Both Leo and Lyra didn’t want to test the dummies after what they saw happen to Marcus. They knew that the dummy would hold pretty well even if they used their entire strength and that was all they needed to know.
They walked out of the building and kept walking along the roads. Meanwhile, Marcus started talking to Lyra.
“So, how is life as a noble, Lyra?” He asked her.
She was slightly taken aback by the question but answered it quickly.
“Life as a noble has its own level of difficulties. We have to deal with other noble families while maintaining our contributions to the empire. And we have to deal with the politics our elders are embroidered in.” She said.
“Contributions to the empire?” Marcus asked.
“To stay as a noble, we have to make contributions to the empire or your territory. At a higher level like Viscounts and Marquises, they will have to show that their territories are giving the empire enough in taxes. As for Barons and Baronets, the only way they can show their contributions is through the war,” She said.
Both Leo and Marcus were now intrigued. “War?” He asked.
“Well, while only the emperor can hand out the titles of Marquises and Dukes, Dukes and Marquises can hand down titles of Viscounts, Barons, and Baronets. To become a Baron or Baronet, you just need to perform well in the 100-Year War.”
She looked at the expressions that Leo and Marcus had and explained what the 100-Year War was.
“Every 100 years, the different territories all battle each other in a competition. I don’t know what is very important about the competition, but I know that every family cares about it immensely. If you can do well in that competition, then the Marquis family or Duke family that benefited will bestow a rank upon you. This is the only way you can rise as a noble. You can even become a Viscount like this.” She said.
Leo and Marcus both showed expressions of surprise. As they were talking, they crossed a few more academic buildings and reached the dorms.
The dorms were exactly like the apartment that Marcus and Leo were living in, except it looked newer and more renovated. The minute they got close to the dorms, they saw that the walkways were starting to have people filling them up.
They saw that the Office of Finances was right next to the dorms. There were a large number of students inside the office, all paying their tuition. The people who were done with that went to the Office of Resident Life which was right next to the Office of Finances to get their dorm assignments.
“Well, I will leave you here. It was very enjoyable walking with the both of you till here, but I have a few matters to attend to,” Lyra said.
Leo smiled. “Thanks for joining us. I’ll see you around.”
Marcus nodded. “Bye, Lyra.”
When she left the both of them looked at each other. “What do you want to do?” Marcus asked Leo.
He shrugged. “I don’t really see anything else we can do. We can try to explore more of the campus, but everything is closed. Till now we only looked at half of the academy though. So we can save everything else for the rest of the month?”
Marcus nodded. “Then should we just try to get our dorm assignment?” He asked.
Leo nodded. They went into the Office of Finances. The line there wasn’t as horrible as they expected. There were only around 300 students left in the building. Everyone else seemed to be done with their payment.
They had only roamed around for two hours and over 600 students were done with their payment. If that was the case, then the line would probably clear in a short while. They weren’t the only ones who stayed for that reason.
Even though more than 200 of the students there were from Eldridge itself they wanted to finish the payment and get their dorm on the first day. Since it didn’t seem too difficult to finish that work, a lot of the people stayed.
Time passed and they remained at the tail of the line. It got shorter though, and they started to see the line getting to the end after 30 minutes of waiting. When they got closer, they realized why it wasn’t taking that long for the line to move.
In total, there were 20 people all handling the people coming in. Since it was the first day, they had put so many people to handle the bulk of the students. They reached the end of the line after another 10 minutes.
When they reached the end, there was a person who assigned them each a table.
“We’re together,” Leo said.
The man who assigned them said, “Okay. Then you can both go to the same table.”
They both went and stood in another line in front of the table assigned to them, but this line was incredibly short. There were only two people in front of them.
After another 10 minutes, they reached the counter to finally pay their tuition.
“Can I have your card, please?” The man at the counter asked.
Both of them handed him the card that the academy gave to them.
“900,000 Starcoins each. How would you like to pay for it? You can pay it upfront, after a month, or in two installments.” He said,
Leo said, “Upfront.”
He took out the money from his dimensional ring and handed it to the man. No one flinched at this. The man had already seen so many people pull out dimensional rings since there were a lot of nobles that paid for their tuition. As for Marcus, he expected Leo to be incredibly rich if he was sponsoring his education.
The man checked the money to make sure it added up. Once the payment was done, he handed them their cards.
“Thanks,” Marcus said. They took back their cards and left the office.
After they left, they went to the Office of Resident Life and saw that the man was not lying. There was barely anyone left in the office. Most of them had finished getting their dorm assignments.
They went into the office and saw that there were only 5 tables compared to 20 in the other office. They went to one of the empty counters to get their allotment.
When they got there, they realized why it was so empty.
“Hi, we came here for our dorm allotment,” Marcus said.
“Sure. Can I have your card please?” The girl at the table asked.
They gave her their cards and got back two keys in less than a minute.
“Here are your keys. Your allotments are Daisy 32, and Daisy 56. These dorms will all be right next to each other. If you want a reallocation, then you will have to request that. Other than that, you are set.” She said.
They took back their cards with astonishment. Compared to paying their fees, getting their allotment took seconds.