Agatha was sorry for Christie. The way she was laughed at hit her way close to home, back on that day when she had eaten that shard of an agate, and instead of awakening the normal amount of agates, she was only blessed with a single one. The laughs of the children had been monstrous back then, and from time to time they still echoed in her mind, but she had had the advantage of being able to hit a nasty haymaker on their face back at the village. Christie didn't get such pleasure at the academy.

  Nor did Agatha think the redhead was capable of such acts. Christie was not the type of girl who bit, but the one who barked. Hmm… that's not quite right, Agatha thought to herself as she carried her roommate back to the dressing room. Barking has… negative connotations. From what I have seen so far, Christie fights. Just not with her teeth, but her voice. Instead of barking…. she howls? That sounds way better.

  In any case, Agatha didn't show pity to the tall girl, just because she knew how horrible she would feel if someone did it to her. At moments like this, you didn't want pity. You wanted… she hadn't thought that far.

  They soon arrived at the locker room and started to change themselves. Between the fact that Christie herself was embarrassed and that their lockers were relatively apart, Agatha didn't drown herself in embarrassment this time as she changed into her academic uniform. That's a step forward, isn't it?

  "So… what do we do with the uniform?" Agatha asked once she was finishing up the buttons of her blouse. The blouse from the academic uniform was way softer and more comfortable than the military one. "Do I just leave it inside the locker?"

  "…Sure," her roommate responded softly after a short wait. "They get washed each day."

  "Each day?" Her eyes shot wide open. "But if we have physical education each day… then how are we supposed to wear them?"

  Christie let out a soft chuckle, her face hidden behind the door of her locker. "We have two other sets, look in the drawer on the bottom."

  Agatha squatted before her locker – a gesture that was massively uncomfortable thanks to the long skirt of the uniform – and opened the drawer that sat below where the boots from the soldier attire rested. Yet much to her surprise, that drawer was empty.

  "Uhm…" She groaned aloud. "Christie. The drawer is empty."

  "Huh," the redhead grunted in surprise and walked toward Agatha even though she hadn't finished changing. Thankfully, Christie was only a coat short of a full attire, just like her. "I guess the tailors did not have enough time to ready you the two extra changes of clothes because you arrived yesterday. Should we go ask them about it?"

  "There is no need for a 'we', Christie. I will not pester you with it," Agatha stood from her squat. "You should get to the mess hall already; your face still looks pale."

  "Will you not get lost?" She asked with a genuine expression of worry.

  "I doubt so," the dirty-blond girl chuckled. "I mean, I know where the tailors, the mess hall, and the dormitories are. That is more than enough information for now."

  "If you say so…" Christie muttered as she walked back to her locker.

  For some reason, Agatha felt sorry upon seeing that reaction, but she didn't linger on it and quickly changed and left the room so her roommate didn't follow her. She had spoken the truth about the redhead's paleness; she needed to eat as soon as possible.

  And then Agatha got instantly lost.

  Technically speaking, she wasn't fully lost. Both the locker room and the tailors were on the ground floor, so she was bound to find them if she didn't go up or down any staircases. She could have asked someone as people walked down the corridors from time to time, but considering there weren't any more classes today, she was in no hurry.

  The seamstress-in-training took in the sights of the academy, for she hadn't had the time for it until now. These last two days had been quite hectic, and the worst part was that she knew they would only accelerate. And she wasn't truly lost. From the outside vistas, she was able to locate herself, so it wasn't hard to make her way to the hall of the academy. It was obvious that the institution didn't receive many visitors as a lot of people, whether they were students or soldiers, calmly lazed around there. Most people seemed to play board games, but Agatha didn't know which they were, as unfortunately, not many games made it to Malachite.

  Not wanting to linger more than necessary in the hall, Agatha started backtracking her steps from yesterday until she made it back to where she had gotten the academy's uniform. The girl sheepishly knocked thrice on the door, and a muted "Come in" welcomed her.

  Agatha was surprised to not only find a tailor, but a gathering of people. From seamstresses to washerwomen, there was a respectable congregation. One could even call it a coven considering how many more women than men there were.

  "Is there an issue… Miss Malachite, was it?" The tailor who had taken her sizes yesterday inquired.

  "Yes," Agatha nodded, but then promptly frowned and panicked. "Well, no. I mean, uhm, yes, at the name. I do not have an issue as such, just a doubt."

  "I see," the man chuckled, seemingly amused by her mannerisms. "And what doubt might be?"

  "When I changed my uniform today to train, I noticed that there were no changes of clothes. Am I wrong to assume that there has just not been enough time to make them?"

  "You would be correct," the tailor nodded. "Fret not, you will have a change ready for tomorrow. Both for your soldier and your academy outfit. The latter you will have delivered around late afternoon at your dormitory."

  "Thank you so much!" Agatha bowed down to him. "The quality of both is superb!"

  "But of course, we only deal with the best materials here."

  "Oh, I meant the craftsmanship. These are very skilled stitches, especially with the frills of the academy uniforms. I do not believe I would be capable of making them."

  "Making them?" The tailor raised his brows. "Would you happen to have knowledge of tailoring?"

  "Uhm," she slightly blushed. I think I got a tad bit too excited there… "My mother is a seamstress and I was always helping here, so… I guess that makes me a seamstress-in-training."

  "Do not be ashamed of your position," the man replied sternly and pressed his fist against his heart. "The fact that you have managed to be a student of this academy considering your low standing is astounding, but even more importantly, we always love it when someone appreciates our handiwork. Is that not the case?"

  The tailor turned to face the gathering in the room, who grunted affirmatively, but Agatha couldn't help but feel he was actually referring to her.

  "I have seen many students be forced to leave this academy over the years, especially ones of lower social standing, so if your luck were to run out, come here first. We are always in need of new hands."

  "I will… think about it. But," she chuckled sheepishly, "I would rather not think about being made out for the time being."

  "More than understandable!" The tailor let out a hearty chuckle. "I will not rob you any more of your time, miss."

  As he returned to the gathering of clerks in the room, Agatha took her leave and made her way to the mess hall. She was starving, but years of modest living had taught her to work with an empty stomach, and knowing that there was guaranteed food actually made her walk slower. Her dread from arriving at the academy hadn't stopped growing, yet she also felt satiated. The whole experience was but a dream for her.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Thanks to the many diversions, by the time she reached the mess hall, it was rather empty. The scullions – That's the position, right? – were still serving food even if there wasn't a queue any longer. Rather than students, what remained now were either exhausted-looking soldiers or clerks. Considering most students here are nobles, I guess it makes sense why people would have different eating schedules. That proved to be even truer with supper as students were served food in the late afternoon rather than at night. Agatha couldn't recall the last time she had had supper before the sun had set, if that scenario had even existed.

  The food was the same gruel she had had during breakfast, but now there was far more meat in the dead-looking mixture. Agatha had never been squeamish with food, so she ate it without making any fuss. Her interaction with Christie during breakfast was just because… well, the gruel certainly didn't look like food. But it very much was so, and she couldn't deny it had given her enough energy to go through the classes.

  Once she was done, she picked up her tray and went to the dormitories once she disposed of it. The Skyscraper Academy seemed to get a more dreamy and lazy feeling during this time when classes were over. I wonder where the soldiers train? And also, why are there so many soldiers up here? Isn't it inefficient? Are there even enough lifts to mobilize them?

  Drowned in questions, Agatha finally made it to her dormitory where her roommate was waiting for her. Christina Valasela sat on one of the stone chairs of the balcony, the soft breeze slowly waving her long scarlet mane as she read a book. The village girl knew that her roommate wasn't a noble, but that imagery struck her as nothing short of nobility. The redhead carried herself with a dignity far superior to most of the nobles Agatha had met on this day, and she couldn't help but long for it. For that princess-like composure.

  Agatha's presence was detected as the wind closed the door of their room for her with a powerful thud.

  "Welcome back," Christie announced with a soft smile after removing her eyes from the book.

  "Hello," Agatha sheepishly stepped forward. "Are you… doing better?"

  "If I am… oh, yes," her roommate closed her book and stood up. "It has been an unsavory experience, but… I will pull through. Knowing that I have allies eases my mind significantly."

  "That is good to hear," the dirty-blond girl fiddled with her lithic necklace. "And indeed, you have allies here. Though I doubt how competent I might be."

  That got a warm smile out of Christie, as if her lips were commanded by Heat. "The intention matters far more than the results."

  "But they still matter," Agatha countered.

  "It is… a balance," the redhead chuckled and left her book atop the shared desk. "Having said so, I believe you deserve a tour of the academy."

  "I will not deny that is the case," the villager sighed as she recalled how she got lost, "but you deserve far more a rest. There is no need to tour me yourself."

  "I believe a walk would do me wonders," Christie offered.

  "I believe a rest would do you better," Agatha denied her.

  "A rest, huh?" Instead of being discouraged, her roommate seemed to take it as a challenge. "You know what would relax me?" Agatha swayed her head in negation. "A bath!"

  "A bath?"

  "A bath," Christie nodded. "And you know who does not know where the lavatory is?"

  "I know what you are doing," Agatha sighed.

  "And what will you do about it?" The redhead smirked at her.

  "Follow you to the baths, of course! Was it ever a shadow of a doubt?"

  "I guessed as much," her roommate giggled and walked out of their room.

  "But," Agatha stopped on her feet and blushed, "what type of baths are we talking about?"

  "Oh, nothing… suggestive like might be the baths of Intak Solfan. There is a bathing pool in the academy, but most lavatories are either private bathtubs, communal showers, or stall tubs."

  Agatha's heart dropped on the 'communal showers' part. "Are we going to be forced to use the showers?"

  "I do not think they can force us to do anything," Christie herself blushed but continued moving, "but from my understanding, those are for the soldiers, not even the clerks. I guess they are open to anyone in a rush, but I believe you and I will be more than satisfied with bathtubs."

  "You could say that, yes," the dirty-blond girl laughed awkwardly. "And what about those private bathtubs you mentioned? Who has access to those?"

  "From my understanding: academy's staff like teachers, high-ranking soldiers, and students from third year and above."

  "So until we do not make it to third year, we will not have a tub to call our own?" Agatha arched her brow.

  "I understand your suspicion, but the stalls we have at our disposal are not bad in the slightest. Private bathtubs are a massive luxury as they are inside the person's bedroom."

  "Inside the bedroom?" Her eyes shot wide open.

  In her house, they did have a bathtub – even though it would be more appropriate to call it an oversized basin – but they rarely used it as it took a lot of time to fill it with water from the nearby stream. Though when they did, Agatha and her mother had a wonderful day, especially considering it was trivial to heat it up with the little sapphire, a task that had taken quite a while when she had yet to obtain it and they were still dependent on her mother's agates. Ones that, whilst beautiful, carried less potency than her little sapphire.

  "To my knowledge, students who reach third year are already considered elite soldiers, and considering that by that point they are bound to have a respectable position on the military hierarchy, such bedrooms are not without justification," Christie explained.

  Other trivial conversations filled the silence until they arrived at the lavatories. Agatha instantly felt the change, as once they stepped through the threshold, the place became warm. She could feel the very heat coming from the ground.

  "Is the ground… heated?" She asked in confusion.

  "Indeed," her roommate pointed at a verdigris agate growth that greatly contrasted against the clean marble of the lavatory. "The agate veins here are commanded by a soft Heat, so the whole place is warm. You would not like to step into cold stone after getting out of the bath."

  "Right…" Agatha added dejectedly. There was something… wrong in the way that a person's greatest preoccupation was not having cold feet whenever they left the bath.

  Christie then opened one of the stalls she had previously mentioned. It was as big as the room the redhead slept in, but it looked far bigger without the presence of a bed. It just contained a small shelf, a bathtub, and a mirror.

  "Here on the shelf," her roommate started, "is everything you will need. Soap, towels, and whatnot. As for the tub, this lever lets out cold water, and the other lever lets out hot water. Mind you, both are very hot and cold, so you will need to find a sweet spot by handling both. Aaand… I think that is all? You got all of that?"

  "Yes, quite simple," Agatha responded. Too simple, in fact. "These agate veins are really useful. The stall itself is illuminated by them, too."

  "Useful, but expensive and a mess to set up."

  "Have you set any up?" She lifted her brow.

  "No, but once some workers came into my estate and needed a handful of weeks to set up a handful of rooms. And that was considering the estate was already atop of an existing vein."

  An estate, huh… Agatha wanted to support Christie; she really wanted to, especially considering everything that had happened today, but fractures, did she make it hard.

  "Do you… want this stall?" A moment later, the redhead asked with a forming blush.

  "Oh, no! Sorry, I just spaced out," the dirty-blond girl giggled nervously. "I will look for another one. You take this one."

  Many of the stalls seemed to be occupied by the amount of steam that slowly gathered in the lavatory, but Agatha didn't have any issues finding an empty one. Before even undressing, the seamstress-in-training tried out the water. The faucet was obviously made out of gold, for there was no other usage for that useless metal as common as pebbles beyond piping. At first, she was confused because the tub wasn't filling up the slightest, then she realized there was a valve at the bottom where the water was draining. With a single push, she blocked it and the tub started filling up.

  Much to Christie's warning, the cold water was freezing and the hot water was scalding. That much wasn't a surprise to Agatha as her own agate made the same with the Chill and Heat commands. Either she turned a basin into solid ice, or she boiled the water away. Perfect for cooking, not so much for baths.

  It took an embarrassingly long time for her to admit it, but she finally managed to find a temperature she was satisfied with by balancing the dual levers up and down. Considering the Skyscraper Academy was high up and that it was way colder than Malachite, Agatha settled on a warm bath. Warm, not scalding.

  She leisurely took out her uniform for the second and, unfortunately, not last time today, and placed it carefully on the shelf. Now, as she was in her birthday suit, she understood the wonders of a heated floor as she was able to walk on the marble floor without tiptoeing frenetically.

  What surprised Agatha more, however, was the soap. She had expected to find bars of soap, yet she was met with a bottle of a creamy white substance. Immediately, she was taken away by its silky texture and fragrant smell. The soap they had access to in Malachite definitely didn't smell well – or rather, it smelled like the forest, and she wasn't particularly fond of the smell – and it was only made passable through the combination of some wild plants that grew nearby. And at most, the bars they had were coarse at best.

  And all of this was taking into account whether she even got the chance to use soap. She and her mother only got access to it by the occasional passing caravan, as no one produced soap in Malachite, and they were forced to make it last as long as possible. Normally, they would just clean themselves with a rug and a hot basin, no bath or soap involved.

  That was to say, this was a fairy tale experience. Being able to completely submerge in the tub was already an otherworldly experience, but as she dumped the soap on her head and scrubbed her scalp, she almost melted from the pleasure. It was an overload to all the senses that were good.

  "Ah~" She let out a moan as her body slowly fell lower and lower into the water. Perhaps too much. "Uhk!" Agatha groaned as she stood up and coughed and sneezed the water out. "Perhaps," she sneezed, "I shouldn't relax that much."

  With that, her royal bathing experience was ruined. Okay, ruined was an exaggeration, but her rose-tinted vision went from a fairy tale to just a nice bathing experience. Not wanting to waste more time, Agatha washed her hair and rinsed it from the soap before she got out. Perhaps a bit of water remained on her nose, but never before had she felt so clean and silky.

  glcalde!

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