Fate of the Cursed One

Chapter 8: The Town of Arcton

Today is my first day at our new senior academy. I wouldn't say I'm nervous but I can definitely say that I'm not as excited as the energy ball walking beside me. We left our room an hour before as Laeratia didn't want to be late for the orientation program.

I was waiting with her on the sidewalk waiting for a cab as we weren't not going to walk to the academy.  It was situated on the outskirts of the main town because the campus is literally vast enough to be declared a town on its own.

Standing on the sidewalk, the early sun rays were piercing my eyes. I lifted my left hand to cover my eyes from it. The sky was clear and it was a pleasant day with a gentle cold breeze brushing past us. Neither was it too humid nor too dry.

My eyes turned towards the road as I heard the sound of wheels coming to a halt with a screeching noise. It was a white cart with two doors painted in black which meant it could fit 4 people legally. Even though I have seen 6-7 people travelling in these wagons comfortably.

Laeratia opened the door and got in, followed by me getting in and slamming the door shut. The operator turned over their shoulder and asked us, "Where?"

"Umm… Daexerra Academy of Arcane?" Laeratia replied a bit reluctantly. He said under his breath, "Ah, that's quite far though."

"Yeah… it is kind of on the outskirts of the city." She laughed awkwardly. He looked at her, then his eyes shifted towards me and he said, "It'll be 470 for you guys."

"470??!"

"See, it's generally more than that. But I can see you two are probably students from there so I'm charging you less." He said with a subtle smile while looking at a freaked-out Laeratia.

"But we've ridden cabs for the past one week and charges were…" She started to protest, but I cut her off and looked at the guy with a smile, "Yeah Sir. Just drive, we don't want to be late. It's our first day."

"Ah, sure… so 470 then?" The smile on his face got wider, as I gently nodded my head, "Sure."

The driver turned around and put his mana-charged key in the ignition. The cart started to vibrate as the engine roared with life. We started moving, as Laeratia whispered at me quite loudly, "Kigan? What the hell?"

"We can go over this later. For now, keep quiet." I said, moving my eyes towards the guy as a gesture to her. She understood what I'm trying to mean and rested her back against the seat while looking outside the window.

This guy knows pretty well that we're not from around by the way Laeratia was talking. Despite the fact he was charging us way more than he should, we don't have any solid grounds to protest against him. He drives people around, so he will know better than us. That's the excuse he will pull on us and it'll create a lot of unnecessary commotion which I don't want Laeratia to be a part of.

I stared outside the window as the buildings and streets passed by. We left our luggage in the hotel room which we planned to pick up later. This academy had a strict rule that all the students must stay in dorms for two years. But since it would be a pain to move around with all those things, we decided to pick it up after we were assigned a dorm room.

It has already been a week since we have been in this town of Arcton which was the capital city of the Whitehaven Region. Arcton was among one of the most successful towns in the nine regions. This town was the dream of people who belonged to small villages or towns.

With advanced facilities, there were far more opportunities here. May it be for jobs or education. One can simply look at the architecture and layout of this town and tell that. 

Whitehaven was controlled by the Grinceall Family. Lord Silas emerged as the ruling figure of this region 3 years ago and since then a lot has changed. Their economy has increased rapidly along with their military strength and arsenal.

Whitehaven is a major figure in the trading industry as well. With two port cities, Shipton and Newham, the largest trading per capita take place from this region only. But as much as I've heard about Lord Silas, he is a piece of shit.

While I was immersed in my thoughts, we reached the academy and the cart came to a stop and my torso moved forward from the inertia. Laeratia got out of the cart while my eyes wandered out. The massive gates and several other students could be seen walking into the campus as well.

They were huge gates, painted in black with golden protrudes at the top. With red walls surrounding the boundary, I could see the emblem of Daexerra Academy of Arcane, carved on a polished marble tile. Everything about this academy either screamed "fancy" or "elite" about it.

"See those… that's where we are going!" Laeratia pointed towards the building far inside. I could tell she was excited, and I wouldn't blame her since this was her dream since she was young.

"Let's get going then, shall we?"