After settling themselves in, Leon and Zeke soon stepped out of their room again. Zeke looked around for a moment before spotting an Ovocentaur sitting at the end of the hall. The sheep-like being held a hardcover book in its hands, flipping through the pages with a content look on its face.
"Let's go ask him over there." Zeke pointed and pulled Leon along. When they got within a couple meters from the Ovocentaur, he looked up, smiling at the both of them.
"How can I help you two?" He asked in an amiable tone, like a loving father, or doting uncle.
"Erm..." Zeke scratched the back of his head awkwardly all of a sudden, as if he was shy, and with a roll of his eyes, Leon stepped forward.
"We came to ask if we can get a tour." He said politely to the wooly man.
"Ah." The Ovocentaur nodded and turned around to pick up a piece of paper and a fountain pen. He wrote something on the paper and handed it to the two boys. "Just go over to the magic lift over there, and it will take you to the ground floor. Hand this paper over to any of my colleagues you come across and they will help you." He smiled at the end of his sentence and waved the boys away.
"Thanks." Leon nodded and turned to leave with Zeke. "What was that back there?" He asked the Minotaur when they were a few feet away from the magic lift.
"Err, I just got nervous, I guess." Zeke shrugged, and Leon shook his head with a sigh.
Before enrolling in the Imperial Magic Academy, Leon had never met another supernatural being in his life. He had however, read a lot of fictional and non-fictional books that revolved around the topic of mythical beings and the supernatural.
Whenever he tried to compare the image that had been painted in his mind about Minotaurs to his roommate, he always felt like he had been fooled all his life. Those books had painted Minotaurs as indomitable, dominant, fearless, and powerful warriors that never doubted themselves. Forward ever, backwards never! That was the image he saw in his mind, but when he looked at Zeke, he just saw a tired, lazy bull who just liked to hit things and sleep. Oh, and eat, too.
Leon stared at Zeke with disdain before snorting and turning his face away, almost as if Zeke's mere looks were enough to taint his eyes.
The duo reached the magic lift, and after stepping on it, a light barrier came into form around it, before it dropped down to the ground floor. The drop was sudden and quick, but they had already experienced the speed of the lift once, so after a few moments, they were able to quickly reorient themselves before the lift reached the ground floor.
When the lift touched down, it only took a couple seconds for the light barrier around it to fizzle out allowing the boys to step off of it. The moment they were off it, it took off again, heading up to the top floor that had been assigned as the students' living quarters.
Looking around, the two soon spotted a couple of Ovocentaurs that were speaking amongst themselves. Unlike what Leon and Zeke had seen from the Ovocentaurs up till this point, these two were not smiling as usual. They had deep frowns, and their eyes seemed to be worried.
"What's going on?" Zeke leaned down to whisper to Leon. As he spoke, the ears of both Ovocentaurs twitched, and they turned to look at both boys with surprise in their eyes. They quickly schooled their expressions and presented warm smiles as the two boys walked over.
"Young prodigies of the Academy, how can we help you?" One of the two Ovocentaurs, a female, asked warmly, her tone so friendly that Leon felt like he was speaking with his late grandmother. It was almost as if her voice was laced with milk and honey, too sweet to say anything negative.
"Uhm..." Leon exchanged a glance with Zeke, "We were wondering if we could go on a tour around the inn." He eventually said. That was the actual they had left their room, after all.
"Oh, why not rest a bit more. A lot of your friends are currently touring, and there are too few people to look after the other guests at the moment. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience." The male Ovocentaur said with a tint of sorrow in his voice. He truly sounded the part.
Zeke wanted to say something, but Leon beat him to it and spoke first.
"Okay, we don't mind." He nodded his head with a bit of reluctance, but turned around to head back to the magic lift. Zeke opened and closed his mouth for a few moments, but eventually turned around and hurried after Leon. The two of them got back on the lift after it was called down. Silence reigned through the ride, and all the way to their room.
The moment Zeke stepped past the doorframe, Leon clicked it shut, locked it, and herded Zeke over to the window where sounds from the outside filtered in from.
"What was that back there?" Zeke asked hesitantly. He had heard the Ovocentaurs much more clearly than Leon had. His hearing was very good, and it was not hard to listen in on distant conversations as long as proper measures to hide their words were not taken.
"Smells like trouble. A conspiracy is afoot. And we just unknowingly got involved in it..." Leon replied with a deep, troubled frown on his face.