I had a limited amount of time at my disposal. It was already noon. I had to decide between going to a market to try and get the needed materials and mowing my new lawn. A big part of me screamed in laziness to just stay home, but with the state in which the inside was… I couldn’t afford to… So, I quickly cut and cleaned the area immediately next to the tower.

  Why did I waste my time doing that you wonder? Well the place was in a big need of ventilation. The vegetation blocked any and all air currents so the air was stale. Besides the place would dry a little by the time I got back if I did this.

  Without further ado, I left. Honestly I didn’t like this place… It was so big that it was a pain to get from one place to another… Getting from here to the actual city and then to the market would take me way too long if I just walked. Probably two three hours… As such I did what any sane person would… I ran… Okay, joking, I did not do something a sane person would. But it did solve the problem of time… With a bit of aether reinforcement and with most of it being centered on my bones, I quickly made my way through the campus and out into the city.

  As soon as I left the academy grounds however, I stopped and walked normally. No point in making a show out of myself. Besides, I had no idea if it was even legal to reinforce myself and run like that through the city. It most probably wasn’t… So I slowly walked and enjoyed the scenery I was denied when the caravan arrived. The place reminded me of Paris… or the old towns of Italy. The air was filled with a floral scent and a fresh breeze kept the air cool despite the unforgiving sun. Stone paved road, small sewage openings on the side of the road. Now to analyze the smartness of the people of this world, cause I simply can’t overlook this aspect… The road was taller in the middle and lower on the sides. Near the edges there were small channels to gather the water and redirect it to the sewage.

  It was a really smart design, something that our modern world still didn’t implement the right way… Our roads were straight up flatter and the gathering of water often caused the formation of potholes or deformed and shifted tiles. Of course it wasn’t this way everywhere, but still, kind of made me mad when thinking about it.

  The buildings came in various colors, shapes and sizes, creating a vibrant and lively display that would warm anyone’s heart. Combinations of two to three story buildings with different designs filled both sides of the street. The people were likewise clothed lightly, unlike me in my leather tunic and pants. With the diverse palette of colors visible on the buildings also displayed on the clothing of the people and the occasional carriage making its way hurriedly on the street, the scene clearly evoked the wealth, vitality and wellbeing of the ones living here. It only served to deepen my scorn for the existence of the slums…

  Despite my thoughts I still walked decisively towards my destination. Once in the market, I had to ask for some directions in order to find my way to the part of it that had what I required. Didn’t take long for me to realize, that after this I’d most probably be pressed to start earning money. Only the planks I needed would cost me three silver coins… Three! That was enough to keep a man housed and fed a month! I tried haggling, but my child like appearance didn’t work in my favor. Still considering the relatively large quantity I bought I manage to get the price lower by four large coppers, which was still a great accomplishment in my opinion.

  Then I went to the masonry. The situation repeated itself, only this time I parted with a full five silvers. Why? I bought not only enough stone bricks to repair the damage, but also enough to expand a little the tower base, and some special bricks for kilns and forges. I already asked and learnt from Fjorn how to build my own forge, so I was going to make myself one since I now had property. As for them taking it away after I graduated… Who cared? I was going to earn money along my stay anyway. I could just build another one when the time came.

  Next stop was to a smithy to buy some tools. Out of everything this turned out to be the cheapest transaction. I spent only six large coppers to get everything I needed and backups. Now came the funny part… I had to carry everything back…

  After evaluating the pros and cons, I still decided to pay for a cart. It was going to be countless times faster to get everything back in a single go, then if I carried it all by hand and had to return several times. Although the weight was still a bit much, the cart held on. I led the cart driver to my tower. Then he returned to the market. With everything I needed ready I felt my excitement surging!

  Until, it wasn’t. I had to clean up the debris inside. That did not take long however. Next came measurements. This was actually difficult. I had not inquired about the measuring units of this world. Instead I used a knotted rope. Since I didn’t have to design the entire building, I simply used it to find the center of the room and the radius of the floor. After finding that out I went ahead and marked it on the planks I bought earlier. I intentionally cut everything at slightly larger dimensions.

  I had to deal with the moldy, putrid, soft and muddy-like planks that made up the floor and second floor… Although gross I still did it. I first dried them up with aether, then pulled them out with a crowbar. It was difficult for me to do… I lacked the necessary weight, due to my small eight year old body. So no matter how much strength I got by reinforcing myself with aether I’d just lift myself. Also the surroundings didn’t allow me to use the same trick as what I used on Cassia, since there was nothing heavy and solid enough to anchor myself to. So I had to make do with momentum and heavier reinforcement centered on the bones.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  After I started removing the floor I realized there was an underground level too! My excitement was once again surging. The cellar, that was the only way it could be called, was a bit bigger than the ground floor, but that was it. Aside from two barrels and some more empty barrel racks there was nothing else. In fact this forgotten, covered up cellar was in better condition than the floor above…

  I continued de-flooring, and then placed in the planks. After a few heavy hammer strikes, all the planks were in nestled perfectly together making up a new functional floor. I had left a hole so I could access the cellar easily. Luckily the building style of this tower did not require many nails. Aside from where open edges were going to be, no other plank required me to hammer some in. For the long planks there was a circular groove in the wall where they got support and in which they were fixed. Now I had to deal with making a staircase… This would prove more difficult as I had to replace the supports fixed in the stone wall and then make the stairs.

  Luckily I had experience with this as I had to do something similar with the beams supporting the second floor. In a certain sense those were more troublesome as they went from one end to the other of the towers’ circumference. However by cutting out a section from the middle I effectively made space for maneuver. Due to their putrid state it wasn’t even hard to pull them out… It was harder to put the new ones in…

  Soon I was done with this too. I proceeded to make a ladder for the cellar and I considered it done for now. I still had to buy the stuff needed to make plaster and had to make a bed and buy a mattress… For now I’ll have to make do with the hard floor though… It was getting late and I had to go find the guys from my village and get the schedule for the classes. I could get away with skipping today since I was just discharged, but I couldn’t push my luck further… Or I could, but I didn’t want to face the consequences.

  I went out again and walked towards the servant quarters, after all, I needed to get directions for the dormitory. It wasn’t long before I was pointed in the right direction. I was quickly headed on my way. Not long after I reached my target: The Dorms. Honestly this entire place looked so much like a video game that I half expected to get the usual region change name display.

  I snickered and started looking around trying to find someone either young enough to be in the first year or someone I knew. Unfortunately, I was in bad luck and apparently I also was a strange sight since most villagers that end up here change in the uniform provided by the academy… By snooping around like this I got myself into trouble…

  “Who are you and what are you doing snooping around the student dorms?”

  ‘Damn… upper classmen…’

  “I’m a new student… I was pretty badly injured when I arrived so I was taken to the medicine ward directly. I came to look for my fellow villagers and inquire about the schedule.”

  “Right…” Said one of the two. More specifically the one on the right. “So why aren’t you dressed in the uniform?”

  “Didn’t get mine yet.” I said. This however seemed to make them trust me even less. What could I say? This was the truth. I only got myself a key to a ruined tower, no uniform, heck I didn’t even get a bed…

  “Show us your key.”

  “Here” I took it out and gave it to them. The less I resisted the less I would look suspicious. There was no other way.

  “This… What room did you get?”

  “I got an old tower…”

  “What in tarnation…” The guy shoved the key to his friend. “You take a look as well, isn’t this an old keeper key?”

  “Seems so… Old Silas, that corpse-in-waiting had a similar sigil on his keys… But I can’t be sure either…”

  “How’d you get this? What’s your room number?” Asked the guy on the right, the same one that talked the most before.

  “Got them from the Secretariat… Don’t ask why I don’t know either… Also it’s not a room it’s an old forgotten tower buried in weeds…”

  “Come with us, we have to check what’s going on.” He said that but his attitude showed he was ready to throw me out of the academy… They flanked me and started pushing me along… No matter what this was going to damage my image, but what was I supposed to do? Trash them? Who knows who is pulling the strings behind this entire farce…

  “What are you doing with him?” A familiar haughty voice came from behind. ‘Damn this is gonna be embarrassing…’

  “L… Lady Cassia…” One of them was trembling all over. He was clearly older so I was really curious what sort of history they had.

  “We were going to check out what’s the deal with him at the Secretariat. He’s got the key of a keeper, albeit an old looking one, it definitely isn’t normal.” The other answered competently. He surprised me, but also it made sense there wouldn’t only be idiotic cowards around, and my case was indeed… weird.

  “No need, I know him, he’s a new student. And not someone you can afford to offend. Also he’s clearly like you, a commoner. Why aren’t you showing more sympathy?”

  ‘Damn, the crazed ape is eloquent…’ I stared at her wide eyed. The hell was her performance back in the carriage? If she could pull out this kind of logic then I might have been hooked into taking that ring back then.

  “Understood… We will still report his case, we can’t afford spies, you should know this better than anyone else.”

  “Yeah, sure. Whatever suits you, Cato, come.”

  “What am I? Your dog?” I asked rolling my eyes. Change your tone girl, you’re not above anyone, no matter what ‘status’ you may have you’re still a human in the end…

  “Just come…” She said with a suddenly tired tone. The two guys were looking tongue tied at me. I guess not anyone dares to retort to a noble like that.

  We walked for a bit and distanced ourselves, leaving the point of attention and going deeper into the dorm area. We both remained silent. I guess I made it a bit weird to talk with that remark… I wonder how this thing is going to go and where she’s taking me.