"Should we head to the Academy first or should we buy groceries first?"
"Nn, I don't know where the Academy is... Whichever is closer, I guess?"

Karen and I walked rather leisurely along the main street of the capital, holding hands. The city was quite lively, although it was arguable whether it was a good kind of lively.

"I know where the Academy is but... I wonder where we can get other things..."
"Should we ask someone?"
"That might be a good idea."

But who to ask?
The people passing us were, for the most part, in quite a hurry. Some clearly equipped for travel, probably to leave. Although there were quite a few of them, the actual majority was busy with other things... With work. Like the group of men carrying crates or the small carriage loaded with goods passing us.
I turned to Karen, wanting to ask her but...

"Excuse me, would you have a moment?"

She had already asked a middle-aged woman passing us, a basket in her arms filled with fruits.

"What? Do you need something?"
"We'd like to know if there is a place where we can buy groceries and everyday necessities."
"... Girl, you from outside, huh?"

The woman furrowed her brows... and sighed.

"Something like that doesn't exist. If you need something, you go to someone who can make it for you. The closest we got would be the market, but that one's clearly closed already."
"Eh? Uhm, there are no shops or the like, where you can buy things?"
"None. Such a thing doesn't exist. Anyway, I'm busy so if that's all. Bye."

The woman didn't wait for an answer and just left.

"... It doesn't exist?"
"Nn, seems so."

Well, that was kind of understandable... I doubted most craftsmen could make things in advance and just sell them afterwards. They might sit on the leftovers for who knew how long, they'd waste space, materials and most importantly, time. Time that was better spent on work they knew would sell...

"But... Does everyone go to a craftsman and orders things from them? Isn't that... bothersome?"
"Nn, well, I guess? But, Sis... Why are you the one who is confused about this?"

It was one thing if it had been me, but Karen? She should know how these things work, shouldn't she?

"Uhh, well... Back in Aldreigh, we had shops like those... Small stores with all kinds of things you might need..."
"... And when you were in Arkesta?"
"... Do you think I could get any daily necessities in the slums even if I wanted to?"
"Guess that's true..."

So, shops like that actually existed in Aldreigh? Curious.

"Nn, anyway, I guess the plan to buy groceries... Uhm... Is done with?"
"..."
"Nn, just out of curiosity, but what kind of things were you hoping to get anyway?"

I still had no idea what Karen even wanted to buy, after all.

"All kinds of things. Many of us have quite long hair so I wanted to get a good brush for example. Also maybe a small waist pouch. I was also interested in that bathing soap from before. And I wanted a basket for our laundry."
"Nn... Couldn't we have just asked Wanda for the pouch? Or we could ask Konno."
"I guess we could."
"And for the basket... Couldn't we try making one ourselves?"

I had some vague memory of doing that before... Fairly sure they weren't too hard to make, as long as you weren't looking for the perfect basket.

"Do you know how to?"
"Nn, I think I do... I'm not sure, though. We could aks Lily if she knows, or someone else."

There was bound to be someone who knew how to make a basket.

"Then, that leaves the soap and the brush..."
"There are more things I wanted to look for, you know. Those were only a few examples."
"Ahh... Let's think later about how to deal with them, then. I'm sure there are people among the mercenaries that can help us out."

After all, they had those necessities themselves. Actually, quite a few things were lent to us, and those things had to come from somewhere.

"Although I am not sure if we can find a solution for the soap."

Soap was... How did one make soap again? I knew it was a rather simple process actually but... Yeah, it was simple once you knew how to make it. And I couldn't remember it...
So, the only solution was probably to find someone else who either knew how to make it or knew someone who sold it...

"Nn, wait a moment. Sis."
"Yumi?"
"... Wouldn't someone at the Academy know how to make soap?"
"Would they?"

Karen tilted her head.
Making soap was... In my old world, I recalled making soap in chemistry class back in school. It was a vague memory, and I only remembered being impressed by the whole thing... Stupid brain, why did you not remember the actual process?
Either way, I couldn't help that right now. But it had something to do with chemistry, in other words, with science. Wasn't the Academy a good place to start then?

"Let's try and ask them."
"Mh, then... We'll go to the Academy first, huh..."
"Rather than first, it's our only option now. Once we're done, we can take a walk through the city, okay?"

Just aimlessly walking around and sightseeing was nice in itself too, after all.

"Let's do that. Then, I'll show you where the Academy is."
"Nn!"

---

A wall.
A long, high wall. And red. With a metal fence on top of it. The wall went on for dozens of houses.
On the other side of the wall, you could spy the roof of a large building. A really large building. Probably, I couldn't actually see it yet. Only the roof.

"How long does this go on, Sis?"
"We're soon at the gate. It's over there."

Karen pointed forwards, into the distance, where the wall was interrupted by two large pillars.
A few minutes later, we stood at the gate, peeking into the area right behind it.

"That's... the Academy?"
"It is... Be careful, when I was here with Lily, it took us quite long... I can only thank Lily that we didn't get lost here."

A truly humongous complex was in front of us. It wasn't just a single building, but probably a dozen or more, each of them being at least half a dozen floors high. We actually couldn't see all of them, too many buildings blocked the view.
When I heard 'academy' I had kind of imagined it to be a single large building, but this was closer to a rather large university campus.

"How are we supposed to find Fenna here?"
"That's... actually a good question."

There was no way in hell we could casually walk around and hope to meet her by coincidence.

"We should ask someone. Mercenaries and guards are rather conspicuous. Maybe someone saw them."
"Nn."

We passed through the gate and entered the academy grounds. Contrary to the streets outside, not even remotely as many people were walking around at this place. Actually, we barely met anyone.
A few students and some adults that were likely researchers or teachers or something similar. But none of them could help us. Except one.

"Excuse me, the two girls over there!"
"Nn?"

Someone called out from behind us. A boy, probably a little younger than Rina. He was carrying a box with books in his arms.

"Ah, it's really you!"

The boy smiled, apparently recognising me. That was nice and all but... I didn't recognise him. That was awkward. Did I meet this boy before? But where? Should I ask him? That was a little awkward now... Better get it over with.

"Nn? Do I... know you?"
"Oh, I never introduced myself, did I? I'm Eward. We met at the Hollow Fort. Do you remember? You were lost and Lefa went with you."
"... Ah. The two boys that were with Lefa."

I remembered. When I had met Lefa, there had been two other boys, students like her. There was one that had been rather energetic and one who was absorbed in his books. And the latter was standing in front of us right now. A lot happened so they completely slipped my mind.

"That's right. The other one is Alf."

He nodded, smiling.

"So, what are you doing here? Ah, are you maybe going to be a new student? Lefa is going to be happy. She's always alone since there are barely any female students here. It'd be nice if she has someone to talk with. Oh, but if you're a new student, did you take the exam? That's quite something at your age!"

This was the boy absorbed in his books, right? I didn't mistake him for the other one now, right? Right? I thought he was the quiet type for sure but... Guess first impressions can be quite wrong at times...

"I'm not a new student. We're looking for someone."
"Oh... You aren't? That's unfortunate, really. Lefa was talking a lot about you. I was sure she'd be happy."

His shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"Ah, but if you can, go meet Lefa, okay? She'll be really happy, I bet."
"... I'll try."
"That's good!"

He smiled again. What an odd boy.

"So, who are you looking for? Ah, if you're looking for Lefa, I can guide you to her!"
"... No, we're not looking for her."
"... Oh."

And his shoulders slumped in disappointment again. What was up with this boy? He mentioned Lefa at every chance he could... Wait. Was it like that? How cute.

"We're looking for a group of mercenaries that are acting as guards."
"As guards? How rare. Do you know who they are guarding?"
"Nn... It should be Nela and Elma."
"Oh, those two."

Eward's expression distorted a little.

"So it's come to the point where they need guards... I'll guide you to where the two are. They share most of their classes with Lefa and the other female students."
"That'd be much appreciated, thank you."
"Thank you."

We thanked him and he took the lead, guiding us through the corridors.

"Has there been trouble with those two girls?" Karen asked him after we walked for a short while.
"You don't know? Well, I guess you wouldn't... Do you know that those two are... Well..."
"Together?"
"So you know. There had always been some rumours about the two... And I heard that Nela is being bullied by the other female students because of that."

She was being bullied?

"Bullied? But why?"
"... They apparently say that she is disgusting for liking other girls and that she should stay away, among other things. But I only heard that from Lefa, so I'm not sure if it's true or not. Is that not why they hired guards?"
"... We don't know, we're only here to deliver something," Karen answered him.
"I see."

We actually did know. It wasn't because of bullying but... Maybe we should inform Fenna about it anyway? Or, maybe this was also Mrs Karker's intention?

"Is it only the female students that are bullying her? And only Nela?"
"... So far, yes. Although, with what happened at the festival, some of the boys have gotten quite... I just hope they don't do anything stupid."

Eward sighed.

"For Elma, nobody dares to hurt the daughter of the Karker family. I doubt she even knows about the bullying in the first place. She..."

He stopped.

"She's got her head up in the clouds."

He sighed again and continued to walk.
A short while later, he pointed into the distance at a large double door.

"We're nearly there now. Over there is the classroom."
"That was surprisingly close..."
"Well, this is the classroom building, after all. Most of us students aren't allowed in the other buildings."

He walked up to the door and opened it, not hesitating in the least.
A large room was revealed, several rows of tables and a male teacher at the front.

"—means that every element requires one additional resource. If you fail to provide this, the spell will not activate and the tool will malfunction."

The teacher didn't seem disturbed in the least that the door was opened and just continued his lecture. None of the students seemed to care either.

"Ah, Fenna. There she is."
"Oh, you're right."

Fenna stood at the back, vigilantly watching the classroom. She turned her head to us when we opened the door, a slightly surprised expression on her face.

"So you found who you are looking for? Then, I'll take my leave. Ah, and don't talk too loudly in here or the teacher will get mad. As long as you aren't disturbing too much, he shouldn't mind, though."
"Thank you, Eward. And sorry that we kept you away from your work," Karen said.
"No, no. Don't mind it. My professor won't touch these within the next three days anyway, so it's fine."
"... Is, is that so."
"Then, good luck."

He said his goodbye and left.
Once the door closed behind him, we scurried over to Fenna.

"Karen, Yumi, what are you two doing here?"
"We brought something for you. From the Captain."

Karen took out the envelope and handed it over to Fenna.

"A letter? Oh, I see, that's probably for Lady Karker. Sorry for the trouble and thanks."
"No problem."

Fenna stowed away the letter and turned back to the front, watching the classroom.
Following her gaze, I looked at the students, sitting at the tables, taking notes. There were barely twenty students. Lefa was here too, sitting at the very front with a concentrated expression. Elma and Nela were sitting pretty close to the front as well. Most of the other students sat further in the back.

"It's quite interesting," Fenna suddenly told us,
"Nn? Interesting?"
"This classroom. I've been watching for a few hours already and you quickly notice who wants to be here and who doesn't. That red foxkin girl at the front, for example, she's working really hard. On the other hand, those two girls in the back, the catkin and the human, they only paid attention to one teacher. Cause he was young and good-looking."

Fenna pointed at the two girls, one girl with her head on the table and the other one, the catkin, was... playing? She had some weird tool in her hand and kept fiddling with it.

"But, Lefa is working hard, huh..."

I watched Lefa a little, who was vigorously writing her notes.

"Oh, you know that girl?"
"Nn, she was the fort as well. We met by coincidence."
"She was that girl? No wonder she seemed familiar."

Fenna nodded to herself, then fell silent again, watching the classroom. She was technically doing her job, so I probably shouldn't disturb her. Especially since Karen and I weren't working right now.

Instead, I decided to listen to the class. I was a little interested in what they were learning. Just as I thought that, the teacher turned around and... The mana moved around him moved and an image was projected right next to him. An actual projection! Like, a holographic image or so? What kind of magic was that? Like, seriously, please tell me!

"As you can see here in the diagram, The more extreme the physical change is, the more mana is required. This is true for all kinds of magic, even spirit magic. The mana input grows exponentially with the difficulty of the desired output."
"Professor, does that include shapeshifting?"
"Shapeshifting is just a different word for the same phenomenon, Miss Lefa. In principle, the shapeshifting of living beings and the material manipulation of inorganic matter are the same magic at its core. Therefore, the same rules apply. But that topic is not of relevance for us now. If you want to know more about shapeshifting, I recommend inquiring Professor Arta."

The diagram that was projected into the air changed to a different one.

"For us right now, only the physical change is of interest. Only very few magic tools deal with organic matter. Magic tools usually only handle inorganic matter. The most well-known one would be the Silver Moon Fountain. The principle behind the Silver Moon Fountain is trivial, so I won't go into detail about it..."

It seemed the class was about magic tools and... their uses, probably? I hadn't really seen many magic tools and I certainly never even heard of the 'Silver Moon Fountain'. Certainly wasn't trivial if I had never even heard of it, but maybe it was for Lefa and the other students.

Well, maybe I'd manage to figure it out if I kept listening? Nobody seemed to mind us, so it was basically a free class for us.

Let's just keep listening for a little while.

---

The result? Impossible. Seriously, impossible.
Too much information where I was frankly missing the required knowledge for... Magic theories here, weird mathematical formulas there and at the worst of times both together.

This reminds me a little of university...

A wry, nostalgic smile formed on my face. In a way, I missed those days but also didn't miss them. It was a conflicting feeling.

"And that wraps up today's class. Until next week."

The projection in the air vanished and the teacher promptly left, not sparing another glance at the classroom. Most of the students quickly followed, leaving the room. A few threw glances at us, standing next to Fenna.
Including a certain someone.

"Yumi? Yumi! What are you doing here?!"
"Nn, hello, Lefa."

Lefa, having spotted us, rushed over with a big smile.

"We were here for an errand."
"Ohh! Are you done with your errand now?"
"Nn, we are."
"Yumi, Karen, we'll leave now, we are still working. Tell the Captain that everything is okay," Fenna interrupted.
"Ah, will do."

Fenna and her group followed Elma and Nela out of the classroom.

"Ohh, so the cool woman was from your mercenary group?"
"... Cool woman?"
"Yes, isn't she cool? She is strong, right? And she is so self-confident! She didn't even step back against those annoying boys earlier!"

I glanced in the direction Fenna left...

"Was there a problem earlier?" Karen asked.
"Some boys wanted to pick a fight with Nela earlier. And that woman stood in between them, stopping them!"
"Huh..."

Right, we totally missed to tell Fenna about the supposed bullying but... judging from that, she probably knew by now anyway.

"Oh, Yumi, what are you two going to do now?"
"Nn... We haven't really decided yet... We thought of maybe going to that park."
"Park? The Gethmann's Garden?"
"If that's what it was called... I don't remember?"

I had more troubling matters at the time so I didn't try to remember the name...

"Mh, then, if you aren't in a hurry, want me to show you around the Academy?"
"The Academy... Mh..."

I glanced at Sis not sure what to do.

"Yumi, isn't this a good chance to maybe ask around a little. About monsters and so."
"Oh, you're right."

This was indeed a good chance.

"Lefa, are there any professors or researchers knowledgeable about monsters?"
"About monsters? There are some, of course. Do you want to talk with one?"
"Nn."
"Then, I'll lead you there!"
"Thank you, Lefa."

How fortunate that we met Lefa.

"The monster section is in a different building, come."

---

Lefa led us to a large building right next to the one we were currently in. I was a little worried if it was okay for us to be here, but Lefa claimed that it should be fine... Hopefully, she'd be right.
She guided us to a pretty large room. Or, calling it a hall was maybe more appropriate.

"Professor Marvim? Professor Marvim! Are you here?"

Lefa shouted for the professor she was looking for. Alas, nobody responded.

"Professor Marvim?! Professor Marvim! I know you are here!"

Multiple small... pens with small monsters were set up in the hall. Some were even encased in something that seemed to be glass at first glance but was actually some kind of magic. Small animals like birds and critters, some humanoid ones with green or grey skin that were as large as a six or seven-year-old child. And then some very outlandish ones... A mass of tentacles, some floating ball with dozens of eyes. Another floating ball with dozens of mouths... Some weird plant-like thing stuck on the ground that was holding a dead animal in its grasp.

"Are all of these monsters, Lefa?"
"Yes, they are. Professor Marvim frequently asks mercenaries to catch some for him... They had to build this hall because he got too many... And these aren't even all he... Ah! Found him."

Lefa rushed forward to the corner of the hall. A young man sat at a desk, his head down... Probably sleeping.

"Professor Marvim! Professor Marvim! Wake up or I'll let the floating balls do it!"
"Uhhh... Lefa? What are you doing here..."

The man, a little groggy, slowly forced himself to sit up,  staring at Lefa in wonder.

"I brought some guests!"
"Guests..."

His gaze wandered towards us.

"Hello, I'm Yumi and this is my sister Karen. We heard from Lefa that you are knowledgeable about monsters so..."
"Ohh... you are here to ask something? Are you students?"
"Well... Actually not..."
"They're from the mercenaries."
"Mercenaries? These two girls?"

He scrutinised us intensely.

"Mercenaries... Which ones are you affiliated to?"
"The Lomerian Dragon Knights."
"Oh, Mr Korwen's group? Did he want something from me? I haven't filled out the request yet, if that's what he wants."
"Ah, no we are here for personal reasons."

So this was one of the researchers that made use of the contract between the Academy and the mercenaries? Quite the coincidence.

"Personal reasons?"
"Yes... Uhm..."

Should I tell him about me? I kind of wanted to avoid that but...

"We wanted to know where monsters come from, how they are alive and what makes a monster a monster," Karen explained in my stead.
"Oh, so the ecology? I can help you with that, no problem."

He stood up from his chair and stretched his arms.

"Mm... But first, would you mind helping me out a little?"
"Helping out?"
"Yes, yes. It might prove beneficial for you two if you want to learn about monsters. You see, there are quite a lot of them here and... Unfortunately, we have to feed them. And doing that alone takes some time."
"I don't mind..."
"Neither do I."

If it was just helping them out with feeding...

"Are you two sure..."
"Nn? Is something the problem, Lefa?"
"... I guess you'll see."
"Don't mind, Little Lefa. She just can't stand the goblins trying to jump at her with a boner."
"..."

That was quite understandable, that she didn't like that. Heck, I didn't want to see that either.

"It's not even only the goblins! The kobolds try that too and that pile of flesh is absolutely disgusting!"
"Seriously, you're just so weak at heart... Even though they're so cute..."
"..."

Okay, another weirdo found.

"Anyway, just get some food from that box there and throw it in. Ah, the Flesh Eater, that's that plant over there, takes only living animals, so you can ignore that one."

He pointed at a large box next to the wall. Lefa had already gone there and opened it... revealing lots of meat. A ton of meat.

"That's... monster meat?"

There was a distinct feeling of mana coming from the meat.

"You can sense mana? Yes, that's all monster meat. It's the best stuff to keep them fed. Monsters require a lot of mana, after all."
"Nn? I thought they are fine with only the mana in the surroundings?"
"If it's about simply surviving they can live off of a very small amount of mana, yes. I'll explain it to you after we're done here."

He joined Lefa and pulled out a large pack of meat.

"Just throw some into the pen."
"Nn, but how much?"
"However much you want."
"... Ehh?"

That wasn't the answer I wanted.

"Take your gut feeling! Guts!"

Weren't these monsters related to his research? Wasn't it important to keep track of such things?
A little unsure I walked over to the box and...

"What the heck, this is cold!"
"Awesome, isn't it? Professor Marvim has one of the newest magic tools for cooling! Meat keeps well really long in here."

Wasn't this basically a huge refrigerator?

"And here we go!"
"GYAARHHH!"

An unintelligible scream echoed through the hall. The Professor had thrown the meat into one of the pens, the one with the large floating balls. The balls let out a scream, jumped at the meat and ripped it apart, devouring it in a flash. The whole thing barely took ten seconds.
The balls immediately floated back up, as if nothing ever had happened.

"Ahaha, lively, aren't they? Here, another one!"
"GYAAAAAAAARRRHHHHHHHH!"
"Sis, what the hell am I watching..."
"I don't know..."

He continued throwing pieces of meat into the pen, through the magic barrier, or whatever it was. Every time the balls screamed and jumped at the meat. How the one with only eyeballs even ate was beyond me. I honestly didn't want to know either.

"Professor, please don't play with them. The other researchers keep complaining about the screaming."
"Why should I care for those old geezers? They would complain either way. Even your nutcase of a professor is better than them. Although he keeps complaining too."
"Because you keep calling me to help you, even when I'm not even your student."
"What should I do then? Nobody wants to be my student after all!"
"Go figure why!"

Lefa sighed, a bunch of raw meat in her arms that she promptly dumped into a pen. The small critter-like monsters swarmed the meat. They reminded me a little of rats. Actually, they completely looked like rats. These were rats...

"... Yumi, let's get this done with quickly."
"Nn..."

Karen and I both took some of the meat from the large refrigerator and walked to the closest pen. The mass of tentacles was in there, squirming about.

"Uhm, just dump this into the pen? Like this?"

I threw the meat through the magic barrier. It landed with a 'Splat!' right next to the tentacles. It slowly extended one tentacle and... rapidly pulled the meat towards it. It was so quick I didn't even really see it... The meat completely disappeared so fast...

"... That's a little scary."
"Nn."

We moved to the next ones, a pen with... grey-skinned humanoid monsters.

"Sis, are these... goblins?"
"I think so. Although I have never seen grey ones before."
"They're called mountain goblins. They're rather uncommon around here, but they're goblins nonetheless."

Lefa appeared next to us, explaining.

"Be careful if you throw the meat. They can see what is behind the barrier if you throw something in so..."
"... They can't see anything like that?"
"They can't, thankfully..."
"Huh..."

I stared at the three goblins. I thought they'd be screaming and making lots of noise but they obediently sat there. One of them was holding a sharp stone and hitting... A dead animal...

"What is it doing, Lefa?"
"Playing."
"..."

That sure was a morbid way of playing around...
Wanting to get it over with quickly, I threw in the meat. Little did I know, how much I would regret that.

"GYAAARGAAAGRAAAA!"
"GRAAAYAAAA!"
"GYAGYAGYARRRGH!"
"WOAH!"

The goblins—before the meat even hit the ground—stood up and jumped in my direction, stopped only by the barrier. The sudden action surprised me so much that I stumbled backwards and fell on my behind.

"What the hell?!"
"GYAAAGYYAAAAA!"
"GRAAAA!"
"GYAAAARHH"

A shudder ran down my back.
The goblins kept screaming, scratching the barrier, and... humping the barrier wall. Quite literally.
I wanted to ask Lefa what was going on but... She was nowhere to be seen.

"Uahh... That's disgusting..."

Karen averted her gaze from the overly excited goblins.

"Yumi, let's quickly go to the next ones..."
"Nn."

Karen took my hand and pulled me up to my feet, before dragging me away. I was quite thankful for that because... That had been a little scary.

"Let's avoid anything with goblins..."
"Nn..."

A little shocked, we continued feeding the other monsters, clearly avoiding all the ones that seemed like they would get excited like the goblins.

Thankfully, the Professor didn't mind and decided to feed them himself.
Interestingly, that didn't stop the goblins from jumping in his direction. They didn't care whether it was a man or woman, did they...