Three hours slid by like slow clouds on a quiet wind.
“This vessel will reach Academy Island in ten minutes; please prepare,” a voice crackled like rain on tin.
“Repeating: this vessel will reach Academy Island in ten minutes; please prepare,” the same voice rippled like a bell over water.
Sound bloomed from a small speaker in the upper-right corner, like a sparrow startled from eaves.
“Looks like we’re almost at Egisia Academy. Let’s go,” Eastern Moon Aixue rose, smoothing her skirt like ripples over a pond, and opened the door.
“Mm,” Xinuo answered, cool as moonlight on stone, then moved toward the hall like a drifting leaf.
“Let’s head out too,” I said, and Hill and Faya stood with me, our steps gathering like a stream leaving its bank.
Ten minutes flowed past like sand through fingers.
The ship eased to a halt, its hull kissing the island edge like a calm beast meeting shore.
“Mm… so this is Academy Island? It feels more like a city, a hive of streets and light,” I said, eyes sweeping like gulls over rooftops.
Instead of trees thick as a forest wall, buildings rose everywhere like stacked cliffs, alleys threading them like vines through stone.
Deeper in, a vast silhouette loomed like a mountain under dawn; that could only be Egisia Academy, a palace of learning etched against the sky.
Girls in Egisia uniforms dotted the shore like bright petals, smiles opening as people disembarked like fish slipping from a net.
They seemed to be greeting friends and classmates, joy bubbling like spring water in sun.
“President Aixue, Miss Faya, hello!” Voices rang out like chimes in a garden breeze.
“President Aixue, who are those beauties beside you? New faces, bright as fresh snow!”
“Yeah, who are they? Especially the one with hair white as winter—so stunning, like frost on jasmine!”
…
As we stepped off the ship, a tide of girls flowed around us, circling Eastern Moon Aixue and Faya like stars around a moon.
I hadn’t expected Aixue and Faya to be so adored; the crowd wrapped them like a garland woven in daylight.
“School! I can’t wait!” Hill’s excitement flickered like a firefly, her gaze darting everywhere like swallows skimming a lake.
If I hadn’t held her back like a hand on a kite string, she’d already have vanished like wind beyond the quay.
“Servant, let’s get to Egisia Academy. It’s too noisy here,” Xinuo said, displeasure cool as shade under pines, and I felt the same.
If these weren’t all girls, Xinuo would’ve had Hill release Dragon Aura, a storm’s pressure to hush the flock like thunder rolling close.
“Mm, we still have things to do, so we’ll take our leave,” Eastern Moon Aixue said, tugging Faya as they slipped from the crowd like fish into clear water.
“Xinuo Miss, Yugong, and Hill, let’s head to Egisia now. We’ve got paperwork, and the dorm must be set up,” she said, voice neat as folded silk.
“All right,” I replied, agreement falling like a nodding leaf.
Aixue and Faya offered the group of girls an apologetic smile, light as dew on petals, then led us toward Egisia Academy like guides through a grove.
…
“Whoa! So this is Egisia Academy? It’s colossal, like a city carved from old stone!” Hill cried, her awe bright as sunrise.
“It truly is. It’s grand,” I nodded, a feeling swelling like a tide, eyes tracing a campus that sprawled like half of Proudmoon City.
Time had brushed these buildings with age like moss on temple steps; they felt natural and humble, not gaudy stacks of gold and crystal.
Even the gate was worth a long look—ten-plus meters high like a standing cliff, etched with defensive alchemical runes flowing like constellations.
The gate’s metal itself was precious, a deep gleam like night iron: Starfall Iron.
(Starfall Iron: a high-grade ore with superb defense; a shield forged from one pound can block a Sacred Realm novice’s full-force strike.)
“Servant, let’s go in,” Xinuo said after a quick look, and she took my hand like frost curling around a branch.
“Hey, hey, wait for this little one!” Hill saw us pulling ahead and rushed up like a breeze, hugging my right arm like ivy on a pillar.
“Uh, Xinuo Miss is as headstrong as ever,” I said, a smile curving like a crescent moon.
“That’s how she is,” Faya answered, a helpless glance shared with Aixue like two lanterns flickering in the same wind.
They shook their heads with a soft sigh, then hurried after us like leaves chasing a stream.
Inside Egisia Academy, space opened like a valley under a wide sky.
We passed the gate, and Hill gasped, wonder bursting like a popped seed.
The campus stretched large, teaching buildings ten to twenty floors tall, no fewer than ten rising like a forest of towers.
Cafeterias, restaurants, and shops lined the paths like fruits along a market lane, a lively chain of comforts.
Everything was clean, the ground clear as polished stone; sunlight filtered through green leaves like warm silk on the earth.
The air held flower-scent and laughter, girls in clusters like sparrows at play, the breeze fresher than Proudmoon City’s stone-choked streets.
On both sides of our path, lawns lay green as spring fields, life humming in the color like sap in a branch.
Flowers bloomed there, bright as lanterns by water, butterflies weaving above them like colored fans in flight.
“How is it? Egisia’s not bad, right?” Eastern Moon Aixue asked, her smile gentle as shade on a quiet afternoon.
“Mm, it’s wonderful,” I said, nodding lightly like a reed; then I looked at Aixue. “By the way, why does everyone call you President?”
“Because Aixue is the Student Council President,” Faya said, her voice neat as a bell-line.
“Student Council President? What’s that?” Hill tilted her head, confusion drifting like mist over a pond.
“The president of the Student Council,” Faya tried again, words precise as beads on a string.
“What’s the Student Council, then?” Hill asked, curiosity hopping like a sparrow on a sill.
“Uh… Aixue, you take this,” Faya sighed, helplessness soft as rain.
“Mm, Hill, the Student Council is…” Eastern Moon Aixue explained, her words slow and clear like a brook mapping its stones.
A short while later, time settling like dust on a page.
“…That’s the Student Council. Hill, do you get it?” Aixue asked, voice kind as dusk light.
“Ooh! This little one understands,” Hill nodded, earnest as a sprout lifting to sun.
“Mm. The Dean needs me, so Faya, please show Yugong and the others around and help them learn the campus. We’ll sort dorms after I’m back.”
We’d reached a large building, its face stern as an old hall, and Aixue stopped like a traveler at a signpost.
“Okay, Aixue, leave it to me,” Faya said, assurance falling like a steady rain.
“I’ll take my leave then. Xinuo Miss, Yugong, and Hill, see you later,” Aixue said, her steps moving on like a swan toward clear water.
“See you,” I called to her retreating figure, a farewell floating like smoke, then turned to Faya with a smile warm as sunlight. “Faya, you’re our guide now.”
“Y-yes,” she said, and color rose to her cheeks like cherry blossoms after frost.
