"Nnnngh…"
The warm light that entered the room hit my face and slowly woke me up. I turned my body to the side, avoiding the light that took me out of the most comfortable rest I had had for a long time, but this light wouldn't give up, as no matter where I turned, it would shine on me.
Knowing that I wouldn't get away from it if I stayed here, I decided to put aside the blankets that were covering and sit up from the warm mattress. I lazily yawned and accommodated the shirt that threatened to fall off my shoulder due to how large it was compared to my size.
With my eyes half-closed, I stood up and made my way to the silver coffer, opening and reaching for a few eggs. I also noticed that there was another strange bag inside the cold coffer, so I reached for it to see what it was.
"Milk…?" I asked myself, wondering why someone would stuff milk in a bag.
But I paid it no mind as it already had a cut in the corner and it was safely stored inside another box perfectly fit for the bag so it wouldn't fall over and spill everything. I put the eggs aside and cooked them like I did the night before, yawning during the whole process. Once they were done, I cleaned one of the mugs that was in the dirty pile and used it to pour some of that bagged milk.
I ate everything slowly, the drowsiness of such a good sleep hardly clearing. After a short while, I put everything aside, sighing before looking around the room. I noticed a folded piece of paper on top of the table, so I grabbed it.
"Hm?"
It said in a very polite, yet aggressive way, that I owed eight hundred dollars to the building, and that should I not pay it, I would be forced to leave. I tilted my head, wondering who would write such a threatening letter, but right then, like a whisper from the Holy Gods, I remembered that I was carrying debts, and that I wouldn't know how to clear them unless I asked people how to do it, starting with how to use the phone that lay on top of this table.
With a hurried movement, I turned to look at the sun entering the window. It was already way past the time for anyone to get to work, and I realized that I was already late if I was hoping to meet Nicole at that Academy and ask her about the few things I needed to know. I tossed everything aside and prepared myself to leave the room, starting with the clothes I was wearing. I was used to being prepared for anything, and because of that, the armor with the clothes that Bo'guth gave me would be better suited for my needs.
I quickly strapped the sword on my back, grabbed the check, stuffed it in my armor, and took the phone before rushing for the door of the room. However, as soon as I did, another urgent feeling washed over me, forcing me to let go of the door and go for the bathroom.
* * *
I had dashed all the way from the building and to the Academy, not bothering with what the man working at the entrance of the building had to say, or anyone that looked at me strangely when I passed by them at full speed. Luckily, when I reached the entrance of the Academy that was just a short distance away from the building, I could see that there were still plenty of people coming into it, so perhaps Nicole wouldn't have come in yet. And so, I stood close to the entrance where the turnstiles were, carefully looking at every person that passed by to make sure that I didn't miss the girl.
Most people would look back at me with surprise, and I thought that perhaps it would be due to the armor and clothes I was wearing, but most of them didn't really pay any attention to that and just looked at my face. Perhaps it was because I would also sustain the look. I also saw a couple of people walk by with a weapon strapped on their back or to their side—like a sword, one of those loud crossbow-like weapons, and even a scythe.
It might also be because of this academy that I wasn't stopped and asked for my ID anymore, which would be one less annoyance as I was still waiting to see if Nicole would show up.
Time passed and less and less people were coming into the entrance. Some of them were running while coming, and a few of them half-tripping when they noticed me, but all of them would hastily place their IDs and run ahead. I sighed and looked around, worried that due to me oversleeping like never before, I had caused myself to lose my chance to meet the girl.
Looking back at the Academy itself, I wondered if I should just go in and look for her inside, but… the place was too big for me to comb all over it to look for her, and doing so wouldn't guarantee that I would find her. The only other option I had would be to either wait here all day for her to come out, or try my luck tomorrow.
Now that the sun was shining higher in the sky, I decided it would be better to come later, when people were likely to be coming out of the academy and it would be a good chance to meet her, but when I turned again to leave the same way I came, I noticed that there were more people coming into the academy, similarly to how it was some time ago.
I focused again on every person that was coming closer, and the reactions would be similar to the ones that people were having earlier in the morning. But I didn't care, since I was used to being looked at by masses of people, and these handful of people wouldn't be enough to shy me away from what I came to do.
Finally, among the many people that were coming, I took notice of the young girl I was looking for. A wave of relief washed over me as I wouldn't have to try my luck again later. However, I noticed that she wasn't acting the same way I was expecting her to act. She was downcast, with her eyes looking at the floor as she steadily walked closer, and she was almost completely expressionless, quite unlike the bubbly self that she displayed when we first met.
I approached her while she was distracted looking at nothing in particular on the ground. Once she was a few steps away from me, she finally lifted her eyes to look forward. She was surprised for a moment before her expression changed to a smile and her whole attitude transformed once again to a joyous one.
"Hey! Althea!" she happily exclaimed, skipping a couple of steps to approach me. "It's good to see you again! I thought you didn't want to speak with me because I never got a call or anything."
"I had been busy," I plainly replied, "And I found a phone, although, I don't know how to use it."
"Huh?" she asked as she looked at the phone in my hand. "What do you mean? Shouldn't you have been taught when you bought it?"
"Well… I didn't buy it, it was just one that someone else left for me."
"Is that so…" she replied while keeping her eyes on me. "Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't have to come until monday. Planning on going to a friday night party?"
Her expression this time quickly changed to a teasing smile, which I assumed was about that party thing, but I had never gone to a 'friday night party' nor did I have plans for that, so I shook my head. "I just have a few questions to ask, and I thought about looking for you to help me."
"Me?" she exclaimed, taken aback. "Awh, how nice of you to think of me."
"Where shall we go to talk?"
"Inside. Come! I'm already late for class, so I can't just stand here!"
She grabbed me by the wrist and started pulling me along with her, similar to how it had been the first time I met her. I looked at her short flowing dark-brown hair in front of me, and I couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside her mind to go from being so expressionless to being this happy, but I decided to put that aside for now as I allowed myself to be led.
* * *
"Here we are," Nicole said, heaving slightly while we stood in front of a wooden door.
We had rushed quite a bit from the entrance of the Academy to get to this building, passing by other people who were rushing as well. I thought that with her being late that she would've preferred to run, but we just walked with a rushed step. I didn't have a problem with running, since I had already done that just to get to the entrance of the Academy before, but since this wasn't a class I was taking, I didn't say anything.
"Okay… let's hope that there's no issues…" she said with a wavering tone of voice.
"Shall I wait out here?"
"No, no, it's okay to come in, but some teachers don't like it when we're late, heh heh," she said with a wry smile.
It was obvious that they wouldn't like it. My masters wouldn't take kindly to even waking up when the sun was rising, much less when it was already this high up, but that was then and it was a different world. So I just stood behind her as she pulled the door open.
The door of this classroom was located at the back of the room, so when she opened the door, only the teacher and a couple of people turned to look back at who had done that. The students quickly lost interest and went back to whatever they were doing, while the teacher stared for a moment without losing the flow of what he was saying as he kept on writing on a white board that was placed on a wall.
Quietly, Nicole turned to look at me and beckoned me to go inside. I did as she did and found a spot to sit in this classroom. It was quite a large room, with rows and rows that went down, and most strangely for me was that there were plenty of empty spaces in the large room. Because of that, it was no problem finding a couple of chairs at the back of the room to sit down.
I placed the large sword to my side, while Nicole started bringing a notebook and things to write with. So far, this didn't seem too unusual for a classroom, and I would've thought so until I started paying attention to what the teacher was saying. The concepts on the whiteboard were unknown to me, with a lot of numbers and mathematical symbols that I recognized mixed with ones that I hadn't seen before.
Blinking in confusion, I turned to look at what Nicole was doing, but she had her eyes focused on the whiteboard while she wrote down everything that the teacher was doing. I tried to keep up and understand what was going on, but it seemed like I didn't have the necessary knowledge to know what the teacher was talking about, and like that, I waited for the class to pass, my mind racing while trying to keep with the class and my heart doubting if signing myself into this kind of place was a good idea at all.
* * *
A heavy sigh dropped from Nicole as she walked by my side with her shoulders dropped. "Glad that's over. It felt like an eternity there."
I slowly nodded my head, a feeling that reminded me of the times I first started learning with my first blade master. At the time, he had beaten me up black and blue, claiming that I didn't have what it took to serve the Holy Gods, much less be a Hero, but at least back then I could train my body and my powers to eventually keep up with him and surpass him. However… in there, I had no idea what I could do to keep up with that teacher.
"What kind of class was that?" I asked, since I didn't understand anything.
"Oh," Nicole responded, straightening herself up. "That was a physics fundamentals class. I don't like it either."
"Will I have to take such a class as well starting next week?" I asked, frowning as I did.
Nicole giggled and shook her head. "No, that's an elective class, so you won't have to take it if you don't want to."
"Then why did you take it?"
"Well…" she trailed off and made a forced smile. "Let's just say that I have to."
"Very well, I won't pry into it." I wanted to press her on the issue, but I didn't want to force it out of her, so I put it aside as I took out the phone. "Can you teach me how to use this?"
"Sure! It won't be a problem! I've been using one of those ever since I have memory, so I know all about it!" she confidently proclaimed while tapping a fist on her chest.
"Also," I continued, reaching for the check stuck in my armor. "I want to turn this into coins."
"Huh?" Nicole replied, and I passed the check to her. "One thousand dollars!?"
"Yes, I need it to pay for—"
"From the Capital Magic Labyrinth!?" she exclaimed louder this time, her eyes widening before turning to look at me. "You have to tell me all about it!"
"Okay…" I said, somewhat taken aback by her reaction and then surprised as she took me by the hand.
"Come! I know what we could have while you tell me!"