Academy City

If you ask a random boy or girl in the streets about what place in the world they want to visit the most, more than half of them would mention the name of a city.

Academy City.

Founded around one hundred years ago after the war against the Blight by a famous and powerful demigod, and bordering the territories of the five great races, Academy City could be considered as the center of the continent.

Each week, thousands of young men and women would enter this city with dreams and hopes of changing their fate, achieving success, and surpassing their peers.

It was a place of dreams, where discrimination was forbidden, with demons, humans, elves, and beastmen walking side to side without hatred and in pursuit of power and knowledge.

Over its one hundred years of existence, Academy City had groomed tens of powerful and famous powerhouses, being the place of study of generals, kings, popes, saints, and demigods.

Even some gods studied here when they were young mortals.

Moreover, in this city, it didn't matter if you were a noble or a commoner. As long as you had enough talent, you could rise over your peers and gain the praise of the public, guaranteeing a bright future in almost any place of the continent.

All these made Academy City one of the most popular places in the continent.

And that was the reason why Bloed wanted to visit this place.

In this city, where politics, wars, and religions did not matter, he could start to spread the fires of the Human Confederation's technology.

And when Bloed saw the majestic city from the airship, he got the feeling he had made the right choice.

Academy City was bigger than any city Bloed had visited until now, with giant buildings and magic towers spread all around the city, and hundreds of people entering the city each minute.

"It's amazing…" Liu Ying could not help but say with a bit of admiration.

Bloed could not help but nod beside her. In fact, this city was comparable to some cities of the Human Confederation.

Just looking at it made Bloed feel awed.

Unfortunately, he could not enter yet. Normal airships could not fly over the city and the people that came in airship needed to land outside the city and then follow the procedure of entry.

Thus, Bloed's group (Including Aya, Prince Calisto, and the soldiers he brought as escorts) left the airship and walked towards the entrance of the city.

At that moment, a golden-haired fox girl appeared beside them.

"Miss Eve?" Bloed and the others looked at her surprised.

The group had already seen the ex-saintess of Moonlight Glow several times during the travel towards Academy City, so they knew she was in the airship as well. However, she was usually hidden somewhere, and rarely she appeared like this.

Eve, however, ignored them and just looked at the city with a slightly nostalgic expression.

"… It has been a while."

"Hm? You have been here before, Miss Eve?" Liu Ying asked curiously.

Eve nodded, still sporting that nostalgic expression.

"… Before becoming a saintess, I studied here for a while… This place brings me many memories…"

Bloed and the others were slightly surprised seeing that expression on Eve's face. It's the first time they saw her like that.

However, it quickly disappeared and was replaced by her usual blank look.

"… I'm going to visit an old friend, so I will not see you for a while. Take care."

As soon as she said these words, her body flashed and she disappeared.

Bloed and the others were dumbfounded.

She left… Just like that?

"… As expected, Miss Saintess always does things at her own pace." Prince Calisto said with a bitter smile.

"… Prince, she is no longer the saintess." Aya did not forget to remind him, making the little prince smile even more bitterly.

However, he quickly recovered and looked at Bloed with an excited expression.

"Big brother Bloed, what are your plans? I'm sure you are going to enter as a student, right?"

"I'm planning that." Bloed nodded.

The people in Academy City could be divided into three groups.

First, students. People below thirty years could become students as long as they passed a test and paid a slightly expensive fee.

But if you were a commoner and could not get enough money to pay the fee, you could aim for a scholarship. Commoners with good talents received scholarships where the city paid all their costs (including lodging and food) and even gave them a sizeable amount of money each month to buy the things they need.

The second group was the teachers.

The minimum requirement to be a teacher was B-Rank, but not every B-Rank could become a teacher. Each teacher of Academy City was someone extremely talented that had gone through an extensive background check to guarantee their loyalty to the city and with a lot of knowledge.

Teachers received a salary and welfare from the city, making it a very coveted job. Many students chose to become teachers after finishing their scholarship period, remaining in the city to continue with their studies in a different way.

And finally, there were the guests.

Guests were people who were neither students nor teachers. These people could stay in the city as long as they paid a very expensive fee each month.

Normal people would think that the number of guests in Academy City was small, but surprisingly, many people that couldn't be students nor teachers chose to stay in the city as guests despite the expensive fee. After all, Academy City was publicly recognized as the number one place to gain new knowledge and become stronger in the entire continent.

Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina were planning to enter as students, of course.

And for that, they needed to go through a small test.

"I wonder what kind of test it is…" Liu Ying said with a curious expression.

"Nothing too hard." Prince Calisto said with a smile. "I'm sure you will be able to pass it easily."

"Wait a moment, 'You'?" Bloed raised an eyebrow. "Are you not doing the test, Prince?"

"About that…" the little lionkin prince smiled awkwardly.

One of the soldiers escorting him stepped forward at that moment.

"The prince does not need to go through the test, Sir Bloed. It's a small privilege he has as royalty. Miss Aya came here as his follower, so she doesn't need to go through it either."

Bloed and Liu Ying were slightly startled.

"… I thought that nobles and commoners were the same in this place." Liu Ying could not help but say.

She did not try to be sarcastic, but Prince Calisto and Aya were slightly embarrassed by these words.

Bloed, however, thought it was normal.

Even if this place proclaimed that nobles and commoners were the same here, it was obvious that there was going to be a small difference in their treatments. It was something that could not be avoided.

Complete equality was never achieved even in the Human Confederation, much less in this city.

Plus, it's true it did not seem right to test a prince to enter the city. In the unlikely case where the prince fails the test and is unable to enter the city, it will cause a diplomatic issue between the city and the prince's country.

However, that was not the only benefice Prince Calisto had.

As a prince, he did not need to wait to enter the city but could enter directly through an entrance specially prepared for nobles. Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, on the other hand, had to wait for almost one hour before it was their turn.

When it was finally Bloed's group turn, a young man glanced at them briefly and opened his mouth.

"Name, Age, Race, and Mana Rank."

"Bloed Norman, sixteen years old, Human, B-Rank."

"Liu Ying, fifteen years old, Demon, B-Rank."

"Regina Norman, twenty years old, Human, A-Rank."

As soon as these words sounded, all the noise around them stopped completely.

Then, both the young man and the people waiting behind them looked at Bloed's group with stiff expressions.

"... C-Can you repeat that, please?"

...

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