After saying goodbye to Mona, the Spirit of the Academy City went to see Water Tower. It brought him a Crystal Instrument and asked which academy he intended to join.
After some thought, Water Tower chose the Material Studies Academy.
As a technician who studied crystal shells, Water Tower knew materials inside out. In a sense, the academy was a perfect fit.
With that done, the Spirit of the Academy City prepared to return to the headmaster's office and find Angel.
But just as it arrived, before it could knock, Angel came out.
"You're back?" Angel glanced at the spirit. "Good. Come with me to the academic district gate to welcome some people."
Welcome people at the gate?
Confusion flashed through the spirit's eyes. Was Academy City getting more faculty and staff?
"I'll explain on the way." Angel stepped onto the balcony and summoned the mechanical bird before it had flown far. It carried them toward the gate.
On the way, Angel gave the spirit a rough account of what was happening.
About five minutes earlier, he had received a message from Laplace. The first group of faculty and staff bound for Fool's Academy City had gathered at the academic district camp.
Angel had taken a quick look from his bird's-eye view. Merlin, Pisi, and Vasha—the three principal arrivals—were all there.
Besides them, there were more than a thousand others.
They would form the backbone of Fool's Academy City.
With so many arriving at once, including a Time Doppelgänger of Eya the Mystic Dragon, Angel had to show them some respect. So he had chosen to greet them at the gate himself.
The news lit up the spirit's eyes.
As the central spirit of the entire city, it had not shown it, but it was worried. Since its activation, the