The next morning was rather uneventful, giving Devon a chance to talk with Lady Jasmond and the others over breakfast “so, if you don't mind, I have some questions I'd like to ask.”

  “Of course Devon,” replied Lady Jasmond “we will try our best to answer them while taking into account your level of knowledge.”

  “That actually is the first thing I want to talk about. How prepared do you think I am for this school, I mean, I never used magic yet and I still don’t know, basically anything about the underworld." Devon asked.

  “Believe it or not sir Devon, but for your age you are at a decent level for magic control, as most kids do not cast their fist spell until they enter school.”

  “But they would have been in school much earlier than now though, wouldn't they?” Devon asked in response.

  “Not in the underworld,” said Lady Jasmond “unless you're a noble like me you get homeschooled until now, and even if you are a noble that only means you get tutored instead of homeschooled.”

  Leonardo then continued “As for your knowledge of the underworld, you are lacking a lot of common knowledge one would have from just growing up here, but when it comes to what school will teach you, I think you will manage.”

  Devon then went on to his second question “so, how did Mr. Zephyr notice I was human?”

  “Good question kid, I was wondering that myself.” commented Emily.

  “Well,” started Lady Jasmond “I can not say for certain but from what you have told us about yesterday's events, it seems that he was for some reason on the lookout for underworld beings under contracts, and not only noticed you were part of a contract, but somehow noticed that said contract was different then the ones between two underworlders.”

  “Is that not normally possible?” Devon asked unsure if he just got unlucky or if that possibility had just been forgotten.

  “Well,” responded Lady Jasmond “let me put it like this, it takes a long time to learn to check for contracts, and it is rarely a skill one would bother learning for any reason. Also noticing that it was not a normal magic contract but a binding contract, the type between a human and an underworld, is a tricky thing to do to put it simply. So I’m not really sure why he could do all that, nor did I think it was something that we would need to worry about.”

  Devon then followed it up with “Also he called me a bound servant and people seemed to realise what that meant, so what does that mean exactly?”

  “Alright here goes.” Lady Jasmond said apprehensive “In short a bonded servant is the… nicer name for a human who is bound in service to an underworlder by a binding contract and a title that does not fit what our relation is since you are not under contract to serve me.”

  “so, does that mean there are other humans here?” Devon asked.

  “Once again I’ll give you the short answer. No, not in this day and age.”

  After taking that in for a moment Devon decided to ask “so there’s this kid in my class who is apparently a big deal named Kane Monol… something i don’t exactly remember, but who exactly…”

  The other three all looked at each other in shock then Emily spoke up “his full name wouldn’t happen to be Kane Monol Barbast would it kid?”

  “Yes, I think that’s it.” Devon responded.

  “Devon, do you remember what I told you about the three greats?” Lady Jasmond asked.

  “They’re the group that rules the underworld, right?” Devon said unsure what this had to do with his question.

  “Yes.” responded Lady Jasmond “that’s correct and you see Kane Monol Barbast is one of their sons and currently thought to be the one who will take their fathers title next.”

  Devon needed a minute to take that in, he was in a class with what was essentially a prince and one that was possibly next in line for the throne, this made Devon once again anxious and h tried to remember how Kane Monol Barbast responded to him being human and he remembered looking around the room after Mr. Zephyr called him a bound servant, and seeing a somewhat curious and interested look on his face, but what that means who knows.

  Finally in a bit of panic he asked “so is there any way you can help me defend myself if someone tries to do more than just mess with me?”

  And with a sigh Lady Jasmond responded “for now we’ll keep Leonardo being your escort to and from school, as he also acts somewhat as a bodyguard for myself and is more than capable of defending you. As for while you're at school, unfortunately we’re going to have to leave that to the teachers, though I will at least have a talk with them about it.”

  With that the time came when Devon had to leave if he wanted to make it to school on time, and so leave he did alongside Leonardo who now had a stern look on his face as he was on guard for any trouble that may arise.

  A lot of eyes were set on Devon as soon as he arrived at school, but despite that he still went to the assembly hall as if nothing weird was going on. Upon finding a seat and waiting only a few minutes Mr. Samuel walked out on to the stage and started the morning announcements.

  “Good morning everyone I hope you all had a great first day. Let’s… end with the big one which means… First, the sign up sheets for your electives have actually been printed, so you will be filling them out in homeroom as previously stated. Next up club sign ups have not been delayed and will happen at the school week's end as usual. Those who wish to join a club may try out one per day, while those who don’t have an interest in club activities should report to the cafeteria for the general group.”. At this point he started to look over to a side area that the other staff were standing in and without projecting his voice to the crowd asked “is there anything else besides… ya know?”

  After a second and seemingly receiving a response he went back to projecting his voice and said “Right magic aptitude tests will be done during the final period as usual so please report to your homeroom class for that.”

  “And, I guess, that just leaves us with…” Mr. Samuel paused for a second clearly apprehensive about what came next “Alright I'm sure by now most of you, if not all of you, have heard the… what some are calling rumours and I’m here to inform you that, yes there is indeed a human as a student.”

  So many responses erupted out that calling the following sound noise could be seen as an understatement. Anyone with a view of Devon that had been tipped off to it being him started staring, glaring, or even yelling at him directly.

  The phrase “silence!” boomed out across the room leaving most people speechless and though a few carried on giving remarks they soon stopped as their attention became captivated by the new speaker, Mr. Zephyr “for those who do not know I am Mr. Zephyr, the teacher in charge of handling disciplinary actions. Now some of you may think that you can get away with doing things to them because they are human, but no. We will not tolerate any harassment towards them regardless of what they are, as they are still a student here, and thus are in our care. You all have been warned now so I suggest you all listen.”

  As Mr. Zephyr left to the side area Mr. Samuel continued “thank you Mr. Zephyr. Now with that all wrapped up, you are all dismissed, so please, have a nice day.”

  After waiting for some of the students to clear out, Devon headed off to his homeroom class. He was met with many glares on his way, but with the teachers also heading out at the same time there were likely few who would attempt anything. However as he entered the classroom he noticed that Mr. Zephyr had yet to arrive, meaning all bets were off. Looking around for a seat he saw that most were taken and that Cole and Mya were sitting together.

  Eventually he took a seat near the back of the class with an empty chair beside him. While waiting for Mr. Zephyr to arrive, Kane Monol Barbast entered the classroom and was greeted by a much warmer reception than Devon was. After glancing around the room Devon noticed him seemingly smile in his direction before heading to take a seat. It originally looked like he was going to the seat he took yesterday, however when he got to that row he walked behind that seat and went across the room, eventually taking the seat next to Devon.

  “Why, hello Devon.” he said with a cordial tone in his voice “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “hello.” Devon said.

  Devon assumed he sat there so that he could mess with him, yet keeping the same tone Kane asked “Did you manage to get some rest last night? I’m sure you must have felt tired after what happened yesterday.”

  “Yes… I did.” Devon responded warily.

  “Well that’s good. Rest is important even for normal daily life activities. Now tell me something Devon, as a human you do not naturally have access to magic right?”.

  “No, we don’t.” Devon confirmed.

  “In that case should you really be attending this school? I mean I approve of your persistence in staying but a good chunk of the curriculum focuses on magic study and practice.”

  Devon just responded “I.. do have access to mana.”

  “Aha, I see. Then, have you tried using your mana to cast anything yet? Or at least have you tried projecting your mana?”.

  Devon, now interested in the conversation, perked up a bit and said “I know I haven’t tried casting effects yet, but what does projecting mana man I assume that’s sending mana out of you, right?”

  “That’s correct Devon. However, by the way you asked, I assume you haven’t, have you?”

  “No, I have not. All I have been doing when it comes to mana is sensing and moving it around within me.”

  During their conversation Mr. Zephyr entered and Kane said “We’ll continue this discussion later assuming there’s any spare time during this period.”

  After going over attendance Mr. Zephyr started handing out the sign up sheets for electives. There were some normal classes that one would find in the human world, however what interested Devon more was the magic based classes. Each class name came with a thorough explanation which meant he was able to get an idea of what each one offered.

  Mr. Zephyr then spoke “Keep in mind if there are any advanced classes you wish to take you must take the required beginner classes.”

  Devon decided to start with looking over advanced classes and after skimming through the descriptions, and ignoring most of the study based classes, he found one that stood out to him.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “something caught your eye Devon?” Kane asked, seemingly already done filling out his form “feel free to ask if you have any questions about the classes.”

  “There is one that looks interesting,” Devon said, “an advanced class called enchanting basics.”

  The description read as follows “learn the basic art of imbuing effects into objects called enchanting. Go from creating objects that have a single trigger and effect to one’s with multiple of them.”

  “Taking the teacher's advice and looking over the advanced classes first, huh? Smart move.” Kane said “enchanting is an interesting topic with enough time, mana, and knowledge you can create some complex items.”

  Devon curious asked “Like what exactly?”

  “Well…” Kane thought for a moment then responded “really there’s a lot made through enchanting, from simple items such as self adjusting clothes to more complex objects such as cleaning devices, up to even whole games. It really comes down to how much one can do with their mana, and how much they’re willing to learn.”

  Devon ultimately decided to take classes that were pre requisites for the enchanting basics class, and filled out the extra spaces with some one-off courses that seemed interesting.

  After handing in their forms the class was given some free time so Kane took Devon to a classroom for magic training.

  “They should be here somewhere.” Kane said while rooting around in a cupboard. “Found one.” Eventually Kane pulled out a white rod with a handle that ran perpendicular at the bottom and handed it over to Devon “Now here's what you're gonna do, just control your magic so that it flows to your hand then try passing it into the item it will change colour if you do it right and you'll feel your mana build up in your hand if you do it wrong.”

  Devon focused on controlling his mana and while at first he did have trouble passing mana from within himself to the object and he felt his mana quickly build up but Kane quickly stopped him and said “Devon it has come to my attention that you don’t know how to properly move your mana. I mean you’re able to move it sure, but not in an effective manner.”

  “What do you mean?” Devon asked curiously.

  “Well,” Kane continued, “here let me guess essentially how you're moving it. What you're doing is focusing purely on where you want your mana to move.”

  “Yeah.” Devon replied.

  “While that is an important part of controlling it,” Kane explained “the more important part is focusing on how your mana is flowing. A beginner technique is to imagine a path for your mana to follow towards where you want it to go and then let your mana flow through said path.”

  So that's what Devon started to do and, after a minute or so, Devon had managed to pass some of his mana into the item.

  The item changed colour quickly to a vibrant green and Kane commented on it “Well seems you got the hang of it at least to some degree. And it turned green huh, definitely didn't expect that on your first go.”

  “Is that good?” Devon asked. Kane then explained “the colour represents how much magic you are able to output. The colours go from purple, to blue, to green, to yellow, to orange, to red, then stops at black. Even if you have the capacity to project an amount of mana, you still might not be able to either gather or control that amount of mana. For you this could mean either you have quite a bit of mana, or you’re a natural at projecting mana, either way it's a good thing."

  Devon decided to ask one more thing before they finished up “why are you helping me?”

  ”Because,” Kane replied with a smile," I'm interested to see your growth. Anyway we better head off soon since the next class should start in a few minutes.”

  And so the two of them put the item back and split off towards their next classes.

  After another set of mundane classes Devon headed towards the cafeteria for lunch. Unlike yesterday, where the section for getting food was closed for deep cleaning, today it was open. Upon entering Devon expected to see your typical walk along area where food was handed out in a line, however instead what he saw was a proper buffet split into many different sections. Normally Devon would be impressed but right now he just felt overwhelmed.

  “Hey what ya up to?” Cole asked surprising Devon from behind him.

  “Oh, hey Cole.” Devon replied “I just still have no real knowledge on the food here, and I definitely didn’t expect to see something like this.”

  “Well then, let me pick out some things for ya and we’ll go from there.” said Cole.

  Remembering the warning he was given Devon repiled “ok, just please don’t pick anything spicy, I’m serious, spices can potentially hurt me, and terribly so.”

  After grabbing a variety of different Things Devon and Cole sat down together to eat.

  “Thank you Cole.” Devon said “I really wasn’t expecting there to be that much choice in what was served let alone an entire buffet.”

  “Why?” Cole asked “What’s the school cafs in your world like?“

  “Well to put it simply,” Devon responded “we get a limited selection of food that doesn’t taste all that good and looks about as good.”

  “Yeesh,” Cole replied, “sounds rough. At least that's one upside to being down here ya get to enjoy.”

  Devon, slightly confused Asked “What do you mean by 'get to enjoy'?”

  Cole responded a bit somberly “Well, I don’t know what exactly the deal you made was but I assume you don’t get much downtime for fun activities.”

  Devon thought for a minute then responded “Well I guess that makes sense since you don't know about the deal, but I’m basically free to do what I want.”

  This surprised Cole who replied “Really i didn’t think… Now I’m just wondering what exactly the deal you made was, or really at least what both sides got out of it.”

  Devon after debating whether or not to tell him and then how he would explain it simply said “Well we both got what we asked for and whether or not everything works out is yet to be seen. As for what exactly those things were… well let’s say that for me I was simply seeking a change.”

  From off to the side a somber toned voice chimed in “So… ya really did do this ta yourself huh?”. Mya then took a seat next to Cole and continued “hope ya knew what ya were doing Devon,.though with how schools played out for ya… I mean, let’s hope it gets better for ya from here on.”

  “You both act like it's all been bad, however up until the fact I’m human was revealed everything was going smoothly, especially in the week before school started and, honestly…”

  Devon stopped for a moment before just saying “I don’t know where I was going with that. Anyway, I was told that most people wouldn’t have cast their first effect until they enter school, so I was wondering if either of you two have cast something or not?”

  Cole chimed in first “Nah. Honestly I’d be more than ok if we could skip out on the mandatory magic based classes. But even physical skill based jobs still want some level of magic proficiency, even if only as a just in case. What about you Mya?”

  ”Well,” Mya started, “I have cast a few different things, but only some of the basic effects.”

  Devon curious then chimed in asking “what exactly are considered basic effects?”

  As if quoting something Mya answered “Basic effects are effects every one with magic has access to. There are 5 of them in total including levitating small objects, creating a source of light, adjusting temperature, physically enhancing oneself, and increasing oneself's magic resistance. Exact details are fussy on how powerful of an effect can be considered as a basic effect.”

  “Sheesh,” Cole voiced, “just grab a textbook next time and save some brain power from trying to remember it.”

  “Anyway,” mya said while rolling her eyes “mind if I ask a favour Devon?”

  “What is it?” Devon asked in response.

  “Well my sister runs a club,” Mya started to explain “and they were hoping ya’d show up for… well… imma be honest with ya the club is basically a human fan group.”

  “What?” Devon said, fully confused and concerned.

  Mya then continued “basically they share any sorta… well anything they can get about, or from, your world and when they heard a human was actually here… and I accidentally mentioned that you were in my class… Well now they won’t stop bugging me about bringing you to their club. I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating since it’s only been one day, but between classes they keep coming up to me, and during class they just keep sending messages every few minutes. I promise I’ll repay ya somehow if ya go but I completely understand If ya don’t.”

  Devon thought it over for a minute before saying “Give me a while to think about it, maybe until after that magic test thing they said we have, ok?”

  With a surprised look on her face Mya responded “absolutely take your time, and thanks for at least considering it.”. And with that the three of them finished eating then split off to their next class.

  After one more mundane class the magic aptitude test arrived however It only consisted of two parts. The first part was a simple form to be filled out that asked questions about your experiences with using magic, while the second was the test Devon originally did with Lady Jasmond and Leonardo to measure his magical abilities and limits.

  After all was said and done the class was dismissed early and were told to report to either a club or the cafeteria which meant Devon now had to make a choice. Despite the fact he knew he would regret going he figured that if he said no then the club members would just bug him themselves, and said“Alright mya I’ll go to the club meeting.”. “Thank ya Devon.” Mya said “ya have no idea what this means ta them.”

  Upon arriving at what could have been just a random classroom Mya motioned for Devon to stop “Last chance ta back out”

  “It’s fine.” Devon said “let’s just get this over with.”

  Upon entering Devon saw the people who were sitting there, five of them plus one standing off to the side, were a mixed bag of features. However that was to be expected at this point, what wasn’t expected was for the five of them that were sitting to essentially rush him

  “So are you really a human?” “How'd you get down here?” “What…”.

  Before anyone else could finish asking anything the one standing off to the side spoke “Students please stop crowding him and take a seat.”.

  The women speaking had a lighter human-like skin tone, purple hair and horns that curled around her head as if part of a halo which made her look like an older version of Mya.

  After getting everyone to sit down she looked at Devon and said “Devon as the faculty member incharge I apologise on behalf of the group for what just happened. Also I suppose I should introduce myself, I am Ms. Lucy, one of the general magic study teachers, and Mya’s older sister if ya couldn't tell. It's a pleasure ta finally meet ya.”

  Devon was still overwhelmed from what just happened so Mya decided to jump in instead “So he’s agreed ta be here today, but that's it so hope y’all thought about what ya wanted ta ask.”

  After Devon and Mya each took a seat Ms. Lucy began “So here’s how this is gonna work, we'll start by having you give an introduction, then I’ll ask some general questions that everyone likely has and finally we'll take more specific questions from the others. Is that alright with you Devon?”

  “Sure.” Devon said “I don’t really have an introduction prepared though, but here goes nothing I guess. As you all likely know or have realised, my name is Devon and I’m a human who, through making a deal, ended up living here. I come from a country known as Canada and that’s basically all I have for an introduction.”

  “In that case,” Ms. Lucy said, “I guess I’ll get started. So how long have ya been in the underworld for?”

  “Today marks the second day of my second week if you include the day I arrived, which was more of a partial day.”

  “Alright,” Ms. Lucy said “I guess ya really haven’t been here long. Did ya have any trouble when ya went between worlds?”

  Devon thought for a moment before replying “Well I was kinda asleep when it happened but it was harsh enough on me to keep me asleep for most of the following day, and even after I woke up I was only awake for a bit.”

  ”That… must have been rough then.” she replied “Did you at least have a heads up that you were going to be taken here?”

  “What do you mean?” Devon asked.

  Deciding to chime in, Mya explained “So it turns out, Devon here made the deal himself.”

  Everyone else was stunned at this revelation, and Ms. Lucy, trying to keep things going, commented “O… ok. I… didn’t think anyone would do… something like that, but I’m sure you have your reasons so… let’s just move on.”

  As the questions kept coming Devon answered them the best he could until finally it was finally time for them to leave. However right before he left one of the students asked him one more question that got his mind turning “So Devon what exactly is your plan?”

  “My plan for what?” Devon asked in response.

  “Your plan for yourself going forward. I mean from what it sounded like it seems you have a lot of freedom in what you do, so what exactly is it you plan to do?” the student asked.

  Devon paused for a moment. He never thought about the future since his plan was just to get a decent job that he could live off of, and basically live paycheck to paycheck. But now not only was that far from being an option it wasn’t necessary. Eventually he just said “I’ll figure it out.” and left it at that for the conversation, but in his mind he was both in a slight panic and slightly inspired by the idea that he may be able to make a future he would enjoy. Even after walking home with Leonardo and finding out that Lady Jasmond got called away for another meeting, all he could think about was what he could do or even what he wanted to do, however eventually his busy mind fell asleep in his bed letting him get some much needed rest.