Author's Note: Yo. Here's a chapter. Enjoy.

Part 1

The carriage carrying Yen and co. is moving along the road rapidly. The trees flash by the family as simply blurs. The noise of the galloping horse can be heard from the outside but due to magical sound proofing, the insides of the carriage are perfectly quiet.

Yen: [Woow it’s so fast! I don’t think horses should be this fast…]

Ai: “Hahaha the trees are flying by!”

Laia: “This is the best service that money can buy after all. Well, we’re not the ones buying.”

Mist: “This is refreshing.”

The carriage continues to gallop along for another hour or so and some of the group has gotten sleepy.

Ai: “Nyaa~~~”

Mist: “Zzzzz”

Ai has fallen asleep while lying on Laia’s lap and Mist is splayed out in Yen’s fur. Yen and Laia look upon the two like how parents look upon their children.

Laia: “They both seem to have enjoyed themselves with the new experience.”

Yen: “It seems so. Also, Laia, do you have something you want to talk to me about? You seem fidgety.”

Laia sighs and steels herself to pose the question that she has been putting off for a while.

Laia: “You have lived for 13 years or so now right?”

Yen: “Yes?”

Laia: “Cats normally live for 15 or so years. Your lifespan should be coming to an end soon. Do you feel anything uncomfortable? You should practically be an old man.”

Yen: “I don’t feel any uncomfortableness. I think it is strange that I am not showing any symptoms of age though.”

Yen looks back at Laia calmly and ponders his unperceived predicament.

Yen: “If I feel anything strange then I will tell you. Who knows, I might be a legendary cat or something.”

Yen chuckles at his joke. The carriage continues to plow onwards.

Laia: “…fine. Be sure to tell me if anything is strange.”

Laia sighs and decides to trust Yen’s judgement. She then closes her eyes and relaxes.

Laia: “I’m gonna sleep too. Wake me when we are almost at the city okay?”

Yen: “Good dreams Laia.”

Laia quickly falls asleep and soon Yen is the only one still awake.

Yen: [Isn’t that strange thinking? Leaving waking people up to a cat. I guess I’ll humor her this time.]

Yen relaxes and lies his head down on his paws. Watching his family sleep, he hears shouting from next to the carriage.

???: “Yarrr gimme yer munnies!”

???2: “Gimme gimme yer girls!”

???3: “Gimme yer fuud!”

???: “We have enuff food already! We don even need gurls either!”

Perbandit: “Are ye righ in yer edd boss? dem gurls feels guud! You dishfunkshunul or sumtink?”

Hungrybandit: “Ya ya! We needs da fuud! I’s not etten in days!”

Datboss: “Course I’s righ in da edd! If yas got da munnies den you ken jus buy all da gurls an buy all da food!”

Perbandit: “Bud bozz we’s bandits we can eevin go in da towns ta buy dem!”

Datboss: “Screw juu! I’s da boss and I’s makes da trets!”

Yen watches the three dumbs *ahem* bandits from inside the carriage.

Yen: [Are these three a comedy group? Ah, I guess not. They are bandits after all.]

Yen pokes his head out to the front of the carriage while the three bandit bros are arguing and looks towards the horse.

Yen: “Can you deal with it?”

Horse: “Sure maaan I’ll be a broo.”

Yen: [DAFUQ! meh as long as he takes care of the problem.]

The horse maneuvers the carriage carefully into the horses of the bandit bros. Yen returns to the interior of the carriage.

*plink plank plonk*

The sounds of three objects hitting something hard can be faintly heard from inside the carriage. The figures of the bandit bros can no longer be seen from inside the carriage.

Yen: [Alright peace and quiet again.]

Yen settles down again and awaits arrival.

Part 2

Yen: “Wake up guys. We are almost there, the city walls are in sight.”

Yen wakes his family when he sees the gradually approaching walls of the capital city. The sky has already begun to turn the orange of the evening.

Laia: *Yawn* “Oh. We are already here huh?”

Mist: “Hm?”

Laia and Mist wake up and look out the window at the approaching walls.

Ai: “Zzzzz.”

Ai still sleeps.

Laia: “Get up my daughter. We are here.”

Ai: “Hmm hmm?”

Laia: “Awake now?”

Ai slowly gets up and rubs her eyes. She quickly sobers up once she looks out the window towards the walls.

Ai: “Hey! Hey! The walls are so biiiig!”

Yen: [How adaptable.]

As the group approaches the walls of the city, a guard station becomes visible next to a gate in the wall. There is a huge line of people waiting outside for entry into the city.

Laia: “Hmmm. Our carriage can probably pass by them but since that would make us look like Jack*sses let’s not do that…”

Yen: [Hope nothing happens while we wait.]

Ai: “Ehhh but waiting is so boring.”

Mist: “Just be patient Ai.”

Ai: “Fineee.”

The carriage gets in the line and they wait… and wait… and wait…

Ai: “BORRINNGGG!!”

Ai sticks her head out the window of the carriage and laments about her predicament with a shout. Numerous people around the carriage look at her in shock.

Yen: “Get back in here Ai. You are being rude.”

Ai: “But it’s so boring!”

Yen: “Just deal with it like an adult… or else I’ll take your swords for a week.”

Ai: “Uuu fine…”

Ai sits down on the seat again with a pout.

Suddenly there is a sound of commotion coming in from the open window.

???: “Move! Move! I’m coming through here!”

The sounds of people being pushed and shoved can be heard and Yen decides to look outside to see what is happening.

Yen: [What is happening? I don’t like the sound of this.]

There is a posh teenage boy about the same age as Ai sitting on a horse and a few soldiery looking guys shoving people out of line while approaching the position of the carriage.

Poshboy: “Hey hey move outta my way you peasants.”

The posh brat orders Yen’s group to move out of the way.

Groupie 1: “Yeah yeah he’s the 7th prince of the empire! Move out of the way.”

Groupie 2: “If you don’t wanna get in some sorta predicament even before entering the city that is.”

Yen looks back at Laia for her decision.

Laia: “Ahh it’s probably fine to just ignore them. He’s only a 7th prince so he doesn’t have much authority at all.”

Yen: “Is that okay? He is still a noble right? It could still get dangerous right?”

Ai: “Can I chop him up?”

Yen: “NO! Don’t do that!”

Ai: “Why not though? They are being annoying.”

Mist: “Yeeen we can beat them up easily though.”

Yen: “Still no. We might make our lives miserable if we do anything rash.”

Yen’s group sits in the carriage while thinking about what to do. Then they hear the voices of the prince and his groupies.

Poshboy: “Just blow it up. It’s just the carriage of some random commoners.”

Groupies: “”Yes your majesticness!””

The groupies then start chanting for a fireball spell.

Ai: “Damn it! I knew I should have just chopped them up!”

Mist: “Yen what should we do? I can create a barrier around the carriage.”

Yen looks outside at the chanting groupies.

Yen: “Hmm. No I’ll take care of it. You need to save your mana for sustaining your form after all.”

At that moment the groupies finished chanting and two 2 meter diameter flaming orbs appear in the hands of the two. They proceed to lob the fireballs at the carriage.

Yen: “Water barrier.”

Yen gathers mana in a split second and casts his spell. A thin dome of water encapsulates the carriage and the fireballs harmlessly fizzle into oblivion once they come into contact with it.

Yen: “Hmhm job well done I say.”

The prince group watch speechlessly as their spells were countered by the inhabitants of the carriage.

Laia decides to poke her head out at this moment.

Laia: “Brats! Just be patient or I’ll tell the headmaster of the academy about this!”

Laia pulls out a sheet of paper out of her dress (How? I don’t know) And waves it at the groupies and the prince.

Poshboy: “What?! No way!”

Groupies: “Gu!”

The miscreants quietly retreat once they see Laia’s credentials and hear her threats.

Laia: “There now we can move on.”

Yen: [Why didn’t you just do that at the start!?]

Yen sighs at Laia’s untimeliness and the carriage eventually moves enters the town.

Part 3

The carriage continues to move along in the line and eventually reaches the gate. A young man looking to be about 16 approaches the carriage. He is wearing an iron breastplate with greaves, gauntlets, and helmet included.

Guard: “Um, Do you have any credentials allowing entrance? If not, please p-p-p-pay the entr-trance fee of t-t-two g-g-gold.

He is nervous when speaking and when he sees Ai, his speech peters out into a stutter.

Laia: “Yes. Here are my credentials.”

Laia hands over some papers to the guard who receives them. The guard looks over the papers nervously and shakily hands the papers back to Laia.

Nervous Guard: “I-I-I have c-c-confirmed that you h-h-have the credentials. Y-y-you may g-go. W-welcome to Halesia the capital city, a-a-also known a-as the acad-demy city.”

The carriage begins to move and Ai waves to the guard as they pass.

Ai: “Thanks! Bye bye.”

The guard almost faints from nervousness at the sight of her smile.

Yen: [That kid seems awfully nervous for someone his age. Must be a late bloomer…]

The group enters the town as Yen thinks rude thoughts about the guard from just a moment ago.

~Halesia~

The carriage enters a large street after going through the gate. 1 to 3 story buildings line the street which tapers off into a square in front of another set of walls.

Yen: “Wow this is much larger than the village street huh.”

Laia: “Of course it is. Our village was only on the large side of small villages. Halesia is the center of the country.”

Yen: “I see.”

Yen looks around with interest.

Mist: “The mana here is disgusting though. If I were to consume this dirty mana, I would become a wild elemental and become mindless.”

Yen: “Be careful then.”

Laia: “The mana in the academy should be much cleaner so you should be fine once we get there.”

Ai: “There are sooo many good food smells heheehe.”

While Yen, Laia, and Mist discuss something serious, Ai speaks of something completely off topic. She starts drooling at the smell of the various foods that inhabit the street stalls of the city.

Laia: “Control yourself my daughter. We will be eating with the headmaster today since we need to meet with him to tell him that we have arrived. We might as well impose on him as well.”

The carriage rolls along the road and the group watches the novel sight of a city. (Ai is just smelling the food.) They reach the walls in front of the square and see another guard station. The only difference is that these walls are made entirely out of marble and the gate is made of wrought iron with elaborate curls and other designs adorning it.

The carriage stops in front of the gate and a guard comes over to meet it. This guard seems to be more experienced (AN: in various ways ohohoho jkjk) and does not stutter when greeting them.

Exp Guard: “Do you have credentials?”

Laia: “Yes. Here you go.”

The guard looks the papers over and hands them back.

Exp Guard: “You may pass. The headmaster’s office is at the top of the castle. Ask the admissions office for any questions you may have.”

Laia: “Thank you. Have a nice day.”

The guard nods to them as they pass through the gate.

Part 4

The carriage rolls along paved roads in what appears to be a forest.

Yen: “Why is this place a forest? I thought it was supposed to be an academy?”

Laia: “This forest is part of the academy. It is meant to provide a better environment for the students to learn in. Many times the teachers will teach outside rather than inside. This is also because the mana that’s near the building has become of lesser quality and density over the ages.”

Yen: “Is that so… Mist, will you be okay with mana in this environment?”

Mist: “Yes it should be okay. Though it is still a bit inferior to mana in an actual forest.”

Yen: “Okay that’s good.”

The carriage continues on until the campus of the school comes into view. There are numerous buildings spread around a square with paved roads going here and there. The carriage stops in front of a building with a sign that says “ADMISSIONS OFFICE.”

Yen: “I guess we have arrived at our destination. Thanks!”

Bro-Horse: “No problem broooo.”

Ai: “Who were you saying goodbye to?”

Yen: “Ah nobody. You don't have to worry about it.” [The bro horse seems like a bad influence somehow.]

Ai: “Okay~”

The group enters the building and they see a male receptionist. He addresses the group with a dispirited tone as if he has nothing to look forward to in his life behind the counter.

Receptionist: “Welcome to the registration office. What is your business in this desolate area?”

Laia: “I am the new teacher that will be teaching here from now on. I would like to meet the principal could you tell him that I am here?”

Laia holds out her papers and the receptionist gives them a casual glance then looks away disinterestedly.

Receptionist: “Okay… Wait one moment.”

The receptionist stands up and slowly meanders his way to the back.

Ai: “He seems rather depressing huh?”

Yen: [You don’t say that out loud Ai…]

The group decides to sit down and wait for the return of the receptionist.

~An unspecified time later~

The group hears footsteps returning from the back of the counter. Slowly. Ever so slowly.

Receptionist: “Alright… the president will see you now…”

Yen: [About time…]

The group stands up and follows the receptionist.

Part 5

The receptionist leads the group to a wooden double door. He knocks on the door… slowly.

???: “Come in.”

Receptionist: “You heard him… go onnn…”

The receptionist speaks to the group lackadaisically. (No surprise.)

Laia: “Okay.”

Yen: [The customer service here…]

The receptionist walks away perhaps to go sleep at his post. Once he gets out of sight Laia prepares her rod.

Yen: “What are you doing Laia?”

Ai: “Do we need to chop something mommy?”

Laia: “No we are just going in prepared. Just in case.”

Laia prepares her staff again and fires off a spell.

Laia: “Water laser.”

A half a meter diameter beam of water spews out of the tip of her staff and impacts the lower area of the double doors. The group hears a sound like someone grunting.

???: “Ooof!”

The doors swing open and an old man becomes visible he is on the ground holding his face.

Laia: “Hello there Jinali. Or should I call you pervert instead?”

Jinali: “O-oh hello Laia. I was um just crouching here.”

Yen: “Avert your eyes Ai.”

Ai: “Why?”

Yen: “You will be sullied by looking at him.”

Ai: “Mm? Okay.”

Ai covers her eyes and looks away.

Jinali: “Why are you looking away? Ahh nevermind. So Laia you are here to start your teaching job I assume?”

Laia: “Yes. Hopefully without molestation.”

Jinali: “You know I only play right?”

Laia: “Oh really? Then what about that time and the bath or that time with the changing room or…”

Laia begins to rant about the old pervert’s exploits. The old pervert is starting to look paler and paler and stands up to sit back in his desk.

~An hour later~

The old man is almost dead. His head emits large plumes of smoke and his eyes look like those of a fish that had sat in the market for a week.

Laia: “There. Now then let’s talk about the terms of contract.”

Jinapervert: “Okay.”

Laia: “I want a house to live in with my family okay?”

Jinapervert: “Okay.”

Laia: “I want a good salary okay.”

Jinapervert: “Okay.”

Laia: “I want to be able to expel anyone I want in my class okay?”

Jinapervert: “Okay.”

Laia: “Now sign here.”

Laia takes a contract out of her bag and slides it across the table to the old pervert. The old pervert picks up a pen and signs it immediately.

Laia: “Good. Now. We will be on our way to get Ai prepared for her first day of school. Good day old friend.”

The old pervert does not answer back as Laia leads her family out of the room.

Yen: [How frightening. We shouldn’t do anything strange huh Mist?]

Mist: [Indeed Yen let’s not do anything to anger Laia.]

The two friends, an elemental and a cat, come to an agreement as their other friend looks at her mother in admiration.