Chapter 97: Royal Academy

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I woke up very early that day.

Carlos had told me the night before that early in the morning, the Royal Academy would send someone over, so I should pack my things in advance and not oversleep.

Actually, I was very excited inside, so how could I possibly oversleep… Even before dawn, I had already opened my eyes, tossing and turning in bed for quite a while. Finally feeling it was about time, I used both hands and feet to climb out of bed, took off my pajamas, opened the wardrobe and took out a pure white cake-cut dress I had bought yesterday to change into, then put on water-blue leather boots. Next, I opened the vanity drawer and took out those two necklaces that never left my neck except when sleeping.

Tilting my head to think, I put the Pontifical Knight’s badge necklace back and only wore the Heart of Wintermoon that the lady gave me, then ran to the large mirror in the corner to check… ugh, my hair was so messy.

At that moment, the bedroom door was knocked, and Carlos’s voice came from outside.

“Little Syl, are you awake?”

“I’m awake, I’m awake! I’m getting ready, almost done.”

“Hurry up, the academy people will be here soon.”

“Oh!”

I turned my head toward the door and shouted, then quickly went to wash up, sat back at the vanity table, and carefully combed my hair in front of the small mirror. I wanted to style it nicely, but after trying for a long time couldn’t make anything decent, which made me so frustrated I wanted to pull all my hair out…

No choice, I just let my black hair cascade over my shoulders, reaching down to my lower back. I took out a butterfly bow hairband from the wardrobe and clipped it behind my head, then put on the bracelet Parsifal gave me, and ran to the mirror again.

Seeing the reflection in the metallic surface showing a delicate little beauty like a doll without any makeup, I nodded with satisfaction.

Then I frowned, realizing something was wrong.

I was just going to the academy to register, so why was I dressing up like I was going on a blind date?

…Whatever, I’ll just go like this.

Knock knock knock.

“Little Syl, how long is your ‘almost ready’ going to take? Are you done yet? The person is already at the door.”

“Coming, coming!”

I slung on the Scottish-style small shoulder bag I bought yesterday, put my keys inside, and opened the door.

“Ready?” Carlos yawned outside the door.

I nodded at him.

“Mm, let’s go.”

Arriving at the iron gate, I saw a luxurious blue-white horned carriage stopped at the mansion’s entrance. The wooden carriage was carved with exquisite patterns and bore the image of a roaring lion.

In front of the horned carriage, an elderly man with white hair and a long beard came forward to greet us when he saw us.

The old man was about 60 years old, but he was energetic and walked briskly. Even when he was still 4 or 5 steps away, he smiled and bowed lightly to us.

“Sir Carlos, long time no see.”

“Long time no see, Teacher Melville.”

Carlos also smiled and returned the bow. His manner clearly showed this wasn’t his first time meeting the old man. Hearing how he addressed the elder, I immediately understood this must be a teacher from the academy, so I quickly lifted my dress with both hands, bent my knees slightly, and performed a standard lady’s curtsy.

…Ah, what did Carlos just call him?

“…Teacher, hello.”

“Hello there, lovely little miss.” The old man looked at me with a cheerful smile. “You must be the frost order genius that Her Majesty the Queen mentioned, right? Miss Peylo from the Valen Empire?”

Hearing this, I tilted my head and blinked my eyes obediently at him.

“Yes, teacher.”

…This old gentleman had a kind and benevolent smile on his face, but he was obviously treating me like a little girl, which made me somewhat unhappy. But he was an elder, and at his age it was perfectly normal for him to see me this way, so I couldn’t really say anything for the moment.

Although I still didn’t know what he taught, leaving a good impression on a teacher was always a good thing.

The old gentleman reached out his rough big hand and patted my head… why does everyone like to pat my head?

“What a charming little girl… now those boys at the Royal Academy are going to get restless!”

“Haha, please bear with her, teacher.” Carlos smiled and glanced at me. “This girl is not easy to deal with.”

“I understand, I understand. Her Majesty the Queen personally instructed me about this, Sir Carlos doesn’t need to be so polite… shall we set off then?”

“Good.”

The horned carriage moved forward all the way.

It passed through dense markets, crossed a clear flowing river, passed over a magnificent stone bridge spanning the river, and stopped in front of a huge castle.

Getting off the carriage, I tilted my head up to look at this castle that seemed like something from a fantasy world. The slightly weathered gray-white walls were covered with white roses and dark green vine plants. The tall towers reaching into the sky in the distance reminded me of Shanter Castle back in the empire… though in terms of both scale and design, that place was somewhat inferior to here.

When it comes to architectural standards, no country could compare with Isenbell.

Today was the first day of academy registration. In front of the huge fortress gate, there were crowds of people, countless large and small white tents, with people standing shoulder to shoulder in several long lines that extended almost to the stone bridge 100 meters away. Many guards were maintaining order. At the very front of the lines, flashes of fire and lightning could be seen from time to time — this was the interview process for Royal Academy admissions.

Whether noble or commoner, their children who wanted to enter the academy had to first pass strict testing. This first step of interviews tested whether they had Order Power, only children with elemental affinity could enter the academy and proceed to the next testing phase.

This was what Teacher Melville told me on the way — he was a highly respected teacher at the Royal Academy who taught advanced Order studies, and would also be my teacher in the future.

Of course, I didn’t need to go through these tedious tests and went directly into the castle. Melville led us all the way to the tallest tower, up the spiral staircase to the top floor, and pushed open the door to the principal’s office.

“Principal Bertha, Sir Carlos and Miss Peylo are here.”

The old lady sitting at a huge mahogany desk who had been reviewing documents looked up.

Her face was full of wrinkles, her eyes had that peculiar dullness of old people, and she wore a tall scholar’s cap on her head. She just casually glanced at us, said in a slow voice “Oh, please sit,” then buried her head back down.

We sat down on chairs nearby, watching her continuously write and draw on paper with a quill pen. It was a long time before she looked up again.

“That… Miss Pedolo, right?”

“Cough cough… Principal Bertha, it’s Miss Peylo.” Melville reminded somewhat awkwardly.

“Oh. I’m getting old, my memory isn’t so good, please forgive me.” She rubbed her cloudy eyes, her voice very dry and her speech slow and deliberate. “Miss Pelolo, your situation, Little Vicky has already told me about it. You came here wanting to systematically learn Order Power, right?”

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