Scarlet

Carol ends up giving us a bit of a mini tour of the campus on the way to her suite, which happens to be on the other end of it. So as we pass by important buildings, she points them out. Such as the three different cafeterias – one for Regular students, one for Advanced, and one for Top class students – the main dorm area for the Regular students, which still looks quite nice, the main dorm area for the Advanced students, which looks even nicer, and several buildings along the way including the main buildings for Magic classes, core classes, combat classes, and so on.

I also swear that Nick somehow fell asleep while walking considering how he’s had his eyes closed and has been dead silent this whole way.

A real mystery, that. How does someone even manage to do that?

“Probably some sort of skill,” Tar says, sounding a little bewildered at the fact that someone would have a skill like that.

Maybe it’s some sort of meditation skill or something?

“Who knows,” Tar answers, but before I can say anything back, we all turn a corner to find a large open plaza directly in front of a massive gate blocking off nearly a dozen mansions, and my mouth drops open from the shocking sight.

“And here we are,” Carol says while waving her hands at the grandiose sight, “the dorms for the Top class students! And the faculty, of course,”

I stand in place, frozen stiff out of shock. But the others continue walking as if expecting it, snapping me out of my stupor rather quickly as I continue walking to catch up.

Okay. Living here would be nice.

Very nice.

Maybe I should just live in the Top class dorms instead of at the base after all.

Carol quickly brings us to the gate, where we find four security guards standing. And the moment they set their eyes on us, I feel a shiver run down my spine.

Each one of them is a Guardian, and they’re all at least Class III.

After scanning over each one of us, they solely focus on me, Carol, Nick, and Alex before one of them says, “Carolyne Winters, Scarlet Asger, Nicholas Wright, and Alexander Kuznetsov. We’ve been notified that you have been added to this year’s Top students.” The gate begins to silently open. He then glances at me and says, “I’m responsible for showing you to your suite, Scarlet Wolf. However, if you wish to make a detour, then simply say so and I will instead send you the location through email.” He turns to look at Carol as he finishes, “I’m sure miss Winters would be happy to help you find your way?”

Carol nods her head, so he turns back to me again. And I nod while answering, “I’ll be going with Carol then, if you don’t mind.”

“Very well,” the man says with another nod before stepping back into position with the other Guardian security guards – which I really wonder how much that job pays him to get a Guardian to do it – and saying, “I hope you enjoy your stay at the university.”

We proceed through the gate then straight towards one of the mansions, the gate having shut behind us upon entry. And as we walk, I can’t help but notice the magi-tech enhanced robots moving around automating the maintenance of the mansions’ courtyards.

The things must cost an absolute fortune to make and keep maintained, since if I remember, even with my current salary I wouldn’t be able to afford one for months. And that’s just a single one, since it takes far more than just one to maintain this whole place.

Then there’s the maintenance of the robots in having to recharge them with mana to keep them running, since they use mana as a power source instead of electricity.

And from what I’ve heard, they take a lot of mana to recharge. More than I have in the first place.

Even if they do last for at least a week between each recharge, that’d be a whole day’s worth of mana for one week of charge.

After we get inside of the mansion Carol leads us to though, I can’t help but notice that everything is squeaky clean despite the lack of any robots inside. But before I can ask why, Carol answers it without me even having to do so, “The mansions themselves are crafted by skilled magi-tech craftsmen from the Sylvester household, and they have various different enchantments on them, including self-cleaning, security, and other features that you can customize for your own room.”

As if suddenly remembering something, Carol glances at Belle and asks, “Oh right, you’re a Sylvester too, aren’t you?”

Belle looks up from her terminal where she was texting Arthur before answering, “Yeah.”

“Does the Silver Association base have any of these enchantments?” Carol asks, seemingly out of curiosity as we continue walking down the hall. And I can’t help but wonder the same thing myself.

I know there are robots there, and come to think of it, I never actually cleaned my suite myself. Not in the time I’ve been living there at least.

“Yeah, there should be,” Belle answers while putting her terminal into sleep mode. “Dad wasted no expense on his personal Alliance’s base. One thing that the family can’t take away no matter what.”

I almost wince at that part. At the reminder of what almost happened multiple times when Allen was personally presenting at the orphanage.

But then I realize what she just said.

And Carol comments on that as well, “So he really does fully own the Association on his own? With no help or connections between it and the Sylvester family?”

Belle nods her head, surprising me since I honestly didn’t know that.

“Wow,” Carol mutters as we continue walking. “That must’ve been hard for him to get permission from the council. What did he have to do to get it?”

“Oh, he didn’t get permission from the council,” Belle suddenly says, surprising us all into stopping mid-step, leaving her to walk a tiny bit ahead of us before stopping as well as she finishes, “he got permission from White.”

My jaw drops open in shock.