Published at 29th of July 2022 8:58 am

Chapter 502 - Arbor Academy

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In the continually developing Bosque Arbor Town, there was one piece of news everyone was talking about.

“Did you hear? Bosque has become a vassal of the Volcan Empire!” There were such rumors floating around before, now they had been confirmed. Such a thing would definitely put the population of the Bosque Kingdom into an uproar!

“Yeah I did, but I mean, what does it change?” While over reacting to this news was normal, such that it wouldn’t be overreacting, the response to this gossip was rather mild. There were various reasons for it.

The main reason was that it had been circling for a couple of days now. In fact, there were rumors about the subjugation or subordination of the kingdom from the very start of the war. Now, the rumors just turned from gossip to reality. But as time had proven, what did it actually change?

Due to the lack of modern technology, not only did news travel slow but all towns and cities were nearly independent. The most adverse effect that was guaranteed to happen was a rise in taxes for a coming couple of years.

That was why there were actually two things everyone in arbor town was talking about.

Arbor Academy.

The former A-class adventurer, now ex-leader of the freedom union’s Arbor town branch, Samuel Oakley, was making an academy in the outskirts of the town.

The academy had only just entered its building stage yet the whole town was already talking about it, an academy in their backwater town was huge news. Who wouldn’t talk about it? And there was nothing occult about building a giant academy really

Samuel had to buy out a large amount of land, which he did with the Duke’s funds, and then he had to find workers to clear out this land. From there he would need construction personnel. In the process of planning out the institution, Samuel’s objective would become more than just a bit obvious.

A couple of construction workers going home to their families to speak about the good news and word of mouth would do the trick. Once this word of mouth met the ears of local merchants, master gossipers, the outcome was obvious.

But even without the construction plans, the people would have still noticed Samuel’s intent to build an academy. Why? Well, he was recruiting instructors..ᴄᴏᴍ

Nothing said I am building an academy then looking for experienced adventurers to hire as prospective instructors.

In the freedom union, with the help of discontent Jasmine, there were hiring papers put up just like a quest might. But it wasn’t just in the freedom union that these hiring posters could be found. Merchant hubs or budding merchant guilds also had them available.

The Arbor Academy was NOT an academy for adventurers. It was an academy for scholars first and foremost, and adventurers second.

That was why the recruitment notices weren’t only in the freedom union. The intent was to allow the common people more opportunities outside adventuring, wouldn’t Samuel be shooting himself in the foot if he only taught the students how to fight?

But from another perspective, if most of the commoners were going to journey out to become an adventurer anyway, the least Samuel could do was prepare them.

The only problem with Samuel’s plan to raise scholars was however that the people of Arbor Town weren’t at all scholarly. He couldn’t hire anyone from the local populace, or at least not many.

If there was a learned place though it was the local hospitals. Walking into a new local hospital, Samuel Oakley entered a clean corridor. There were many numbered doors, he entered a door with the number 032.

Although there were learned employees in hospitals, they already worked at a hospital. Samuel was not looking to recruit any of them, he was here for a patient.

“I was really surprised to find you were here” Samuel commented as he entered the room.

The person on one of the two beds in the room formed a wry smile.

“I didn’t expect to be here either” The person on the bed was none other than Christian. After playing hero in the dungeon for some long, it seemed he forgot how dangerous the place was.

The brutal bone juggernaut served as more than a simple reminder though, Christian was almost turned into paste many times during his altercation with the monster. The danger was newly inscribed in his bones.

“What do you want?” The other patient in the room said with some hostility. This was Archer who was no doubt not having a good time.

Samuel was a bit dazed by the hostile response. He quite frankly only vaguely remembered the youth on the other bed but he didn’t think he ever did him any wrong.

“Hahaha, I came here to ask Christian a favor” Samuel said and laughed insincerely before quickly turning away from the irritable Archer.

“He is just venting” Christian said to Samuel. Archer felt that Samuel was at least partially responsible for their humiliation. He was the team leader of the first dungeon expedition after all.

“But what favor? Christian then added.

“I need you to teach at my academy” Samuel said to Christian who flinched in surprise.

“You were brought to Arbor Town by Khal Lansworth and you carry yourself well. You definitely have an educated upbringing” Samuel continued expression his reasoning before Christian could propose the question.

“I see” Christian said pensively.

He was tempted.

It was hard to believe that this simple request to grant Samuel a favor was tempting him. To Christian, the situation was actually a hilarious joke. Samuel hadn’t offered him any conditions yet! All he did was mention it as a favor! ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

For all Christian knew that could mean receiving no pay yet… he was tempted?

The sad reality was that Christian’s trauma was not lessened by his previous experience. Instead, it grew.

Every night he would wake up from a nightmare. It was a nightmare where he had no control of his body. Was it possible that there was a monster inside him waiting for the ideal time to take over?

There was also a nightmare in which he did have control of his body but deformed undead monstrosities of all kinds would swarm him. The nightmare wouldn’t end until he was dead.

That dungeon… it was too fearsome, Christian- he couldn’t bear to return. The mere thought gave him anxiety. Archer was not in a much better condition either.

During Christian and Archer’s encounter with the bone juggernaut, the two were forced to flee from the dungeon like flushed rats.

They travelled down the maze like corridors with a crazy desire to live and sprinted off never looking back. The problem was that the earthquake of Hulk’s steps never left them.

Even when Christian and Archer couldn’t see the titanic skeletal figure, the ground- No, more specifically… their legs continued to tremble. Every second in that place became a torture as they frantically ran for their lives.

They never even spared the adventurers in the safe room a glance. It was an extremely embarrassing thing to remember.

Christian came from an educated background. This came with some element of pride, the man couldn’t bring himself to leave Arbor Town.

That was why the position of instructor felt so tempting. He could stay and delude himself into thinking that one day he would be able to tackle the cave of myths floors anew.

“Give me some time to think about it more… Maybe when I’m not in the hospital…” Christian said. His arms and torso were fully bandaged, Samuel couldn’t have picked a worse time to recruit him.

“Or are you trying to take advantage of the vulnerable?” Christian asked in jest.

“Haha…” Samuel chuckled dryly. He was a bit embarrassed, he failed to notice the severity of Christian’s injuries in his eagerness.

“I’ll see you then” Samuel said some parting words and then quickly took off.

He was an extremely busy man, he couldn’t keep Christian company for long. He walked out into the crowded streets of Arbor Town and made his way home.

On his path, he encountered an infrequent visitor.

“Wiley?” Samuel encountered the young party member he once hired as freedom union branch leader.

“Sir Oakley” Wiley said respectfully. This was a start contrast to his usual attitude.

“How… How may I help you?” Samuel was a bit taken aback. It wasn’t just Wiley’s attitude that was different, his appearance was also shocking.

The Wiley before Samuel right now looked miserable. It was as though he spent the last few days doing nothing but wallowing in self-pity.

“I heard you are building an academy” Wiley said with conviction. Unfitting to his appearance, Samuel felt he could see sparks in the eyes of the boy.

“So you want to enroll?” Samuel asked immediately with an understanding expression.

“No, I want to be an instructor” Wiley responded wtihout missing a beat. Samuel’s expression understanding expression faltered. Instructor!?!

“Are you serious?” Samuel exclaimed with surprise clearly evident in his tone.

“No… That was a joke…” Wiley said with a bit of apprehension. His joke clearly failed to land, his confidence took an instant hit.

“Sigh… Welcome aboard” Samuel sighed feeling that the now truly depressed Wiley would be a rather troublesome student.

“The school is not open yet, and the recruitment of students hasn’t started either. I’ll mark you down anyway” Samuel said to Wiley who nodded.

“Thank you” He said to Samuel who simply waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t mention it” Wiley’s talent were not bad and Samuel was always wiling to teach talented students.

After some pleasantries, both parties waved goodbye for good and disappeared onto their respective roads.

Wiley walked towards the town’s center while Samuel continued heading home.

“Honey, I’m home” Samuel shouted. He needed to make sure that his wife got the message so it was extra loud.

But instead of being greeted by his wife, a smaller figure came darting out of the darkness.

“Hiya!” An attack! The spirited shout of his son made Samuel form a smile as he took a chop from his son.

Wiley might have become a student of the academy before anyone else, but the true first was Samuel’s son. As a matter of fact, Samuel looked forward to one day enrolling his son into the Arbor Academy. There, his son could form bonds and forge rivalries.

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