The capital was much bigger than Zaroth had been accustomed to, so he had some trouble finding his way.
'Did you get lost?' Luna asked sarcastically, making Zaroth blush slightly.
'Of course not!' he responded immediately.
But after an hour of mindless walking, he had to admit defeat and ask a stranger for directions.
"So, this is the academy, huh?"
He was standing before a building of truly colossal scale. The building must have had dozens of floors. The walls were decorated with gold, and to reach the academy, he had to walk through the massive garden surrounding it.
'Are you sure you want to try for the most prestigious one?' Luna asked.
'If a person wants to achieve great things, he has to aim high or whatever. Plus, even if they reject me, I'm sure I'll have better luck with the other, less prestigious ones.'
'But from what they told us, this is the elite. Even the royals are apparently learning here.'
'I'm sure it will be fine. If not, we'll just make it fine.'
Zaroth entered the building and was now waiting in his seat for them to call his name. The room he was in was very big, and it currently held more than a hundred people close to his age, all waiting to take the same kind of test.
Looking around, he saw that while some wore simple suits like him, others were dressed in clothes that only nobles, or maybe even royals, could afford.
When he had bought the suit, he had thought he looked quite good, but his simple dress paled in comparison to theirs.
Observing the surroundings, he saw that there were three big groups sticking together.
The first group consisted of the incredibly well-dressed people, who were most likely nobles.
The second group was the largest one; the people there were dressed modestly, like him, and were throwing hostile glances at the nobles.
The third group was the smallest, and these people wore clothes that seemed to be picked from trash bins, or in other words, they were homeless. They were most likely here with the faint hope that they could turn their lives around.
Deciding it was boring to just sit in his seat, he approached the second group with the intention of making small talk.
"Hello, I'm Zaroth," he said as he approached a group of people.
"Hello—" The tall man with blonde hair was about to respond but stopped mid-sentence. As he gazed at Zaroth's eyes, his own widened slightly.
"Are you related to the dragons' descendants?" the man asked. It was obvious from his tone that he was on guard.
Zaroth had decided to pretend he was, otherwise, he would have to reveal that he had tamed a dragon, which wasn't a smart decision right now.
"Something like that," he said, trying to put on an innocent smile.
"I'm sorry, but would you please not speak to us?" the girl standing close to the tall blonde man responded before he could.
"Lily! We can't speak with people like that!" he turned his face to hers.
"Roran, you know how dangerous these people can be! We don't want to be associated with them!" she said as she grasped the man's hand and led him away from Zaroth.
'Luna… didn't you say that these eyes would earn me some respect?' he asked, irritated.
'Well…' Luna was going to blush if she wasn't currently in Zaroth's soul. 'I guess some things change, who knew?'
With a sigh, he scraped the idea of making friends. It seemed that he wasn't going to be able to communicate with the average people, and there was no way he was going to go and speak willingly to those rich fucks called 'nobles.'
Thankfully, no one seemed to pay him any attention. Despite his white hair and green, cat-like eyes, most likely because everyone was stressed about the upcoming test.
For Zaroth, there wasn't really any pressure, as he didn't particularly care if he joined the best academy in the empire or the worst one, since he already had a dragon at his disposal. But the others wouldn't be able to say the same thing.
Soon, the number on the door changed to the number of the paper Zaroth held in his hand, so he stood up and approached the door.
Opening the door, Zaroth felt his whole body scream in fear, as if what was beyond it would spell his doom. But since he didn't want to chicken out now that he had come so far, he pressed on anyway.
Entering the room, he saw a table with five people sitting across from it. There was a woman with black hair and pupils sitting at the center.
Despite how beautiful she seemed at first glance, her appearance made her look like an incarnation of death. Just staring at her made Zaroth feel as if he was about to die.
'This woman… she is strong… be careful,' Luna commented.
Zaroth wanted to ask if Luna could beat her, but the woman suddenly interrupted his line of thinking.
"Hello…" She looked down at the paper in front of her before continuing. "Zaroth, you have been given a chance to enter our academy." Her voice was serious and stern, almost as if she were ready to kill him at any moment if he stepped out of line.
"I am Elysia and the person in charge of this academy. I will observe the process of your examination without stepping in unless need arises."
'So, I meet the most powerful and influential person in the whole fucking empire from the start. What shitty luck I have!' he cursed in his mind.
"Young man, you are going to be tested to see if you are worthy of being accepted as a student of our academy. But don't be nervous; I'm sure if you've done your homework, there's nothing to worry about." An old man in his 80s spoke as he looked at Zaroth with a relaxed gaze.
'Homework?' Zaroth thought, surprised. He wasn't expecting anything like this.
"First of all, answer the questions right if you want to proceed. Don't worry, they are all formalities, so you won't have a hard time answering them. Let's begin with the easiest one:
What is the name of this academy?"
'Crap.' All Zaroth knew was that he was going to be tested for his class and how well he could use it, not answering some useless questions like he was on an actual written test!
Zaroth was a person who only remembered information that concerned him, and the name of some academy wasn't on that list!
Taking a deep breath, he smiled innocently before answering.
"I have absolutely no clue."