Arithmetic ended up being far more draining than Christie expected, though that was by virtue of the professor not taking even a second after writing to start erasing the contents of the slate. Otherwise, it was rather trivial information. Teacher Dago had already informed them that the contents would start basic to establish a shared and standardized foundation amongst all the students, but considering she had the best score of the written exam in their region… yes, it would take a while for classes to catch up to her.

  Perhaps I should let studies on the background and instead train my body… Christie thought to herself with much pandering and suffering. But it hurts so much... It is so tiring… I am still tired from this morning, but Agatha is fresh like a… like a… Fractures! I am tired; her exhaustion ran so deep that she couldn't even come up with a comparison.

  The previous excitement that her roommate proselytized about History classes and wanting to learn about the world was nowhere to be seen the moment Arithmetic class ended, and a new teacher came to impart the class. A blond woman by the name of Novela Ashcroft. She wasn't as old as Jacobello Castellar, but she wasn't young either. Around Miss Diorite's age, Christie guessed.

  She was still tired from the morning run, and arithmetic seemed to have fried her roommate's brain, so the duo spent most of the class with vacant eyes as they listened, nodded, and took down notes. Thankfully, this first History class was a rather simple and laidback one that mentioned preestablished and well-known facts about the current status quo of the Kingdom of Crocheta and its dominance over the agate mines.

  "In the current century, we have been at war many times with many nations," the blond teacher informed. "The offenders are always the same, of course, which are none other than our neighbors: the Empire of Grwcia, the Sultanate of Secto, and the Confederation of Sanaar. And no, we have not been at war with Intak Solfan, even if they are our 'neighbors'. There is a sea between us, and that is more than enough deterrence for war. Now that I have mentioned Intak Solfan, it is important to make a distinction between Secto and this. Both have similar cultures, and whilst Intak Solfan might be an Emirate, its territory is far more massive than Secto, and that is without taking into account all the maritime territory they control with their armada. But we will get into maritime politics and warfare-"

  A bell tolled.

  All the students' heads snapped upwards in peerless attention and synchronization. Novela Ashcroft's lesson wasn't tiresome at all, but the woman just didn't stop speaking, and her soft voice acted like the softest of lullabies.

  "Oh, my," the History teacher said with a hand on her chest in surprise. "As it would seem, classes are over for today. You are free to go, children."

  Some students rushed out of the classroom, of course, with the due decorum worthy of the Skyscraper Academy. Others remained behind to talk with one another. Yet her roommate was petrified with her gaze locked forward.

  "You have noticed that the class is over, right?" Christie whispered in her ear.

  "Oh, yeah," Agatha replied absentmindedly. "It is just that I was thinking."

  "About what?" The nouveau riche conceitedly stretched her extremities. She couldn't be too visible, lest she be indecorous.

  "About how little I knew about the world," the villager said. "I have seen the gazes of our classmates during the lesson, and no one was surprised but… I never knew we had been in so many wars. I knew we had been at war with Grwcia but… that is it. I was never told that we had been at war with Secto and Sannar, least of all recently."

  "Well…" Christie started as she stood up. "We have come from the most remote part of the kingdom, all the way back on the ocean shore, to inland next to the border. Knight's Ascent is as much of a capital as it is a statement. A country does not put its capital near the border for no reason. It is a proclamation. One of expansion."

  "Well said," a soft voice joined the conversation. It was Novela Ashcroft. "You are well-versed in politics and history, young one. Did you have a tutor at home?"

  "Not at all," the redhead slightly swayed her head whilst she pressed her palm against her sternum. "All of this I read in books, and I came to the conclusions on my own."

  "On your own? My!" If the teacher wasn't ecstatic before, now she had struck a vein. "If you are able to make such complex connections at your young age, you have a bright future before you. Miss Valasela, right?" Christie nodded. "I expect a lot from you."

  Those were the last words the History teacher said before she took her leave from the needlessly high-ceilinged classroom.

  "Should we get going then?" Christie offered, and Agatha replied in kind.

  Lunch was as tepid as always. The gruel that they served at the mess hall was not, by any means, appetizing, but it also wasn't delectable. It just got the job done, being nutritional and whatnot.

  "You know," Agatha started, "one day is okay. Two too. But I am going to throw myself off the academy if I have to eat this food for a whole year."

  "Did you not mention how insipid the food you had beforehand was?"

  "Yeah, the gravy is good and all, but eating the same stuff every single day is going to gnaw on my mind. I want some… variety. Depths!" her roommate used the lightest of expletives. "I would settle for garbage. Just something different."

  "I mean, we are being served this food in the academy, but that does not mean we have to eat it."

  "Do tell?" Her sapphire eyes shone as if commanded by Light.

  "There is no rule against eating anything else or anywhere else. I do not think we would be allowed in the kitchens – at least during peak hours – but we are allowed to go down to the city."

  "And why are we not doing that?"

  Christie frowned for a moment and then recalled – yet again – that her roommate still hadn't had a tour of the academy. And she hadn't been exhaustive in her guidance in the slightest.

  "First-year students are only allowed to get down from the academy during weekends or holidays."

  "Fu-fractures," Agatha cursed again. The slight pause and stutter in her sentence made Christie raise her brow, but she didn't comment on it. "But now that I think about it, I could not do anything even if I got down to the city. It is not like I have any money to my name."

  "Did your family not give you any for your stay?"

  "Just enough – barely, I might add – for the journey. There was not that much money to give, to begin with," her roommate sighed.

  "I could give you some."

  "I would rather not live on loans."

  "They would not be loans, just… well, gifts."

  "I still preferred against that," the blonde said sourly.

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  "And what if you earned it?"

  "In what sense?"

  "I might have… difficulties getting up and down the academy. If you help me on such occasions, even if you were not to accompany me, I might pay you for your services."

  "That I… might accept. Though what difficulties are we talking about?"

  "That I… rather not say," Christie responded with a wry smile.

  "Fine by me," Agatha raised her palms and smiled innocently, but from that smile Christie was able to intuit that the girl had already her guesses.

  I am not that easy to read. Right? The redhead sighed internally because she had the suspicion that might well be the case.

  "Anyhow, let us better not dally further here. We are taking up space," Christie grabbed her tray and deposited it before making her way out of the mess hall.

  "So what now?" Agatha lazily walked behind her, and even though there was a certain neglect on her steps, she was able to match Christie's pace easily. "Do you want to train? You mentioned you wanted to get in shape."

  "I do not know if the appropriate term would be 'get in shape', but I would rather leave the training after my stomach has settled first," the nouveau riche said with a soft smile. "We have the rest of the day to ourselves, so I thought of visiting the stables."

  "The stables?" Her roommate arched a brow.

  "Is that weird?" Christie rubbed her fingers together.

  "No, well, maybe," Agatha corrected. "My doubt came more from the fact that there are stables up here."

  "I mean… There are a lot of nobles here, and it is not like it takes a lot of time or effort to get their mounts up and down."

  "You would think that the movement of the lifts would unsettle them."

  "Yeah, you would think so… Totally, ha, ha, ha…" The rubbing of her fingers intensified until it exploded into a clap. "Anyhow, what will you do?"

  "What do you mean?" The blonde crossed her arms.

  "Like… what will you do now?" Christie added in confusion.

  "Oh," she gasped. "I was intending to follow you."

  "You know that even though we are roommates, we do not need to spend all the time together, right?"

  "I am completely aware of that fact. But also, I do not know where most of the stuff in the academy is, and I am also rather in… inti… intri… Depths! What is the word?"

  "Which one?"

  "When you are like, you know, interested in something? But more formal."

  "Intrigued?"

  "That one!" Agatha pointed at her realization. Then she looked at her extended finger in shame and coyly brought it to her chest as she noticed her lack of decorum. "So, yeah, I am intrigued about the stables."

  "Intrigue is not that formal of a word," the nouveau riche added.

  "It is if no one around you used it," the villager stated as a matter of fact.

  "Alright…" Christie responded whilst elongating the sound of the first syllable. "Should we get going?"

  The academy wasn't that expansive when considering how many people inhabited it, especially the main castle. To get to the stables first, they had to get out of the reformed castle and into an auxiliary building that didn't share as many of the plentiful decorations of the main building. It also possessed no agate veins. At least none of them were exposed, as there was some lighting around. The same couldn't be said for the stables themselves.

  It was a dingy building, but Christie guessed more had that look like the ones in her state weren't luxurious either, but instead had a powerful rustic touch. The ones here, on the other hand, had a far fouler smell by virtue of hosting far more creatures.

  "Oof," Agatha groaned as soon as they entered the stables. The girl put her hand atop her nose as if slapped by the odor. Christie continued walking undaunted. "How is it that you are not… cringing?" Her roommate asked as she lagged behind.

  "The smell is far from enjoyable, but it is also not my first time here. I have managed to… withstand it."

  "I see…" The blonde added with a grunt. One hand on her nose, the other toying with the pendant that carried an agate.

  Christie would have loved to say that the stables were a menagerie, but that was far from the case. It hosted several horses of a myriad of colors, and whilst a novel view for people who hadn't seen them, they remained all a single species, no matter how they looked like. A menagerie was only interesting in its variety. Alas, no one advertised this place as one, and they were only the deliriums of her romantic mind. Beyond the horses – which still made up more than all the horses she had seen in her entire life – the stables hosted a handful of stoneshells. Amongst them, of course…

  "Mock turtle!" Christie shouted and launched herself at the grumpy stoneshell.

  "Oh," said the mock turtle mockingly when she wrapped around his neck.

  "Ah, so this is the famous mock turtle," Agatha said behind her, and Christie slightly blushed as she recalled that she wasn't alone. The sight of Fran?ois after a handful of days had made her lose track of her surroundings.

  The redhead separated herself from the stoneshell, dusted her uniform, and cleared her throat with a fist in front of her lips. "Agatha, I present to you, Fran?ois."

  She pointed at the stoneshell with her open palm and the mock turtle responded with a nonplussed "Ah."

  "How come that reaction, Fran?ois?" Christie turned her back, put her hands on her hips, and admonished the stoneshell.

  "Oh," he grunted mockingly.

  "What will I do with you, mock turtle…" The redhead put a palm on her forehead and swayed her head in disillusionment.

  "Do you understand him?" Agatha amusingly waddled to the other side of the stoneshell's neck as she walked on the ball of her feet.

  "I sometimes question myself that…" Christie sighed. "But I like to believe we have an understanding."

  "This is the first time I have gotten to a stoneshell this close," her roommate admired Fran?ois with her hands clasped on her back. "Can I… touch him?"

  "I have yet to see him bite anyone, so if it does, you can consider yourself chosen!" She jested with a giggle.

  "Right…" The villager didn't seem to enjoy her jest as much. Yet that didn't stop her from trying. "Oh!" Agatha gasped in surprise as she caressed Fran?ois' neck. "It is rocky and dry like a shalesnapper, but… also surprisingly warm."

  "Oh, this is not his normal temperature. Stoneshells are cold-blooded and also, you know, made of stone. Fran?ois must have been sunbathing before we arrived."

  "How cute then," Agatha smiled.

  "Yes!" Christie lunged forward with her fists before her. "Fran?ois is the cutest of all stoneshells!"

  "You seem to… like him a lot," her roommate added with a nervous giggle at the end.

  "I do!" The girl burst with even more enthusiasm and grabbed her roommate's hands. "Fran?ois has always been there for me, and how can you just not love him when he is just an absolute unit of love!"

  "I would say that he is more of an absolute unit of rocks…"

  "That too!" Christie swayed both their arms in fascination at having someone understand her passion. "What do you-"

  "Hah!" Fran?ois grunted and suddenly raised his neck, which made it hard to keep grasping Agatha's hands.

  "Bad, Fran?ois, bad!" Christie pointed at the stoneshell sternly.

  "Hoh," he replied by mocking extra hard.

  "Oh, do not be like that, Christie. He surely had the best of intentions, right?"

  "Ah," the mock turtle grunted affirmatively at Agatha's words.

  The petite girl approached the mock turtle's head, patted him, and seemed to whisper something in his ear before separating herself from him. "Good boy, Fran?ois, good boy!"

  "Hoh," the mock turtle mocked as a matter of fact.

  "Huh," the one that grunted now wasn't the stoneshell, but Christie herself. "I have not seen Fran?ois behave this politely before."

  "Do you not mean lovingly?" Agatha teased.

  "Nope," Christie shrugged and scratched the stoneshell's chin. "Fran?ois only has love for me, and that is a fact. But he is always mocking everyone, you are the first person that I have seen that Fran?ois does not mock, or at least, acts amicable towards."

  "What can I say? I have a magnetic presence. Do you not think so, boy?" The villager rubbed Fran?ois' cheeks, and the stoneshell made a sound not dissimilar to purring. "You know what they say, animals are a good judgment of character. And he looks old and wise." Christie couldn't help but chuckle at that comment. "What?"

  Her laugh wasn't directed toward the animal part – which was highly debatable considering the stoneshell's lithic nature – but the age statement.

  "Nothing," she chuckled again as she covered her lips with a loose fist. "It is just that Fran?ois is not old at all. He is around a hundred years old."

  Agatha deadpanned. "That is old."

  "Debatable," the redhead shrugged. "Stoneshells live up to a millennium, so in any case, Fran?ois here is nothing more than a baby. Who is a big baby?" The mock turtle turned his head to face her, and he blew on her face. "Fair," Christie added dryly as she dusted her face.

  "Well, I guess that makes sense why he is so cute," her roommate giggled at her misfortune. "Behavior notwithstanding, I do like the colors of the rocks on his back."

  "Yeah, he has got quite the vibrant palette and distinctive stratum on her back. Also, a loveable pink."

  "Pink, huh…" Agatha hummed deep in thought, and then she rummaged through her clothes. "I think I have the perfect thing. C'mere, boy."

  Christie found herself raising a brow at the blonde's words. Not only at the usage of informal language, which tended to seep from her roommate's lips, but also at that 'thing' she had. Agatha grabbed Fran?ois' head – who graciously allowed his head to be moved around – and did something with it, and she darted her hands from place to place in a frenzy.

  "Voila!" Agatha said after taking a step backward. "What do you think?"

  Unable to see what she was referring to, Christie walked towards her roommate and stood behind her. Then she saw it. A cutesy pink ribbon on the side of Fran?ois' face.

  "Huh," Christie mused in a mixture of surprise and satisfaction. It was quite a cute and amusing sight. Yet the greatest surprise was Fran?ois' reaction.

  "Hah!" The mock turtle responded, not mockingly, but enthusiastically!

  Hiircine!

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