"Alright, I'm headed out." Rui said as he jogged out the main door of the Orphanage.

"Be careful, don't get lost!" Lashara warned.

Rui stuck a thumbs up even as he put distance between the himself and the Orphanage.

('I wonder what his place looks like.')

Kane had invited him over to his house, before they'd left the Academy in the Induction Ceremony. This was a new experience to Rui, even though he albeit knew that this was a regular phenomenon on Earth. His disease had prevented him from rendezvous in his previous life back on Earth. Severe chronic Asthma was a disease that made even simple relatively light tasks like travelling to a friend's house pretty difficult, not that he's had any friends back in his childhood anyway.

('It's probably an ostentatious mansion.') Rui speculated.

Kane's home was pretty much in the center of town of Hajin, the town of which the Quarrier Orphanage was more-or-less in the outskirts of. Rui planned to jog a portion of the way where he was supposed to rendezvous with a servant of the Arrancar family who would escort him to the Arrancar houshold.

As he travelled, his surroundings grew increasingly populated and developed. The Quarrier Orphanage was situated in a somewhat more remote location closer to the open fields where crops were grown, however as he travelled further into the town, the population density and infrastructure of the town grew immensely.

The presence of a Martial Academy was a blessing to the town. It drew in a lot of people from all over the Empire, specifically amongst the youth every year.

The Martial Academies were a boost to economic prosperity, after all. Each Academy needed a huge amount of labour and resources for maintenance alone. There was a large number of suppliers and manufacturers who had set shop in the town, who supplied the Academy with the needed goods and supplies. There were many people who migrated to the town and ended up being employed by the Academy, and many a youth who migrated to the town looking to attempt and hopefully pass the annual Martial Entrance Exam, the Martial Entrance Exam was held during winter, during which travelling between states would be much harder, after all. Many non-native applicants would travel to the town much in advance.

In this way, the Martial Academy empowered both the supplier and consumer market. It was far from an exaggeration to that the economy of the town of Hajin would collapse overnight without the Academy. The disappearance of the Academy would mean a large portion of the demand for goods and supplies would decrease drastically, causing excess supply of goods in the local market, reducing the prices of goods significantly, smaller suppliers, business and retailers would be unable to stay afloat and would be forced to migrate to other parts of the Empire.

A large proportion of the locals who were employed by the Academy or aiming for it would also be instantly unemployed, and would likely migrate. After a brief period of chaotic flux, the GDP of the town would most be reduced by a significant portion, without a doubt.

('This must be one of the ways the Martial Union maintains political and economic power. Putting aside the direct authority and capital they possess, the sheer passive impact and necessity of the Academies aka The Union has on society is immense.') Rui mused as he reached his rendezvous point.

"Master Quarrier, I presume?" A voice behind him enquired.

Rui turned to meet the man. He wore simple but lavish clothing with a crest of the Arrancar Family embroidered over the left chest area.

"Yeah, Rui Quarrier." He responded in affirmation. "Are you here to pick me up?"

"Indeed, please come this way." He gestured to a horse-pulled carriage.

('A carriage, huh? My first time.')

It was indeed his first time, in either of his lives. He wasn't particularly excited though. As someone who'd spent a lifetime in a world of cars, bikes, subways, planes etc. A carriage wasn't that big a deal, it was, frankly, nothing note.

Still, Rui played the part of a poor orphan and got all excited at the prospect of the privilege of riding a horse carriage.

"Wooooow! A horse carriage!" He cooed as convincingly as he could, suppressing the embarrassment that arose within him.

"Please make yourself comfortable." He said, opening the door and gesturing inside at the posh, luxurious seats within.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Rui enquired.

"No more than twenty minutes." He replied.

('Longer than I expected.') Rui noted. ('Well, if it was any shorter than sending a carriage would be kinda pointless, although there is the matter of verification of my identity.')

Kane had explained that invited guests were usually provided with a letter of invitation to enter the premises, but he didn't have any at hand since Kane had invited him on the spot without any prior planning.

('Well, he didn't know whether I'd even passed or not. The invitation was quite spontaneous after all.') Rui mused as he felt a sense of anticipation.

Normal kids invited each other to play games.

Kane had invited Rui for sparring.

And Rui accepted in a heartbeat.

In fact, had Kane invited Rui over to play cards, Rui would definitely refuse the invitation with some excuse or the other. Travelling all this way and spending a whole day at someone's place for cards? Just the mere thought of wasting time like that with only one month for the Academy to start made Rui laugh.

But sparring was a different thing. Rui had very little experience, at this stage, he was thirsty for experience. This was the one thing that he could not use his expertise in martial arts and combat sport training. Combat experience was irreplaceable, it was supreme. He looked forward to gaining as much as he could. Furthermore, from someone like Kane, who was a far superior fighter than Rui was.

('How exciting!')Belongs © to .