Chapter 31- Walchelin

Looking at Walchelin, I'm astonished by what I see. High stone walls run in the distance, numerous two story red and white houses are within the city.

The city was split into three parts, a huge gothic building sitting on the right, and a giant lake rests on the left. In the middle, far back was a bridge ascending up a castle made into the mountain that also followed the gothic style. Seeing the architecture here reminded me of the buildings found in my last world.

As he pulls the carriage, the driver hurries down from the seat and holds the door open for me to get out.

"Here we are Lord High Inquisitor, at your destination sir." I step out, not answering him because I was dazed at the sheer size of this city.

It was easily three times as big as our capital but ours was more serene and beautiful.

At the gate there are guards in full plate armor with spears, who I show my papers to and state I'm an Academy attendee.

"Congratulations on being selected to our prestigious academy. Stay out of trouble while you're here and don't go to the castle without a proper invitation and you'll be fine."

Simple instructions to follow, I didn't plan on causing any trouble or go places I shouldn't. In fact, I had quite the plan before attending the academy to further give me the an edge.

It wasn't hard getting to the Academy, it was the pride and joy of Walchelin, but getting in was harder.

The school was closed, and you could still conduct business there, but security was watching your every move. Finally getting past the gates, I took a moment to admire the building.

A fountain of water was in front, a pathway paved in white stone leading up to the building itself.

Upon entering, there was a giant golden statue of a woman knight with a sign saying, 'Walchelin Academy, where learning is magic itself'.

As I was thinking about how terrible of a phrase that was, I was approached by a blonde wearing a black and red uniform dress.

"Excuse me sir but these premises are closed to tourist at the moment, unless you have business, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

It was strange that she assumed I was a tourist as I was in my armor and not regular clothes.

"I actually am here for business, I'm here to see if I am registered, and if not, I'd like to register." She pulls out a black oval stone and touches the top, a blue hologram box appears above it before she replies,

"Your name sir?" Impressed with the device, I reply. "Eric Budsprout." At the mention of my name, she slightly smirks before correcting to a professional face again.

She taps on the hologram and scrolls a bit before saying,

" Ah yes, Eric Budsprout, you are registered but like everyone you'll pick your own classes on the start date. There is one final step to complete your registration and that's to get fitted for your uniform. Would you like to complete that now?"

I nod yes, and she takes me to a room where I'm measured for a uniform. Leading me back to main lobby, she states,

"The first uniform is provided by the Academy; additional uniforms are 1,000 gold each and comes with a self-cleaning and repairing enchantment. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

"Yes actually. I'm here from overseas, do I rent an inn, or stay here while I attend?" I ask.

"The Academy provides accommodations for students while you attend, but until the start date, you'll have to stay at an inn." She responds.

"Thank you, and you don't have to answer this next question, but is there any who are attending this year that you're looking forward to seeing?" I ask in hopes to scope out the competition.

Her face brightens a bit as she contemplates answering for a second. "Well since the news was already announced I can safely tell you that you have the honor of being in the same year as the Seventh Princess of Walchelin. Other than her, I cannot give out information on students."

"Thanks for the information and one final question. That black stone you had earlier, what is it and where can I have it."

"Ah yes, you're referring to our new line of S.T.O.N.E products, found only here on Fairleigh. You can purchase them at any convenience store for 20,000 gold. That's amusing that you're interested in them considering you're an elf."

Confused at her statement, my brows become furrowed, and I question,

"What do you mean by that?"

She panicked for a second before bowing and hurriedly saying, "That was unprofessional of me to say and I meant no disrespect, I merely meant that from what I heard, elves usually hate magic of this kind and prefer the more natural magic."

I could understand how she thought I got upset with how my face was her statement, but I didn't get offended.

From these interactions I've had so far, I could tell I wasn't the average elf, or humans' perception of elves were based on stories and theory.

Either way, I've gotten all the information I was going to from her, so I concluded our business by paying for two more uniforms then heading back into the city.

Traveling through the city actually wasn't that hard, as long you stuck to the main roads and avoided alleys, I easily found an inn.

It was a white wooden two-story building with a red roof and a sign that read, 'Hartmut Inn'. Walking in, my nose slightly cringes at the overwhelming smell of beer and there's a good bit of people sitting at tables who quiet instantly the moment I enter.

Not bothered by their stares, I approach a tall fairly buff guy with a scar on his left eye that's smoking a cigar and is wiping the counter at the bar.

"How much for a room for two months with meals?"

He narrows his only eye, sizing me up. "As I live and breathe, an elf wanting a room at my fine establishment. You sure you're not lost?"

I roll my eyes, "You going to waste my time or tell me the price?"

"Well elves are supposed to be long lived so you have time to spare." He says sending a round of laughter throughout the bar.

Done with his sarcasm, I turn to leave but he calls out behind me.

"Just messing with ya boy, it's not often an elf comes to Walchelin. Price for that long will be.... let's say 1,800 gold." I don't hesitate to pull from my storage ring that exact amount.

"That's a lot of money for a kid to just have? What do you do to get that?"

When looking for the latest gossip or information, inns or bars are the best to go in games. It just so happens he was both. This was a good chance to get more information of Academy attendants.

"Where I come from, we trade knowledge for knowledge. You want to know something; you have to let me know something."

He starts chuckling and everyone at the inn starts to show interest at the conversation. "Well, I didn't know elves could be so fun. Alright I'm down, you can go first."

"Any family names I should be wary of?"

"Smart boy, your new in town and don't want to piss off the wrong people. You'll want to stay away from the Mournwalker family. They operate in the more.... shady dealings here. You apart of a big elven family?"

"I was, but I screwed up and I'm not anymore." The people at the inn begin to murmur amongst themselves at the information I had no problem in revealing.

Both of us understood that the information provided didn't need to be whole truths. He revealed the family name, but not what they did. I revealed I was a part of an elven family, but not which.

"Besides the Princess, any interesting students at the Academy this year?"

He chuckles, "It's funny you should ask, as a word has been traveling of the exclusive dragonkin coming to town. Maybe they have a son who will be attending. So, how strong would you say you are?"

I pause at the difficulty to answer this question. He worded it in a way that he wanted me to assess myself. I answer too low, my life is at risk, I answer too high, I draw attention to myself, and questions get asked. Acute Mind works until I have the perfect answer.

"Strong enough to not be worried while I stay here."

There's a moment of silence at my answer before he responds, "Pretty confident eh, that's fair. Anyone out to kill you?"

"I'm an elf, I'm sure there someone out there who wants me in the ground. Who is regarded as the strongest here?"

"Oh, there's a list of people who think they're the strongest. Well, it's been interesting, but I have things to do." He responds promptly, picking up a nearby dirty mug and starts to wipe it out.

"Sure thing, I do as well and if you'd be so kind as to tell me where my room is."

With the final questions, it's only fair that I got that vague response as mine was just as bad. It didn't matter much as I already got good information and couldn't afford to reveal much more.

He leads me to a dreary room with an orb on the ceiling that upon entering lights up, a bed against the wall next to the window, and a dresser.

I planned on heading to the convenience store before it got dark, so I made some room in my storage ring by letting out the suitcases I kept my clothes in and putting them in the dresser.

I kept the more important things like my identification papers, armor, and potions stored in case someone here decided to get curious and snoop.

The nearest convenience store was about a couple of minutes' walk away, getting stares at I walked there, because this time I didn't have my armor on and could clearly see I was an elf. I didn't realize that I would draw so much attention to myself by just being an elf.

I make it to a two story wooden building shaped like a box, with a sign overhead that read, The Little Thing's.

I enter into the store to see it's crowded with objects on shelves and tables lined to the sides with the counter to a bald guy wearing glasses looking bored straight down the middle. I approach him, looking to get the main reason I was here out of the way first.

He straightens his posture as I near him, interest clear in his eyes. "I'm looking to get one of those S.T.O.N.Es that I'm told could be found here."

"You're interested in Special Tools Of a New Era product as an elf? We are in stock of STONE products and even have the newest STONE 2 that now is easier to hold and has a lower mana frequency."

His words made no sense to me as I didn't understand any of it, so I just question. "What does it do?"

"Well at this point, what doesn't it do? It allows you to contact other STONE holders so long as they provide their mana frequency number. It also keeps track of the time and your location, how to get to certain places, the list goes on."

He was basically describing a phone, which made me all the more inclined to buy one.

"Here's the 20,000 for it." I hold out a pouch I've already sent aside, his glasses slowly slide down his face in astonishment and he catches them right before they fall.

"Would you like to give an additional 500 gold for a 90-day warranty?"

"No thank you." I decline.

"How about giving just 1 gold for those in need?"

"No thank you, please just let me buy this." I decline again.