Ok let me clear something up. before graduation everyone will be living in the same town which is where the school is, the reason why I said it was like a academy is more for it's education style and less it's size. The smaller town that is two days away is where the metal hearts and the other low income people will live after graduation when you get your job. The idea was that after graduation the student move out of their homes and live in apartments/inns while they are trained at their new chosen job. So the idea is that those looking for the ones who are forced to leave the town have to travel two days to get their, but because of the way things are it will take a while for those who live in the upper class to find a opportunity to travel, because of how strict this society is.