The Four Kingdoms: Gemini City

Two years after that day, Emilia's suggestion seemed to be paying off. She had passed the test her papa set for her with flying colours and so the days that came after had them gather together much more often. Most days they ate dinner together and the days that they couldn't they would try to see each other before bed.

Emilia had practically graduated from Economics already and so she had stopped taking that class with her brothers, using the time to work on magic and discuss theories with Niklaus instead. Together they had poured over any and all books, tomes, texts and scrolls they could find to try and understand how they had both ended up in the same world with memories intact from their past lives. It didn't seem to be something that happened often since no one that Niklaus had met showed any signs of having memories of a past life except her. Emilia had yet to test this theory since her official debut to society would only occur on her 12th birthday. Niklaus, on the other hand, had had his debut this year and had been out and about in society even before it due to his magic proficiency. Though Emilia was displaying the same knack for magic as him, she would be hidden away at home, mostly only because of her over-protective parents.

As for what the two found; they learned that Dimensia may just be another form of energy. They currently didn't have the power, tools or space to physically examine it under something like a microscope but they could still learn a lot through behavioural experiments. They concluded that, like strong force, weak force, nuclear force and so on, Dimensia might be a force that held together certain particles in the body. These "certain particles" were most likely ones that were not present or commonly known on Earth.

The reason they came up with this thought was because they found that their current physical bodies were not the same as human bodies, biologically, but they didn't know how exactly they were different since they didn't have a chance to examine it. So it is possible that they still exist in the same Universe as Earth, they could even be on Earth but in either the past or future. This was unlikely because the sky was not the same as on Earth. The constellations were different, some weren't even found and the North Star wasn't in the north anymore, they couldn't even be sure if it was the north star since the only way to define it on Earth was as the central point of the north sky and that means it may not be the same for Vaile.

But that wouldn't explain how there was a game with the story of Vaile on Earth. Niklaus had been surprised to hear about it, apparently he hadn't ever played such a game. In fact he had never seen any mention of Vaile on Earth. That rules out any possibility of the game being a portal or something. The reason was definitely something that made more sense, at least according to all the information they had found.

Other than trying to figure the world out, she had also been working on her health. Her daily workout had grown, but not by much. She graduated from a 10 minute run to a 35 minute with some warm ups before and after. No matter how much she wanted to become more physically fit, she had to keep in mind that her body was still too young.

On a similar note, Emilia had continued her other regular classes as well. She had continued learning etiquette with her mama and started to learn literature with her brothers with her papa as the instructor. Oh and she had gotten much more comfortable calling her parents mama and papa. Being in a child's body had a way of bringing out the childish tendencies in a person so the more her family reached out to her, the less she could rationalise a reason to keep them at bay. That didn't mean that her mental age was degrading or that her knowledge was lessening, she was just learning to trust.

Today was the day of her first exam since coming to this world. Exams were the same in this world as on Earth, they were used to check whether a student had enough knowledge to graduate to the next level of learning. The exam that she was going to face was going to determine whether she was good enough to join Kleure Academy, so basically it was an entrance exam. Kleure Academy was an escalator school that took in children from the age of 8 for 9 years of study that were divided into two of the three levels. The foundation, growth and research levels. The foundation level referred to the first four years of study where the students were taught the basics of this world which were literature, economics and etiquette along with building physical endurance. As mentioned before, mathematics in this world was not studied as a subject on its own but was included in fields like economics, so despite 'economics' being a foundation course, only the base mathematical part of it would be taught.

Emilia and her family were confident that she would breeze through the exams and so were busy getting her prepared for her acceptance instead. Kleure Academy, like many others, provided the option for students to stay at dormitories since most of the students were nobles who lived very far from the school, in their own fiefs. The Academy was situated in the capital whereas Emilia lived in the Von Jaeger fief which was quite a distance away so it was decided that she would live in the dorms as well. Another thing that the Von Jaeger family was expecting was Emilia's admission into the Perl Initiative.

Since this world didn't have the concept of skipping grades, they tried to help gifted students in another way- the Perl Initiative. It was a program that allowed students that met certain criteria to have access to many more resources than regular students, allowing them to independently carry on their studies. It also provided real life experiences like internsh.i.p.s, the opportunity to shadow experts or start your own project and the such. It may even be better than skipping grades since it didn't have the pressure of not having any classmates of a similar age to the student.

Emilia was excited to start her school life, mainly for the opportunities that the Perl Initiative provided but also because she hadn't really been outside the capital of their fief until today. Her brothers would be with her as well, Nicholas would be taking the exam along with her while Raymond would be going straight to his dorms since he had already been studying in the academy for 5 years.

The three siblings were all packed and stood outside their estate in the capital, waiting for the bags to be loaded into their carriage. Their parents were with them, having arrived at the capital a few days ago, giving them last-minute advice and hugging them goodbye since they wouldn't be returning soon.

"You're going to the capital so be very careful when you leave the academy, there are a lot of bad people there. Even inside the academy, make sure to always have someone you trust with you. Clara and Robert are going with you so if you need anything you can ask them. Oh and here's the Perl recommendation letter, Emilia, present it to Mr. Karl Silverbach." Laura instructed her youngest two children. She was very worried for them, especially Emilia. The capital wasn't exactly very safe for children like her, with such huge potential. Entering the Perl Initiative was attention enough, she didn't need anymore on her so Laura had cautioned her daughter about it.

Despite Emilia's earlier attitude about not caring whether she reveals her abilities, she took here mama's words into consideration and decided that she was right. It was never a good idea to attract attention without the power to handle it. Being a Von Jaeger and being in the Perl Initiative would be attention enough.

"Your mother is right, be careful with what you say and do, especially you Nicholas," Alfonse said, staring pointedly at his youngest son who had a habit of talking too much. "You need to be careful when making friends."

Nicholas blushed from embarrassment under his father's scrutiny "Okay papa..." He said, twiddling his thumbs behind his back.

Alfonse's eyes softened as he watched his timid son. Nicholas was the slowest of the three siblings, but he wasn't necessarily dumb either, he was just average. That lead to him having an inferiority complex despite knowing that he was loved either way.

Emilia had long noticed this and felt a little bad for her brother. He was just a normal child for his age, but the norm in the Von Jaeger family was much higher than other families. Nicholas headed towards the carriage with the excuse of putting away his carrier bag and Emilia followed him after excusing herself.

"Nick." She called him. He turned around and stiffened a bit, thinking he was going to hear another warning on his behaviour.

"Yeah?" He responded to let her know he was listening.

"You may not be the brightest when it comes to economics or literature," Nicholas winced at that. He never thought that Emilia would call him over just to insult him. "But you need to know that thats not all that makes up the world." She continued, ignoring his hurt look. "You still haven't held a sword, or practiced magic, or met any people other than us, there's still so much left for you to try. One of them is bound to make you happy and having a passion for something is the first step to mastering it."

By now, Nicholas realised that she wasn't insulting or chastising him, but encouraging him instead. He was so happy that someone had faith in him that he started crying. Tears pricked his eyes as he heard what she said. He launched himself at her and hugged her, tears running down his face. "T-thank you Mia!" He exclaimed.

All this happened not too far away from the Von Jaeger couple and so they had heard the entire exchange. Understanding what had happened, the couple shot a look at each other and then walked up to the twins.

"Nicholas, no matter what, you need to remember that you are a Von Jaeger. You are, by no means, ordinary." Alfonse said, hoisting the boy up into his arms.

"However long it may take, you will find your calling, and when you do, you will excel at it." Laura finished, giving her son a kiss on the cheek. Nicholas' face turned red from happiness and embarrassment. "O-okay" He stuttered out, burying his head in his fathers' shoulder. Emilia was watching the scene with a faint smile on her face.

Laura smiled at him and turned to pick up Emilia. "Emilia, you need to take care of your brothers." She said.

"But let them take care of you too!" Alfonse pitched in. "They may be clumsy but they are your family so rely on them."

At that moment Raymond exited the house and joined them, he had been taking care of some last minute errands and so had missed the whole exchange, except what his father said at the end. He glared at his father. He had long gotten over his supposed hatred of his younger sister but his temperament towards his siblings remained more or less the same, if not a bit warmer.

In this jovial yet emotional mood, the siblings said their goodbyes and got on the carriage to head to Kleure Academy.