>Chapter 27<

The quiet sound of cutlery making contact with the porcelain plates resounded throughout the dining hall. Outside of the windows, one could see the morning sun slowly coming up higher into sky.

Five youths were eating food with black circles under their eyes.

Yesterday, after making their way back to their rooms, the boys didn't get much sleep because of the constant stream of thoughts swirling in their head and when they finally fell asleep, they had to wake up due to a maid knocking on their door and telling them to come to the dining hall.

Really, it's like Caedis was doing this on purpose. Not letting them get any sleep by making them think about difficult matters and then waking them up early.

The worst thing of all was that Caedis wasn't even in the dining hall when they had arrived. And the urge to smack him grows along with their need to sleep…

Right now, there were only six of them inside this one room, including the maid that woke them up this morning and brought them food.

*Boom*

A loud sound was heard as the big door leading to the room was suddenly opened.

What appeared in the vision of the boys were Caedis, who had a creepy smile on his face, and Albert, who had the same old stoic expression. The boys wondered what kind of thing could make this weird guy so excited.

*Clap*

*Clap*

He clapped twice to get the attention of the boys, who were peacefully eating their food, although, he didn't really need to because of his explosive entrance.

"Eat quickly. We'll be going out today!" He exclaimed.

The boys were startled. Going out? To where exactly? But, they didn't have the time to ask because Caedis was faster.

"We have exactly one week before the Academy starts, so we have a lot of time on our hands." He said. "First, I'm going to show you around the city, since you need to navigate yourselves somehow. Second, I'll impart unto you some general knowledge and lastly, I'm going to teach you a little bit about magic. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I'll be waiting at the gates in the carriage!"

After his short announcement, he turned around and walked off into the distance of the castle hallways, leaving behind five shocked boys and one expressionless maid.

Now don't get me wrong. The boys were quite shocked about all that happened here along with the big wooden door mysteriously closing behind him without anyone touching it, but what startled them the most was the attitude change. It was like nothing happened yesterday between them at all. The boys sometimes wondered whether how he switch between personalities so fast without batting an eye.

Nonetheless, they didn't think about it much longer and quickly shoved all the food on their plates into their stomachs since they didn't want to make Caedis wait. Who knows what might happen if they angered him.

They weren't going to lie, but they were pretty excited at the aspect of seeing an otherworldly city, so they told the maid to guide them to the castle entrance.

When they arrived there, they could see a black carriage with a weird symbol engraved on its door. Albert was standing next to the carriage and when he saw the five youths arrive, he opened the door and let them hop in.

Sitting inside of the carriage was Caedis, gently smiling. The boys didn't know why but that smile gave them the chills, making them want to run away. Nevertheless, they still sat down quietly and waited for the man himself to start speaking.

And they didn't have to wait long at all.

"This is the city of Discessus." Caedis started speaking. "It is the capital city of the Thirio forest, which is considered to be a nation because of us, the dark elves inhabiting it. It is also the only city that exists within the borders of Thirio forest and out only territory."

The boys' attention was fully on his words. They finally get to know something about the new world they will live in from now on.

"The population of dark elves is really small because of some past events, which you will get to know in the academy." He continued. "But the quick explanation would be that almost every other race wants to get rid of us, since our existence is considered to be a sin."

"Why is that?" Patrick interrupted Caedis's speech.

Caedis just calmly looked at the boys, who had curious expressions on their faces. He was angry at the events that happened in the past and at the ones which are happening even today, so he had to control his emotions. They weren't at fault since they don't know anything and because of that he couldn't blame them.

Seeing the man's silence, the five boys knew that they had hit some kind of sore spot. They wanted to slap Patrick but couldn't because they would be lying if they said they weren't curious as well.

"Well, you will get to learn everything at the academy, there's no need to rush." Caedis evaded the question. "Anyway, right about now, there should be a pretty nice view if the city if you want to look outside."

Pushing the red curtain to the side, the group took a look outside the carriage. What they saw made them slightly gasp. Below them, they saw a city made out of pure white. The streets, which were full of dark elves with some humans here and there, had a lot of colorful trees on the sides. The rising sun only added to the beautiful sight, making the city look like it was shining.

Caedis just observed the boys as they admired the city in front of them.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?"

The boys just nodded in response.

"Well, you can't see it now, but on the other side if hill, which is where we are right now, is a giant forest along with the entrance to the city. There are a lot of monsters below the Zaktzerite rank, so our students go to train there quite often."

"Zaktzerite rank, what is that?" Phillip questioned.

"Oh." Caedis then remembered that these youths weren't from their world and explained. "Well, there are a lot of ranking, but for simplicity sake, let's call this rank the fourth rank from bottom."

The boys didn't ask further, since they weren't going to remember it now and just continued to enjoy the refreshing sight.

Caedis just shook his head and closed his eyes, waiting for them to arrive at their destination.