Michael

"The academic district is one of the most important construction efforts we currently have," Michael explained while leading Mira through the large open spaces that would be filled with the campus buildings.

"More and more magically talented people flock toward Reen, and we have also noticed a rising rate in affinity awakenings in the last years since the mana began rising, which isn't all that surprising. Old history books do indicate that the percentage of awakened was higher in older times.

"We didn't manage to keep up expanding the small academy we had, so we decided that building for success was a good idea, hence why we decided to make it an entire district."

Michael pointed toward some buildings a little farther away. They were crude and would most likely be demolished at some point to be rebuilt properly.

"We started with some temporary accommodations and class spaces. Finishing this academy will probably take a year or two, just in the construction of the buildings, even with support from earth mages, and that doesn't even include the fact that the academic district will hold a mundane academy as well, rather than only the magical academy. I might have the orphan academy planned here, too, but we will see."

Mira listened intently as she looked around at all the new sights. Michael was honestly surprised that she wasn't burned out from the hours of sightseeing yet, but apparently, she was tougher than he was giving her credit.

"A magic academy makes sense, a place to learn magic, but what do you need a mundane academy for? People learn their trades in apprenticeships or, in richer circles, from tutors. I never heard about a school to teach higher education," Mira asked.

"That is true. Our academy is going to be something unique in the kingdom, if not on the continent. Learning things in apprenticeships or in one-to-one mentorships is the norm in our society, but that is slow and doesn't produce the number of skilled workers we need.

"Crafts will probably still be taught in the workshops. It makes sense for them to learn the work hands-on on but there are more bureaucratic and mind-centered trades that can be taught in a school setting. Clerks, scribes, engineers, and similar jobs that need a wealth of theoretical knowledge can be taught in groups, which will allow us to pass the knowledge of one skilled teacher to a much greater number of students. Not to mention that even less privileged people can attend, even if they can't afford a private mentor.

"The academies will be a place of learning and research, both the mundane and magical, founded with the purpose of finding ways to improve life for everyone."

Michael smiled as his gaze wandered over to a group of workers hauling some material around while a water mage cleared out the snow covering the site. Behind them, he could see an earth mage turning rock into perfectly sized stone bricks. He looked back at Mira to find her looking at him.

"What?"

"I just think you look adorable when you are excited," she said with a smile.

Michael went red and replied, "Adorable?"

"Oh, sorry. I shouldn't call the big and strong Michael adorable," Mira said sarcastically and grabbed his arm while chuckling. "Come on. I want to see the magical academy close up."

They found themselves in one of the few finished buildings a few minutes later. It was a large blocky building with a multitude of classrooms and larger training rooms. Most were still unused due to the fact that the academy was constructed for a much higher number of students than they currently had.

Students of varying ages milled around in the corridors, going to their next class. Their number had exploded over the winter as many of the mages who had moved close to the city to watch had decided that winter inside the city was much preferable to outside.

To Michael's knowledge, there were over a hundred students currently at the academy, ranging from seven years old to some well into the last trimester of their lives.

"Why are some of the students so old? Shouldn't they be proficient in magic by now?" Mira asked while watching the activity in between classes.

"Some people hid their gift their entire lives to not attract trouble. Learning will be harder for them than for the kids, but I think it is admirable that they still try to explore a part of themselves that they had to denounce for so long," Michael explained while smiling and nodding toward some of the students who noticed them.

Mira looked at Michael while he spoke and then turned a sad smile toward the students. "I think it is nice for them not to have to hide anymore. Magic is fascinating. I am sad that I will never get the chance to try."

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"How about you sit in on a class? You can study magic without being able to do it yourself. Artificing, for example, is a magical trade that you can learn even with a very small mana well," Michael offered in an attempt to alleviate her sadness.

Mira looked at the students longingly and then shook her head. "No, I am not going to make you sit through a lecture. You would be bored out of your mind. It is fine."

"Not gonna get out of this so easily, young lady," Michael said with a grin. "I have to talk to Rayakan anyway, so you have all the time in the world to listen in."

"Really? You are not just saying that, right?" Mira asked, suspiciously.

"I wouldn't lie to you," Michael replied, chuckling. "Let's see if you can join the beginner class. Don't worry if you don't understand everything or anything for that matter. Just get a feel for the class."

Michael intentionally left her in the beginner class that had a large mix of students rather than the newly awakened class that consisted mostly of seven to ten-year-olds. Having her sit in with the children might have discouraged her.

After that, he headed to Rayakan's office and was glad to find that the headmistress was actually there, buried in paperwork.

Michael knocked lightly on the open door after chatting with Rayakan's secretary for a moment, a nice man called Joneth.

"Hey, Rayakan. Got a minute for me?" Michael asked while entering.

The old woman looked up from the stack of papers and grunted grumpily. "Sure, come in. Maybe you can even help me with some of this paperwork that you love so much. Or you could tell me why exactly we have to have a form for basically every step of our education?"

"A little effort to organize things right now will spare us a lot of effort to do those things later," Michael replied with an amused smile. Rayakan and he had somewhat differing opinions on what it meant to build a proper school. While to old mage focused mostly on the magic, Michael had to be the bad guy in forcing her to also manage the bureaucratic tail that a project like theirs made necessary.

"Don't worry. Once we have settled on how the forms should look and what they need to contain, you will be able to push that work off on the school's administrative personnel," Michael tried to console Rayakan.

She simply scoffed and leaned back in her chair. "You are making this way too complicated. Our last academy was a chain of caves, and we made that work without a diploma for reaching the second circle."

Michael frowned. "We went over this, and you said that you understood why we need this."

"Yeah, yeah. Let an old woman nag. Syvara knows that that is the only thing we have left," Rayakan grumbled and handed Michael a draft for the second year education plan.

Michael still stumbled a little bit when someone mentioned the old gods like that. Syvara was the goddess of the cycle of life in the old remurian pantheon.

"I am not here to discuss documentation, right now. But if we are done quickly, I probably have some time to help until Mira is done with her class," Michael said while skimming over the sheet of paper.

"The princess? What class?" Rayakan perked up at the mention of Mira.

"She was interested, so I asked at the mixed beginner class if she was allowed to sit in for a session. I think they are doing mana manipulation right now," Michael explained.

Rayakan nodded happily. "Good. Maybe the girl will go back home and influence her brother a little bit."

"Back to why I am here. I visited Farel earlier, and I heard you are having problems with the project?" Michael asked.

"Problems? No. It is going as slowly as expected. That tome is not from our age and is well outside of our skills," Rayakan dismissed him.

Michael glanced over to the tome that lay on a side table next to Rayakan. Michael had quickly understood that he himself would have only limited use for the magical theory, artificial plans, and concepts of nature that the tome that Ferrekxan had sent him held. At least for now. It was mostly focused on pure mana and spatial magic, and Michael lacked an affinity for both of them.

"That is about what Farel told me. He also said that the only thing you guys need is more time to spend on the project."

"That or a few more skilled, trustworthy, and a little crazy colleagues," Rayakan interjected, to which Michael nodded.

"I did send out messengers to find Master Tifel and the others you asked me to, but there has been very little word on them yet. I wouldn't be surprised if we couldn't find many of them."

"We knew that beforehand. Skilled mages are masters of staying hidden if nothing else. But that leaves us with more time, which I have very little of after Kiran ran off to play watchdog for that pesky inquisitor you let in, and Pan joined your army of all things. I feel like I am doing all the work by myself around here."

There was very little to argue about in that regard. Michael still remembered the 'discussion' he had on his hands when he had to introduce the Inquisitor to his magical friends. Aside from Rayakan's ranting and, surprisingly, Kiran of all people, nearly murdering the Inquisitor on the spot, it had gone about as well as could have been expected. There was a lot of screaming, threatening, and placating until Michael finally managed to convince them that he was here to hunt vampires.

The mages had mellowed down a lot after that. Especially because Rayakan suddenly stopped arguing against letting the Inquisitor investigate. Michael had asked her about it, but the woman had simply scoffed and said that vampires are a different story.

"I will try to be around more to help out until Kiran is back, okay?" Michael offered.

Rayakan scoffed. "You should be anyway. It is bad enough that you are trying to gain not only pure but also spatial affinity at once, but to do so with as little time as you have? Ridiculous."

Michael couldn't help but smile at the grumbling headmistress. He didn't expect to gain both of them, but he wanted one at least, so studying both and seeing which one clicked with him seemed like a better approach than to double down on one and just not have the talent for it.

His attention wandered toward the plan he was holding in his hand. "Wait, this can't be right. You cut an entire hour of math and remurian?"

"We need more time for spell construction," Rayakan retorted.

"General education is equally important for young mages," Michael argued.

They descended into another one of their discussions, which turned into a comprehensive review session of the goals and duties of the academy.

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