"And here I was thinking the gate was crowded..." Ashton mumbled as the Academy came into his view.
But there wasn't much he could see apart from the tall buildings that watched over the town. The rest of the mansion was covered with people of different ages and physiques. Thousands upon thousands of adults were there with 'kids'.
Some of them were the parents while the others were attendants of the nobles who were there to take the entrance exam. Ashton, on the other hand, had only Disha who was accompanying him. However, he wasn't the only one like that.
There were hundreds of others who had come alone. Most of them were not wearing any extravagant clothes. Thus, it was easier for everyone to differentiate between those from noble lineage and those without one.
"Most of the nobles would have entered the city at least a couple of days ago to get a headstart," Disha said as the two of them made their way towards the crowd.
"Headstart? For what? I thought the mistress said no one knew about what the director had planned for the test until she announced it as the ceremony began?"
"Director might be unbiased, but the professors and trainer are not. By getting a headstart, I meant that the nobles would try to get a favourable expression for their children. Thus when their children qualify to attend the academy, the professors will 'keep an eye on them'."
Ashton shrugged his shoulders in an uncaring way. He had expected stuff like this to happen. But he didn't know it would begin even before they entered the academy.
'I would have expected nothing less from these idiots either way. Well, I will think about it after I qualify to attend the academy. Who knows maybe if I do well, I will get some preferential treatment as well?'
At that moment, several speakers blasted of simultaneously and the giant screen in front of them lit up. The screen was divided into eight sections, with each section having around 200 names written in them.
"Haha, it is my pleasure to see so many young ones trying out to enter our humble institute this year." A strong feminine voice boomed through the speakers, "We can talk later to our heart's content, but for now let's get to what all of you have gathered here for."
Suddenly the names on the screen disappeared and instead were replaced by a map of some sort. The map was divided into nine sections. Each one was coloured differently and marked with numbers from 1 to 8. In the middle of it all was a region that stood out from the rest.
While the other regions were marked with vibrant colours and numbers, the central area was blackened and did not have any numbers on it. As soon as the map flashed in front of the examinees, the crowd started whispering amongst themselves.
The attendants went berserk and were talking into their communicating devices. It would appear as if they were trying to get information about the exam to gain some sort of advantage over the others.
Only the nobles were doing this. The rest of them stood there baffled just like him. What good would doing that will do to them now? The entrance exam would begin in mere moments.
"Typical nobles..." Disha shook her head.
"What's going on?"
"They are trying to form teams and contracting mercenaries to help their 'young lords' win."
"Wait what? I can understand forming teams but mercenaries? How will they do that?"
"Did you think every kid here wants to enter the academy?" Disha scoffed, "Frankly only nobles care about such a thing. Most of the others are here to make some quick money."
It then dawned upon Ashton that the people he thought to be commoners were actually mercenaries. Not all of them but most. As soon as they got a satisfactory wage, the mercenaries started heading towards the person who hired them.
Soon the crowd that had been scattered till then, was reduced to large groups. Some of the commoners were now carrying bags and other stuff while some were busy testing their weapons.
since the groups had been formed, Ashton's hope of surviving against these people was dwindling fast. On top of that, unlike them, he did not come prepared. Hell, he did not even have a weapon on him that he could use there.
'I can not use the twin blades here. Someone might recognise them and then it'll be the end of me. However...'
Ashton might have kept a weapon with him. But he had a lot of other utilities inside his inventory including several medkits. But even then, he could not possibly win a head-on battle with a dozen or so werewolves.
"Huhu looks like you all came prepared this tie around." The feminine voice once again echoed through the speakers, "It would truly be a shame if someone were to ban the use of anything that is not provided by the academy during the test. That's right. I, as the director of this institution, prohibit the examinees from using anything that was not provided to them by us."
'Whoa... she in unpredictable..' Ashton thought with a smile on his face.