Chapter XCVII - The First Disaster (part 1)

I did say I will try my best… to be the best.

But, how the hell am I going to be the best… if I can't even find the dormitory building?

The map shown in the guide book is totally outdated. I went to the area where it says the location of the dormitory, and when I arrived, that place was actually the laboratory building.

Did I... miss read it?

I stared at the book again, even enchanting my eyes so I could read clearly. No, I'm not wrong. Any more sharp glaring on the map and I'm going to shoot red lasers from my eyes. 

The book is definitely outdated, so I have no choice but to ask.

Everyone else must have felt weird seeing me in casual clothes, but since I haven't gotten any chance to change into the academy uniform, I can't say anything about it. They simply had to be okay with me openly being a new student.

I decided to approach a couple in the park. The two were having the time of their lives, so I went ahead and ruined it.

"Excuse me."

The male and female students turned their gaze at me when I slowly approached them.

"May I know where the dormitory is?"

"Female dormitory? Or male dormitory?"

The girl asked me. Obviously I can't answer male, so I went ahead.

"Erm, female."

"It's on the back left side, just keep going straight on that alley and you will see a building on the left. That's the female dormitory."

The girl said while pointing towards the alley between the middle building and the classes building. I turned my gaze back to them and nodded.

"I see… Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I began heading to the girls dormitory that she had pointed out for me. 

And since I had no problems with social anxiety, I went ahead and heightened my listening ability to overhear their conversation.

"Is she the new student?"

"Probably. No one else would be looking for the dormitory."

"Yeah... Adventurers, huh? I thought they would be more... wild?"

"Yeah, but she seemed nice."

"For now, maybe."

Hearing the two talked about me made me understand what the headmaster was saying. The adventurer's name is really damaged here. They all thought of us as nothing but barbarians.

The headmaster must've gone through a lot of problems getting adventurers in the academy thanks to this discrimination, but he somehow accepted me, proven by the situation with the noble family on the gate when I came earlier. He chose me instead of picking up a rich brat from a wealthy family, and I can tell he just wanted everything to change.

And now, it's up to me to be the change.

I went to the alley on the right side to the middle building, where the headmaster's room is at. The alley was quite dark, only luminated by a slight amount of light crystals that were placed on the walls along the way. Without doubt, this place is where most problems happen.

After leaving the alley, I arrived on the back side of the academy. Behind the middle building is a large open field, probably for some more practical studies. And beyond the arena is a cliff, separating the academy and the forest beyond. This place seemed to be part of the castle walls too.

Right on top of the cliff is the super tall floating yellow tower that I saw from before, one of the four gigantic towers that are floating on the north, south, east, and west part of the kingdom. Looking at it from below, I was genuinely amazed by simply how gigantic it is.

The tower is floating really high up. On the bottom, I can see a hidden giant crystal placed underneath and closed off by the tower's body. That must be what keeps the tower floating. I can feel it emitting a ton of energy, and I wonder where those energies come from.

Still, I wonder what is in that tower. If there's four of them around the kingdom... the main purpose has to be defensive reasons, right?

After gazing at the floating tower, I turned to my left where a single building is placed by itself. It's quite distant from the other building next to it, and there seem to be plenty of female students around that area. That must be the female dormitory building. 

I took the first step and continued my walk to the dorm building.

My trip eventually arrives at the lobby, which I found very similar to my school's lobby. I mean, my school back then, in another world. The receptionist desk is placed at the far end of the lobby, while on the right and left are some sofas and sitting spots, where students can study or do a meeting there. Two stairs can be seen on the right and left side of the receptionist, going to the higher floors.

This lobby is definitely large. There are at least twenty tables and sofas on each side. It's definitely a good place to hang around and group.

I then went ahead and talked to the receptionist, who seemed to be waving her hand at me since I entered.

"You must be Rize, right?"

The receptionist said to me, and I was turned aware by how she already knew I was coming.

"Yes. That's me."

"Here you go, your room is on floor six number nine."

The lady gave me my dorm room key. On the key, there's a sign attached, saying...

69.

"Right. Thank you."

Thank you so much for giving me the funny number. Six floors, though… that's quite the leg work. 

After receiving the key, I went ahead and headed to the room. On the stairs, I walked past quite a lot of female students who seemed a lot older than me, and I always get stares every time I walk past them.

Arriving on the sixth floor, I strolled down the corridor searching for my room. Every door here is brown, with a small peeping hole on the level of the eye. The sign for the numbers are placed on the wall, and a light crystal is attached to the wall below it. This hallway is surprisingly modern unlike what I found at the inns of Mazino, so I became very excited with how the room is going to be.

I kept on going until I arrived at the end of the hall. Here it is, room nine.

I opened the door using my key and went inside. The smell of a newly cleaned room welcomed me. After I turned the light switch on, I could see the inside much better.

The layout of this room is surprisingly the same as the one in my inn, but the quality is majestically different. The bathroom is placed right next to the door, on the right. At the other side of the door, I can see the table and chair placed to the wall on the left, and the wardrobe is placed next to it facing the bed. The window is only one by one size, placed on the far side of the wall from the door. The bed is on the right, sticking to the wall.

Luckily, there's only one bed. That means I won't be sharing this room with anyone.

It's surprisingly good. There's a carpet on the floor, a nice-to-look-at blue wall color, and a very modernized bathroom. As expected from an extremely expensive private school for crazy rich and talented children. 

This is where I will live for the next three years, huh...?

Three years… three years…

As I thought about it, I jumped on the bed to make me forget. Just thinking about how I'll be spending three years in this place is already turning me insane, because I barely spent three months at Mazino. One of the three months was actually at another kingdom entirely, which is stupid to think about.

I guess this is how my travelling life goes. You arrive at a new place, meet new people, only to leave them all behind to go to a new place and meet other new people. It just sucks that I had to say so much goodbyes despite that short amount of time.

Hopefully, I can stay at this place at a proper pace and for a long time. Not that I disliked the people of Mazino, but I just wish I could stick to only one place for a much longer time.

After laying my back on the bed, I accidentally find out and feel how good the bed actually is. The bed is actually very comfy. It's not as soft as the inn I'm used to, but it's still better than what I had expected. Dorm beds were never this good. 

Well, this is a high class academy, so it actually follows the quality of the school. I was very lucky to enter without paying a single penny. I can only imagine how much I'd be crying from being broke in this super comfortable bed.

I checked the bathroom, and it looks nearly the same as the inn. Then I checked the table, and finally the wardrobe.

All looking good. They are all high quality.

I better stay for at least a year in this place. I don't think I can find an inn or hotel with this good of a quality in any other place.

Immediately, I started settling down. I summoned all my clothes out from my storage ring, and it nearly closed out the whole surface of the bed. 

One by one, I tidy the clothes up. I also took out the academy uniform from the ID card that was given to me by the receptionist lady in front of the academy. There are three sets in total, which means I have no choice but to clean one right after I use them.

Actually, no. Let's do a two use rule. I use the set at least twice before I start cleaning them up. That will give me two days to dry the other sets.

Yeah, that definitely won't smell horribly. Call me dirty, I call it efficient.

Afterwards, I placed some decoration stuff on the table. Valey told me that my room needed some decoration, so I bought a small figurine of a swordsman from the convenience store to decorate my table, and a long light crystal because I want to make something from it.

While I was putting down the stuff, my door got knocked.