Underneath the Silhouette-Chapter 74: The First Lesson

The Queen clapped her hands, applauding Eirin’s bravery even as tears welled in the teenage girl’s eyes. Even though Eirin knew she couldn’t demonstrate the full extent of her abilities, she was comforted by the Queen’s words.

"Surely you didn’t mean those words, did you? Such an awful display of ability is hardly impressive," Scarlett said with an eyebrow raised. Her blunt words reminded Eirin of Shade Cromwell.

"Is Arthur even doing his job? How could the Nirva—how could one of the students not know how to wield their Flair at all?"

Scarlett’s correction puzzled Eirin. What was she trying to say?

"Oh please, the girl barely had any knowledge about this world. How am I going to teach her the ways of controlling the power she is unaware of?" Mr. Blade scoffed.

Scarlett scoffed and shook her head. "Oh yeah? The least you could do then was teach her to be obedient, or maybe you shouldn’t have sent her on a mission that would—"

"Scarlett."

Eirin froze and the two stopped bickering, silenced by Regina’s sharp call of Scarlett’s name. It was the first time Eirin had seen such a stern expression on Regina’s face.

"It shall be fine, Eirin. You will be training with another student who will guide you. Maybe you two might find some common interests along the way." The Queen smiled as she stood from her seat. "You may go now. Do tell Miss Welkins to lead you to the training chamber."

Before Eirin could leave the stone room, she glanced back at the three and once again saw Scarlett Jenkins and Arthur Blade bickering while the Queen calmly caressed her temples. Eirin bowed one last time before leaving, and Miss Welkins welcomed her back with a smile.

Eirin followed Miss Welkins once again. The other students who were preparing for their classes laughed in excitement. After almost more than a week of staying inside the dormitories, it was their chance to meet their classmates once again.

Suddenly, Eirin missed Coleen’s voice. If only Coleen was there to give her support, she wouldn’t feel so gloomy about what happened. Even though she had embarrassed herself, Coleen would have made it feel better.

’What was I thinking? I shouldn’t rely on Coleen too much. I would be repeating what I did before with Ava, and I don’t want that.’

Eirin glanced at the other students that they passed by. She wondered who would be training with her from now on.

’I just hope that person isn’t someone like Shade Cromwell, or else I might as well quit.’

As they got further away from the stone room, Eirin pondered about what her classification was. The Queen did not mention anything, and neither did Mr. Blade. She could not even question Miss Welkins, knowing that the Miss held no answers.

"Here we are, Miss Luxfield."

Eirin stood in front of a normal-looking door. Miss Welkins opened it, leading Eirin inside. Despite its ordinary appearance, the space within was vast and completely empty. When Eirin looked around, the enormous chamber reminded her of the ballet studio where she trained back in Infirmus.

"Hey there."

Eirin gazed in the direction of the voice. A young man with a wide grin approached Eirin and said, "Let’s get along well, okay?"

The teenage girl blinked rapidly and thought, ’What is this guy up to?’

Eirin tilted her head. She did not expect that it would be someone she already knew.

"How rude of me. Let me introduce myself, my name is Pierre Blouin. It’s nice to meet you, miss."

The young man knelt, reaching for Eirin’s hand. He pressed a kiss to the back of it, leaving the teenage girl baffled. Why was he acting with such formality when they already knew each other?

"Mr. Blouin, I must remind you that you shall start with the basics for Miss Luxfield. Her body might not react quite well if you start training already."

"Yes, Miss Anna. I shall do as you say."

Miss Welkins sighed and left. Eirin stared at Pierre who only tilted his head as he smiled. Eirin gulped, not knowing what else she needed to do.

"I’m Eirin Luxfield, it’s nice to meet you?"

Pierre’s smile grew wider and said, "Well, well. I must say, Miss Luxfield, you have a pair of beautiful round amber eyes. It is a first for me to see such gorgeous color."

Eirin winced and was followed with an awkward laughter. "What’s with the random compliment, Mr. Blouin?"

"They’re stunning, those eyes."

Pierre moved his face closer to Eirin, astonishing the teenage girl as she blinked thousands of times. The moment she realized that they’d been staring at each other for a while, Eirin quickly averted her gaze and her face turned red like a tomato. She never expected such a good-looking person to compliment her like that.

"A-Anyway, what am I going to learn first?"

The embarrassment pushed Eirin to change the topic as she couldn’t look the man in the eye. Pierre than explained that just like what Miss Welkins mentioned, Eirin must start from the very basics in order to not lose control of her Flair.

"Since you wield the wind element, there’s a huge chance you could be a Wizard or Sorcerer. That means Miss Luxfield has mana and can wield magic." Pierre smiled. "In order to learn how to control mana and get used to it, you must learn how to breathe mana in and let it flow through your body."

Eirin stared at Pierre’s lips, his every word a jumble, too difficult for her to grasp. It was as if her mind had simply slammed shut.

"I can see that the flow of mana in your body is being hindered by something." Pierre’s baby blue eyes glowed as he stared at Eirin’s arm. "Let’s try meditation. I think that’s what they call it in Infirmus."

Pierre inhaled, letting Eirin follow. When he closed his eyes, Eirin followed.

"Imagine the wind blowing at you, and as you feel it grazes your skin, imagine as if it starts flowing through your veins.

Even though confused, Eirin took deep breaths and followed Pierre’s instructions. She could feel the wind forming around her and touching her skin. As Eirin inhaled and let the wind seep into her, she gasped as she opened her eyes. Her hand was on her neck as she huffed and puffed.

’What in the world?’

"Miss Luxfield? What’s wrong?" Pierre tried to touch Eirin but his hand was slapped away by an invisible barrier, as if protecting Eirin. "Eirin? Hey, are you doing this?"

The teenage girl crumpled to her knees, a thin stream of drool escaping her open mouth as she continued to gasp. "I-I c-can’t breathe," Eirin choked out, her hand reaching desperately into the air.

"What—Why? How?"

Pierre could not understand anything, and he could not do anything either as he could not touch the teenage girl. "Do you think you can walk?" He tried to compose himself.

Eirin struggled to even answer as she rolled on the floor, trying to find a way to breathe. Seeing such a scene filled with agony made Pierre rush out of the room, searching for help. Eirin’s eyes filled with tears stared at the young man as he left the room.

"D-Don’t leave."

The teenage girl closed her eyes and held onto her neck, her nails almost digging into her skin as she continued gasping, but it was as if someone was choking her and she could not escape.

"Calm down."

Eirin heard a familiar voice inside her head.

"Breathe in."

The voice of a man said, as if it was directly into Eirin’s ear. She gasped as she got up from lying on the floor. It was like being pulled out of deep water. She huffed and puffed as she looked around with tears in her eyes.

No one was there with her. There was no one else but Eirin inside the room, which caused her to wonder what just happened.

Eirin stared at her hands. Tons of questions filled her head regarding of what happened and also about the voice of a young man. She sniffed as she wiped her tears. It was traumatizing, as if something had blocked her airway and she couldn’t breathe.

"Eirin! I brought—What? Are you okay now? Can you breathe properly?"

Pierre immediately supported Eirin’s back with his eyes brimming with worry. Before he could even speak more, Calixta shoved him away from Eirin.

"Hey, why is she overflowing with mana?"

Calixta’s eyes glowed as she approached Eirin. She reached out to the teenage girl’s pulse and said, "What did you make her do?" Her eyes landed on the young man, and Pierre kept denying all her allegations. He didn’t even know what happened.

Eirin’s head was all fuzzy as she leaned on Calixta. Cali then held her hand and poured some of her cooling mana to calm Eirin’s distorted mana flow. The cooling effect made the teenage girl calm down.

"Bring some refreshments."

Pierre pouted before leaving to follow what Calixta told him to do.

"I don’t know what happened, but I think you shouldn’t let other people know about this," Calixta said as she looked up and met Eirin’s eyes. "You’ve been filled with miasma that it’s disturbing your mana flow. You’re overflowing with energy that you almost died because you couldn’t let it out."

Eirin’s forehead creased. She did not understand any of that.

"I don’t understand why you keep absorbing mana. So, I advise you learn how to let the mana flow through your whole body, because they’re all stuck in here." Calixta pointed at Eirin’s chest.

Hearing that made Eirin wondered why Calixta’s helping her despite having no connections at all. She realized that she’s been relying on Calixta for a while now.

"Thank you... for always helping me."

A faint smile formed on Calixta’s face. "It should be me who should thank you."

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