Argit and Bree followed Mila out of the dining area and out into the courtyard; Bree once again enjoyed the view of the well-kept grounds as they made their way to a carriage. Bree's interest was stolen from the grounds when she saw what was pulling the Carriage; a Large Griffin was harnessed to the front and was waiting for them without a movement.
Bree did her best to avoid its gaze; as Griffins had been a hostile mob in the game, she didn't want to test to see if it would attack her given the chance and instead chose to get inside the carriage with as little fuse as she could.
Once they were all sitting, Mila raised her hand, and a magic circle came to life; Bree frowned at it while the Carriage began moving.
"I see you're not a fan of Soul Bind," Mila noted as Bree looked at her hand. "But it was either that or killing the poor thing; Feral Griffins are a little too violent for their own good; this one tried to attack the castle a few years back for no reason other than it was flying past and randomly decided it wanted to live here,"
"Well, I'm no fan, but that's mainly because I've only really seen it be used to subjugate Monsters; taming a feral feels like an acceptable use of it," Bree looked out the window of the carriage and noted that they were not on the ground, "This is new, how is this Carriage keeping balance with the Griffin?"
"Simple levitation charm; it uses the Griffin like a magic battery to charge the spell, but no worries, it would pass out from exhaustion long before this charm could drain it of magic," Bree didn't respond as she looked out the window. Vosa was already lost to the horizon, and all she could see was a massive forest; she watched as they slowly began dropping in altitude.
Argit was looking out the other side of the carriage and frowned, "Say I don't see this school,"
"Just wait for us to land," Mila replied simply. Bree and Argit waited patiently as the Carriage came to a halt; upon it coming to a stop, Bree saw nothing but trees.
"Where in the!?" Argit suddenly cried out. Bree looked at him and saw him staring out her window; she looked back out, and what had looked like simply any other part of the forest was suddenly a large open field, a shimmering lake could be seen off in the distance, and hundreds of monsters and humans alike were casually walking about, all dressed up in matching uniforms.
"Welcome, "Mila declared proudly, "To the Pandoran school of Magicraft." Bree and Argit looked up and saw the school itself; it looked like someone had built three Castles and then decided to combine them after they were built.
Each Castle looked to have about 20 floors, with multiple Spiraling Towers built onto each one; several floors were randomly connected from castle to castle with bridges.
"Where did all this come from?" Argit demanded as he looked out at the school. "How long has this been a thing? I'd have come to visit way more if I had known there was a magic school here,"
"Its full name is the Pandora Institute of Magicraft and Learning, usually simply called Pandora's Castle, and it has been a recognized school for well over two hundred years," Mila responded casually.
"Dammit, It must have happened during that 80-something-year staring contest I had with O'Brian!"
"Argit, you live a weirdly interesting lifestyle," Bree chuckled. "Did you win your little contest?"
"I sneezed and lost," Argit said tearfully before clapping. "Anyway, that's the story of how I lost my Fan Ax for the third time in my life,"
"What time am I?" Bree asked with mild concern.
"5th," Argit replied, "Don't get too attached to it; I'll win it back eventually, I always do,"
"Now then," Mila declared as she clapped her hands together, attempting to gain Bree and Argit's attention. "The Greenhouses are right behind the centermost castle," Mila began walking with Argit and Bree following after her.
"So, how does this School work?" Bree asked, "Do the students stay all year round? Do they come and go every day?"
"Students are required to live on campus, as are the staff, with the only exception being me; as I'm the queen of the nation, I have to swap living space every couple of weeks,"
As Mila was talking, Bree and Argit looked at the students on the grounds, realizing they were all heavily grouped up. They put together they were participating in some sort of after-class sport or something.
"I wasn't expected to return for another two days, but I'll happily take your example of Botanical magic as an excuse to leave home early," Mila pointed to the towers before adding, "There are eight Towers in total that are used for the Students to Live in, and two for the staff, Each Tower is separated by Grade, with the Grade rising with the students every year, when the 8th years graduate their old Tower becomes the next first-year Tower,"
"Amazing," Bree looked up at the large school and wished she had been born into the world she now called home. "Wish I could have gone to a magical school; we didn't have any…back in the day,"
"Don't fret about it," Argit said, waving her words away, "They didn't exist when I was a kid either, all self-taught back in the day, although kids nowadays know more magic than I did by the time I became a Demon Lord, so gotta respect the system, if it works it works,"