The Kingdom of Agnarte/The Royal Academy….
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"To a magic user, their magic core is just as important as their hearts."
Cullen stretched out his thin legs in order to raise his neck higher to the window. For a few minutes his thin hands were able to hold the edge of the glass window while he took a peek at the class going on. The first thing that caught his attention and made him lose focus on what the instructor was teaching was the instructor himself—or rather, his long white beard that was as white as the robe he was putting on. The length of his beard was all the way to his waist, and Cullen was woah at the sight of it.
Back when he was a normal human, he had only seen someone like the instructor as a game character, and after Cullen had been unfairly killed by a stray bullet while coming back from his miserable job late at night, he was reborn in another world. A magical world where humans without magical abilities were known as the lowest species, treated worse than dirt, even by their own species.
One of the students in the class, a girl with beautiful silver hair, caught Cullen by the window with her sharp eyes. Cullen shrinks back in fear and steadies his thin legs from falling. She winks at him and turns her attention back to the instructor teaching with a small smile on her lip.
"You little rotten bastard." Kael mumbled under his breath to keep himself from creating a scene. He knew the price he would pay for disturbing the class of nobles.
Cullen lost his grip around the edge of the window, but before the rest of his body could hit the ground, Keal's strong hands were already pulling the back of his worn-out shirt. His clothing was nothing impressive; it was the best he could afford as a 20-year-old orphan, and among all his torn, patched, worn-out shirts, today's wear was his best, because Keal told him that they were coming to the royal academy for a job.
"I told you to stay here, don't move, and wait for me until my return, and what did you do after I turned my back on you?!" Keal yells. He was in an open space in the academy. There were no students or teachers present to witness his angry outburst.
"I'm sorry, sir." Cullen lowers his head. Disobeying Keal's orders was wrong, but he couldn't help himself. Being born and abandoned in an orphanage immediately after birth in another world hasn't made his life easy. No one wanted to adopt him, and when he was old enough to fend for himself, he was kicked out of the orphanage with no way and no skills to survive until he met old man Keal, who was in his fifties and had the job of a gravedigger.
All his life since his reincarnation into another world as the lowest of the low, a poor orphan, Cullen has wished to be one of the privileged humans who were recognized as nobles due to their magic abilities. And based on the ranking of one's magic powers, some were seen and worshipped as gods. The royal academy is a place where privileged noble children with bright futures are allowed to go. An academy Cullen would like to be part of, but it was a dream that can never come true for him.
"What were you thinking going near a lecture hall?" Keal asks, "We came here for a job, and we need to focus on that." Keal saw the little tears gathering in Cullen's eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. He hates how easy it is for the kid to break down and start crying, but he is aware of all the hardship Cullen has faced in life.
Keal hasn't always been a grave digger; it wasn't a fun job, and it killed his pride as a man, but he needed the money to survive, and for Cullen to have joined him at such a young age, he pitied the boy, but there was nothing else for him to do.
'A kid like him shouldn't dream so big.' Keal thought. 'It will never come true.'
Keal gently rests his hand on Cullen's thin shoulder. He was troubled by how thin the kid was. They barely had job offers and were barely eating. "Remember why we are the ones who dig graves for dead criminal nobles, Cullen." He said, "It's because they pity us. Instead of them to use their powerful magic to get rid of a body they killed." A tint of jealousy filled his voice; like Cullen, he had also dreamed of having magical abilities when he was younger. "They refused to stain their noble hands and leave the dirty work for people like us, so that at the end they can throw their money at us and pretend as though they are doing us a favor." He grits his teeth. If the college head heard him say this, he was in trouble and was never going to get a job offer in the academy again.
Cullen nodded in understanding at Keal's words. It wasn't the first time Keal was reminding him that they were nothing but dirt workers who could never have any other life than grave diggers.
"Done." Cullen wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He shoved his shovel deep into the sand of the grave he had just covered and leaned his tired body against it.
A magic circle was formed before Cullen saw a boy with dark hair fly over his head. A mischievous smirk formed on his face; he was surprised to see Cullen. The boy places a finger over his lips and uses his black hood to hide his face before moving over to the back of a tree and using a magic spell to hide himself in the shadows.
"You there!" An authoritative voice said. It came from one of the few men with swords whose breath was heavy with an agitated expression on their face.
"What is a thing like you doing on school property?"
The land Cullen was on was far away from the college grounds, but it still belongs to the royal academy and is used for trainings by the students.
"They are allowed to be here." One of the men said, realization filling his voice as he asked, "Aren't there supposed to be two of you?"
Cullen's heart beat fast with fear as he replied in a shaky voice, "I'm waiting for Master Keal; once he's done collecting our payments, we will be out of here."
"Master?" One of the men asked in an amused tone. "Lowly dogs have masters among themselves."
"We are not here for this." Another man snapped, "Have you seen any guy putting on black clothing? He's a dark magic user."
"I doubt this thing knows what dark magic is."
Cullen bit his button lip hard in anger and embarrassment and pointed his finger in a certain direction. "He was putting on a black cloak that has a hoodie, and he went this way."
"Shit." One of the men said. They followed Cullen's direction.
An amused chuckle came out from behind the tree as the boy hidden in the shadows came out and stood in front of Cullen. Now that Cullen could get a better look at him, he could tell that they were of the same age but on completely different levels.
"Thanks. My name is Cullen; what is yours?" The boy said.
'We both have the same name.' Cullen thought. He felt surprised not only by the sudden introduction but also by the word 'thanks'; those with magic don't normally say words like that to him.
"My name is also Cullen."
Cullen flinches at the cowardly tone in his voice and wonders if he should have lied about his name so that the boy won't be angry that they both have the same name.
"Really?" The boy asks in an amused tone. He studies the look on Cullen's face before taking out a few golden coins from his pocket and handing them over to Cullen. "See you around, Cullen." He ran away, creating a magic circle that helped him disappear from Cullen's sight.