A Jasmine and Her Seeds pt. 1

"Quite an expensive course isn't it? 6 EXP, the grade from this class alone could decide the fate of your semester." I saw a smile painted on Mrs. Aalisha's face, it was soft and calming, fully in contrast with the words which she just said.

"But fear not, if it's a grade that you're chasing, I'm not going to hold you from it." Her every word is coated with a gentle and assuring melody. Her white hair, skin, and blindfolded eyes emitted such a soothing aura that kept seducing tears out of my eye.

I saw Melati lots of times, but Mrs. Aalisha is just on a whole nother level. Is she part of the mainline of White Horn?

"Unlike you kids, I never went to college. However, I'm still one of the earliest members of the Guild we all love." She looks so happy while giving her speech. "I do, nevertheless, got the guidance of teaching from the God of Knowledge."

"Now, teams are already assigned, right?" She asked the class.

"Already done so, Missus. Four of Eight." A cold-haired girl answered the teacher. If I remember correctly, she's a Fui Malianis (support) named Meissa.

"Ouh… His Holiness DiVarri would be pleased to hear that." I could feel her sense of relief. "You may gather with your teammates, and be creative with the hall's layout."

The class immediately followed her instruction and move along to sit together with their team members. The upper right is the spot for team 1, upper left team 2, lower right team 3, and lower left team 4. The spot arrangement will always be like this whenever team-related class activities are involved.

"The time of you kids being a student had long gone. You're now an archstudent, your duty is no longer just about learning the way and the basics, but also solving the problem this world currently facing."

Mrs. Aalisha walked back to the teacher's desk at the hall's stage, and lower herself to check something under it. "Oh! But even after being a young adult, you will still be a kid in my eye." She set such a motherly smile. The class broke out a faint laugh.

"I'm sure you already realize that there's a letter A right behind the abbreviation ISDC. It's because ISDC has two types, the A is for social science and the B for natural science." She dropped a white huge book right above the table, wider than her face, thicker than her arm.

"ISDC stands for Integrated Self Development Courses, this is a set of courses that'll push your growth through solving the past and present mainstream and unique problems."

The white earth energy overflowed from under the teacher's desk, as the wind of magic could be seen streaming out from it.

32 books of the same one that harbored above the desk, began to telekinetically fly throughout the hall and each of them landed at the front of the archstudents.

Although I got three lying before me instead of one.

"Could you please hand them to your siblings, Your Highness?" Mrs. Aalisha politely asked.

"Of course, Missus." I replied.

Upon the cover of this book is written its title which is this course's name. Under it is a name, Inova Buayo.

"Miss Inova wrote this?" I'm a bit baffled to see it.

"You know her?" Chiya asked, curious at the expression I'm making.

"She's the Head Director of the Guild." I answered.

"You don't seem too happy." She responded.

"Uh… the thing is—"

"The King called her a mentally ill girl." Anna completed my sentences.

"She's also still single, which said a lot about a Melati." I added.

"Why is that?" Hazana sounded a bit offended by it since she herself was also single while having romantic desperation.

"After the Pandeka Nomination Ceremony, every White Horn boy who became Pandeka will choose a number of wives depending on their strength." I began quoting a story.

"This means the competition to get a wife is quite tough as every pandeka will fight over which Melati they wanted to marry." I continued.

"The weaker Pandeka will end up with "lower quality" Melati or might even none at all. There must be something wrong with the Head Director if even the weakest Pandeka didn't choose to marry her."

"Maybe she's just independent and didn't want to get married." Chiya positively responded.

"No no no, even with how much privilege a Melati possessed compared to a Pandeka, freedom of choosing not to get married doesn't exist. They can't even choose who they wanted to marry."

Yeah… White Horn has a really weird societal system. They obey the law of Matriarchy, but they're led by a king, the family head is also a man. Even only a Pandeka is allowed to run a polygamous marriage.

The women are spoiled like crazy, however. A boy isn't even allowed to sit on a dining chair until they manage to become a Pandeka, while the girl has the comfort of a silk cushion.

"The book which I gave you, is nothing but a reference for you to read." Mrs. Aalisha didn't look like she trusted the content of the book. "However, it contains thousands of cases throughout the history of the New World, which you can study." Now I'm just confused.

"Alright, instead of me nurturing you kids from word to word, how about we immediately jump into a case study." She walked down from the stage, to the center of the hall, in order to attract more attention from the archstudents.

"I'm sure everyone here familiar with the native of this island right? The Kaoma, or the Chaos Tribe. They are Earth Keepers just like the Sarma, only they serve Wendira the Chaos Tree instead of Kalpataru the Tree of Life." She started describing the sample case.

"The history of us occupying the part of this Island, which is this Kendang Province, is not through a friendly manner."

"The King and his teammates, alongside the army of the Living Corpses, besieged the beach of which is now the Guild Headquarter, that is previously occupied by the Uhndaks."

"The Uhndak themselves stand under the same genus as the Kaoma. However, one is a Taanji and the other is a Keeper."

"Now, as you might have heard, the Kaoma has proposed to have some of their representatives live alongside us in this city, and study together with you kids in the Academy."

"Considering every aspect possible, what do you think is the best possible course to be taken. Will you accept them? Will you reject them? Will you set up some restrictions?"

"You have 15 minutes to discuss it with your teammates before we study it together as a class."

"You can try to solve it from the view of sociology, history, politics, economy, or even philosophy."

"Then again, you need to keep in mind that there is no absolute right or wrong to your answer, what matters is your reasoning behind it."