Chapter 537: The Other Side of the Back Entrance

Five minutes later.

「Hello, sorry to keep you waiting. So, you’re the adventurer who brought Alistair’s letter of introduction?」

「Nn」

「Can I see it?」

「Okay」

「Hohou―…」

The man who showed up was a cheerful-looking young man. He was a half-elf, so he’s probably older than he looks, but no matter how I look at him, he looks like a teenage character. He then read Alistair’s letter of introduction, but because of his frivolous look, it looked like he was just skimming through it.

「Hmm… Well, whatever. Please come this way for the time being」

The man led us through the back entrance. On the other side was a passage with a low ceiling. The outer wall itself seemed to be quite thick, and the passage through it was like a little tunnel.

「My name is Coltandhyre. Feel free to call me Colt, okay?」

「Fran, an Adventurer, and this is Urushi」

「Woof!」

「I like the wolf-type beasts. They’re obedient, good for fighting, good for spotting, and good as a blanket at night too」

「Urushi is the best」

「Woof woof!」

「Hahaha, you seem to be getting along, huh?」

I observe Colt from behind as he guides Fran. He has high magic power, but his footwork was completely amateur. I guess he was a typical researcher type.

Colt laughed as he led us through the passage. The tunnel was getting much wider than we had imagined, and we were greeted by an interesting sight.

There were not only lawns, but also forests, ponds, and rocky mounds on the site. It seems they were used for training and experiments. Looking further in, we saw a snow mound about 10 meters high.

I could feel its magic power trace, so it must have been created by magic or maintained by magic… Just as expected of the Academy of Magic.

Furthermore, a huge structure sits in the middle of these unnatural natural objects.

The many towers that we saw from the outside were all connected by passageways and buildings and were actually just a part of one super huge building.

「Whoa―」

「It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? They’re still renovating it, so the buildings are expanding every year, you know? It all started with that little short tower over there」

Colt pointed to a very old and shabby tower in the middle of the many towers. It was the only tower that was not connected to the huge facility and stood quietly and independently. So, he’s saying that the Academy of Magic was so small at first? It’s hard to believe.

「Heee, when was it built?」

「I’ve heard that it’s over 2000 years old and it was originally the Director’s laboratory」

A High Elf laboratory, huh? If that’s the case, we couldn’t judge it by its humble appearance. I wonder what kind of tremendous research was going on inside.

「Well, that place is basically off-limits. Only the Director or authorized personnel can enter. More importantly, we’re over here」

「Nn」

Colt then led us to a small building right next to the exit of the tunnel. No, it looked small after seeing the academy, but it was actually a rather large building with three floors.

「It’s the guard’s office though, but it has some magic tools to check things out. In the meantime, I’ll check to see if your adventurer’s card is real, okay?」

「Nn, I don’t mind」

「I’m sorry. I’m not much of a fighter, but I’m good at sensing magic. So, I can tell that you’re not just an ordinary person, but on the other hand, I can’t just let someone like that walk by without inspection」

I see. If you’re a small fry, it would be easy for them to handle you, but if you’re a powerful person, you need to go through an inspection.

He held up Fran’s adventurer’s card to a crystal that Colt had been seeing several times before. And that seemed to be all the confirmation he needed.

「Yes, thank you. Now we have confirmed your identity?」

「Nn? It’s over」

「Yup, that’s right」

「You won’t check if the letter is real?」

Yeah. I was wondering about that, too. I mean, if the letter was a forgery, it doesn’t matter if Fran was an adventurer or not, right? There were a lot of things he could do to find out, like handwriting analysis and whether or not the sign on the letter was genuine.

But Colt laughed cheerfully as he handed the letter of introduction to Fran.

「Ahaha, I’m sorry. I’ve already confirmed it. It’s a special paper after all. If we drop a little chemical on it, we can easily determine its authenticity」

It seems they have already confirmed that the letter used for that letter introduction was a special one made for Alistair at this institute.

「Since your letter of introduction is genuine and your adventurer rank was high too, so no problem, right? All I need to do now is to interview you…」

Th-there’s such a thing too, huh? Well, she’s hired as an instructor after all, albeit a temporary one, at one of the most prestigious schools in the world, so it’s rather natural.

But I wonder if she would be fine…? Fran seems to be bad at an interview after all. No, I’m sure she could handle this if she uses her court etiquette skill to the fullest and just follows my instructions, right?

Well, it was so long ago that I’ve forgotten more than half of what I learned about an interview back then. But I’m sure it’s better than just letting Fran do it by herself. Come, bring it on!

I was all fired up like that, but they said that the interview would not take place today.

「I’m sorry~. The interview must be done by the director of the academy, but she’s out of the academy for some business. But I’m sure she’ll be back by tomorrow or the day after」

Well. That’s because we didn’t tell them about our arrival in advance after all.

「Okay, then what should I do next?」

「Where do you stay? If you don’t have a place to stay, we can get one for you」

「I already have a place to stay」

「Heee, where is it?」

「The Green Ancient Tree Pavilion」

When Fran said that, Colt looked a little surprised.

「What’s wrong?」

「No, well. The landlady there is famous for being difficult and not letting people stay if she doesn’t like them. How did you manage to get a room?」

「She was just an ordinary old woman though」

「Woof」

She was kind to Fran and Urushi. She was an old elf, wasn’t she? Did he mistake her for someone else?

「I-is that so…? Well, that’s okay. I’ll send a messenger for you when the Director returns」

「Okay」

Now, all we had to do was pass the interview and she’ll be an instructor at the academy. It’s not that she really wants to be an instructor, but I feel like we’re being tested, so Fran and I were both starting to get a little worked up.