The journey felt quite long without any entertainment onboard. Fortunately, Baston spent his time to learn his new knowledge better. Not only he felt boring, he wanted to experiment about his new magic.
Supposedly, the fat boy should be stronger than before, but he didn't know exactly his limit. It was better if someone challenged him in the duel. By that time, he could learn one or two about his effective magic and the use for battle experience.
When he and the others arrived at the city, Baston finally could tell why nobles liked to stay at this kind of place. Just from the city
gate, people could see what a magnificent place to stay. Further than the front gate, he could see many thriving businesses from shops and stores around. The one thing that attracted him was the style of restaurant here. Some of them had big size, medium, or small one. Despite of that, no one was ordinary because each of them displayed different distinct style.
Some held their pride on the appetizer, main dish, or dessert. Each side then would popularize certain dish, such as soup, meat dish, vegetable, and any other else. Just looking at the menu, Baston could hardly
restrain himself. Too bad whether he wanted to eat it or not, he didn't have enough money, so he could only let it go first. Once he had any chance to earn his own money, he would then do satisfy himself.
While he was busy looking around, the big carriage then entered a certain prestigious academy in the center of the city. The scenery and facility in the surrounding was very different from Prius Academy. It could
be said that his academy looked like an ordinary house while this one looked like the mansion. The field was even larger by big margin, making everything looked sparse even though the population here was much more than Prius Academy.
Baston wanted to comment about the academy, but Alicia and Anderson just treated it casually. It seems for them as nobles, they had been already accustomed by such big academy. If he spoke like a village boy who never saw the grandness of the city, he must be scorned. Eventually, he had to held back so he also looked casual although there were some surprises in his
heart. The carriage was moving for a while until it stopped at the front of big building. A staff from the academy came to greet Baston and the others.
"Welcome, everyone. The Zeverius Academy greets all of you. Hopefully, you will enjoy your time here…"
"Thank you for your generosity…" Alicia took the lead, "We will rest first and wait for your announcement."
"Alright. The keys all here, so you can go to your own room to get rest. We will notify you the time when the meeting will be held later."
Baston should be the leader, yet because he never knew what he should do and what he should say, he then asked help from Alicia. The noblebgirl kept her manner perfectly in front of the others. Appointing her to lead
them for the first greeting was very suitable. The short conversation between the staff and them left many unanswered questions, but Alicia and Anderson already knew the next thing, so Baston just followed them.
"Just because we come from average one, the staff before could act nonchalantly. There was no appreciation inside his tone," Anderson started.
"It can't be helped. The ordinary staff like him is used to bow down to strength. It can be seen that Prius Academy is just an ordinary
academy, unlike some prestigious one like where we are," Alicia replied.
"Well, I guess it's quite good that we still have a place to stay until the meeting held."
Baston on the other hand felt the attitude of the staff before was quite good. It wasn't humble nor overbearing. He treated them to the important point they needed to know and that was all he needed. While they were
walking, Alicia explained that they needed to stay at this place first before going to the meeting. There were 3 keys, indicating each of them had their own personal room. The fat boy didn't ask further information because he wanted to get some rest. He unlocked his own room to check what was inside of it.
"Not bad. At least, it's better than my room back at the academy…"
The decoration was quite good plus the atmosphere wasn't gloomy. The bed was also comfier, so when he laid down at it, he felt sleepy and wanted to sleep for a while. He just closed his eyes, but when he woke up, he felt many hours had already passed. Luckily, he quickly woke up after someone knocked his door. If not, he would just still sleep until tomorrow.
Alicia and Anderson had already been waiting for sometime in front of Baston's room. The day was late, so they needed to proceed into specially designed dining room for the meeting's members. Today, all of the
invited academies had just come to here, so the meeting would be likely announced at tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. People needed rest and got used to the atmosphere, so the Zeverius Academy let them strolled around for more.
Baston could see the Zeverius Academy did it on the purpose. They might let the other students to roam first for a couple of days to see the greatness they had inside. It was like the academy tried to boast their ability among some other academies here, making a hidden competition from the beginning. People would think it was kind of bragging, but there was another purpose for it. There must be some talented students from each other of academy who felt Zeverius Academy was way much better than their place. Slowly but sure, they instilled certain belief that if you wanted to develop better, then Zeverius Academy was the place for you to go.
On the way to the dining room, people around acted mighty but not the way of bully. They exuded such a brilliant aura, making other students felt lower in front of them. There were also many handsome boys and
beautiful girls around, making people were hard to resist the temptation to just study here. This behavior might be good for others, but it was useless for Baston. He was used to stay at his old academy right now and besides, a prestigious academy like Zeverius might not want a poor boy like him.
At the dining room, Baston and the others waited for their meal while looking around. Several people gradually entered the dining room at the same time, waiting for their meals too while conversing with others. Some students greeted each other and some of them already measured how strong the others. Strength was still the only method to see whether someone could gain
respect in this meeting or not.
One by one, many dishes were served and people could finally taste how great the food here. Of course, it was better than Prius academy for Baston. He himself never tasted such a fine dish in noble area, so the food in front of him was much more delicious than what he could think of. At least, the
food tasted tender and amazing in his tongue. If not being watched by people
around, he really wanted to ask for a second. When it was time to leave, a noble boy came to their table.
"Excuse me, everyone. I have something to do with one of your members. Could I borrow Alicia for a while?"
Anderson moved closer to Baston and whispered something, "This is the one who always court Alicia before. He's troublesome fellow. Be careful when you speak in front of him…"
"So, he's the guy…" Baston thought while looking at the boy.
The boy looked handsome with distinctive hair. The clothes he wore might be the same as the nobles around, but Baston could tell something was quite different. There was a trace of magic on it, making him assumed the clothes was imbued by protective spell. Such a fabric was really expensive to be worn because only a handful people who was eligible to do so. His background might
be quite strong if he could show such a display in front of many people.
"I'm sorry, but I need to rest right now. The trip was very long before so I don't have a time to take a breath," Alicia replied to the
boy.
"Well, it's quite unfortunate then," the boy just shook his head and turned into other members, "My name is Clark Poromir. I hope we can have a good relationship, the same between me and Alicia."
Alicia was disgusted, but she could only show her smile in front of Clark. The same also happened to Baston and Anderson. After exchanging a short greeting, everyone then dispersed from the dining room. While on the way back, Baston could see Alicia wasn't in the mood to enjoy the scenery. It
looked like just by meeting a boy named Clark, it already disturbed her emotion. Clearly, there was more than what he had already known regarding Clark.
"That boy before… Is he very troublesome?" Baston asked curiously.
"Yes, he's very troublesome," Alicia had a headache, "He even can become a stalker just to chase me. The more troublesome is his jealousy. Even if some ordinary classmates approach me, he will remember their name. The worse is he will investigate them in order to make sure they don't have any feelings about me. By the way, he only acts like this if the boys are involved. He won't act vigilantly if we are talking about girls."
"Ah… I see…" Baston gulped down, "He's very possessive…"
"Indeed…"
Just from what Alicia told before, Baston had already a bad hunch about his fate. She just met with her classmate which was also a boy and Clark had already targeted him from the beginning. With him and Anderson as part of their groups, it meant that he was already a target by default. He was actually just a classmate, yet troublesome thing happened in the way. And just after they all came back to their own room, several people gathered around Clark in his personal room. They disguised as the guards, yet their moves in the surrounding were hidden well. Coming in front of the boy, one of them started
reporting.
"My lord, I already investigated 2 boys before. One of them comes from Anderson family and the other has no background. Surprisingly, this fat one comes from poor class."
"What? Poor class? How can it be?" Clark was shocked.
"Yes, my lord. I already confirm the information I get from Prius Academy. The boy named Baston comes from poor class, yet because of fortunate event, he becomes a wizard in single night."
"Tell me in detail…"
The man talked about the fateful meeting between Baston and the great wizard Angus. Many eyewitnesses saw him became a wizard just after getting lucky encounter of being temporary assistant in front of everyone. Initially, they wouldn't make a fuss but the fat boy also got an ice element after being awaken. Everyone knew the ice element was greater than water, so many students at the site felt envy and jealous. Still, they couldn't do much because strength spoke louder in this world. The academy would protect Baston from then on because he displayed such a talent, even though it was quite abrupt.
The students were unwilling to see Baston reached a new understanding about magic, especially Clark who had courted Alicia from the start. He began thinking Baston would take advantage of his newfound strength
to get closer to her. Such an ugly pig who wanted to please the beautiful swan was unacceptable. Unconsciously, he already considered Baston as a threat for his relationship. As for the boy from Anderson family, it was just an ordinary noble who excelled of being a knight, so he didn't view him as his opponent.
"It seems I have to change my plan for the meeting…"