16 Neighbour

After Ensen had woken up the next day, he quickly hopped out of bed eager to get to the bank before it got too busy. Quickly throwing on some sweatpants and a blue t-shirt, he walked into the kitchen to grab an apple and began putting his shoes on.

If all went well with the bank, Ensen would have the property rights to the plot in just a few days. Knowing the initial establishment of his private Academy was just around the corner, he became even more ecstatic.

Checking his phone before leaving, he noticed it was supposed to be rather chilly today, surprisingly enough. Deciding to wear a jacket just in case, he grabbed his only jacket from a nearby coat rack. The jacket was all black with a similarly black hood at the back. It even seemed pretty new, evident that Ensen had barely used it. There was a breast pocket on the left side with a zipper holding it closed. This jacket did not add much protection from the chilly weather. It was more of a raincoat. But an extra layer of clothing wouldn't hurt him.

Putting on his coat, Ensen opened the door and began heading towards the elevator. In the hallway in front of him was his neighbor that he never really talked to. She seemed around 30 years old with wavy light-brown hair and wore a heavy wool coat to protect herself from the cold. She was miles more prepared then Ensen was.

Ensen was interested in his neighbor. Not for romantic reasons however, it was just an innocent curiosity towards his neighbor. Interest was the main drive in Ensen's life that motivated him to do things.

Hastening his footsteps, he quickly arrived next to her.

Hearing the approaching footsteps from behind her, the woman turned around slightly worried. Upon seeing it was her neighbor she relaxed slightly. While they have never talked before, she had a good impression of him after hearing that he a math teacher at a local private Academy.

Seeing that Ensen was either trying to catch up to her or rush ahead, she slightly sped up her pace and walked closer to the wall not wanting to interact with him.

After a few more seconds Ensen managed to catch up to her and matched her pace.

Ignoring the odd look the woman was giving him, he began speaking to her in a relaxed tone. "Hello, I just realized I hadn't introduced myself to you. I'm Ensen Fuentes. It's nice to meet you."

Looking at Ensen, the woman gave off a slightly cold vibe as she replied bluntly "I'm Kaitlin." obviously not willing to give much information about herself.

Slightly taken aback by the lack of any desire to hold a conversation, Ensen smiled awkwardly and walked in silence towards the elevator next to her. After a few more seconds they arrived. Pushing the button to descend, Ensen found himself in an awkward situation. Even worse, he had nobody to blame but himself. But still, he did not think she would have no interest in holding any sort of conversation together.

After a few seconds a dinging sound came from the doors as they began to open. Seeing that the elevator was empty, both Ensen and Kaitlin entered. Upon pressing the lobby button, he turned his head and asked what floor she was heading to. Hearing no response from her, he went near the opposite side of the elevator and closed his eyes, praying that this would end soon.

Fortunately for him, the elevator soon let out a ding similar to earlier. Knowing that the doors were about to open, Ensen decided he needed to apologize. He didn't know what he did, but still. She did not seem like a person that Ensen would like on his list of enemies. Opening his eyes and looking at her, he began speaking somewhat reserved this time.

"I'm sorry about that. I was just interested in who my neighbor was. I meant no harm." He said, trying to smooth things over.

Expecting no response, Ensen stayed in place and waited for Kaitlin to exit.

As Kaitlin exited the elevator and began walking towards the front door, she paused her steps for a moment and spoke in the same blunt voice "It's not you." And without waiting for a response, she continued her steps, heading towards the parking lot.

Confused by the meaning of Kaitlin's words, Ensen paused in contemplation. After noticing the doors beginning to shut, he quickly stuck his hand out, causing them to reopen. With theories clouding his mind, he absent-mindedly began walking to his car.

Finally noticing he had arrived at his car, he tried to ignore what just happened. Besides, Ensen didn't have any reasonable theories. He didn't even know her last name, job, or anything about her.

After starting the car, Ensen slowly began making his way to the local branch of his bank. The traffic wasn't too bad, allowing him to arrive after only 15 minutes. Seeing a lack of cars in the parking lots, he pulled in, Ensen smiled as he parked the car and strolled inside.

Entering the bank, Ensen noticed a row of ATMs to his left, while straight ahead was a large desk made out of birch wood. Behind the desk was a woman around 22 years old. Approaching the desk, Ensen began settling his business here.

After nearly two hours Ensen finally managed to get clearance in transferring a large sum of money. Satisfied and slightly irritated from the long process, he began to return to his car. Luckily he managed to get there pretty early, as the bank branch was getting increasingly busy throughout his time there. At this point it was getting kind of absurd. There were at least 15 people waiting in line.

Thanking his cautious soul that he arrived there early, he began thinking about something that has been bugging him.

Throughout his entire time a small part of his mind never lingered from Kaitlin, the statement she uttered at the end nearly drove him mad with curiosity.

But he was conflicted, on one hand he wanted to respect her personal space and private matters, while on the other he really wanted to know what she meant about that.

Entering the car, Ensen stared at the steering wheel in deep thought. After a few minutes he lifted his head after seemingly making up his mind about something. He would see if he could interact with her in the future and base his actions following how that conversation went. Even if she got annoyed by Ensen, she wouldn't hate him or do anything in retaliation, at least he sure hoped so.

After making this decision Ensen finally managed to take his mind off of Kaitlin. Moving his attention to the road, he began to make his way back to his apartment. Due to heavier traffic it took him 20 minutes to return to the apartment building this time.

Right after pulling into the parking spot he gently grabbed his phone and took it out of his pocket. He began to write a text to send to Jennifer, notifying her that he had the first half of the money prepared so she could go ahead with starting the transferring process of the property.

Putting his phone on the passenger seat gently, Ensen was unsure if he wanted to relax at home or if he wanted to find something athletic to do outdoors.

Unable to think of anything to do outdoors, he realized he could ask somebody for something to do.

'Hey system, could you give me the next chain quest?' Ensen said politely, hoping the system would be nice.

After a few seconds, right as Ensen was beginning to think the system had ignored him again, he noticed an odd noise. It seemed like a trumpet being played in the 1600s to welcome a guest.

Noticing this odd sound, Ensen gave off a happy smile as a blue box slowly drove up to him much like a noble chariot, stopping a short distance away from his car.

[Chain Mission 2: Checking forest safety]

[As requested by the host, the system will proceed with the final chain mission. To finish ensuring the safety of the area around your future private Academy, hike the nearby forests and make sure there are no safety concerns that will have to be fixed. In order to scout the surrounding area, a vast allocation of time is required. Because of this, you are required to spend the next eight hours in the forest. You have one hour to prepare the items you will be taking and arrive.]

[Rewards]

[One EP][Random item/skill]

Although the mission was being harsher than before, Ensen found that this was the best mission it gave him so far. It was around 10 am at this point, he had one hour to prepare so he would be in the forest until seven pm at the very least.

Excited by the prospects of the adventure, he realized that the system seemed to be serious about ensuring the safety of his students. While he was serious about that too of course, he never really thought about checking the forest or water to see if it was dangerous. Although he would be putting himself at risk on the off-chance that it really was dangerous, he really didn't mind much.

Although Ensen was by no means a fighter of any kind, he knew this kind of slight risk to ensure the safety of his students would pay off in multiple ways. First was obviously the fact that the area's safety was guaranteed. Next was the rewards the system gave for completing these missions.

Honestly, he would still be doing the missions even if there was no reward. After all, it wasn't like these missions were meaningless. They all played an important part in the development of his private Academy.

While the system had declared itself as the Supreme Academy System, it never really registered with him. Mostly because he wasn't in a good place when the message first showed up so he didn't pay much attention to it. Plus the system itself never really mentioned its name after that, simply taking on its own role.

'The system really is a weird one.' Ensen thought to himself. Even though it sometimes seemed arrogant and uncaring, there were moments when it actually seemed to show empathy and care about him.

While he couldn't be certain, he thought that the system cared for his well being… at least a little bit.