“Wow, they really got us a small place. And here I thought we’d have at least two houses for ourselves. Tch, and they had the nerve to say they were doing us a favor,” Paige muttered to herself.

Paige strolled through the house and counted the rooms. Taking a look into the first room, her face fell as she measured the size of the room. It was smaller than her room back in the forest. And the windows were much, much smaller. She was already disappointed that the house was so small, and the number of rooms cemented that even further. Though there was a good number of bedrooms, each of them were cramped. 

Scratching her head as she walked down the stairs, she sighed. ‘Hell, this might have been an inn once upon a time!’

It most definitely was an inn, Paige decided, as she took a harder look around. The kitchen and the common room set back inside their new home was very atypical. No normal house needed six different stoves, nor four different ovens. And as she walked through the other end of the kitchen to the common room, she noticed more details that stuck out to her. Sure, the wide-open area could have been construed as a great hall of some sort, but she could see the indents in the floorboards where the tables used to rest. She just hoped her moniker of ‘Goddess of Remodeling’ wouldn’t come by to bite her.

“Well, it’s not what I was hoping, but it is a place to live,” she stated as she walked into the room.

Looking across the busy room, the first item that caught her eye was the young girl sleeping on a pile of boxes. Shavie has hit her across the back of the head, but it wouldn’t have caused the girl to be out this long. Unless she had used a Skill, but Paige didn’t know too much about the Bodyguard or Assassin Classes to say otherwise. Still, it was something for her to ask about later. 

Stella was already unpacking her boxes as she unloaded a multitude of alchemic supplies. Paige turned her head to the other side of the room and frowned. While they were both technically working, Nick and Shavie were on opposite sides of the room as they glanced warily at each other. Maybe it was because their Classes were almost opposite, but she didn’t think that Nick would be scared of an Assassin. Hell, she wasn’t even a Night Walker, as far as she could tell anyway. Sure, Shavie still had a high affinity toward darkness, but the distinct lack of any magic and the way she moved back at the Mausoleum painted her as a pure Assassin.

Stella sighed as she locked gazes with Paige. “Well. This makes our house in Nespe feel like a summer mansion. And here I thought we’d at least have a yard.” Stella didn’t quite glare, but it was close. 

“Yes, well... once Zenith passes the teacher exam, maybe we’ll get a larger space? I mean, there has to be dormitories on campus for the students to live at, so that’ll free up some of the rooms,” Paige said after a moment. “And we can always renovate.” She really couldn’t refute Stella either since she was expecting the Healer Hall to have more clout than they actually had. They were the Healer Hall for goodness sake!

Stella paused and stopped unpacking her things. “They are staying right here. There is no way I am allowing my child to live unsupervised.”

“Well you might not have a choice. Say, how normal was your childhood?”

“Probably as normal as yours was,” Stella said.

“Ouch. Sorry to hear that.”

“Well, you don’t reach our level by having a normal childhood. This is practically a long term vacation,” Shavie murmured from the side.

Nick sighed. “At least Tyler and Bishner aren’t here. That saves us from doubling up too much. But we really need to solve this issue, Paige.”

“Hm?”

“Paige. You honestly believe it’s okay to sleep under the same roof with an Assassin?”

“Former Assassin,” Paige countered.

“As far as you know, ” Shavie murmured.

Paige rolled her eyes.“Yes, as far as I know. You can call yourself one when I see you actually do something Assassin like; Miss ‘I can’t beat a Farmer that’s using a simple hoe’.” 

Still, seeing the skeptical look on Nick’s face, she went for her sure answer. Checking to make sure the others were busy for a moment, she lowered her voice. “Look, Nick. We’re all in this together. Just… think of it as an extended mission from your training days. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be alone at night anyways. Just set up a shift if you’re that worried.”

Nick’s deadpan gaze told her his answer. And Paige winced as Shavie snickered from the side. “Yes. Let your wife protect you from the mean, scary Assassins.”

“Cut the bullshit. We all know nothing is binding us together besides the kids. And even then, I’m positive that you would kill us if given half a chance.”

Paige coughed. Yes, they all knew that but she wasn’t about to say it out loud. “And what can we do, Nick? We’re all High Classes. There’s no way to bind us together. We can’t even create a Party together if everyone isn’t willing to be in one. Just… have faith?”

“This is a death trap waiting to be sprung,” Nick warned.

“We don’t exactly trust your Party either. And you have more of your Party here than we do. Are you that afraid of us?”

Nick gave them a steady look. “Seeing that we all were killed at the Mausoleum, yes I am. We all have a right to be wary of each other.” He turned, picking up his and Zenith's boxes. “I trust you in a lot of things, Paige. Just make sure you’re positive about this before things get too far.”

Watching Nick leave, she turned and held up her hands in apology. “So, yeah. That’s our resident Bowyer.”

“Ranger,” Stella corrected.

“That too. But we both agreed to play nice. And a Shaman is good for their word.”

Stella nodded slowly. “That… is very true. There is a reason why most Demon Lords have Shamans as advisors or heads of states. How do you know so much?”

“See, Nick, I don’t have much to worry about,” Paige called up the stairs. Turning her head, she shrugged. “A Demon Mage told me some stories. The penalty for a Shaman going against their word is almost as bad as breaking an official Party apart, all things considering.”

“True. After all, no one wants to die,” Stella confirmed.

Paige nodded inwardly, though she was still a tad bit skeptical. There were always exceptions to the rules. At the time though, she was on good speaking terms with Hailee, so her intel should be accurate. Eyeing the two of them, she picked up the closest box, which happened to be a box of expensive but haphazardly stacked paintings, and started to carefully set them down by the walls.

It was rather fortuitous for Stella and her group to have brought along a large majority of their furniture, Paige thought as she looked around their new living space. When they had left the forest they had packed all their valuables in her spatial ring and had left all the furniture for Sarah to use. All they needed now was some furniture, food, decorations. a shop, and land and they’d be set!

“Hey, do you think Zenith will get the job? She seems competent enough as a Mage,” whispered a voice from her side. 

Paige looked up as Shavie poked the still unconscious Princess on the cheek.  For some reason, Shavie was talking so quietly that she was sure Stella didn’t hear her. Batting her hand away, Paige turned and whispered back.

“Hey, stop that! Let the poor girl sleep. She must have had it rough coming this far.

“And yes. I think Zenith will do fine. Her entire education is the culmination of the Imperial Family research. And even if she doesn’t draw upon those, I’ve given her so many magical tomes that I would be surprised if she hasn’t learned enough to teach High Class Mages something new, let alone a bunch of Apprentices.”

Shavie took that in with a slight nod. “Hm… well, do you want to go and check it out? You know, scope the school out and such. Come on, we can make it a competition too. Stella will make a fuss if I leave by myself, but if you come along...”

Paige bit her lip. That was a highly tempting idea. She wouldn’t turn down the offer, especially if it was a competition, but… Zenith. She’d already hoisted a lot onto her friend and party member. 

But Shavie’s next words cemented her decision.

“You know, you probably didn’t read all of Glenn’s notes. Today is the final day for testing. So if you want this Princess to go to school…”

“...”

Zenith was most certainly going to kill her.

Paige made up her mind. Grabbing the girl, she gently tied her to her back as Shavie looked at her skeptically.

“Stella can watch her. You know, she’s pretty good with kids, after all. Isabella turned out just fine.”

“I hardly think we can enroll her without her being physically there.”

Paige averted her eyes as Shavie stared inquisitively at her. She knew that wasn’t a good reason to bring her but it was the best she had at the moment. 

“Need to tell Stella we’re leaving?” Paige asked.

Shavie shrugged. “Hm, I’ll make a suitable excuse to placate her.”

“I’ll wait by the door, then.” 

Turning around, Paige glanced over her back and waited for Shavvie to leave before she started releasing her mana. She had to do this fast. ‘I, Paige Alduit, forcibly check this girl's status. [[Compelled Status]]’. Closing her eyes, she made sure to keep part of her mind active to track Shavie while she looked over the girl's basic information.

Name: Nimi Cerino Alduit

Class: Princess

Race: Human / Elf

Paige eyed the girl’s, no Nimi’s status with a wary gaze. ‘Cerino! Shit, shit, shit… Peter, you knocked up my disciple!? And why hadn’t anyone hid her status before she escaped?

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‘Guh, this is messed up! I knocked out my niece. On accident,’ Paige thought as she eyed her sleeping niece. ‘Well, guess I’ll do the hard work then.’ 

Reaching into her mana core, Paige didn’t hesitate as she pulled a cloud of divine mana from deep within her. Without her being in her Party, she couldn’t hide Nimi’s Status temporarily, nor did she have time to shatter an Imperial Wardstone. It was a waste, but she had more than enough divine mana to spare. She was part elf though, so a Fencer Class would work, even if it was a bit stereotypical. But her other information… 

“I, Paige Alduit, forcibly suppress, Nimi Cerino Alduit, Status. I humbly ask for her name to be altered to Nimi Ceri; her Class from ‘Princess’ to ‘Fencer’; and her Race from ‘Human / Elf’ to ‘Human’.” 

Paige waited for the god’s to acknowledge her request and sighed as all the mana merged with the girl unobstructed without the usual voice narrating the alteration. ‘The gods couldn’t even bother with answering me? Peh.’ Paige huffed, but she accepted it with blind faith. At least she hadn’t gotten a punishment for doing this. 

‘That’ll take care of a few future problems. Hopefully,’ she thought.

Paige opened her eyes as Shavie walked out of the shadows. 

“Ready?” Shavie asked.

“Yup.”

----------------------------------------

Zenith strolled through the school, not entirely impressed with what she had seen thus far. Sure, it was a big step up from Nespe Academy, but so what? The only redeeming factor she had seen so far was the large scale, interconnected magic formations overhead; but even that was only comparable to her family’s school back home. The formations above were incredibly wasteful since there probably wasn’t enough Mages on campus to justify the cost to set up a Mana well. 

“Look at that, Isabella! Those dormitories are huuuge! Do you think we’ll get one?”

“Lily, you remember the room challenges we had to do at Nespe. Do you think we’ll have to fight for a room?”

“You have to fight for a room? Was it tough, Tyler?”

“More annoying than not. Well, you see…”

Zenith smiled wryly. At least the kids were enjoying themselves. Looking at the buildings on the campus, Zenith questioned who exactly designed the layout and aesthetics of the school grounds.

Sure, the sweeping balconies offered a good view of the surroundings; and the large swathes of open land between the buildings were helpful for the ambient mana. Every building was covered in some type of white rock, probably marble, so that the building could absorb and store mana. All in all, it was rather pretty to look at, but as a student or teacher? Her day was going to be long if the class schedules had to factor in travel time.

Zenith paused as the main building came into view. Situated directly in the middle of the campus was a building that could easily encompass most of the outer buildings. In fact, Zenith parsed through her memory and realized that the building was hidden up to this point, even though she should’ve had a clear view of it no matter where she stood. 

‘A formation etched directly into the building or an incredibly large [[Concealment]] formation? I suppose that is possible with enough ambient mana, though… why would it need that much mana?’

Resisting the urge to investigate with her mana, she continued walking forward while grasping her necklace in her hand. Looking down at the stone nestled in her hand, the stone was still cool to the touch and was not radiating light. Putting it back underneath her clothes, Zenith frowned as she looked at the building. 

No, something didn’t make sense. The building wasn’t being powered by an active formation, nor was it being empowered by the intertwining magic circles overhead. Biting her lip as she examined the inert formation above, Zenith could faintly make out the symbols with [Mana Sense], but watching it was giving her a migraine. The basis of the formation was unlike anything she had seen before. It was incredibly messy with conflicting symbols linked together; yet it was holding together just fine.

‘The building has to be powered by a separate, isolated magic circle within an established one. Almost like an interlocking formation, yet... How was Peter able to do that?’

Zenith chuckled. ‘Wait. Assuming he was like Paige, then it kinda made sense.’ Whether that was because Paige’s older brother was just as powerful, intelligent, or cheated and used divine mana, was up in the air and would have to wait until she thoroughly investigated the formation. But based on how Paige had used her divine mana before, Zenith was leaning towards Peter relying on divine mana to sustain anything and everything he did.

Looking to her side, Zenith noticed Lily was eyeing the building and formation above critically as well. Her little student had a great talent at formations, though she had hardly been able to utilize it. 

Pausing by the door, Zenith held up her hand to forestall Lily’s question. Glenn’s notes specifically stated to wait at the door until an escort arrived. Which, to her mild surprise, was a familiar face. 

“Miss Odessa? What brings you here?” Zenith readily asked.

“I’m here for the teacher examination. Sir Glnnn left to bring the formations back, but, I… I’m stuck here! I’m not allowed to go back home,” Odessa said. 

Odessa's eyes started watering as Zenith and the kids watched awkwardly.

“Umm, well… at least we’ll both be doing the test?” Zenith patted her shoulder. She could sympathize with her predicament since she was Paige’s default choice to foist things off on too.

Odessa sniffed, but nodded. “You can follow me to the test grounds. The kids can follow us too. There aren’t a lot of people left, so take that as you will.”

Zenith nodded and walked into the building behind Odessa. She was surprised by Odessa’s behavior though, and immediately questioned the sad girl beside her. “So, did you have big plans back home? You seem sad that you weren’t going back.”

Odessa shook her head. “Not really. I usually stay at home and pass the time by helping teach Apprentices or managing the Healer Hall. It’s just, all my friends and family are there. Here? I get inhospitable old gramps and now I have honor guards whom I can barely trust. Why can’t I just go back to living a mostly carefree life?”

Zenith could relate. The girl was being awfully open with her feelings, now that there were no one else around. “I know the feeling all too well, Miss Odessa.”

“You can call me Odessa. I don’t have to follow protocol and call you Imperial Servant Zenith, do I?”

“No, you can call me Zenith.”

“And I’m Lily, Party Leader for Cidala Heroes! I’m her number one student. And here is my Party! We’re all Apprentices, but we are really good!”

“Lily…”

Zenith smiled wryly. Lily did like to show off her Party. Odessa looked over the children carefully. “Hm, you should do well. Do you know what faction you're going to join?”

Lily slowed her steps down. “Faction? Why would we want to join a faction?”

“It’s not about wanting, it’s practically required from what I can tell. There are too many powers here fighting to establish a foothold, so everyone here will try to get more followers, even if they have to break apart a party to do so.”

“Hmph. Miss Paige told me what to do if someone makes a move on me or my Party,” Lily glowered.

“Oh?”

Zenith and Odessa paused and turned. This was the first time that Zenith had heard about this particular lesson.

“She said if it was a boy to kick him in the balls and intimidate him, and if it’s a girl to slap her silly until she cries and gives up.”

Lily smiled mischievously as she waved her hands back and forth. Zenith frowned. The problem was she could almost believe she was telling the truth. “Practicality aside, what did she say, Lily?”

“Well... she used that as the main example. Her exact words were ‘never to show fear and to always take the initiative when dealing with jerks like Scions,’ and that was a good way to do since we are younger than them.” Lilly pondered a bit more. “She had some really choice phrases on what to do if adults were threatening us, but she said she would deal with it should it arise.”

‘When did Paige have the time to teach them all this?” Zenith counted to five and continued walking forward while Odessa stilled but caught up beside her a moment later. 

“That… can Imperial Servants talk like that?” Odessa wondered.

“Paige can be a bit...dramatic. My best student wouldn’t have learned something like that. And she certainly has more sense than that.”

Zenith laughed it off, though she glared at Lily from the side. 

Odessa blinked and shrugged. “Anyway, the kids will be tested separately. From what I can tell, they’ll test their affinities and then a simple demonstration of their abilities, combat, and such. Our test should be similar.”

“Hm. That’s fairly ordinary. I thought it would be harder than that,” Zenith admitted.

“Well, it will be. Remember, we are up against the best of the best. Anyways, do you join up for the test? I, uh, well, to be quite frank, my uncle hadn’t exactly told me I would be staying here, and I left my honor guards back at the Healer Hall, so...” Odessa stuttered slightly, “can you help me out a bit?”

“You left everything and everyone behind?” 

“Of course. This is Alduit Academy. I’m not in danger here.”

Zenith sighed. Of course a lone Cleric would need help with a test. She eyed the girl's rather nice outfit and sighed. Unless her robe was woven out of mithril, which it probably wasn’t, Odessa would have a rough time on any test at their level. That was probably Sir Glenn’s way of having them help out the Healer Hall as well. “I have a few equipment you can borrow for the test. Do you have a wand with you?”

“No…”

Zenith stopped and took stock of her equipment. Luckily she brought along her spare combat gear with her. “Here, you can take this shield and spare wand. The wand is nothing fancy, but the shield is mana intensive, so make sure you keep a portion of your mana dedicated toward defense.”

“But it’s just an arm guard?” Odessa started as she looked over the deceptively plain Mana Shield. 

“Trust me, it’ll be fine.” Zenith smiled and continued walking down the main corridor of the building. Judging by the lack of a reaction, Zenith assumed she was headed in the right direction, though it was strange that the hallways had a slight downward slant. Whatever the case may be, the air was still fresh this deep into the building, so it was clear that there was adequate circulation.

‘I’ll have to adjust my combat plans. No mana shield, but I also don’t have to babysit Odessa now. I’m still wearing the mithril bodysuit that Paige had lent me and I know [[Mana Cloth]], so defensively I am still okay,’ Zenith thought. She hoped they didn’t have too many competitors left.

Clearing her throat, Zenith inquired politely, “So, how many Teachers have been tested? Less than a dozen?” 

“We’re lucky.  For the three available spots, there have only been six dozen applicants.”

“Seventy-two applicants from just the surrounding border countries? All trying for the same slots?” Zenith asked. Sure, there were plenty of schools, but she couldn’t think of more than a dozen teachers that were capable enough to teach here.

“Oh no, from across the Empire. Supposedly there hasn’t been an opening here for years, but the Academy gave almost two years of advanced notice that there would be spots open.”

Glenn’s warning last night finally made sense. Faced with this many applicants, the Imperial Healer Hall would have trouble staying neutral. Even the Grand Healer next to her would have a hard time getting a foothold inside the doors here. And how many students would she even have here if she did become a Teacher?

No, looking at Odessa’s situation from a different angle, she probably had an easier time getting accepted. Instead of a Teacher, she could just apply for a support position instead. And what better position for her than a resident Healer here? 

Zenith smiled at her acquaintance beside her. She would tell her that option if she failed to get a spot. After all, the school wouldn’t give Odessa a hard time. There was a reason why everyone loved Clerics, after all…

“So, we just have to impress the current faculty. That’ll be easy enough. So what are we fighting? An Elder Hydra? Elder Manticore? Or maybe they’re letting us choose our opponents to showcase our strengths...”

Odessa blinked and slowly shook her head. “No...We have to impress the current students too since we’ll be their new teachers. As for our opponents… it’s the other Teachers. And we’ll have to beat their bodyguards as well.” 

Seeing the look of incredulity on Zenith’s face, she continued, “It’s rather dangerous traversing the Empire alone, so it’s only natural that they would come with a Party. It’s also their way of showing their charisma. After all, fighting elder monsters is a bit too dangerous.”

“...so why would Glenn’s note say to come to the test site alone?”

“Oh. The faculty is rather prejudiced about what happened to Peter while he was in Alcudia, so anyone from Alcudia already has a negative mark on them. Having a Party would only decrease your chance of getting in.” 

Odessa sent a look of pity at the kids as her voice lowered. “You guys will have it tough since you are coming here with a recommendation from the Alcudian Queen..”

Zenith bit back an expletive. Great. Now she had to not only impress people, she also had to fight against others for a position.

Stopping by a door that most likely led to the testing room, Zenith turned and asked a final question. “Do any of our opponents have a High Class, or are they just Teachers?”

“High Class?” Odessa questioned. She blinked. “I don’t think so? But there are a lot of people with Specialized Classes here.”

Zenith sighed in relief. As long as there weren’t any High Classes, she should be fine. 

Opening the door to the room, Zenith strolled into the exam room confidently, wholly forgetting one simple fact that they had discovered years ago.

People here weren’t classified by the same standards anymore.