Esdinas Academy.
Often referred to as the ‘Center of the Continent’ or ‘Esdinas’, this location is actually a vast city and region called Esdinas.
‘Even though it’s called an academy, it can’t just exist on its own.’
An academy is also a place where people live.
Various services are needed, and both those receiving education and those teaching require various services as well.
The area where Esdinas Academy exerts its influence is roughly 5 kilometers from the academy’s main building.
This 5-kilometer diameter area is quite large and is surrounded by a very special barrier extending up to 5 kilometers from the main building.
Beyond the barrier, extending up to 10 kilometers, there is nothing.
Within the 5-kilometer boundary, which acts like a city wall, there are all sorts of educational facilities, training grounds, and dormitories for the academy.
From the 5-kilometer boundary to the 10-kilometer mark, it’s all open fields. Much like a ‘green belt’, this area has not been developed at all.
This is the area that Yunia passed through while sleeping on the bus. I had seen it often in games and had also seen it in CG during ‘outside activities’ in games.
It’s literally a ‘green belt’.
‘A space where development is prohibited.’
If Esdinas Academy is centered in a circle, this green belt wraps around Esdinas like a donut or tube.
It’s a place with various political reasons and events have occurred here.
In the 500 years since Esdinas Academy was established, several kingdoms have risen and fallen, noble families have emerged, and centuries have changed, but this green belt has never been lifted even once.
Of course, many factions have tried their best to exert their influence over this green belt.
For Esdinas Academy, being able to exercise even a bit more influence at the center of the continent felt like gaining control over the continent itself.
Many indeed showed such movements.
Countries that bordered the green belt beyond Esdinas Academy have established base cities at the edge of this 10-kilometer zone.
When Esdinas Academy was established 500 years ago, a rule was put in place that no facilities could be built within the green belt.
And humans, always looking for their own benefit, have been finding ways to bypass this rule.
– So, why not build facilities beyond the 10-kilometer boundary?
Countries began digging the land starting from the points where the green belt met their territories.
At first, they built convenience facilities for those attending the academy.
Gradually, they built residential facilities for people to stay.
As people started to gather, base points slowly became towns and cities.
Thus, in the areas beyond the 10 kilometers from Esdinas Academy, cities from various countries have emerged.
The 10-kilometer boundary of the green belt, with cities of each country established along its edge, has formed a living area like satellite cities centered around Esdinas.
And the ones who organized the system for Esdinas and the cities of various countries to share a common living area and use the same currency are the Silverstar family.
‘Yurha’s family.’
The Silverstar family had little influence in the early days of Esdinas Academy’s establishment, but as they extended their influence into the surrounding environment, they began to earn enormous profits.
They paved roads around the 10-kilometer green belt and established a transportation network.
Currently, the Magic Train, like Seoul’s Line 2 subway, circles around the edge of this belt, connecting the cities and the academy.
At the same time, they succeeded in creating a straight road extending into the green belt through negotiations with Esdinas Academy.
Clunk.
The road we traveled on by magical bus is a testament to Silverstar’s successful negotiation with the academy for ‘efficient movement of students and logistics.’
Creeeek.
The bus stop where the magical bus stopped at the outer edge of the Esdinas Academy’s green belt is also part of such facilities.
“Students. Please do your best.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed my head in thanks to the bus driver who had cheered us on.
Though he was affiliated with Silverstar, he had traveled for about 3 hours and 30 minutes at full speed from the distant town of Pregnant to the edge of the green belt.
As a result, we arrived at the tall walls of Esdinas Academy.
Simultaneously, this is the endpoint of the magical train. Although there are two modes of transportation—bus and train—somehow, the magical train is not visible.
“Hey, Phoenix-nim…?”
Yunia pointed around with a puzzled expression.
“Did the train really not arrive?”
“The train probably didn’t even start running.”
“…”
Yunia swallowed nervously.
The brown-haired girl and her group who had planned to use us as porters before getting on the bus are nowhere to be seen in front of the Academy’s firmly closed gate.
“Maybe I just can’t find them…?”
Yunia searches for them among the crowd.
The square in front of the walls, like a terminal’s waiting area, is filled with several hundred people.
Most are 17-year-olds with hair of various colors, but there are also many who appear to be their family members or guardians.
Aside from the staff of Silverstar operating the terminal, at least 300 prospective students are waiting at this ‘Western Terminal’ for the entrance exam.
“Yunia, I have a quiz for you. How many terminals are there for entering the Academy using transportation?”
“Four, North, South, East, and West.”
“Correct. Since this terminal itself is in front of the academy’s gate, there are exactly four.”
Simply calculating, 1,200 new students are waiting for the entrance of Esdinas Academy’s entrance to open.
“So, what does it mean that there are about 5 minutes left until the gate opens, but they still haven’t arrived?”
“…”
“In 5 minutes, if by some miracle the train arrives, people rush out like crazy, and they somehow manage to run through the open gate, they might make it. But…”
“The train isn’t coming.”
Yunia turned her gaze towards the terminal’s display board. It was her first time seeing the display at the academy terminal, but she had already learned to read the messages indicating the status of the train when she first boarded the Magic Train.
The train wasn’t just delayed—it wasn’t coming at all.
The display board was flashing in red letters.
[Today’s Magic Train service has been canceled…]
Magic Train, service canceled.
“Is it some kind of test?”
“It’s not that. It’s just chaos at this terminal.”
I pointed to the relatively calm waiting area.
“If there are 300 new students here, how many do you think are at the other terminals?”
“…At least 1,000.”
Yunia answered with a pale face.
“Exactly. 1,000. Esdinas Academy admits 300 new students each year, but the competition rate is roughly…”
“Around 16:1, right?”
“Yes. If about 5,000 prospective students come for the exam each year, there should have been more than 1,000, or even more, here in the waiting area.”
However, no matter how you looked around, there were fewer new students than expected.
“Those who are here now didn’t take the early morning train. Instead, they stayed just outside the green belt overnight and walked here this morning.”
Those who woke up at dawn and realized that the trains had stopped running, and immediately walked 5km from outside the greenbelt or rode a horse.
Or those who ‘succeeded in arriving on time by any means’, whether it was 30km or 100km, or by carriage or flying on a dragon, as soon as the trains stopped running in the morning in an area closer than Pregnant.
In the original scenario, Yunia shouldn’t have been here.
Despite all the efforts to arrive, what she found was a firmly closed gate like now.
“It’s slowly opening.”
Creeeeak.
The tightly closed Academy door began to open wide to the sides.
‘It wouldn’t be strange to say that it’s not a door, but almost a castle gate.’
The massive iron gate, more than 10 meters high and wide enough for 20 people to walk through side by side, began to slowly open.
‘I wonder if it looks the same from the Western Terminal.’
The scene from the game, “Esdinas of Heaven”, plays out exactly as it does at the beginning of the game.
The entrance exam begins just like the game’s starting sequence.
The students are now at the starting point of the game called academy life.
“Phew, thank goodness. We made it in time.”
Yunia placed a hand on her chest, sighing in relief.
“The concern Instructor Esta had doesn’t seem like it will be a big issue.”
“Shh.”
“…?”
“You don’t know that yet.”
Esta slyly leaked information to us.
She mentioned that even if we were late, as long as we arrived at the Academy, there would be a way.
It was almost as if she was suggesting there would be a way to save us even if we failed.
‘The protagonist also arrived at the Academy on time.’
To briefly touch on the original story, the protagonist arrived on time at the academy, unlike Yunia.
He arrived at the academy through the Southern Terminal on the southern part of the continent.
However, he failed the entrance exam.
To be exact, he couldn’t take the entrance exam due to certain circumstances.
“Miss Yunia, I’m about to give you a very scary test.”
“A scary… test?”
“There’s no hint. But I won’t leave your side for a moment, and I’ll make the same choices you do.”
“W-What kind of scary talk is that all of a sudden?”
The idea that my fate could be decided by her choices.
“Actually, this could be a hint in itself, but I’ll respect your decisions, Miss Yunia.”
Creeeeak.
As the gate finished opening,
[Attention please. New students coming to take the entrance exam, please proceed to the ‘First Training Ground’ within 15 minutes.]
A voice echoed through magic.
Rumbleee!
The students all started running into the gate at once.
“W-Wait…!”
[Students who do not reach the First Training Ground within 15 minutes will be disqualified.]
Thunk.
“This… what is this…?”
“This year’s test must be ‘Finding the Location’.”
Yunia quickly grasped the situation.
Some of the prospective students had already crossed the gate and were sprinting across the long bridge leading into the Academy.
“We can’t just stand here…!”
“Cough!”
Yunia grabbed my arm, trying to pull me along, but then her gaze was drawn to someone collapsing nearby, coughing up blood.
“Wh-what…?”
“Cough, cough…!”
It was a boy who looked about 17.
His shabby clothes hinted at a lack of wealth, and he was now lying on the ground, blood gushing from his mouth.
“Is… is there anyone…!”
Yunia scanned the surroundings, but…
“Ah.”
All she saw were the backs of the other prospective students running toward the Academy’s center.
Their families and companions also ignored everything but the race ahead, not even glancing around.
“Cough, cough…!”
As the boy coughed up more blood, Yunia turned her pleading eyes toward me.
“This…!”
“I told you, I’ll follow your choice, Miss Yunia.”
“…You won’t regret this?”
“Of course not.”
I smiled at her, reassuringly.
“…Then, please help him!”
“Naturally.”
I approached the boy, supporting him under his arm to help him stand.
“I’ll see if there’s a medical facility nearby!”
Yunia rushed toward the terminal’s management office, while I continued to support the boy, who was still weakly coughing up blood.
“Hey.”
I whispered softly, so only he could hear.
“How much are you getting paid for this, huh?”
“…!”
“Remember this.”
I grabbed the shoulder of the man, a man who was dressed like a boy.
“If she ends up distrusting people because of you, you’ll be dead by my hand. That girl, as kind as she seems, is under the watchful eyes of someone far more powerful than whoever sent you to pull this stunt.”
“…”
The man’s face began to turn pale.
“It’s no big deal if she fails, but if she loses faith in humanity over something like this, the people above won’t just let it slide.”
Despite the blood he’d already coughed up.
“You’ll need to keep playing your part, won’t you?”
“…”
“Act well.”
“…”
The protagonist fell for this trick too.
“…Even if she fails, it’s not my fault.”
The man answered with a trembling voice.
“With only one chance a year, she should’ve focused on the entrance exam, no matter who was dying around her.”
Despite his fear, his voice held a certain conviction.
“In this world, being kind just gets you hurt.”
“Is that so?”
I glanced at Yunia, who was running back with help.
“Not this time.”
“!!”
I briefly channeled a small amount of magic into the man’s body.
“Good people will be rewarded, and those who do bad things will…”
Fwoosh.
“…Be punished, don’t you think?”
“Gah!!”
The man coughed up blood again.
It felt…
It felt like his insides were burning.
