Chapter 3: Giant bloodline and elven bloodline, going on stage! (1/2)
Chapter 3: Giant bloodline and elven bloodline, going on stage!
“Name!”
“Ayrin.”
“Age!”
“Sixteen years old!”
“Address!”
“Cororin Town.”
“Hrm? The deserted town?”
Carter was bent over the registration desk, in the middle of scribbling something. He lifted his head, a little surprised.
In his impression, there weren’t many youngsters left in Cororin, that small town with a declining mining area. He’d also heard the residents there were barely subsisting on some barren copper ore.
His brows scrunched up when he took a good look at Ayrin. His hair was a dry yellow, he wore clothes made from fabrics Carter couldn’t recognize, and his height was more befitting a boy no older than fourteen. “You’re called Ayrin, from Cororin Town? You’re really sixteen years old?”
“That’s right, what’s wrong?”
Ayrin examined the young teacher in turn at the same time the latter observed him, on this Holy Spring Tone Street the registration was taking place on.
Holy Spring Tone Street was one of the four main avenues in St. Lauren City. The street had a twelve-tone fountain on it, sitting in the plaza in the middle of the street. Many shops stood on both sides, a rich diversity of decorative patterns made from multicolored glossed stones laid on the ground in front of the shops… From the colorful store signs to the eye-catching blue academy clothes on Carter, embroidered with the words “Holy Dawn Academy,” everything was a novel experience for the young Ayrin. He’d never been in such a big city before.
“Cororin? Isn’t it that deserted town? Didn’t they say there’s no youngster left there anymore? Haha, little shorty from Cororin, aren’t you too short for a sixteen years old?”
A red-haired young man lining up behind Ayrin suddenly burst out with great laughter before Carter could speak.
This red-haired young man was half a head taller than Ayrin, with a round face, faint freckles, and an arrogant expression.
“Hm? This is?” Carter’s gaze fell on the red-haired young man and the meadow viper symbol on his clothes. His pupils subconsciously shrank.
“You are?” Ayrin was used to being made fun of by the miners, and didn’t actually get angry. He turned around and looked at the red-haired young man. “Am I really too short?”
“Listen carefully! I am Moss, from the Quinn clan!”
The red-haired youth looked just like he’d been waiting for an opportunity to show off. He laughed loudly in a very arrogant manner, even while assuming a very puerile posture.
“As I thought!” Carter’s eyes flashed. He looked all smiles at the red-haired youngster and Ayrin, not interrupting them for the moment.
“Haha, little shorty, of course you’re too short.” Moss laughed out loud and gesticulated toward Ayrin. “Look, I’m only fourteen years old, but I’m still half a head taller than you.”
Ayrin scratched his head, a little depressed. “So that means I’m really a little too short.”
Moss blinked, then he immediately laughed rambunctiously in an even louder voice. “Are you an idiot? You don’t even know if you’re a shorty or not?”
“That’s because I’m the only one around my age in Cororin, there’s no one else to compare to.” Ayrin answered in a natural tone on the surface, and cursed old Ginns on the inside, “You’ve really done well ravaging little children…”
“This guy is truly silly enough, he won’t get angry even like this?” Carter heaved a gentle sigh when he saw that Ayrin didn’t seem the least bit angry at being called a little shorty. He said, “Alright, Ayrin from Cororin, next you need to pay a hundred silver coins and we’ll sort out the academy entrance procedures.”
Ayrin’s disbelieving voice rose abruptly, “What! One hundred silver coins! You actually need a hundred silver coins, this is a little too much right?”
Carter rubbed his ears gone numb from the tremors and looked at Ayrin’s big reaction. He explained, “These hundred silver coins include not only tuition and lodging for one year, they also include expenses for the academy clothing as well as some school trips.”
“You already need so much for a single year…” Ayrin pulled Carter’s sleeve. “Can’t you make it a bit cheaper?”
“Haha, little shorty, don’t tell you can’t even pay the tuition? Don’t tell me you directly ran here without knowing how much the tuition for one year at Holy Dawn Academy costs?” The red-haired Moss suddenly laughed rambunctiously once again. “There’s actually someone who bargains even for tuition fees.”
“Saving up silver shouldn’t have been easy actually, looking at you. You awakened at only sixteen and you’re also so thin and weak, it doesn’t look like you’re someone with any special bloodline either.” The wild laughter vanished and Moss’ face became all seriousness. “It shouldn’t be very useful even if you were to enter Holy Dawn Academy and study here. My advice to you, better not waste the silver coins that took you a lot efforts to save.”
“Take a good look at those landbearers. Even if they have some beastman bloodline and have leg strength ordinary people can’t match, they still can only be mere landbearers inside this city of St. Lauren!”
“Landbearer?”
Ayrin followed Moss’ line of sight and saw several brawny fellows clad in only leather shorts and thick ropes wrapped around their bodies.
These brawny fellows were all nearly two meters tall, unusually sturdy, especially their two legs that were as thick as water buckets. Every muscle of theirs bulged and looked hard as rocks.
Ayrin couldn’t help but ask, “What’s a landbearer?”
“You don’t even know what a landbearer is? Landbearers are porters specialized in helping people drag heavy items!” Moss looked at Ayrin and said in a loud voice, “You shouldn’t force yourself the way I see it. Might as well save up some silver coins and use them elsewhere.”
A cold voice came from the side. “So you can casually determine someone else’s life just because of a little giant blood?”
Moss froze a second. He turned his head around and saw that the one who spoke was a beautiful girl with long hair and a handkerchief in her hand, standing to one side. Her hair was an exotic silver color and appeared unusually clean, untainted by even the smallest speck of dirt. Her height seemed about the same as Moss’, her face cold and antisocial.
“You’ve got the gall to talk to me like this? Who are you again?” Moss immediately became slightly angry. He said with a cold humph, “Can’t you see I’m doing it for his own good?”
“So you can act mighty and casually find fault with other people just because it’s for their own good?”
The white-clothed girl didn’t even spare a glance for Moss. She looked at Carter and said in an icy voice, “Arrange the school entry for him, I’ll help him pay the one hundred silver coins.”
“Oh?”
Carter sent a glance at the white-clothed girl and smiled faintly. “You want to help Ayrin pay up one hundred silver coins?”
Ayrin was a little dazed. One hundred silver coins were enough for an ordinary family to live off of for two years. It was no small sum, and he was absolutely certain he’d never even met this white-clothed girl before.
“His expenses plus mine.” The white-clothed girl seemed unwilling to say even a single word more than necessary. She took out two gold coins and indifferently threw them to Carter.
On Doraster, one gold coin was equal to a hundred silver coins.
Carter caught the gold coins and asked with much interest, “You’re also a new student coming to register at Holy Dawn Academy?”
In his impression, this white-clothed girl had been in Holy Spring Tone Street for quite a while already, but she’d never lined up so far. Now he vaguely came to a small realization in retrospect. This white-clothed girl wasn’t willing to line up with other people, so she’d been waiting for everyone else to leave before handling the school entrance procedures.
She wanted to pay one year of expenses for Ayrin just because of a single sentence from Moss… There was also the handkerchief she held onto at all times. She looked like she had an innate fear of even the slightest bit of dirt falling on her body. This youngster was probably not merely noble and aloof, but it was likely she also had a certain degree of obsessive compulsiveness when it came to cleanliness.