"Alvíss does work fast," Adrian muttered as he looked at the magic tool that was supposed to transport them.

A bus.

The old man was unwilling to work on it at first, despite the money it would bring, but a promise of a project as satisfying as Conan was all it took to convince him.

The bus was black, with glass tinted to match and what appeared to be reinforced metal.

From the mana coming from it, Adrian guessed that it ran on a core, almost like one of Alvíss’s weapons.

From its size, it seemed capable of carrying up to fifty people at once, which was a lot more convenient than a normal carriage.

"What the hell am I looking at?" Darius asked flatly, staring at the massive vehicle before them.

That was the same line of thought most of the other students shared, after all, the closest they had seen to a vehicle like this, was a carriage.

But this obviously couldn’t be one since there were no beasts pulling it.

"Transportation," Adrian replied simply.

Renelle, standing beside him, wasn’t too confused at what that was, after all, she had already seen similar vehicles in Adrian’s memories.

Still, she didn’t think she’d see one in Avera and only one person would be responsible for that.

She turned to her butler and mentally asked, [Is this here because of you?]

Adrian didn’t bother denying it.

[Yeah, I showed Alvíss different concepts of cars back in my world,] he replied calmly, his gaze still on the vehicle, [though I didn’t think the academy would be among the first few customers.]

[I see,] she nodded, looking at the bus again before adding, [but is one of the instructors capable of coaching it?]

[....] That was a great question, one even he wasn’t certain of, so he just muttered, [I’m sure it’ll be as easy as riding a bike.]

[A bike?] Renelle asked in confusion, making him realize that there were no bikes in this world either.

Maybe he should’ve thought of that before giving the designs to Alvíss, but then again, knowing the old dwarf, he’d have probably made some changes to make it easier to drive.

The bus being parked here was already proof of that.

Instructor Leon, looking a bit exhausted, stood between the students and the bus, one hand pressed against his temple as if trying to suppress a headache that had been building for a while now.

He finally understood why Tess was so insistent on a spar before their date.

Still, he had to do this the very next day after their date before getting the chance to finally take a rest.

"This," he began, gesturing toward the vehicle behind him, "is the transport that will be taking you to the frontier."

"The western stronghold is where you will be sent, one that functions as a military base," he continued, looking at the faces of the students, "there, spirit mages are stationed year-round to monitor beast movements, prevent large-scale outbreaks, and sometimes recover any corrupted land they can."

Leon continued after seeing that they were paying attention to his words.

"You will be operating under their jurisdiction," he said, "and for the next month, you will be deployed in your assigned teams across different sectors surrounding the Wild Lands."

The reaction from the students was either nervousness or confidence, well expected from the bored and sleepy students since that was their default expression.

"You’re not going there to train safely," he said bluntly, "you’re going there to survive while improving and that should be your only goal."

"Also," he added, "you will not always be rescued. If you think someone will appear the moment you make a mistake, you’re a walking corpse."

With that, he went silent for a moment, looking at their faces again before letting out a sigh and saying,

"I hope to see you all back here in a month," Leon said before turning towards the bus, "after all, losing promising spirit mages like you will serve no use to the kingdom."

Well, that was the closest to ’don’t die’ he could give.

The doors to the bus suddenly let out a hiss as they opened and Professor Leon stepped to the side.

"Since you all have collected your supplies," he started, "you can start boarding."

Without question, the students immediately started walking forward and through the open doors.

Some were stunned by the number of seats this thing held, which was three in each row.

Darius, with his dragon that now also had a couple of black scales mixed with its red ones, walked into the bus.

Adrian and Renelle followed soon after, choosing an empty row by the window before calmly sitting down.

"This is a lot more convenient than a carriage," Renelle muttered as she looked through the glass.

"I’m glad my lady likes it," Adrian muttered with a small smile. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The third years started boarding just after the second years, and just as expected, the empty seat next to Adrian was taken by Cassian.

"Lady Renelle," he politely greeted, refusing to acknowledge the butler, after all, servants were always below nobles.

Well, he did acknowledge him, but not in a polite way, because the next second, he looked at Adrian and said, "Do you mind giving your seat to me, I would like to have a word with Lady Renelle."

"No," Adrian simply said without looking at him.

"No offense my Lady, but I believe your servant lacks manners," Cassian said with a polite smile still on his face, "allow me to reeducate him for—"

Before his words could be completed, an ice shard in the shape of a dagger suddenly rested on his neck, creating a cut that was immediately frozen again.

"I believe you should watch how you speak to my Butler," Renelle muttered, her tone completely cold, "Besides, I recall telling you that I was uninterested in interacting with you, did I not?"

Cassian’s eyes were a bit wide at the fact that he wasn’t even able to react until the dagger was resting on his neck.

If she intended to, he’d have been dead before he even had the chance to register her attack, but he just blamed it on the fact that he didn’t expect her to suddenly make such a move.

Before anything else could be said, the bus suddenly started trembling as it was turned on,

VROOM!

With that, it departed from the academy, headed towards the Western gate.