"Acolytes?" I asked.
"Yeah, they are people who works for mages, usually, they have some kind of abilities as mages themselves, however, for various reasons, they didn't became mages, the majority is because they don't have enough mana on them, so, although they were accepted in the mage academy, they couldn't become officially mages" Said Mare.
"Oh, so they stay here?" I asked.
"Yeah, being a mage is a very lucrative and powerful job, if some mage become famous, then, their acolytes will also become part of his team, you know what I mean?" Said Maxwell.
"I see…"
"Well, get going then, Ana, go with them to buy the house and the acolyte, teacher Maxwell, stay here" Said Mare.
"Roger" Said Ana.
............................................
Ana, Hope and Me went out of the tower of time.
"Ana, the principal said that there were houses…. However, I don't see any house here"
"They are on the paintings" Said Ana.
"What?"
"Yeah, the paintings have their own dimension inside, some of them" Answered Ana.
"I see"
We walked for some time after we got to a busted building that had a wand on the tallest part.
"Here is the mission and reward building, went you go on a mission or want to get your reward, you come here" Explained Ana.
"There is a lot of people here huh?" I said.
"Auu~"
"Are you tired little girl? Come here"
I piggy backed Hope who was tired, well, it was obvious, she hasn't slept a lot.
"Isn't she heavy? Want me to piggy back her?" Said Ana.
"Don't worry, I am used too" I said.
Ana looked at my back, she made frown and went ahead of us.
"What was that?" I though.
We went inside the building, inside, there was a huge mural with a lot of posters on it.
"This are the missions for students, the missions are separated from 1 to 6 stars, only grandmaster mages can do 6-star missions" Explained Ana.
"The mission that you did, what number of stars had?" I asked.
"2" Answered Ana.
We went to the main reception, in there, a very kind young woman received us.
"Ana, you are back, did you finish your mission?" Said the receptionist.
"I couldn't Felia, I had a small… incident" Said Ana.
"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Asked Felia.
"Yeah, don't worry, I am okay" Said Ana with a smile.
"I see, that's good, well as per the rules, I will have to take some merit points from you for falling the mission" Said Felia.
"Yeah, I know"
"By the way, who are these two cute little kids?" Said Felia.
"Oh, yeah, they are Noah and her sister, Hope, as per order from my master, I am here to buy them a house near the time tower" Said Ana.
"But that's only permitted for stud- wait! Don't tell me that they are-*Mmph!*"
Before Felia could shout, Ana tapped her mouth.
"Shh! Don't shout, I don't want to make a scene here, the student is only Noah!" Murmured Ana.
"I-I can't believe it, such a young kid is actually…"
"Keep it as a secret, at least, until he goes to his first class, please" Said Ana.
"Su-sure" Said Felia.
Felia then looked at me…
"What kind of house do you want?" Said Felia.
"I- I want one with three bedrooms, and a garden, that's all I want" I said.
"That's quite vague and simplistic" Said Ana.
"Hey, with one roof under me I am satisfied, I had lived in the streets all my life you know" I said.
"Oh, poor child!" Said Felia with some tears on her eyes.
She came out of the reception…
Hey, hey, hey wait!
Ugh!
She hugs me.
"Poor little kid~" Said Felia.
"Ana, do something!"
"Felia stop, people are watching" Said Ana.
"Sorry, I couldn't contain myself… Anyway, I have the perfect house for you, come with me~" Said Felia.
"Sure, but first, let me go" I said.
We walked to were the paintings were, Felia took out a key and put on the painting that resembled a wooden house on a lake… She took the key and made a motion like she was opening a door.
In an instant, the wood house was in from of me.
"Woahh!" It was stunned.
"Awesome right?" Said Ana.
"Yeah!" I said.
"This is the 'blue lagoon' house, it small, but the view is priceless" Said Felia.
"I will take it!"
"Okay~ Ana, the principal is paying right?"
"Yep"
"Okay little kid, this house is yours now~" Said Felia.
She took the key and enchanted something before putting it on my hand.
"This key is now yours, only you and the ones you gave permission can use it, even if someone stole it, it cant be used unless your permit it" Said Felia.
"Good, how do I give permission to someone?" I asked.
"You only have to said 'Permission granted' and that person will have a spar key to use, however, only that person will be able to use it, nobody else" Said Felia.
"That is very convenient!" I said.
"Well, I will be going now, I still have some work to do" Said Felia.
"See you later!" Said Ana.
"Thanks a lot, big sister!" I shouted.
Felia smiled when I said that and waved back for some time.
"Big sister?" Said Ana.
"Well, she isn't old enough to call her Miss, right?" I said.
"She has more than hundred years though" Said Ana.
"What the-!?"
........................................
We went to the back part of the castle, outside, a small town could be seeing.
"This is called the Juti town, however, it has another nickname, it's quite mean though…" Said Ana.
"How is it called?" I asked.
"Failure's town…" Said Ana.
"…" I couldn't say anything.
We went inside the town, all in all, it was a nice town, of course, compared to the inside of the castle, this was like a farm at the best.
"Welcome to Juti town, are you here to hire some Acolytes, respectful mage?"
At the entrance of the town, a puppet great us.
That's right, a puppet.
"This is an artifact" Murmured Ana.
"I see"
"Hello, yes, we are looking for an Acolyte" Said Ana.
"You came at a good time, come with me please!" Said the puppet.
We went to the southwest part of the town.
"In this town, a lot of Acolytes never get to work for a magician, so they formed a small town where they can work, of course, the biggest dream of all of them is to be hired by a magician, here is the 'cauldron', the acolytes that can still work come here every day waiting for magicians to come and hire them, is the most popular place in this town" Explained the puppet.
We entered the cauldron and the inside was like a tavern.
"Look, isn't it Ana, the famous magician!"
"Yeah, she is the principal's student!"
"Do you think that she is looking for an Acolyte!?"
"It must be! Please, please let be me! I will give everything if she chooses me! Even if it means doing dangerous experiments!"
"You? with your little mana? Hmph!"
When we went inside, a huge havoc started.
"It seems that you are quite popular" I said.
"Seems so" Said Ana.
"I forgot to ask; you don't have your own acolyte?" I asked.
"No, don't need one, I can do everything on my own and master have some maids on the tower to do the everyday things" Said Ana.