Annabelle’s Bastion

Their meeting was held on the side of the bridge, and people had already begun walking to and from the bridge. It was surprising seeing Ashton’s whole group—Jared included—so early. Almost too coincidental.

Ashton was the head of his group, standing in front of them and offering a diplomatic smile toward Anna.

“Annabelle Frost,” Ashton spoke first, bowing his head slightly in greeting. Did Thagrin mention her last name? She couldn’t recall. Ashton continued, “Good morning. I take it you’re recovering nicely after the… blow yesterday.”

Anna smiled in return. “My barrier did wonders, and I feel practically nothing today.”

“I’m happy to hear that!”

She could feel dubious intent permeating the air. It reeked of the type of airs she had seen on many occasions from people who wanted her for her parents—lies.

“Is there something you want to discuss, Ashton?” Anna said, pointedly glancing at Jared behind him, who barely held himself back from shouting.

“Right,” Ashton said, nodding. His smile never left. “We’re attracting many eyes, and I wouldn’t want to waste all our time.” He gestured toward Jared. “I wish to discuss yesterday’s combat class.”

“What a coincidence!” Anna said, clapping once. “I’ve also been wanting to speak with the rest of the class so we can learn from our experiences.”

His face seemed to twitch slightly after Anna’s words, but he eagerly nodded. “Great, our interests align—discussion is how we achieve excellence!” He turned toward Aria. “And this is...?” He stared at Aria’s katana for a second longer, then back to her face.

Ashton already knew who Aria was; those were the eyes of someone confirming something.

“Aria,” Aria stated.

“Aria—a beautiful name.”

Aria didn’t say anything, which made Ashton look slightly awkward after a few seconds.

Good job, Aria. Maybe she could detect Anna’s discomfort.

He cleared his throat and looked back to Anna. “Well, I mainly want to discuss what Thagrin said about our mana and how we can improve our implementation of it into our hand-to-hand combat. Would you like to come with us inside?”

“You!” Jared suddenly growled and stepped forward, pushing Ashton aside, much to the man’s obvious annoyance. “Fight me again, bitch!”

Reprehensible, but Anna wasn’t about to lose her cool that easily.

Aria stepped forward, but Anna tugged on the back of her shirt. That cute gesture made her feel way better!

Even Ashton cringed slightly, but the expression quickly turned into a rueful smile as he sighed. “That, too, is something we would like to discuss.”

“What’s there to discuss?” Anna asked, then switched her gaze to Jared. “I’m sorry for what happened, Jared—it was entirely accidental. And I’ll happily spar with you, just not during days when we have classes; I’d like to keep my mana for the lessons.”

Jared scoffed. “You fucking cheated; you think I’ll wait for you to cheat some more? Fight me again before this fucking class starts!”

Anna’s eyebrows perked. “What? Cheated?”

She predicted a lot of things could be said, but that certainly wasn’t on the list. How could she possibly cheat? It wasn’t even 24 hours after she discovered magic that they fought!

Aria lightly scoffed.

However, Ashton’s expression told Anna that Jared was earnest, and Ashton had at least some suspicion of it being true.

Anna’s eyes widened. “You’re actually serious.”

“Obviously!”

“He’s crude with his words, but please understand his anger,” Ashton explained. “He had his knee broken and was humiliated in front—”

“I didn’t break his knee,” Anna interrupted, her arms crossed. “The doctor confirmed that.”

“Bullshit! You—”

“It doesn’t matter, Jared,” Ashton interrupted, shaking his head. He placed his hand in front of Jared, though his eyes didn’t leave Anna. “Annabelle, the point is that he is upset that his first use of magic may have ended in such a... distasteful way. I’m sure you realize how important our images in Thagrin—our professor’s—eyes are. He won’t forget this, regardless of how Jared performs in the future.”

Technically true. Thagrin would definitely only see Jared as the guy who got easily crushed by a “pipsqueak.” But how they were viewed by him didn’t matter; if Jared did better, his record would reflect that. Besides, weren’t they being a bit unfair to a teacher they only met for a few hours?

“Thagrin isn’t that unreasonable, and the first class meant next to nothing.” Anna countered and then shrugged. She absolutely did not want to argue that point. “But, whatever. How, pray tell, do you think I cheated in front of that behemoth?”

Rather than offended, she was amused.

They weren’t on the island anywhere near long enough before the class for them to reasonably suspect Anna of anything. It reeked of an excuse, but what could their motive be? Other than Jared’s revenge. Ashton didn’t seem the type to care for such trifles. But what could he possibly want?

Ashton gestured to Aria and bitterly smiled as if to let them know he thought it was stupid, too. “He suspects you cheated because of Miss. Aria.”

“Wha—oh.” Anna rolled her eyes and scoffed. Suddenly, it made some sense. So he really did know Aria beforehand, and perhaps he was targeting her for some reason! “You think Aria taught me how to use mana before our combat class, and I know something unique about our mana that allowed me to do what I did.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Aria wasn’t from Earth. Aside from her not wearing the uniform and getting away with it, those eyes were a little too gold, and that hair color a little too white. Plus, the katana.

Regardless, how did they know of her at all? Their dorm was on the far end of the island, and they weren’t in the same classes—none there should see them together.

“Think. Think!?” Jared scoffed. “Don’t try to lie to us!” His fists clenched tightly, and his body tensed. It seemed he would throw a punch any moment. “Jack saw you two were fucking buddy-buddy at your dorm! You had her show you how to use mana before our fight! How else could you possibly know that your weak kick would shatter my barrier?”

Anna sighed under her breath. It sucked, but the path before Anna was getting lit up by the second. There was rapidly only one scene showing how this ended.

“Jack?” she asked.

“A friend of mine from Earth,” Ashton explained. “Miss. Aria broke his arm during their spar yesterday. A wound I’m told was uncalled for and even got her in trouble.”

He knew Jack from Earth? Anna thought it was a point to recruit people who didn’t know each other. Know of, sure—Ashton probably knew her name. But that was a matter of course.

Even then, for it to be the same person Aria beat was a ridiculous coincidence. For all of this to be connected felt even more absurd.

“You’re lying,” Aria suddenly said, no change in her cold tone or expression as she stared Ashton down. “They ensured all the students were strangers to each other.”

Why?

Anna couldn’t make sense of it.

Ashton only smiled like he achieved a victory—like he confirmed something. “So you really aren’t from Earth, then.”

“I’m not.”

“It wasn’t really a secret,” Anna added, unwilling to let him think he won something.

It was comedic that he thought Aria would be affected by silly verbal tricks. She’d definitely have confirmed if they just outright asked.

“Well... Annabelle is lucky to have you as a… friend.” He sounded a bit tensed with how he said the last part. He shook his head and continued, “I imagine you can provide valuable… insights.”

“Then she did teach you about mana, and you used that to purposefully beat me in front of our teacher so you could look better!” Jared shouted, taking a threatening step forward.

None of this made sense, but Anna wasn’t about to argue with the insane. Jared didn’t want a fair fight; he wanted to recover his ego, regardless of the means he used to do it.

Jared’s posture was of someone ready to throw a punch at the slightest provocation. Aria moved a little more over Anna.

However, with a slight nod toward Aria, Anna returned to the front. As much as she appreciated the gesture, she wasn’t so weak anymore.

“Ridiculous,” Aria said. “You lost because you were weak.”

“You bi—”

“Stop,” Ashton ordered and pulled Jared back with surprising ease. “Miss. Aria, please. Not all of us had the opportunity—”

“We will not entertain your delusions,” Aria interrupted, resting her hand on her katana’s hilt. “If you wish to spar, Annabelle has already said she would accept. Move aside.”

Not only that, Anna welcomed the spar. It would be a good chance to try out a fight without any sort of tricks, and she needed to test her mana out. Maybe she could amend things after. But that was a fleeting hope to avoid the likely inevitable.

“Are you her fucking bodyguard now?!” Jared snorted. “You cowardly bi—”

“Jared shut the fuck up.” Ashton grabbed Jared by the shoulder and yanked him back.

“But—” He started, looking like a wronged dog.

“Annabelle,” Ashton interrupted, turning back to Anna, “can we at least hold the rematch today?” He shook his head and looked at her pleadingly. “You say his fears are baseless, but you must understand where it’s coming from; he was humiliated in front of Thagrin.” He directed a look of pity to Jared and then back to Anna as if to say she should see the tragedy. “Thagrin won’t forget the loss; the only way to redeem it is to win.”

Anna shrugged. “Fine by me.”

They would probably fight again in future combat classes anyway.

There were intentions hidden in there somewhere, but Anna didn’t care.

It seemed Aria wanted to see her fight, which brought some anticipation. Truthfully, she expected her talk with Jared would lead to a spar, even if they did reach an amicable conclusion. She would want to rematch, too, if she lost in such a way.

“Sorry for bothering you, Aria, Annabelle,” Ashton said. “Annabelle, we’ll see you in class. Miss. Aria, I look forward to your presence at the sparring session as someone familiar with the inner workings of it.”

Aria ignored him, grabbing Anna’s hand and pulling her forward.

“You will lose this time,” Jared said under his breath as they passed by him.

“Well, that’s not true,” Anna declared as she and Aria walked past him, smirking at his knee. “But try not to fall so easily this time.”

“You weak fucki—”

Ashton pulled him back again, likely feeling the annoyance from Aria. He really was like the man’s master.

“Why did you say that?” Aria asked once they left them behind.

Anna could still feel stares on their backs.

She said it because Jared was annoying—but she wasn’t about to say that.

“Should I have not?”

Aria shook her head. “I didn’t think you were the type.”

Anna shrugged. “I know how to showboat toward those who deserve it.”

“Why, then?”

“Well…” Anna shrugged. “Because I determined that Jared will never be on amicable terms with me, even if he were to win.” She sighed. “Like you said, some people can’t be humbled.”

“Naturally. But, did you not just make it worse?”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Anna snickered. “But, hey… now, I’ll get a good fight.”

“I’ve underestimated you.”

“Damn right!” Anna giggled.

She may have been a little emboldened by Aria’s presence, but she’d still have a few choice words if she were alone. She had no issues antagonizing people who stepped over the line and didn’t take Jared seriously. They were in a world of magic—real magic—and he cared about such trivial things!

It would be a good chance to not shy away from things that would become her norm, even if the prospect of beating people personally made her uncomfortable.

Well, she did want to test her mana control.

Hopefully, her Mana Control class helped her out in that regard.

What just happened was quickly shelved to the back of Anna’s mind, replaced by excitement with every step closer to the main castle-like building.