The Legend of the Meta-Defying Smith Who Saved the Kingdom

James had spent the morning and mid-day enthralled by the books in the cabinet.

At long last, after over two years, he finally got the chance to learn new enchantments properly. It was so easy. And there were so many of them!

From the Enchanter Meridox, who had visited his home village, he had learned twelve basic enchantments: two from each basic element.

Basic Fire Enchantments: Heated Blade & Fire Resistance.

Basic Water Enchantments: Frostbite & Water Resistance

Basic Air Enchantments: Rapid Blow & Wind Resistance

Basic Earth Enchantments: Heavy Blow & Earth Resistance

Basic Light Enchantments: Glow & Reflect

Basic Dark Enchantments: Blind & Shadow Concealment

He had also learned two Intermediate enchantments from amulets found in the Dungeon: Intermediate Fire Enchantment: Heat Resistance and Intermediate Dark Enchantment: Silence.

And he had managed to piece together, at least partially, an Intermediate Light Enchantment: Ward?, based on the warding stakes he had found in the magic bag, left there by the slavers.

At first, he had flipped through the beginner enchantment book, memorizing any enchantment pattern that caught his interest.

Enchanter Class Skill [Template Memorization] has reached level 3.

Basic Air Enchantment: Feather memorized.

Basic Earth Enchantment: Solidity memorized

Basic Light Enchantment: Flash memorized

And then he had an idea and set that book down, and got a book of intermediate enchantments. He flipped through it, and as expected, there it was:

Ice Enchantments.

He slowed down now, actually skimming each page.

And then he froze.

Intermediate Ice Enchantment: Frost Resistance memorized.

Intermediate Ice Enchantment: Cold Resistance memorized.

Intermediate Ice Enchantment: Ice Resistance memorized.

Enchanter Class Skill [Template Memorization] has reached level 4.

Tears spilled from his eyes but he hastily wiped them away with his arm, not wanting to wet his fingers.

He wanted Ice Nullification.

He needed it.

Over and over he picked up books from the cabinet, skimmed them, and set them down. The desk nearest the cabinet was piled with books now, but there were dozens more still in the cabinet.

He had come to the realization that there were no books on Advanced enchantments in the cabinet at about the same time as the first of his fellow students entered the classroom.

"Oh, hello there."

James jerked his head up, a small rush and his heart beating in his chest at having let someone sneak up on him, but the red headed boy was at the other end of the room, standing flat footed, and waving a hand in greeting.

"Ahem, hello." James stood up straight and waved a greeting back.

"My name's Ewan."

"James, nice to meet you."

The boy looked down and noticed the books, and his eyes widened. "I'll, uh, leave you to it, then."

James was a little embarrassed, and started putting the books back. He kept just the one out, a primer on elements that included their fundamental runes, and he also took some paper, a quill, and an inkpot from the cabinet.

The other boy had taken the seat in the front row furthest from the door, so James moved to the middle of the other three seats in the front row as well. By the time he sat down, the other boy had fallen asleep, so James made a bit of an effort to keep quiet and not disturb him and focused on the book of elements and runes.

It was fascinating. James hadn't realized there were so many elements. He had finished copying the runes for the basic six elements and Lightning had caught his eye—a jagged, spiky looking thing—when the next student arrived. The medium height, slender-built dark haired man raised an eyebrow at the blonde James and the sleeping boy, and then nodded a greeting to James who, at least, was awake.

"Good day to you. My name's Ricardo. Please call me Ricardo, I don't like nicknames."

James nodded back. "Will do, Ricardo. My name's James. Nice to meet you."

"James?" he repeated, his tongue tripping slightly over the hard J-sound. The accent in Iberteria at the time disfavored the hard J. "What an unusual name. And unusual hair, if you don't mind my saying. You're not… are you?"

James shrugged. "I'm not from around here. I was born in one of the neighboring kingdoms."

At least, he was pretty sure it had been a kingdom.

Ricardo relaxed. "Ah, from one of the neighboring kingdoms. I see."

He sat down in the desk nearest the door, also in the front row, and pulled out his own writing supplies. He started doodling his own enchantment designs, one James didn't recognize but that used the rune for Water.

Next to enter was a young woman with light brown hair, also unusual in Iberteria where black dominated and red was the second-most common. James and Ricardo looked up, and she dipped her head politely to them.

"Good morning gentlemen. My name is Raven. It's nice to meet you on this auspicious summer day."

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"Nice to meet you—" James started, but Ricardo interrupted.

"Raven, we're not in a shop. You don't need to be so formal, like we're customers. I'm Ricardo, by the way; please call me Ricardo. I don't like nicknames."

"I'm James," he managed to squeeze in.

The corners of Raven's mouth tugged downward for a second, and then she dipped her head again. "I see, then I hope we can get along, Ricardo, James." She managed to adjust her accent precisely to match how each of them had said their own names.

When she sat down in the remaining front row seat, Ewan jerked awake.

"Huh?"

"I'm Raven, nice to meet you."

He blinked at her a second, remembered where he was, and then introduced himself. "I'm Ewan, uh, nice to meet you too, Raven."

He leaned back so he could see the other two boys.

"James, nice to meet you."

"I'm Ricardo, please call me Ricardo. I don't like nicknames."

"Ewan. Right, no nicknames, James, Ricardo. Nice to meet you."

He rubbed his face, trying to fully wake up, and started looking around the room as though it was his first time seeing it.

And then, the fated moment arrived.

Escorted by a maid, the Enchantress crossed the threshold and entered the classroom.

James was struck dumb, and his mouth fell open.

Glossy black hair cascaded in waves past her shoulders, framing the porcelain skin of her face, neck, and collarbone. Onyx jewels sparkled in place of her eyes, decorating either side of her delicate button nose. A slight jawline and full, pouty lips set between slightly round cheeks gave her a lingering cuteness even as she was clearly growing into a gorgeous young woman. She was petite, half a head shorter than the maid next to her, and she wore a loose off-white blouse with short puff sleeves and a low neckline and a long, ruffled, dark-grey skirt ending just above her ankles. Her small feet were clad in eye-catchingly shiny, polished black leather loafers. Her clothing, though loose, couldn't hide her generous curves, a body type that James had never seen in his home village before.

She was the most beautiful woman the Smith had ever seen, and from that moment on, he never had eyes for any woman but her.

As the Smith could do nothing but stare—rooted to the spot—she cocked her hip, placed a hand on it, and sighed loudly—revealing sparkling, perfectly white teeth between her rose-pink lips.

"Ugh, there's no more seats left!" She turned her gaze onto the Smith, narrowing her eyes and producing the slightest furrow in her brow.

"You there, foreigner. Give me your seat."

The maid next to her frowned more overtly.

"Mistress, that is most inappropriate."

The Enchantress turned to the maid, her skirt and hair continuing the motion in a swirl that captivated the Smith.

"You can't expect me to sit in the back row, can you?" she pouted.

The Smith belatedly realized she was talking about him—had called him foreigner—and he came to a conclusion. He stood, loudly scraping the chair back in the same motion. As he did, he realized that the Enchantress barely stood as tall as his shoulder.

Chivalrously, he assumed that she needed a front-row seat for the class. Otherwise, given her height, she wouldn't be able to see the blackboard.

"It's, it's ah, I mean, yeah, it's no problem, uh, probably hard to, er, see. It's fine, take, uh, feel free to take the seat," he said eloquently as he yielded his desk, blushing furiously. He quickly swept up his things and moved them to the seat just behind, in the empty second row.

The maid and Raven spoke at the same time.

"Young master, that's—"

"James, you don't have to—"

But they were both interrupted by the Enchantress.

"Good!" she declared. "I shall grant you the privilege of my name: I am Isabella of the Izguardia Family." Her eyes swept over the other students. "You may all call me Isabella."

Raven frowned. Ewan looked confused. Ricardo, of all of them, took it the most in stride.

"My name is Ricardo; please call me Ricardo. I don't like nicknames."

And with that, the Enchantress took the desk the Smith had yielded, flounced down into the chair, and flipped her hair with her hand, causing it to fall down her back like a waterfall and revealing the slender nape of her neck.

And the name Isabella was inscribed on James' heart forever.

The Smith sat down in the seat behind the Enchantress and, her face now hidden from view, finally noticed the bag and parasol she carried in her hand. These she set down next to her seat. He was pleased that, given her height, he would easily be able to see over her head and had no problem viewing the blackboard himself.

The maid sighed as Raven turned to Isabella.

"Isabella!"

But once again, Raven was interrupted as an older woman with streaks of silver in her black hair and unusual pale blue eyes entered the room. Her presence filled the room in an instant and pressed down on them like a weight on their very souls. Even James, lacking any kind of [Danger Sense], could feel the intimidation.

Raven clenched her jaw but turned back forward, seething. Ewan and James sat up straight, and Ricardo tidied up his doodles and prepared to take notes.

The Enchantress raised her chin with confidence and puffed out her chest.

The older woman glared at them each in turn, and then turned to the maid.

"Is something going on here?" she asked.

The maid sighed, and then uncouthly jerked her head towards Isabella.

"The young mistress was quite rude, but as long as the young master behind her has no quarrel, there is no problem."

The Enchantress tilted her head, confused. Had she said something rude?

The eyes of all others in the classroom turned to the Smith.

He cleared his throat. "Ahem, uh, no, it's fine. You can see how, er, she is. She can have the front row seat, it's fine."

Isabella whirled in her seat, her body's movement instantly distracting James.

"And what do you mean by that?!" she gasped.

He had been referring to her height, of course.

"Alright, that's enough. Face forward." the senior Enchanter clapped her hands and ordered.

"Hmph!" she huffed and whipped forward again, hair fanning behind her and nearly striking James' face.

"I am Enchanter Melinda. This is the basic course in Enchanting, and it lasts for the next two weeks. Although today we're starting in the afternoon, every day from now on we will start at eight o'clock sharp in the morning. Any questions? Good, moving on." She didn't actually pause for questions.

"Ewan?"

"Present," he responded.

"Ricardo?"

"Present."

"Raven?"

"Present," she said, still sounding cross.

"Isabella?" Melinda continued on professionally.

"Present!" she exclaimed.

Melinda looked up from her attendance list at James, over Isabella's head. Her eyes lingered on his blonde hair.

"And you must be James, the Aspirant Knight's retainer?"

"Yes, that's correct, madame," he replied politely.

A soft smile momentarily formed on her lips before her features swept into an expression of neutrality.

"Very good, everyone is here. You should all know that I prefer teaching by discussion, and everyone will be expected not only ask questions when there is something they don't understand, but also to answer questions when called upon. James."

He felt the weight of her intent press on him again.

"Tell us all, what is Enchanting?"