GPCiMW Chapter 6

Hey guys, welcome to the very first chapter release of 2024!  Like I mentioned last week, this story is now going live on QQ so I'm posting a few new chapters here on Patreon to keep you all ahead. The plan is two chapters for Initiates today, then two more chapters for Mages tomorrow, and finally either one or two chapters for Archmages on Thursday depending on if I get that chapter fully edited in time. There should also be a new chapter of WWDtS releasing on Thursday and LiFS is back on Sunday so keep an eye out for that!

Notably, I'm still looking for potential name changes for this story, but I haven't really seen any options that have stuck out to me. Some of the ones I've been considering are 'Coven Management 101', 'Witches and How to Make Them Pay', and 'Coven Building for a Better Life', but like, I don't know that I like any of them more than the current title? 

Daphne and I made it down to the great hall a little before eight thirty. The five long tables from the night before were gone, replaced by just one covered in food set against one wall and more than a hundred much smaller, round tables scattered throughout the room. The beastkin slaves who had brought out our plates the night before were moving swiftly through the room, collecting dirty plates, filling cups, and bringing out more food.

In the back of the room where the High Lord and some of the staff had been sitting, more slaves were laying out stacks of papers, piles of booklets, and writing utensils, while a number of wizards with white-edged robes––members of Aglakok’s teaching staff––were speaking quietly amongst themselves.

Looking around, it looked like most of the tables were at least somewhat occupied. There were four seats around every table, and in every instance at least one of them was occupied by a wizard or had a collared witch kneeling beside it.

After a moment, Daphne subtly pointed me towards where two wizards wearing first-year green were sitting together at one of the tables. One had bright-blue hair carefully styled into a mess of spikes and was exuberantly telling a story that involved a lot of dramatic arm waving.

The other looked rather unimpressed, slowly picking at his food and playing with a single strand of chestnut hair dangling free from his otherwise immaculate man bun. He had an emblem I didn’t recognize embroidered into the back of his robe, a green trident with a stylized golden fish impaled on each prong. That probably meant he was from one of the minor houses whose Archmaster was already dead, but their time as a House had not yet expired.

Deciding to trust Daphne’s guidance, I headed over to that table. “Do you mind if I join you guys?” I asked, interrupting the blue-haired wizard’s story.

He didn’t seem to mind, turning to grin at me widely. “Yeah, sure, feel free! I’m Kazuma Kalari, and the sourpuss here is Teveus Tastrum. What’s your name?” He had a strong eastern-european accent, which made me curious why he’d ended up at Aglakok and not Kaldona, the wizarding school located somewhere on the Black Sea.

“I’m Severin Victus, it's a pleasure to meet you.” Tapping a finger on the back of the chair, I felt the same presence as I had yesterday brush across my mind and quickly selected the same pillow as I’d chosen the night before, though this time it did not come with a glass or bowl. Outside of special occasions, witches were fed using special food-dispensers situated in every room and Daphne had already had her breakfast.

“Stay,” I ordered Daphne sharply, pointing at the pillow. She bobbed her head once and crawled into her spot. “I’m going to go grab some food,” I told the two wizards, “Be right back.”

I came back a few minutes later carrying a plate piled high with eggs, crispy breakfast potatoes mixed with bits of onion and pepper, a waffle, and two big pieces of fried chicken. There was a massive selection of different food available at the buffet table, ranging from fried rice to pancakes, hamburgers to noodle soups, and everything in between. Between Aglakok’s army of slave servants and the convenience of magical food storage, the school could easily serve food for any palate.

I was sure I was going to end up trying a lot of it over the course of the coming years, but for today I was absolutely starving and just wanted a normal, american breakfast. Chicken and waffles was an absolute classic for a reason, and the potatoes and eggs looked too appetizing to pass up on.

Looking at all the food on display, I felt a little bad for Daphne. All this variety and yet she was stuck eating tasteless goop for every meal of every day. The look on her face when I’d given her the tiny little macaroon I’d taken from dinner this morning had been absolutely priceless.

She’d eaten less than half of it, each tiny nibble bringing a blissful smile to her face, before putting the rest aside for later and thanking me profusely for the gift. It was more than likely that the scrap I’d coincidently saved for her was the best thing she’d eaten in her entire life, and that was just a very sad thing to think about.

Setting my plate down, I nodded to the two wizards, who had resumed their one-sided conversation when I’d left to get my breakfast, and dug in. I’d barely managed to take a single bite before Kazuma refocused his attention on me. “So, Severin, right? Do you mind if I call you Severin? How are you doing? I’m so unbelievably excited to be at Aglakok, I’ve been dreaming of this day since I was a little kid and now that it's here I just want to jump for joy! My father was worried that he would have to find me a witch himself, but then we got my letter and all that went away! It's been three generations since my family sent a wizard to one of the big six and I’m just, just,” he waved his hand in the air dramatically, “so overwhelmed, you know? You’re not from a House, right? You understand. My new witch, she’s just perfect, everything I was hoping for! Absolutely wonderful, and the lungs on her! Oh boy, my ears were ringing all night! And the things she can do with her ton––”

The other wizard sitting with us sighed heavily. “Please, Kazuma, for the love of all that is holy, I don’t need to hear about how loud, flexible, or anything else your witch is a second time this morning. Once was…more than enough.”

Kazuma turned towards him and pouted. “Oh come on Teveus, don’t be such a bore. Look at my beautiful flower,” he leaned down, grabbed the witch beside him by the back of her collar, and roughly pulled her up halfway into his lap. “If you had ended up with a witch half this lovely, you too would be talking about her.”

She was definitely pretty, but, well, she clearly couldn’t compare to Daphne, neither in looks nor ability. Kazuma’s witch was a tiny, vaguely-indian looking girl with tan skin, dark hair and eyes, and breasts nearly as big as her head that looked comically oversized on her slender frame. Her eyes were very wide as Kazuma roughly kneaded one of her breasts and rolled one puffy nipple between his fingers.

“I think I’m going to have her pierced, nice big rings like my father uses with his coven,” he added after a moment. “Or perhaps just one big ring through both nipples at once. I think they’re big enough to pull it off and it would certainly stand out, no?” He weighed one huge breast with his hand, then pushed her back down onto the mat beside him. “Eh, not a decision to rush into, I think.”

“Up to you,” I said noncommittally, taking another bite out of the makeshift sandwich I’d crafted out of my waffle.

Kazuma dramatically threw his hands up in the air. “That’s what Teveus said too! You two are no fun.” He sounded slightly upset, but it was clearly an act and the broad grin on his face said otherwise.

Teveus sighed again. I wondered if that was normal for him, or if he was just already exhausted from just how much energy Kazuma seemed to have. “It would be rude to suggest another wizard does not know best how to decorate their own coven. Still, I know that Introduction to Coven Management and Discipline is a mandatory course for all first-year students, and that simple body modification is a core portion of the curriculum. Perhaps by the end of the year you will have the knowledge to do whatever you feel is appropriate with your witch’s nipples.”

Kazuma’s smile, somehow, managed to get even wider. “Oh that’s awesome! I can’t wait, thanks Teveus! You’re the best!”

Teveus groaned and took a long sip of coffee. “It's common knowledge and class selection is literally in fifteen minutes. You would have found out soon enough.”

“Don’t care, still the best!”

I swallowed the last of my sandwich and decided to join the conversation. Daphne was the Seer and she’d probably pointed me towards these two for a reason. Even if she’d just chosen a table at random, it was probably a good thing to get to know some of my classmates and potential future rivals. “Any idea what other classes you guys are planning to take? I know first-years don’t get a lot of free slots, but I think we get to choose like, two or three electives to take?”

Teveus carefully set his coffee down. “I am not yet certain which class I shall select as my final elective, but I believe I will be taking The Care and Breeding of Lesser Races and Modern Wizarding Affairs. I’ve heard that Professor Olrick may be offering a class on pre-compact cultures this year, in which case I shall be selecting that as well.”

Kazuma wrinkled his nose. “Bo-ring! I don’t know what classes I’m going to choose, but it's certainly not going to be those ones.” He paused for a long moment, then his expression morphed into a perverted grin and he wiggled his eyebrows. “Well, maybe that first one does sound pretty interesting, but definitely not those other two.”

“I will admit that Modern Wizarding Affairs is unlikely to be the most captivating of classes, but it is something my father has requested I pursue. The first is another my father has selected for me, it is a business my family has been expanding into over recent decades. However I really do hope the rumors are true. I have always been fascinated by the achievements of fuckmeat in the time before the compact. It is a wonder that such inferior beings were able to do as much as they did without the care of wizards.”

“Ugh, I’m glad my dad isn’t super picky about what classes I should take. I think he’ll be happy as long as I manage to graduate.” He shrugged, “I guess I’ll just look at the brochures and pick whatever sounds interesting. That’s what they’re there for, right? What about you Severin, any idea what you’re going to pick?”

“Dueling for First Years, The Mind and You, and Introduction to Runic Scripts,” I rattled off. “Definitely the first two, but I might replace the last one with something else if I find a class that stands out. I’ve heard self-study can get you most of the way through that curriculum without too much trouble.”

Teveus raised an eyebrow. “A heavy schedule. Those are rather demanding classes.”

“I think I’ll manage. Well, I hope so at least.”

Kazuma bounced in his seat. “Dueling sounds pretty cool, maybe I’ll go for that one too! Do you think that Gornick guy might be willing to give me some tips? Maybe it will give me an edge during one of the competitions this year!”

“Perhaps. There does tend to be at least one or two dueling events each year, but I am not too worried about the competitions. More members for my coven would be nice, but I already have another witch lined up for when I head home for the summer. An elf would be a fine addition of course, but I fear that I have no expectation of placing first in any event this year. There are simply too many noble heirs in our class.”

“Oh?” I asked curiously. I had seen quite a few wizards with House emblems on their robes, but I didn’t know enough about the different families to identify who was actually important and who wasn’t.

“Indeed. The designated heirs of House Wilkens, Vileblood, Olmount, and Gah’rah are all in our year, and there are more than two-dozen other wizards from greater Houses than my own amongst our year. It is very rare for nearly a third of the entire class to be House-born, and rather unfortunate for those without such natural advantages.” He sounded genuinely remorseful, but I couldn’t help but hear his words as patronizing. Like of course all the House-born wizards were going to be so much better than people like Kazuma and me. It was only natural.

Well, fuck that. I was going to demolish those fuckers. It sounded like I was going to be making a lot of enemies in the next few years––I had a feeling that these fancy heirs weren’t going to take getting beaten by a nobody like me lightly––but that wouldn’t matter if I managed to become an Archmaster in my own right by the time graduation rolled around.

No one was going to try to assassinate me as long as I was a student at Aglakok and thus under the implicit protection of the High Lord. I just needed to get strong enough fast enough that they couldn’t mess with me once that protection expired. That had been dad’s big mistake; he hadn’t realized just how cutthroat and ruthless some wizards were until it was too late. He’d stepped on a lot of toes during his school years and hadn’t been ready for the waiting knives when he graduated. I wouldn’t make the same mistake. I would be ready.

I didn’t say any of that though. “That’s good to know,” I said instead, smiling tightly. “Thanks Teveus.”

“Of course, I am happy to assist you. Now, we should finish up our food and get ready to move. It is nearly nine and some classes, particularly electives, can fill up very quickly.”

Thank you to KnowledgeSeeker and Magabeast_pro01 on discord for beta reading this story.