A Dragon’s Curiosity

Sitting in the garden again, akin to almost a week ago, Nisha played with her little wolf. Throwing a piece of mangled meat taken from her stash inside the [Inner Space], Accalia needs to sprint after the treat and bring it back to the dragon’s feet, whom would then give her the command and allow her to devour the meat.

Communicating via the common language for beasts and monsters, the two were barely able to understand each other, the wolf had yet to fully learn most basic words contained within it, awakening as a beast certainly made it easier despite not having inherited any memories. Nonetheless, Nisha spared no effort to teach her adorable pup whenever she had free time, improving their training and expanding the understanding they had about each other.

At the beginning, Little Lia regarded the thrown meat pieces just as a tasty treat and wolfed them down as soon as she caught up to one of them. Since then, the elf and the beast learned more about each other and Lia clearly understood she had to listen to Nisha’s command as her subordinate. Considering that the elf spoke her language, cared for her and spent lengthy amounts of time with the young wolf, Accalia easily agreed to serve her, and regard Nisha as the master in their relationship. As a young and inexperienced mind, there weren’t many choices or doubts in the wolf’s head anyway, and by the time her mental capacity increased further their relation would have been already settled.

Naturally Nisha had also been going around in her circle of friends and informed them about her upcoming school days. Most of them had already made an educated guess and wished her the best of luck, while others, such as Lance Corporal Hale only laughed and congratulated her while the soldier was overlooking how their flying ship got remodeled in a semi permanent building by taking apart the walls and reassembling them on the ground.

As a matter of fact, the dragon had been really tempted to go to the [Eel’s Park] on the Day of Life to see if Alice showed up and challenge her to another game of chess, however this was also the day where she had to attend court as usual, she had already missed out on a few sessions recently. With nothing too important going on besides the introduction of several important foreign nobles visiting the city, the dragon had spent most of the time sitting in the alcove assigned to the Dharnas family practicing her [Seal: Create] inside the world occupying her [Inner Space]. Even with a perfect execution of the skill itself, she had failed to produce anything besides the floating seal so far.

Now, on the following day, the academy stopped accepting students and the first lectures would be held after a welcoming speech held by the vice director during a gathering for all new arrivals and their relatives.

“There you are, Nisha. Are you ready?”

As it happened, Henry returned from the academy at this point in time, just when the dragon distributed the remaining pieces of meat to her small wolf. Due to the speech and mass of new students arriving, the classes for older students got cancelled, allowing Henry to attend the ceremony as a family member.

“Yes, let me bring Little Lia back to my room and we can go. Will Luthais come too? I haven’t seen him around.”

Commanding the beast in their language, the dragon ordered her to follow while she walked towards the house.

“Ah, I think he can’t come. Originally he wanted to take time off since this is a special event and celebrate it with you, but with the increased amount of foreigners around, his workload increased again. Don’t worry, it’s not about you doing something wrong, dad often had to work longer when it was my turn as well. Uncle Galan often accompanied me when father couldn’t come, but you have me, right?”

Calmly stating his sentence without a hint of disturbance in his voice, Henry didn’t give away whether he was bothered by it or not. Thankfully, Nisha understood the situation without having to be especially told, recently her stepfather had been missing meals too. Him being absent from the speech didn’t stir her emotions.

“Putting that aside, do you know why there are so many new students this turn, Henry? One of the teachers I met said something similar, along the lines why there are so many foreigners in Leandar currently.”

Picking up the topic as the pair of siblings moved along the street after Nisha sent her companion back and they advanced to the academy, she continued their conversation.

“Hm, putting it plainly, it’s not Leandar they are really interested in, rather it’s just Thurgau. You’ve seen the ambassador from the dragons in court, right? The one who always wears a robe and never shows his face. Before you came to stay with us, he brought the decree of their ruler along with him, asking for permission to stay in Leandar. Most of the regular folks have no idea that he isn’t really an ambassador at all, rather there must be some motive for the dragons to send someone in our territory. It’s probably been more than a millennia since the last time this happened. And everyone wants to know why the Dragon King sent a golden scale this time around. Maybe a heavenly metal will mature or a divine herb will bloom, no one can tell.

Even so, most of the major nations on the continent sent delegations to see if they can snatch some benefits or have a fortunate encounter while the elder does whatever the Dragon King tasked him with.”

Explaining the circumstances regarding the emissary, Henry revealed a deep understanding regarding the politics involved, as expected from the son of a duke.

“Wouldn’t some of them also aim for the opportunity the dragon elder is looking for? Since it will be the most valuable price, anyone would be greedy for it, I reckon.”

Musing about the information that there currently existed another dragon besides her three little siblings inside the borders of Leandar, Nisha herself was somewhat absent minded and almost walked into the middle of a street while a carriage rushed into the direction of the academy. Luckily Henry pulled her back before an accident could happen.

“From all possible outcomes, this is the single impossible conclusion. As far as we know, the Dragon King is an ancient beast who is even older than most nations. While we humans were still roaming the plains as wanderers and nomads, he was already ruling over his kin. The most other races can do is aim for some benefits on the side, a single order from the ancient dragon lord has the power to destroy kingdoms.”

The dragon already knew her race was regarded as a blessing and calamity at the same time, hearing the awe and terror hidden in her step brothers cheerful voice when he described the consequences of provoking the apex predator in these lands, she couldn’t help but secretly be pleased.

“Overall, it’s still a good situation for our kingdom. Beasts with an almost infinite lifespan such as dragons are similar to elves in their perception of time. Whether the opportunity the emissary is looking for will happen in a few moons, it might as well only happen after several turns. And most regular folks won’t even realize what’s going on, whilst the eyes of all major players on the continent focus towards us. With a conservative guess, the recent waves of new applicants all bring gold with them. That amount should be enough to fund the academy for several turns, with similar effects happening to the overall economy all over the sphere of influence belonging to the kingdom.”

Hesitating for a moment, he had no choice but to add something else.

“Dad has more work to do since security needs to be increased, which is a downside, but overall it’s a beneficial arrangement for Leandar.”

Walking with a moderate speed, the two of them already arrived at the academy gates. Having wandered the path several times now, Nisha was confident she would be able to find the way on her own in the future as well.

Passing by the statue of the founder, the blonde young nobleman led her towards one of the training fields besides a building with a crowd already waiting, countless families waiting for the opening speech.

From rich merchants clutching to their children while regarding them as precious chance to join the ranks of the upper society, minor nobles Nisha recognized from different court sessions, to commoners nervously clutching their sons and daughters close to themselves, still unable to believe they truly managed to get accepted into the most prestigious academy in the whole kingdom through talent alone, everyone murmured and waited for the vice principal to start the speech.

Built at the far end of the field, a wooden platform hosted several teachers, one of them the bad-tempered robed elder Nisha encountered on her tour before, giving everyone a good view on them.

Chatting with her step-brother to pass the time, the keen eyes of the dragon soon spotted the figure of a middle aged woman wearing the same robes as the other teachers, embroidered with the sword and rose, taking the center spot and addressing the crowd, a wave of mana spreading from her figure and silencing all noises.

If others in the mass of people or on the stage could be considered pretty good in terms of either aura or mana, then this woman was a beacon of light, deep blue as the sea and solid enough to make Nisha doubt whether this energy was really immaterial or not. How could others not notice the strong fluctuations before them?

“Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor to welcome you in the name of the Leandar Imperial Academy. My name is Sandrine Vogt, acting as the current vice president governing this humble place. To start this small speech, please let me express my thanks to one of our guests of honor, Lord Elye Rotland, head of the Adventurer’s Guild situated here in the capital. Thanks to the cooperation of the guild, we are able to issue each student a card to record his or her performance, which also doubles as an adventurers card not only in Leandar, but all countries associated with the Adventurer’s Guild. This program has proven to be a huge asset to all of our students, the reason I mention this is for the benefit of our foreign guests gracing us with their presence.”

Giving the old man a round of applause, he also stood up and bowed as he received the praise. Nisha and pretty much everyone else on the yard joined in.

“Furthermore, I don’t believe I need to explain the prestige the academy holds or the excellent qualifications of the teachers and lecturers in charge of guiding our youths towards shaping them into the leaders of the next generation, their fame and reputation has surely spread beyond the borders of our small kingdom.”

The self depreciative commentary got a small laugh out of roughly half of the professors, while the others held bitter faces, disliking the negative attention in front of influential guests.

“Before I declare the new term as officially started, I have some small changes to announce.

Regarding the distribution of students into different classes, there will be a change compared to previous handling. Instead of freely applying to a teacher and course, students will now pick from a list of available courses and the academy will make suitable arrangements to organize a time table. This change is due to the large amount of foreign students entering this year, who couldn’t make it in time to apply to the courses they wanted, this way we can ensure fairness for everyone. Furthermore this will also allow us to balance the classes somewhat in case there’s an unreasonable demand for one specific discipline.

I’m sure you’ve already had enough of me running off my mouth here, I will now hand over the stage to the professors, who will give a short introduction to their respective courses in order to attract new students to their disciplines. I wish all new students a great time in our grand establishment.”

Excusing herself with another self depreciating joke, the vice director stepped back and bowed towards the gathered parents and new students, accentuating her graceful demeanor.

Nisha herself was quite surprised to hear a speech that did not take the greater part of a candle, for anyone appearing in court there was apparently no greater pleasure than to hear themselves talk for as long as possible.

Applauding in a somewhat surprised manner, Henry nudged his step sister with his elbow, indicating towards the stage with his chin.

“Did you make any choices regarding your classes yet, Nisha? You need to take a mandatory warrior or mage class, but beyond that you can freely choose as many lectures as you want from the list that’s available to you. Did you take a look at it yet?”

Shaking her head to accentuate her answer, the dragon studied the energy cladding the various elders appearing on stage at the same time.

“I just went to enroll the last time, there wasn’t much time to discuss courses or anything else. The only exception is the economy lecture, but I don’t have a very favourable impression of the teacher who hold it. I’ll take a look at the list before I make any final choices I guess.”

Rising from their arranged seats, Nisha and Henry started to mingle with the moving masses of concerned parents and a mixed crowd of either eager or unwilling children.

“I’m sure you will still manage to find something that fits you and shocks everyone else at the same time though. That’s what you do best, little sister.”

Teasing her with a straight face, Nisha didn’t bother to answer him again and only stuck out her small tongue towards him before finally diving towards the most dense area of the crowd.