Okinwarry - A Road To Academy of Wizardry

That's Some Tech From Gracehaven

Monday, 28th March 1453

"Here you are…you're Kristobel, aren't you? Mystic here have told so much about you and your past life and I wished to thank you for taking care of the children in the absence of the Matron and the goons here."

"I believed that the matter had been well-taken care off by the rest of the members that used to be with you and I am sure that they had found a better life outside, or so to say. By the way, I am Audemars Macleod and this is my wife, Heather Macleod."

"Do you believe that if I were to tell you that we both were orphans before? But instead of being in an Orphanage, we were exposed to the elements of nature and we grew up along with the Levis family and two other families, the Gardners and the Chowdrys. They were not able to be present here since they are needed back at Gracehaven City."

The silver ash greyed haired man and his wife introduced themselves before me and I was wondering if they were speaking the truth. How can an orphan grow up to be such noble people? The man before me was not wearing any fine clothes made from furs, silk or satin but was made from cotton instead. The same goes to his wife and the two children that took after the man, having the same coloured silver ash grey hair.

He had nothing on his fingers but I could see there was a huge locket made from a red piece of gemstone or something and the same goes to his wife which had the biggest piece of red coloured rock on one of her fingers. She too was wearing a locket with the red coloured gemstone hanging on her neck and this is the first time I noticed that the boy and girl too were sporting the same piece of necklace.

"Big Sister Kristobel, what my Daddy says is true since he would not lie to anyone as there would be no gain for him to lie to anyone. Besides, our Daddy may look like a simple man to anyone he met on the streets but actually, he is really a somebody, you know. I guessed you and the rest of the children here would have time to learn about the Macleods in the future. Hehehe…!"

"Oh yes, Mystic had told me about the silver and gold coins that you had discovered under the Matron's bed. You may keep it or even may give away to the children for their expenses, or you can pass it for safekeeping. The best thing I would suggest is for you to open a savings account with Arkandale's Post Office Savings for every child here so that at the end of the day, everyone would have a fair share of the wealth that they had worked for. What do you think of my proposal? I could get the Residents-in-Charge to help you count the wealth and then distribute equally to the rest of the children and they could withdraw the savings when they are of a certain age."

I was lost for words once more as I had never thought of opening a savings account for the children and me for the future and all I thought was to use the coins for daily expenditure until it dries out. I made a sound in my throat as I excused myself and took the two chests that were filled with coins and presented it to the family before me.

"Here are the coins that I had taken from under Matron's bed the night she died. I had used some of the coins to buy some groceries to make the food for us. I am sorry but I do not know the value of these coins but I am sure there are shillings, silver and gold coins here. It would be useful for the children here but I think I would be able to survive without them at all."

I opened up the lid of the two chests that was filled with the coins and the silver ash greyed hair man just look at them with little interest. "Old Jack, could you help us count the coins for us and make an account for how many gold, silver and shillings it contained here? There, you can use the table to count the coins. Kristobel, could you go and help these two folks to carry the chests over to that table over there and let them account for it? Besides, there are 36 children including you, am I right and 20 girls and 16 boys altogether? Hmm, Old Lanthrop and Old Molly, could you please help to get the registrar for the children according to gender and age? I am not sure if any of them are related here but there is no need to take down their family names since the children might not remember or have any."

Instructions were passed down and action was taken almost immediately. It was as if this kind of work was a norm to these folks as I watched writing materials being produced along with a thick book which was much different from the Matron's.

"Clayton, what would you name this place here?" A boy with a tussle of long hair peeked out from the baskets that he was helping to haul in from the covered horse-drawn carriage outside.

"Well, Your Majesty, I believe we cannot be calling this Gracehaven II, right? People might easily mistake it here. Let me see, Safehaven perhaps? What do you think, Your Majesty?"

WAIT…! Something is wrong here…! The person in front of me right now is called YOUR MAJESTY…?!? A KING…?!? SOMEONE WITH NOBILITY…?!? EEEEHHH…?!?!? How come people are acting so normally in front of him like he was one of the common folk? Besides no one told me that he is of nobility when Mystic Windtalker mentioned to me his name and his wife's name…!!! I was listening to them chattering and I wondered if people of such nobility mixes well with the rest of the common folks. Besides, this Clayton guy seemed rather close to the founder and so-called Majesty. From the looks of it, he seemed to be slightly older than me. Maybe a year or two at most… When our eyes suddenly locked into each other, he suddenly turned red as a beetroot.

"Safehaven eh, Clayton? Seems like a very nice name and had a nice ring to it too. It could be spelt in two words and it would be full of meaning for the children. 'A Safe Haven For Those In Need'. It is very good indeed, Clayton. You really surprise me sometimes. So you gonna make a new proper signboard for it or teach some children to do it then? Who knows, there might be another Clayton Chadwell wannabe among the group of children." The silver ash grey-haired man commended to the teenager with a tussle of hair that made him rather…well, cute in his own way…! What the hell am I thinking…!!!

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, I think you should take a look at this list that I had made. This is the list of the names of children here that need medical attention. I am sure that Isabela would have her hands full this time. Shall we summon her over using the Airships, Your Majesty? Or would you prefer the children be airlifted to the Hospital in Gracehaven City then?" another girl in a hooded robe was talking casually with the silver ash grey-haired man in front of me as if he was just like a common man.

I was wondering what the other girl was saying to the silver ash grey-haired man when his wife came over to me before saying, "Dear, let me walk with Kristobel here for a while as you go and settle the matters with the rest of them here, alright? Besides, I think there are quite a few things that need to be tied up over here. This poor girl had been in shock and she really needs someone to talk to right now, am I right, dearie?"

The woman who talked to me had dark hair and was petite. She is the wife of the silver ash grey-haired man and I believe she is called the Queen, I reckon. I nodded my head as she asked me to bring me around the place to show the structure as well as the room that the Big Mama and the rest of the goons had perished.

Even though she is in her 30'ish, but to me, she was more like a motherly figure as she talked to me her past life and talked about the future of this Orphanage. She also talked about the Academy which was recently set up some years back to house those people with special abilities. "The only special ability that I have is to bite, pinch and punch my husband when I get too excited watching some of the games being played over at our Macleod Stadia. It is one of the biggest sporting arenas here that could house 60,000 spectators to watch a single sporting event and we have those large screen banners to allow our spectators to view those events as if it was happening right before their very eyes…! It was called a projector and it was developed by the Engineers Guild back in Gracehaven City…!"

I listened with awe and wondered what in God's name was this Queen blabbering since I had not heard of anything like it and had never seen anything that could be seen up close from a distance…!

Besides, how progressive is this Gracehaven City…?!?!