Beast Taming? Nah, Dragon Herding is Way Better! - Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Aria Frostborn
Standing at the front of the Primaria Auditorium, Diluc couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of people and how rich they are to create a structure of this proportion, a large, hemispherical dome that seems to be able to hold all the students of the academy as well as their staff, and possibly even thrice or more of that number over, making the young man question just why does the academy needs to create such needlessly large place.

As he, along with the frail-looking Michael moves towards the entrance of the building, they find themselves being guided by the staff of the academy all the way towards the frontmost part of the seats, where they can see that all the students sitting near them are wearing the same-colored uniform as them.

Seeing this thing, the young man beside him starts pointing out with a hint of pride in his voice as he confidently starts spouting things about the uniforms.

“I heard that each year wears different colored uniforms, white for the first years like us, a blue one for the second years, red for the third years and black for the fourth-year students” Michael pointed out as Diluc starts observing far more minute detail of the uniform, noticing something present on some of the uniforms while some are not.

“That golden button just below the collar… those are…” as he mutters to himself, Diluc’s companion finds it quite easy to hear causing him to interrupt the emperor-like young man’s words as he starts speaking once again.

“Those are marks that means you are a noble, every one of us, including the ones who came from different lands were required to wear a uniform with that to show the ‘distinction’ between us they say” the frail-looking young man explained as he looks at the golden button in his uniform with a frown in his face, almost as if he’s truly dissatisfied with this thing being on him.

“Is this a decision of the academy?” thinking about this as he looks at the golden button also included on his uniform, Diluc couldn’t help but feel a bit less favorable towards the academy, implementing this kind of system and all despite claiming themselves to be a sanctuary of nurturing geniuses no matter what background they came from.

“No, the largest contributor and supporter of the academy is the high-ranking nobles of the kingdoms that has their young people studying here, meaning that while the greatest figure within the academy, our principal, do has a lot of say, she still doesn’t have the absolute authority over the place, meaning that she should let this kind of things go at the very least” Michael explains as a trace of pity appears on his eyes, something that his companion fails to notice given that he is closing his eyes and seemingly using this spare time to temper himself and absorb mana in the surrounding.

‘He’s really hardworking’ the frail-looking young man thought to himself as he looks at Diluc in disbelief, the fact alone that he is still thinking of improving himself despite the place they are currently in something that he himself never thinks of, not to mention really perform.

While Diluc is truly absorbing the mana in the air though, he is controlling it so that he doesn’t come out as something of a monster given how powerful his absorption will be if he really did his all in order to cultivate, something that he often only does in places that he thinks are safe, as well as within the most secluded and remote of places.

Before he could even make a significant progress in his practice though, he got waken up by Michael once again, the first thing that he saw as he opens his eyes being the hand of his frail-looking roommate pointing towards the stage where one person, presumably a staff of the academy, stands with a proud yet amiable smile on her face.

As she stands right in the middle of the stage, she nods once all the sounds coming out from the students disappears, just her presence alone making it so that the students feel overwhelmed enough that they just suddenly turn silent.

Observing this lady who appears to be quite the beauty herself, the young men among the students, whether they are new ones or older students, couldn’t help but reveal a trace of desire on their eyes as they look at her, something that the lady is well aware of yet just chooses not to reveal on her attractive face.

The feature that stands out the most on her though are the beast like feature of a cat as her ears along with the tails swinging as she stands, both of them being night black in color with a shiny look to it.

“Good morning, a warm welcome to the new students who are accepted during the first part of the entrance exams, and a great welcome back to the old students who had their break during the past two months” the figure on the stage speaks as she smiles towards the students, her mesmerizing smile causing not only the people who are new to this but also the ones who already experienced and saw her smile to feel their hearts skip a bit before they are able to calm it down.

“The second years all the way to the fourth-year students are already well aware of my identity, but for the sake of our newcomers here, I shall introduce myself…” the lady informed as she performs a curt bow with her head before revealing her smile once again as she speaks.

“I am the vice principal of this academy, Aeonia Felis Panthera, and well, as you can see, I am a beast kin of the Cait race, I believe a quite prominent one at that along with my twin sister Aeolia” the lady on the stage said, pausing for a while as she knew all too well what sort of discussion will this kind of thing ensue among the populace of the students.

“She’s that swordsman!?”

“Even the Gemini Swordmasters are here, just what sort of people are in this academy?”

“Hahaha! Worthy of being a well-known academy across the lands!”

As the students starts discussing among themselves hearing the identity of this lady, one person among them cares not a bit about all those things, but rather, wondering about something as he recalls a similarly amiable, yet different featured beast kin that he met during the trials of the first part of the entrance exams.

‘She’s most likely her twin sister, right?’ Diluc thought to himself as he recalls the appearance of that examiner, the only apparent difference between the two of them being the color of their beastly feature, this lady, the vice-principal, Aeonia bearing a black colored feature while his previous examiner, Aeolia, bearing a white colored one.

“Now students, let’s save talking about these kind of things for later, for now, let me start this orientation by giving you all the warmest welcome to our academy, and I hope that all of you will have a great time not only developing your talents but also your character in this place, a place where all sorts of geniuses meet in order to temper themselves with each other” she smiles once again as she bows towards the students for one last time before she let out her last line for her time on the stage.

“Now that the greetings are all done, let me have the honor to introduce to the young students, the backbone of our academy, the one who is pretty much the person who leads the academy towards this large, significant change all throughout the previous years, our principal, Aria Frostborn”

As the name resounded through the ears of everyone, mixed opinions ran into all the minds present during this meeting and orientation, among them the conflicted thoughts of the academy’s staff, agreeing with the claim of their vice principal although they still think that said vice principal is still painting the violent maniac of a principal in a saintly light, something that they feel quite uncomfortable with.

Among other thoughts, there are those of the noble children, who finds it quite annoying the changes that said lady made all throughout her time as the principal of the academy, with them losing power and control over the resources gathered due to the talent and improvement-based ranking that she introduced a couple of years back, a system much appreciated by the commoners given that it gives them better chances to acquire resources for themselves.

But among all the thoughts running across the minds of the people present, Diluc’s thought is the most complicated one, never expecting that the white-haired horned beauty, a small, child-like, self-proclaimed ‘fully functioning’ adult that he meets during his fourth trial during the academy’s entrance exam being the one who holds the highest authority in this academy, the very principal herself.