Chapter 7: My room, is a house?

As Alex was leaving the strength test professor Keller watched him leave.

Keller stood ram rod straight, his left foot absentmindedly tapped on the ground. Any of the older students would know this was a very bad sign. After a moment he called out to a student. "Jason, come here."

Jason was a third year student. He had been Keller's assistant for over a year now. So he knew better than most what that tapping foot meant. He trotted over to the professors side. "Yes professor. How may I be of assistance?"

"I need you to do something for me." As he was saying this Keller had taken a fountain pen out of his pocket and began scribbling a note. "Take this to Carl for me will you. Be as quick as possible." An off-putting smile was slowly forming on his face.

Jason took the note. Since Keller had made no attempt to fold the note or take any other precautions against prying eyes, he read the note. He slowly inhaled, then made a long drawn out sigh as he looked in the direction Alex had just left in. Shaking his head slightly he said, "Yes professor. Right away." Then quickly ran off.

Alex was in such a good mood after the exam that he took his time making his was to the housing department. Honestly he didn't really have much choice in the matter. The academy grounds were huge. The academy proper was measured in square miles at least. Beyond that, there were auxiliary buildings outside its walls spreading into the city.

Wish a campus this big getting lost should be a real concern. Luckily, there were signs posted every quarter mile or so. They were mainly used by first years and visitors to find their way. Alex was very happy to see these.

On his way to the housing department he passed a lunch room. The smell wafting from the open doors set his stomach grumbling. 'Just how long had it been since our last meal?' Alex thought to himself. As if in response he heard a familiar voice in his mind.

"Are you trying to starve me, or did you just absentmindedly neglect me again?" Eluril's tired voice somehow always seemed to convey both the image of a beautiful smiling face, and a sarcastic sneer. Alex had always assumed this was a technique that only women knew, because whenever he tried something similar, it just made him sound constipated.

"Haahhh... Eluril. You know that is not true." Alex pleadingly sighed back to her.

"Really? I seem to remember someone going about their business and leaving me with no food for a whole day."

"I was seven! When will you ever let that go?" All he got in response was an uninterested huff. "I will make sure I get us both some food as soon as we settle our housing." A self deprecating smile tugged at the edge of Alex's mouth.

Alex was going to continue but he noticed that she had already fallen back to sleep.

They eventually made their way to the housing building. It was a small two story building. It had wooden panel siding and wooden shingles hung from its roof. There were large glass windows on each side of the building. It couldn't have any more than four decent sized rooms on each floor. Just above the front door hung a sign that simply said,"Housing Office".

When Alex walked through the front door he saw a small waiting room with a few other students milling about. At the other end of the waiting room there was a large desk. Behind it, people were shuffling back and forth. Some seemed to be filing paperwork, while others seemed to be looking up information.

Above the desk a sign hung from two iron chains. New students must present tuition or tuition waver and sign in to get housing and class list.

Alex began fishing through his pockets and pulled out as blue letter as he approached the desk. This letter was his tuition waver. Every Spirit Contractor that completed the mandatory education courses got one. They could be used at any of the different schools in the city. The Academy was by far the best school in Fire Bird City though, as it was the only school for hunters.

Alex liked his previous school. Sure, he was picked on a lot, but even then he learned a lot. The courses mainly focused on monster anatomy, law, customs, history, and other such general knowledge that people would need. At the same time it taught no practical skills or mana handling information. That was the domain of the academy. He was lucky because this type of education would be very expensive if it were not mandatory for him.

The receptionist at the desk looked at Alex strangely as he took letter. "Please sign this." He said as he pushed a large leather bound book towards Alex.

Alex signed his name in the space presented, but as he looked up he noticed that many of the people behind the desk were secretly taking glances at him. Some of them seemed to be smiling. Others just slowly shook their heads.

After checking that everything was in order the receptionist took the book and began walking up stairs. Alex was not sure of what to think of this. As he looked around he noticed other new students waiting in the room around him. 'I guess they need to find a spot for me.'

On the way here Alex had passed a few large buildings that appeared to be student dorms. They were only two floors but they seemed to go on forever. Alex just hoped he got good roommates. He would hate to have his time here ruined by being stuck with someone he couldn't get along with.

After a few moments Alex head creaking coming from the stairs. He looked up just in time to see a rotund man walk down the stairs. Each step made the stairs creak and groan under his mass. Following behind him was the receptionist from earlier. The rotund man made his way to the desk.

"Alexander Samson." The large man called out as he huffed and used a handkerchief to blot at his brow.

"That is me sir." Alex said as he walked back to the desk.

The large mans face creased with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes, well. I am in charge of Housing and Grounds keeping here." He said between puffs. "My name is Carl Veerin. You may call me Carl."

Alex nodded and was very happy to see that this person seemed to be quite easy to talk to. "Thank you." He responded.

"Now, to your housing allotment. You see there seems to have been a mistake." As he said this Alex's heart sank.

Normally this would not be a problem for most students, as the school wasn't all that far from the central district. But Alex was different. He couldn't go back to the central district, there was no home to go back to.

Alex's father had always been distant. But as he got older it became worse. He would spend days out in the forest collecting herbs to sell to support them. Even though Alex did what he could to help make money, living in the central district was just too expensive. That was even without having to pay for housing.

When Alex came to the academy today he came with only the clothes on his back. this was because that was literally all he had. His father had sold everything and returned the property they were living in. Alex did not know where he went after that, but Alex knew it must be important.

The only reason that Alex had not been worried was because he knew that the academy would take care of his room and board for the next few years. Otherwise he would be out in the cold.

Seeing the fear in his eyes Carl smiled again, this time the smile did reach his beady black eyes. "Don't worry my friend I have a solution for this problem." As he said this Alex noticed a slight strain in Carl's eyes when he said the word "friend". "You see, there are no rooms available on campus at this time. You see we only expected to see 102 new students this year, but in fact it seems we have 103."

This seemed very strange to Alex. He knew that they took very accurate records at his previous school and even made sure to have the students write letters of intent to the academy if they decided to apply. How could the academy not have prepared enough rooms? Before he could voice this issue Carl continued. "Now, since I don't have a room in the dorms for you how about we allow you to stay in a house on the grounds?"

Alex was surprised when he heard this. He immediately forgot he unspoken question. "A house? Just for me?" The idea seemed ridiculous.

"Why of course, this was our mistake after all. We can't have you paying for our mistake." The smile on Carl's face seemed to be slowly changing into a sneer, but Alex never noticed. "Now, in order to file the appropriate housing documentation we need you to sign this." As he said this he handed Alex a yellow piece of paper. On the top is said 'Notice of Student Housing Allotment Rejection'.

As Alex looked at the form confusedly Carl began talking again. "I know that for might seem confusing, but in fact it is quite simple. As soon as you fill that out you will have officially rejected our offer of proper student housing in the academy." This confused Alex even more.

Seeing the look of utter confusion on Alex's face only made Carl's smile widen. "You see, 'proper student housing' means a properly outfitted dorm room. Which is exactly what we don't have right now. So, once you reject this I can fill out this other form." Carl pulled out a red form from under the desk and slid it in front of Alex.

This paper's title was 'Emergency Housing Request Form'. "This form allows me to choose any property on campus grounds to house you in. The only requirement is that it meets a minimum requirement of safety and functionality. This would include a house, of course."

Alex slowly began to nod, he had a nagging feeling that he was overlooking something. Honestly, Alex really didn't care. He had no other choice. So, he pushed that nagging feeling away and began filling out the papers.