Day 184 of 1877, month of Arell
Ellie woke up at 6:00 sharp.
She glanced to the side, her sister was nowhere to be seen.
Thought unknown to others, she slowly crept towards the restroom,
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Morning ritual done, it wasn’t the first time without Ellia in the vicinity, but judging from her expression, she must have been rather lonely. Still, it was far too early to go to the classroom immediately, thus she sat at the study table, last night, she began working on the assignment, almost to the conclusion even, but something felt missing from the report.
“I hope sis is okay…” she muttered those words out, barely adding and erasing words in the report, making meagre progress with each passing seconds.
Knocks came from the door, “Coming…” Ellie shouted, the sound shouldn’t be able to get out, but she did so out of habit. Opening and looking through the peephole, she reluctantly opened the door.
…
It was Lotte, he’s wearing the institute’s standard uniform, though the cloak signifying his post remains, “She is staring at me…”. Seeing Ellie made way, he entered carefully, “Is there something on my face…?”
Ellie shook her head, “Y-Your eyes are lovely….” crude description from Ellia said it to be ‘purple’, to be more specific, the shade is akin to amethyst. Purple articles were rather rare in nature, whilst people of this world’s hair come in different shades, even there purple was rare to non-existence.
“I-... Thank you…” Lotte gave the girl a warm smile, Ellie turned away, blushing. “...That’s sly of you…” internal thoughts aside, they move towards the tea table, a scene reminiscence of him with Ellia not too long ago.
“W-what brings you here?” she poured a cup of tea, though she brewed it immediately once she woke, so it had gone rather cold. The pot did not seem magical in nature.
“Oh, I’m here on behalf of the gendarmerie, charges against your sister, and you have been officially absolved, though your sis still has to enter re-education for another reason…”
“C-Charges?”
“Got you.” Lotte smiled internally, two can play the game of deception, but the more seasoned one would naturally prevail, as long as one does not slip up or underestimate their opponent. Twisting his face into that of genuine confusion, he said, “Did your sister not tell you…?” receiving the expected shook of head, he listed the petty crimes, no changes from before.
Ellie seemed distressed, the tells obvious to the perceptive glance. He needn’t add fuel to the ember, that would only extinguish the flames. For now, imagination would be his best weapon.
“Doubt will grow to discord, and from discord comes resentment…” he picked up the tea cup and gave it a taste. “This is exquisite… Thank you.” Just then, the cup dropped to the floor, human instinct made him grip his neck area, attempting to breathe as the airway collapsed to itself.
“Ehehehe…” Ellie crept herself to the side of the man, pinning an attempt of attack with the concealed weapon. “Hehe… mister, do you take me for a fool?”
Just then- Her eyes glowed crimson, pupils dilated like that of a predator, she bore fangs and sank deep into the man’s neck, blood- Wait, has Ellie and Lotte characterisation always be this way?
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“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Ellia shouted, dreams still vivid in her mind, though another concern would arise, she couldn’t see a thing. Some seconds past, as fragments of the recent dream started to fade, she would become conscious of the fact that there was something covering her face, something rather soft and rubbery.
Slowly putting the object aside, she confirmed that she could see again, the room was unfamiliar, plain white paster wall, minimum lighting yet enough that would interfere with sleep.
“I never dreamt of little sis like that before… what the hell has got into me”
She checked her surroundings, the ‘bed’ she was on seemed to be that of medical. There wasn’t anything else in the room apart from a cabinet and some articles of hers atop, “Right… I asked the evil deities to strike me down. Might as well do it again just to be sure…” she breathed in, gathering as much air in her lungs as it would allow “O’Evil Deities, strike me down this instant…”
. But nothing happened, a mere coincidence after all.
She reached for her tablet on the cabinet, it was so close that she need not get up or move her legs an inch, the time expressed was ‘9:57; she confirmed the date to be a day after the day she got struck, 184 of 1877.
She then looked at herself, a cute night gown she’s in, with patterns of bears and grasses made her wonder if the place truly is an infirmary, or even part of the Imperial Institute of War.
“Eeek!” she let out those sounds, for the door had opened and from beyond came Lotte.
“Eeek..?” he looked at Ellia, as if to discern whether it’s Ellie in disguise or not.
“Um… you. Hello.” she waved her hand awkwardly, was that even a motion acceptable in high society? She couldn’t tell.
“Yes, hello.” he was dressed in the institute attire, very much akin to what Ellia saw in her dreams, he had a few items in his hand which prompted her to ask,
“Are you here on behalf of the gendarmerie?”
“Not this time” he handed her a form, “Due to an unfortunate accident that occurred, you are entitled to some compensation…”
“Oh, there goes our financial problem!”
“...As per contact, it will be mailed to your family immediately upon your discharge, waived medical fee will be mailed to your current dormitory as the situation happened outside the campus area, you are not entitled to free healthcare.
“… I should have known… How many part-times do you have? ” she sighed deeply, looking through documents and signing each appropriately. Perhaps due to the earlier dream or their previous encounter, she scanned everything carefully, even to see if something was on the back of the paper, but all seemed to be in order.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“30 clanes fee, I suppose if I need to rent a room it would be that much for a day… Father will probably mail the money back… Did mother get home safely? I wonder how they are doing…”
The incident described on paper was caused by something she didn’t quite understand, the descriptions seemed to be gibberish, at least to her. Though in the end, she ended up signing everything given.
“... Is that guy a statue? Stop staring at me…” as the ink of her signature trailed off at the last piece of paper, her mind brought her back to the ludicrous dream. “Is there something wrong in my head…? No, couldn’t be.” nodding to herself, she handed everything back to the oblivious Lotte.
“All seems in order.” he said, not opening a single page, “When you deem yourself fit enough, you may leave and rejoin your sister.”
“When I’m fit enough? That’s stupid, I can move well-” her eyes widened, the last possible witness of her panic expression had left the room. She couldn’t move her legs. Unclothing the blanket, her legs were there still, she could caress it, pat it like usual, though it’s like touching someone else’s rather her own. The slightest sensations were all a construct of her mind, of what it should have been.
“Can anyone go in my way?!”
She swiped through her ‘tablet’, finding material for ‘Common Offensive Magic I’ class to be there, if her legs wouldn’t allow her study, then she might as well do it herself.
“Let’s see… only thirty pages?!” she scrolled through the entire text, it was filled with various illustrations, way more friendly than previous texts whose volume was so vast as if it had been resurrected from the burnt library. “I see… this is the material for only today’s class, next week more will be given?” she looked at her selection, nothing a weird additional one outside the classes she enrolled. Curious, she navigated to it.
“Let’s see… first page… John.. Mary…? What….”
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“Big sis!” a charming young voice came through the door with vividly and clarity, very much like her mannerism back home. “How are you-”
“Hello, sister. I’m feeling quite well, considering the circumstances. Most puzzling that I feel as such, despite the intricacies of my circumstances and paralysed leg.” the tone of response was the same as ever, but something seemed off.
“Um… are you okay?” she nervously entered, placing some take-out food on a nearby counter.
“Ah, I see your concern. After reading this paper, I have been enlightened. For instance, did you know that assuming I’m not okay just because I’m talking differently could be a hasty generalization? It’s a common fallacy where one draws a broad conclusion based on limited evidence. But don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine. How’s everything with you?”
“I noticed that she has been afflicted with the philosopher’s dilemma.” another figure walked in, attire cover every bit of skin as usual.
“S-senior Madoff? You’ve followed me?” Ellie rushed behind the man, earning a displeased look from her sister.
“Your hasty assumption is but a causal fallacy, stemming from ignorance of your mind.”
“Are the words you speak not ad hominem?” Madoff inched closer; however, the big sister was not intimidated.
“‘Hominem’, humanity. To conclude personhood from speech is but a fallacy fallacy, appealing to ignorant masses and appealing to probability. Thus, if I correctly do not consider you human, there my statement could not have been a ‘personal attack’”
“W-what happened to sis?!”
Madoff would lean in and whispered, “She had unknowingly read a cursed rendition of ‘Introduction to Logic’, it is a tomb infiltrated the magical tablet of many, it started as a practical joke from the Imperial Institute of Magic, but annual affliction remains despite its creator’s deposition.
During the man’s exposition, Ellia seemed to be rambling on about something, intricate words started to lose meaning with each passing seconds.
“You learnt the solution to this today, solve it.”
Ellie nodded, slowly, a tiny circle of magic appeared in front of her chest area, the conduit counter of her indicated that she had five left. “[Sleepy Spores]” Flashes of tint blue light basked Ellia, her mouth and eyelids closed, before peacefully falling asleep.
“Congratulations on mastering your first second order spell.” The way he said it made it sound like there was a crowd of audiences applauding Ellie. “As you now know how to manipulate mana, the rest of the second tier should be as simple.”
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“I’m so, so sorry!” the time was somewhere after 15:00, Ellia can be seen apologising profusely to her senior, face reddened, the biggest embarrassment of her life.
“Pay it no mind, I have dealt with many before.” he brushed the concern away as the trio checked out of the infirmary, Ellie learnt that the distance is huge from here to the walls of the inner institutes.
“At this rate… we would get enough exercise for the day by just walking… Is that why the buildings are so far apart?!”
“Will sis really go to the um… Necromancy class?” the concern did not derive from fear of the undead, on the contrary, Ellie loved those sorts of being. Whilst Ellia would cite similarity to ‘robots’ from the comics she had read, the little sister thought it to be cool. Unfortunately, the time conflicted with her mandatory course, Etiquette.
“Don’t worry, my legs are fine now! Big sis will definitely learn lots and teach you!” the pair nodded to themselves, yet they must separate for now lest they want to be late for their first respective classes.
A warm embrace and series of pats, they walked in the opposite direction…
“My most profound apologies for unable to provide the promised tour.” Madoff suddenly spoke, making Ellia remember he was walking with her all along. Recovering quickly, she waved his worry away.
“Oh, please don’t let it weight on your mind, senior.” the streets seemed crowded, evening stalls prepped and with it came customers and window shoppers. “Ellie introduced me to a shortcut in the northern part of the city. Is there one here?”
“Unfortunately, nothing of the sort.”
Some people looked at the two briefly before turning away, at first, she thought that being with a cloaked entity would arise more suspicion. Upon further consideration, the senior had been around for a bit, so people could’ve got used to him.
Strangely, Ellia seemed to be in an elated mood, was it because she had good sleep…? What did the spell even do to her? She had no mood for conspiracy or theory, “If I may ask, how come you were with my sister previously?”
“I happen to be assistant to three classes of today that miss Ellia has enrolled, including necromancy.”
“I see, I see!” she nodded happily along, “Thank you for taking care of my sister, her complexion cleared up, so I’m almost certain something good happened~”
“It is as miss Ellia said, the classes were fun to attend, I’m certain you would be most satisfied as well had you not been bed struck.” his word persuaded Ellia entirely, still, a bit of worry started to grow on her.
“Since I didn’t attend both lecture… is there consequence or make up for those pair of courses?”
“I believe Lotte informed the instructor of your state, Ellie volunteered to help miss catch up to speed for the incoming assignment, which is a pair work.”
“I suppose luck can be in my favour after all!” she felt like this was the first time she had genuinely smiled in front of someone else ever since she left her home. Perhaps life wasn’t so bad after all. Free money, free lodging, free food, free knowledge, then when she graduates she likely needn’t do anything.
“Your complexion seems to clear as well, miss.”
“Look, I know senior’s probably former nobility or some such, please just refer to me as Ellia, no need for misses, same for my sister!” noticing reluctance in response, she continued, “A lot had been on my mind ever since I’ve departed… I suppose I finally found peace, strangely enough.”
Madoff paused his step, his expression unknown behind the mask, but something told Ellia he, too, was happy to hear that. “I’m most delighted to hear that, however I must inform… you that this could be temporary, [Sleepy Spore] spell is unstable by nature, it could cause temporary hallucinogenic effect, though I’m uncertain whether you are afflicted by that or not.”
Ellia recalled some mushroom having a similar effect, her village herbalist was known to refine those into a sleeping pill or other medications “Well, let’s just wait and see but it’s probably not that.”
“You can confide in me if you wish… Ellia.”
“Hmm… Well, I apologise for saying this, but we are nowhere close enough, but I can tell you one thing for certain.” she paused, the sight of the entrance gate appear before their field of vision, she turned around, comb her hair against incoming current wind, “Large part of my happiness derives from seeing my sister happy, I’ll never, ever forgive anyone who attempts to hurt her, I was so worried that someone had done something to her, but I suppose it’s all in my head.”