After leaving his residence hand in hand with his mother, Vicente walked through some dirt roads until he reached the main street of Martell Village, the only one covered with cobblestones.
But his house was not far from the center of the village, so he and his mother did not have to worry about the surrounding dust until they reached this area, which was the most beautiful in the whole village.
There Vicente saw his favorite spot in this place, the central square where the statue of the founder Martell stood, where there was space for children to play and for adults to chat around a beautiful garden.
In the stone-covered surroundings, where there was no mud on rainy days, and on this sunny day, people were walking past among carriages.
Some animals whit humans occasionally passed by while Vicente watched this place with interest, noticing a little more movement than usual.
But naturally, the movement there was greater than usual since today was the beginning of another period at the Academy of Stars, where more than a dozen new children would begin their activities.
Therefore, several fathers and mothers were bringing their little ones to this place for their first day, while some older students went alone to that building at one end of the triangle-shaped square.
The Academy of Stars welcomed children up to the age of 10, after which, if any family wished their children to study further, they would have two options.
One would be to get a master for their child, from whom they could learn a trade.
Usually, the children’s parents did such a thing on their own, but on rare occasions, great professionals, and magicians, would take disciples, and a few would be lucky enough not to have to do the same as their parents.
The second alternative was to send their children between 10 and 13 to one of the royal academies, where they could learn whatever they chose.
However, it was not cheap to get into one of the royal academies and even wealthy people were not guaranteed to be able to get one of their children there. There were fewer vacancies for new students than people willing to pay for their children’s education there!
But studying at one of these academies would not give much professional advantage to young people like Vice, who could learn from their parents. The main difference between these places and others was that if these young students at the real academies had good magical talents, they would receive opportunities to join the Seidel Magic College once they passed the awakening.
The Seidel Magic College was the primary way for young magicians to learn and master their own skills and have chances to rise economically and socially.
Through it, one could acquire the title of nobility if one was talented and graduated with merit. But even if they were not the best of students, the very fact of graduating from this institution would be enough to guarantee a life far above the ordinary.
Vice already had an idea of what the Seidel Magic College was like from one of the books he had read, but he had no thoughts of ever going there.
His father would hardly put him in one of the royal academies, so getting a place in the acclaimed Seidel Magic College would be impossible.
But he didn’t care. He had no great expectations for his mana and the Magic Gem he would earn one day, so he was fully content to study at the Academy of Stars and learn from his father.
As he watched the other children leave their mothers or fathers to pass through the main gate of the academy, he felt anxious and pulled his mother tighter.
“Let’s go, or I’ll be late!” He commented to her.
She smiled and approached the railing surrounding that three-story building, which had a design that reminded Vice of gothic buildings on Earth.
“Hello, what is the name of the student and family?” An academy employee at that place’s entrance stopped Kate and Vice.
“Hi, this is my son, Vicente, from the Fuller family. Today is his first day.” She said as she saw her son looking at the children walking up the front steps of the academy.
“Excellent, Vicente. You can look for class 1. You will have your classes there.” That man said as he looked at the black-haired young man before him. “Today is special, so the teacher will be 15 minutes late. But starting tomorrow, classes will begin at 9 a.m.”
With that said, Vice finally ran to that place after receiving a kiss from his mother, heading towards the top of the stairs in front of him while holding the straps of his backpack with both hands.
Due to the schedule, most of the students in the vicinity were children the same age as Vice or a year older. Therefore, he didn’t do badly by falling into a trap of older students and soon found his way to class 1.
The Academy of Stars building was not large, despite its three floors. It had only five classes, a library, the administration wing, the cafeteria, and a few places for social and physical activities.
As much as this was a world dominated by magic, physical abilities could make a big difference in low-level battles.
Since most of the people in this world were low-level magicians or simple mortals without the ability to use magic, learning how to fight and handle a weapon had great value.
The Academy of Stars had as its main audience people from ordinary backgrounds, so naturally, it taught about the types of weapons and the proper arts used to handle them!
Vice already knew the basics of this from his sister and was eager to train his fighting and weapon-handling skills. ｎ𝚘𝚟ｌ.ｃｏ𝚖
While he had this in mind, he finally arrived in front of class 1, where a few young people were already on the outskirts and inside.
He walked through the door and saw a half dozen people divided almost equally between genders.
“Vice, you really came!” A young man with blond hair said this as he approached Vicente.
Upon hearing his nickname, Vicente immediately looked at the brother of his sister’s best friend, whom he had met on several occasions.
“Ian, we will be colleagues from today on.” He said as he smiled and made a greeting gesture that he had taught to that child of the same age as himself.
“Hmm, I’m looking forward to martial arts classes… My sister keeps scaring me. I can’t wait for the day when I get my revenge!”
“Good luck with that… But I’m also looking forward to the martial arts classes. Do you want to be my partner?” Vice asked, aware that they would learn in pairs.
“Fine.”
While they were talking, a new student they didn’t know arrived and sat down next to them.
Ian had an easier time than Vicente at starting conversations, so he did, soon bringing young Rory into their friendship circle.
Children really did make friends easily!
“Everyone, quiet. The class is about to begin.”
As the children spoke simultaneously, making quite a bit of noise, the voice of the teacher who would guide them from today reached their ears, silencing everyone.