Cæ indulged in his visit to the Selvigs' for the first time in a month or two. Having been consumed with exams, he hadn't gotten the opportunity to speak to them very much or for very long. He indulged himself while speaking to perhaps the only two people he could speak without having his guard up to any degree.
It helped him relax and clear his mind by the time their long conversation ended several hours later.
STEP
The cool breeze of the stormy night brushed past him as he exited the restaurant, turning back to face the couple with a genuine smile. "I'll be visiting more often these days. Good night."
"Good lad," Mr. Selvig nodded with an endearing grin. "Next time, I will be sure to cook you up a good feast."
"You should come for lunch next time," Mrs. Selvig told him with enthusiasm and delight.
It wasn't long before he departed from Selvig's Ristorante, walking back to the Elendir Institute of Magic. The silence of the district at night was soothing and relaxing compared to its bustle during the day.
His gaze shifted across the empty sidewalks and the multi-storeyed apartment buildings, stores, and a variety of other infrastructure, each glowing with enchant runes that particularly drew attention in the darkness of the night.
Every few minutes, a magicar would zoom across the streets, breaking the otherwise soothing silence of the late night, as did the occasional person walking across the street, glued to their magiphone.
TAP
He paused as a raindrop fell on his head, drawing his attention up towards the heavy, dark clouds that swallowed the entirety of the sky, hiding the three moons Seli, Mourtene, and Alostipheles of the world of Alaria from him.
RUMBLE
A loud, palpable rumble of thunder erupted from the skies after a flash of lightning.
TAP
TAP
TAP TAP TAP
With each passing moment, the frequency of raindrops increased, escalating in density. Within a few minutes, the smallest of drizzles had already become a full-blown heavy storm with powerful winds and heavy precipitation that threatened to topple full-grown men with their sheer intensity.
Cæ heaved a sigh as he whipped out his magicademy-issued wand, and a two-dimensional magic circle with two embedded triangles with the runes of heaven and water emerged before him, among others.
WHOOSH
In the blink of an eye, the water and wind curled around him, avoiding him entirely.
Simultaneously, he cast another spell that immediately caused him to accelerate towards the Elendir Institute of Magic in the air. He cast a third spell for body-hardening for security purposes in case he crashed into something, an accident that would kill him on the spot. It was followed by a fourth spell that relied on the Fundamental Form of Change and the runes of heaven to allow him to breathe when moving through a storm at high speeds.
Something as simple as flying through a storm required multi-casting of spells just for the basics to make it plausible. It was forbidden for apprentice students to fly because it was not as simple as it looked and usually took a few years to master.
Cæ managed to get it done in half a year, on paper.
Extremely impressive, but still well away from the record.
Still, it meant that he could fly through the city at high speeds without needing to waste time walking through a storm and getting drenched while fighting the powerful winds of the monsoons of Elendir.
And yet, the storm only inspired Cæ's confidence.
They reminded him of how strong his business strategy.
His business strategy relied precisely on the untapped demand for safe and secure housing that also protected them from the elements. He knew that this was just the beginning; they were just entering two months of unabashed storms and rains.
The Democratic Republic of Elendir, situated at the very south of the Gruonia continent in the northern hemisphere, was very close to the equator of the planet, causing it to experience rather extreme shifts in its sunlight exposure and temperatures across seasons.
Simultaneously, it was barricaded by the Ghartein Mountain Range that spanned across the Northernmost lands of Elendir. These mountains trapped a lot of moisture carried by winds from the seas within the country, causing an intertropical convergence zone that made for immense precipitation each year.
Within ten minutes of the rain, the streets were already filled with a centimeter of water, which sloshed and splashed every time a car drove by at high speeds. If not for the well-maintained drainage systems that chugged away massive amounts of water through grills at the sides of the road into an internal gutter that siphoned the rainwater away, the city's streets would have long been rendered unusable.
This, of course, didn't apply to the slums with ill-maintained and permanently clogged drainage systems of antiquity, which meant that many parts of the slums experienced floods each monsoon.
That was one of the reasons that Cæ was confident that the people of the slums would profoundly appreciate the haven units. These units already came equipped with perfect waterproofing systems that also facilitated smooth ventilation without any enclosures. It was easy to move, and it could be anchored and even float in water while carrying the average human adult.
The value proposition was absolutely irrefutable.
"They just need to see it for themselves."
The difference between what they had and what they could have was like night and day.
"We need to start the advertisement campaigns soon," Cæ muttered to himself as he flew back to the campus. "I can't let this opportunity slip. The value proposition will be a lot less clear if we don't capitalize on this moment."
Once the climate cleared up after the monsoons, he would need to wait until the zenith of winter to launch the product. He wasn't sure if he had the magicapita to go that long without strong sales. Keeping a business afloat was more difficult than most people realized.
WHOOSH
He arrived before the massive campus of the Elendir Institute of Magic, stretching farther than the eye could see even at his elevation. The domineering walls stood tall and were almost impossible to scale, even with magic, due to all the protections it was enchanted with.
STEP
He arrived at the front gate with several guards out front, standing in stiff attention as they sized him up upon his arrival.
"Purpose of Visit?"
"Student," Cæ replied. "Here's my ID."
It wasn't long before he was let back in, heading immediately back to his dorm room. He wasn't sure what his peers were up to: most likely spending time in one another's rooms, simply hanging out with each other. It wasn't an activity he had any interest in joining.
While he had come to become endeared to their juvenile energy, it wasn't something he was interested in spending additional time with after the day, as well. He had far too many things going on in his life to spend time frolicking with kids seven years his junior.
When he woke up the next morning, he had fully intended to start interviewing production workers immediately with Feidin to hasten the hiring process so that they could have people manning their production and assembly lines. He also intended to wear his best suit and head over to City Bank to apply for a debt financing business loan.
BZZZT
His magiphone buzzed, drawing his attention as he swiftly read the message.
[From: The Dean's Office, Headmistress Lenolia]
Immediately, his expression soured.
He wasn't eager to receive a message from the crafty fox of a woman. After putting a bit of a political bullseye on him, he definitely felt a pang of regret over trusting her to have his interests in mind. While he knew that she was definitely approaching him with the deal for her own personal gain, he had hoped that she would, as headmistress, not stoop to using him so openly and provocatively.
At the very least, he had expected that she would have gone about it more subtly and in a low profile. Though, in hindsight, he should have known that a fiery announcement was the best way for her to achieve her goals.
"Tsk."
He had learned from the experience that the terms of the contract weren't the only thing about the conduct of the transaction.
His attention returned to the message with his eyebrows knitted in disapproval.
Dear Mr. Cæ, The Dean's Office would like to inform you that you have been summoned by Headmistress Lenolia to her office. Please comply with the summons at your convenience.]
His irritation grew with the second sentence, knowing full well that he expected her to visit at the soonest. He heaved a sigh, immediately began putting on some formal clothes, and made his way across the expansive campus to the administrative wing, at the center of which her office could be found.
As he traveled across the entire campus, he couldn't help but notice some oddities.
"Ah, place it right there!" a man gestured to a spot while a mage levitating a large object gently lowered it to the ground.
Cæ's eyes narrowed as he recognized what it was.
An air purifier.
VMMMMMMM
His gaze shifted to another spot across the magicademy where several men were waist deep in a dug hole in the ground, working on the drainage pipelines running across the entire institute.
SSSSS…
Another metallic noise drew his attention as he spotted several men on ladders installing certain enchanted devices across the walls and corridors of the Elendir Institute of Magic. Enchanted devices that had large circular lenses about them.
Security cameras.
That wasn't all.
BANG… BANG… BANG….!
He shifted his gaze and spotted several more people planting signs with crystal clear instructions.
[Do not stamp on the garden]
[Do not litter garbage outside of trash cans]
[Do not defecate or urinate outside of toilets]
Cæ's expression darkened.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on here.
In the past, such basic rules did not need to be so clearly spelled out for students because even commoners would never stoop to such disregard for civic sense.
However, in the next academic year, there was going to be a group of students who were neither commoners nor affluent. It was clear that the student council had different ideas of the preparations that needed to be made to ensure that these students didn't 'disrupt the harmony of the magicademy.'
"Speaking of which," he muttered as he continued to the Headmistress' Office. "I really need to speak with President Mileila once more."
He would need to reconsider if he wanted to continue with the student council now that he had fulfilled his contract with the headmistress, which demanded that he enter the student council. There were benefits, of course, which were why he hadn't yet left the council, but it was also true that the main impetus to have joined was gone.
STEP
Just as he completed the thought, he arrived before the large doors to the Headmistress' office. Large, domineering wooden doors that slowly opened, unveiling the vast office of the headmistress inside.
A wide array of shelves was parked with a large set of books stacked end to end.
At the very other end, by the window, was a large table covered with a variety of documents, enchanted items and artifacts, and other objects neatly organized.
Headmistress Lenolia smiled at him as she put her pen down, smiling at him with her perfunctory smile.
"Mr. Cæ, welcome. Please come in. I have much to speak to you about."
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