The day would've gone quickly, but having people to consider as friends tends to mess with time. At least for Diana, it did. Despite looking like a caterpillar, she was all smiles. Heracles and Beatrice walked up front to whatever they thought looked interesting, from food to items to books. And the prices, oh lord. Vita didn't have a clear understanding on how much a gold coin was worth in this world, but some of these books were clearly overpriced.
"Woah! Hey, look at this! They got the story of when the first king, Akitio the Hero, fought the Demon King!" Heracles shouted with glee while picking up the book. They had wandered into a large tent with a lot of different books in it. Heracles was also looking through some books as well, but he wasn't as loud when he picked one of them up.
"Why are you acting so childish, doesn't just about everyone know about this story?" Beatrice piped up behind him.
"W-well, I can still like it! Nothing wrong with that!" Heracles refuted while trying to open the book, but a blue chain suddenly covered the book and kept it shut.
"If you are wondering why it isn't opening, it's because it's sealed, you broccoli-brain!" A shopkeeper walked up to Heracles with a frown on their face. The two started haggling with each other surprisingly quick, something Vita decided to shut out.
Enough with that for now. Ah, sweet knowledge in the form of books! Based on the looks of these books alone, I'd say that they are quite 'modern' compared to what I thought these people would have. At least the book I have from before looks ancient. Eh, I'll read that one when I learn how to read better.
Now let's see what is here. Hm, a history book on the near two thousand years the Kingdom has existed. Lame that they call it just the Kingdom. A book on mana and its effects on the world, quite Thick. Useful to better understand this bullshit. 'The Body, the Mind and the Soul. An understanding of our reality.' what kind of fuckery is this!? Better get this one as well.
"Diana, can you afford this?" Vita looked at the tiny face of Diana. She looked up while rummaging through something hidden under all the vines.
"Well, it was kind of those two guards to bring all my belongings back to me when I was in that room. But I don't think we should buy those. Those are expensive, like really expensive." Diana's pale little hand broke through and pointed at the price tag dangling off it. It had a couple of zeros on it and a what looked like a crown to the right of it.
"But we can afford it, right?" Vita leaned down.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Yeah, but we shouldn't-"
"Right?" Vita leaned in closer.
With a sigh, her hand went back into the vine cocoon and then reappeared with a couple of gold coins in it. If Vita had bothered to learn the currency that was being used in the Kingdom, it would be obvious that those books were greatly overpriced. But who cared? It's way easier to spend someone else's money than your own.
After finally getting Heracles to let got of the book, they left the tent. Only for their rings to start glowing. A soft voice came from it.
"Congratulations, students of the University of Maxi-milian. If you are hearing this, it means that you have been formally accepted. The large building surrounded by a forest to the north-west of where the tournament took place will the future grounds for your studies. When you arrive at the main entrance at the front of the building, please go to Professor Hans and Professor Michelle, who will wait for you there with more information available.". The voice disappeared with a shine before the ring went back to normal.
Everyone in the group looked at each other, shrugged, and walked to the building with bags in their hands.
A light amount of snow was covering the surroundings and the sound of it crunching underneath their feet. There were a few groups further up the road and a few people further behind them too, but all of them gave Diana's fresh friend group a wide berth.
"Hey Diana, who is the first king?" She looked up to Vita with a 'hm?' before talking.
"Well, I don't really know all that much. It is said that he was born around 2000 years ago and that he banished the demon king. After that he made the Crown of Humanity and here we are now." She nodded, as if she held all the knowledge in the world inside her tiny head.
"And the name?" Vita asked, staring at the bird that had somehow followed Vita from the World's Tongue.
"Ah, uh, that's because..." Diana started the sentence, but never finished it.
Beatrice must have heard them speak, as she turned around with a bright smile.
"Oh I know! That's because Akitio is from another world!" She was also going to smile, but Heracles butted in.
"But isn't that a conspiracy?" He asked with his head tilted to the side.
The two started bickering, and somehow Earl got pulled into it. But Vita decided to ignore what was happening for the second time today and retreated deep within.
Akitio, huh? So far, that's the one name that doesn't fit in this place. Unless I get to read these books to get some more, older, names then I could in theory make a random guess. Like, what if a name like that was more normal in the past? These baboons seem a bit too 'modern' at the same time as they seem 'primitive'. Eh, who cares, something to think about later.
The group had managed to talk on the way to the university building. However, it did look more like a massive castle compared to what Vita had seen before. There were spiky parts and flat parts, yet the size of it was so great that looking at top of it was getting more and more difficult the closer they got to it.