Avalyne Academy Stories

1st Story - Trista

At last, I had arrived.

After ten long and grueling years as a squire, I, Trista Fairbright, have finally reached the much-coveted gates of Avalyne Academy! It had been one hell of a journey, but damn was it worth it. Among the thousands of applicants this year, I managed to land in the top hundred!

My skills with a blade were fairly average at best, and I wasn't exactly the most mobile knight around either, but I'd somehow managed to earn victory after victory despite my mentor's absolute lack of confidence in me at the start!

Honestly, it wasn't all thanks to my own skill or effort though. I'd managed to catch quite a few lucky breaks, a few of them quite literal. As in my opponents' swords actually snapping after a parry or two. But hey! Luck's a part of skill too! And what can I say? Aluvsha's on my side, hehe!

I took my first step onto the pristinely paved path that laid before me. Even the front gates that barred the way to the academy were fancier than anything I'd ever seen, and the patterned tiles that lead up to the main building's heavy double doors were no joke either.

It genuinely felt like a crime for me to even step on such beautifully carved stones, but after watching a few students who I assumed were upperclassmen pass by, I finally gathered the courage to walk past the gates toward the place where I would be staying for the next four years of my life.

There was no doubt about it now. The mere fact that such a mediocre knight as I had managed to stumble into the academy was no simple coincidence. It just had to be fate. As I looked around, I just knew that what awaited me in the future was nothing short of greatness!

I puffed out my chest proudly as I walked, adopting the dignified attitude of what I thought a knight of this prestigious academy should bear. Hehe~! Look out, Avalyne Academy! The greatest knight in all of the empire is about to grace your grounds! I can see it now! Soon, they'll be calling me Trista the...

"...Barista!?"

"Yes."

"I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry, Trista!"

The voices belonged to my friends Emily and Loretta respectively. It had been around two weeks since I'd arrived at the academy, and though I'd finally started getting my bearings around the place, I was now being asked to do something that I thought was incredibly ridiculous by my two roommates.

"No way, Loretta. Absolutely no way."

"Please, Trista! You're our only hope!"

"Hell no! Are you serious right now!? You're asking a knight, not a squire mind you, but a knight," I emphasized, "to work at a goddamn coffee shop, and as a barista no less!"

"We're knights too, you know?" Emily put in. "'Sides, it's Loretta's family business and it's just for this evening."

While Emily and Loretta had trained under the same banner as squires, I'd only had the past two weeks to interact with them. Despite Emily being willing to sacrifice her pride as a knight to help out her childhood friend, I most certainly wasn't in the same boat.

"Maybe try asking someone else. I'm a knight, not a squire. I won't be doing stupid jobs that involve serving random commoners."

The two girls stared at me, dumbfounded. A mixture of emotions flickered in their eyes. Confusion, disbelief, and most of all, hurt.

I immediately wanted to take back those words, but it was already too late. Loretta's gaze had dropped already, and her lower lip was no doubt trembling as she struggled to hold back a deluge of tears.

While I'd only known the two for a brief while, we'd managed to become fast friends thanks to my easygoing attitude, but it seemed like I wanted to act like an asshole today. Honestly, I had no idea where those words even came from. After all, I was a commoner too.