The sound of light gallops and turning wheels, along with the yelling of drivers, merchants, and clamouring of footsteps, highlighted the pre-midday liveliness of the denizens of Winterholm.
The clean and elegant-looking black carriage with gold linings mounted by two black and properly groomed stallions caught the glances of a few.
Looking at the streets bustling with activity in a different era of a different world, I felt like a stranger in a grand play.
"Sometimes, it feels like I just arrived here yesterday…" I muttered and let out a warm breath.
The weather up at Winterholm was ever oscillating between slightly warm in summer, then cold, and colder, but never outright coldest, warm, or hot.
Currently, since we were just in the second month of the year, the weather was somewhere between slightly warm and cold, and would gradually increase and decrease as the months went by.
Of the thirteen months, Dawnstar was the first, Morrowind was the second, Cloudveil the third, Greenwood the fourth, Springsea the fifth, Windflower the sixth, Frostide the seventh, Rosemoon the eighth, Whiterain the ninth, Springsky the tenth, Stormfell the eleventh, Emberlight the twelfth, and Duskmoon the thirteenth.
In addition to this, there were specific "weather zones" where the weather remains stagnant in a certain place throughout the year. An example was the Eternal Blizzard that served as a wall to the true north, where it was said that there stood a castle of the Vampire King. I had also read that there were ice sculptures in the blizzard, frozen bodies of individuals who attempted to brave it long before.
'Saints, witches, knights, vampires… these are stuff out of an epic fantasy. What's next, goblins?' I thought in jest and chuckled, still utterly and entirely bored.
Everything was different in this world. Coming from somewhere like the twenty-first century, it was no surprise that nothing would be as fun in a pre-modern era.
It took about fifteen minutes since I left home to arrive at Saint-Esteban Academy, the public school.
The guards at the gate knew who the esteemed carriage carried and straightened their backs when they saw it park at the roadside.
I jumped down and waved at Danis before heading towards the wrought iron gate that rose higher than any commoner's home.
"Have a nice day at school, youngster," Danis quickly said, bowing his head slightly, and then whipped the horses.
Normally, I could've told Danis to enter and park directly before the school, but Father told him to stop that, as other nobles' children weren't allowed to enter. And doing so would only create a sense of enmity between me and them. It was then that I realised Father really was a cut above the rest in the Empire's eyes.
Anyway, I was allowed in by the guards without any qualms, as usual.
Since all students came in from the gate, there was a small crowd procession on the stone-paved path leading to the school building. I easily blended in and observed my surroundings candidly.
The path we followed was flanked by a field of green grass and round-shaped trees lined in a row. Up ahead, the road split and curved, for in the middle there stood a simple water fountain, but no one knew when it last sprang water.
There was a sanctimonious and calming feeling in the school environment.
Finally, the main school building was an extremely wide, three-story-looking, Gothic-like building with the center possessing a domed top that extended higher than the rest of the building.
Winterholm, despite its edge status of the North, was a coastal city and hence one of Norland's two major trade points, possessing a population of at least thirty thousand netizens.
Walking into the massive door, an assembly of children ranging from age six to twelve was standing and waiting at the respective lines in the order of their classes, ranging from I to V. The assembly of students faced a wide set of stairs that split into left and right in the middle.
I was in Class V, so I went to the furthest edge and stood in the line for the boys, ignoring the gazes and the not-so-quiet whispers that had quickly begun as I was spotted. Since I towered over every other of my classmates, I remained standing at the back.
"Williem. Hey!" a brown-haired boy with a bowl-cut farther ahead in the line was turning back to me and calling out, waving with a wide smile.
'Reede.' Of course, I smiled back and waved, then scrutinised the faces of the individuals around me.
From the periphery of my vision, I knew the little girls in the class kept on sneaking peeks and giggling while the boys huffed and puffed while throwing me glances of disdain. Maybe I was exaggerating, it wasn't all the girls or the boys, as some couldn't care less, but it was quite the majority.
Just then, a number of teachers appeared, walking down from both sides of the upper stairs. Some stopped at the lower stairs, while some came down to the assembly of students and brought order.
Lady Andrea, the class teacher for Class V, came and inspected the male and female lines before standing at the corner.
At the lower stairs ahead, stood a bespectacled man with long black hair that fell down to his shoulders and was looked to be around his mid-thirties was in a formal black cassock with a golden sash known to be worn by the clergy. He held a walking stick in his left hand and a bible in his right hand.
"Good morning, students," Priest Benjamin, the headmaster of the school, greeted with a smile. "Bow your heads in reverence."
'Translation: close your eyes for prayer,' I thought inwardly and obeyed, same as my fellow students.
Priest Benjamin's voice was soothing and firm.
He began: "We awaken not as children of the Divine, but as swords yet unsharpened.
"We walk not by instinct but by purpose.
"We pledge our bodies to the Crown, that we may serve rightly and justly.
"We pledge our hearts to Order, that chaos may never return.
"We pledge our souls to Faith, that we may never truly die."
Most of the students raised their hands and responded, "By the Sun, we rise," while some others and I drew crescents on their left chest and responded, "In the silence of the Night, there is peace," and quite a lesser number responded, "Bless thee, Mother of Life."
After the opening invocation ended, there was a moral reading titled "On Obedience."
When we were done with all that, it was time for announcements, and with crisp, iron steps, a golden armoured knight with white cape and cloak had his face hidden by a helmet with a thin line for sight. He walked up the steps calmly and majestically; the sun seemed to beam just from his presence.
I drew in a frigid breath. I recognised the armoire, as these were worn by only the most elite group of the Knights' Order… the Golden Crusaders.
They never showed up just for naught, most especially not at a children's school assembly. His presence here today meant something was of great concern.
As he turned to face the students, his white cape fluttered and covered half of the front of his armour.
"By the Sun…" he began.