Chapter 2: Welcome to the Heroes Academy

After checking out the new mansion, Aurora plopped down on the couch in the living room.

This supposed mansion, which belonged to her unknown brother, had nothing remarkable but some old and still functional magic protection circles and others dedicated to cleaning the house automatically.

—You should resign yourself.

The words of her system appeared in her mind, and before Aurora could respond, the words continued.

—Disobeying your mother will cause you trouble. Also, it is necessary to rest, and you could use this moment to check the current state of things.

Aurora, reading those words, nodded.

“It’s true...” she murmured resignedly and thinking about her mother.

Her mother knew that she had been working for some years in the ‘no man’s lands’ - Africa - although she had her friends and acquaintances, most of her years she was working hard forgetting most things.

It was true that she needed a well-deserved vacation.

Besides...

“While I go to the Academy, I would like to see the training and the quality of the ‘heroes’ and if they are good, hire them,” Aurora commented, stretching and stopping to think about work.

Working in Africa, an environment known for having warlords, creatures, and monsters everywhere- was not something just anyone would do. It was necessary to have a certain mentality of helping out and withstanding the hardships of the work environment.

Even if the pay was good and the reason for helping was something great, no one would take a difficult or dangerous job.

—That’s still work...

Ignoring her system, as usual, Aurora searched the fridge for ingredients to start her lunch before heading to the academy that was due to start in a few hours.

Finding nothing, she opened her space ring and took out some ingredients to cook something quick and delicious.

It might seem strange for someone to carry cooking ingredients in a space ring -which was normally used to store important items- but for Aurora, it was part of the job.

After finishing cooking a simple vegetable stew, Aurora gauged the time until the academy admission would begin.

She didn’t know the reason, but when she got the letter from the academy, it made it clear that it was very important to be punctual, to the point that it would cause immediate expulsion if one was late on the first day or didn’t arrive at all.

Aurora took a bath, and then after getting ready, she ate. Noticing that she had enough time left to get to the academy calmly, she took her time.

When she finished her lunch, the doorbell of the mansion rang, and Aurora, looking at the translucent door from the dining room, could notice who it was.

With a half-sigh, she approached the door to welcome her ‘part of the job.’

*Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniff*

A young woman, sniffing like a puppy, looked at Aurora.

“Is there any lunch left?” Alice asked, blinking innocently.

Aurora looked at her dear friend...

An overly beautiful young woman who, despite her lofty good looks, what stood out was a half-finished bag of chips in her hands... Which she was currently devouring.

“Alice... Didn’t I tell you that you should have lunch before going to the academy?” Aurora asked with a strange expression as she saw that Alice was watching the kitchen with the eyes of a professional predator.

“Yes, and I already had lunch, but... I’m hungry.” Alice mumbled, eating several chips at once, giving up on that bag, and...

“...” Aurora watched as she opened another bag of chips with an a considerable experience.

“This is a snack. I like your food,” Alice said with sparkling eyes.

Looking into those eyes, Aurora sighed and let it go in.

“Just finish quickly. I don’t want to be late.”

******

“I told you to finish quickly!” Aurora shouted as she ran down some alleys.

“It was your fault! Why do you make such delicious meals! You should have realized I would finish the entire pot!” rebutted Alice with a reviled expression.

Aurora couldn’t answer... She should have realized it since she knew her friend’s gluttony.

Still...

“Damn it! Put down the damn chips and run!”

“No! Chips give me energy!” shouted Alice, hugging her bag of chips and pulling one out to eat.

Aurora growled in annoyance and ignored her.

They both ran down the alley, and Aurora cursed the city traffic, which at this hour was too thick and wouldn’t allow the cab driver to take him directly to the academy entrance.

“Are we on time?” asked Aurora, running at a great speed surpassing that of professional runners.

—It’s impossible. It’s already time, and the academy entrance has already closed.

Her very efficient system inopportunely broke their hope.

They both ran for a few minutes and finished the alley.

“Is that the academy?” Alice asked without looking exhausted, looking at a large wall that divided the area of the large buildings and the inside of the academy.

“Yes, that’s the academy...” muttered Aurora with a serious expression, as she noticed that the doors were closed.

She looked at the ten or so family members who were present on her children’s day of admission, at the police, who were making sure that no one entered through the door, and Aurora gritted her teeth decisively.

She was sure that if she did not enter the academy today, she would not be expelled, and her mother would make her enter through the ‘back door’ using her contacts... Her mother was a person who enrolled her one day before the academy entrance, and she could enroll her afterward.

However, Aurora had no intention of attracting attention and receiving the annoying stares of those who had entered ‘properly’.

With all those thoughts, she decided.

“Let’s jump in.”

“Mn?” Alice looked at her strangely and then looked at the wall, which was quite high.

It looked like a normal stone wall, but a ‘Hero Academy’ shouldn’t be that easy... That was what Alice thought.

Aurora, for her part, signaled for her to follow.

She headed around the side of the wall, and when she found that there was no one watching, she signaled Alice and then kicked the ground, jumping to the other side.

When she was about to cross the wall, she felt a magical barrier that prevented anyone from flying over. However, Aurora reinforced her body with magical energy, and with her fist, she hit the barrier, creating a hole where she entered with agile movements.

Landing on the other side of the ground at the back of the building, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw no one.

“Shall we go?” asked Alice, who had arrived behind her.

Aurora was about to answer when a man who looked like a teacher came out of the back door of the nearby building.

“What happened?” he asked with a frown, looking at the regenerating barrier.

“It was her professor. I told her she shouldn’t hit the barrier. But she said she would love to test the hero academy’s defense, so she tried to hit it...” Aurora said with an innocent expression, pointing at Alice, who was about to eat a chip.

The professor looked at Alice, who was blinking innocently with a potato chip in her hand, and laughed.

“It’s okay. Now and then, some incoming heroes doubt our academy.” said the teacher, seeing Aurora ‘revealing’ the truth as a ‘good student.’

Hearing the sound of the nearby building, the professor looked at them and declared. “Come on. The entrance event is about to begin.”

******

In a large auditorium filled with students, a man stood at the podium giving a speech as he was listened to by a huge crowd.

“It has been thirty years since the virtual machine is known as ‘Terra nova’ which was supposedly a game that allowed ‘players’ to explore a realistic and limitless new world became known. It has been twenty years since I publicly revealed that machine connected to a world called ‘Terra nova,’ and since that time, the world has changed.” Announced the Director of the Hero Academy, looking at this year’s hundreds of incoming students.

“The magical energy transformed the world for better and for worse. Starting catastrophes and attracting monsters. Half of Japan sank, the Himalayas and the mountainous area around them expanded, reaching as far west as China, and the Andes Mountains in South America became a natural habitat for elementals and ice-type creatures. But here we are!”

“Hundreds of ‘players’ used the knowledge they gained in ‘Terra nova’ for evil, but thousands of others used it for good! We overcame wars, catastrophes, and calamities!” declared the Director in a voice full of emotion and strength, causing the young students to look closely with shining eyes.

“Despite the cruelty of evil, good always wins, and heroes always excel.” Said the Director looking at the students extremely seriously he added. “You will be those heroes.”

“Heroes who do not wish for wars avert catastrophes and defeat calamities.” The Director smiled, leaving his heavy atmosphere, and declared. “Welcome to the Hero Academy.”