Chapter 66. Adventures in Sraederham

“I doubt you will listen but try to behave and don’t get yourself into any trouble.” Clare asked as the girls gathered around to see Ken off as the month passed quickly where most of their days were spent studying and training.

“Clare. I am the most well behaved, best good boy ever! Just ask Indra how many girls I have turned down when I was in Atlantica. It must be hundreds of cute girls who were interested in me that I coldly and swiftly turned down because I just have that much self-discipline.” Ken replied with a smirk.

“I can’t believe that Sylvester had the audacity to refuse my exchange request.” Cecilla complained as she ended up requesting for the exchange as well after learning about Ken’s acceptance but was swiftly turned down by the hero.

“I bet that fake lizardman girl was why you got rejected.” Alice added as the girls gossiped amongst themselves.

“Don’t talk bad about others when they can’t defend themselves against your accusations.” Ken replied as he thanked Emma for packing his clothes and daily necessities.

“You are only doing one exchange this semester right? You are gone so often lately I barely even get to spend any time with you.” Genesis complained as Lovetta nodded in agreement.

“Not sure yet. I definitely would prefer to do another one but right now, I don’t have any leads or ideas where I could do an exchange that would be more beneficial than just staying and training at dragonspire.”

“You should just stay with us in school then.” Indra added quietly as Seraphina agreed happily.

“I will do whatever it takes to reach holy level. Genesis. With me gone all this time, you could at least go visit professor Aleheart and do some training. She’s been bugging me every time I go to get any sort of post training healing done.” Ken pleaded.

“Don’t wanna.” Genesis flatout refused as Ken sighed and began his teleportation. Waving goodbye to the girls, the young man disappeared from the island and almost instantly reappeared on the continent of Agis, inside the kingdom and capital city of Sraderham.

“Morning Ken. Welcome to Sraderham.” Rose said calmly as she waited for his arrival.

“Hi Rose! What a unique looking city!” Ken said excitedly after greeting Rose.

“90% of the kingdom of Sraderham is within the great rainforest. The capital city Sraderham city is located in the heart of the rainforest so everything here is either built within the trees or using the trees since it’s our most abundant resource.” Rose replied as Ken looked around in amazement.

Unlike every major city he had visited so far, giant trees hundreds of feet tall spread as far as Ken could see, not too different from the great tundra forest of Chelmswell. However, unlike Chelmswell where isolated small tribes hid amongst the giant trees, the population here had no need to hide.

“Are we inside the academy? I was thinking that since I am here to train with the hero, I might be teleported to your house or something.” Ken asked as he watched groups of people his age walking about with many large wooden buildings all around and many areas where massive trees had to be removed to allow room for all the buildings.

“My father has been the space magic professor at the academy for hundreds of years now. Ever since he returned as the hired hero after he graduated from Dragonspire, he has been here as a professor. We have our own building here within the academy where my father does all of his research and where I normally spent most of my days studying.” Rose answered as the pair walked through the academy where many students recognized Ken and came up for a chat.

“You sure are a popular one aren’t you.”

“Are you jealous? I can’t help it that I am just that handsome and desirable.” Ken replied with a smile as the pair arrived at a beautiful 3 story high wooden building in a secluded area surrounded by giant trees hidden away from the rest of the academy ground.

“No wonder some of your girls are always so hostile. They must have a tough time having to deal with you, always so flirty with every girl you see.” Rose said as she led Ken inside the building and up the spotless wooden staircase.

“I am not flirty! I am just a nice person who tries to be friendly to everyone who’s nice to me!” Ken replied defensively as Rose led him into what will be his room for the next month.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be that friendly or else people might get the wrong idea.” Rose replied with a slight hint of disappointment.

“I was just telling Clare how good of a guy I am for swiftly turning down hundreds of girls so they don’t get the wrong idea.” Ken answered proudly.

“My father is off teaching his lessons right now and won’t be back until night time. Do you want me to show you around the city?” Rose asked instead of replying to Ken’s proclamation.

“Shouldn’t we just go join his lessons instead? Not that I mind taking today to explore the city”

“You wanted to come and learn space magic from him because you still couldn’t conjure it, correct? He wouldn’t want someone like you to distract his class while not being able to follow even the basics.” Rose replied, flat out rejecting Ken’s suggestion.

“Hey, don’t have to be so mean all of a sudden!” Ken protested, not sure why Rose was in such a foul mood all of a sudden.

Deciding that he would just let Rose be in the lead instead of arguing, Ken followed the girl as the pair headed for the city for a day of exploration.

“How do they get the trees to grow like this?” Ken asked curiosity as the pair left the academy ground that was protected by a wall of massive trees layered together in a perfect circle.

“It's not grown naturally. Just like the ones that protect the entire city, trees of the right size and structures are harvested and planted during the early days of the city as protection. Over the centuries, different protection spells have been added and just like the city walls in other major cities and academies, it’s nothing more than a decoration nowadays and the actual protection is the magic that’s in place.” Rose replied as the pair walked slowly into the city.

After leaving a dense covering that separated the academy from the rest of the city, Ken was met with the impressive city of Sraederham where the city is like a gigantified version of Lovetta’s home.

Giant bridges spread from one tree to another at different levels connecting the entire rainforest with buildings either built within the trees or as part of one spawn as far as Ken could see.

“Looks like the academy is rather unique isn’t it. The rest of the city seems to be entirely built amongst the forest!” Ken commented as he looked around, impressed at the labyrinth of bridges filled with shops, homes and mostly lizardman going about their daily lives.

“The academy and the royal palace are the only two areas in the city that’s built on flat ground since large areas of the forest would need to be cleared for such structures. The rest of the city is built amongst the trees as you can see.” Rose replied, her mood improving little by little as the pair chatted and walked amongst the trees visiting different shops and chatting with the locals.

“So what type of transportation do you guys have here? Obviously animal drawn carriages won’t work with the dense forest and uneven ground full of roots.” Ken asked as the pair settled at a quiet restaurant to enjoy some lunch after spending the morning wandering around.

“For long distance travel, we have pretty cheap wyvern carriages for the general public similar to a normal horse carriage and obviously the very wealthy have things like pegasus or even some exotic winged creatures. I know one of the princes attending the academy has a pet winged tiger that he likes to ride around to show off to the girls.” Rose replied.

“Wow! Winged tiger! I bet that’s one cool looking pet! I have seen pegasus before at Yelwraek but what is a wyvern? Never heard of such creatures before.” Ken asked excitedly as the pair enjoyed their food.

“It’s a winged lizard that’s abundant here in the rainforest of Sraederham. I would think during the Great Reset, the lizardman was able to take over and become the dominant species in this area because of the wyverns our ancestors got mixed with. With the biodiversity of the rainforest, I bet the conflict for dominance here ten thousand years ago was fierce.” Rose replied as Ken listened fully engaged in the conversation.

“No wonder I see some lizardman here with wings like Seraphina! I thought she was special since I never saw another winged lizardman before but they are not that uncommon here! I assume the winged lizardman here doesn’t have any special natural born advantages?” Ken asked as the pair finished up their lunch and Rose decided to take the young man to see a wyvern stable.

“Other than the ability to fly, the winged lizardman here does not have any other special attributes.” Rose replied as the pair arrived at a wyvern stable where Ken excitedly went around petting the beasts.

“I mean, the ability to fly in itself is special enough. That’s why I am here. to learn space magic and be able to teleport.” Ken replied as Rose rented a small sized wyvern saddled with a double seat for the pair to take a trip through the sky.

“I definitely think my father is the right person to seek out if you want to be able to learn space magic, but if you are interested in teleport, I would recommend Thallan since he is the top hero when it comes to short distance teleportation used in combat.” Rose suggested as the pair go on the green color wyvern as it took to the skies.

“SO COOL!” Ken screamed as the wyvern soared through the sky above the giant trees.

What Ken thought were birds from the ground view turned out to be flocks of wyvern taking people to and from wherever they needed to go, not unsimilar to the streets full of horse carriages from other major cities.

As the pair soared through the sky, Rose pointed to different directions where the royal palace and other major areas of the city were supposedly located while all Ken could see were giant trees in every direction.

“That was so much more fun than sitting in a horse carriage. Once I get rich and famous, I will definitely get some cool pets.” Ken said happily as the pair returned back to the stable after spending hours flying around and visiting different areas until the sun was setting and the sky grew dark.

“Let’s have dinner in town before we head back.” Rose offered as the pair returned the wyvern to the stable and walked back outside where the streets are now lit up with artifacts with the setting sun.

After enjoying a nice dinner in a packed restaurant where the pair chatted happily as Ken told Rose all about his adventures and asked her question after question about everything that goes on in this city, the pair finally returned back to the academy late into the night.

“Dad, we are home.” Rose called out as the pair returned to the private establishment of the 4th ranked hero.

Instead of replying, Ken was startled as the hero suddenly appeared in front of him and stared into Ken’s eyes with his piercing red eyes.

“Hello, Professor Gilliam. I look forward to learning from you.” Ken said with a smile after recovering from the sudden appearance of the old man with long white hair and bright red eyes.

“I only accepted the request because my daughter insisted. I have no desire to train someone like you.” Sylvester replied in a calm voice.

“Dad! If you are going to accept the exchange request then you obviously need to train him!” Rose shouted, getting upset at her father.

“I only accepted the request because you won’t stop begging me. What do you see in this kid? Did you not see what he pulled during the tournament? He went even more crazy during the last banquet and promised the king of Yelwraek that he would reach holy level after 5 years of academy! This kid will be dead within the next 2 years and if you fall in love with him, you will just end up getting hurt!” Sylvester replied, while his voice was still calm, his tone was firm.

“Why do you think he is trying so hard to learn from everyone? He knows he needs to get strong fast! I can’t help what has already happened so if you don’t help him, you will be responsible if he ends up dead!” Rose shouted at her father, getting defensive for Ken.

No matter how strong the hero is or how much respect he gets from the general public. The old man was no match for his daughter and eventually gave up and told Ken to join his lesson from the next day onward before leaving the pair and returning to his own room.

“Your father might seem like a scary man but he is no match for you! He was defenseless against your barrage of counters!” Ken joked as the pair walked up the staircase to his room.

“Good night Ken. I will come wake you up tomorrow and show you around before we go attend my father’s lesson. Sorry you won’t be able to bring any girls here or my father would for sure snap.” Rose said as Ken entered his room.

“What! No girls? How would I last an entire month!” Ken complained jokingly while wishing Rose a goodnight before heading to bed so he could get ready for the upcoming training where hopefully, he would be able to understand space magic within the month limit.