5 The City of Edgar Brauss: Part 2

Lea began explaining the city's layout in one of the most robotic, yet somehow calming ways possible. Though, Nakayama assumed that it being calming all, it would negatively affect his ability to listen properly.

"In the first city quadrant, which we can call the 'top', is where most of the city's governmental affairs take place. Some say that Edgar Brauss himself stays there, managing the city's economic welfare and ensuring that his leveling system stays intact. But that is no more than a rumor."

"The second city quadrant, which we could call the 'left', is where the school district is. Once we arrive there, you'll find it quite massive compared to whatever you've seen before. There are four different schools entirely, all separated by gender, of course. There are two all-boys academies, one for all girls and the last one is assigned to adults. You will be attending the first school quadrant, one of the two assigned to only boys. You need not concern yourself with the other three schools for the time being. However, do expect to interact with them at several points during your life as a student."

Receiving a lecture this long about the city and the school was extremely tiresome, even though it was important if Nakayama was going to be living there for the next 10 to 40 months of his life. That is "if" he decided to follow through with a second, third, and fourth year of magic school.

He tried to memorize certain details to the best of his ability in his head:

"Okay...the top quadrant I shouldn't need to worry about. But, the left one is where the schools are. There are four...wait a minute-!!"

There were four academies!?

"Hey, wait!" Nakayama said, prompting Lea to stop her lecture. They had just arrived at the back of the buildings and were preparing to finally step into the city itself.

"Is there a problem?" Lea asked professionally.

"You said there were four academies, right? Just how many students are taking classes here!?"

"The City of Edgar Brauss is one of the largest magic cities in the world, and yet you assumed there would only be a singular school? And not only that but exclusively for boys?"

Tadashii's brain stopped.

"Right," he thought. "I...I guess that would make more sense." he blushed a little as he internalized these thoughts. At her remark, he felt dense.

"And for your second question…" Lea thought to herself for a moment. "...There are about 10,000 total high school students in the entire magic district at the moment. Since there are about 3,000 in the school of the first quadrant, the one in which I am the principal and the one that you will be attending, I would assume that the others have similar numbers. Though, it is not my job to keep track of other schools."

She held up a single finger. "Though, that is not to say that those are technically all of the students within the city."

"I get it. So there must be normal students in the city too, right?" Nakayama asked.

"Correct," she confirmed, putting her finger down and holding her clipboard with both hands at her waist once more. "I suppose that should lead us to the third quadrant. Though, let us travel into the city first, Mr. Tadashii."

Nakayama nodded his head, gripped his suitcases, and began to follow his principal in between a gap that existed in the middle of two buildings, leading them out into the big city.

And the word "big city" was certainly a good fit.

Nakayama's eyes widened when he witnessed the beauty of the city, whose beauty was only enhanced by the glorious orange-reddish skies painted on by the rising sun. Gigantic office buildings, fast food restaurants, luscious trees accompanied by parks.

"..." his mind went blank as his body soaked in everything that surrounded him. The city was only something one could find out of some fantasy novel, or some kind of atmosphere or background-reliant television show.

The sound of the wind through small trees that were scattered about the streets gently caressed his ears. The streets, of course, weren't actually roads. They were like gigantic sidewalks. Only, the sidewalks within the city were much more refined as they were made of marble tiles. They were so clean, so shiny that you could probably see the reflection of a high school girl's skirt if you looked hard enough.

There were small plots of land that acted as small resting stations for the pedestrians. They contained a few benches and were usually paired up with a beautiful water fountain. The entire city was almost like an open area of marble tiles, to which every edge, every corner, every last spot on the outsides were packed full of different buildings.

"Holy hell…!" Nakayama muttered to himself, his eyes practically glowing at the sight of such a beautiful city.

Vending machines, trash cans, food stands, racks of free newspapers, postal boxes. Anything and everything within this city seemed to serve some kind of purpose relating to satisfaction or convenience. The marble tile sidewalks were so wide that, even though hundreds to thousands of people were walking and passing one another by, no one seemed to be too jam-packed. Everyone, at least those that wanted it, seemed to have their own space to get to wherever they wanted to go without the worry of that space being invaded.

"This is the third quadrant. The main city." Lea informed the dumbfounded Nakayama Tadashii.

"Wow…!" he said under his breath once again, his voice seemingly building up to something.

Suddenly, he let go of his suitcases, raised both fists in the air, and began to shout.

"Whoooo!!!!"

His voice echoed and bounced off of the buildings, but the volume and power of his voice were somewhat nullified by the noise of the busy marble walkways.

He laughed in pure joy, pure excitement. He was exhilarated.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! This is amazing! This city is awesome!"

Lea looked at him with her eyes widened a little, but she did not say a word. Instead, she sighed slightly and put a hand over her face. People who were in the vicinity of his voice looked over to see a boy seemingly screaming and praising nothing as he pumped his fists in the air and looked around like an excited dog.

"Oh man!" he yelled with a child's sense of wonder. "Over there! That's a bookstore, so they must have light novels and...oh, spellbooks, too!!"

He pointed in another direction.

"Holy shit! Is that a freakin' arcade!? My friends and I can go there and hang out!" he relentlessly shouted about what cool adventures he might have in the future within the city, even though he didn't actually have any friends within this particular city, regardless of how stupid they may sound to other people. If he saw something he praised it.

"Vending machines!? I can get a drink whenever I want!"

"A takoyaki stand!? I can have delicious street food all day!"

"Dog shit!? I can play in it!"

If he saw it, he praised it.

"Mr. Nakayama. I'm certainly glad you've taken a liking to the city…" Lea began sternly. "However, need I remind you that you are incredibly busy as of right now?"

He suddenly ceased all of his actions and the verbalization of his joyful thoughts came to an immediate halt.

"Ah…" he slowly lowered his arms in embarrassment. "S-sorry...I guess we should get going now." He shamefully reached for the suitcases that he had previously dropped and returned his eyes to his principal.

"Good, now let us get going." Lea sighed before turning left and heading in the direction of the second quadrant, the school district. And right behind her followed the young Tadashii. Lea, the principal of the first quadrant of the school district which exists in the second quadrant of the City of Edgar Brauss, stared directly ahead and began talking once more as Nakayama Tadashii ungracefully walked behind her.

"As I stated earlier, this is the main city, also known as the third quadrant of the City of Edgar Brauss. You could also call this the 'bottom.'" she said sternly.

"Okay…" said Nakayama. "So, quick trivia, just how far away is the school district from the main city anyway?"

"From where we are currently standing, I'd estimate the distance between us and the school district to be about 9 to 10 kilometers," she stated without the slightest bit of hesitation in her voice.

"What!?" Nakayama shouted. "So we have to walk 9 to 10 whole kilometers just to get to school!?"

"In theory, yes. From one side of the main city to the other, it is about a total of 20 to 30 kilometers. However, since the gate entrance is about in the middle of the main city, that total number must be cut in half. But, of course, there is a way around that distance by using warp transportation."

"Warp...transportation?"

"There are, what we call, 'warp stations' all around the entire City of Edgar Brauss that can be used to travel from one station to another by using currency."

"Oh, I get it! That's pretty convenient."

"Yes, I would say so as well." she nodded. "There is one about 50 meters ahead of us, therefore we shall use that to transport ourselves to the second quadrant."

With a clear goal in mind, Lea Akayoru and Nakayama Tadashii made their way to the nearest warp station to get to their destination as quickly and as effortlessly as possible. After all, 5 to 6 kilometers was not necessarily a short walk and would likely result in the two being in a puddle of sweat in the average to higher than average heat of the City of Edgar Brauss.