I turned a handle on the table that Nicole called a stove. At first, I had simply dismissed it as a strange table, but after Nicole showed me how it would work, I found it much easier to use than just my own magic to cook my meals. It also helped that next to this artifact, there was another one of those 'sinks' that would pour water out after turning on a knob. On this one I considered it would be easier to just use my magic to clean things, but it would be better to get drinking water, since it always tasted much better than magic water.
It had been a couple of days since I met with Nicole and she explained to me how to use many of the artifacts that are around me. One of those things was a strange coin, one that I had at first dismissed yet another ID and set of numbers that this world used, but when we went to buy supplies, I saw many people using it to pay instead of the small art pieces. What's more, they didn't have to give it, just show it, and it would work.
Nicole said that it wasn't that they had some special treatment for owning it, but that it automatically knew how much to take from the bank account. I didn't understand how that worked, so I had been using the phone that was currently charging next to the mattress to learn many of the things that I had doubts about, like how that ID worked, or how that elevator works, but I still didn't have the dexterity and the knowledge to properly get it to show me what I want. Still, there were a few things I managed to look into, like how to properly cook the things that we bought last time.
It had been quite a hassle to bring back all the things that she insisted I needed in my house, and among those many things, were ingredients that I would've deemed only available to nobles and royalty, like spices or certain meats. Most impressive of all, was how cheap they were and how easy they were to buy, only a handful of dollars and I would get the same ingredients that a royal chef would've had to pay several gold coins for.
I turned to look at a particular spice that had called my attention while we were shopping. Nicole looked at me with a worried smile back then, but I had to take it.
"Carolina Reaper…" I whispered as I read the label on the small bottle.
It had been a terrible spice that was used in Bo'guth's sandwiches when he shared one with me, and I had my doubts about it since it was coming from a demon, but seeing it being sold next to salt, pepper, and every other spice, I realized that it wasn't a dangerous poison, or a rare thing—at least for the people of this world.
I braced myself as I took the bottle, opening and carefully holding it over the small pieces of pork that had been cooking for a while now. I didn't know exactly how much I should use if I were to compare it to the amount that Bo'guth's meal had, but for such a powerful effect, I figured it would be good to coat the meat with a fine layer of the spice. And so, I did, carefully making sure that it wouldn't pour all over or that it was too little.
The smell of the cooking meat changed when the spice was added, giving it a much powerful scent, which for a moment made me think that perhaps this would increase the powers of anyone that ate it, but I had to shake that notion away, since I knew better than anyone that there was no magic involved in this process; not even in the fire.
Once it was all done, I finally served myself a few slices of it. The steam of the cooked pork swayed in the wind that came from the cold night of the open window, and I prepared myself to have a taste of the kind of meal that a demon might enjoy. Carefully cutting the piece of meat, I brought a square piece up to my face, smelling the powerful spice on it for a moment before quickly eating the whole piece.
I chewed a couple of times, but the fiery sensation of the meal didn't hit me like it had done before, which made me doubt for a moment if what I had bought was the same as what the demon had used. But that moment only lasted seconds, as after swallowing the piece of meat, the burning sensation from before attacked my whole mouth and throat.
I could feel my face burning up as I coughed and the burning sensation came back even stronger than it had been with Bo'guth's food. I desperately reached for a cup of water, drinking as much as I could, only to realize that the burning sensation wouldn't go away.
It was then that I was forced to circulate magic to my mouth, and not just to empower my body and resist some of the pain, but to even turn the magic to healing as a countermeasure that I hoped would help. A few seconds later, I had managed to get the pain under control, and I looked down at the evenly coated pieces of meat I had cooked. The realization that I might've ruined perfectly fine meat dawned on me, and the idea that perhaps I should get rid of the 'poisoned' meat floated in my mind.
But then again, I wasn't one to waste food, since in the battlefields, one had to make do with whatever there was, and as long as it wouldn't kill, poison, or injure, then it was good enough. So I took once again to the pieces of meat, soldiering on as I ate them as fast as I could, aiding my body with magic to ensure no food went to waste.
* * *
The next day, I woke up early, before the sun completely rose as, I usually would, and prepared myself to go to the academy. Today was the day I would properly start learning in that place. I had already gone ahead with what I could learn from the phone, but the amount of knowledge that one could get from it seemed to be endless, and most of it I couldn't quite know how to get to, since I still hadn't gotten used to handling the artifact.
I had also learned from Nicole that the academy focused mostly on teaching people from this world on how to use their magic so they could later on join: a military branch that for combat magic; go on to one of the big private companies that work with all sorts of magic—combat included—; or go on with a normal life by using the knowledge from other classes that the academy offered.
The idea of living a normal life floated in my mind momentarily. But I quickly dismissed it since I felt like I didn't deserve such a thing after causing the destruction of the world, and joining a military life would be a repeat of the Holy Knight training where I would just follow what others told me to do, regardless of the consequences. Using my magic and skills to do what was best for all the beings in my world seemed to be the best course of action, so finding one of those private companies to work for them could be a good choice. Or I could make one myself.
I looked out the window to the dark-blue sky that already threatened to turn bright as the first rays of light appeared beyond the mountains of this city. I had chosen to wear the same armor with black clothes and the short skirt that Bo'guth handed me. Not only was it the only thing here that would fit me, but it would offer protection in case of anything. However, I thought it would be better to leave the sword behind. I didn't want to cause any trouble or have people ask me about it while I was outside.
Since it was still early, I also took my time to prepare a simple breakfast. While looking at the recipes on the phone, I found that people in this place liked to have coffee with bread, and eggs, so I decided to do the same thing, and this time, I completely avoided the Carolina Reaper.
I took my time to enjoy the meal I prepared. It had been years since I'd simply sit down to eat, probably ever since I left home to join the empire's forces in the everlasting wars with Salrak. But even back then, the meals had never been quite as flavourful as everything that I had eaten in this world.
At first I thought that I had just been lucky enough to have meals prepared by people who happened to be royal chefs, but now I know that this is just normal in this world, just like so many things in this world that are normal when I think they would be outrageous or belong to nobles and royalty. Even this very room I thought could only belong to a noble turns out to be just a simple room when Nicole pointed it out.
Once I was done with the meal, I flicked my hand and a ball of water washed over the dirty dishes, quickly cleaning them before placing them next to the stove, inside the sink where they were when I found them.
The sun had risen by now, and I couldn't stay here any longer, since I wasn't sure how strict the academy would be on this first day. So picking up the fully charged phone, and a few snacks that I shoved into a backpack—that for some reason was full of blank notebooks when I found it in the room—I made my way out of the room and onto the city's roads.
* * *
I thought that perhaps I would be one of the first few people coming into the academy at this time, but there were plenty of people already rushing into the gates, with ones dressed like students with uniforms, others dressed like any other person on the roads, and others that could either be teachers or just officials in charge of the place itself.
It amazed me how people at the earliest times of the day would be rushing all over the place, and how the roads would be like a river of cars and buses that were completely packed with people. And once again, it gave me the feeling that these people were running away from a war or that there was some sort of emergency, but it would only take a couple of hours for all that noise to settle down and the city to go calm and slow down.
I worried that perhaps I had been late already since there were already a few people rushing into the academy campus, but I remembered from the information that Nicole taught me how to look for with the phone, that I was still well within the timeframe of the meeting spot.
I had to go to a large hall, big enough to fit a couple hundred people, but small enough for everyone to be able to see and hear the person talking without a need for an artifact—at least according to the portraits of the place that I saw on the phone.
By the time I reached the place, the doors to the hall were still closed, and only a handful of people were standing or sitting next to it. Most people seemed to be feeling out of place, judging from their expressions and the way they all had their eyes glued to the phones in their hands. I wondered why that was since I don't recall there being anything of particular note within the information for this day, since it was just an introduction of what we should expect from the academy, but seeing them so focused on their phones, I decided to also reach for it.
However, no matter how much I read and reread the instructions that were given, there was nothing else of importance beyond just showing up here on time, so I couldn't understand why everyone else was so focused on their phones. So I shoved mine back into the backpack and stood for a moment, watching what the other people were doing or if there was some change.
After a few minutes, and more people showing up, I realized that they weren't reading or looking for anything particularly important, as their expressions changed from being serious to laughing and even being frustrated, which reminded me of the man in the Tainted Land doing the same when he used a phone.
I sighed and leaned myself back to a wall, waiting for a while longer for the hall's gates to open.
At that time, someone I recognized appeared. It was the girl that was tested with a fire gorilla as well, Victoria. She looked around for a moment, her head lowered as her eyes quickly shifted from one side to another. She bit her lower lip and I wondered if there was something wrong with her, but before I moved she noticed me, and her expression brightened slightly with a smile before she made her way to me.
"H-hey! It's good to see you again, although…" she trailed off while looking me up and down. "Quite the curious getup you're wearing…"
I looked down at the armor and skirt I was wearing, but I couldn't find what was so curious about it. "I think it's normal."
"Hehe… well…" she said with uncertainty, opening slightly the long jacket she was wearing. "My father insisted I wore something similar…"
I saw a leathery armor she was wearing under the jacket, and even if it wasn't quite as shiny or sturdy as the armor I had, I could tell that it had traces of magic power in it.
"It looks fine," I said and stretched my hand to touch it so I could properly tell what kind of magic it had.
But before my hand could get even closer to it, Victoria quickly closed the jacket back and her face flushed slightly. "I-I think it's embarrassing."
I tilted my head to the side. "Why is that?"
"W-well…" she mumbled something I couldn't quite hear before continuing, "…My parents really went overboard after hearing what happened during the test, so… they're spending as much as they can to ensure I'm at the best one can be…"
"It seems that you have very loving parents," I said with a soft smile.
"N-no! We argued so much over the weekend because they wanted to have one of the B ranked mages from our company come with me from now on! It would've been so embarrassing if I didn't manage to convince them that being armored was enough," she exclaimed, covering her face with both hands as she looked away.
"You have a company?" I asked, remembering that that was one of the ways to put your magic to use in this world.
She calmed down and moved over to my side so she could lean on the wall as well before sighing. "Yeah, and they were over the moon when I awakened magic power, so now they're pooling their resources into me as well, but…"
I gave the girl a side look and noticed the forced smile. "But you don't want to do it."
"Yeah…" she confessed before shaking her head. "You remember how I acted on the day of the test. I'm not really fit for these sorts of things."
I turned to look up at the ceiling. "Couldn't you just take the commoner's classes and live a normal life after this anyway?"
"Well…" she pondered for a moment. "It's not that simple."
"Is that so?" I replied, tilting my head, since for me, it would seem that she could just do that.
Before I could say anything else, a middle aged man hurriedly made his way to the hall's doors, opening them with a loud turning of his keys and pushing them with the same hurried movements that he had been using before walking with rushed steps into the hall as the bright lights turned on, displaying the few rows of small red chairs that filled the room.
The people that had been waiting around the hall's door started making their way inside, and Victoria took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go."