Chapter 15

There was one thing that had made me feel very relieved. The official acceptance letter the twins had gotten for me - or the University pass as it was called among the students - made it possible for me just to appear at any lectures I wanted to attend - except Magic, of course. Even though all the students should have had the same right, the truth was that the professors wanted to select their students and collect some benefits (in cash), whenever possible. Not too openly, of course. With my pass I would be one of the privileged ones. On opening day, even though I had no need to rush through the halls of the University making sure that my name was on the lists of the students allowed to attend to a lecture, I still went there. I knew that I needed some serious practice. I needed to practice staying in crowded places while maintaining my ability to concentrate. It would be crowded there, and I would need to be able to concentrate on the teaching.

So, here I was, feeling totally overwhelmed because of the presence of hundreds of people rushing through the halls to the lecture rooms, all desperately trying to get their names on the lists of course participants. I had heard that it was quite common that the new students - who had no idea how the system worked - had to take the courses and the lecturers that were left. Useless courses with bad lecturers or the religious lectures. I guess I should have felt shocked because of that - after all, this place should be the home of the greater knowledge in this kingdom. I just couldn’t. Maybe I wasn’t all that naïve anymore.

“Hands off me!”

That wasn’t really a shout. No, it was merely a whisper, but there was something in it that piqued my curiosity. Something that worked its way through my dampened senses. The person who had said that was a short girl in a long dress. Quite a plain-looking girl with short red hair and face full of freckles. The person who had groped her was a big guy towering over her, holding her hand and groping her smallish breast.

“Come on, do you want to get in that class or not? With looks like yours, you shouldn’t be so prudish.”

All my common sense shouted that I should stay away from them. Especially when she didn’t object all that strongly. I was here on a mission, a mission to learn enough to save myself and the people I loved. As usual, I almost followed my common sense.

“I thought she asked you take your hands off. Maybe there’s some problem with your hearing?”

I smiled when I took his hand and pressed my thumb hard between his thumb and first finger. Pressed hard. For a big guy his squeal was quite feminine. Who would have believed?

The guy let the girl go and then he tried to a step back and pull his hand away from my grip. I made sure to keep on smiling at him and I even added some pressure before I released him. The guy took two steps back and kept on glaring at me.

“Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know? I have friends in high places! Neither of you will never get into any classes I attend! Never!”

After shouting that out loud, he noticed there were several people watching him and the looks he received weren’t exactly friendly ones. In the blink of an eye he was gone but not before giving me another glance full of hate. I kept on smiling at him until he disappeared behind the corner. Only when he was gone, did I turn to look at the girl who was still standing there.

“Miss, are you okay?”

The young woman had also been following the big guy with her gaze but now she turned to look at me - and she wasn’t smiling.

“Don’t you know who he is? His father is on the town council and he can cause all kinds of trouble for the people he doesn’t like. Besides, I need that class and now I probably need to go directly to the professor.”

Her voice was soft, barely audible over all that background noise. Okay, I was able to understand that, but not the fact that the girl was upset by my actions! I looked at her and forced myself to keep on smiling.

“Miss, please don’t tell me that you would just as soon have had him push you to the floor begging for mercy. In that case, I’m sorry that I interfered, but if I hadn’t, my mother would have come and given me an earful. Besides, what class is that?”

“Royal University Botany, the first course.”

“Botany One, I’m going there, too!”

“You mean you were. I’m sure that he makes sure that neither of us will be able to attend.”

I guess I hadn’t really understood how privileged I really was with my special pass since even the professors wouldn’t dare to question it if I did not cause any trouble otherwise. This issue with some lowly assistant barely was one, not for me at least. But it could be quite different for the girl. I shook my head.

“I’m quite sure that I’m safe, but I didn’t really want to cause you any extra trouble.”

“Yet you did! I really need to attend that course and after a while, everything would have been fine!”

This really didn’t feel fair since I had only tried to help. Besides, she didn’t actually sound like everything would have been fine. I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed before looking at the slightly angry young woman again, even if she looked more subdued than angry. At least I was able to hear her now.

“Miss, I’m sorry that I ruined your perfect plan. It means that I’m in debt to you, and it’s my responsibility to make sure that you’ll be able to get to all the classes you want.”

“And exactly how are you going to do that?”

Suddenly her low voice was had some sarcasm in it - so, I made myself look crestfallen.

“You are right, I can’t get you to all classes. The classes in Magic are out of my reach, I’m sorry. On the other hand, I’m even more in debt to you since you just solved one of my biggest problems: what classes to take.”