Chapter 147 - This army of mine
In my last semester in the Academy, I became more outspoken when I saw anything that made my sense of justice beep. Of course, I wasn’t as rash as I used to be when I first joined, but still, there were some inevitable confrontations with the Principal.
Not that I cared much about it anymore, as I was almost graduating. All I needed to do was to come to class once per week and to produce my paper.
It was a very simple and boring paper about the composition of composite elements. I basically demolished the accepted paradigm about elements, though I stopped short of presenting my alternative thesis.
I phrased it not as a demolishing, of course, but as mere questioning. And I presented such a solid pragmatic and theoric base that one couldn’t simply dismiss it as foolishness.
It was worded in a way to avoid direct confrontation with the Church, of course. ’I’m only asking questions; I’m not affirming anything’ is the all-powerful conspiracy theorist resource.
But it seems that I made at least one big enemy during my time at the Academy. She joined the academy one year before me, so she was quite jealous of me graduating before her.
I’m talking about Urraca, of course, the princess of Castro. She has disliked me since our very first meeting, a feeling that I thoroughly reciprocated.
As she was one year more advanced than me, we rarely met during my time in there. Except for this last semester, in which we’re doing the final paper class together.
She was to graduate next semester, while I’m graduating now. She was so furious about it that she also joined the class, to at least graduate at the same time.
And she was my most staunch opponent in everything I did or said within the Academy. And of course I bested her in every public argument we had. Which only put more timber to the fire.
Until graduation night finally arrived.
After all the ceremony, just when I thought that I was finally able to leave all the Academy stuff behind, she came to talk to me.