A week had passed since our visit to Fantasia. We had scouted out the village which we learned was called Novick village. After gaining permission from the territory's lord to use the village, we began work on preparing it. Minor repairs were done to some of the buildings and the technicians that accompanied us began setting up the mana stage generators around the town. 

We returned after a few days carrying with us the data necessary to replicate the town. In a week, the school semester would start and I would host a raid during the schools opening ceremony. I was back in my dorm room trying to unpack my things when a knock sounded on my door. 

“Hello” I said as I opened the door. There was a short haired girl with cat ears and a tail. A demi-human. She was wearing a light tactical harness adorned with pouches and straps over a blue sports bra and shorts. Her black ears twitched as she stepped into my room and walked past me carrying with her, a green duffle bag. She threw it onto my bed and began looking around the room “Hey who are you?” I asked as I closed the door behind her.

“My name is Serenity, I’ve been assigned as your bodyguard. I’ll be rooming with you for the rest of your tenure at this academy.” She said in a slightly monotone voice. What the heck “But you're a girl, how are you even allowed in the boy’s dorm?” She turned towards me before unzipping the duffle bag. “I’ll simply wear a male uniform and pretend to be a boy”

She pulled a male student uniform from the bag as she began undressing. “Why are you stripping here?” I asked as I closed my eyes. She threw a pillow at me before saying, “Would you rather me change in the hallway in front of all the other male students. Pervert.” When I opened my eyes, she was standing in front of me dressed in the standard issue boys uniform

Her androgynous face, short hair, and abysmal chest made her look almost exactly like a boy while wearing the uniform. Well, to be honest, it could go either way. “If this was going to be an issue, then why didn't they just send me a male bodyguard?” I asked.

“They sent you someone capable. I was a royal assassin for the kingdom of Tigre in  Fantasia. Now stop complaining before I claw your eyes out” she responded. What kind of bodyguard threatens the person they're trying to protect? She began removing the uniform again and I was forced to cover my eyes. “It’s not very comfortable” She said as if that served as a perfectly valid reason for stripping down in a guys room. 

After changing back into her casual wear, she began lounging around my room and looking through my stuff. I continued unpacking while trying my hardest to ignore her presence. The room itself was fairly nice and looked far more like a small condo room than a student dormitory. The dorm rooms each had a bunk bed in order to accommodate two students and promote the interaction of humans and Otherworlders. 

Initially, I was going to have my own room due to my status as a VIP of sorts but it seemed that I would now be sharing it. “Do you want the top bunk or the bottom?” I asked. “I’ve already marked the top bed as my own. Besides, you seem to prefer the bottom one, correct?” Wait, what does marked mean? I was too afraid to ask so I simply told her that I was fine with the bottom bunk.

I opened the last bag which I had yet to unpack, revealing my games console and controllers. The dorm rooms all had modest tv screens for students to watch movies or shows. I plugged in the console and booted it up, deciding that I deserved a well earned break. My library of games mostly consisted of single player or co-op story games on account of me being terrible at anything competitive. 

After selecting one, I suddenly felt a presence behind me and nearly jumped as I turned to see Serenity looking over my shoulder. Her narrow catlike eyes were transfixed on the screen and her thin tail fluttered behind her. “Do you want to play?” I asked as I offered her the controller. She looked at the controller apprehensively and asked me, “What is it?”

“A video game” I answered. “I can teach you how to play if you want?” She took the controller from my outstretched hand and I grabbed another before starting a new game on co-op. The game I had chosen was a pretty popular adventure platformer game that had made the transition from 2-D to 3-D over the course of several games and two decades.

She sat next to me on the floor seeing as there was no couch and the two of us began playing. I taught her the basic controls before kicking her from the nest like a baby bird. She was abhorrent at first and constantly died but It was clear she was improving by the minute. Her reflexes were good but she seemed to struggle with the general concept of a video game which made it difficult. 

“How do I throw the dagger Alexander? She asked as she began pressing every button on the controller. I sighed for the umpteenth time before responding, “You can’t, It’s a melee weapon.” “Not in the right hands. I can throw one accurately up to 30 fathoms. How can I teach this character to throw the dagger?” She asked? 

“You can't, there's no feature like that in the game,” I said. Her face contorted into a pouting expression as she went back to swinging the dagger. Serenity seemed to get frustrated by the limitations of the game, which was admittedly cute. The two of us continued playing for sometime before it got late and I started to get hungry. I got the two of us to a save point and shut the game off.

Let’s head out and get dinner, I said as I grabbed my wallet and phone off of my dresser. I went to the bathroom to make sure that my hair dye looked fine while Serenity changed into the boys uniform. The two of us left the room and began heading towards the nearby town to find a bite to eat.

___

“Alexander?” A voice called out to me from behind. A feeling of deja vu washed over me as I turned around to find the student council president standing behind me. “Hey Lia, you heading into town as well?” She caught up to me and serenity. “Yes, I was growing quite famished so I decided to head to my favorite restaurant.”

I recalled that Lia was the student council president and asked her “What year are you in by the way?” She smiled before replying, “I’ll be a third year student as well this year.” “Then what restaurants do you recommend?” I asked. “Why don’t you join me. I was planning on eating at Little Rome. It’s a restaurant that serves what you humans refer to as Italian Food” She said. 

“Is the Catkin boy your roommate.” She asked. Serenity stuck out her hand and replied. “Indeed, my name is Sam. I will have the displeasure of rooming with Alexander this semester.” It seems that Serenity would refer to herself as Sam while she was pretending to be a boy. Her attitude irked me but I tried not to let it show on my face. 

We reached the town and Lia led us through the small town and to the restaurant. We opted for outdoor seating in order to enjoy the pleasant weather and began looking through the menu. I noticed that Lia’s eyes simply skimmed the menu on account of her likely already knowing what she wanted. She probably already knew what she wanted to order before even meeting up with us but looked through the menu in order to not make us feel rushed. What a considerate girl.

I ordered a supreme pizza, Serenity ordered a salmon dish, and Lia ordered a vegetarian  lasagna. “Forgive me for being ignorant but is it true that Elves don’t eat meat?” I asked. While I had interacted with plenty of Otherworlders, my interactions were mainly limited to fighting them in raids so I was still ignorant about much of their culture. 

“Not exactly,” Lia replied, “But we usually only eat the meat from animals we’ve hunted ourselves. That’s why I find it a bit odd to order meat from one of these restaurants.”  “I see,” I replied as I nodded. “I’ve never never spoken with an elf before so I wasn’t sure.” That was a partial lie as I had worked with Albert who was elven but he wasn’t much of a conversationalist. 

The only other elves I had spoken with were the ones that groveled beneath my feet as Judas but I knew better than to bring that up. Our meals arrived and we began to eat while Lia told us about the school. Its population was split evenly between humans from earth and Otherworlders from Fantasia. Lia had come with her family to Avalon two years ago and enrolled as a student at Avalon Academy.

She had run for student council president during the second year and would serve again as the president during her third. “I hope we have a few classes together Lia” I said. She responded with a smile and agreed. What a kind girl. After we finished eating, We each presented our student ID’s in order to get a discount before paying for our meals. 

After walking back to the academy, We bid farewell to Lia as Serenity and I headed back to our dorm room. I changed into my sleep ware and turned out the lights before crawling into bed. Soon, classes would start and I would begin attending Avalon Academy. Before that though, I would be hosting the raid. I still didn’t know who my opponent was, but I couldn’t help but feel excited.