"Yes..."
It took Lyra a few seconds to process what had just happened.
Wait. Lord Necrotize wants to be my... friend? I’m literally just a normal mortal. And why on earth did I say ’Yes’ like so kind of idiot? Oh god. What do I do now?
"...W-why not," she managed, forcing her voice into sothing resembling composure. "It would be an honor to have soone like you as a friend, my lord."
Necrotize caught both her spoken words and the frantic monologue running beneath them. A quiet smile ghosted across his face where no one could see it.
Around them, the students seated nearby had given up any pretense of minding their own business.
"Did Lord Necrotize just... personally ask Lady Lyra to be his friend?"
"That’s what I saw too. And his tone was almost friendly? Should we try talking to him?"
"Are you serious right now?" a third voice cut in flatly. "Just because Lord Necrotize spoke to Lady Lyra doesn’t an he’ll give the ti of day to us. Bring your expectations back down to earth."
The others fell quiet, reluctantly conceding the point. They’re right. What were we even thinking?
But not everyone agreed.
A boy two rows back had been watching the whole exchange with a different kind of expression. Not fear. Not reverence. Sothing closer to curiosity, carefully contained behind a neutral face.
He just asked soone to be his friend. Like a normal person would.
He glanced at the empty seat beside him, then back at Necrotize. Then he looked away before anyone could notice he had been staring.
Necrotize heard every word of it. All of it, spoken and unspoken alike.
He knew shifting people’s perceptions took ti. But the fact that the thought had even occurred to that boy was already sothing worth noting. Give it a few days. Let things settle naturally. And perhaps the distance would start to close on its own.
He had already made his decision. He would speak to them first. Not wait for soone brave enough to approach him. He would go to them, the way anyone would go to a classmate they wanted to know. Let them feel, even briefly, that the gap between them wasn’t quite as vast as they believed.
He was just about to act on that thought when the classroom door swung open.
The professor who stepped in appeared to be sowhere in her twenties, a woman with long, warm brown hair that fell past her shoulders. She moved to the front of the room with practiced ease, taking her place at the lectern.
Her gaze landed on Necrotize almost imdiately.
A wave of barely-contained nerves rippled through her entire fra. She drew in a slow, steadying breath.
I have to do this right. No fumbling, no mistakes. And absolutely do not let Lord Necrotize find this class to be a waste of his ti.
"Good morning, students." Her voice ca out clear and professional. "My na is Jennifer Halls, Assistant Professor of the Magic Departnt. It’s a pleasure to et you all."
***
The students returned the greeting in a scattered chorus.
Necrotize, for his part, was barely containing his excitent. This was going to be his very first class. He straightened slightly in his seat without realising it, the sa way soone does when sothing they have been looking forward to is finally about to begin.
"Before we begin, let’s go around the room for brief introductions. We’ll start with the front row."
Carlos rose to his feet. "Carlos Hilbert. Heir to the Hilbert Dukedom." He sat back down without another word.
One by one, the rest of the class followed.
"Lyra Leonheart," Lyra said simply, offering nothing more.
Then it was Necrotize’s turn. He stood slowly, an easy smile on his face. "I’m Necrotize. It’s a pleasure to et you all."
Every eye in the room found him at once.
Jennifer, watching from the front, had braced herself, but his warmth caught her off guard. Sothing about his manner, openly friendly where she’d expected cold indifference, quietly unwound the knot of tension she’d been carrying since she walked in.
Maybe I can actually do this.
The introductions continued. Most students gave their na and family, so added a little more, so gave a little less. Then a girl with rose-pink hair stood near the back. Her posture was easy and confident. As she addressed the room, her gaze drifted, almost imperceptibly, toward Necrotize.
"I’m Arisa Varren. I hope we all get along wonderfully." She paired it with a bright smile and sat back down.
Necrotize observed her for a mont longer than the others.
Fascinating.
There was sothing deliberate in how she carried herself. Sothing that didn’t quite match the easy smile she had offered the room. He filed it away without comnt and returned his attention to the front.
***
With introductions wrapped up, Jennifer launched into the lesson.
She began with the foundational structure of Mana circulation, explaining how magic energy moved through the body and how a practitioner learned to direct it. She described the layered system of affinity classification, the difference between raw output and refined control, and why most first-year failures ca not from lack of power but from lack of precision.
Necrotize listened to all of it.
The frawork was entirely foreign to him, structured around concepts that bore little resemblance to the processes he actually used. Half of what she said drifted just past his grasp, the terminology rooted in a tradition entirely unlike his own. Even so, it was interesting, like reading a map drawn by soone who had never left their village, yet had still managed to sketch sothing worth studying.
He found himself leaning forward slightly without noticing.
Jennifer glanced his way and found him listening with complete attention, not a trace of boredom on his face. A quiet pride blood in her chest.
I’m holding his interest. I’m actually holding Lord Necrotize’s interest.
She straightened almost imperceptibly and pressed on with renewed energy.
"We’ve covered a good deal of theory today. Let close with one simple question." She scanned the room. "Can anyone tell — what is Mana?"
It was about as basic as questions ca. Nearly every hand went up.
"Carlos."
He stood. "Mana is the essence of the world itself. Just as this world gives rise to life and water, it produces Mana as a natural outgrowth of its existence."
"Correct," Jennifer said with a nod.
Necrotize was quiet for a mont.
He considered saying nothing. It wasn’t his place to dismantle soone else’s lesson on the first day. Jennifer had taught what she knew, and what she knew was what everyone in this world knew. Letting it pass would have been easier.
But passing on incorrect knowledge did no one any favors. He had said as much before and ant it.
"Wrong."
The word ca quietly, but it landed like a stone dropped into still water. Every head turned.
The voice belonged to Necrotize.
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