Too Close For Comfort

“Guuh—” I awoke once again with a start.

These dreams are— Slapping hands to my face, I sighed and huffed heavily.

What the fug am I supposed to be learning from this? Trauma? Got it, thanks.

Calming myself down, I eventually looked up from the bed I rested in. I didn’t know who found me, but I had awoken in the sterile halls of the Al’Magi Student Infirmary. Without questions or red tape, they had healed me up while also mending both my clothes and armour back to their original status.

Though, as I examined my extremities, I began to feel that there was no saving the rags I called clothes, which looked more or less the same. Eventually, I was going to need to get some new streetwear, though that was once I was making money. But, currently, I was just glad I wrote a student healthcare program into my story.

After the nurse gave me the okay to leave, I hastily gathered my things and departed with a determination that I just needed to be a bit more careful in the future. And having learned nothing but a newfound respect for the dangers of this world, I exited back to campus to continue the grind.

Those levels weren’t going to gain themselves after all.

This went on for a week. Wandering the campus, I had a singular purpose of hunting vermin like rats, corgsquitoes, and spiders. Occasionally I came across and defeated the mildly tougher foes, like animated swords, armour, and escaped classroom experiments. All-in-all, it was your run-of-the-mill classic magical academy collection of low-level baddies.

I gained delicious combat experience by swinging my sword and firing off spells, which, luckily, Phyllis gave me a cheat sheet on how to use. A series of notes that included a dummies-guide to the unique ability to cast without incantations, which did simplify things.

Unfortunately for me, the amount of intense concentration required for most spells was ridiculous, making magic use more exhausting than the martial portion of training. But thankfully, the swinging the sword stuff quickly became second nature.

Though being okay with a blade still wasn’t enough for me. I had to be the best. And one day, I got a little too confident.

ooo

After a week of waiting, I was finally able to replace the ratty clothing I had worn to tatters. Taking advantage of my memories, I had gotten Phyllis to magic up for me a pair of running shorts and a complimentary loose tank top. It had a ‘Lich House’ logo—a small skull with a ruby eye— which was the official emblem of the dorm in Phyllis’ attic that Al’Magi established for the overflow of new students.

This was the very dorm where the story’s intrepid heroes resided. But I had a strategy for avoiding them, which involved, well, avoiding them. And it had been going great so far!

And, thankfully, since the clothing came from my mind, it only cost me the one gold piece I had. In addition, since it was ‘official school clothing,’ I mostly flew under the radar now.

Excited to get started with my day, I clothed myself and slung my new quarterstaff over my shoulder. It was much more my feel than a sword, and since I was still within the grace window, Phyllis allowed an even exchange for the weapons.

I had also utterly ditched the leather armour and instead decided to trust in my ability to dodge attacks over taking them head-on. I may not have been muscular, but I’d learned that Ishara’s physique was quick. And with that knowledge, I had decided to continue to train my body to be as much my defence as it was my offence.

Tying up my shoes, I was finally ready for the day, so I rushed from my room and out into the early morning light.

Recently, I had been trying to get out before sunrise, saving my retinas from that gods-damned sun, but also because it was cool and the tranquillity of empty streets made the few hours of less sleep worth it. Though there was one more benefit to this peaceful time—

Monsters and vermin loved to roam in the twilight.

So, I would make a game of this opportunity. Practicing my ability to lurk in the shadows and pounce on unsuspecting beasts.

The first few days of experience farming had been touch-and-go with a few trips back to the infirmary and more trauma dreams, but over time, I’d gotten the hang of both. To the point that, today, I wasn’t even sticking to the shadows. I was moving as though I was some hotshot that now owned these streets in the week I had prowled them. And even as corgsquitoes assaulted me and wolf-rats pounced, I struck them down with decisive swings of my staff.

By the time the sun had cleared the horizon and bathed the landscape with its scorn, I was deep into the central campus, where the Rag-Tag Field—a magical lacrosse of sorts—and the gymnasium were situated.

Along with the clothes, Phyllis had forged me a student pass that I’d been using to sneak into the fitness centre every morning and work out my muscles.

The gym was typically empty in these post-dawn hours. The only students regularly present were the Dwarven bodybuilders, who were always very friendly and offered to spot me when I needed help managing to lift the iron bar.

“Are you sure you don’t want weight on it?” They would ask in their surprisingly Scandinavian accents and then shrug at my sarcastic responses.

Today was like any other. I started with some stretches and then moved into weight training. I was quick on my feet, but I needed a lot more muscle if I was ever going to be able to hit something hard enough to do real damage.

Well, that was when the problems started.

“Hey there, you look like you need some help.” A familiar voice asked.

“Yeah, that would be great,” I responded, guard down. Things had been going so well, so why would today be any different?

“Eek—you?”

“Oh, hey, the crying kid.” The towering ruminantfolk girl spoke sweetly, her head tilting with a smile. “You seem to be doing much better now! Are you a student here? You look so young! You’re probably super smart, like my little brother, Melvin. He’s like a prodigy.”

She immediately became flushed, rubbing her head and squeezing her eyes closed.

“I’m sorry, I’m rambling. My name is Maren, Maren Highland. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Bah-dump! Bah-dump! Bah-dump!

At this point, my heart felt like it was ready to burst from my chest. What do I do? It was rude not to introduce myself, but I couldn’t interfere. How could I have forgotten she joined the bodybuilders club at the school fair last week and would eventually start doing morning workouts?

Stupid. Stupid.

“H-hi, I’m Tah—Ishara.”

“Tahishara?” She repeated with a curious look on her face. “Pleasure to meet you, Tahishara. Now, would you like help? That seems terribly heavy for you.”

“I-I’m good.” I was frozen.

Every alarm bell was ringing in my head, alerting me to a threat and telling me to run, escape, increase distance from target-other-person. With a smack of my dry mouth, I continued.

“I was…leaving.”

“But you just walked in?”

“I forgot—The. Fridge. Door…” I looked up at her confused face. Strands of blonde hair fell forward over her rosy cheeks as her big doe eyes glanced down at me with deep interest. “Open.”

“The. What?”

“Gotta go, nice meeting you!”

And I was gone before any more conversation could be had.