So I Really Did End Up at the Academy
"So you need to understand your place a little, and act like it. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes..."
Mariella's lecture went on without end. I was the one hauling every heavy bag, but what she carried couldn't have been light either, and still she poured out words without the slightest sign of tiring. It was, in its own way, impressive.
Still, we'd arrived. She'd stop now... right?
"...That way should do."
I followed along behind her.
The Academy was, in itself, one enormous autonomous district. The whole city was the Academy. Think of a university campus the size of a respectable city and you won't be far off—though if you were picturing a modern city, you'd need to scale that image down a little.
The first thing I saw was a wall. Not a fortress wall, tall and thick, but something closer to a boundary fence. It wasn't meant to keep anything out, so a wall like that was probably enough.
And people, standing in a line. A long queue stretched along the wall, and at its head sat a small building. The ones waiting there were probably hoping to be let inside.
"Where are you going? It's this way."
"Huh?"
I'd been heading for the back of the line when Mariella's voice came from the opposite direction. I had no idea what she was doing, but I followed her anyway.
We passed the little building and walked a little farther, and an old-fashioned gate appeared. Mariella and I went through it.
It was a small room. Opposite the door we'd entered stood another door, and between them a long table. People waited on either side. One man, one woman.
An airport security checkpoint. That was the closest comparison I could find.
Mariella walked up to the table without hesitation, drew something from inside her clothes, and held it out.
"We're from Rosenberg."
Metal clinked. One of them, having heard her, produced a broad tablet, tapped it a few times, and spoke.
"Mariella Rosenberg. Is that correct?"
The low voice sent a brief shiver through me. Mariella nodded, and this time the woman spoke.
"Are you carrying a wand, or any other article prohibited under the autonomous territory's regulations?"
Mariella nodded again. The woman took out a wide rod, the way they do at airport security, and swept it around her body. I was watching from the corner of my eye when the man's gaze turned to me.
"You are Miriel Rosenkranz, correct?"
"Ah, n-no? I'm not...?"
"What? But the documents clearly..."
He glanced back and forth between me and the tablet. Miriel? I'd heard that name somewhere. It tugged at me with a strange familiarity, and I was still turning it over when he spoke again.
"Then, if I may ask, what is your name?"
"Emil—"
"She is Miriel. The road here was a little rough, so she's tired. Her tongue must have slipped."
Mariella cut in. Her voice sounded oddly urgent.
Why was she suddenly like that? I tried to say something, but what met me was a glare—angry, or rather, flatly incredulous. My body jerked.
"...Is that true?"
The woman sounded suspicious. Mariella carried herself as if nothing at all were wrong, perfectly assured.
"Of course. Are you suggesting I'm lying?"
"That's not what I—"
"Then there's no problem, is there? Please let us through. I'm a little tired."
Metal clinked again. I hadn't been able to see it before, but from this angle I could.
A pendant dangled from Mariella's hand.
Inside a circular ring, a rose and a shield, broken down into geometry.
I knew that crest. It was fixed to a great many of Ria's things.
The crest of Ria's house. The Rosen-whatever family.
In other words, if you ran what Mariella was doing through a noble-speech translator, it came out roughly as: You do know our house, don't you? Keep being a nuisance and... well. You know how this goes.
Something like that?
That's just pulling rank.
I looked at Mariella. Even when our eyes met, she didn't glance away or let her expression shift the way someone with a guilty conscience would. She was composed. Natural. As if she had been doing this sort of thing as a matter of course.
"Then, may I ask a few formal questions?"
The woman said it with the same air of long familiarity.
So this wasn't the first time on their side either. Even in another world, the sufferings of service work were much the same.
"That much is fine."
Mariella didn't sound displeased.
Relieved, I kept my eyes on her. If she crossed a line, I meant to stop her. I owed Ria too much to nitpick every little thing, but anything excessive still had to be headed off.
Mariella's head turned a fraction. Our eyes met. She let out a long sigh and looked away.
As if I were the one who had done something wrong.
What?
Pass through the gate and pierce the barrier, and the first thing you see is a tower rising high, a clock fixed at its peak.
Of course, that is not the tower's only purpose.
A colossal barrier spell guards this city. The tower before my eyes was a kind of antenna for maintaining and activating that magic.
It resonated with the core of a magic circle hidden somewhere beneath the city and generated the barrier... I hadn't been told the details.
I could see why Ria had boasted that this spell was her greatest masterpiece. Clean circuit design, nothing superfluous. Settings this fine, and still not a single logic circuit in conflict with another.
She couldn't have made this alone, could she? Someone must have helped. Ria was more careless and scatterbrained than you'd think...
Even so, most of the design was hers.
Just as you can guess a writer from style and the way an argument unfolds, you can infer a mage from the structure and circuitry of their magic.
In that sense, the barrier laid Ria's habits bare. Slapdash, loose as if a screw were missing—and yet, in truth, minimalism taken to its extreme. Even limited to barriers, to pare a circuit down this far... all I could say was that it was incredible.
Past that towering spire, following the avenue straight on, the next thing to appear was a high wall and a gate. At a glance, the wall looked about twice my height.
"Haa."
A sigh escaped me. Beyond this gate, the Academy...
"Haaa..."
"What are you doing, not going in?"
"...I'll just stay outside—"
"Keep saying strange things and I'll tell my sister."
"I'm going in."
I moved my feet and stepped through. I had only crossed a single door, and yet my skin prickled, my head spun, and my hands and feet seemed to tremble...
"Why are you just standing there...?"
I drew a deep breath and took another long step forward. The body that had been caught between the walls was now, completely, inside the Academy.
I really did end up at the Academy.
Broadly speaking, the Academy could be divided into two zones: the commercial district we had been walking through until a moment ago, and the academic district, which you entered by crossing another wall within it. Mariella had said the academic district held the various buildings used for classes, and facilities for the students' convenience.
Looking around, I saw people carrying bags like ours, all moving in the same direction. Figuring I could simply follow them, I started walking.
"Heading straight for the dormitory?"
Mariella said.
So this way led to the dorms.
I thought it over for a moment. Unpacking quickly and shutting myself in a room to rest didn't sound bad at all.
I picked up the pace.
The dormitory was ordinary. At least from the outside. The building was quite large and tall, but that was all there was to it. I hadn't been inside a room yet, so I couldn't say for certain, but a dormitory is a dormitory. I didn't expect much.
"...What?"
And my expectations were betrayed.
"There are no single rooms?"
In a very bad way.
"No."
The receptionist nodded.
The Academy's default was two to a room, but there were singles for people who preferred to be alone. They cost a little more than a double, but I had money, so that didn't matter.
Money, however, was not the problem.
Single rooms were for nobles, or those of equivalent standing. A servant like me had to go into a separate dormitory of her own.
...And that dormitory was four to a room.
...Ugh. I felt sick. Just thinking about it, I couldn't breathe.
"No, I'm saying if you just share a double with me, it's fine. Why do you keep being like this? It's embarrassing!"
A double. With Mariella?
I didn't want that either! She'd keep bothering me! I just wanted to shut myself in a room and roll around! If someone else lived beside me, I'd have to watch their mood and couldn't do as I pleased!
"Um, e-excuse me... Receptionist? Is it really impossible?"
"I'm afraid it would be difficult..."
"Mariella, Mariella, are you all right with it? Sharing a room with me..."
"I don't mind."
I have no allies...
Nothing for it. I'd have no choice but to room with Mariella...
"Excuse me, coming through."
"Ah, sorry."
A man carrying cleaning supplies brushed past us. He went farther in, toward the stairs—
"......Huh?"
Right. There was another way.