Chương 35: A Visit to the Academy

"Daylight robbery," Evan muttered under his breath as he handed the ferryman a whopping 65 mana stones.

"And remember, this is just a one-way ticket. You'll have to pay for your way back too." The man let the mana stones disappear into his inventory. A mana user then. Evan wondered if he used some kind of magical skill to steer the boat. He leaned forward and glanced over the railing. Was it a magical boat? It looked ordinary, but for all he knew, it might be enchanted with anti-storm magic and sea monster protection.

Everything was possible here, and he was only starting to explore the endless ways in which magic intertwined with ordinary life here. They shared the ferry with about two dozen other passengers, all seated on wooden benches on the deck. Evan and Oliver found an empty spot while the ferryman prepared the small ship for unberthing. The ship moved away from the docks, out into the dark blue ocean, gently bouncing up and down on the waves. Evan realized it was indeed a magical ship.

That was the only explanation for the fast, steady speed it was moving at. The ferry quickly moved away from the coast, and in the distance an island appeared. Evan could make out the shape of something that looked like a mix of a medieval castle and a beach resort. High towers and green courtyards, surrounded by multistory buildings with wraparound balconies and covered walkways connecting the different parts of the school. The closer they got, the more imposing it looked.

"Better than Hogwarts," Evan muttered, impressed by the massive structure.

"What's a Hogwarts?" Oliver asked.

"Not important. This school is huge. How many students does it house?"

"A couple of hundred, I think. Plus the teachers and some students that continue to stay after reaching rank 5 to continue their studies."

"You graduate at rank 5?"

"Yes, you're admitted at rank 1 and graduate once you reach rank 5, however long that takes. Most need a couple of years, but it of course depends on how hard you work." The ferryman steered the boat toward the island's coast, where a small village was located. It was a bit larger than Oliver's home village, but not by much. Evan assumed this village provided the students and the staff of the academy with their basic necessities and maybe even some entertainment.

A place to spend the afternoons, enjoying the ocean breeze, after a long study session in the library, or to blow off some steam with friends after an especially difficult exam. The ferryman tied the boat off.

"All right, everyone. The next ferry back to Stormhaven departs in four hours." The passengers rose from their wooden benches and shuffled toward the wooden landing stage. Evan and Oliver were the last to leave the boat. They followed the group into the village and took a look at their surroundings. An inn, a tailor, a smith, a food shop, and even a candy shop, but otherwise it looked like every other village Evan had been through, only this one lay in the shadow of the massive castle.

The academy was built on an elevation, looking down upon the village nestled between the foot of the hill and the shoreline. Evan had to crane his neck to see the tops of the large towers.

"Maybe it was a good idea to come here," he admitted.

"This place is pretty awesome."

"Hopefully the teachers are too," Oliver said.

"Let's hope someone here knows something about your little world-traveling problem." They followed a wide gravel path up the hill. To either side was a well-maintained and thoughtfully designed garden with colorful flowers, blooming trees, and trimmed hedges. The path ended in front of a large entry gate, guarded by a bored-looking young man in a light gray tunic, decorated with a silver pin.

Evan spotted a lot more young people in light gray tunics hanging out in the courtyard behind the gate, so he assumed the tunic was the school uniform. He also noticed that the student in front of him had a single blue stripe around the sleeves, while other students sported two, three or four rings. Evan wasn't sure, but he wondered if those rings signaled the students' ranks. If that were the case, they were dealing with a rank 1.

"Visitors need to get a visitor badge," he told them, visibly bored.

"Uh, okay. Give us two then," Oliver said.

"That'll be twenty mana stones each for the day." Oliver looked back at Evan questioningly, but he just sighed. They'd come all the way here, he might as well stay the day and try to find some answers. And twenty mana stones were probably well worth finding out how to travel back to his own world. Or how he ended up in this one to begin with. Oliver handed the student on guard duty the forty mana stones and was handed back two bronze medal pins with a V embossed on them.

"Student dormitories and all areas labeled as staff only are off-limits," the student explained.

"You can access the library, but you can't borrow books. You have to leave campus before nightfall."

"Okay, understood," Evan said with a polite smile. The student's face remained unmoved.

"Can you tell me where I can find the headmaster?" That question got a chuckle out of the boy.

"With all due respect, sir, I doubt Headmaster Orva has time to talk to you."

"I have a… uh, friend who knows him well and sent me here to talk to him." The student shrugged.

"His office is in the north tower. Try your luck if you must. Good day, sir." Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Evan and Oliver walked through the impressive entry gate. The courtyard behind it was just as well-kept and designed as the outside gardens. Paved walkways crossed the manicured lawn, connecting the many buildings that made up the academy grounds in geometric patterns.

Hedges, bushes, and trees with expansive canopies lined the pathways, providing shade from the summer heat. Students, all in the same gray tunics, were walking between the buildings or sat and lay under trees, chatting, laughing, and enjoying the sun. Evan had no idea how classes were conducted at this academy, but at least from the outside, going to the school seemed like a very pleasant experience. No wonder they had so many applicants each year. Who wouldn't want to study magic in a beautiful tropical palace?

The students seemed to be used to visitors, because none of them paid Evan, Oliver, or the handful of other people who'd gone through the gate after them much attention.

"Because of the library," Oliver explained as they crossed the courtyard to get to the main tower.

"It's one of the biggest on the continent, and everyone can visit it and read the books. And unlike the public libraries in Stormhaven, it doesn't cost a fee."

"You do have to pay a small fortune for the ferry though," Evan grumbled, still feeling salty about the 65 mana stones he'd had to pay to get here and the 65 mana stones he'd have to pay to get back to the harbor. They rounded a long three-story building with a flat roof and a balcony wrapping around the entire third floor and followed a path lined by chest-high hedges, interrupted by flowery archways every twenty feet or so. The path led them to the entrance of the main tower.

Just as they were about to pull open the large double-winged wooden door, a group of young men coming from inside the tower pushed it open, nearly knocking Evan over. There were five of them, all in gray tunics with three rings on the sleeves. They were laughing loudly, in an unpleasant way only a group of young men who were up to no good could laugh.

"Have you seen the look on her face?" one of them, a dark-haired, tan guy with a narrow face and high cheekbones, said.

"She looked like a brain-damaged pig." More rowdy laughter followed. The dark-haired boy laughed the loudest until he nearly bumped into Oliver on his way down the short set of stairs. For a moment, genuine surprise crossed his face, but then his lips twisted into a cruel grin.

"Oh, look who we have here…" His friends gathered around him, eyeing Oliver with looks of expectant curiosity. Evan was old enough to recognize a bully when he saw one, and apparently this bully had picked Oliver as his next victim, while his friends eagerly awaited the show. The dark-haired student smacked his lips.

"If it isn't little Oliver Detreyo. If you want to apply for the Academy, you're too late." Oliver's body stiffened, and his face froze.

"I'm not applying for the Academy," he said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, I thought so," the student said.

"Your family's dirt poor. No way your father could've afforded the application fees, let alone tuition. I mean, look at you… all he could get you was an Earth crystal." He paused, giving his cronies a chance to snicker, as if there were something especially funny about the Earth Affinity.

"I guess it suits you, though," he continued.

"Dirt, mud, yeah, you're the type." Evan could see Oliver clenching his fists, but he made no attempt to stop the bully from talking. Evan felt a tingling in his own fingertips. He wasn't the type of guy to start a fistfight, but oh boy, did this dude have a punchable face. He forced himself to take a deep breath. So far, he hadn't said anything worthy of throwing the first punch. Just poking at Oliver, checking how much he could take before he snapped.

Evan had no intention of just letting that happen to his friend.

"You must be Crispin," he said loudly, stepping forward.

"The mayor's kid?" For a moment, Crispin looked surprised Evan dared to address him directly, but he quickly schooled his face. He scanned him from head to toe, scrunching his nose like he was smelling something disgusting.

"And who are you?"

"Oh, just a traveler who passed through your home village recently. People there had a lot to say about you, Crispin. A lot." The truth was, Crispin's name had only come up once or twice, just enough to gather what kind of person the mayor's son was, but Evan could tell his words were getting to him. Not knowing what had been said about him seemed to anger Crispin. He opened his mouth, but Evan didn't give him the chance to sling another underhanded insult at Oliver.

"Seems like you're a bit of a type too, huh? Unfortunately, we can't hang around to chat. We're on a bit of a tight schedule. But good luck with your studies and, uh… the Academy hopefully puts a lot of effort into character development too, right?" Before Crispin had a chance to reply, Evan walked right past him, spine straight, face relaxed.

He brushed Crispin's shoulder ever so slightly, just to egg Crispin on, but the brat was too baffled someone had dared to talk back that he didn't react at the obvious provocation, and to Evan's relief his confident demeanor was enough to make Crispin's buddies step aside to let him through too. Oliver quickly followed Evan through the door. Evan kept up the show until the heavy wooden door had completely closed behind them, before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Damn, what an asshole." Oliver rubbed a hand over his face, looking winded just from talking to Crispin.

"Thanks for stepping up for me, man. I don't think I've ever seen Crispin speechless before."

"You'd do the same for me," Evan said, looking around to reorient himself. They were standing at the foot of a tall staircase that seemed to reach all the way up to the top of the tower. Hallways and doors branched off from the numerous stair landings. Evan assumed the headmaster's office would probably be at the very top of the tower, so he started climbing the stairs.

"Has he always been like that?" he asked Oliver.

"Crispin? Yeah, pretty much. He's always been a bully, and he's always picked on me, even when we were still little kids. When Miles was still alive… well, Miles could keep him at bay, but after his death things with Crispin took a turn for the worse."

"I bet you were happy when he left to attend the Academy."

"Happy is an understatement. I'm telling you, even if I had the money for tuition, I'd never want to study here. Not as long as Crispin is around."

"Good thing you don't have to. We're doing pretty well for ourselves, aren't we?" Evan said with a smile. In the back of his mind, he noticed he wasn't out of breath, not even a little bit, even though they'd already walked up six flights of stairs. That probably had something to do with his increased attribute points.

"Did you notice the two rings on Crispin's sleeve? He's rank 3. All that fancy Academy education wasn't enough for him to overtake you." Oliver's face lit up.

"You're right. Maybe… maybe he isn't as good as he thinks."

"I bet he isn't," Evan said.

"All he has is schoolwork. We fought real monsters and prevailed." With Oliver's mood significantly improved, they reached the top floor. Evan stopped a student who was on his way down the stairs and asked for directions.

"Can you tell us where the headmaster's office is?" The student glanced at them, taking note of their lack of school uniforms.

"Do you have an appointment or something?"

"No, but we'd still like to talk to him," Evan said.

"His office is that way, just follow the hallway, then go left. But don't get your hopes up. The headmaster is a busy man. I'm not sure he has time for random visitors."

"Thank you anyway." They followed the student's directions, taking the hallway that led to the left. Evan spotted a large, decorated door at the end of the corridor.

"That must be it. That must be the door to Orva's office." They sped up their pace, walking past a number of art pieces hanging on the left-hand wall. Most of them were landscape paintings, but there were some portraits too. Men and women in shiny armor, holding weapons in heroic poses. Evan didn't pay them much attention. They reached the door, and he lifted his hand to knock, when an accidental sideways glance made him pause mid-motion.

He turned to get a better look at the large painting hanging right next to the door. It was by far the largest one in the hallway, and it showed a group of four people, all striking their best heroic poses, with magical swirls and sparkles surrounding them. Evan stared at the image in disbelief. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, then looked again, but what he was seeing was still as shocking as the first time.

"What is it?" Oliver asked, looking puzzled.

"That painting…" Evan said slowly.

"I know the person in that painting… from my own world."