Eternity Through Sacrifice

Chapter 32

A few days later, the majority of the Black Collars' headed out for no apparent reason. Sure, it was the weekend, but it was strange that they would head out all at the same time. Mireille thought nothing of it and trained by herself the whole day. By the time they had returned, Mireille had returned from training and was drenched in her own sweat.

"Shrimpy! Come help us study!!" Donovan grinned with an armful of light stones. Then he dumped them in front of Mireille and gave her a thumbs up. She didn't think that they would actually go out a collect so many magic stones. How many magical beasts did they hunt to collect this many?!

Mireille nodded and told them to wait for her to change into a fresh set of clothes first and then the group headed off into one of the school's lecture hall. Normally, the professors would use magic to write on the large chalk boards, but Mireille had none and was manually drawing diagrams from the lot to see.

"Understand?" Mireille turned around to see nothing but blank faces.

"Nope." Alice said with her feet up on the the desks. "Listen kiddo, were like- really behind. There's like no hope that any of us will get passing marks on the midterms."

Mireille didn't respond to Alice, but instead, she began to teach from the beginning. Yes, the very beginning of their lesson. They had no basic understanding of why magic turned out the way it is today. Perhaps they regretted asking Mireille to drill the lessons into their heads because she was especially harsh on them. To her, it was different from teaching Alfred. He usually got it very quickly. By the end of the week, the group was as good as dead. They were completely drained from studying. Mireille, on the other hand, had tried out every last of those crystals the Black Collars' had brought in for her. Of course, none of them work. It didn't even surprise her at this point.

However, midterms still went on. Though Mireille had maintained her stance in the theory exams, her ranking had fell drastically in the practical. With only two swords in hand and no magic, she fell to the bottom half of the rankings in her grade. As she exited the main hall of the school, Williams Belmont stood mockingly in front of her.

"Not so proud now, huh?" He sneered. "There's just a magicless lump of trash here."

Mireille walked past Williams and his entourage with only a swift flick of her arm. He quickly dodged her and continued to mock her as she walked away.

"Hmph. How snooty. You missed me by the way!" He shrugged as he turned around- WHOMP! Small packets of flour burst as soon as they hit the ground, leaving Williams and his entourage in cloud of dust.

"MIREILLE D'ARGENT." Williams coughed into his sleeve. Mireille didn't bother to look back. Instead, she pulled out several translucent white stones and counted them. Though they didn't work for the purpose she got them for. At least these magic cores could be somewhat useful.

Mireille went up the staircase, into her dorm, and flopped onto her bed in utter defeat. Who knew what Claude D'Argent might do because her flunked midterms. Whatever it might be, it would not be pleasant.

Only three days after midterms, it was summer break. Mireille and Alfred day together it the large black and white carriage which was garnished with gold.

"Not looking forward to returning, huh?" Alfred slouched.

"Only as excited as you, dear brother." Mireille rolled her eyes.

When the two arrived at the Argent Estate the maids welcomed them back and took their belongings. One month off, huh? More like a month of hell. The pair of siblings would rather be at school, drowned in work, than here.

Shortly after, the twins and Emil returned and the group had dinner with Iris D'Argent. She paid little attention to Mireille and Alfred and focused on her own children. The stagnant air that returned once a year for Alfred and Mireille spread around the room. The two excused themselves as soon as they were done their meals and ran off into the mansion.

Mireille sat in the garden. Carefully carving the words into the magic cores. Explode, flight, gravity, inferno, tempest, gale, invisibility, presence cloaking. She packed the stones into a satchel and promptly made her way out of the Argent Estate.

But unlike usual, Mireille was caught fast. Before she knew it, she had been dragged back to the Estate and was sitting across from Claude D'Argent.

"Mireille. How many times must I tell you? You mustn't continuously sneak out of the mansion. As a noble lady, you have a reputation in which you must uphold. "

He paced around Mireille circles. The mere sight of this man made her want to vomit. But without any other choice, she smiled and apologized. "It's just... I haven't anything to do. I only thought to walk around the capital a little."

He sighed and sat down. "Forget it. Go rest up for today. We are heading to the palace tomorrow. There will be a Five Pillars meeting."