Chapter 14 – Leaving home

Hi everyone, here is the last normal chapter of the week and the beginning of the new arc hope you like it.

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Five years have passed after Ariel obtained the mysterious item. Since then, not much else happened, and time just continued to slowly tick away. Until finally, the fateful day has came for him.

 

The weather was clear of any storms or even clouds, and the bright sun was high in the sky, covering the earth with its warm rays of light. On this lovely day, something unusual was happening at the large mansion, situated in the countryside.

 

This was of course the noble house of, the illustrious Whitestone family. However, unlike most mornings when everything was quite calm and everyone was doing their own job, today most of the residents were standing in front of the gate, each of them experiencing different emotions.

 

As you have probably already guessed, today was one of Ariel’s most important days, since today he will finally leave his home for the first time, to join The Blue Sky Academy.

 

Through the years, all of the servants got quite attached to him because of how well he treated them, never shouting or hitting any of them over small mistakes, or even some more serious ones. James on the other hand, unlike Ariel would always abuse the poor servants whenever he got a chance, sometimes even just for his own enjoyment, making Ariel’s temperament, stand out even more.

 

Due to this, many of the mansions workers have come to say good bye with heavy feeling in their hearts, knowing that Ariel will be gone for quite some time. The only people that weren’t here were his father and bother, for reasons that everyone already knows.

 

Ariel’s mother was currently saying her last words, before he leaves on his journey. “Remember that you must always take care of your health and be careful of strangers, if someone bullies you quickly write a letter to me I will…” His mother continued talking without stopping, as her eyes started dampening and the sadness was becoming clearly visible on her face.

 

Seeing his mother like this, Ariel simply couldn’t take it. He came closer and embraced her in a hug before starting to speak. “Mother, don’t worry I will always send letters and come back on holidays to see you so that you wouldn’t be sad.” After finishing speaking, Ariel could feel his mother’s body relax a bit from hearing his words.

 

This was the first time he hugged her on his own accord, so when he looked up, he wasn’t surprised to see his mother in a wearing a happy expression, instead of the sad one she had previously. Although soon she go her act back together, and put on her usual, beautiful smile, as if telling him that she was okay now, while inwardly regretting that she made Ariel worry.

 

It didn’t take long for her to respond with a slightly more relaxed expression. “Thank you, I hope you will make many friends there and have a great time.” After saying this, she stopped speaking and just stood there with a reassuring smile directed to Ariel.

 

After seeing that his mother’s mood improved, he nodded his head to the servants that were saying their good byes and cast the last look at his mother, before turning around and entering an expensively decorated carriage.

 

When he got in, he could see that the seats were much more comfortable than the ones you would usually find in the common ones, what is more is that there were two windows on either sided he could look out of.

 

When he finished evaluating his travel conditions, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest and sat down in an appropriate position.

 

Soon he heard the horses neigh and felt the carriage starting to move. Watching the moving scenery through the window Ariel let out a sigh and started thinking in a more relaxed manner. ‘This is the first time I’m going on a journey like this, it will probably be quite some time until I can visit.’ Remembering his mothers face, a small pain started to be felt from his chest.

 

He knew that his mother will be sad and lonely, but he didn’t have a choice, he had to make progress on his path, Ariel could only hope that they will meet again as soon as possible.

 

While trying to hold back thoughts about his mother, he went back to thinking about his objective. ‘The Academy is situated north from the capital city of Valeria. Thankfully, his family’s mansion is only about a three day journey away from it. Soon I will finally take my first true step in this new world’ Ariel has already learned about the kingdoms geography for quite a while, so it was not surprising for him to know the distances and time needed to travel them.

 

‘However, I feel like I will encounter a bunch of trouble there, considering all of the noble brats that are attending it. Though, this school is actually one of the several neutral Academies that exist on the human continent, so even if there are some troubles, I will probably not get killed even if I “teach” some worthless people their place.’

 

He was a person who will not go out of his way to make trouble for someone, but if it is the opposite party which tries pushing his buttons, they should be prepared to pay the price.

 

After making his resolve to not accept humiliation from anybody, Ariel looked out the window, where one would usually see a large amount of peaceful greenery and harmless wildlife. However, what he saw was a completely different sight, as all of the scenery had some kind of small unnoticeable aura, all around it. Ariel has long since found out that this was actually raw Mana.

 

This was one of the benefits that the mysterious marble has given him. Usually, only the more powerful species like elves, dragon kin or demons can see Mana, but it seems like, that orb was capable of giving him, this ability. He of course, gained not only this, but also an increase in his understanding of the world itself and magic, which made his training speed increase by a tremendous amount.

 

Although Ariel was sure that these weren’t the only benefits that the mysterious item could provide, however, he didn’t have the capability to understand anything more about it.

 

He tried looking for some information on it, but the family library is quite small and had nothing about it, there were a lot of books about other legendary items, however none of them had any resemblance to the orb. Ariel soon gave up, and just added it as another thing, to look into at The Academy.

 

Looking away from the window and the colorful picture of nature, he closed his eyes and decided to spend his time meditating, instead of wasting these three whole days of travel.

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After the three days of journeying, Ariel just like he expected, finally reached the neutral city of Lenara, where The Blue Sky Academy is built in.

 

While entering the city, he saw a bunch of guards at the gates, checking who everyone was before they could go into the city. Thankfully the driver managed to finish this job quickly without wasting too much time and so they could enter the city faster than most. It was quite obvious that he has already been here many times before, which made Ariel relieved that they will most likely, won’t be getting lost.

 

Riding through the stone streets, Ariel took his time to observe the residents. Most seemed to live in simple, crude houses, well that’s if you compare them to the ones, he has seen in his old world. Although in this world these kinds of houses are most likely on the general level of this world architecture.

 

When he went by a populated place, a lot of people would glace at his carriage with a bit of curiosity, but soon they would lose their interest and stop paying attention, Ariel wasn’t, surprised, since there would definitely be many nobles coming to The Academy and most likely they are common sight here.

 

Also, there seemed to be a whole bunch of other class people walking through the streets like, knights, mages, adventurers, merchants, and not to mention a lot of young people, wearing light blue uniforms, who Ariel guessed were students of The Blue Sky Academy. With such a variation of professions, seeing a noble’s carriage wasn’t that strange at all.

 

As Ariel took notice of all the different people, he got quite excited, since he had wanted to explore the city a bit, but didn’t have time, furthermore, he didn’t know if the students were allowed to wander outside The Academy. That’s why he was a bit saddened before, but now he is extremely glad he saw those students.

 

While he continued looking around, this time paying more attention to structures, he saw many shops, statues, buildings, workshops and other places he would like to visit someday, although sometimes while looking at something people around the carriage would see his looks, and would end up standing completely frozen.

 

There wasn’t time to mention it before, but since when he became 10 years old, he went into a growth spurt. Although his height was still quite average, but his looks only continued becoming more perfect by the day, to the point that most women couldn’t even look straight at him anymore.

 

Unfortunately, Ariel didn’t really care about the looks he was given, and just kept leisurely looking around the streets he was traveling through. Until he finally, reached the destination of his, relatively long journey.

 

When Ariel noticed that the carriage stopped, he soon heard the driver’s voice. “Young master we have arrived at The Academy.” As the driver spoke as he opened the carriages door.

Stepping out, Ariel could see a giant complex of buildings made from pure white marble, while having sapphire blue roofs making them quite classy.

 

Finished examining the Academy’s exterior, Ariel turned around and spoke. “Wait at the carriage station and after I get accepted they should tell you where to bring my stuff, when you’re done with that you can go home.” As Ariel finished instructing him, the driver gave a respectful bow and rode out to complete his given task.

 

Turning around once more to look at The Academy, Ariel’s eyes displayed pure excitement for the unknown, as he started walking towards the giant front gate.