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“Ever since the times of kings, Serinn possessed a magic item dubbed one of the national treasures, which single-handedly responsible for preventing unrest,
It was no brainwashing tool nor something that can turn a tide of war, yet it was directly responsible for thirteen million deaths and countless arrests after its acquisition.
‘Sight of The State’ or so it was called by the public, can allegedly see the crime scene and the culprit’s current location, simply by their name… Is that not entertaining? Petty crimes such as vandalism can make the state permanently see your precise location, like a tracker that cannot be removed… Well, as long as they are in Serinnian borders, that is.”
The person before me struggled, is that not entertaining? They are bounded not only by ropes but also magical restraints, why would they waste their energy by struggling…
I inched closer, they cannot speak, of course, I had already made preparations for that. Still, do I feel guilty doing this to so many people? Not really, on the contrary, they should be the one that feel guilty for wasting my time.
“Now then, listen closely dear child, the problem with that description is what constitutes a crime, who arbitrates what is a crime, suppose it is a lawbook, but the law has been revoked, would the targeting cease?”
I peered into their eyes, colours generic to the commonly uneducated. Features and race clearly inferior to mine, yet luck would bless occasionally bless these poor kinds. “Come now, are you even listening child?” tired, I grabbed the closest object nearby, hardly effective in its designed job but for persuasion? Undoubtedly.
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Day 182 of 1877, month of Arell
Ellia cursed in various tongue in her mind, for the past eleven hours, she had been attempting to fall to sleep, occasionally drifting and awaken by immense, crushing pressure of cheer anxiety, conspiracies, imageries, noises, possibilities. Everything imaginable flushed her mind in full detail.
She checked the curtain, it had been morning for a while, her sister nowhere to be found. Locked up, tortured, in coma or even dead, she could not bear the thought. Compounded with already fragile mental state, she even surprised herself that she managed to stay sane.
“Or perhaps I have already gone crazy… And this place has some sort of dampening effect… Could it be that I was brainwashed when I was carted to the room? Perhaps nothing I know that is real by any means… Ah… how do I prove that? How do I know what’s real, and what’s not.” she giggled to herself, rousing from her bed, checking to see a corpse-like girl reflecting from it? “Hahaha… hello me!” she touched the mirror, perhaps expecting ‘Perfect Ellia’ to respond? Unfortunately, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Knock Knock
Ellia almost let out a shriek, she sped to the door, and opened it wide. An unfamiliar man, in what would have been rather casual attire if not for the conspicuous black cloak. Brown skin, purple eyes, black hair long enough to be tied into a ponytail, an uncommon sight back in East Tapol and even perhaps here.
“... Who the hell are you-”
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“Are you feeling any better?”
Not responding to the question immediately, Ellia downed another cup of tea the man brought, “No.” her expression, on the contrary to her words, seemed to brighten up a bit, whether it’s due to the calming effect of the tea, or the presence of another human.
Ellia sighed deeply, “The semester hasn’t even start, and I’m already in this state…” “Who are you anyway? Another agent of the state? Granny from yesterday? Serial killer? Maybe you poisoned the tea, when will it take effect?”
The man looked calmly, “The first one is correct.” he poured another glass of tea, enough caffeine to make her awake for a week given the amount consumed, his voice had an oddly soothing effect, almost androgynously so. “You have violated one of the sub articles in the imperial code… Specifically, one regarding stealing.”
“...” Ellia thought back, had she committed a crime and didn’t remember? Perhaps whilst her sanity was breaking down, her body moved unconsciously? “No… that couldn’t be, I need to be normal again…”
“I’m sorry, I will return them right away” Ellia pointed at one of the counters, on it were some assortments of books, the returning time supposed to be morning of that day.
“You and your sister wouldn’t be indicted, fortunately. However, for your safety, you should use a little more formal language… Or can you tell I’m not actually an official?”
Ellia nodded, she had been charged thrice with petty crimes, that would be when she was made aware of the ever-peeping eyes of the state, granted she was never punished, merely warned and made aware.
“Look, I can clearly tell you are on edge and don’t want to talk to me, but I have a job to do so, any way I can help you?”
“Be logical, I can’t vent to a random part-timer by nor complain, it’s not fair…” Her heart ached even more, no warmth of family, no certain future and present in mind, perhaps she could be greedy, just this once…
“I…” she paused, “No need, please just tell me what you want.”
“Are you certain?” receiving a nod, he continued, “Additionally, you have not enrolled in courses yet whilst the instruction said clearly to enrol at least one by midnight to confirm your attention.”
“Oh…” she looked around, where did she even place the thing?
“Lastly… For using excessive force indoor with intent to harm, you are expected to be punished accordingly.”
“… But?” Ellia’s hope would unfortunately be crushed.
“Unfortunately, there is no but, as first offence, weekly two hours attendance to nearby re-education centre on weekend for two months will suffice.” upon finishing the sentence, something in the man’s cloak-pocket burnt in shade of blue, it did not catch on nor did it produce any smoke. “Verdict has been read to the perpetrator…” The flames diminished into nothingness, a mutter can be heard, “I can get paid now.”
“Well, I’m glad at least one of us can be happy.” she nodded, “For enrolment, can I wait for my little sister before I decide…? Or is it too late for me to even register…”
“As I have said, the registration is merely an attention checker, you can register and withdraw at any time during the semester. There are a few more criteria, but I suggest you look at those yourself.”
Despite the mirror dimension suggesting mandatory courses for the semester to be none, ‘Magic Theory I’ was automatically enrolled for every student and cannot be withdrawn.
Finally found her tablet, Ellia went to verify, surely enough, the course was on there and added to her personal timetable.
“Thank you for your help…” she muttered, perhaps managed to anchor herself back to normalcy, “Is this also planned…? I should stop thinking about it for now…”
“I will leave you alone for now, you seem to need it” he got up to his feet, “We are likely to run into each other in the institution so, my name is hard to pronounce, so please refer to me as Lotte.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Ellia looked in surprise, the man before her couldn’t be much older than her, yet a certain amount of age gap was clear, is he attending as a student or a professor? If the latter, should she be happy that at least one of the people that will be teaching her wasn’t… a headache to be around? If he’s attending as a student, perhaps he grew a bit too quickly, since Arieno seemed to be around her age, she concluded that age range was criteria in the conscription method.
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Books returned to the library, room cleaned, lunch ate, still no signs of Ellie. Lotte had been accompanying Ellia for the duration, a well-needed distraction.
“Why are you still here?” she said in a soft tone, the very first sentence since morning. “… Sorry if it sounds rude.”
The man contemplated, “I assume you need some company before your sister returns…”
“Wrong answer, you're here because they told you to do so, I can see such an obvious plant from continents away.”
Ellia nodded, “I do feel a lot better now, please leave.”
“I can't do that, or so he will say”
“You clearly are still agitated, but if you are sure you're fine, I will let you be.” Ellia thought he looked guilty, but his answer was unexpected; thus she will continue to press the attack.
“I will be fine, please leave.” he bowed lightly before making his way out, picking up the teapot he had bought.
“Huh, he actually did… Was I wrong?”
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Some minutes later, the door slowly opened, since someone broke into their room and abducted Ellie during the initiation process, the security couldn't be described as the best, though perhaps such luxury only applies to officials.
“Ellie!” The big sister rushed forward, for a wide embrace, yet the reception seemed more lukewarm than usual.
“Sis…” detaching the hug, Ellia observed her sister’s expressions, with a hint of tears in her eyes, she looked to see any obvious signs of injuries and found none. She was wearing an unfamiliar pair of clothing, nothing noteworthy about the fit.
“Are you okay?” The question received consecutive nods, “What happened…?”
“I… can’t say” she slowly walked to her bed and lay on it rather unceremoniously. For the first time, Ellia felt a massive chasm between them. A whispering of air told her, “No matter how hard you press, you will not get an answer”.
Heart filled with conflict, she gave in. “If you say so… Have you eaten?” an affirmative nod answered the question, Ellie sunk onto the bed, the soft mattress absorbed the impact, after some struggling to get the rest of her body on bed, she pulled out her tablet and asked, “Has sis enrol in any courses?”
Ellia shook her head, giving her an opportunity to spot injuries, but as before, nothing can be seen. Suppose there were wounds under the clothes, such movements would arouse some pain…
“Or perhaps she really had wounds underneath and did that specifically to conceal the fact… Gosh, what am I doing questioning my sister… At this rate, I will seriously go insane.”
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The pair spent some time looking over the courses they could enrol, apparently they could register-unregister on demand before midnight of the day before that particular courses’ beginning. A part of her wished she had asked Lotte more questions, from the surface, he seemed the easiest to talk to among the three encountered students.
“If only I wasn’t distracted by those damn books…” Ellia vowed to never read comic books again as her mind started to wander possibility of making actual friends before the semester begin, still there was nothing to be done for now.
“So… If we finish a class, we get a certificate, and certificates and credits can be exchanged for financial support amongst other things… Some courses last shorter than the others, Common Offensive Magic I have only 3 consecutive lectures, while unarmed combat I take the whole semester once a week.”
“Paid to study, huh…? No, forced, then paid to study.”
She looked closely, it doesn’t take a genius to realise something from the lists of available courses. “Wait, don’t some of these have oddly high credits?”
‘Credits’ in this case does not work like in formal higher educations, as Ellie had summarised, it can be traded for benefits, one could theoretically graduate without ever getting a single one outside mandatories, collaborating Lotte’s explanation. Still, the exchange rates are still unknown to the two, and there was nothing they could find on the application.
“We could maximise this…” Ellia suggested, she mapped some courses in comparison to the mandatory Magic Theory I, deriving the amount of credits gained by hours needed to finish each, the differences in some, were obscene.
“540% efficiency on… Foraging?” something seemed off, Ellia assumed that there would be benefits to courses that are relevant to their future roles. “Could be a bait to make people not take courses that will cover the semester examination? But why? They conscripted us and instead of giving proper education and training, introduced more room for human errors? This doesn’t make sense…”
Ellie nodded along, thoughts concealed to only her mind, “According to the timetable for this week…”
Magic Theory I
None.
Magic Theory I
None.
Magic Theory I.
Magic Theory I.
None.
“Magic Theory starts at 8:00 and ends at 12:00… If we understand everything correctly, 4th class is the final class, next week is wholly empty…”
“And since courses cannot be full, we can afford to be spontaneous…” The clause ‘cadets do not need to be concerned with courses being full, a new session one will be automatically opened at the same time slot’ of the enrolment greatly bugged her,
“Still, do they just have enough teachers on hand for the worst-case scenario? That seems like a waste of money…” As the endpoint of this attempt to reason would undoubtedly end in ‘institutional corruption’, she decided not to pursue the thoughts for now.
“Let’s enrol in something that overarching the entire semester first.”
Ellie nodded in agreement, “‘Close quarter combat I’ sounds useful…” aside from the course's name, there doesn’t seem to be a course description, or syllabus outside the credits granted and hours required to complete.
“Necromancy I…? Sounds fun!”
Ellie nodded happily, perhaps the desire to reanimate corpses are mutual, though her cheerful expression would drop “Oh… I can’t… the time would conflict with my mandatories…”
“Wait… I’m in the reserve track, which is Ellie in?”
“D-Diplomacy…” she stuttered those words out, expression clearly worsened. As if suddenly struck by the pestilence itself.
“Look, remember that your sister is always here for you, okay?” she reached her hand to give Ellie a head pat, and the little sister reciprocated with a hug, though not as warm as always.
“I… can’t say much.” she reaffirmed, re-routing attention to the tablet, they had to finish registration soon to not miss anything.
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For the first week, the schedule was produced and finalised. They could definitely add more, but in their opinion, these will be more than enough.
Magic Theory I
(8:00-12:00)
Military Organisation I
(13:00-16:00)
Common offensive magic I (10:00-12:00)
Common defensive magic I (13:00-15:00)
Necromancy I / Etiquette (S)
(16:00-19:00)
Magic Theory I
(8:00-12:00)
Close-quarter combat I (13:00-17:00)
Introduction to foraging (9:00-12:00).
Useful Magic Items I
(13:00-18:00)
Magic Theory I
(8:00-12:00)
Relevant History I (13:00-15:00)
Magic Theory I
(8:00-12:00)
None. / Professional Dialogues(S)
(9:00-15:00)
Ballroom (S)
(18:21-22:00)
(S — Ellie.)
Note: Ellia has to go to re-education on the last day of the week.