A few days had passed since the chaotic completion of the Eastern Labyrinth assessment.
Arion was currently lounging comfortably on the soft velvet couch inside Teacher Sophia's hidden, magically expanded office on the seventh floor. He had his boots kicked up onto the low crystal center table that he had cracked a few days prior.
"Teach," Arion said lazily, tossing a roasted nut into his mouth. "I need a gate pass."
Behind the pristine mahogany desk, Sophia looked up from a mountain of disciplinary paperwork. She already looked exhausted.
"A gate pass?" Sophia asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "For what?"
"To go out," Arion replied, stretching his arms behind his head. "I want to head down to the city and visit The Rusty Tavern."
Sophia slammed her pen down on the desk.
"Absolutely not!" she scolded, automatically adopting her strict teacher persona. "It is the middle of the afternoon! You cannot skip your mandatory lecture hours just to go drinking in the city."
Arion shrugged casually. "Well, the mandatory lecture is just from you, and it seems there is nothing left for you to teach me."
Sophia bristled, quickly searching for an academic excuse. "How about the library, then? You should be studying."
"I've almost finished the entire thing," Arion replied nonchalantly. "I don't want to finish it too quickly. I have to pace myself."
Sophia crossed her arms, pushing her last line of defense. "Furthermore, academy students are strictly prohibited from consuming alcohol."
Arion tilted his head. "Why?"
Sophia turned her head to him, giving him a flat, obvious look. "Because they are underage."
Silence stretched across the opulent room.
The quiet was so absolute that the only sound was the faint crackling of the roaring fireplace in the corner.
They stared at each other, face to face.
Arion slowly lowered his arms. He looked at her with a completely deadpan expression.
"Sophia," Arion said slowly. "I am twenty-two."
Sophia froze.
The silence returned, but this time it was painfully heavy.
Sophia's face flushed a brilliant, violent shade of crimson as her brain finally processed the sheer absurdity of the situation. She had just tried to use the underage excuse on a man who was literally older than she was.
"I..." Sophia stammered, her strict teacher persona instantly crumbling into dust. She buried her burning face in her hands, letting out a muffled groan of absolute defeat. "I hate this dynamic so much."
Arion chuckled, swinging his legs off the couch and standing up. "So, about that pass?"
"Forget the pass," Sophia mumbled into her hands. She suddenly stood up, grabbing her long coat from the back of her expensive leather chair. "If you get caught drinking in the city during school hours, the theory professor will use it as an excuse to expel you. As your designated instructor, I am required to monitor you at all times to prevent scandals."
"Wait, you're coming with me?" Arion raised an eyebrow.
"I desperately need a drink," Sophia admitted, her voice hollow. "Let's go before I lose my mind."
Ten minutes later, Arion and Sophia strolled casually out of the Academy's towering front gates. They were walking side-by-side in broad daylight, completely ignoring the fact that the entire student body was currently sitting in stuffy classrooms learning magical history.
High above the courtyard, the Principal stood by the window of his shadowy office, looking down at the path leading to the city.
"Principal," the beautiful secretary noted, standing just behind him and looking over his shoulder. "Teacher Sophia and Arion are leaving the premises. In the middle of lecture hours."
The Principal folded his hands behind his back. He watched the student and the teacher disappear down the hill.
"Shall I send the disciplinary committee to intercept them?" the secretary asked, her polite smile twitching slightly. "It is a blatant violation of the Academy's schedule."
The Principal closed his eyes, rubbing his temples as a familiar headache began to form.
He vividly remembered the terrifying woman who had stood in this exact office and threatened him. He remembered how she had explicitly warned him that standard classes would just bore Arion to death, and that he needed to find an unconventional way to handle him.
"No," the Principal sighed heavily, turning away from the window. "Leave them be."
The secretary blinked in surprise. "Are you sure, sir? The other nobles may complain about the favoritism."
"Let them complain," the Principal muttered, returning to his heavy oak desk. "I would rather deal with the fragile egos of the aristocrats than whatever monster trained that boy. We will simply pretend we did not see anything."
The walk down the cobblestone path to the city was surprisingly peaceful. Arion led the way with a relaxed, bouncing stride, his hands tucked casually behind his head. Sophia walked beside him, her long coat fluttering in the afternoon breeze. She still kept glancing nervously over her shoulder, half-expecting the disciplinary committee to jump out from behind a hedge.
"So," Sophia asked, adjusting her glasses as she tried to keep up with his pace. "Why do you even want to drink right now? It is barely past two in the afternoon."
"I never said I wanted to drink," Arion replied cheerfully, not breaking his stride. "I just want to visit."
Sophia frowned, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Then why did you make it sound like a life-or-death necessity back in my office?"
"Because you looked like you were going to suffocate under that mountain of paperwork," Arion pointed out with a grin. "You needed an excuse to leave."
Sophia opened her mouth to argue, realized he was entirely correct, and promptly shut it again with a frustrated sigh.
After a short walk through the bustling city streets, navigating past shouting merchants and horse-drawn carriages, they finally arrived in front of a slightly battered wooden building. A weathered, creaking sign hung above the entrance, proudly declaring it The Rusty Tavern.
Arion cracked his knuckles and puffed out his chest. He walked proudly up to the heavy wooden door, grabbed the iron handle, and threw it wide open with a dramatic BANG.
"I'M BACK YOU FOOL!" Arion screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing off the tavern walls.
Sophia immediately froze, her soul practically leaving her body as secondhand embarrassment washed over her.
Inside the dimly lit tavern, the lively chatter of daytime patrons instantly died. The clinking of thick wooden mugs stopped. A bard in the corner halted his lute mid-strum. Every single person inside the tavern—rough-looking mercenaries, traveling merchants, and off-duty city guards alike—slowly turned their heads to stare dead at the doorway.
The dead silence inside the tavern lasted for exactly three seconds.
Suddenly, a massive figure vaulted completely over the polished wooden bar. It was Baric, the tavern owner.
"ARION!!!" Baric roared, tackling Arion right in the doorway with a booming laugh.
Sophia let out a high-pitched shriek, instinctively stepping back as the two grown men crashed onto the hard wooden floorboards.
"I thought the Academy finally killed you!" Baric yelled, successfully pinning Arion's arm behind his back.
"They couldn't kill me!" Arion wheezed, grinning widely as he kicked Baric off and flipped back onto his feet.
Before they could continue, the wooden door leading to the kitchen slammed open. Mary, Baric's wife, bustled out holding a wooden spoon.
"Baric, what is all that yelling—" Mary stopped dead in her tracks.
She stared at Arion. Specifically, she stared at his left hand. Glinting in the dim tavern light was the simple, silver ring his master had given him.
Mary gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth. "Arion... is that a ring on your finger?!"
"Oh, this?" Arion held up his hand, completely missing the implication. "Yeah, I got it from my master."
Mary didn't hear the rest of his sentence. To anyone else, the silver band looked exactly like a vow-band. Her wide eyes darted to the doorway, landing on Sophia, who was standing stiffly in her expensive long coat.
Mary's brain immediately put two and two together and arrived at a staggering, romantic conclusion.
"Oh my goodness!" Mary shrieked, her voice echoing across the entire tavern. "You brought a girl! A beautiful, aristocratic girl! Baric, the boy finally did it! He has a ring! He's engaged!"
Sophia's brain entirely short-circuited. Her face instantly flushed a brilliant, violent shade of crimson.
"W-what?!" Sophia stammered, frantically waving her hands. "No! Excuse me, you misunderstand! I am not his—"
"A FIANCÉE?!" Baric bellowed, his jaw dropping to the floor as he looked at the ring on Arion's hand, then at Sophia.
"I am NOT his fiancée!" Sophia yelled, her voice cracking as she desperately tried to reclaim her professional dignity. "Listen to me! I am Teacher Sophia Irene of the Royal Academy! I am his designated instructor!"
"Oh, don't be shy, dear!" Mary rushed forward, grabbing both of Sophia's hands and squeezing them warmly. "Look at you, so refined and proper! You must have the patience of a saint to agree to marry this idiot!"
"M-Marry?!" Sophia squeaked, looking like she was about to faint. "No! Absolutely not! We are completely unrelated in a romantic capacity!"
"HEY EVERYONE!" Baric roared, turning to the crowded room and completely ignoring Sophia's frantic denials. "Arion got himself a fancy noble fiancée! He's off the market!"
The entire tavern erupted. The rough-looking mercenaries, traveling merchants, and off-duty city guards all leapt to their feet. They whistled and cheered at the top of their lungs, raising their thick wooden mugs in the air.
Sophia stood frozen in the center of the tavern, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. The sheer volume of the cheering completely drowned out her frantic attempts to explain the Academy's student-teacher protocols.
She turned her panicked eyes to Arion, silently begging him to fix this massive misunderstanding.
Arion, however, was entirely unbothered. He had already walked over to the counter and slid onto a stool.
Sophia marched over to him, leaning in and furiously whispering through her teeth. "Arion! Say something! Correct them immediately!"
Arion tilted his head, flashing her a carefree grin.
"Why would I do that?" Arion asked.