If there's one universal custom in schools of any time, is the passing of secret notes written on pieces of paper between students. Or parchment, but for most of the rich kids that bothered me, it was on paper. They used it probably to make a statement.

There was a whole profession entirely dedicated to making paper. The basic Abilities were cross-pollinated across other paper-wielding Proficiencies, like [Bookbinder], [Scrivener], and [Cartographer]. I never bothered to spend an Ability to learn how to make paper because I had too much of it in the item box.

A skilled [Papermaker] could make whiter paper, colored paper, scented paper, and add textures or protect the paper from moths, mold, and other stuff. And prevent ink from running or blurring. The latter was very important for the precise magic drawings.

The craft of the [Papermaker] was the perfect storm to profit from. Cheap raw materials, added value, and demand. With nobles and mages alike requesting the exquisite material to slake their fancies and preserve crafts respectively, a reputable and shrewd [Papermaker] was set for life.

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"First day is over!" I stretched and cheered. The princelings were already gone before the end of class, to dodge traffic in the corridors. Only us peasants and some knights remained behind.

"Yes," I learned a lot!" On the seat next to me, Marisol agreed and addressed me with a coy smile. "Erm… Haru, could we talk?"

She seemed to be fighting some internal conflict. I would dare say Marisol looked contrite, even. Smiling to ease her worries, I nodded. "Sure. Should we talk here in the classroom or do you want to go somewhere private?"

She sighed with relief. Grasping my wrist, she fixed her gaze on the exit. "Class is over, we could go to my room. You aren't sleeping in the dorms, I guess you might be curious about them. Wanna come over?"

I'd seen the dorm room already but she honestly wanted me to come. I played along. "Wow, Marisol, mind magic already? Because you just read my mind!" I giggled.

Marisol beamed and giggled with me. We jumped out of our slightly taller chairs as a knight clattered our way. He handed me a strip of rolled parchment ripped from some scroll. Without unrolling it, I read what was written on it using {Titan Skin}'s sight-like sense. The knight didn't wait for an answer and left as soon as I took it.

The gist of it was that Isengar Leondirac challenged for a magical duel against his bodyguard spellcaster, never mind said bodyguard was a seasoned professional and I was, for all purposes, a freshman student. That kind of overbearing approach was expected from the brutish mixed-breed [Spell Knight]. Ha! Overbearing! At least he had enough genetic diversity to avoid inbreeding for a few generations.

Marisol looked desperate to ask what it was about but she kept her tongue behind her teeth. I stowed the scroll fragment in my pack.

"Let's go," I said and scanned the room.

I wanted to invite some other students over but it was Marisol's room. Maybe I should throw a party for my classmates. Was it a thing? Everyone was staring at me and I heard another suit of armor clink its way here. At least it was a female knight. She didn't have her helmet on and looked the type to suffer a minus ten defense penalty against orc hordes when alone. At least she was polite and didn't wear boob armor.

"Greetings, my ladies," she bowed. "Her Highness Mirina Luwens of Lonid would like to invite you both to an afternoon tea if you please."

She handed us one invitation each. Her Highness's invitation came in a scented pink letter paper, carefully folded and gorgeously written with too many squiggles. Marisol opened hers and squealed. I read mine and hers, they were identical but for the name. It asked us to suggest a date.

Some of the other students were stalling to vacate the classroom, watching us get the knights' attention and shooting envious glares our way. I was glad Marisol seemed oblivious to it.

"Is Wednesday acceptable to your lady?" I asked.

"I'll confirm it tomorrow, thank you," she replied, assuming we'd accepted the invitation, which we tacitly did. It would be a grievous offense to reject it anyway and Marisol was eager to live the dream. I felt protective about her and was conflicted about these feelings. Maybe we should have a long talk.

Mirina probably wanted to rope us into her clique and make us her subordinates. To a prospective spellcaster arising from the masses, the idea of becoming acquainted with a princess at day one was mind-blowing, and the girl that sat at the conjoined desk by my side seemed to be experiencing exactly that. Working for Royalty as a spellcaster could be considered the second-most profitable occupation for a commoner after [Papermaker]. Orders of magnitude more glamorous too.

We left the classroom but not before one of Euric Fairfax of Ekar's knight ambushed us by the door. His "secret note" was on an envelope and looked like a business card. The last [Prince] wanted to meet me at the students' lounge to talk about my not-so-secret training with Marlowe, also at a date to be arranged. So kind of them to let me pick the time of my school death. I bet he would probably probe about my relationship to the [Saintess] and my en passant mention of Vukdon as well.

The almost-forgotten God of Magic and Spellcasters was making the rounds as his church gained strength and the lost flock of mages, warlocks, and sorcerers returned to their natural house of worship. He even gained the domain of "Puzzles and Mental Challenges", because of the success of the "Warlord's Trial" Dungeon at the plains. On the same note, Bit (who had only Monsters) gained two, the Dungeons domain for himself and the "Physical Trials" too, pairing him up with Vukdon.

If I could pick one out of all three invitations, I would go to the duel and ignore the other two. Fast, straightforward, I could go there, pretend to get my ass beaten while putting up a good show, get Isengar to stop breathing down my neck, and go on with my day. However, that wouldn't be the end of it as the trenchant Prince wouldn't let me alone no matter what unless I made him do it with overwhelming force, the only thing he understood. Regarding the political crisis. I was sure Isengar was just a fool that was brought here to serve as bait for Sadian. Capturing an enemy prince was prestigious and an added bonus to conquering Windemere.

Stolen story; please report.

No, the real prize was behind doors numbers two or three, maybe both. I couldn't just open door number one, unfortunately. This was a game show where the contestant, me, had to open all doors to avoid losing. This meant that, on top of a duel I would lose even if I won, I had a tea party and an intellectual debate to attend. Contacting the knights on the next days, I avoided pulling a D'artagnan [1] and managed to organize a schedule that put the three friendly confrontations two days apart from each other. The tea party Wednesday, then the meeting of the minds on Friday, and finally the duel on Sunday.

One thing always puzzled me. I had no idea why they called it a "secret note" when it was all but. When three people wearing at least twenty kilograms of metal come to deliver you a piece of paper one after the other out in the open, everyone will notice. Even if it is tossed over, or passed along the classroom, the "secret" part was just wishful thinking.

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We entered Marisol's room and she locked the door behind us. We took our boots off and left them by the door.

"Do you want some tea?" She offered.

The room wasn't spartan but also not lavish by any measure. The quality of the furniture was superb, for a peasant. She had a good bed with a fluffy down mattress, a wardrobe, a dresser next to the bed, and a desk by the window that fit a single chair. She boiled water with a Fire cantrip and served tea on the dresser. We made ourselves comfortable on the bed to talk. I took the foot of the bed as it was proper.

We started by engaging in small talk. We reminisced about the orphanage, she told me how Wisteria offered her the scholarship. Her tale went to how she moved to the capital with only a junior priest for an escort, and the feelings of loneliness and inferiority here at the Academy before the term started. Everyone was so haughty and out of her league that the top hen at the orphanage fell to the bottom of the pecking order.

She needed a friend, I reckoned. As our conversation reached today's events, she expressed genuine admiration for my performance. Feeling giddy, I pounced and hugged her.

"Haru, what are you…"

"Peace?" I asked as I caressed her blonde hair. Our squabbling felt so childish now.

"Peace sounds wonderful," her voice came out dreamy. We separated. She focused her gaze on me. "Haru, can I make one intimate question?" I beamed and nodded to ease her worries. "Do you like girls?" She was unsure of how to say it and did it slowly, measuring my reaction. "You never gave in to the boys' advances back at the orphanage. And today, the way you stared at the girls… especially Trinity." Marisol blushed furiously, hid her face with a pillow, and squealed.

I raised a doubtful eyebrow. Marisol was a fervent member of the "nightly worship" crew back at the Goddess of Love's orphanage. But I didn't let her see my expression of disbelief. When she uncovered her eyes, I had a mischievous smirk. My twin tails flickered behind me.

"Wow, Marisol, I never knew you felt like that about me--"

She punched my shoulder, "Shut up!"

We laughed a lot, and our bond became fraternal just like that. The wall separating us proved to be paper-thin once we had the courage to poke it. In a way, coming to the capital was our rite of passage. Gone was the childish squabbling. I didn't feel grumpy at all next to her now. I wasn't even cursing as much.

"Trinity, eh?" She poked my ribs and insisted.

"She has nice skin," I commented feigning disinterest.

"Satin feels nice," she agreed, baiting me. I didn't react. We sat in silence for all of five seconds before she probed me again. "Which of the two Princes would you date?"

Damn. We were doing so well, she had to fail the Bechdel [2] for us.

"Neither," I answered with a blank face.

"[Princess] Mirina then?" She wiggled her eyebrows and licked her lips.

I shook my head again and raised a hand to stop her. "Trust me, Royalty and I are immiscible. It usually ends badly."

She pushed past my hand and pinched my cheeks, threatening to push me down on the bed with her weight, "Shut up! How many Royals did you ever meet?" She asked right next to my face.

I gently moved her back to her spot near the head of the bed. "Three, only today. Too many by any measure."

Back at her place, she drooled and droned on regardless of me, "I would pick Isengar, I am sure he knows how to handle a woman."

I shook my finger in disapproval, "Mind the gap, sister. He's too much for you."

She ignored me and hugged herself, kissing an imaginary giant prince floating in the air. "He would scoop me up on one of those large manly hands and make me his."

I shook Marisol before she went on and peaked on her own. "Girl, you have a lot of pent-up stress. Chill. You can't date him."

"I know, right! It's so unfair! First-year students aren't allowed to date!" She lamented and whined. "There's even an anti-boy ward around the whole dorm! Who sees the need for warding against boys?"

"Probably people who want no babies born on the campus," I quipped, holding back my mirth. "I bet there's also one against girls in the boys' dorm."

"Ridiculous, right?" Damn, she was serious.

She wouldn't listen to reason and it wasn't my problem. But I could help her keep the panties on. I rummaged in my pack and took a Rosewise Honorcoin best-seller. "I got this and never used it. Here, you can have it. I'll get another one for me later."

Marisol took it with her mouth gaping, which quickly turned into a devilish grin. "Haru, you naughty girl!" She cackled and accidentally hit the switch. The toy fell on the bed buzzing and skipping. Marisol shrieked as I turned it off. We laughed at the ridiculous situation. Suddenly sultry, she snatched it back then pointed at the door. "I think it's time for you to go, Haru," She delivered and then wiggled her eyebrows, crawling and leaning over me. She rubbed the item over her chest. "Unless you want to show me how to use it."

I pushed her away but not before she rubbed it against my cheek, "Nope. Not doing it. And you can wait until tonight. You and me, we are going out to get some air and cool down that dirty mind of yours. Put that away, young lady."

Skeptical, she sighed loudly and asked, "Where to?"

I threw my arms up, "You have a tea party with a [Princess], you horny woman. What are you going to wear?"

Reality washed away the peasant girl's wild desires. She gasped and let the toy fall on the bed, "Fuck me."

Adamant, I rejected her, "Nope to that too. I'm taking you shopping. Shopping! Stow that thing away before someone sees it and steals it from you. Come, I know just the guy to get you a gorgeous gown and take your mind out of the gutter for once."

"Okay!" She squealed mid-sentence when I said the magic "S-word".

We jumped out of bed. I straightened my uniform and Marisol changed her damp garments without removing her uniform. We left the Academy and made our way to the Bazaar. It was early, but Fat Felix should have what we needed.

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[1] From "The Three Musketeers". D'artagnan schedules three duels back-to-back one hour apart from each other.

[2] The Bechdel Test. Two female characters need to have a conversation that doesn't involve men. This automatically fails if MC is involved because this novel is a Gender Bender. For the same reason, all of MC's romantic relationships are gay, one way or another.