As they walked, Leo talked with Jack to see how he was doing. “You didn’t join up with your roommate?”

“He had a few noble friends who are not as friendly towards me, ask him to go to the assembly with them. He couldn’t turn them down, so he said he would meet me there. More importantly, you were with the princess this morning. What was that all about? You two seem to be together a lot.”

“It’s because, she is my roommate.” Leo explained softly, which made Jack’s eyes widen.

“Really!?” Jack was shocked. He remembered being told it could happen, but he never thought it would actually happen.

“Yeah. We kind of hit it off. So we are friends now. Oh, don’t treat her like a princess. She is just another student here. Treat her normally. She would appreciate it very much, trust me.”

“I will do my best.” Jack would try, but it was hard for him to forget that she was a princess.

“Anyway, we are meeting up after the assembly. We plan to tour the Academy. Ask your roommate if he wishes to join.” Leo knew that Jack’s roommate must be a good guy if he was a noble and still befriended Jack.

“I will ask.”

The two continued to chat until they reached the assembly, where Bella walked to Leo’s side. “I will stay with you.”

“Alright.” Leo smiled. He noticed that Bella was standing closer than she should but he was fine with that. ‘You are her security.’

‘Security? Liana , what do you mean?’

‘She sees you as someone she can rely on. She doesn’t want to be alone in a place where people would only see her as a Princess. It means she is relying on you.’

‘I see. Either way, I never planned to push her away.’

Liana smirked. She wondered how he would react when he found out that the two of them were much closer than this when they were sleeping together. She couldn’t wait for the day that he found out. She felt that last night would not be the only time they would be ‘holding hands’ while sleeping.

Leo and Bella split from the group to go to their floor's seating area and sat down. Leo found a spot with a girl who was sitting with her friend and let Bella sit first before taking the seat up next to her. Bella had noticed that Leo seemed to pick this spot due to a girl being on the opposite side and wondered if he did it so she would not need to sit next to a boy or if he was being possessive of her. She couldn’t help but peek up at his face in wonder.

The hall filled quickly, and the lights slowly dimmed, all except for the lights on the stage where six elders sat. In the middle was a young-looking woman with pointy ears. Leo leaned over and whispered to Bella. “Who is she?”

“She is the Academy Master and a S-rank Card Master. One of the very few in this kingdom. She is also of an ancient race, well a halfling. She is part human and part elf. She may not look it, but she is very old, around five hundred years old. She is basically the last of her kind.”

‘Liana, do you know about elves?’ Leo was confused. He had never heard about elves before.

‘I can tell you a bit but not much. There were a few roaming around in my memories but they should have long died out. They are a prideful race. Which is why that woman is probably as, Bella said, the last of her kind. There are very few men or women who would meet their standard. So leaving any offspring would be hard for them.’

‘I wonder how it feels to be the last of her kind… seems hard. I don’t think I could handle it.’

‘That is a question that is hard to answer.’

“You seem to be in deep though.” Bella nudged Leo. He had been staring too intently at the Academy master. She was wondering if he had fallen for her beauty.

“It’s nothing. It seems to be starting.” Leo could only smile awkwardly. He felt like maybe Bella was getting the wrong idea but he could not just say he was talking with Liana either. Sadly he could only let her mind wander off while he took the blame.

The half-elf stood up and walked forward and stood at the podium. In front of her was a small glowing red stone. Her golden blonde hair swayed as her green eyes blinked a few times. She scanned the crowd in front of her with a smile on her face. “Greetings to everyone here. My name is Fenia Von Julias. As many of you have noticed, I am not human. I am the last of an ancient kind.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. He never expected the woman to actually come out and say it. He figured she would ignore the blatant stares.

“I wish to first congratulate you all on your acceptance into the Academy and taking your first step on to the road to becoming a Card Master. No matter what your first card is, it will only help you grow stronger from this point on. I want each and every one of you to never give up. Work hard, and become the strongest Card Master you can be. Rise through the ranks and hopefully one day reach SS-rank or maybe even the legendary EX-rank.