However, the people who stood at the sides of these grand staircase, maintaining order were mages in different colored guild robes. Each robe had a distinctive insignia on them. From what Aiden could tell, they all belonged to guilds of some sort.
Given how large this building was, with different guild banners hanging from certain spires around the building, he easily assumed that every guild in the kingdom was stationed within the academy as well, each occupying different parts of the building. This was unlike Dragonhold, where the guilds had their own separate buildings and the academy was a standalone structure.
Some meters in front of the large stairs where people stood, two mages in different guild robes were positioned.
They held papers in their hands, and a wooden chest was opened in front of them. Commoners interested in joining the line to get into the academy for assessment would first approach these mages, present their money, drop it into the chest, and then be given a paper to pass and continue on their way.
Aiden had easily identified that as the enrollment form.
As a royal, he had never had to pay for one in Dragonhold, but it was customary for common folk. This was what most of them would save so hard for, some even did so all their lives just to gather enough for those forms.
"Oi, Posh lad," Alaric said, calling Aiden's attention. At this point, they had both dismounted, and Alaric held the horse by the bridle. "I think yer need to head over there, grab that piece of paper and jump in the queue. Looks like it costs a bit too," Alaric said.
"Yeah, that's the enrollment form to get in for assessment," Aiden said, letting Alaric know he understood the process.
"Yer still got that money of yer, right?" Alaric asked.
It was in Aiden's system inventory and not really on him per se, but Aiden simply said, "Yeah."
"Then I trust yer won't have no more problems, eh?" Alaric said.
Aiden nodded, and then Alaric got on his horse, wished him good luck, and rode back out. Aiden watched as Alaric rode off, then took a deep breath, turned around, and got in line with those walking toward the mages who sold the forms.
Aiden whispered to a boy in front of him, "Sorry to be a bother, but how much do the enrollment forms cost?"
The boy turned his head back with a surprised face and said, "You want to get into the academy and yet you don't know what it costs?"
"My bad. I do have some money on me though. I just want to be sure what the price is," Aiden said.
The boy shook his head and said, "It costs ten gold coins, or a thousand silver pieces, or ten thousand copper pieces."
"Okay," Aiden said. Ten gold coins was well within his financial power.
Then the boy added, "See that girl over there?" He was referring to the female mage who stood beside the male mage as they distributed the forms.
Aiden nodded in confirmation, and the boy continued, "Don't try to play smart with your money. If you're even a copper short, she'll find out instantly and you'll be asked to leave."
"Understood," Aiden simply said.
Just then, what the stranger had told Aiden played out perfectly. A man brought up about three small bags of coins to offer for the form. It was unclear what denominations were in the bags, but the girl placed her hand under each pouch, feeling their weight.
When she placed her hand on the last one, she raised her head and said, "This is incomplete. You're down at least a hundred more silvers. Please step away from the line."
The man said in disbelief, "No, no, this can't be right. I counted it last night. It was—" Then he went silent for a second as though realizing what had happened, and yelled, "Ambrose, you thief! You'll get a good lashing when I meet you at home!"
"Please step away from the line," the girl repeated, and the man angrily left, grumbling words of frustration as he departed in deep annoyance. It may or may not have been obvious to the people there, but the man was referring to his thieving son.
As the man walked backward past the line, a boy whose figure was hidden under a black robe with a hood smiled at the man's unfortunate outcome. "Foolish man," he whispered to himself. This boy was part of the line as well.
The line kept moving forward, and soon it would be Aiden's turn. Realizing this, he put his right hand into his pocket and said within his mind, "System, I need ten gold pieces."
At that moment, gold pieces took form in Aiden's right palm within his pocket, and a system notification appeared before him.
[Ten gold pieces have been placed in your right palm. For future purposes, all you need to do is think of the item directly and your desire to have it, and it shall fall into your grasp]
Reading through the notification, he understood it and made the screen disappear. It eventually reached Aiden's turn, and he laid out his right palm toward them.
On it were ten gold pieces, which shocked not just the mages who took the money but some of the common folk behind him who noticed.
Gold coins from a commoner; that wasn't something anyone saw regularly. The girl who checked weights looked at Aiden strangely, and he moved his palm toward her. "Go on, isn't it ten gold pieces?" he asked, rather confused as to why she was wasting time accepting the money.
"Let me have them," she said as she extended her hand toward him, and he dropped the coins into her palm. She felt their weight, then nodded toward the male mage, who handed Aiden a form.
Aiden took the form and walked past them to join the waiting line at the stairs that would lead into Oakenheart's halls.