A knock on the door, "Dean, Wilhelm has arrived."
"Where did he pop up?"
"At the front gates"
"Not inside his room?"
"Yes, he was with someone and is about to enter the academy."
"Well, never have I thought that he would use the front gates, I was pretty sure he would just pop up anywhere inside the academy. Especially in his room"
"Should I welcome him?"
"No, he doesn't like that, just let him do as he like."
"All right"
Wilhelm enters the large gate of the academy, it is twice as tall as the walls from Aliuden. The guards gave him a salutation as he walked past them.
"Runa, this is the place where you'll be studying."
Runa nodded excitedly but was feeling overwhelmed by the grandness of the place that has a large infrastructure. The place was spacious and different from the rural area they lived in. The academy is found inside the city and the area is about half the size of the city.
There were stares directed at them and it was making Runa feel nervous because of it, she couldn't imagine receiving the stares head-on without covering her appearance with her cloak. It can't be helped since they look very suspicious as they do not show their faces which made some of the students feel wary.
They were heading straight to the faculty building. Which sates some of the suspicion for them. He walks straight inside without knocking. Runa was amazed to see floating papers and moving pens. Almost everything was moving by the use of magic.
Some took glances as they walked in uninvited but seeing the crest on Wilhelm's cloak they quickly went back to their work.
"Is the Dean here?" He asked one of the faculty.
"He's inside his office" A brief reply. He was too busy to look at Wilhelm.
They went straight to the Dean's office and knocked.
"Come in, young boy" A voice behind the door, he sounded as if he was expecting his arrival.
"Then if you'll excuse us," Wilhelm entered the room and saw elderly people inside the room, Maribeth was present as well.
They started laughing softly, "Welcome back, dear boy~".
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"So, about your visit. You want this young lady to enroll in the academy?" The Dean asked. Wilhelm nodded. "That's not a problem and that can be easily arranged, after all the semester has yet to begin."
"That's very assuring."
"Anything else you would like to request?" Maribeth asked him this time, the rest were listening, wanting to hear more of his demands.
"Actually, yes. I think I need to borrow some facilities and I have already prepared to pay the fees."
"Then it is settled, we'll give you your schedule, and don't forget why we are here. Did you bring them?"
Wilhelm pulled out materials from his space box. "Yep, these are the materials that you asked for and some magic"
The old folks started to gather, you could hear the sound of gladness. Runa was curious about what Wilhelm gave them. She peeked and saw herbs and other remedies.
"Those are effective for back pain and headaches, some of them have different effects according to your requests and complaints, and the others are stuff I think would help you."
"But alas, you only visited after so long, we almost thought you wouldn't ever come back," said the Dean as he inspected the items.
Wilhelm scoffed and said, "It can't be helped, I also have a lot of requests from different people, with considerable amounts of payment."
"Being talented would surely make people request from you, it's natural Wil." Said Maribeth.
"I guess. Don't forget about your payment" They all nodded and handed one of their space rings. It was a device used to store materials.
"Wil sure is wealthy isn't he?" The Dean teased him.
"It's true though, I think his budget is that of a whole kingdom and he's receiving more monthly" Said Maribeth.
No one inside the room denied it. Wilhelm after inventing the teleportation device received a fortune out of it. Not only that, he is also hired for high-paying requests from different people.
His research also costs a fortune and has magical treasures inside his pocket. He could also work as a professional instructor be it private or public. But aside from his personal wealth, Wilhelm's family also has a business in Gressaia and are certified nobles, which makes him a nobility.
Power, Money, Intelligence, and Influence. He has it all. This explains the number of gold-digging women that approach him, there are some with genuine admiration and some with lustful desires.
He was perfect in the eyes of many, but in the eyes of people who knows him, he is seen as a human, a perfect imperfect being, and their approach towards him is pure without any underhanded intentions. Which is why he is comfortable to show his other sides with them around.
"My wealth aside, when are they going to arrive? The summoned heroes of each kingdom."
"Are you curious about them? They'll be here after three weeks when the semester begins. Don't worry dear boy, you are not obligated to educate them and the Association of Magic won't force you to join the war." The Dean assured him.
He knew that Wilhelm was not fond of violence, quite the waste of talent is what the kingdom of Gressaia sees him but his magical innovations and potential were enough to silence their demands to send him as a battle mage. He also has a large backing from the Association of Magic. It is a group of magicians that formed an alliance in order to unravel the mysteries of magic and the world.
There are a lot of branches of this organization around the Human territories ensuring that the pursuit of magic is open for those who desires it. Wilhelm holds a position in the association in the Gressaia branch.
"Come on Dean, that's not the reason why he asked about that. He clearly wanted to know when Tina would arrive."
"Don't start with the teasing, Maribeth." Wilhelm gave her a sharp look but the old lady doesn't take his intimidation seriously since he's all talk and no bite in this kind of conversation.
"Oh, The boy wants to see Tina? That's news to me."
"I forgot to tell you about it but I'll have to have tea time with you Dean, we'll talk about the progress between the two, and also about the news my younger brother Julius told me. Things have turned out interesting~"
Wilhelm sighed really hard and heard Runa's soft giggles at the back. It was too funny how they ganged up on her master to tease him. These old folks act like his grandparents but actually, they are, Maribeth Degrova and Dean Winstance Degrova are an elderly married couple and are the grandparents of Wilhelm. His talent was doubted at first since they thought that the position he possess was because of his background.
"Please don't tease me in the future, Runa. I already had to deal with these old folks already" He said to her when he heard her giggle.
"I-I'll try my best" She said.
He wasn't assured, not at all, he really wouldn't handle any more teasing if Runa were to join in as well. Maribeth was one thing, telling Celestine about the book was already enough if you put it as a helping-out way. Dean would surely join in with the fun after Maribeth spills the tea and considering that both have the same fox-like attitude.
They'd surely try to pull something behind his back. What's troubling more than that is they'd be flocking together to tease the hell out of Wilhelm. The poor man will have it hard when Celestine arrives in the academy.
On the other hand, Runa was glad to get to know Maribeth and the Dean, they seemed to be your average good old folks which in fact they were but she'll only have to discover that later on.
"Is she the student Celestine mentioned?" Maribeth asked after finally noticing Runa standing at the back.
"Student? I thought you stopped teaching magic. What changed your mind to pick up a disciple?" The Dean cock an eyebrow as he asked him the question.
Their attention suddenly shifted to Runa and their eyes started inspecting her and commented, "She's not half bad."
"I have my reasons and I would like to keep them confidential for now but rest assured that she's worthy enough to be my student." Wilhelm stated, he was confident in his statement proving that Runa has the talent to join the academy.
They won't question his decision but they just couldn't help to ask. Not that they want to go against him but they do hope that she'll live up the expectation to being his disciple, it's Wilhelm they are talking about after all.
The expectations would surely soar if other people knew about it.
"Since we're done having a chat, I'll tour Runa around the academy."
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The place was expected to have few people because the academy is currently on vacation after the semester has finished. Most of the students and teachers are off to return to their hometowns. Some remained in the dormitories waiting for the new semester to start.
It was a perfect chance to show Runa around the place so that she could easily get familiarized with it as early as possible. It's not like there won't be a personnel to tour newcomers around the school but Wilhelm just had the feeling that Runa wouldn't enjoy the tour and would feel nervous instead. Which is why he decided to tour her in advance.
Wilhelm guided her to the dormitory and showed her the room she would be using. It was bigger than she expected it to be, the bed was twice the size compared to the bed she used to sleep in. The room was well equipped with what the students may need for studying and for their daily lives.
Runa was having mixed feelings about it, was she really going to stay in here alone? She doesn't want to get separated from Wilhelm and would like to continue living with him. If only the academy was near their house in Reolona and it wouldn't matter even if she were to walk a few kilometers to school.
Runa would feel safe inside her home. Strangely she was missing the house already. She wanted to sweep the floor and their yard, wipe the windows, and arrange stuff inside the house. She had gone used to it, the simple life she had.
"Do you like it? Or would you prefer sleeping back in my house?" And without a second thought, she nodded, only if it was possible. They were so far away that Wilhelm decided to use the teleportation device in the area.
Not that he couldn't use his magic to reach such a long destination but it was to show Runa how to get there without Wilhelm, she misunderstood it though but no harm was done. Wilhelm walked out of the dormitory with Runa following his back, he held her hand and teleported to the furthest area of the academy. Wilhelm clapped once and the whole house including their yard was in front of them.
"There we go, the house." He said it as if what he did was nothing amazing.
Runa doesn't know what to say of what just occurred. It was out of her logic. She couldn't believe that magicians could call for their houses from miles away, if that was the case then shouldn't merchants learn magic?
Such a thing was only possible because it was Wilhelm. Placing a house inside the academy is also permitted simply because it was Wilhelm but he didn't stop by only bringing a house inside the school premises. He also used the gift he received from Lagus, it was one of his brothers, Welrok.
A small floating land from the crystal started to enlarge to be an actual floating island. He moved his house on top of it and it started to lift it from the ground, looking like a floating house by the edge of the school.
Lastly, he pulled out a staff from his space box and stabbed it on the ground, he cast magic to the staff creating a function to transport Runa specifically, all the way up to the house on the floating mini island.
The girl was amazed by all means, who wouldn't? When something magical happened right in front of her eyes. Wilhelm was glad to see Runa's expression, like a child in an amusement park. He intentionally chose the furthest area so there wouldn't be people to come there often.
The next problem he had to solve was the distance from the school to the house. It was about one and a half kilometers away from the dorms. With that, he decided to teach Runa how to form a contract from a summoned spirit.