We walked alongside each other in the direction of the library, both carrying 5 hardcover books in our hands. 

“Are you really ok, these hardcover books are no joke to bump into.” The girl said, shifting the books from one hand to the other. She seemed like she was leaning forward a little to be at my height.

“Nah, I’m fine, I may be small, but I have a body of steel!” I shifted the books to one arm and flexed with the other in a joking manner. She made a surprised expression, then burst out laughing. 

“Yeah, I’m Rachel, what’s your name?” She said, still laughing and wiped away a tear from her eye.

“My name’s Lastic, nice to meet ya!” I said putting a little kick into my step, then it hit me.

“Wait... Rachel, like Rachel Fridolf?”

Her face looked shocked then turned to a little bit of confusion. 

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Oh, I delivered some bakery goods to your grandmother, she wanted me to give you these.” I pointed at a book in her pile then one in mine.

“Guess this saves me the trouble of searching for you.” We both let out a giggle, then she let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry if she caused you too much trouble,” Her expression darkened a bit.

“It’s just that she’s too sick and old to go out.” She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a weak smile.

We walked down the path for a few more minutes, ‘till we heard the sounds of a bustling crowd. We went off in the direction of the commotion and saw a crowd of 10 - 20 people standing, they were in front of the information board in the tavern of the village. It was a corkboard with a wooden frame that reached around two meters long, where people would place anything about everything they needed, heard, or wanted to inform. ‘It’s not something people in our village tend to take notice of though. So why are people gathered around it?’ 

As the two of us walked closer to the crowd, many of whom seemed to be the village’s guards. We could hear what the people were saying amongst themselves,

“I really can’t believe this!” said one of the guards near the back of the crowd.

“The school has finally reached out to us!” A muscular man shouted from the right.

“Mommy, Mommy can I be a knight!” squealed a child clinging to their mother’s side.

I wanted to see the source of this uproar of excitement, but couldn’t due to the shortness that is me. I started to jump up and down to see past the heads of the people that could easily be mistaken for giants, in my opinion. Yet failed, and it didn’t even seem like anyone noticed my efforts. Fed up with jumping I poked Rachel, who seemed to have no trouble seeing the front of the crowd. 

"What's happening?"

"Oh uh, it's a notice from the school!"

"WHAT!?" I yelled, sounding more scared than surprised.

Startling a few people around us, then three hooded cloak figures riding horses trotted up to the front of the crowd. I heard a faint 'ahem' from the one in the middle, and everyone in the crowd became silent. the person pulled out a rolled-up paper from the inside of their cloak and started to read from it. 

"To the people of the village, we are so glad to have finally extended our invitation to you. In three days' time, we will be holding an acceptance test in the center of this very village. If you wish to qualify for said test, we ask you to please bring with you 100 bronze coins. We will not be accepting anything less or a silver coin as a replacement," The person, who I assume was a guy due to the deepness of their voice, took a small pause to clear their throat and started again. "we hope to see you in the next 93 hours. - Blades Academy"

The three people strode away after their announcement, leaving a crowd of excited people hurrying to spread the news.