Ortis Academy looked more like a military stronghold than a place of learning.
That was what Place realized as he looked down at it from above.
The last leg of their journey was on a flying vessel owned by the academy itself, used almost exclusively to transport people from and to the academy and the nearby city.
Beside him stood Malia, the other two had bid goodbye and were most likely heading back to the mansion, or heading to do anything else they also had to do.
It was quite a sight, the buildings stood tall, with easily visible fortifications spread all over them. However, there was plenty of greenery and trees around, which gave a feeling of calm to the place.
Their ship started descending, and Place turned to his companion.
"Would you be interested in looking around the academy with me? Or do you have anything else to do?"
Malia stopped her scanning of the environment.
"Are you courting me?" A brief look of incredulity flashed on her face.
"Not in the slightest." Place immediately stopped her thoughts. "I have no intention of seeking anything like that in the near future, if I do, I shall be open with my intentions."
"Good." She shook her head with disbelief. "For a moment..." She trailed off, shaking her head again.
"So are you coming with me to look around or not?" Place repeated his question.
"Sure, it's good to get a read of the land." Malia returned to her casual demeanour as the ship landed.
They showed their admission tickets to the man standing at the disembarking stairs, and he gave them a few directions to an office.
"This place seems a bit..." Malia started. "A bit too relaxed." She looked around at the people going about their business.
"It seems you have a misconception about the academy?"
"This place is on multiple borders, isn't it?"
"Is that all you know about the Ortis Academy?"
Place gave a questioning glance at the member of the renowned Blackheart family.
"I know it's supposed to be the best academy, but besides that, I know nothing."
She looked completely casual about that, and Place added a few more details to his mental notes on the Blackheart family and Malia herself.
"It is the best academy, so many kingdoms sent their best talents here." Place paused there, letting Malia reach her own conclusions.
"So if this place ever comes under threat, all of those kingdoms would come to aid." She understood what the academy meant to the world.
"The academy itself is not weak, that fact is what helped it establish a footing. From that point on, its location and the fame of its founders did the rest."
"I see..."
Place wondered if he should speak in detail about the academy's founders, then decided against it. If he did that, there was a good chance he would get stuck explaining every time she didn't know something.
The rest of their walk to the office was spent in silence as both of them scanned their new environment.
The admission procedure was simple, all they had to do was verify their identities, and the staff crosschecked that with their own records. Once that was done, they were handed timetables, keys, and a small book of rules and regulations.
Place flipped through the book, quickly giving each rule a glance.
"What!" Malia let out a shout, and Place turned his head to see her snarling at her timetable.
"Something wrong?" He looked at his own timetable, trying to find any possible reason for her distress.
"Look at this? This is preposterous! How do they expect me to study so early?" She thrust her timetable into his face, pointing at a section.
Place pushed back the paper to get a look at it and raised an eyebrow as he read what she was pointing at.
"Are you complaining about the morning classes?" He questioned.
"Look at this!!" She pointed to a certain class.
"Weekly combat session at sunrise... I see how that can be irritating to some people," He started. "But the rest of what you are complaining about, those all start more than an hour after breakfast times, yes? What's so wrong about them?"
Miss Blackheart seemed horrified.
"An hour after? They start an hour BEFORE!" She waved the paper around as she gesticulated in the air.
"If I may ask, at what time do you usually wake up?"
Place amusedly wondered how her current behavior was so drastically different.
"Nevermind," He waved off his question. "Unfortunately, I doubt that the academy will change the class times to accomodate your..." Place visibly scanned her. "Unique requirements."
"What do you mean by that?" She lowered the paper and frowned.
"Try to get up earlier, Miss Lazybones." Place allowed a smirk on his face.
"I'm not lazy." One of her fingers raised as she spoke.
"You have breakfast two hours after the usual time." He pointed out with mock disgust in his voice. "And you just said that a bit of exercise at sunrise was barbaric."
"I didn't say that, I just-"
"You didn't need to."
A moment passed in silence as Malia stared at Place, who was smirking at her.
"I regret agreeing to that duel." She started to stomp away as soon as she finished that sentence.
"Oh! My poor heart!" Place declared in a sing-song voice."
"Shut up!"