Academy

Hearing her say that, Roy understood that Jefferson and Ms. Jillian had an unusual relationship. Somewhat regretfully, he said, "Well, I was acting as a guide for those sailors. I should have stepped forward to stop them."

Ms. Jillian repeatedly wiped her hands on her apron before patting Roy on the shoulder. "Anyone would have that instinctive reaction when facing a group of thugs, Roy. It wasn't your fault."

Then she asked, "Do you remember the names of those outsiders?"

"Yes. There was a mage named Benjamin, but I didn't remember the others' names. I couldn't understand the Imperial Language they spoke."

Roy said to Ms. Jillian.

The Fish Market was noisy, and no one paid attention to what they were discussing off to the side.

Ms. Jillian had high, sharply arched brows that gave her a heroic air. She wore a leather apron, and after years of wind and rain, faint freckles dotted her prominent cheekbones. Her hands were somewhat too rough as well.

She still held a short dagger specially used for gutting fish. The hundred-pound tuna on the stall was almost sold out.

Ms. Jillian wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, then turned to ask her eldest daughter:

"Sabrina, didn't you take art and sculpture electives at the academy?"

"Yes! What is it, Mom?" Sabrina looked up and answered.

The summer heat was intense, and her fair cheeks had already been reddened by the sun.

"When you have time, go find Roy and have him describe what they looked like. Then draw some portraits of them," Ms. Jillian said casually.

Sabrina furrowed her delicate brows and said softly, "Based on verbal descriptions? They might not look very much like them."

Ms. Jillian sighed lightly. Looking at her somewhat unwilling daughter, she said:

"It doesn't matter if they aren't quite alike. I just think that now that they're dead, there should at least be something left behind. It might come in handy someday."

Sabrina hesitated, glanced at Roy, and only agreed after seeing that he had no reaction. "All right."

At that moment, Ms. Jillian turned to Roy and asked, "Roy, are you willing to help us?"

Standing behind the fish stall, Roy could not help grumbling inwardly, You didn't ask whether I was willing when you were talking to Sabrina just now! Why ask me at the end? What's that supposed to mean...

Though that was what Roy thought, he quickly said aloud:

"Ah! Of course, no problem..."

It seemed that Jefferson, who had died at the tavern, really had some connection to Ms. Jillian. No wonder Moira had said something so sorrowful last night.

Roy's gaze inadvertently fell on Sabrina's long, pale legs. The alert Sabrina noticed and shot him a fierce glare.

Roy rubbed his nose and immediately looked away...

Many buildings in the Goddess of Freedom Temple were very old, including many of its doors and windows.

Wide gaps had appeared between the window frames.

To keep the windows from falling out, nearly all of them had been nailed shut in their frames. Even those that had originally been connected by hinges could no longer be opened.

Roy's wardrobe was filled with a heavy smell of mold, and its back panel was even covered in mildew spots.

In the past, Roy had only passed by the street outside the temple entrance. The temple gates and the statue in the courtyard had looked fairly presentable.

But now that he had become a Novice Priest of the Goddess of Freedom Temple, he discovered that the temple was already so dilapidated, even decayed.

The row of two-story buildings near the Main Hall served as the priests' dormitories. The two Novice Priests were still in the front courtyard.

The three priests, however, sat around a round table in the Study Room. The room was somewhat dim, with sunlight streaming through the cracks in the Wooden Door and forming several beams in the darkness.

This room was fairly private. Though the Wooden Door looked shabby, many precious books were kept inside, and protective magic arrays had been set up long ago.

Priest Reid sat at the round table, frowning deeply as he said in a low voice:

"After Priest Felix Mitchell entered God Country, the temples in the Elven World kept dwindling. Now, temples in every major region of the Elven World are struggling to survive."

"Is there a problem with funding?" the young Priest Anderson asked in confusion.

Priest Reid shook his head slightly. "Most of the funding for our Goddess of Freedom Temple comes from the output of certain territories. Funding is not our greatest problem."

Priest Theodore across from him knew some of the inside details. At this moment, he said, "The Moon God Temple only respects Your Excellency Mitchell, but they have no goodwill toward priests like us. In some places, Elven Nobles began collectively boycotting followers of the Goddess of Freedom long ago, refusing to hire them. Castleton City has not encountered such a situation for the time being."

The young Priest Anderson asked in puzzlement, "We only take in the marginalized people of the Elven World, the ones abandoned by the Moon God Temple. Why do they reject us?"

Priest Reid rubbed his forehead and said, "This kind of temple conflict without smoke has never stopped..."

"Moreover, the Goddess seems to have had difficulty attending to the Elven World lately. The God War is probably not going well."

"News from above says that large numbers of priests from the Roland Continent have already begun heading to the Dark Land to take part in the God War."

At those words, the air in the entire room seemed to freeze.

Clearly, the three priests had been mentally prepared for it.

But when they heard Priest Reid speak openly of the matter, the expressions of the other two still changed.

"Does the bishop also want us to join the war?" Priest Theodore asked High Priest Reed.

Seeing Priest Reid tacitly agree, Priest Theodore became somewhat agitated. "But we only have enough people here to keep the temple running! Where are we supposed to find priests to take part in the God War?"

At that moment, Priest Reid took out a letter. The seal stamped upon it was unmistakably the Goddess of Freedom Statue.

He said, "The worst-case scenario may be leaving a Novice Priest behind to guard the temple, or simply abandoning this place altogether. Some temples are already doing that."

"Right now, even abandoning the temple is not our greatest problem!"

Priest Reid paused, his gaze falling on Theodore and Anderson.

"Our greatest problem at present is that the Holy Grail has been stolen. That grail may not possess much power, but it is a Holy Artifact blessed by the Goddess. Only by carrying the Holy Grail into the Dark Land can one avoid losing their way in that world."

Hearing Priest Reid say this, Priest Theodore's face fell as well...

"Damn it, who stole the Holy Grail?"

When the day came for the Elf Academy to begin its term, Roy arrived alone at the academy gates.

The place was already packed with new students who had come to register.

In truth, the threshold for entering this academy was very low. As long as one paid four thousand Kole, anyone could study there.

Of course, food, lodging, and study materials cost extra...

After entering the academy, every student had to take at least three subjects each year and could take no more than six. All subjects required an oral defense examination at the end of the term, and receiving a C- meant failing.

In that case, the subject had to be retaken the following year, unless the student chose to give it up and switch to another subject. Otherwise, they would have to keep retaking it until the instructors deemed them qualified.

Of course, even if they had to retake subjects, the annual tuition of four thousand Kole remained fixed.

If a student had abundant energy and could arrange their class schedules properly, then naturally, the more subjects they took each term, the better...

But at the Elf Academy, nearly all elven students worked while studying in order to complete their education.

In other words, they first worked to earn money, gathered enough for tuition and living expenses, and only then attended school.

They also had to keep working while studying, not only to cover their daily expenses but also to save up next year's tuition.

The advantages of this open system were obvious. At the very least, when students spent money they had earned through hard work on their education, they listened very attentively in class.

Otherwise, if they failed the final examination and had to retake the subject next year, they might have to pay for it again themselves.

Furthermore, to graduate successfully from Castleton Elf Academy, students needed at least sixty subjects approved by their instructors.

That meant even students who graduated from here at the fastest possible pace had to study for at least ten years.

Most students who worked while studying enrolled in only three subjects each year, so they could free up time to work outside the academy.

But that also meant it might take those students twenty years to graduate.

Of course, for elves, that amount of time was nothing...

Roy followed the crowded throng through the academy gates. Among the many young elves was someone who looked very much like a human, making the scene somewhat discordant.

Roy did not know any of these elves and squeezed through the crowd toward the registration area.

At this point, he could not help regretting coming so early. If he had known there would be so many people, he would have arrived later.

The field in front of the academy tower was quite large, and many elves had formed lines that stretched onto the grass. Roy obediently joined one of the queues.

Carrying the four thousand Kole Ms. Belinda had prepared for him, Roy stood under the blazing sun for nearly two hours before finally paying the tuition and receiving his student number and a certificate.

Immediately afterward, Roy followed the crowd into the main building's hall.

New students could register for subjects here, so naturally, the earlier one arrived, the better.

Every subject had a limit on enrollment, and anyone even slightly too slow might miss out on the better subjects.

Roy stood before rows of parchments hanging from ropes, reading the descriptions of each subject. For a moment, he was at a loss, because before this, he truly had not considered what exactly he wanted to study.