Lucky Me

Shortly after I return to the cafeteria, Coldheart arrives to start our tour of the campus.

It ends up being a ton of fun, almost as if we were exploring a castle. We peek inside classrooms, visit various facilities, learn about all sorts of services on offer to students—they practically treat the students here like royalty!

Near the end of the tour, we arrive at a breathtaking library, so enormous and filled with so many books that it’d take more than a lifetime to read them all.

Lucas beams. “Now this—this is the crown jewel of the academy.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, theoretically, with enough practice, anybody can master the use of mana. But the right tutors and books let you skip most of the trial and error that goes into creating a new spell or application of martial aura and focus purely on executing it. Humanity’s been building on that collective knowledge for centuries. It’s how we’ve managed to keep pace with monsters as they continue to evolve and multiply.

“This academy employs tons of professors and researchers who develop new applications of mana on behalf of the kingdom. As a result, this library has access to cutting-edge information, as well as many expensive and hard-to-come-by books. It’s part of the reason summoners end up so much more capable than normal mages and warriors. Granted, there’s still a lot of knowledge that’s kept private even from us.”

“Private?”

“The most complex spells and applications of martial aura—ones that have taken noble families years, decades, maybe even centuries to develop—are kept closely guarded secrets by the families that developed them.”

“Why?”

“It guarantees your social standing. Like if your family is the exclusive holder of a healing spell that can recover the lost limbs of Sweepers, the kingdom simply can’t afford to toss you aside. They’ll continue funding your research, your skills will remain in high demand, and your children will have stronger marriage prospects—allowing you to further bolster your family’s expertise.”

“It isn’t that way for other research too, is it?”

“Luckily, for the most part, no. I’ve now got access to almost all the crafting knowledge there is—which is why I was so excited to come here.”

Lucas flashes a sly smile. “They’ve got tons of books on monsters and herbs too, you know.”

“Really?! Yippee—”

“Attention! We’ll now be returning to the cafeteria for supper.”

“Oh, Lucas, there’s just so much to learn—I can’t wait!”

He smiles. “I feel the same way.”

***

After another delicious meal, we each pick up a student handbook, campus map, identification card, and schedule.

I glance at my card. In the top left is a portrait of me, and to the right, the card reads:

Nora Littleroot
2/2/2/2 0/0/0/0 1
1st Year / 3rd Order

The bottom half is blank, but the academy will update it over time with accomplishments and skills I might want to verify to professors and certain professionals by showing my card.

“How’d they make this drawing of me so realistic?” I ask Lucas.

“It was that box contraption we each had to stand in front of earlier. Somehow, it creates an image of people—no drawing involved. Zero clue how it works though. Some guy created it several decades ago, but nobody’s been able to replicate it. His company gets paid good money to send people around producing these images.”

“Ooh! Let me see yours—”

He quickly moves his card out of reach. “Nora—No.”

“Aw, why not?”

“It’s private. You shouldn’t show your card to people unless absolutely necessary. Someone could use the information against you, like in a duel.”

“Well… can I at last see your schedule? Pretty please?” He tries his best to resist the puppy dog eyes, but—

“Fine.” He hands over his schedule.

“Woah, Lucas, look how many classes we have together! Everything except Communication and Sweeper Survival Skills—what a coincidence!”

“It’s not a coincidence. They place us based on our exam results as well as information our caretakers reported to the school. So, we were likely to end up in the same spellcasting class, but the chances of us sharing a martial arts class with someone like Arthur were basically zero given how lame we both are at it.”

“Don’t think of it as us being lame! Think of it as… us getting to learn so much more!”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, regardless, I’m glad I get to learn alongside you, Lucas.” I beam.

Lucas starts fidgeting. “Uh, listen, Nora. I enjoy hanging out with you and all, but like I said, I’m really trying to avoid drawing attention, and you, well—draw it… constantly. So, if we’re gonna be hanging out together, I really need you to do me a favor and start keeping a lower profile.”

“No promises—”

“Nora. Please," Lucas says with a stern expression. "I’m being serious.”

“Oh, uh, sure thing—”

“I need everyone to form two single-file lines, one for the men and one for the women. We’ll be taking you to your assigned dorm rooms, where you can settle in and prepare for your first classes tomorrow.”

“Well… see you tomorrow, Lucas.”

“See ya, Nora.”

***

A teacher leads me to my dorm room and opens the door.

“Woah!”

The room is filled with nice furniture, and all my stuff has already been placed around. It’s even a little bigger than my hut back home, minus the lack of a bathroom since we share those in communal areas. However—

“Two beds! Do you know who my roommate will be?”

“Hm…let’s see…” The teacher looks through her papers. “Ah, lucky you. Looks like you’re the odd one out, you get the room all to yourself.”

“Oh… uh, yeah… lucky me…”

After settling in, I spend a while preparing for school tomorrow. But just as I’m finishing up—

TAP-TAP!

I turn toward the window—

“Vincent!”

I race over and open the window.

“How did you—”

I look down to see him floating on water.

“Mind if I come in?” he asks.

I step back, then as soon as he enters, I tackle him with a hug.

“You didn’t think I’d leave without saying goodbye, now did you?”

“But…this is the girl’s dorm, you’re not allowed to be in here.”

He chuckles. “I used to attend this academy too, you know. Wouldn’t be the first time I snuck—”

He stops himself.

“...What?”

“Uh, forget that last part. Behave better than I did.”

We chat for a while. I tell him how my day went, and he gives me advice for my time at the academy.

“—that’s why I’d recommend using your classes this week to start figuring out what you want to achieve as a summoner. There’ll be a tournament for first-years this trimester that you’ll have the option of entering. Whatever you decide to pursue, if it would benefit from academic prestige, you should seriously consider entering—and if you do, you’ll want to start preparing for it as soon as possible. I know you’re not fond of combat, but placing highly can really open doors for you.”

“Did you enter when you went here?”

“Indeed I did.”

“Did you win?”

“…Uh, might want to ask Vivian the answer to that one.”

“Oh…”

…If someone as amazing as Vincent couldn’t even win, how could I—

“Nora.”

I look up.

“You’re a lot more talented than you realize. Whatever you set your mind to, I just know you’ll find a way.”

I hug him tightly.

“I’m really going to miss you, Vincent. I love you, so please… stay safe.”

“I love you too, Nora. You’re a good kid.”

He ruffles my hair, then pulls out the charm I gave him. “As long as I’ve got this, you can count on me coming back safely. I’ll make sure to visit you whenever I get the chance. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be sooner than you think. See you around, kid.”

“See you around, Vincent…”

After he leaves, I hop in bed and try to fall asleep. But so far away from home, with nobody to keep me company, I can’t help but feel lonely.

I get up to take Ratchet out of his birdcage and bring him to bed. Then I wake up my Broomalina and place it beside him. Finally, I summon Pudding.

“Would it be okay if I sleep with you and the others?”

“Squee!”

I hold the three of them tight as we snuggle up beneath the bed covers, and immediately start feeling more relaxed.

“Um… Racket, earlier, did you happen to hear when Vincent, um, uh—nevermind, it’s dumb—”

“I love you too, Nora. You’re a good kid.” Racket mimics in Vincent’s voice

I nuzzle up against Racket and the others, and every once in a while, he repeats Vincent’s words.

Slowly but surely, I drift off to sleep.