By the time Alex woke back up, the emergency in the infirmary seemed to be over. It was still busy in the infirmary, but not as hectic as he would have expected during an emergency. He grabbed the cotton bag from the small table and headed outside. On the way out, Fillonia noticed him and shortly waved before heading behind another curtain. He waved back, though he doubted she saw that, and pushed the door to the courtyard open.

  Once outside, he got out of the way in case anyone else needed to rush inside, and pulled a scroll out of the cotton bag. While Mister Klynth hadn't said what was on the scrolls, he doubted the shopkeeper knew that himself, the fact they all looked similar aside from the wax seal and that they were all addressed to board members was a dead giveaway they most likely contained the same message. He wondered why not all board members got one. Fillonia, for example, didn't get one. It wasn't really his business, but he still wondered.

  Turning the scroll over in his hand, he looked at the wax seal on it. From Mister Klynth's description, this one was for someone called Professor Moor. Alex had no idea who that was or what he taught, but according to the shopkeeper he was usually by the stables. And those were apparently on the other side of the main building. Alex was taken aback by the sheer size of the sprawling campus. If he wanted to get all these scrolls delivered today, he would need to hurry up. Judging by how light it was outside, he had slept straight through lunch.

  Holding on tight to the cotton bag with one hand and the sealed scroll in the other, Alex started running towards the main building. It felt good to have the wind blowing through his hair again, even if the sprint was short. He would definitely need to pick up running in the morning again. Once inside the main building, he slowed down a bit to avoid other students walking through the halls. He wished he could have just kept running, but the crowds inside forced him to slow down to a slow jog.

  It took him longer to cross through the entire main building than he wanted. He was just glad it was basically one straight hallway he needed to run through and not several turns. Getting lost inside the main building was not something he could afford right now. At the end of the long hallway stood a large double door, already propped wide open. The two doors were made of some kind of dark wood and finely decorated to depict the adventures of the board. From J.D. journal, he had gathered that the entire board used to be an adventuring party. He recognized both Fillonia and Headmaster Whylk on one of the doors as he passed them. He would need to check them out later to get an idea of what the world outside the campus was like.

  For now though, he needed to deliver these scrolls. Warm sunlight hit his face as he exited the main building. A thick unpaved road led from the double doors of the main building straight towards a massive wall. That wasn't where he was going though. According to the shopkeeper's directions, he needed to follow the small dirt path leading left. Now free from the blockage of other students, Alex sped up his pace again.

  With no one in the way to slow him down, it didn't take Alex long to reach his destination. The stables weren't what he had expected. Instead of the extravagant fantasy stables he had imagined, they looked like just regular stables. The only thing unusual about it was that it looked slightly overgrown. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought that nature was trying to reclaim the building. Vines grew alongside the wooden walls of the stables, a few of them sprouting red flowers. The grass surrounding the building looked overgrown, and Alex could see a few small creatures scuttling away as he ran past them.

  He slowed down as he approached the stables, the dirt path beneath his feet getting pushed out of the way as he came to a full stop. The large barn-like doors were closed, but he could hear some noise coming through a smaller door to the right of them. That must be the normal entrance, while the other doors had to be for the mounts themselves. Alex wondered what kind of strange creatures the people of this world rode.

  With a glance towards the scroll in his hand, he headed towards the open door. The smell was the first thing Alex noticed. He hadn't even entered the building yet, and he could already smell the distinct odor of animal dung mixed with sweat and fur. It was unpleasant, to say the least. His parents had moved to the city when he was still a young child, and he had never even thought about moving back to the country. That smell, however, instantly brought him back to the few times they would visit his grandparents back in the country. They had both passed before he turned eighteen. While he missed them dearly, that smell he did not miss.

  He could hear a few people moving inside the building as well as the neighing of what sounded like horses. Alex felt he would be disappointed if this world only had regular horses, though he didn't know why. If he was trapped on a fantasy world, he wanted to see fantastical creatures, like giant lizard mounts that walked on six legs. Or maybe something that looked like a horse-sized crab.

  Really hoping they weren't regular horses, Alex headed inside, braving the smell. Inside, the resemblance to a normal stable continued. A few stablehands were moving around, some shoveling manure, others feeding the mounts out of iron buckets. In the back, a large red-scaled Drake was tending to some regular-looking saddles. Alex's fantasy of a strange stable filled with exotic creatures shattered further when he noticed the actual mounts. They looked like regular horses except for their ears. On top of their ears, they had bushy ear tufts similar to a lynx's ears.

  Maybe these were just the common mounts, and the more experienced adventurers rode more exotic ones? They had to have domesticated stranger creatures, right? That was the last bit of hope Alex held on to for his fantasy of riding a fantastical creature.

  "Uhm, excuse me?" He tried to get the attention of a stablehand as they passed by him to feed one of the horse-like creatures.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Can I help you?" The stablehand asked.

  "I'm looking for Professor Moor?"

  "Over there," the stablehand responded, pointing towards the large Drake in the back before continuing on their way towards the mount.

  "Right, another Drake," Alex whispered to himself. Was it just him or were Drake really common at the academy? At least more common than he had expected. In every fantasy story he had read, which admittedly wasn't that many, humans were the most prevalent race in the world. But here, it seemed like humans were just as abundant as the other races. Only Kahrn seemed to be less common at the academy.

  Now knowing who Professor Moor was, Alex headed towards the Drake tending to the saddles in the back of the stables. A few of the horse-like creatures neighed as he passed them. The first time it happened, it had scared Alex. There was something unusual about the neighs. They mostly sounded like the ones he remembered from the horses on Earth, but there was something else about them, something deeper. There were plenty of the creatures in the stable, so they must not be that dangerous to keep around. Still, he couldn't imagine spending too much time at the stables in the future.

  "Professor Moor?" he asked once he got close to the Drake. The red-scaled Drake had been so focused on the saddle in front of him, he hadn't heard Alex approach.

  "Hmm," the Professor said, turning around to see who was addressing him. "Oh, hello. Wait, you must be Alex." Did every member of the board immediately recognize him? "My flower has told me a ton about you, but I'm glad to finally be meeting you in person."

  "Your flower?"

  "Oh, sorry, my wife, Fillonia."

  Wait, Fillonia was married? Forget her obligation to the board. Now Alex just hoped she wouldn't spill all his secrets to her husband. He did seem nice, though, if a little brash.

  "So, what can I do for you, Alex? While I would love to talk to you, these saddles do require renovation. Sure, I could bring them to Marcus, but I'd rather do them myself." The Drake rambled. Before he could go on a whole monologue of why the saddles required his personal touch, Alex handed him the scroll in his hand. "Oh, what's this?"

  The Drake looked over the scroll and froze for when he saw the wax seal. Suddenly his tone got very serious. "Hmm, there's only one person who uses this kind of seals. Thank you for bringing it to me, Alex. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to tend to something."

  Instead of returning to the saddles he was working on, Professor Moor headed to a different part of the stables. Alex didn't understand what had just happened. The Drake had seemed so focused on the saddles, but after receiving the scroll, it was like they didn't matter anymore. He shook his head. Once again, it wasn't his business. His job was to deliver the scrolls, nothing more, nothing less.

  He pulled the next scroll out of the cotton bag hanging on his shoulder. Turning it around in his hand, he looked at the wax seal. According to the shopkeeper, this one belonged to Professor Reel. Her office was on one of the upper floors of the main building. Alex understood that he could've been more efficient if he had organized the scrolls beforehand instead of grabbing them randomly. He shrugged. There were only four scrolls, and this way he could spend more time running, something he didn't realize he liked that much.

  Getting out of the stables as fast as he could, he ran back towards the main building. Running on the dirt path outside felt refreshing. With the warm sun shining on his face and a cool wind blowing through his hair, there was something nice about that. When he reached the main building, he had to slow down again, much to his dismay. Most students seemed to be in class however, and the hallways were a lot calmer than earlier.

  With the halls mostly empty, it didn't take him long to reach the floor Professor Reel's office was located on. "Alright, what did he say? Fifth floor, end of the hallway?" He whispered to himself as he ran up the stairs. Once he reached the top floor he slowed down again for a moment.

  Given the absence of other students, it seems this floor was specifically for teacher offices. Besides every door hung a small plaque denoting whose office it was. Alex jogged towards the end of the hall, but slowed down further when he heard people talking from what he thought might be Professor Reel's office.

  "Good, keep an eye on him. The master would love to speak to him soon," a gruff voice said. The voice was strange. It sounded distant, like it wasn't actually in the office.

  "Will do. Two other board members are also monitoring him, so I will check in with them on a regular basis." A feminine voice responded. Unlike the gruff voice, it was clear this one came from inside the office. Alex could hear the creaking of a wooden chair as she spoke.

  They had to be talking about him, right? Who else would the board be keeping an eye on? He slowly approached the door, stopping just outside to listen in on the conversation.

  "No, the master requests that you keep an eye on the boy yourself. We can't trust the reports of those not vetted by the master himself," the gruff voice protested.

  "Fine, but I'm not suited for that kind of work, and the master knows this. I'll try my best to avoid being seen by the others, but they are trained scouts."

  "Figure it out. Wipe their minds if you have to."

  "Understood."

  "What about the Pearl the boy came with?" the gruff voice asked.

  Pearl? Were they talking about a Power Pearl? After Henry had spoken more about the different classes you could take at school, Alex figured out that skills weren't just learned, but more like video game abilities. So he had asked the young Fairy more about them, and he had given him a brief explanation. Apparently, nobody knew exactly where Power Pearls came from, just that they sometimes appeared in the world. When someone touched one, they could slot it into their internal mana network and gain skills from them. Henry had also said not to worry about it too much since his first class was likely one about them.

  But did they say he came with one? Alex had tried to forget about the moment he had arrived in this world as much as possible. The feeling of that slimy cocoon surrounding him and the assassin that killed those lizardfolk were things he'd rather not think back on. He did have some kind of glowing orb with him, didn't he? Was that a Power Pearl? Then why didn't he get an option to use it and gain cool powers? He might even have been able to escape that assassin then.

  "... has it locked inside the Vault. Garrus won't let me near it," the female voice said, bringing Alex back to the conversation.

  "And you can't get your way around him?"

  "Negative. Out of the entire board, he's the only one my skills don't work on. He has a skill of his own that wards his mind against any manipulation."

  "We'll have to figure out another way to get it then. Under no circumstances can we allow the boy and the Pearl to connect, at least not until he's under our control," the gruff voice demanded.

  "Understood. I'll try to bring it up to the boar—" The feminine voice abruptly stopped when Alex shifted and the scrolls inside the cotton bag rustled. "Hang on, I think I hear someone outside."