"The central area of Amparos is where most of the great powers of the capital meet, whether noble families or organizations, not to mention that most of the empire's organizations have a branch here."
"It's thanks to this that you can get anything from the empire in Amparos with just a little effort." Brice exhaled and watched Ethel's reaction.
However, this last one didn't even look at him while she asked him. "What are the largest and most powerful organizations in the area?"
"Sure miss…" Brice sighed disappointed. "Well, if I had to say the most powerful, the first ones that come to mind are three."
"Oh? Aren't they very few?" Kayla asked curiously. She imagined that power would be more divided in such a large city.
"Well, it's not that the rest are weak, it's just that these three are too powerful." Brice pointed to a castle rising into the heavens in the center of the city. "First would be the royal family, which has one of the largest armies on the continent and extremely powerful internal members."
"Can the royal family really be counted as an organization?…" Kayla looked at Brice with doubt.
"Of course, since even though they rule us, they have created a personal force from scratch that is not dependent on the empire at all. An army that only listens to orders from the current emperor" Brice looked at Kayla confused. That was general knowledge...
"Well... and the next organization?" Ethel asked. Although she knew more or less about this, she wanted to check that her information was up to date. It was somewhat complicated to acquire information from a neighboring empire, also an enemy; so she only had information from decades ago.
"Next would be the Unity Church, the main religion of the empire. It is one of the strongest organizations that not only has the support of the common people, but also the blessing of the Goddess" Brice looked at a church that was only a little smaller than the royal family's castle.
Kayla's eyes became sharp when she heard that and she looked at the church. I have to stop by one of these days and ask about Zinon...
"Well, I guess it's no wonder the church still maintains its power." Ethel nodded. The information I had until now was correct. Now only the last one was missing. "And if I'm not mistaken, the third most powerful organization should be the adventurer guild, right?"
"Eh? No! That was several years ago, the new power that is at the same level as the royal family and the church is the untamed jungle academy!" Brice shouted with excitement. Like every young man in the empire, his dream was to attend that academy! Although his motivations were a little different from those of his companions...
Kayla and Ethel's eyes widened in surprise. None of them expected the academy they wanted to attend to be so powerful!
They both looked at each other and could tell that they were both beginning to feel a little pressure. Entering an academy with so much power would surely not be easy!
"And tell me, why the academy is so strong, is there any special reason?" Kayla looked at Brice with some emotion.
"Well, I honestly couldn't tell you if the reason behind their strength is special or not... I just know that no one wants to mess with them or their students." Brice sighed as he remembered all the stories they told him about the academy.
"You probably don't know, but a few years ago there was a confrontation between the academy and the noble families, in which some nobles messed with a first-year student." Brice smiled. This story still gave him shivers of excitement when he remembered it.
"Nmm? And what did the noble children do for the academy to intervene?" Kayla asked curiously. She had often gotten into trouble on earth and she had always felt ashamed that her school would intervene to help her, like a child hiding behind her mother's skirt...
And that should be a humiliation in this world, where with effort you can be strong enough to solve your problems.
"A student's mana veins were paralyzed in a "friendly" confrontation," Brice spoke matter-of-factly. However, Kayla's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What?! How could they go so far?!" Kayla couldn't believe what she was hearing. Paralyzing someone's mana veins was the worst torture you could cause someone! Without healthy mana veins, you wouldn't even be able to level up!
They had basically sealed the first-year boy's fate, forcing him to remain weak for the rest of his life!
"...They are noble, what did you expect?" Brice murmured resentfully.
Kayla went blank. Although she knew what nobles could be like from animes and novels; she had hoped that the people of this world, and especially this empire, would not be so evil.
It seems like it was just a stupid hope to have expected that...
From what Grandpa Aaron told me, there were very few ways to repair mana veins... Kayla remembered the classes her Grandpa Aaron gave her and couldn't help but feel even more sorry for the boy.
"Then what happened? What did the untamed Jungle Academy do?" Ethel, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke.
"That's the most incredible thing! In reality, the academy killed all the nobles who were involved in the accident despite the resistance of the families behind the nobles!" Brice responded with excitement.
"What?! And the nobles did nothing?!" Ethel asked stunned. She had hoped that the young nobles would get their way with just a few scoldings!
"Of course they did something, but the academy didn't give a damn! Several noble families joined forces and pressured the academy with their greatest warriors who surpassed even level four hundred!"
"But the academy was not defenseless! The teachers, people personally chosen by the academy director to teach his students, rose up and resisted the power of the nobles!" Brice's eyes were shining with excitement.
"Wow…" Kayla and Ethel sighed in admiration. The untamed Jungle Academy was a much more incredible place than they expected!
"Hehe, I was also surprised when I first heard that story... Although this happened before I was born, so I'm not so sure about the details, I just know that in the end, the nobles retreated with their tails between their legs, and that there has never been an accident where the nobles come back to bother the academy students." Brice smiled a little sheepishly. He had said a lot and in the end, only the outcome of the battle was known.
"Don't worry, what you told us is still pretty impressive…" Kayla reassured him. She was not lying, although she had only told them simple details of the event, it was enough for them to understand the power of the academy.
"Yeah... I guess you're more useful than I thought." Ethel nodded.
"Thanks, I guess…" Brice smiled bitterly, not knowing if it was a compliment or not…
"Well, since we're talking about the academy, do you have any juicy information about it?" Kayla smiled. Although they had acquired a little information when they visited the academy yesterday, the more information they had, the better.
"...I guess they came to the capital to enroll in the academy, right?" Brice couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Of course! And we plan to enter no matter what!" Kayla smiled. She had decided not to hesitate anymore and she was showing it!
"How envious…" Brice murmured. He also wanted to enter the academy...
"Did you say something?" Kayla looked at Brice with some concern. She had noticed that the boy had become a little more serious since they talked about the accident at the academy and the nobles.
It's pretty obvious that he has a grudge against the nobles...although if everything he said is true, I suppose it's not too far-fetched that he would hate them. Kayla looked at Ethel for a second. However, I don't doubt her. Even if all the nobles in this world were shit, Ethel would be an exception.
"Oh, nothing, I just remembered something. And as for any juicy information, unfortunately, I don't have any in particular." Brice shook his head.
"The academy keeps very well information about everything that happens in their entrance exams and even any information about the academy itself, so very few people know anything useful about it or information about the entrance exams..... Besides the fact that hundreds of thousands of young people come here hoping to enroll in the academy."
Kayla nodded a little disappointed. The old woman who scolded her yesterday had already told her that. She was just trying her luck...
Ethel also felt a little disappointed. The more she heard about the untamed Jungle Academy, the more pressure she felt. Although she did not doubt her admission to the academy, she knew it would not be easy.
"Oh sure, although this is not at all certain, there are many people who theorize that some of the tests to enter the academy could be about loyalty or something similar." Brice suddenly remembered a fairly old rumor about the academy.
"Loyalty?..." Ethel looked at Brice in confusion. She knew that things like loyalty were useless in this world where he who had strength reigned.
"But why is that?" Kayla asked curiously. She couldn't think of any reason for such a rumor to be created.
"Like I said, it's just a rumor," Brice sighed. "And it is that the academy earned the nickname "Mother Nature" because of the accident with the nobles, as she defended her "children" as a mother would." Brice still had a lot of doubt about that rumor, but he certainly had fundamentals.
"I see…" Ethel nodded and fell into deep thought. She needed to start thinking about a plan to pass the academy entrance exam with the little information he had.
"The academy is an incredible place, isn't it Brice?!" Meanwhile, Kayla began chatting happily with Brice.
Surprisingly, the two got along quite well. Conversations flowed naturally between them.
Although the situation was completely different between Ethel and Brice. The two couldn't even start a conversation outside of Brice's task as a guide.
There were several reasons for this, but the main ones were that Ethel still viewed Brice with superiority because he was someone who needed her "help" and Brice saw Ethel as just another arrogant noblewoman.
On the other hand, Kayla did not have any type of prejudice towards Brice and even sympathized with him quite a bit because of some of his past experiences that were not very different from Brice's current life.
So even though Kayla didn't like interacting with strangers, she tried to talk to Brice. As for Brice, although he was a little wary of both women, the kind personality Kayla showed towards him made him look at Kayla favorably.
Amid that strange dynamic, the trio traveled through the central area of Amparos in search of a particular building.
Hours after traveling, they finally arrived at their destination.
"Well, although it took us a while, here we are" Brice sighed. That's what he hated most about Amparos. It was too big to the point that one had to travel hours to get from one place to another.
"Haha, I guess a city being too big isn't always a good thing…" Kayla laughed as she looked at the building in front of her with intrigue. The place they arrived at was an organization that could never be missing in a fantasy anime.
"The trip may have been long, but we had to get to this place sooner rather than later." Ethel looked at the building several dozen meters high that had a large sign that said: Adventurer's Guild.
The adventurer's guild had the same futuristic aesthetic as the rest of Amparos, with a gray exterior along with several plants that gave life to the place.
"I guess you're right…" Kayla smiled. It's not like she didn't want to come either, no, in fact, she was quite excited. She wanted to become an SSS rank adventurer!
"Let's go" Ethel led the way and the trio headed to the entrance of the building, where there was a double glass door with no handle or anything to open it.
Kayla looked at the door confused. She wanted to say something, but since she saw that neither Ethel nor Brice said anything, she stayed silent. She would let the native people of this world take care of it...
But beyond all her expectations, the door opened by itself! Acting in the same way as an automatic door!
"Ah…" Kayla stared with her mouth open.
"Is something wrong Kayla?" Ethel looked at her with confusion.
"Nothing…nothing's wrong" Kayla sighed with a smile. I guess this world isn't the classic anime fantasy world... Well, I already knew that anyway.
Without any more surprises, the trio entered the adventurer's guild.