him!’ a young lady with light-brown hair exclaimed internally as she looked at the blue-haired boy in the distance. ‘ B-But, what is he doing here? Grandma didn’t tell me that he was also a wizard! Also, how did he become one of the Pillars? Just how did this happen?!’
The young lady’s gaze locked on Ethan’s face, and looked at him with a face filled with injustice.
‘I’ll ask him later,’ the young lady thought as she clenched her fists. ‘He has a lot of explaining to do!’
Professor Rinehart clapped his hands together in order to catch everyone’s attention.
“Now, let the Sorting begin!” Professor Rinehart said as he made a gesture for the Pillars to touch the Appraisal Stone. “Who wants to go first?”
Without even waiting for anyone to reply, Langston walked towards the White Crystal that was as big as a basketball ball. This was the Appraisal Stone of Brynhildr Academy that had been around since the day that the Academy was founded.
Langston then placed his hand on top of the White Crystal with a confident smile on his face.
A second later, black flames rose upwards from the Appraisal Stone. The flames had so much intensity that those who saw it felt as if it could burn the entire Plaza if left unchecked.
However, contrary to the First Year’s expectations, the flames disappeared without a trace after ten seconds and two words shining in black letters hovered in the air.
Schwartz Manor
A round of applause spread in the plaza as the members of Schwartz Manor cheered for the newest member of their residence.
Professor Rinehart smiled as he nodded his head before telling Langston to step aside.
“Next please,” Professor Rinehart made a gesture, and Nicole stepped forward to continue the ceremony.
As soon as her hands touched the Appraisal Stone, Red Flames shot out of it, followed by a column of water.
These two elements intertwined with each other like two dragons doing a courtship dance. Everyone who saw this scene was mesmerized due to how beautiful it was.
When the two dragons melded together, the words. Eques Manor appeared in front of everyone.
“Such a promising young witch,” one of the Professors sighed as she clapped her hands. “She will definitely be the darling of her house.”
Suddenly, the cute girl, Lily, ran towards the Appraisal Stone and playfully touched it with her hand.
An illusionary White Fox with four tails appeared and ran in circles in the air, going higher and higher until it burst out in a shower of white sparks, falling down on everyone like snowflakes.
A moment later, the words Jaeger Manor appeared, making the members of her Manor cheer for her.
“So troublesome,” the boy with dark-brown hair with spectacles muttered as he also placed his hand on the Appraisal Stone.
Suddenly, several vines filled with thorns appeared around him, and spread in the surroundings. They were like venomous snakes that were out to bite anyone that drew near them.
The vines even reached the place where the First Years were, which made several of them cry out in alarm. However, before the vines could even touch any of them, they all turned into green light that merged together forming the words, Terra Manor.
“It’s your turn, Ethan,” Professor Rinehart said kindly as he urged the blue-haired teenager to touch the Appraisal Stone.
“O-Okay,” Ethan stuttered as he walked rigidly like a robot towards the Appraisal Stone, which made several girls giggle as they looked at the handsome teenager who was walking in a weird manner.
Ethan stood in front of the Appraisal Stone and took a deep breath.
‘Here goes nothing!’ Ethan thought as he raised his hand. He no longer cared about anything and had thrown caution into the wind.
Just as the boy was about to touch the Appraisal Stone, a loud shriek spread in the surroundings.
“Stop!”
Professor Ophelia shouted as her Gryphon descended from the sky.
Due to the commotion, Ethan turned around to look at the person who shouted at him. However, the moment he did that, his gaze landed on the beautiful silver-haired girl, who looked surprisingly familiar to him.
“It’s you!” Ethan almost shouted as he pointed her finger at the girl whom he had bumped into him in the station.
The silver-haired lady held his gaze, and a faint trace of anger appeared on her beautiful face.
Clearly, she wasn’t happy about her near-death encounter that had happened a few hours ago. Right now, Alice wanted nothing more than to slap the blue-haired boy’s face, and make him apologize for taking her place.