“That’s it,” Sell said as she pointed to the building further down the small road.
This place feels very tranquil. It’s slightly secluded, and someone must have given a lot of thought to the surrounding landscape.
The House of the Scrolls reminded Adion of the Old Library, if only smaller. There was also a huge crest above the large door between two marble pillars. It unsurprisingly depicted a scroll, representing the House. There were a lot of trees and beds of flowers in the area, and Adion didn’t spot many students walking around.
It might have been a library at some point. I expect the Scrolls to have plenty of books.
Adion and Sell had to step up a wide but low staircase to get to the door. Just outside the door, two students were sitting opposite each other at a small table. They were playing cards.
They both turned to look at Sell and Adion as they noticed someone approaching them.
“You must be Adion, right?” One of the students, a 2nd-year student with short brown hair, asked Adion with a friendly smile.
“That’s right,” Adion nodded.
“I’m Erfin. I heard you would be showing up. I’m glad to have you join us. I bet all the other Houses will be seething when they hear about it,” Erfin said with a small laugh.
“Right,” Adion said with a slight smile, “Well, I’m not really sure about the process, but we are both here to join the Scrolls.”
“Of course, of course,” Erfin said, “I’ll go get Dorsia for you.”
With those words, Erfin turned around and ran inside.
“Want to play some cards?” The other student still there asked. He had long black hair tied up in a sloppy bun. He was still sitting by the small table and seemed to almost look at them with a pleading gaze.
Adion turned to look at Sell questioningly, but she just shrugged in response.
I should keep the Headmaster’s words in mind and be friendly when I can.
“Okay,” Adion nodded and went up to the small table, “I’m Adion Remori, by the way. This is Sellitha Amyss. We’ll both be joining the Scrolls.”
“Good to have you. I’m Ohem,” Ohem said as he began shuffling the cards.
Adion felt that he was a 4th year and already a Silver mage, something very impressive considering the new year had just started.
I wonder why someone like him is just sitting here playing cards?
Adion turned to Sell and asked, “Do you want to play too?”
“I’ll just watch,” Sell said with an amused smile.
“What do you want to play? Sailor’s luck? That’s the best card game, so surely you’re down?” Ohem asked Adion.
“Er,” Adion hesitated. Ohem was looking at him expectedly with bright green eyes. “I’m not sure I know the rules.”
“So that’s it,” Ohem nodded in understanding, “No worries, I’ll teach you. We begin with five cards each. I will also lay down ten cards face down on the table. The goal of the game is to match…” Ohem rambled on the rules of the game, which were a lot more complicated than the game he had played with his siblings. He still agreed to give it a try after a brief explanation, though.
But before they could finish a single game, Erfin came back with Dorsia.
“Adion?” Dorsia asked. Adion turned around to look at the girl with curly brown hair and an amused smile on her lips.
“Head Dorsia,” Adion got up from his seat and greeted respectfully. Sell stepped up next to Adion and did the same.
“No need for formalities. We try to avoid them when we can here in the Scrolls,” Dorsia said with a smile, looking Adion and Sell up and down. “You must be Sellitha, right? Are you here to join us as well?”
“That’s right,” Sell nodded.
“I’m very happy to have you both. I didn’t think I’d be able to get both the rank 1 and 2 students without even approaching them. I guess I’m a lot smarter than I thought!” Dorsia said and started laughing.
Adion and Sell turned to look at each other in confusion.
“I’m joking, I’m joking,” Dorsia said, waving her hand, “I know you’re not here because of anything I did. Anyway, come with me, and I’ll show you around.”
“Alright, thanks,” Adion nodded. He then turned to Ohem and apologized, “I’m sorry, we’ll have to leave the card game for another day.”
“It’s fine,” Ohem said, “I remember the state of the game. I’ll come find you later so we can finish.”
Oh…I didn’t think we were actually finishing it.
Sell seemed to know what he was thinking as she was looking at him while holding back her laughter.
“Let’s go,” Dorsia said and Sell and Adion inside.
Adion arrived in a large hall. At the end of it, Adion saw what he assumed was some kind of reception. But the feeling wasn’t as stale as he had come to expect from a place like this. There were several other students around. They were playing chess, reading, writing, or just talking with friends. There were several comfy-looking sofas where you could sit down and spend time with your fellow House members.
“This is a much nicer place than the House of the Soaring Souls,” Sell commented. “Even if they have a bigger building and more facilities, I would much rather spend my time in a place like this.”
“I’m glad you feel that way,” Dorsia said while like back at Sell with a friendly smile. “We have tried to focus on creating an environment suitable for relaxation, where you can easily find peace and quiet to think, or easily reach out to an older member for help. We have training facilities as well, of course, and we acknowledge the need for fighting abilities, but we spend a lot more of our focus on getting there through studies, discussion, and contemplation.
“This environment might not make us as feisty as the Raindrops in a fight, but I would dare say we have the most evolved concepts out of any House. I believe that is greatly attributed to the peaceful environment we have cultivated. A stressful House can definitely work well for certain things, but I believe it hurts more than it helps.”
Grasping a concept is probably possible by being pushed and pressured, but I know it is also possible with quiet contemplation. I must say, I prefer the second choice.
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Dorsia kept taking them around, floor by floor, and explaining the purpose of each room and research facility. When they got to the library, Adion had a question pop up in his mind.
“Can you read everything here for free?” Adion asked.
“No,” Dorsia shook her head, “Some books are available for everyone and don’t cost anything, but the vast majority of books you have to pay credits to read.”
Adion frowned slightly at that answer and asked, “I thought the purpose of joining a House was so you wouldn’t have to have a vast amount of credits in order to gain knowledge or access to facilities?”
“Well, we have our own way of doing things,” Dorsia said, “And I’m sure many other Houses have a similar structure. I think it works very well.”
“What’s your way of doing things?” Sell asked.
“To be a member of the Scrolls, you only need to pay 10 credits every week, regardless of what your rank is,” Dorsia explained, “So you two would barely notice it. What’s more, those credits can be used on any service our House has to offer, whether it is books, training facilities, or help with your studies, it’s up to you. So in a way, you’re not losing anything.
“There are, of course, things available that you wouldn’t be able to afford with just 10 credits a week, such as certain valuable information or rare books. And if you want to receive help for one of your classes from someone like me, that would cost you a fortune, but everything is available.
“The benefit of doing things this way is that the credits don’t disappear, but end up with the House. The House can then use the credits for more resources for its members. In a way, spending your credits here doubles their value to you.
“Instead of paying credits to rent a private fighting pit by the arena, use the credits to rent one here. You don’t lose anything, and the House you are part of gets the chance to grow stronger. We could make everything free, but we would stagnate before long. We need a lot of credits to function. If you ever get a job here in administration, I’m sure you’ll see how every small thing adds up.
“A lot of services are still free, though. We can’t demand credits for every single service. We wouldn’t be much use then, would we? And should someone be in desperate need of something that costs more credits than they can afford but would help them pass a class or climb a rank, we usually find a way to solve it.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Adion said. He also felt it was a fair way of doing things. With this, he wouldn’t have to give away more credits than anyone else just because he received a lot of them from the Academy.
“There are also bonuses if you contribute a lot,” Dorsia added with a meaningful smile.
“Oh?” Adion looked at Dorsia curiously.
“I’m sure you two won’t be happy with remaining low in the hierarchy of the Scrolls for long, and should you contribute a lot of credits, you will find yourselves in the Scrolls council eventually. I wouldn’t even be surprised if you managed to become Head one day.”
That is something I have to do.
“How do you join the Scrolls council?” Adion asked.
“That’s the thing,” Dorsia said with a smile, “It is a complicated process to determine who is the most worthy. After all, you have to take into account so many different things, fighting prowess and knowledge are just a few of them, and there are many things to consider just with that. Fortunately, the Academy already has a perfect system in place to determine who the people most suitable are. Credits. If you have more credits than someone else, you have done something the Academy values more than that person. Thus, the ten people who have contributed the most credits to the House get a seat in the Scrolls council. And there are a lot of things you get access to there without having to think as much about credits. So I hope to see you two start spending,” Dorsia finished explaining with a small laugh.
Adion turned to look at Sell. She smiled and nodded.
“That’s a cute mind-reading thing you got going there,” Dorsia commented with a smile.
Adion noticed that Sell tried to control her expression, but she couldn’t stop a slight blush from slipping through.
“Unfortunately, it only goes one way,” Adion said with a shrug, “Anyway, I’m very interested in the Scrolls council, so I guess I’ll be spending some credits. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I spent most of mine on books,” Dorsia said. Unfortunately, we can’t compare the Academy’s library, so I had to spend a lot of my credits there. But you should make sure you look through the books and scrolls here first. But I know you are a fighter, so let me show you some of our training facilities.”
Sell and Adion followed Dorsia as she led the way.
“I’m also interested in runes,” Adion commented, “And in anything related to inexplicable magic, such as Words of Truth and Gifts. Do you know how I could learn more about that?”
“I could suggest a few books to you,” Dorsia agreed, “We also have a lot of members proficient in runes. I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help you in exchange for some credits. But then again, I guess you are the Headmaster’s disciple. You might get everything you need from him. But he must be a busy man, and you have a lot of credits to spend, so I would still take the opportunity.”
“How does that work in terms of my contribution?” Adion asked.
“Anyone exchanging credits within the House has to pay a part of it to the House. How much depends on the service. But the whole amount will work toward your contribution. Don’t try to abuse the system, though. We register everything carefully, and it is easy to spot when something isn’t right. The punishment is quite severe, so don’t even try.” Dorsia warned.
Adion could see how it would be easy to abuse, so he trusted Dorsia’s words that they had a handle on it.
It might be worth giving it a try. This place is bound to be filled with knowledgeable people, and the Headmaster can’t teach me everything. As long as I have the credits, I don’t see why not. And I will have to spend a lot of my credits here if I want to reach the top of the House.
“By the way, Dorsia,” Adion said as they stepped outside, “Do you have any plans on rising the rank of the Scrolls?”
Dorsia gave Adion an awkward smile, “If only it were that easy. Of course, I want to. Everyone does. But just keeping our position as fourth takes a lot of effort. We recently climbed from fifth just a few years ago, so we will need some time to stabilize. There might be a chance next year, however. With the Soaring Souls and the Shields going to war with each other, they are bound to spend a lot of credits in the upcoming House Clash. If they are careless and spend too much of their credits, they will be weakened and at risk of dropping in the rankings.”
“What’s the House Clash? Is that where the rankings of the Houses are decided?” Adion asked.
“That’s right,” Dorsia nodded, “It is a sort of competition that differs slightly every year. But it always puts a great focus on fighting abilities, which is why all the Houses have to do the same if they want to do well. But there are other important areas where you need to do well. Runes and Alchemy are always featured in some way, for example.”
“I see,” Adion nodded. “So, I guess that excelling in many areas is a good strategy.”
“Yes and no,” Dorsia said, “While it is obviously good to have a lot of areas of expertise, you don’t want to have that at the cost of truly being the best in any one area. Getting first place in the fighting section, and scoring zero on everything else, is worth a lot more than placing average in everything.”
“That complicates things a little. I can see how there are many ways to approach it. Is there anywhere you can read about previous House Clashes?” Adion asked.
“Sure,” Dorsia said, “I can show you later. I always encourage our members to study previous clashes.”
“You said something about spending credits in the Clash,” Adion said, “What exactly does that mean?”
“With enough credits, you can make anything happen at the Academy,” Dorsia said with a small smile, “That includes influencing the House Clash. All the top-ranked Houses need to save up a lot of credits every year in order to gain an advantage. The question is how much you should spend, and on what. A lot of thinking goes into it. Last year, we spent about 40 percent of all the credits we received that year in order to keep our position at rank 4. We can probably get away with spending slightly less this year, though, as we have gotten stronger overall.
“But you never know for sure. It is a silent war every year. No one knows if a House will suddenly up their investment in order to climb a rank.”
So that’s why she said the Shields and Soaring Souls can’t be careless. If they spend all their credits, they will be a lot weaker going forward.
I have to study this deeply if I want to take the Scrolls to rank 1 in the future.