The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)
Chapter 6: Campus Tour

Chapter 6: Campus Tour

LEO

That Mario Boy was so strange.

As if being overwhelmed with so many new people (all of them with very posh accents) wasn’t enough, he suddenly decided to walk over with his big posse. How stupid was I to assume that he meant well when he tried to shake my hand?

When he was crushing my hand with that monstrous grip, I realized I had made a fatal mistake earlier in the day.

He held a grudge.

I was sorry (truly) that I bumped into him, but back in the village people spoke up when they were unhappy. Dad warned me that city people could be sly, that they might wear smiles on their faces but mean something else in their hearts. Judging from what he did hours after that bump... he was certainly one of those city people.

It was extra confusing because for a second, when he let go, he looked almost frightened.

That made no sense. Why would he be frightened? I was the one whose hand almost turned into soup.

"Leo, do you want to look around the campus together with us?"

I came back to my senses as a beautiful voice suddenly asked me from behind. I turned to find that it was Isabelle and Thomas. The two of them came up to me after class earlier so we chatted a little. They both seemed less like city people than Mario and his group, but they were still well dressed and seemed more excited about joining the Academy than overwhelmed like I was.

"Sure," I said, thinking that going around with them would probably give me a little bit of a break from being around so many people, which I was not used to.

Thomas grinned and put his arm around my shoulder, and we followed Isabelle, who led the way.

"Have you been here before?" I asked Isabelle because she looked like she knew where she was going.

"Yeah, I visited here many times for a tour."

"A tour?"

"They have open days once a season for prospective students and families."

"Oh... so I guess you are from this area then?"

"Yup. Thomas here as well."

"Did you guys already know each other?" I asked Thomas this time.

"Unfortunately," Isabelle and Thomas said together and laughed.

"Heh, you guys look like you’ve been friends for a long time."

"Too long," the two of them said at the same time again.

Unlike before when there were many people, I felt more comfortable with them as we walked around the campus. There were many great paintings, sculptures, and armor lining the impressive marble hallway, but what wowed me was the garden when we walked out of the building.

"This place is beautiful," I said.

"It has been my dream to spend lunchtime with friends here. Look at those seniors."

I looked over at where Isabelle’s gaze was, and there was a group of girls sitting on a bench chattering away while eating sandwiches. It reminded me of the old days when I used to hang out with my school friends back in the village a couple of years ago.

"It does seem nice," I said, agreeing with her.

"And look over there too," Thomas said this time, pointing his finger (which earned a hiss from Isabelle) at the field where a group of boys was playing kick-ball.

"Oh, people play kick-ball here too?"

"Of course! It’s very popular. Who doesn’t?" Thomas said with a laugh.

I was glad to find that there was something I could relate to even in this place.

"Are you good at it?" Thomas asked, seeing that I was smiling.

"No."

Isabelle smiled and said, "You can’t be worse than Thomas."

"Hey, I’m not THAT bad," Thomas protested.

"Oh, look over there," Isabelle, ignoring Thomas, directed our attention to a group of guys on the other side of the field.

"Marius Valenkraft, eh?" Thomas said.

"The competition must get pretty crazy for him, huh?" Isabelle added.

"Competition?" I asked her.

"To be in his party later."

"Oh... I see. I guess it is nice to be invited...," I said, imagining those grand ballroom parties I heard posh people go to wearing fancy clothes and dancing to slow music. It was quite different from the madness back in the village where the night ended with people dancing on the tables banging out beats on the big pots with spoons.

"You don’t get ’invited,’ Leo. You get assigned to parties according to compatibility and ability," Isabelle explained to me.

The parties here were certainly different. I never thought a party was something you get ’assigned’ to go to.

"I see," I said, just nodding along.

Isabelle looked at me, a little confused at first, then amused, and she giggled.

"I don’t know what you are thinking, but you look like you are thinking something silly," she commented.

"Yeah... back in the village, when someone has a party, everyone just shows up at the door."

Isabelle and Thomas then looked at each other, then at me, and burst out laughing.

"It’s not THAT kind of party!" Thomas said, patting my shoulder.

"What—what is it then?!"

"You really didn’t do your studying before you joined, haha. A party is a group of knights with different abilities."

I was so embarrassed by how I misunderstood the whole thing. It finally clicked in my mind. I even knew the word ’party’ in this sense. How could I forget all those hero stories I had heard as a child?

"Well, with Marius, they probably won’t need someone who can fight with swords and stuff," Thomas said, rubbing his chin.

He was probably right. Mario was strong. I experienced that firsthand.

Literally.