It was a couple of days after and the Little Kings were now inside of the Headmaster's office. Each and every member of Little Kings had safely made it back and has successfully completed their individual trials. They all came back with more confidence than when they left. It was just like Cecil had said, Ainz and the rest had all grown to a level where they could safely solo hunt an A-ranked monster.
While the girls who came back had grown more confident but still reserved, Ainz, however, had grown much more brazen. Since he soloed an A-ranked monster, his ego and his chuuni syndrome had gotten much worse. The boy had even crafted a memento of his amazing feat from the bones of his defeated monster, a wyvern. He was wearing a necklace created from the claws and fangs of the wyvern he killed, the worst part about it was that every half an hour or so he'd boast all about it to Cecil and the rest of his party.
No one could blame him, even the girls felt like doing so as well, but they learned from Lucia and Cecil to become much more reserved. Ainz was just much more expressive, and even now, while they're standing and reporting to the headmaster...
"Headmaster! Look at this, this necklace of mine! Crafted from the bones of the wyvern that I SINGLEHANDEDLY slain! WAHAHAHA!!!"
"Hahaha~ that's very good Ainz, but isn't this like the 5th time you've already said that?" The headmaster replied with a strained smile. He turned towards the rest of Little Kings, but they either averted their eyes or just shrugged.
"A-Anyways... you have all completed your trials. A very admirable feat," The headmaster continued on, not minding Ainz who was still chattering on the side. "You 6 have all been formally acknowledged as Kings of the Academy."
"OOHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Ainz cheered.
Cecil laughed seeing the over enthusiastic Ainz while the rest of the party had strained or exasperated expressions on their faces.
"Hey, settle down Ainz, the Headmasters talking serious now!" Lucia scolded.
"Yes, yes~ hehehe..."
Headmaster Elufied turned a grateful smile at Lucia before continuing on, "There are some benefits to becoming a King. First of all, you 6 will be given the privilege to own your own living space inside the academy grounds!"
"...we're moving out of the dorms then?" Fina asked.
"Yes, you all have been delegated to houses on the north side of Academy District. Please check your MIDs for the coordinates of your new homes."
Everyone nodded their heads and the headmaster continued explaining more benefits of becoming Kings. First was the private living quarters. Second, the 6 of them were given a unique uniform that separated them from the rest of the students. The new uniforms had a gold and white color scheme though there were very little differences in their design with the previous uniform, so it didn't stand out too much which was good since Cecil didn't really like standing out like a sore thumb.
Cecil didn't understand the need for the overcoat that came with the uniform that actually set them apart from the rest, but it was pretty cool. Even though he didn't really like standing out, but with the additional piece of apparel and the different color scheme, he and his friends were bound to stand out even if they didn't want to. Now that they thought about it, the other Kings were wearing similar uniforms. It's just that they hadn't paid any particular attention to it.
The next benefit was that, just like the factions, Cecil and his friends would be receiving cultivation resources allocated by the academy every month. This was very welcome for the Little Kings since they always spent their weekends out hunting for resources, now they could use that time to train and do some magical research or other things. The last benefit was the free access to all academy facilities. This included the library's upper floors, namely the 6th and 7th floor and, most importantly, the Academy's Accelerated Time Formation.
The time allotted for every King was only 12 hours every week. The factions also had the same time allotment. It's just that, unlike the Kings, they had to share that time with the entire faction. This was why every member of the faction was always gunning for more contribution points since only the top 20 members could have the privilege to enter the formation with the core members of the faction.
The reason why the Academy's tournament was so important to the factions was that the winner would be given a whole month's worth of time to privately use the formation and every member of the faction could head inside to cultivate. This was a welcome surprise for Cecil and the rest. They entered the tournament in the first place so that they could peruse this formation. 12 hours may not be a long time, but since the time dilation inside the formation was 7 times faster than outside of it, those 12 hours would turn into 84 hours which amounted to exactly half a week's worth of time!
"So, who's the young lady here?" The headmaster asked as he turned an eye at the Dragon girl, Yuna.
Lucia was the one that answered him, "Headmaster! This girl is my friend! She just got to the city a couple of days ago and wanted to stay with me! We brought her here to ask if you can enroll her into the school with us!"
"Your friend?" the Headmaster turned an appraising eye at Yuna. After a moment, he shrugged and simply said, "Alright, I'll allow it. Bring her over to the administrative building once you're done here."
"Thanks, Headmaster!"
"No problem kiddos! Anyways, the identification keys for the houses have been sent straight to your MIDs. All you need to do is wave the MID over the scanner at the front gates of your houses and it'll unlock by itself! You can go now, don't forget to look at the library and use the time formation. Get as strong as you can before the Kingdom-wide Tournament. I have high expectations for you 6."
"YES!" the Little Kings responded in unison. Cecil bowed to the headmaster and led his friends out. They too followed suit before following right after him. They had picked up on many of his habits. The bow of respect was also one of them and now every member of Little Kings would similarly bow before politely excusing themselves if they were talking to an adult. Even Yuna was doing it too.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
For many of the instructors and teachers, having the Princess of the Kingdom and the Princess of the Neftersea Oceanic Empire bow to you in respect was a little shocking, but the 2 girls thought nothing of this. They only remembered Cecil's words.
"All teachers are like your parents. They look after you and teach new things, so give them their due respect, just like you would to your mother and father, since they too are your very first teachers in life," Quoted from Cecil's mother, Anastasia Silvaria. It was a rather profound saying thought the others in Cecil's little group of friends, so they kept it to heart and acted on it.
The 6 quickly went back to their dorms and packed their things into their spatial rings. After which they met up once again and together they walked over to their new living quarters. It was at the north end of the district, at the best location of the residential area. When they arrived, rows of large houses greeted them. The houses were pretty big, rivaling the size of the nobles' manors in the City's Inner District.
Cecil began to frown when he saw the large houses and asked, "How are we supposed to each live in one of those?"
"What's up Cecil? Not used to this kinda thing?" Ainz leaned in and said with a smug grin.
"No...I'm fine with them, but don't you think it's a waste of space? I mean, from the floor plans of the house we saw in our MIDs... the house would be too big for just one person to live in!"
"Waste of space? Ahahaha~ Cecil, this is what being privileged is like! You're going to have to get used to it," Ainz chuckled as he turned and headed towards his own manor.
"..."
Lucia turned to look at Cecil then at the large house, she was about to open her mouth before Cecil interrupted her, "Don't even think about it, Lulu."
"Huh? I haven't even said anything yet!"
"I already know what you're going to say."
"Oh yeah? So what was I going to say?!"
"You were just about to say, 'Why don't we live together then Cel~'," Cecil said in a singsong voice. "...am I right?"
Lucia came over and punched him in the gut while blushing.
"Oof!"
"I wasn't going to say it like that!"
"Y-Yeah... but you were planning to ask something like that, right?"
"...maybe."
Cecil sighed at her answer. He then waved his MID on the gate's scanner and walked in. After walking in for a bit, he opened his mouth,
"...Lulu... what're you doing?"
"...nothing."
"...riiiigggghhhttt." Cecil said as he eyed the girl who was following behind him like it was the most natural thing to do. Yuna was also behind her which caused Cecil's face to twitch when he saw this.
'At least stop her!'
The group had already brought Yuna to the Administrative building before coming to the residential district so she was now an official student of Arks Royal Academy, she didn't have to go through the aptitude test since the Mana emitting from her body showed that she was at the Mana Core stage just like Lucia. But, unlike Lucia, Yuna was a genuine Mana Core Stage expert. Plus she had a young appearance showing that she was still a teenager so the Academy administration placed her in the first year's S class. They were very much glad to have another talented student enrolled in their Academy.
Cecil quickly opened the door to his house and went inside. He took a look at the interior and it was well decorated. There was also a chandelier in the middle of the room that Cecil presumed was the lobby room...or the living room, he honestly couldn't tell. The place was pretty big and he sighed before thinking out loud, "Just how am I supposed to clean this place?"
His grumblings didn't escape the ears of Lucia and Yuna. The latter turned a weird eye at him, while the former only giggled in response. Cecil went and explored around the house. The house had a kitchen, a pantry, a dining room, 2 living rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a single restroom, a study and a few extra empty room that could be used as closets or something else. There was also a special room that his friends told him was the Magic Study Room full of books and notes from the academy's research department.
There was also a basement that acted as a private training grounds and a mana cultivation chamber that had a formation which gathered the ambient mana in the surroundings and channeled it into the chamber, raising the mana density inside to a higher level than what was outside. The manor was not just fancy, it was also equipped with everything a student needed to cultivate and train.
"Wow... this place has everything."
"Woof!"
Silver barked as he comfortably laid down on top of a cushion chair.
"...so... when are you two going back to your house?"
"In a little bit, jeez..." Lucia pouted.
Cecil shrugged and slumped down onto a sofa in the main living room.
"Sure is comfortable... you can stay if you want Lulu..."
"!"
Cecil was about to close his eyes to rest when he suddenly felt a weight on top of his body. He turned his gaze down a bit and saw his childhood friend on top of him with her 5 tails happily wagging back and forth. She was clearly happy receiving his approval. Cecil had given up on sending her back because he could tell that she already had no intention of going to her own manor after stepping foot inside of his.
Since he couldn't, and wouldn't, chase her away, all he could do was leave her be. He sighed and closed his eyes. Right now, all he wanted to do was rest in this rather comfortable new home of his.
'Let's rest for today... I'll start training tomorrow.'