With calm steps, Illyan descended the stairs. When he made eye contact with the man behind the counter, the man nodded and disappeared through the doors behind him, presumably into the kitchen.
After this, Illyan found an empty table in one corner of the inn and sat down, placing the bag next to him. Then he closed his eyes and waited. In this way, over 20 minutes passed before the doors were opened by an old lady with an apron. The barman immediately pointed at Illyan, showing her where the customer was.
“Here is the food and hot water,” she said with a smile as she put everything on the table.
Illyan nodded as he took the wooden spoon and tasted it.
It tasted horrible. It was a kind of porridge made from leftover vegetables, corn, and cereals that one could gather. It was standard food for poor people. With that, hard bread that needed to be soaked in it for you to even chew it was added as a side dish.
While Illyan didn’t live some extravagant life in the north, when it came to food it was a high-quality one. During those times, he probably ate more meat than the entire village during one generation. And when it came to meat, there were not many ways to mess it up.
Simple heat treatment and adding salt made it delicious.
Of course, that didn’t mean that Illyan was a picky eater now. He ate it without problems as there were times when he needed to eat worse things in his life and this was nothing in comparison.
Not to mention, this kind of meal gave him tingles of nostalgia as he remembered times when he ate this kind of meal with his family from one big pot while smiling at each other…
……..
Next day, when he came for breakfast, he decided to stay as he waited for Terren's group. Yesterday, he didn’t wait for them as he went inside his room to continue reading but he knew that they entered the inn as his acute ears heard Terren’s voice when they came in.
He could go to the Academic Institute alone but having a veil of a group was more comfortable for the current him who lacked the common sense of normal citizens. While following them, he didn’t need to find out the things on his own so he was in good mood.
“Oh, sir!”
Cara, who was going down the stairs, waved her hand as she scurried to him. Nord was behind her as he nodded.
In the end, Garan and Terren came together as they had bags under their eyes while having tired expressions showing their reluctance to wake up.
They just wobbled on their way as they came to the table while the old lady came with the hot food.
Terren, albeit still sleepy, started to eat without thinking while others started to talk to each other.
“Sir, where have you been?” Nord asked as he put the spoon inside his mouth.
“I was here long before you and stayed in my room. We were after a long journey so I went to rest,” Illyan said as he waited for them to finish their meal.
“Oh, makes sense. I was also so tired yesterday… Even now, my entire body hurts…” Cara complained a bit as she stretched her muscles.
In this way, they had a peaceful conversation during their meal. People came and left the inn as time passed but they, even after they finished their meal, stayed in the place as they discussed what to do from now on.
“Where are the others?” Garran, whose mind cleared up after filling up his stomach, asked when he realized that others hadn't gone out yet.
“Some of them decided to rest for a few days as the journey was harsh. Especially for Erte whose leg was pierced by those damn bandits. Others decided to leave sooner. We are not that close after all,” Nord shrugged.
“So, what do we do next? I don’t really want to wait for others…” Terren mumbled as he still kneaded his eyes.
“How about we divide into two groups? Garran needs to go to the Mayor to buy a Merchant license and Terren needs to go to the mayor too to ask to be enlisted into his army. On the other hand, me and Nord need to go to the Academic Institute to become apprentices. Oh, and sir too,” Cara suggested as she was used to deciding such things for the irresponsible boys.
“You don’t need to call me sir. Just call me Kaoran.” Illyan who listened said this abruptly. Being called sir didn’t dwell well inside of him.
“Alright, Kaoran,” Cara nodded with a smile and then turned to others.
“Will that be fine?”
“Well, not quite. I need to go first to the merchant guild that will take me under their wing where I will learn the stuff and then after they train me I will need to get a license from the mayor. Or so I heard. So Terren needs to go alone to be mayor.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Wha?!”
Terren started complaining as his face twisted. He didn’t want to go to the mayor alone.
Illyan just shook his head inside of his heart as he listened to the youths in front of him.
……..
After a while, they ventured out of the inn and divided exactly as Cara suggested. Since the Merchant guild was quite close to the center, Garran and Terren would go in the same direction for a while. But even then, Terren seemed to be discontent. Or rather desperate because he needed to visit the mayor alone.
He was just a young man, after all. There was no way that he wouldn’t be nervous when going to unknown territory alone. Fortunately, while he would just visit the vicinity of the mayor mansion he didn’t need to talk to him personally and would just need to talk with some officer.
The reason why he had to go such a roundabout way to become a soldier was because there were no barracks in this town as it simply didn’t have enough budget to have one or needed that many soldiers. Not that soldiers wanted to stay here. For anyone worth some penny, they would happily leave for the more lucrative capital.
Even Terren didn’t plan to live in this place for his entire life and set his gaze on the capital city instead.
However, despite his ambitions the first step was always the hardest to cross.
But others weren’t pitying him as they themselves were in front of a nerve-wracking event. If they messed up then their dreams would be buried deep in the ground never to be seen again.
Illyan noticed that especially after he observed Nord and Cara when they walked through the streets. That made him curious what the tests would be like. They couldn’t be that hard since it was normal for uneducated peasants to become apprentices, right?
When he asked, Cara sighed as she explained.
“That may be true but they still assess you in the beginning. If they think you are someone not befitting of becoming academic then they wouldn’t take you in. Also, the less you know the harder it will be later on to advance from apprentice to full-fledged academic. For that reason, we paid back in the day a private tutor who visited our village to teach us to read and write which makes us better than average villagers but I am still nervous that something will go wrong.”
“The biggest variable, Terren, isn’t going with us. Nothing will happen.” Nord forced a laugh as he said this and then turned
to Illyan.
“Kaoran, you should be in a better position since you can just say you are a physician. They will test you out and then you can build off this as you continue to study. The more so when I heard that there is actually a small number of physicians in the town.”
“Hmmm…” Illyan nodded as he pondered their words. But that didn’t last for too long as they soon found the biggest building that Illyan saw except the outer walls.
It looked quite shabby but it showed its long history. The pillars were going from ground up to the skies where they supported the roof while being adorned with small carvings and symbols. At the front doors were two statues showing an old man and woman with a book in their hands.
Intrigue passed through Illyan’s eyes when he saw this and was looking forward to seeing the inside of the building.
Cara and Nord also marveled at this ancient building but when they noticed that Illyan was already going up the entrance steps they quickly followed after him.
When Illyan opened the doors the first thing he noticed was the extremely high ceiling. The room was filled with bookshelves that were reaching from bottom to top making it look little like a maze full of books.
In front of that ‘maze’ was a front desk reception behind which was an old man. He was bald but his beard compensated for that as it was as long as his forearm. Right at this moment, he seemed to be sleeping on that counter as he had several books opened around him.
“Aaah!~ I almost forgot that this institute also substitutes for a public library in this town! So many books…” Cara exclaimed with wide eyes as she looked at so many books.
Illyan and Nord were no different.
For Illyan who was living in the wilderness most of his life this broadened his horizons by a lot. Not to mention, seeing so many books at one place made him want to go read them at this very moment.
After the initial wonder waned they came closer to the counter and Nord knocked at the counter to wake the old man up.
“Hmm.. Sir, wake up, please!”
“Hmm?!” At first, the man was unresponsive but when he opened his eyes a little and noticed that there were people in front of him he almost fell from his chair.
Agh?!”
He widened his eyes at them as he breathed heavily. Then he realized what was happening and started to fake heavy coughs as to play off his embarrassment.
“Welcome to the Academic Institute! How can I help you?” His expression turned professional as he smiled at them with a straight back.
“Ehhhm… We would like to apply for an academic apprentice probation…” Nord said with a slightly awkward expression.
Illyan felt like he heard the crack inside of Nord’s mind when facing this old man. As if his expectation of real academics was crushed in one efficient strike.
He laughed in his heart seeing this.
‘No matter what position, profession, or experiences one has, they are still people. With all good and wrong.’
The old man’s face cleared up hearing this as he smiled.
“Oh, so it is my future juniors! It’s been a while since the last batch came. Unfortunately, only one of them managed to get promoted so far after so much time had passed… Well then, I would like to ask you some basic questions first before sending you to the one who will settle everything up with you.”
He took out three forms and took out a feather pen and submerged its tip into an ink container. Listening to Cara’s answers who came first he wrote them down.
He asked for names, age, reason for applying, and other such questions.
“Some specialties?”
“Umm… Do you count reading and writing as specialties?”
“Oh, how brilliant! It looks like you guys came prepared! This makes it much easier for you… So I guess the little friend besides you is the same, right miss?”
His eyes fell on Nord who seemed to be nervous.
“T-that’s right…”
“Great!” After finishing Cara’s form he continued with Nord.
Of course, now that he knew he could read and write he could let him do the form himself but he was used to writing those forms so much because of the large percentage of the population being illiterate that he didn’t even have the thought of letting them fill it themselves.
“And now the last one… I guess you would be a young male? I apologize, but it is hard to see through that hood of yours…”
“Oh..” When Illyan heard it he hesitated for a moment and then put his hands on that hood and put it down.
His long hair was finally released and his young countenance showed in front of them.
“My name is Kaoran. I am 19 years old and was born in one of the villages in the north. However, I was traveling a lot in my younger years. I can read and write and learn basic herbology and medicine from my adoptive grandfather on the frontline.”