It was 9:37 a.m. when Zero arrived at his last stop for the morning. The final part of the final exam would begin at ten o'clock. Zero's trip to the outskirts dragged on longer than he had thought. Fortunately, the part of town he was in at the moment was very close to the academy and could be reached by foot in a few minutes.
The part of town he was in right now was the Mytic Sector.
Mytics, like the Spirits, were beings that until a few decades ago were still considered legends, such as angels and demons. But with the return of magic and magical knowledge, so did the mytics and spirits. At first, they appeared only vaguely, and stories of ghosts and monsters made the rounds in the first few years. But soon humans became aware of their existence and Mytics, like elves and other alien races, became a natural, but still a rare sight.
Due to their natural affinity for magic, Mytics were very powerful, even more powerful than the elves, who already had a high affinity for magic. Therefore, many wanted to secure their support, but the relationships between humans, Mytics, and other races were difficult. Cultural, physical, and political differences had to be overcome.
But the relationship within the Mytics themselves was complicated, which made it difficult to build relationships.
One measure of the alliance was that Mytics had special rights in alliance-controlled sectors and were under the protection of the government, regardless of whether they were officially part of the alliance or not. The special Mytic sectors under guard were another measure. They also served to protect the Mytics from prying eyes and to offer them a place of calm, since, unlike spirits, they usually did not simply disappear.
However, the sector in Halsion was very small. It consisted of only a few houses surrounded by a simple wall with one or two soldiers standing at the entrances. Zero simply passed the gate and greeted the soldiers, who also wished him good morning. It was one of the easier jobs for the soldiers in Halsion. Zero headed for one of the buildings and stepped through the gate into the front yard.
The lawn in the front yard was just being mowed by drones when he got to the front door.
Zero stretched his PDI against the holographic display and the sliding glass door pulled aside with a welcome announcement. It was a modern six-story building. There was an elevator but Zero, as a trained paramedic, usually took the stairs. When he got to the third floor, he went down the hall. Most of the holographic door signs he passed were blank, as were the apartments that were behind the doors.
The reason why the Mytic sector was so small was not that they had saved on size, but that there weren't that many Mytics in Halsion, which also explains the many empty apartments. In general, the number of Mytics was negligible compared to the other races. In comparison, the number of Mytics who lived in alliance sectors was even lower, as they mostly lived in remote areas or on other levels.
And yet the chance of meeting a Mytic on Nykara was a lot higher than on other planets. The reason seemed to be a higher magical density.
The point that Halsion was a fringe sector of the Alliance did the rest. There were less than 30 Mytics in and around Halsion. Still, the building where Zero was at that moment was suspiciously empty, almost orphaned. The corridors were sparkling clean and the lack of decoration made the building look like a new building, one could assume the new residents would arrive at any moment with their belongings. But it was quiet.
Zero stopped in front of one of the doors, he looked at the also empty door sign of the neighboring apartment. What is Aki doing now? He thought to himself while he touched the holographic doorbell that appeared when he approached the door hanger with his finger.
"Oh no!" a voice drowned out the sound of the doorbell, which spread through the apartment and also echoed through the door.
"Clink" the sound of breaking glass could be heard. Zero ducked his head and screwed up his left eye in pain.
"Ouch, are you okay in there?" he asked.
With the faint sound of the hydraulics in the background, the door slid open and a horned girl greeted Zero nervously: "Good morning Zero!"
Her name was Asagi, her two black horns that started above the ears and grew upwards over her forehead, indicated that she was a demon, which represented one of the four great groups of the Mytics.
Her purple-blue hair was attached to the back of one side with a hair clip so that the hair that reached to the shoulder blades all hung down on the left side. Two long strands hung in front of her ears. They were much longer than the rest and at the end turned into a kind of triangular shape. In contrast, her eyes were colored in a light red with a hint of pink.
Except for her horns, there was nothing physically different from a human.
"Are you okay?" Zero asked her, his gaze tilted towards the floor of the hallway behind her.
"Yes, everything is fine!" She replied, shaking her hands in panic, trying to divert Zero's attention from the floor. The hallway behind her was littered with broken glass and flowers lying in a puddle of water.
"And what about ...?" asked Zero, keeping his attention focused on the puddle.
"Let's go zero". She pushed Zero away from the door and down the hall. Zero, however, only began to move sparingly:
"But shouldn't we ...?" objected Zero.
"Otherwise, we'll be too late!" Asagi confirmed her statement as the electric door closed behind them.
"But the…"
When Asagi and Zero left the Mytic Sector, the street was already busy. Significantly more people had made their way to the academy. Many evaluators had gone to Halsion to see the final exam, business people as well as military employees or organizational representatives. The final exams of the United Academies were similar to tournaments, at the end of which the participants expected one or two offers. Some were looking for bodyguards or wanted to increase their own security staff. The Alliance military was most strongly represented among all the patrons. They were always on the lookout for people, especially to add to their own mage troops, as the mages of the Mages Council stayed out of all political and military matters. Most would apply to the military after graduating from the academy, but the presence of a senior military official had something personal and might persuade one or the other to join the military instead of joining the adventurers or following the path of the magician.
Despite the crowd of people making their way to the academy, people seemed to stay a few meters away from Zero and Asagi. Some girls whispered with one another, while some strangers who had come to town for the exam were a little frightened.
"Is Carol back in the hospital?" Asagi asked, tightening her grip on the flap of the bag.
"Yes, we'll meet her later," he smiled.
"She will surely be sad that she can't watch the final competition with us."
“That's right, she was a bit depressed. But well, her health is more important, and she can watch the tournament on the live stream."
"You take care of Carol like a big brother Zero!" she laughed.
"Maybe I'm a little overprotective", he replied with a laugh. “But since we’re on the subject, what about you? Did you throw down another vase?”, he continued smiling.
"Um ... yes ..." she finally admitted with a red face.
"Your apartment is just too small for your wings and tail".
"That's OK, I like to be in the apartment," she replied with a somewhat forced smile. "I just feel sorry for the flowers," she tried to distract.
Zero was not fooled by this and continued: “You could move in with Ben and me, too. As I have told you many times. Without Aki it sure is lonely, isn't it? "
"That's nice Zero, but it’s ok. I don't want to be a burden for you ..."
"You wouldn't," Zero smiled at the depressed-looking Asagi.
"Thank you," she replied with a slight smile on her face.
Zero knew what Asagi meant, Mytics had it difficult enough to gain a foothold in society. Humanity hadn't changed over the centuries. It took time for them to get used to and accept the new and unknown. But even time couldn't change some things. So was the fear people had of demons like Asagi.
But not only people, even some Mytics were afraid or despised for their origins.
"There is Zero." "Hey Zero!" it echoed when the two arrived at the front yard of the academy.
Immediately a group of girls had gathered around Zero. Many crowded around him, while the shyer ones watched the crowd from a distance. Attracted by the screaming of the girls in the courtyard, some girls who were already sitting in their classrooms looked out of the windows and waved to Zero. In contrast, the male classmates stared disapprovingly at Zero.
"Good morning," Zero greeted the crowd that had gathered around him like vultures. "How are you?"
The girls answered Zero happily and sometimes interrupted each other to get Zero's attention.
The reason for Zero's popularity was that thanks to his paramedic training, he often took part in training courses and cared for the injured. He was always friendly and even carried the wounded to the infirmary from time to time when they could no longer walk, which gave him the image of a gentleman.
It went so far that it happened that the girls intentionally injured themselves or acted like that just to be treated by Zero. Also, many of the girls came to Bar Thirteen just to see Zero. It came in handy for Ben since they were extra clientele and he laughingly asked Zero if he could attract more "paying customers".
Zane, on the one hand, was annoyed at the point that Zero was much more popular with the girls than he was, and so it happened that he scared off the girls who were pawing around Zero, which rather harmed his popularity instead of helping it.
Zero, on the other hand, had resigned itself to it and did not care about all his popularity. Which inadvertently made him even more popular as it gave him something unattainable that piqued the girls even more. Zero, however, mostly did not understand all of this. Meanwhile, Carol and Asagi were envied by the other girls for the position they held according to the girls.
Unlike Zane, Asagi didn't mind Zero's popularity. She was even a little happy about it. As long as Zero was around, she wasn't the center of attention. However, despite all the hustle and bustle around Zero, she felt the looks of people and heard them whispering and held her bag even tighter.
"Are you also participating in the final exam Zero?"
"I'm sure you would win Zero!"
"Of course, Zero would win!" interjected the next.
"Thanks," laughed Zero. “But no, I'm just a medic. But now we should all go in. The exam is about to start and some of you are taking part, right? "
"Are you cheering on us Zero?" One of the girls asked a little shyly.
"Of course, I’ll cheer on all of you!" A happy murmur went through the group. "Are you coming Asagi?" whereupon the crowd began to disintegrate, and everyone hurried towards the main entrance.
The academy itself was housed in a six-story building. Despite the size, the design was kept light, and the entrance area was completely made of glass. The dimensions were comparable to that of a school, with most of the training facilities either underground or in the large open-air training area further to the west.
"Sorry Asagi ..." Zero said so that only she could hear as they approached the entrance area.
"It's ok Zero, you can't help it."
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