4. Registration (part 1)

Character : Nathan Fiore, Registration

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"His name is… 'Mega Lair'?" 

I asked the old chef with pure confusion, and he shook his head at me.

"Megaleer! Jansen Megaleer! Remember it. He is the damn mayor of the town!" He said to me very-very sternly, and I already have problems remembering the mayor's last name.

The chef was telling me about the city, and I learned quite a lot from him. He told me about how the city is split into four, which is the north, south, west, and east parts. He then proceeded to explain each and every one of those parts down to the details.

For the northern part of the city, it is the knights district for all the military stuff of the city be held. The eastern part is the merchants district, where all trades and the city's main market is located. The south district is where we are currently at, and it is where all sorts of livelihood things are located. Things like a shopping area, plaza, or even parks. Tourists also mainly stayed at this south district since it's the liveliest part of Ellen, and one can even dare say that this is the main part of the entire city.

As for the western side, it's not exactly a place anyone wants to be at. While it is true that Ellen is a rich and wealthy city, it's not a city without its dark sides. The western district is the slums, the place for poor people who did not have the capability to pay for a living to stay for free. It is also the center of all shady schemes within the city. Basically, it's not exactly a place anyone would visit for no reason, and it's certainly not a good place to stay at.

The chef then tells me about the leader and the governing of the city. The city is ruled by a mayor, someone called 'Jansen Megaleer'. He said that man is the owner of a massive merchant company called 'Mega' company, and he used that company as the city's backbone of economy.

I have heard about the Mega company before, and to a sense, it was very powerful. It ruled over a massive network of merchants, and nothing in this world is more solid than money. Not even origin powers can beat the value of money, and people even use their origin abilities to obtain money by becoming mercenaries.

Understanding the strength of the city's leader, I now have a bigger respect for the ruler of Ellen. I became curious as to what kind of person this mayor truly was if he was able to build such a powerful independent city.

After eating, I thanked the old chef and headed out with a full tummy. I realized that the day has gotten very dark already, and the sun looks like it is about to set very soon.

How long… did it take for me to finish that lamb meat? It was good, but it was also really big. It took me a lot of time to finish it, but I didn't even realize it because it was so good. The old man was also quite talkative, so it didn't get boring at all.

I should definitely visit the restaurant again. The old chef was really kind to me, and I feel like we have only talked the surface of what we could've talked about.

But, I have better things to be. I need to apply for the entrance exam at the academy before it closes. 

Oh god… Hopefully I can still make it.

And so, I started heading for the academy. Lucky for me, the academy is at the southern side of the city, which is where I am currently at. The old chef even pointed out which road and turns I needed to go to reach it, and surprisingly it wasn't quite far.

During the walk, I made sure to keep an eye out on the buildings around me. The architecture of this city was just so advanced that the buildings on Fiordall would look like they're from the caveman age. It's not just the architecture, but the city design as well. It is developed so nicely with massive roads in regards to the automated carriages, and even the technology behind the street lights are very different from the place I came from.

If I have the time… I'd love to learn about this city's architecture and the technology behind them. But, I know that I will despise drawing buildings, so I guess I'll just stick to simply looking at the buildings.

After a rather short fifteen minutes of walk, I arrived at the perimeter of the academy. Even the path to the entrance is already so grandiose, and there's even a massive beautiful fountain right outside the entrance gate. My eyes studied the fountain design with awe as I walked past it, and I finally arrived at the entrance.

Seeing that a young man like myself is walking to the front desk, the lady sitting behind it quickly stood up to welcome me.

"Welcome to the Elemental Academy of Ellennoire! How can I help you?" The desk lady asked politely to me, and I bowed slightly at her before stating my business.

"Good afternoon. I would like to apply for the entrance exam." I said to the lady, and it looks like she was already prepared for any applicants to appear before her.

The lady then reached for the paper under the desk and placed them on the desk in front of me. "In that case, please fill out this form so that we can record your identity."

I stared at the paper quite intensely, and I noticed that I will have to put in some important information to the form. The lady handed me a pen for me to write, and I used the pen to fill out the form as detailed as possible. Once I was done, I pushed the paper forward at the lady who was waiting for me.

The lady picked the paper up, and she quickly saw the name written on the paper. "You are… Nathan Fiore!?!?"

Haha… it seems like my appearance has surprised her.

"I thought you would come with an army behind you or something… I mean--!!"

"It's okay, ma'am. Truthfully, I sneaked out of the castle to get here, so it's natural for anyone to be surprised." I hurriedly lifted my hand to stop her from panicking, and it looks like the lady understood me.

"I… I see. In that case, let's discuss the advance payment, your highness." The desk lady has now addressed me properly, which I allowed her considering my position. "While I understand that the fire kingdom is behind you, an advance payment will still need to be given at the registration process."

"I have learned about that, so I came prepared!" I gladly handed over an item to the desk lady, and she took the item from my hand.

The item is a golden bracelet that looked very expensive, but that is not the most important part of the item. The bracelet has a special enchanted ability that allows it to store items inside. A spatial enchantment was given to open up a space within the bracelet, which allows objects to be placed inside.

A storage bracelet. It's a rather luxurious item that is created by a special technology made of origin powers. Not just anyone can own such an item, and fortunately for me, I had the ability to obtain it simply by asking for it.

The lady only have to hold the bracelet to know that it is an enchanted storage bracelet, and she quickly noticed the contents that is stored inside the bracelet. "This amount… I see. It looks like this is the right amount indeed."

The lady then proceeded to wear the storage bracelet, and she took out the objects that was stored within the bracelet. She placed the objects on top of the table, which reveals one platinum coin and five gold coins.

That is a total of one thousand and five hundred bronze coins, which was the sum needed to enter the academy. The advance payment was actually only half of the amount, but I brought the full amount since I will just pay it all in the end.

The lady then stored the money away inside her own storage bracelet, and she returned the golden bracelet back to me. I made sure to put away the bracelet carefully inside my pocket, and the desk lady wrote some stuff onto a small notebook that she has. Once she was done, she handed me the receipt for the payment that was created by a mechanical tool.

Seeing how the receipt was made automatically made me wonder just how advanced their technology truly is if a desk lady like her had access to printing machines. Back in my place, only certain important institutes has those printing machines. And yet, here is a random desk in front of a fancy academy having the machine.

"Come back during the exam day with the receipt! That will be your ticket for entering the entrance exams on that day!" The desk lady said cheerfully, and I was immediately reminded by something I don't know yet.

"Ahaa… Can I know when the exam day is?" I asked politely, and the lady simply smiled at me.

"Exactly seven days from now!" The lady didn't even bother looking at the calendar to know the date.

Hearing the answer, I simply smiled softly at her.

I… was totally not expecting to wait that long.

I thought you can just enter… and take the exam by yourself! But you had to wait for a week???? Did I came here too early!?!?!?

What can I even do… for a week?

During the walk leaving the academy area, my mind was grinding gears thinking of what I can do while waiting. One week is too short of a time for any vacation trips, but it's also too long for me to do anything simple. It's an awkward amount of timeframe that I just don't know what I can do with it.

Should I get a job…? Nah, that's too annoying.

Maybe become a mercenary? I wonder if there's any mercenary offices here, I guess. But then I will have to take missions that can last for days…

I guess going on a trip around the town is the better idea? I've never been here before, so…

After thinking about it, I have decided to just roam around the city whilst waiting for the entrance exam. Seven days should be a good amount of time for me to roam around in the city, and I have more than enough money to sustain myself for a while.

But, I do realize that I had nothing to go with for my journey. I have no plans, no knowledge of what I should do in the city or where I should go. To fix that, I decided to visit the one place that was so welcoming towards me.

"Oh, little man! You're back?" The old chef I previously talked to was quite confused seeing me back so soon. "I thought you just ate a massive lamb meat! Don't tell me you're hungry again!"

I only grinned at him while closing the glass door behind me, and I walked closer to the tall table where I previously sat and ate. To my surprise, there are actually quite a few people here eating some light snacks. As the old chef mentioned, people only start coming once it gets dark outside.

It is already past 6 PM, and the sun went down on my way back here. By the time I arrived, the skies was already pretty dark, and the stars were easily viewable.

"I'm not hungry, but… I could use some snacks. Can you suggest me one?" I asked the chef while sitting down, and he noticed that I must be looking for a company.

"Then, do you know about the 'Lancelot Knights Drink'?" The chef asked, and I got really confused by that name.

"Is that… alcohol? I'm sixteen, I can't drink that yet."

"It's actually a meal. Well… a soup. You'll have to see it first to understand it." The chef then proceeded to go to the back, and I was quite confused as to what kind of snacks came in the shape of a soup.

The chef returned and started making the so called soup drink right away, and he chatted with me as he made it.

"So, you went to the academy?" He asked while pouring in the ingredients to the big pot, and I recalled what happened before I came here.

"I registered, already. But, they said that the entrance exam was one week from now, and I had no idea that I have to wait for a week…"

"You don't even know it was one week from now??" The chef turned at me with a judging face, and I covered my face from being ashamed. "Well, the academy always present their entrance exams in the most grand way possible. They always have some kind of battle tournaments in the previous years. I'm not sure how they are going to hold this year's exams, though."

Oh? It looks like this old chef knows some stuff. Then again, it was probably public knowledge for the people who lives in the city, but I just had no idea since Fiordall is very far away from Ellen. Information about the academy was already very difficult to find there, and I even have to pay a huge sum to find out that they are open for registration.

"Do you know what other things they--"

KRING!!!!

The door to the restaurant was opened loudly, and the bell ringing caught everyone's attention. From the door, a pair of people wearing a really modern knight's armor entered the restaurant. The two looked around the restaurant as if searching for someone, and they finally walked closer to me.

Or rather… they came for the chef.