Chapter 18: Special Advising

"Alright! Here we are!" said the Cat girl in her excited gait.

Now that he was no longer in a rush he had taken some time to take in the interior of this school. The vast difference between this and what he had at home excited him.

Unlike his home, the walls of the hallways and dome roof were lined with murals that depicted epic fights and legendary heroes. The floor was made of a solid reflective structure he guessed was marble. Uniformly scattered around were ornate pillars that fit into the atmosphere this interior created. Everything was massive, much larger than what he had assumed from outside the orientation hall, and even though he could see numerous men and monster girls milling about the place felt empty. There was this feeling of freedom from this giant open hallway.

It finally hit him that he was no longer at home and under no one's watchful eye. Heck if he decided to just run away he could and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him.

Then Bella's word rang through his head and he was brought back to reality. His focus turned to the monster girl as he realized they were in front of a massive wooden door that read 'Special Advising' in giant bold blocky letters. It was only slightly ajar but that was still big enough to fit three of him in. The inside looked like the stereotypical private study except massively scaled up in size. In the center of it, all sat a portly man who seemed too deep in his world reading a book.

Compared to his dad the man looked unimpressive, with his receding hairline and chubby face. But poor physicality aside Simon's instincts screamed at him that this man was extremely dangerous. Next to him stood two monster girls in full plate armor as still as a statue and it was only by Simon's superior senses that he knew that there were monster girls in them. He felt less threatened by the monster girls than the man which was saying something.

She stepped out of the way, notably on the opposite side of Amy with a bit of a leap. Then she slightly bowed and moved her arms in the direction of the door, pointing him to go in.

Simon hesitated for a second, his fear preventing him from taking a step forward.

Bella immediately asked.

"Is everything alright?"

Her voice's bubbly nature was surprisingly soothing on Simon's nerves which also allowed his frontal cortex to get into gear.

His dad was the one who sent him here and he trusted his dad. Taking a calming breath he shook his head and began to move forward. Amy trotted behind him, her tail currently drooped signifying that she was still sad about what happened just earlier that day.

He passed the boundary and that oppressive feeling came on tenfold, especially as the eyes of the man shifted from his book to Simon. Then within a single breath, all of it winked out as though it was never there as the man closed his book and smiled at him.

"Oh! You must be the new hopeful. Please, take a seat." His voice was surprisingly upbeat, clear, and strong despite the perceived age.

Simon did as he was told and sat on one of the two seats that were closest to the desk, his focus entirely on the aged gentleman.

Amy being the spoiled puppy that she was, immediately took the opportunity to jump on his lap and shove her snout into his neck as she started rubbing herself on him. Simon's hands went back to doing their job.

"Comfortable?" He asked pleasantly.

Simon nodded.

"Good. Well with that sorted I believe introductions are in order.  The name is Michael Longwing, the third-born son of Dragoon Longwing, the greatest dragon tamer to have ever lived." He bellowed out the latter part of his with pride as if Simon was to be in awe at his statement. It only made him confused.

"Umm... My name is Simon, son of... Victor? A cool farmer and dad?" He said it came out as more of a question as he was unsure of what was going on.

The man looked at him with a raised eyebrow before giving him a look of understanding that was punctuated with a chuckle.

"Ah... I see... No matter, nice to meet you, Simon. Do you know why have been brought to me?" He asked.

Simon shook his head.

"Well. You, my boy, are special. So special that your existence was personally brought to my attention. You may not understand the significance of this but that does not matter. Just know that out of nearly 100000 students that are at this grand establishment there is only eleven other first-year students that are as unique as you."

Simon's eyes widened. He never thought of himself as anything special. Sure, he thought that one day he would become a legend like the ones he read in story books. But that was but a childish dream. To be told outright he was 1 in 10000 on the first day out of his own home was very surreal.

"Do you want to know why that is?" The gentleman gave him a conspiratorial smirk as he asked the question.

Simon still stunned by the initial revelation could only shake his head.

"You, my boy, have bonded to a high-tier monster as your first." He said as if that was some grand reveal.

Simon only tilted his head.

"What is a high-tier monster?"

The gentleman nearly slipped in his chair and for the first time, he heard something come from the statuelike monster girls in complete suits of armor. He was sure that it was a snort.