Athena walked into the administrative office and looked around. It was breathtakingly beautiful, befitting the face of an important academic institution.
The walls were laid with golden lines filled with mosaic paintings, in some places mirrors were placed making the room look larger than its size. Opposite the door, there was a long white marble slab held up by black obsidian pillars. At the far end, there was a single red door, which blended in with the background. Athena guessed it lead to the offices and other rooms. The usual tranquil room was filled with students, who were arranged in a line. The place was filled with the buzz of chatter with the occasional office worker voice coming through.
“Let me get over with this,” Athena thought and moved ahead. She stood behind a girl wearing a fur coat who was talking with another girl ahead of her.
She turned to her left and looked at the mirror. She wore a plain dress, suited for travel, and a mid-long skirt. She was on the thin side with brown eyes and black hair. Her face was lean with small lips. She was not too tall but taller than the average. This gave her a doe-eyed appearance. She could not call herself beautiful nevertheless she was pretty.
Athena was shaken out of her reverie by a hand tapping her shoulder. She turned back to see the focus of the two girls in front was now her. Both of them were blond, like the majority of Alisadians. Both of them took a look at her clothes, lack of makeup, and sneered.
“Where are you from peasant, and who sponsored you?” the girl on the left spoke up. She was the one wearing the fur coat.
Athena looked at them for a moment, they wore extravagant clothes. Their lack of exhaustion spoke of carriages with temperature regulation enhancements. She put two and two together-pretentious nobles.
Athena knew the best way to deal with nobles, and she ignored them. The two girls impatiently waiting for her answer, turned back with a huff.
“I guess she is a dumb idiot who fell on the head .” loudly whispered, the girl wearing a blue jacket.
The other one agreed haughtily, “Why did we even bother talking with her.” Athena content to ignore them paid no heed to their words.
After ten minutes, Athena managed to reach the office worker, he did not have an aura marking him as unawakened. “Name please,” he asked.
“Athena, Athena Aryls” she replied. The man flipped through the ledger before him until he found a particular register. Meanwhile, she memorized the name on his badge, ‘Turnball’, it was always helpful to know someone in the office.
“Yes, I found your name Ms. Aryls. Welcome to Ethero Academy, I will be giving you, your identity card and key. Please push your mana into the card so it registers you as the user. Yes, very good. Please carry that card along with you at all times.
No one can manipulate the mana which identifies you as the owner. The key is to your room, you will be sharing a room with another girl. Don’t lose the key or you have to pay a fine.
Further rules and instructions will be explained in the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony will be held at the auditorium in three hours. Please unpack and relax. The ceremony is compulsory, please don’t forget. Have a nice day, NEXT”
Athena walked out of the office and sat under a tree. “All right, her card had her name, age, and picture on it. Let’s check my room key”, Athena tucked her card into a pocket and took a long look at her key. It was an iron key with the letter ‘B’ and the number ‘12’ engraved. Confused about where to go she asked a senior student nearby.
“Hello, excuse me. Can you please help me out? I don’t know where my room is.” Athena asked.
“Let me help you”, the older boy replied “Walk to the girl housing and your respective building. The letter on the key shows the building's name. There are six buildings, so they named them ‘A, B, C....’ The number is your room number in the building”
Athena thanked him and set out to claim her room. It was not hard to find the building. The women's residential area was to the left and the men’s to the right. In the center was the academy. Each was patrolled and permission was required to enter the other sex’s complex.
It was an archaic building made up of Redstone with six stories. There was a huge ‘B’ on the front. All the women freshmen would be accommodated in this building. When the latest batch graduated, the new batch occupied the former’s building. This way they would have to change their rooms.
Athena entered the foyer and was greeted by the sight of an old matron sitting in a chair. The women looked up and smiled.
“Welcome dear, I am going to be the building in charge this year. My name is Ms. Wilson. Please show me your key and ID. Yes Ms. Aryls, room 12. I remember your name. Welcome to building B. During your stay here if you need anything or have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Make yourself at home”
“Thank you, Ms. Wilson. Please call me Athena, I am looking forward to staying here. If you don’t mind I will go ahead and refresh before the assembly.”
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With pleasantries exchanged Athena along with her luggage went up the stairs. Each floor had four rooms, so hers was on the third floor. She spied a room with the number 12 on it and walked in. The room was undisturbed so she assumed her roommate had not yet arrived. It was a simple room with two beds on each side. There was a desk loaned to each student along with a bookshelf/closet. There was a clock on the wall and a simple painting
The room had a window at the end with the beds on the sides. There was a bathroom door attached to one side. Athena looked in, it had a toilet and a shower with a heating rune. Happy with the accommodations, she claimed one side as hers and unpacked her belongings.
Her father had gifted her a medium storage ring, which she did not openly use. Storage rings were extremely rare and even nobles of the rank viscount could not afford them. She did not intend anyone to know about it. It held many gifts from her father which were worth a king’s ransom. Let them think she was a scholarship student, it would keep her out of trouble.
After she unpacked she washed. She was exhausted and dirty after weeks of travel, she set the temperature to cold by injecting the rune with mana and buried her face in the cool water. Refreshed and clean she opened the bathroom door to find her roommate with bags in her hands.
Her roommate was a short girl with blond hair, piercing blue eyes. She was not fit nor was she fat. She looked over her with a critical eye and spoke,
“Hello, my name is Prisca Mattenebow. You are?”
“Hi, I am Athena Aryls. I guess I am going to be your roommate this year.” Athena replied.
The girl conducted herself formally and wore high-quality clothes. She also had a middle purple aura. Athena guessed that she was a noble and out of polite curiosity inquired, “I am not familiar with House Mattenebow” she posed it as a question and statement.
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Prisca was shocked when she heard the girl’s words. She had traveled for four hours from her family estate and looked forward to starting classes. Her mother had instructed her on handling court politics and how to reply to jabs, but a flat-out insult her House.
With cold eyes, she replied in barely restrained anger, “Why do you insult my house, what enmity do have with us. I can get our rooms changed, but don’t insult me again.”
She observed the other girl look confused, “I am sorry if I insulted you, but I genuinely don’t know House Mattenebow. I am not from around here.”
Prisca scolded herself for assuming without asking. The other girl was not from Alisade and looked like a commoner. She let go of her anger and answered, “I am the third child of Duke Mattenebow, my mother is King Leonard’s younger sister.”
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Athena internally hit herself, hard, it was stupid not to learn the current nobility before coming here. She did not fault the other girl for getting angry. She glanced at the clock and was reminded of the opening ceremony.
“The opening ceremony is going to start soon, do you want to go together?” she asked the other girl.
Prisca looked at the clock and nodded her assent. Both of them got up, locked the room, and headed down. It was not difficult to find the auditorium. It was a huge arena with nearly 500 seats. It was richly decorated and seats were arranged. In the center, there were 20 seats with red satins near the stage. She assumed that there were not more than 150 students considering this was a selective prestigious institution.
Both of them headed down and took a seat in the lower area. Students were starting to fill in, so they waited for the ceremony to begin.
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Elder Laura looked at this year’s batch of freshmen from the shadows with a pleasant smile. There were many hopeful prospects, she hoped would exceed all expectations. She glanced at the King of Browe’s heir Alexander. Alisade and Browe had decided to send their crown princes to the other’s academy to strengthen the ties between their kingdoms. Out of the three premier academies, Ethero had led in terms of research and education for many years.
Her eyes went to elf sisters sitting alone at the front. For many decades the human kingdoms had been at peace with the elf monarchy. Alisade sharing the border with the elf’s had the honor of receiving the elf students to its academy.
The kingdom of Alisade had sent the King’s niece, who had come of age to receive a proper education. Laura spied her seated next to a girl who she assumed to be her roommate. Senior Elder Xiao's voice brought her attention back to the stage.
Bank Xiao was the director of the school and one of the only men to break through middle yellow. He was a world-renowned runesmith and had made several revolutionary breakthroughs.
He began his speech, “Welcome students, it is my pleasure to welcome all of you to Ethero academy. My name is Bank Xiao, the director of this institution and I look forward to watching you grow here..”,
He then listed out the classes available and asked them to choose wisely. His rules were pointed out, including curfew at 11 PM, no stepping out of the academy without an approved escort. He then encouraged them to perform well.
Finally, he came to, “Please join me in welcoming your teachers for this year”, he listed out the teachers' names and finally came to, “and your magical theory teacher and my wife, Elder Laura.”
She came out of the shadows to the surprise murmur of the students, she observed only the girl next to the king’s niece looked compose with a small smile on her lips. She glanced over the 140 students and thought, “This is going to be a good year.”
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Athena smiled when Elder Laura came out, her aura was masked but she could easily see through the shadows. She focused back on Elder Xiao, who was wrapping up his speech. She had a lot to think about and most importantly had a month to decide on her classes. When she left the auditorium, it had turned dark and her stomach rumbled.
Her roommate looked at her with an amused smile, “Shall we head to the cafeteria, it seems you forgot to eat.”
“Yes, let’s hurry before my stomach protests anymore”, Athena replied.
They had a hearty meal at the academy cafeteria, choosing from the vast menu available. They talked about mundane topics till they had their fill.
They retired to their beds after checking in with their matron and a good night.
Athena did not have a chance to interact with her other roommates but looked forward to it. They had introductory classes started tomorrow and in the afternoon tests to check their potential.
Athena snuggled into her bed with a thought before she fell asleep, “Maybe, this would not be as bad as I thought.”