We walked outside the academy and saw several students walking here and there. We even found those students I rejected some hours ago. They had made their own team together with a few others and were moving out as well with their own instructor, a tall man with long black hair and elven ears. He was some sort of dark magic teacher.
Evelyn said that the academy parties were also rivals, and that later on there'll be special competitions between parties to show off each student's growth and also the growth we've had between members. Cooperation was highly valued in such tests.
And sadly, as we were walking outside, we ended getting right at the side of one another. The two groups eyeing one another. I couldn't believe it, but it seemed my friends quickly saw other parties as rivals right away.
"Hey, but if it isn't the party of perfect kids!" Said someone in the party. I could clearly recognize that blonde, drill-shaped hair, and her tone of voice.
"Clarice, behave yourself!"
Suddenly, a karate chop reached the blonde girl's head.
"Ouch! But teacher Umbra! How dare you hit me?! You know I am of high birth?!" Cried Clarice, like a little girl.
"Teachers are allowed to give corrections to their students if they misbehave." Said the teacher, the black-haired elf named Umbra. "Sorry for the disturbance, Evelyn."
"Oh, well, yeah, don't worry about it." Evelyn said while smiling back at Umbra with strange… eyes. "You've got also a full team of Elites?"
"Yes, took me a while to gather them all. I got the four your team leader threw away. They're certainly brimming with talent." Umbra smiled rather charmingly. "Make sure to work hard, Evelyn, this year you'll have tough competition."
"Oooh! S-Sure! I won't lose to you, Umbra!" Evelyn smiled defiantly.
"Do your best friend." Umbra said amicably, as he walked away.
Clarice looked back at us with anger, especially at me, before she turned her back to us and walked away. There were also four more students with them we have not seen before.
From what I noticed, a young boy around the same appearance as Eric with white hair, then there was a tall and beautiful blonde knight girl who was wearing a helmet for some reason, and two other I couldn't quite see better.
"So those eight are also Elite Students, I suppose they're indeed our new rivals." Elizabeth said with a smile. "I don't know why but I am getting pumped up."
"Rivals, huh? I'll make sure to crush them." Elfriedden smiled evilly.
"Heh, well, if they're really into it then sure." Chris said.
"I think you guys are getting the wrong idea about what a rivalry is, don't take it so seriously… We are still all fellow students, let's behave together and have a good time as well." Elizabeth said.
"T-That's right!" Evelyn quickly composed herself. "Anyways, we should be almost there."
In this time, we had done some turns around the streets, evading the big areas where most of the people were, and then quickly reaching a station.
"This is the Train Station. We'll take a train to the residential area. It is one silver coin each trip, you can pay in the front the moment you enter." Said Evelyn. "Come children, it's about to get here."
"Train?" Eric wondered.
"What's that?" Chris asked.
"Is it some sort of moving golem car thing?" Asked Elizabeth.
"J-Just wait and see!" Said Alberta, getting excited.
Suddenly, the sound of a train coming from afar echoed in the distance. It resembled a steam-based train, but that steam was clearly magic steam, a special steam made from small magic residues formed when magic power was burned and used as energy. The design was a beautiful black, steam age-like train. I think it needs several upgrades on its design though, and also its engine.
"Woah!" Elizabeth almost fell over the floor.
"T-This is so fast!" Chris said.
"A-Amazing, is this the invention of your family too, Alberta?" Asked Eric.
"Y-Yeah! Though this is a very outdated model… I guess this is the only one they could reconstruct here." Alberta said. "B-But yes, this is a Magic Train, it is fueled with many Spirit Orbs and it lets out this magic steam which smells sweet. It moves incredibly fast across long distances!"
"There's several tracks in here that also connect to many other nearby cities." Said Evelyn. "We were also planning to make a track to reach you kids duchy. As it has become very famous due to the big amount of spiritual trees that have emerged there."
"Oooh!" Erika seemed surprised. "That would make it very easy to go back home without using an expensive airship!"
"Indeed, trains also move faster than airships, you could get from here to another city in less than two hours." Evelyn said. "It is very convenient, but the transport is limited by one trip a day, so if you miss it, you need to wait for the next day."
"So cool!" Chris said.
"So these are the Trains I used to hear my father talk about when he said he traveled easily across cities…" Erdrich said.
"I want to get in! Let's go Blake!" Erika grabbed my hand.
"Yeah, let's go!" Elizabeth grabbed my other hand, the two girls pulled me in without reservations, as we saw many people getting inside already. The big train was filling itself quickly.
We put the silver coin inside a small metallic box and then we walked in without any issues. There were two rounds of double seats inside the train. Erika and Elizabeth seemed to be fighting only through glares to who could sit at my side.
"You two should sit together instead." I quickly left the two to sit down together and sat at the side of Elfriedden instead. The grumpy elf only glared me once before ignoring me through the rest of the trip.
In a few minutes, we arrived at the residential area, a beautiful street filled with large houses greeted our sight.