Doggone Academy

A heavy rain pounded on the balcony doors. It was not yet dawn.

“Damn…”

His whole body was wet with sweat. A strange dream again.

He doubted if these were common dreams or revelations.

These events were clearly engraved in his head.

He could vividly remember the tragedy in the workshop.

It seemed that the masked people wanted to know his whereabouts.

The woman had silver hair like Liza.

His heart ached as he remembered the girl he had wanted to forget.

The masked woman said she was looking for him. A few months ago, he would have been overjoyed. He would have even looked for Liza before she would search for him.

He had imagined many times that she would return. But he knew his sweet fantasy couldn’t come true. And he did not plan to search for her either.

There was no reason for Liza to want to look for him. Besides, maybe the woman in the dream wasn’t her. Liza was not the only woman with silver hair.

The hair color of the Pascal family members changed to silver when their magic developed. The masked woman could belong to that family.

Although he didn’t know why, he was sure they didn’t like him.

They tried to find him even if it meant killing others.

Even the people in the Temple of Acates were in danger.

So he had to act first.

He wondered what he should do. He did not see a clear way.

***

Sylverine looked out the window. It always rained a lot when the seasons changed.

Medicinal herbs were harder to find when it was cold. She had to supply the storehouse with medicinal herbs before winter came.

A maid brought a steaming potion which she held with a thick cloth.

“How many ingredients are there?”

“Enough for two weeks.”

She had depleted her supplies because she had made potions for Damien and the girl.

She saw a girl lying on the bed. She still hadn’t regained consciousness since the ghoul attack.

Sylverine called the butler.

“Damien has probably already woken up. Tell him he can rest because we are not going to train today. Then prepare the carriage to go to town.”

“Understood.”

…
…

Shortly after, the butler returned in a hurry.

“Damien has disappeared.”

“What?”

“I’ve searched the entire mansion, and he’s nowhere to be found.”

Sylverine sighed.

***

Sylverine walked along the lakeshore with an umbrella. The rain was so intense that she had no visibility beyond a few steps. The umbrella was not enough to cover her from the rain. Posted only on NovelUtopia.com

Finally, she arrived at Damien’s training camp.

There was a boy who looked like a wet rat. It was Damien.

He tried to push the mud aside with his foot to free the piece of wood. It seemed he didn’t have enough strength, but he didn’t want to give up.

The water on the ground was mixed with blood. It seemed that the wood’s bark had ripped the skin from different parts of his body. She felt sorry for him.

Damien was unaware of Sylverine’s presence because the rain was too loud.

“We have enough firewood to last us until next spring.”

Damien turned his head before Sylverine’s words.

“Thanks to someone’s hard work.”

“…Master.”

Damien’s face darkened.

Sylverine looked at the bloody piece of wood.

“I didn’t want you to train on a rainy day. Why don’t you tell me you’re going out?”

She lifted her hem. She had an umbrella, but her clothes were wet.

“My clothes are ruined.”

“I’m sorry.”

Damien didn’t behave as usual.

She knew Damien had a dark past he didn’t want to talk about, but his inner darkness was never as dense as it was now.

“Damien, what’s wrong?”

“……”

Sylverine’s expression was rigid. She was sure something had happened.

“Nothing.”

She walked over to him. She didn’t care that her feet were muddy.

She bent down to meet his gaze. Then she put her hand on his cheek.

“You don’t know how lucky you are. I don’t take students.”

“……”

“You are too young to know well what the word responsibility means. Only when you are in a position of authority will you understand how weighty that word is.”

“……”

“I’m responsible for you.”

Sylverine said in a persuasive tone.

“You can trust your master.”

Damien finally looked up.

***

The two returned to the mansion.

Damien told Sylverine about his dream. In the dream, there were masked people. People were kidnapped to find out Damien’s whereabouts, followed by a massacre.

He even told her about his feeling that dream would come true.

He didn’t mention Liza.

“It could be a revelation. But don’t rely so much on dreams. Sometimes they’re not so accurate. It’s not as unusual as you think for a person to look into the future.”

“Isn’t that unusual?”

“Most magically talented children have the ability to look into the future.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

“They look into the future from the time they’re babies so clearly that they can’t distinguish reality.”

Damien could not understand this.

“But as they grow older their souls begin to become polluted, so this ability disappears completely. They even forget that they could see the future.”

“Hmm.”

“Precognitive dreams appear when that ability will die soon. Then visions of the future get mixed up with the unconscious, so it’s vague.”

“……!”

“But I suppose they could be useful.”

It was valuable information for Damien.

“Anyway, I want to be prepared.”

“How do you plan to do that?”

The question worried Damien.

Sylverine ceased to shield herself with the umbrella. The rain drenched her completely.