A week has passed rather quickly. But it has always been like that—when we least wanted, when we want time to move slower, it always passed rather quickly. But when we wanted it to move faster, it was always slower. In the end, it is the human mind that is in a hurry, time moves rather constant as far as humans can observe.
Yuna looked at the academy beside the portal gate. She had not been at the place for even a year and as expected, she didn't feel any sentimentality leaving it. The place brought her nothing but trouble. As of now.
Suck ass place.
The only thing that bugged her mind was her master who was challenging a domain. A high-tier domain where a law had already been established. It had been roughly more than a week since she entered the domain and Yuna tried her best not to think about her. Worrying wouldn't solve anything after all. She could only pray for the best.
There were four portals that were going to lead them likely to their respective places. There definitely was someone with some sort of space ability in the academy. A rare ability. The academy was able to whip up a portal way too easily.
As for who that person might be, Yuna didn't give a damn. It was good that the academy was powerful. Evigheden Academy and the Empire had a close tie, so if the Empire was in trouble, the academy being secretly strong was not a bad thing.
Yuna gave one last look at the academy and entered the portal with her kid—she meant classmates. Her heart classmates.
............….
A big projection that could be seen from every place in the city was set up throughout the kingdom in the past week.
The citizens of the Empire looked curiously at the projection that displayed four cities and smaller villages.
They were wondering what the Royalty was trying to do. A project this big would be carried out only with the permission of the Emperor. Apparently, whoever was behind this big project had received the permission of the Emperor, as they had not been arrested while setting up the projection for a week.
On the last day of the week, a single person finally took the stage.
[Hello hello? Can you hear me? Hello?]
The person in the projection tapped the microphone. It was a woman with a rather sweet smile. She waved at the seemingly camera and did a brief introduction.
[Good day everyone, we are from Evigheden Academy and you must all be wondering what we are up to these past few days. Hehe~ fret no longer for I will announce what the academy is up to.]
Her smile became even sweeter the longer she spoke, almost to the point of being sickening, but someone off the lens seemed to signal her. So her expression became tame once again.
[Eheum, as you can see, the Empire is in a bit of jeopardy lately with the black rain and such. As we all know, children are the future pillar of a nation, that is why Evigheden Academy has come up with a brilliant idea of letting our beloved Car—]
She froze, blinked twice, then coughed into her hand.
[—eheum, student. Yes. Our beloved students! Of course. To take the role of a city lord for a month and take care of the city during this slight Empire turmoil. As nation pillars in the making, there is no better timing than now to test them out! To see whether they have what it takes to truly be the future pillar of an EMPIRE! LALREM EMPIRE! Citizens of Lalrem Empire, you can be the judge of them and see how they fare this month. With that being said, let me introduce our Car—]
Another awkward pause. Someone offstage made a frantic gesture. The woman's smile twitched.
[—ah, haha, students! Yes, students!! Definitely not cards, don't mind me~!]
Four collages appeared and on them, the class representatives of each card class were brilliantly displayed.
[I present to you, the class representatives of our four cards! Yuna of the Card of Hearts, Enyo Arryn of the Card of Spades, Alaric Kaelar of the Card of Diamonds, and last but not least Dane Lethiferous of the Card of Clubs. These four card class representatives will lead their respective cards in governing a city. Governing is such a broad term, isn't it? We didn't teach our students about administration yet so don't be too harsh. What we are looking for is their attitude and the way they go about solving problems, their characteristics and strength. I won't say much, with that, I'll take my leave and the screen is now handed over to our beloved Car—students!!]
The projection then shifted to the four cities again with the city lords standing beside the portals, waiting for the arrival of the cards and the representatives.
...….
The citizens of the empire, though surprised, were not too surprised when they learned it was the Evigheden Academy behind it. Evigheden Academy had always pulled crazy stunts, although this one seemed to be one of the biggest and wildest yet.
To let a child govern a city—it sounded like a joke. That was what the adults thought. The children and teens, on the other hand, were curious to see how people their age would manage a city.
A curiosity mixed with small, hidden excitement.
...…
The City Lord of Ravine City stood beside the portal, his face straining to remain neutral, though a frown kept threatening to break through. That notorious Evigheden Academy could do all kinds of mischief, but why did they have to target his city? And during these troubled times, no less?
Lord Borris Akne waited anxiously for the students to arrive—whoever they might be. The academy hadn't told them which card class would be assigned to which city.
Most city lords would want to secure ties with the Crown Prince, but Borris wasn't one of them. Building connections with the future emperor sounded desirable in theory, but as long as he didn't provoke him, Borris believed he could manage just fine without unnecessary flattery.
The Crown Prince had a reputation for arrogance, dismissing those he deemed weaker or lesser. Borris found him insufferable. If fate assigned the prince to Ravine, Borris feared he might slip up and unintentionally incur his wrath.
Then there was the Arryn girl. She too was arrogant—a brute wrapped in nobility.
The grandson of Lethiferous seemed fine enough, but any child from the largest information guild was bound to be less innocent than he pretended. Borris had no desire to see his city's secrets leaking any further than they already had.
That left the last child. Yuna, was it?
Borris knew little about her. But to be chosen as a class representative at Evigheden Academy, she could not be ordinary. To stand out in that notorious school was already proof enough—she was far from an average child.
Although these thoughts swirled in his mind, his expression remained mild, polished for the waiting eyes of the lenses.
The portal flared to life, and a figure stepped out. A girl, no more than thirteen or fourteen. Her face was pale as the moon, her eyes is of obsidian. Her inky hair fell like crow feathers, and upon her shoulder perched a raven. Both girl and bird locked eyes with him at once.
That must be Yuna, Borris thought.
He stepped forward to greet the one who would govern his city for the month.
"Welcome, students of Evigheden Academy. I am Borris Akne, the City Lord of Ravine."
Yuna… Yuna froze. Her brain immediately spiraled.
'Wait—how do you greet a City Lord?? Do I curtsy? Do I bow? Do I handshake? Oh no, what if I accidentally salute?? Help!!!'
And what should she call him? 'Lord Borris? Mister Borris? Uncle Borris??'
'HELPPPP… 911!!! Hello??? Operator??? I need backup!! This is a code-red SOCIAL EMERGENCY!!!'
Her survival instincts kicked in, and she rammed an elbow into Celeste. Thankfully, Celeste stepped forward gracefully to cover for her.
"Greetings, Lord Borris. We are the Evigheden Heart Class, and this is our class representative, Yuna."
"Lord Borris," Yuna said at last, giving a slight nod, her tone cool and collected—like she had never just been internally dialing emergency services over etiquette.
She would forever be thankful to Celeste for saving her from the greatest crisis of her life.
Etiquette suck.