Chapter Twelve: The Southern District Commercial Street

Along the way, Louis and Helen sat atop a magic carpet, weaving through the halls of the enchanted castle, and everything they encountered filled Louis with wonder. It seemed to be a world of the 17th or 18th century, yet the paintings adorning the walls were in surrealist styles, some even reminiscent of Picasso. The lighting fixtures were grand and beautiful, but they weren't powered by electricity; instead, they relied on a marvelous creature known as the "filament worm."

Louis also spotted those old-fashioned, antique telephone booths. Many students were lining up at the booths, calling home to report their exam results and preparing to leave for summer vacation. Near certain spiral staircases and corridors, he saw students standing by the railings, swapping out their wizard robes for tailcoats and shirts—clearly eager to return home.

This made Louis curious about the means of transportation used by these people to get home. The academy did seem to have magical fireplaces, but surely there were other ways to travel. Perhaps there was even a train.

Soon, the magic carpet soared upward, heading toward a large "window" suspended in midair, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a portal. Passing through it, they arrived at a region surrounded by towering buildings—each resembling a five or six-story manor, all in Gothic style. Farther away, tall spires reached skyward, and floating islands hovered in the air.

Saint Oak Academy was more a city of learning than a mere school, with each district connected to a small town. The permanent population exceeded seventy thousand, and counting visitors from other races and countries, the number surpassed two hundred thousand. Nearly all were wizards, or at least squibs, though their abilities varied; most knew only basic spells for daily life.

The street below seemed like a commercial district, one of the more bustling areas of the academy city. There were numerous shops, crowds milling about, and many people wearing tall hats and monocles, often accompanied by children—likely parents coming to fetch their students.

Here, Louis also saw many fairies, people dressed in exotic styles, some three-meter-tall giants, and small magical creatures led along like pets by wizards. He even spotted several baby red dragons, apparently pets of certain individuals. Some of these people were wizards, others dressed in strange fashions, with tall decorative headpieces that looked like heavily adorned horns.

This must be the Southern District. Although Louis had never visited this famous quarter, Helen had told him it was home not only to foreign beastfolk visitors, but also magical creatures, dragons, and fairies. The area mainly served to assist the Magic Ministry in receiving all sorts of unusual guests and handling extraordinary matters.

Yet Louis saw no beastfolk on the street; instead, everyone appeared handsome and youthful, which struck him as odd.

Soon, they stopped at a small plaza with a fountain, and Helen tossed a beautiful silver coin to the magic carpet. The coin bore the likeness of a small raccoon—representing the Yordle people—and was called a Silverdel.

The magic carpet, upon receiving the Silverdel, gave a respectful bow and even performed a little dance. Apparently, a Silverdel was quite a generous tip, with a purchasing power of about twenty to fifty units. Helen didn’t seem to care at all about this pocket money; after all, her father, Duke Oren, earned fifty thousand Gold Gallons annually from his lands alone, not counting maritime trade and commercial ventures.

Helen, therefore, was truly a little heiress, and her cousin, Oxie Chris, was a great heiress indeed.

Helen took Louis shopping. The commercial street was lined with fortune-telling shops and mysterious little houses, whose entrances were flanked by stalls selling all manner of strange trinkets—mostly amusements, along with books.

Most of the customers were lower-year students or couples. Helen bought a newly published book on potion-making by the famous master Professor Dylan, and Louis saw her hand over seven exquisite gold coins to the shopkeeper, who in turn gave her several large silver coins engraved with a humanoid fox and some Silverdels.

The gold coins bore the image of a dragon maiden and were called Gold Gallons. Each weighed about four or five grams and wasn't pure gold; Louis estimated their value at around a thousand units. The Silver Fox coins had purchasing power equivalent to one or two hundred units.

A single book cost seven Gold Gallons—books seemed very expensive in this world.

"Your Highness Helen, would you like to look at anything else?" The shopkeeper, apparently acquainted with Helen, remarked that he hadn’t seen anyone pay with gold coins in ages; most people used cheques.

The shopkeeper introduced several magic wands and magical curiosities. Many newly graduated young wizards, like Louis and Helen, favored such items.

The wands were exquisitely crafted; the cheapest was the sort Louis held—two Gold Gallons for a small bundle. Better ones, at six or seven Gold Gallons, could hold more magic and cast stronger spells.

These wands were for ordinary wizards; the truly valuable ones were over twenty Gold Gallons, able to reduce magical energy consumption, resist weaker spells, and generally came imbued with minor enchantments.

They were like little pistols.

"Sir, you have excellent taste. The oak wand in your hand is made from the new shoots of the Saint Oak tree, with a unicorn tail hair core. Using it not only enhances spells, but it also comes with a 'Magic Missile' ability," the shopkeeper explained enthusiastically. "Look at the magic gem embedded at the end—it can fire thirty missiles, enough to turn a werewolf into a sieve! Its power far exceeds that of a Muggle firearm."

"And after it's used up?" Louis asked curiously. "Can the magic gems be reused?"

"Of course!" The shopkeeper pointed to a floating, head-sized, prismatic crystal inside the store. "You can recharge it here for a modest fee, or if you’re a professor, the crystal arrays in the wizard towers are freely available."

After hearing the price, Louis tossed the wand back to the shopkeeper—over three hundred Gold Gallons was far beyond his means.

Such wands were common, but only two types of people bought them: extraordinarily wealthy squibs, or extremely rich wizards.

In short, only the very rich.

As for the magical curiosities, they came in many varieties, but most were low-grade items. The shop housed only two mid-grade magical relics, considered treasures of the store.

Even the low-grade curiosities cost over a hundred Gold Gallons, but new wizards treated them as precious. According to the shopkeeper, even a squib could act as a monster hunter when traveling with one of these—dealing with werewolves and vampires.

As for legendary magical artifacts—they were the stuff of myth.

“Aren’t you going to get a new wand, Louis?” Helen asked.

“I’ll wait until I get paid.” Louis patted his pocket; his assets amounted to only a few Silverdels.

After wandering a while, Helen brought Louis to a charming restaurant called "Magic Kitty." The two sat outside and enjoyed a magical feast—beef, fish, bread, black tea, and pizza. The menu was not extensive, but every dish was refined and beautiful, and each helped restore magical energy. After the meal, Louis felt completely invigorated.

The lunch was not cheap, costing nearly a Gold Gallon—naturally, Helen paid.

“Will I have to mooch off Helen for meals until I get my salary? Living off a little girl’s money, I really look like a kept man,” Louis mused, eagerly anticipating his paycheck.

While resting over tea, Helen’s bracelet lit up. It was adorned with several thunder beast fangs and a crystal sphere the size of a fingertip, within which appeared the image of Oxie Chris.

Apparently, Oxie Chris had already arrived at the Magic Ministry’s Saint Oak branch. After a brief conversation, Helen hailed a beautiful little horse-drawn carriage from the street, and together they rode to the tower where the Magic Ministry was located.

“We’ll be working at the Ministry in the future; the pay’s good, right?” Louis asked curiously.

“Hmm…” Helen tapped her cheek thoughtfully. “For temp workers, maybe two or three Gold Gallons a month.”

Louis’ mouth fell open, astonished at his own salary. He recalled that professors at the academy earned fifty Gold Gallons a month or more!

But what truly left him dumbfounded were the “sexy beastwomen” at the Magic Ministry.