"Name!"
"Ayrin."
"Age!"
"Sixteen years old!"
"Address!"
"Cororin Town."
"Hrm? The deserted town?"
Carter was bent over the registration desk, in the middle of scribbling something. He lifted his head, a little surprised.
In his impression, there weren't many youngsters left in Cororin, that small town with a declining mining area. He'd also heard the residents there were barely subsisting on some barren copper ore.
His brows scrunched up when he took a good look at Ayrin. His hair was a dry yellow, he wore clothes made from fabrics Carter couldn't recognize, and his height was more befitting a boy no older than fourteen. "You're called Ayrin, from Cororin Town? You're really sixteen years old?"
"That's right, what's wrong?"
Ayrin examined the young teacher in turn at the same time the latter observed him, on this Holy Spring Tone Street the registration was taking place on.
Holy Spring Tone Street was one of the four main avenues in St. Lauren City. The street had a twelve-tone fountain on it, sitting in the plaza in the middle of the street. Many shops stood on both sides, a rich diversity of decorative patterns made from multicolored glossed stones laid on the ground in front of the shops... From the colorful store signs to the eye-catching blue academy clothes on Carter, embroidered with the words "Holy Dawn Academy," everything was a novel experience for the young Ayrin. He'd never been in such a big city before.
"Cororin? Isn't it that deserted town? Didn't they say there's no youngster left there anymore? Haha, little shorty from Cororin, aren't you too short for a sixteen years old?"
A red-haired young man lining up behind Ayrin suddenly burst out with great laughter before Carter could speak.
This red-haired young man was half a head taller than Ayrin, with a round face, faint freckles, and an arrogant expression.
"Hm? This is?" Carter's gaze fell on the red-haired young man and the meadow viper symbol on his clothes. His pupils subconsciously shrank.
"You are?" Ayrin was used to being made fun of by the miners, and didn't actually get angry. He turned around and looked at the red-haired young man. "Am I really too short?"
"Listen carefully! I am Moss, from the Quinn clan!"
The red-haired youth looked just like he'd been waiting for an opportunity to show off. He laughed loudly in a very arrogant manner, even while assuming a very puerile posture.
"As I thought!" Carter's eyes flashed. He looked all smiles at the red-haired youngster and Ayrin, not interrupting them for the moment.
"Haha, little shorty, of course you're too short." Moss laughed out loud and gesticulated toward Ayrin. "Look, I'm only fourteen years old, but I'm still half a head taller than you."
Ayrin scratched his head, a little depressed. "So that means I'm really a little too short."
Moss blinked, then he immediately laughed rambunctiously in an even louder voice. "Are you an idiot? You don't even know if you're a shorty or not?"
"That's because I'm the only one around my age in Cororin, there's no one else to compare to." Ayrin answered in a natural tone on the surface, and cursed old Ginns on the inside, "You've really done well ravaging little children..."
"This guy is truly silly enough, he won't get angry even like this?" Carter heaved a gentle sigh when he saw that Ayrin didn't seem the least bit angry at being called a little shorty. He said, "Alright, Ayrin from Cororin, next you need to pay a hundred silver coins and we'll sort out the academy entrance procedures."
Ayrin's disbelieving voice rose abruptly, "What! One hundred silver coins! You actually need a hundred silver coins, this is a little too much right?"
Carter rubbed his ears gone numb from the tremors and looked at Ayrin's big reaction. He explained, "These hundred silver coins include not only tuition and lodging for one year, they also include expenses for the academy clothing as well as some school trips."
"You already need so much for a single year..." Ayrin pulled Carter's sleeve. "Can't you make it a bit cheaper?"
"Haha, little shorty, don't tell you can't even pay the tuition? Don't tell me you directly ran here without knowing how much the tuition for one year at Holy Dawn Academy costs?" The red-haired Moss suddenly laughed rambunctiously once again. "There's actually someone who bargains even for tuition fees."
"Saving up silver shouldn't have been easy actually, looking at you. You awakened at only sixteen and you're also so thin and weak, it doesn't look like you're someone with any special bloodline either." The wild laughter vanished and Moss' face became all seriousness. "It shouldn't be very useful even if you were to enter Holy Dawn Academy and study here. My advice to you, better not waste the silver coins that took you a lot efforts to save."
"Take a good look at those landbearers. Even if they have some beastman bloodline and have leg strength ordinary people can't match, they still can only be mere landbearers inside this city of St. Lauren!"
"Landbearer?"
Ayrin followed Moss' line of sight and saw several brawny fellows clad in only leather shorts and thick ropes wrapped around their bodies.
These brawny fellows were all nearly two meters tall, unusually sturdy, especially their two legs that were as thick as water buckets. Every muscle of theirs bulged and looked hard as rocks.
Ayrin couldn't help but ask, "What's a landbearer?"
"You don't even know what a landbearer is? Landbearers are porters specialized in helping people drag heavy items!" Moss looked at Ayrin and said in a loud voice, "You shouldn't force yourself the way I see it. Might as well save up some silver coins and use them elsewhere."
A cold voice came from the side. "So you can casually determine someone else's life just because of a little giant blood?"
Moss froze a second. He turned his head around and saw that the one who spoke was a beautiful girl with long hair and a handkerchief in her hand, standing to one side. Her hair was an exotic silver color and appeared unusually clean, untainted by even the smallest speck of dirt. Her height seemed about the same as Moss', her face cold and antisocial.
"You've got the gall to talk to me like this? Who are you again?" Moss immediately became slightly angry. He said with a cold humph, "Can't you see I'm doing it for his own good?"
"So you can act mighty and casually find fault with other people just because it's for their own good?"
The white-clothed girl didn't even spare a glance for Moss. She looked at Carter and said in an icy voice, "Arrange the school entry for him, I'll help him pay the one hundred silver coins."
"Oh?"
Carter sent a glance at the white-clothed girl and smiled faintly. "You want to help Ayrin pay up one hundred silver coins?"
Ayrin was a little dazed. One hundred silver coins were enough for an ordinary family to live off of for two years. It was no small sum, and he was absolutely certain he'd never even met this white-clothed girl before.
"His expenses plus mine." The white-clothed girl seemed unwilling to say even a single word more than necessary. She took out two gold coins and indifferently threw them to Carter.
On Doraster, one gold coin was equal to a hundred silver coins.
Carter caught the gold coins and asked with much interest, "You're also a new student coming to register at Holy Dawn Academy?"
In his impression, this white-clothed girl had been in Holy Spring Tone Street for quite a while already, but she'd never lined up so far. Now he vaguely came to a small realization in retrospect. This white-clothed girl wasn't willing to line up with other people, so she'd been waiting for everyone else to leave before handling the school entrance procedures.
She wanted to pay one year of expenses for Ayrin just because of a single sentence from Moss... There was also the handkerchief she held onto at all times. She looked like she had an innate fear of even the slightest bit of dirt falling on her body. This youngster was probably not merely noble and aloof, but it was likely she also had a certain degree of obsessive compulsiveness when it came to cleanliness.
"Bastard!"
An angry shout burst out. Moss looked at the white-clothed girl, his face flushed bright red, and yelled, "Is it a matter of money? Do you think I can't afford to help him!"
"No one can arbitrarily decide someone else's life. Everyone has the right to pursue their own dreams." The white-clothed girl coldly interrupted Moss's angry shout. "Just pay for him since you can afford to help him, why do you spout so much nonsense."
She never spared a single glance for Moss and looked only at Carter, saying with cold indifference, "Teacher, since I've already paid for his school entrance fees, then would you please help him sort out the following admission procedures."
"You!" Moss was so angry even his nose became crooked. He fished out a purse and gave it to Carter. "Teacher, I'll pay for him!"
"No morals at all," the white-clothed girl said in a soft contemptuous tone, her face turned away to the corner of the street.
"What did you say!" The red hair on Moss' head seemed to stand erect. He clenched his fists: "If it weren't for you being a girl, I'd definitely make you suffer today!"
"This..." Ayrin weak voice suddenly came out, "Everyone could you please not quarrel, I can just pay for my own school expenses, it's fine."
"What? You can afford the tuition fees?" Moss turned his head around and looked at Ayrin in disbelief.
Ayrin energetically nodded his head nonstop. He cautiously untied the purse he'd been holding in his hand.
"Since you have so much money, why did you still squawk and holler, still trying to barter!" Moss was even angrier when he took a look, nearly fainting. There were at least twenty gold coins inside Ayrin's purse, and hundreds of silver coins. All put together it was even more than what he had in his own purse.
"Because the school fees are really too expensive, of course it's better if it can be a bit cheaper." Ayrin smiled awkwardly. "But I still have to thank you and thank this elder sister, you're both good people."
Moss was rendered speechless. Ayrin also suddenly stopped in the middle of his words, feeling a chilly sensation striking him.
The white-clothed girl who'd turned her head away before so she wouldn't see them immediately turned her head back, black lines all over her face, her appearance that of someone on the verge of exploding.
"What?"
Moss and Carter exchanged a glance, uncertain what was happening.
"I get it."
Ayrin said with an apologetic expression, "Oh I must have spoken wrong. I should be thanking you, little sister, not elder sister."
There were some female students who were indeed very concerned about matters of age.
Moss and Carter had a sudden epiphany.
But the "young girl" with a face full of black lines grew even angrier, yelling out loud in a fit of rage instead, "You idiot, I'm a boy, not a girl!"
"Ah?"
Everyone instantly became dumbfounded.
"You...you're male?" The gaze of a dumbfounded Ayrin fell on the "young girl's" flat chest. He came to a small realization. He mumbled to himself, "A little too beautiful though, really looks a little too much like a girl..."
Moss and Carter couldn't refrain from nodding.
To say the truth, even Carter previously thought he was a beautiful flat-chested young lady.
"You... are...still...talking...!"
The white-clothed "girl" glared at Ayrin and spat out four words one by one, each filled with murderous intent. Even her loose hair started flying up in disarray.
"Fox ears?" Ayrin's voice rose again, filled with astonishment, because he'd seen two pointy ears on the "girl," looking very pretty and delicate.
"Idiot!"
Moss knocked on Ayrin's head. "What fox ears, this is elven bloodline!"
"Elven bloodline?"
"Why did even you come to school if you don't know this!"
"What's the problem with that? Right, you're really not a girl?"
"I"m going to kill you!"
…
Carter finally managed to rein in the conflagration after much struggle, then completed the admission procedures a few minutes later. He looked at the backs of Ayrin and the others and couldn't resist smiling, speaking to himself.
"These little guys are really troublesome."
A cold light suddenly flashed in his eyes. He quickly turned around.
A young man clothed in the same Holy Dawn Academy attire walked out from the shadows at the corner of the street, the instant he turned around.
Carter immediately sighed in relief.
"So it's you, Liszt! Why are you here?"
"I was just walking by." This young man whom Carter called Liszt was very handsome. He had a lazy expression, yellow rays of light occasionally flashing and spinning inside his jet-black eyes. This was something that would give a weird feeling to someone staring into his eyes. He cast a glance at the backs of Ayrin and the others, then asked with indifference, "What's this guy called, the one with at least one-half elven bloodline, where does he come from?"
Carter threw another look at the registration forms and answered, "Rinloran, from Emmy Forest Townlet."
Liszt said, shaking his head, "I never heard about any clan with high-level elven blood there. However, no matter where he comes from, it remains a very high-level elven bloodline... There's also the little guy from the Quinn clan with some giant blood, plus that little guy called Ayrin from Cororin's mining area. The new students this year are much more interesting than in previous years." He then smiled lazily. "Carter, you're called a good-tempered teacher in our Holy Dawn Academy, but that little guy Ayrin has an even better temperament from what I see. It looks nearly impossible to make him angry."
"Ayrin?" Carter heard the meaning behind Liszt's words and said doubtfully, "He awakened so late... Do you actually feel there's something special about him?"
"You haven't gone to the 'deserted town,' but I have."
Liszt said smiling, "The people who stayed there actually all have a very tough temper, just like stone. On top of that, there's an unspeakable self-confidence and courage coming from this little guy. To me, this is genuine talent. As for the power of bloodlines, it's far from being the most critical issue in my opinion. Don't forget, I'm also from an ordinary human bloodline."
"Are you...?" Carter became surprised all of a sudden.
Liszt said very frankly, "Indeed, I'm even more interested in him than in Rinloran. Especially since he somehow has so much money on his person even though he comes from the deserted town, it makes me curious. I will take note of him... If he turns out to be indeed decent, I'll personally guide his training."