To the academy (1)

'If you think about it, Adelaide was an ungrateful brat. Well yeah, she was young, but still.'

'I guess I have to somehow make it up to the loyal bro. The original Adelaide did not know she was a half-elf until she was kidnapped and experimented on too.'

Adelaide arranged her thoughts while taking her time walking out of the alley. It was early in the morning, so there were hardly any noises.

Baron James' territory was a city called Portola. As the connector between the Empire's west and its capital, Avarua, Portola was considered bustling.

'Should I head there right now?' Adelaide thought while hiding her small body from view.

She was looking at Western Imperial Academy's magnificent gate and the huge water fountain behind it. Even the security room next to the gate was painted in gold. With her exceptionally good vision, she could even see the academy's multiple tower silhouettes covered by morning mist looming in the distance.

It was quite an irony how the guards guarding the gate were wearing better-looking clothes than her, a lady's duchy.

'The guards are equipped with both guns and swords? Sometimes I forgot this world is a mix between science and fantasy.'

If she were to be transmigrated to the middle of the city without any prior knowledge, Adelaide would have thought of this world as a regular one in its developing stage. Carriages and the streets were all clean, electricity was already invented, and people were wearing normal-looking clothes.

'A public bus?'

Just then, a public bus ran by. Contrary to her expression of buses running and emitting carbon dioxide at the same time, this one did not cough out any smoke. Without noise, the blue vehicle ran past her eyes in an instant.

Adelaide wondered what powered these buses for a second, but she soon threw it to the back of her head. It's not like she knew how Earth's vehicles were made up of, to begin with.

In this world, she was still an uneducated brat anyway.

'I should go.'

Adelaide fixed her hood and crossed the still empty road. She was not that stupid to run straight towards the gate. What if those guards think of her as someone carrying a suicidal mission?

Instead, she walked towards one of the younger guards standing at the gate's rear. His spot was not vital, and she could see him yawning lightly. The guard's focus soon turned to her, so Adelaide tried to speed up her footsteps a bit.

Adelaide gulped when her eyes caught the gun.

'Which one is faster, his shooting speed or my teleportation?'

'…Not like I ever want to find out. Stop with the burning gaze. Can't you see that I'm a frail and vulnerable kid?'

He was wary at first, perhaps due to her attire, which was unfit for this rich neighborhood. However, his gaze softened with a hint of surprise after Adelaide pulled her hood down and revealed her face.

Delicate features with shiny black hair met his eyes. The girl's blue eyes were also shining like jewels. She looked nervous, but she still took little steps towards him without hesitation.

The new guard, Gary, scanned the six-year-old from head to toe. He was young, but he knew how bombers looked like, as well as their common tricks. Judging from the kid's current situation, there was no way she could have hidden explosives big enough to make a mess under that cloak.

'She looked more like someone who needed help. But how did she come all the way here on her own? Did she walk from the southern gate, which was for normal trades and citizens? The southern gate is the only one where they did not write down records of people coming in.'

Gary hesitated and called his captain over using hand signals as a result. The academy's guards were not elites and enjoyed a more laid-back work style compared to other places, but that did not mean they would lose their wariness. At the end of the day, they were in charge of all those young masters' safety, so their capabilities were still up to standard even if they were not military elites.

The captain received Gary's message and walked over, ready for an emergency. However, he soon got confused at the little girl, who now stood before them.

As someone who worked at the academy for years, the captain had seen more than enough nobles. He was sure he had not seen this girl before, but she looked strangely familiar.

'She's not some noble's illegitimate child, is she?'

"Um…I'm sorry, sirs. Can I ask for your help for a bit?"

Before either of them could react, the little girl spoke with a weak smile. Dozens of possibilities and family drama cliches ran endlessly in the captain's head, and he tried to stay vigilant.

"I'm sorry, little one, but we're on duty at the moment. Are you lost? We could send someone to help."

The captain was exhausted from all the work since the students are having their two-week spring break soon, and this period is when the security must be at its peak. Students would come home and spend time with their families before heading back. A perfect chance for malicious schemes to take place.

As the first Emperor who united the Empire once said, "Ethics don't exist in politics."

The Empire's size was that of a continent, so power struggles were bound to happen, both from internal and external forces. As someone without a background but was stationed at one of the most crucial places, the captain always felt like he was stuck between multiple bullet lines.

However, he did not plan to vent his stress on the possibly innocent child. No one could blame him if he showed a bit of hostility towards her, as she appeared in this sensitive time. Still, as a newly-promoted father, the captain felt like he could not ignore this pretty child.

As if to strengthen his opinion of her being completely innocent, the child took her black cloak off and revealed her small body in a white dress. The captain's heart ached a bit at her exposed feet on the ground, but sympathy soon turned into shock when she took out the ring on her necklace and showed it to him.

"I think my older brother is here. This is my family's heirloom. Can you help me meet him?"

The captain squatted down to take a closer look at the ring as if he could not believe his eyes. The emblem was too familiar for him to forget. Two snakes intertwined around the legendary holy sword – that was Winford's family emblem.

'This isn't fake either.'

The captain was not from noble origins, but he knew how to distinguish real from fake heirlooms. It was against the Empire's law to fabricate a noble family's legacy. Besides, he had seen this particular heirloom before.

Guards like them had to learn about the shape, size, and details of famous family antiques so that they would not accidentally commit any grave mistakes.

'It really is Winford's ring. Red diamonds on a white gold ring. Don't tell me…'

'The young lady of the main lineage?'

The captain's eyes widen in surprise. The shock was too much for him to handle. He did not receive any information regarding a missing lady.

With utter disbelief, the middle-aged man looked at the girl's features again.

Clear blue eyes and black hair. The Winfords were famous for having eyes as blue as the sky. The clearer the blue, the more potential they possessed. He knew a small number of commoners possess this eye color as well for genetic reasons, but for some unknown reasons, famous noble bloodlines always managed to retain their distinct features.

Especially the Empire's founding families.

'The Church said it was the Gods' blessings to the heroes that united our continent.'