Almost a month later...
Klaus toured the capital as much as he can before the academy started. There is much more to see in the capital than one could imagine.
As the capital of the empire, it houses every culture present in the empire. Even though the empire's populace is human, not all share the same customs and beliefs. Much of that depends on their way of life and the region they live in.
Every region would have its own uniqueness. This not only includes how they live but also the products they produce. The foods they eat or the clothes they wear and even the way of speak would differ.
In addition to this merchants from other nations would also visit the capital to trade, bringing various exotic products to sell.
Klaus enjoyed the free time as much as he can. He doesn't have free time as much as he wanted. There was always something to do. The pressure increased with the third prince meddling. He needed to grow as strong as possible before the year's end.
He didn't want to lose to some pathetic guy whose life wouldn't even make a proper chapter in a story. If he lost the battle with the third prince, he may as well bury himself in a pit filled with shame.
From what he heard, the third prince don't have much power in his hands. As the first prince who as the crown prince would inherit the throne and the second prince would command the royal armies, the third prince has none of those advantages. He gets what he earns, and though the resources provided to gain achievements are high compared to others, it is still low compared to the first two princes.
Even though the prince is pathetic compared with the two princes, he would have better ways to become strong. So he can't look down on him.
Klaus decided to take some vacation time before the academy starts and he did enjoy the time.
All his time in the academy would be dedicated to strengthening his power and he already ordered his subordinates to take care of his business as they were already well-versed in it. He gave instruction that he could be disturbed if only something of importance happened.
---
Outside Academy gates...
The new cadets who were qualified to attend the academy have already assembled at the academy gates early in the morning. They were given instructions to do so and everyone knew that the academy is very strict and penalized anyone who don't follow the rules.
The cadets started to socialize as this was one of the important purposes of attending an academy in addition to improving themselves. Gaining allies is a good thing and a few powerful ones would be great. Having good relations with the children of other nobles would elevate their position in their families, especially if the friends are of a higher cadre.
Though the nobles usually look down on commoners, they do bring youngsters with talent to their sides. They would become the followers and henchmen of the family. For their loyalty, they would be provided with resources to have better lives.
For commoners, there are few ways of earning money. They had to work for someone or become a mercenary/adventurer to earn money.
An adventurer would hunt monsters or bandits to earn their livelihood. These are the most carefree people as they earn what they want and can decide how they want as long as they don't break any laws. There would be no one to boss them around as long as the place they were living is under threat of extinction from monsters.
Mercenaries on the other hand mainly take contracts as hired soldiers. They accompany merchants along trade routes or join a war against other nations.
Sometimes both the adventure paths and the mercenary paths overlap but they do have many differences compared to similarities.
Some would join under noble factions as this would be much safer than being an adventurer or mercenary but the luxuries come with restricted freedom.
As the cadets were socializing, there are some verbal conflicts. Not all socializing would be without any arguments, especially if the parties included were belonging to various factions.
Most of the arguments were kept under control as they knew causing problems on their first day would cause their expulsion.
The arguments and the chit-chat came to a stop when the same old voice was heard again, "First-year cadets of the Imperial Academy, congratulations on entering a stage where you can change your life. Whether you can change it for good or worse is in your hands. The academy would provide the tools necessary for the change but you have to work for it".
"Now, whatever life you had lived before today doesn't matter and should be left there. From now on, the life you live would be a new one. To gain full control of such life you should prove worthy. Every cadet would be given a pair of academy uniforms and a guidebook".
"The uniform should be on when you attend any ceremonial events in or on behalf of the academy and for theoretical classes. When you are not, you can wear whatever you wish to wear. The guidebook has information about the academy and everything that you needed to know for now about your new life".
"Now you'll be allocated your dorms. When called your name, come to the counter and collect your dorm key. The guidebook and uniforms were already placed in your dorm rooms. After this, you have two days to decide the classes you wanted to attend".
"There are some classes that are mandatory and some optional. There is a fixed timetable for the classes, so chose wisely as some optional classes would overlap with other optional class times. There would be no optional class during a mandatory class, so you don't need to worry about that".
"This information would be available in the guidebook, so you can check later. After choosing your classes, register them with the staff. You can read that also in the guide".
"Hmm, is there anything else? ..No, that's all. Once again, welcome to the Imperial Academy, and best of luck to you all".
The voice disappeared and the cadets started moving to collect their dorm keys.