"This is our dining area. As you can see, we only serve the best. No matter how refined a taste, the young lady is sure to find something she likes," the man explained.
Zeke and Maya followed the man into a lavish room. It didn't look like any school dining area Zeke had ever seen. The room had the appearance of a high-class restaurant. He looked around and saw that every single student was accompanied by at least one servant.
On closer observation, Zeke noticed that many of those servants were even Mages themselves. This was not a case of Mages dressing up as servants either. Those were genuine Mages that worked as maids for the rich.
Zeke could barely believe his eyes when he saw a young-looking woman wiping the mouth of a teenage boy. When he looked at their cores, Zeke found that the woman was a Grand Mage with a strong Mind affinity. The boy, on the other hand, was a mere apprentice with a negligible Water affinity.
He was just in time to see how the boy slapped the woman's hand away like she was a pesky fly. Zeke's eyes bulged upon witnessing the scene. He could hardly fathom the audacity.
He must have been staring for too long, as the boy noticed his gaze and stared back. Zeke didn't want to get involved with such a person and averted his gaze after making brief eye contact. Contrary to his intentions, the boy apparently saw this as a provocation.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Zeke saw that he stood up and made his way over, the woman close on his heels. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of regret. This had not been the first time today he had offended some noble brat by accident.
Zeke looked down at his sister with guilt written all over his face. Maya, seeing his look, quickly caught on to what was happening. She glanced over at the approaching figures and then back to her brother before issuing a sigh of her own. But the twinkle in her eyes made it clear that she took no small amount of joy from the fact that he had gotten in trouble again.
"What were you staring at, boy?" the pompous-looking kid demanded to know as he drew close.
"…boy?" Zeke repeated in disbelief.
He had absolutely not expected to be addressed as such by a kid that was clearly younger than him. Not only was he clearly younger, his wide face and flabby stature made him seem even more immature.
Now that they stood close to each other, their physical differences were even more pronounced. Zeke's stature had finally started to resemble his father's. He had grown to be a little over 1,8 meters tall over the winter break, and his shoulders had gotten a lot wider as well. Compared to Zeke's athletic physique and sharp features, the other boy looked like a formless blob.
The female Grand Mage couldn't contain a snicker when she saw the absolute bewilderment on Zeke's face. However, the boy only heard the snicker and immediately took it as if she had laughed at him. Without even turning around, he swung his hand back to slap her in the face, causing her to immediately go silent.
The loud noise of the slap rang through the room. Many of the surrounding people stopped their meals to pay attention to the commotion. A moment later, whispering could be heard from all around. The pompous-looking boy who had suddenly become the center of attention went beet red.
"D-Don't you dare embarrass me again, whore!" he yelled. The woman was looking at her feet, but Zeke could see that the surprise slap had caused her to bite her lip and a trickle of blood ran down the side of her mouth.
"And you! I asked you what you were staring at!" he continued his tirade toward Zeke.
The last bit of amusement had faded from Zeke's expression a while ago. Even Maya, who had been excited to see a show, now only looked upon the scene with disgust. The fact that none of the staff members had corrected the boy's behavior had made the decision for him; there was no way he would ever let Maya attend this academy. With his mind made up, his only reason to act with any sort of false courtesy toward the imbecile before him had also evaporated.
Zeke didn't respond to the boy, he didn't even look in his direction. Instead, he strode straight past him. With a deft movement, he drew a handkerchief from his breast pocket and held it out to the woman. She did not expect the gesture and didn't know how to react. Zeke patiently remained in position, not hurrying her at all. After a moment, she hesitantly reached out to take the offered handkerchief.
"Bastard! I'm talking to you!" the boy yelled, but Zeke continued to ignore him.
The woman wiped away the traces of blood on her lips and then held it out to Zeke again. When she noticed that the white fabric was now stained with blood, she hesitated. Zeke gave her a friendly smile and gently took it from her.
"If you are ever in need of a new job, come find me," he told her telepathically. Out loud, he finally addressed the boy. "You, brat. If you want to duel, find me. My name is Ezekiel von Hohenheim, heir to the von Hohenheim family and recently crowned number 1 talent of the empire of Arkanheim. I am more than willing to accept even duels to the death… if you dare, that is."
"Ha! My name is —,"
"Don't care," Zeke interrupted the boy. "Come or don't come, just spare me your drivel."
With that, he turned and left, grabbing Maya's hand on his way to the exit. Before stepping through the door, he cast one last glance at the man that had guided them through the academy. Their guide had hidden away the moment it had looked like trouble was brewing. It was exactly this spineless behavior of the teachers at Elementium, which had led to his own experience being the target of bullying. Zeke had nothing but pure disdain for people like him.
"We'll find our own way out," he said in a cold voice, as he noticed that the man was trying to follow them. Soon, the two of them made their way out the front gate, where they were greeted by Margret and the two other guards on duty.
"Maybe the next one will be better," Zeke said with a sigh.
"Mhmm," Maya agreed with an energetic nod.
She then began to animatedly tell Margret about all they had witnessed. Zeke smiled at the scene. Honestly, half the reason he had acted like a knight in shining armor just now was that he knew how much Maya loved that kind of stuff. Hearing his sister reverently recount his heroic actions never failed to put a smile on his face.
Still, he was getting a bit worried. They had already visited nine different academies, and so far, they had both hated every single one of them. The problem was that the best schools were all in the upper three layers of the city. Here, however, every little brat thought they were hot shit.
Zeke had thought that the nobles of the empire were bad, but he had learned in only one morning that he liked the merchants of Tradespire even less. The young noble scions in the empire had also been insufferable at times, but at least they had all aspired to be strong Mages themselves. Here, the spoiled brats didn't seem to have any kind of aspirations. What was even worse, the strong were not respected.
Even a member of the great families would not dare to slap a Grand Mage in the face while still being a lowly apprentice themselves. At least, not without having some guards around. As a Mind Mage, that woman could have probably crippled the boy with a mere thought. But for some reason, he felt confident in the knowledge that she wouldn't. It was this spinelessness that Zeke found utterly baffling.
Zeke quickly shook off the last reminder of this terrible incident, as they approached the next school. This time, they were visiting a magic cooking school, and Zeke had high hopes. The academy accepted a wide variety of affinities, and Zeke would love nothing more than to have Maya become a cook. That way, he would know that she was safe and sound at all times. Also, he would love to eat delicious meals every day…
"Let's hope this is the one!" Zeke said as the two of them entered.
Unfortunately, this academy wasn't the one. Aside from a quick trip to the library, this visit turned out to be a complete bust as well. Zeke had never expected that cooking instructors would scream so much, or be so… needlessly insulting.
His disappointment only grew with every new failure. The engineers were elitists, the combatants were crude, and the artists were all drunks. Zeke didn't know if he should laugh or cry at this point. The two of them had visited all the renowned academies in the third layer, and not a single one had been palatable. He looked over at Maya who was walking beside him.
"What did you think?" Zeke probed.
"I'm not sure," the girl replied.
"I know that the schools were terrible, but did any of the courses look like fun at least?" Zeke asked further. Maya didn't respond for a while but she stole glances at Zeke's face from time to time.
"…the fighting looked fun," she finally said.
Zeke was taken aback by this reply. He had gotten the impression that Maya disliked fighting the most. She had grabbed his hand really tight for the entire time they had been in the school for combat Magic. He looked over to check her expression and caught the girl peeking at him. The moment their eyes met, she looked away again.
Zeke had an idea of what was going on. He motioned for Margret to stop and turned toward his sister fully.
"Maya, you don't have to force yourself. Just because I happen to fight a lot doesn't mean that you have to do the same," Zeke said in his most gentle voice.
"But you said earlier that the people here are soft and don't have any aspi-ations," she said.
Zeke smiled at the cute mistake and patted his sister's head. "That's right. But that doesn't mean that I think fighting is the only path. Shall I tell you a secret?"
Maya nodded her head seriously. Zeke looked left and right as if he was going to impart to her the biggest secret of the universe. He drew really close to her ear before whispering softly, "I don't like fighting either."
Maya's eyes widened in shock. "Really?" she asked.
"I swear it," Zeke said. "I even told Maximilian once that I wanted to be a researcher and not a fighter."
"What did Grandpa say?" Maya asked with big eyes.
"He said that I can be a researcher when I'm strong enough to keep myself safe," Zeke replied with a smile as he recalled the talk he had with Maximilian back then. It was unfathomable to him now how naïve he had been.
"Do I also have to be strong then?" Maya asked.
"Nope," Zeke said with a smile. "You don't have to worry about any of that. Because I am going to keep you safe, always."
"What if you are not around?" Maya questioned.
"Easy, I just have to become so strong that the mere mention of my name will be enough to keep you safe," Zeke boasted.
"How strong is that?" Maya questioned.
"Even stronger than Maximilian," Zeke said earnestly.
"Even stronger?" Maya asked with big eyes.
"Much stronger!" Zeke said.
The two of them bickered back and forth as they made their way back to their estate. Before entering the gate, Zeke turned serious once again.
"Listen, Maya," he said. "The only thing you need to worry about is what you want to do. It doesn't matter if we need to move up to the second layer or even the first layer. I'll take you to the dwarven cities if I have to. No matter what, I'll find a way to make it happen when the time comes, okay?"
"Mhhm," Maya hummed, before giving Zeke a quick hug. Soon after she scampered off into the mansion, presumably to tell their mother about all that had happened today. Zeke watched her back as she disappeared through the front door with a smile.
"Did you get what you needed?" Margret asked as the two of them entered side by side.
"Yes," Zeke said with a mischievous smile. "And now it is time to get to work!"