Alpine Woodpecker Forest was very close to Ironcrest. Since it was only a little farther away from it than The Rocky Gorge was from Millfall, a group traveling by carriage could get from the town to the mountainous area, or vice versa, in just over a day's journey.
That's exactly how long Vice and his men had to take the longest but least dangerous route to reach the vicinity of this important provincial seaside city.
Arriving near Ironcrest late that afternoon, Vicente and his men looked down from the mountain and saw the beautiful view of the province's second-largest city.
On one side was the vast, clear green sea, with dozens of miles of beachfront stretching as far as the eye could see from where he stood.
On the other side were the mountains of this area, which were part of the Alpine Woodpecker Forest and could be seen from the city.
But as much as this was a seaside city, a large part of it was in the middle of several small hills in the area, which gave a special charm to the city famous for its blacksmiths.
With more than 110,000 inhabitants, that place was much larger than Millfall, which was easy to see from a distance, as the urban area was three times larger than Millfall's.
The men in front of Vicente's carriage were seeing Ironcrest for the first time, so they all had smiles under their masks as they looked at the place with interest.
Then one of them asked. "Boss, where do we go first?"
"Rexnelts Academy." Vicente came right to the point.
"That..."
"Won't that be dangerous?" One of the men at the front of the carriage looked back as he questioned his Don.
Julian and the other teachers who had survived their journey in the Alpine Woodpecker Forest knew he had absorbed the yellow pentagram. Not only that, but they were on a mission to collect that essence.
That meant that those who were to receive the pentagram could target Vicente as an enemy!
But Vice wasn't as worried as his men. "Since we're going to be in Irancrest for a few days, we're going to attract the attention of this academy anyway. Don't think we'll be able to hide from the local powers."
He remembered Shelby as he thought about it, imagining that there must be several people like that woman in Ironcrest, people who could quickly find out about important things happening locally.
What had happened to Vice and those teachers would surely become news as soon as they reported what had happened.
If they didn't die, it would affect Vice and his group very quickly.
"I don't want to reveal my identity as the leader of the Fuller family, so we have nothing to do. Besides, I need to find some good local scholars. The best way for me to do that is through the best academy in Ironcrest." Vicente declared, making it clear to his men that they could do nothing about it.
'I hope those professors don't screw us over.' One of the men at the front of the carriage looked ahead and saw one of the entrances to Ironcrest not far from them.
...
Twenty minutes later, Vicente's group entered Ironcrest after passing the local guard at the entrance to the city.
The cities in the province did not charge entrance fees, and in normal times, one could easily enter any of them one wanted to go to. However, there were always guards at their entrances, especially larger ones like this one.
That was a way for the local powers to control who entered and left their cities, not necessarily a barrier to prevent certain groups from moving around.
Vicente had to wait a few minutes to gain access to Ironcrest, and soon, their carriage was on the main avenue, heading toward Rexnelts Academy, following the instructions of the local guards.
But even without instructions, they could easily identify it.
In the middle of this relatively simple city, with many buildings in similar patterns, was a group of buildings completely different from what one would see in the rest of the city.
There was the local Awakening Temple, the army headquarters in this city, and the building of the academy they were looking for, one of the Royal Academies of the state, which had access to the Seidel Magical College.
The Rexnelts Academy was not an academy like the one Nina was studying at or the Academy of Stars Vicente and Rory had attended.
That was a royal academy, which was not only closer to the greatest power of the state but also suitable for those between the ages of 10 and 14, young people who had already completed their basic studies.
That was the ideal age to learn professions that could be pursued after magical awakening, the focus of the royal academies.
Royal academies were not just places to train soldiers for the kingdom. Only a fraction of the students at these academies actually became soldiers.
The great purpose of these academies was to create professionals capable of meeting the needs of the state, to stimulate the areas most lacking in the kingdom, and to direct these young people to the right places.
Arriving in front of the academy building that Julian had been working on for the past few months, Vicente and his men noticed the difference between this place and ordinary academies, immediately seeing young people who were bigger and more mature than the children in ordinary academies.
Unlike the yelling and screaming one would hear around the usual academies, in this place, one would see many students in small groups chatting, but many others studying their various areas of focus.
Considering how much easier it was to deal with young people between the ages of 10 and 14 than with the younger ones, the number of students there was far greater than one would normally see in juvenile academies.
'This place looks interesting... Ian must have grown up in the Royal Academy of Saltstar City.' Vicente remembered that his village friend had gone to such a place after he turned 10.
In such a place, one could discover one's affinities even before awakening and receive all the materials, lessons, and incentives to develop skills in any known profession.
Knowing how talented Ian was, Vicente imagined that the blond boy must already be a 1st or even 2nd-grade professional in Saltstar City.
But he didn't think much of Ian. As he got out of his carriage and made his way to the enormous building that looked like a religious temple, Vicente quickly put his friend out of his mind when he saw the academy staff approaching him.
"Cesar Mazzanti?" A man in royal army armor, someone on guard at this institution of the kingdom, asked Vice in a thick tone as his group surrounded the four men approaching the entrance to the academy.
'That was faster than I expected...' He laughed, imagining that Julian and the others had survived. "Yes, this is me. I'm here to see some old friends. But I think you'll take me to them anyway."
The soldier ignored Vice's good humor and said. "Follow us. Envoys from the Seidel Magic College want to see you."
