The word academia rolled awkwardly from Jasmine's lips, her brow furrowed.
''What's that?"
Alpheo did not answer at once. Instead, his gaze slid to Jarza and Asag, men who had once asked the same question with the same puzzled look. His expression softened into a smile. "Which of you would like the honor of explaining?"
The two exchanged a strange look. In the end, Asag gave a reluctant tilt of his head, assuming the task.
He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat like a boy called upon in class. "Well…we haven't been explained much. Basically, it'd be a place where tutors teach you how to be an officer?" He glanced at Alpheo, waiting for confirmation.
It did not wait long. He was not wrong. But he was far from the mark.
"Not wrong," Alpheo admitted, "though so laughably understated I can hardly recognize the shape of it. You've missed the weight of it entirely. This is not some finishing tutoring for war."
