A Tale of a Tiny Wild Hamster

“Let me tell you a story.”

…cling …clang

The clattering sound of the tea set could be heard quite clearly in the small back room. The blonde-haired woman lifted her cup to her lips and sipped her tea before she continued to speak.

“A long, long time ago, in the deep forest, there once lived a lone little wild hamster. She had left her village to live alone, away from the others. The poor little hamster had done nothing but hide in her hamster hole, wasting day after day just by munching wild vegetables and sleeping and...”

“Um... those weren’t the only things I did—” Annette nervously tried to protest, to no avail.

“...doing nothing but squeaking here and there.” Ignoring her remark, Miss Cynthia gave her a cold, sharp stare for a good five seconds.

Cynthia Honelley, 38, was a professor at the Athenya Institute of Magic, where she taught Elemental Magecraft. She had neatly cut, chest-length dark blonde hair tied in a high ponytail, with her bangs tucked to the side.

Annette was currently sitting on the floor with her legs folded beneath her, cowering—the exact image of someone who had just been scolded.

“One day, a smart, beautiful witch came and found the little hamster. To her surprise, the little hamster proudly showed off her ability to wield both fire and water magic to the humble witch! Oh my!” Miss Cynthia continued in a rather monotone voice. She then placed her cup and saucer back on the low table in front of her.

I was just trying to brew tea for you, Annette thought to herself.

“And so, the smart and beautiful witch—who couldn’t bear to see such a talent wasted and strayed in the middle of nowhere because she is very kind, young, and beautiful—decided to invite the poor little creature to the world’s best mage training academy, Athenya!” Miss Cynthia, who had sped up in the middle, then ended with a triumphant, eureka! tone.

As a matter of fact, Annette was practically ’kidnapped’ and forcefully dragged away from her house.

She was living alone in a small treehouse in the middle of a forest, away from the nearest village. It was early summer when Miss Cynthia, who had been sent to help a group of knights deal with a problematic wyvern—a small, dragon-like creature with wings—somehow found Annette while she was about to boil some water over the campfire outside her house. Startled by the appearance of someone out of nowhere near her house, she panicked and actually let out a squeak like a wild hamster.

Miss Cynthia was surprised by the sight of the young girl and warned her about the wyvern nearby. But Annette calmly replied with just ’Oh, I see’ before awkwardly proceeding to offer her some tea. A second later, she used magic to form a rather small floating ball of water from a nearby river and filled the hanging kettle with it. Without a pause, she then made another gesture with the same hand and lit the campfire beneath the kettle. Seeing this, Miss Cynthia unconsciously let out a loud noise and pointed towards the campfire and the kettle. “Ahh! You! That?! How in the world?!” That, of course, startled Annette and made her let out another squeak.

Miss Cynthia was already baffled by the squeaking little girl’s lack of reaction to her warning about the wyvern. But then, seeing her control water and fire as if it were nothing?

Water and fire were polar-opposite elements of magic, separated by wind and earth. The four magical elements represented the four seasons, and their order followed the order of the seasons as well: Water for winter, Earth for spring, Fire for summer, Wind for autumn, before returning to winter, forming a circle of life.

Mages who could wield more than one element were uncommon.

At the time, there were only five mages who had mastered three elements, all of whom held the highest title in the mage hierarchy: Archmage. Miss Cynthia herself held the title of Grand Mage for her mastery of two elements.

If a mage could wield two elements, the second would be an element adjacent to their ’natural element’. Then, fire and water? That meant she had one more element that she could wield. Wouldn’t that lead one to conclude that she could wield three elements? How amazing was that?

And so, she persistently asked Annette to come with her to Athenya, which left Annette panicking and not knowing what to do except to find somewhere to hide. Miss Cynthia then dragged her all the way to the royal capital without Annette’s consent.

Glancing up blankly, Annette reminisced about what had happened the previous summer and wondered, Did she even give me words of invitation?

At the time, Miss Cynthia noticed that Annette, despite being able to control three elements of magic very well, lacked basic knowledge of magic itself. She was like someone who knew how to speak fluently but had never learnt the structure of a language. So she first took Annette to her home and began teaching her privately during summer break before applying for Annette to attend Athenya.

Annette was turning 16 years old this year, which normally meant she should have been in her first year of the advanced course. With her lack of fundamental knowledge of magic, however, Miss Cynthia was at first worried that it might prevent Annette from being accepted into the advanced course. It turned out that Annette absorbed everything Miss Cynthia taught her at an incredible pace, which proved her worries to be unfounded.

“And yet!” Miss Cynthia continued. “All you ever did once you moved to Athenya was hole up again in this room!” She pointed a finger at the young girl like a detective revealing the true culprit of a criminal case.

Annette felt guilty and could do nothing in response but look down.

Miss Cynthia placed a hand on her forehead, pressing it softly as she sighed. “The teachers told me you have never attended your class even once, but you still manage to be famous. Well, negatively.”

Annette, not understanding what her direct adviser meant, slightly tilted her head to the side. Seeing this, Miss Cynthia suddenly moved her face very close to Annette’s and pinched both of her soft cheeks, pulling them up and down. “They called you the Ghost of Athenya!”

“G..Ghaosthh?!” Annette exclaimed while both of her cheeks were still being squished.

“Yes! G-h-o-s-t !” She pinched Annette’s cheeks one last time with a greater force before releasing them.

This squeaking and easily startled young girl was the true identity of the rumoured Ghost of Athenya. Ever since being privately taught by Miss Cynthia, she had begun to develop an obsession with books, especially those related to magic.

When she moved into the academy dormitory, one building in particular caught her attention. It was the second-tallest building on Athenya’s grounds, after the clock tower. Annette was amazed to find that the tall building was full of books, and for the first time, she learnt that a ’library’ existed. The young book-obsessed girl then began spending her time there, skipping her classes to the point of no return.

While rubbing both of her cheeks, which had now turned a little swollen and red, Annette muttered, “Ish hurtsh…” A tiny ball of tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

“Go to your class tomorrow!! If I find you holed up here again…” Miss Cynthia closed her eyes and put on the brightest smile she could manage. In a cheerful, playful voice, she continued, “You’d better not want to know what I’ll do~”

Scaryyyyyy!!!!! screamed Annette internally as she shuddered.

***

Miss Cynthia had left the library building. She marched towards the Academic Building Complex, where the student classrooms were, still annoyed. She had a class to teach that afternoon, so she had no choice but to leave Annette for the time being. She then let out a heavy sigh.

“I took her here to polish her potential. How in the world did she end up digging her hole in the library and skipping all of her classes? That tiny hamster girl!” she muttered to herself.

Back in that forest, she said she had recently learnt to control her fourth element too. Unbelievable. A girl that young? Miss Cynthia thought as she let out another sigh, still marching along.

***

The bell rang, marking the end of the learning session that day at Athenya. While students could still roam around to participate in club activities or continue their self-training, they were free to return home or to their dorms and take a rest.

The sun was getting low. Miss Cynthia collected her teaching materials and wooden pointer, getting ready to leave the class. Two male students then approached her, slowing her down.

“Miss Cynthia, I have several questions about the topic earlier.”

“Alright, sure. What would those be?” Miss Cynthia moved back to her teaching podium and listened to their questions.

In the middle of her explanation, her wooden pointer, which she had rested on the podium, rolled over and fell onto the floor.

“...that’s why in this case—ah, one moment.” She then bent over to pick up the pointer, but right before she reached it, she felt a short vibration beneath her feet. She froze.

“Huh? Did you feel that?” said one of the students next to Miss Cynthia.

“I did, I did,” replied the other, confused.

Miss Cynthia picked up her pointer, faced her students, and said, “You boys noticed it too?”

“Yes, ma’am,” answered both male students in unison.

But it didn’t stop there. The ground began to shake rhythmically, one tremor after another, getting stronger each time. This was not normal. A muffled grumbling sound could be heard as the students grew increasingly confused.

As they wondered what was going on, the loud sound of the bell rang out.

What in the world is happening?