Chapter Four Hundred and Two — Sailor-Suited Soldiers of Love and Justice!
Chapter Four Hundred and Two — Sailor-Suited Soldiers of Love and Justice! “Okay,” I said. “We all agree that this is probably not a very good idea.”There were nods all around.“But we’re all going to do it anyway because this is fun and because these school uniforms are really cute?”Amaryllis sighed, but she sighed while looking really cute, so it kind of defeated the entire point of it.Valerian had enough Mitytea uniforms for everyone, and since the uniforms were designed to accommodate all sorts of students of all sorts of sizes, they included a small but potent resizing enchantment. At least, that’s what my Insight skill suggested.So right now, all of my friends and I (even including Calamity) were decked out like first year academy students. That meant that at the moment we were all wearing white jackets with little golden brass buttons with pale blue epaulettes and a poofy pink ascot.The uniform looked very naval, and that’s because it kind of was. Mitytea Academy had been founded, in part, by some humans who’d originally come from the Kingdom of Endless Swells, where they had a deep and long-standing naval tradition which carried into their way of dress.The uniform was basically a low-ranking officer’s uniform repurposed for the Academy.Well, repurposed and modified, because I was very certain that naval officers didn’t wear pleated skirts while onboard a ship, or knee-high socks.“I feel like I should be wearing pantyhose,” I said as I looked at myself in the mirror. “This uniform shows off a lot of leg.”“Ah, it’s okay,” Awen said. “You have, um, nice legs?”I grinned at her reflection. “Thanks!” It must have been all the jumping and bouncing around. It made for good strong leg muscles.Amaryllis huffed a rather disappointed sort of huff and I glanced over to her. She didn’t have the socks, of course, because that would look strange with her rather birdy legs. “There is no way the academy doesn’t know what they’re doing with these uniforms,” she said. “I bet this is just another strange tactic to get the school into a better position.”“Yeah, I’m sure,” Calamity grumbled.He was standing in the corner of the wardrobe room (Valerian had an entire room just for his clothes — and it was not a small room) with his arms crossed and a rather serious pout on.“Are you sure you want to come?” I asked. “You don’t look super comfortable.”The problem was, of course, that Milytea was an all-girl’s academy. Though I wasn’t going to tell Calamity that he looked very nice in a skirt and dress top, even if the top in question was currently stuffed with a balled-up shirt to give him a bit more of a feminine appearance.“I don’t mind,” Calamity mumbled. “Better than being stuck here with the harpy noble. Don’t know how long I’d be able to hear him go on about the love of his life before I started to feel sick of it.”“He is very... passionate,” I said.“Will you even be able to pass yourself off as a woman at all?” Amaryllis asked.Calamity glared at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He grabbed the sides of his skirt and wiggled them about. “I’m wearing the uniform, aren’t I?”“I think what Amaryllis is trying to say,” Caprica butted in. “Is that looking feminine is about more than just wearing a skirt. It’s about how you walk and stand and act. You’re a little... masculine, Calamity.”Calamity just stared at Caprica while I stifled a giggle. Then he started to walk across the room and back, swaying his hips a bit with every step and affecting a very girly walk. When he stopped, his knees were a bit together and his shoulders had shifted inwards in a way that was just... very girly. “Is this good?” he asked, his voice pitched entirely differently than usual.“That... works,” Amaryllis said. “Or it would if you weren’t wearing that moustache.”Calamity’s cheeks puffed out. “Now ny’all want me to remove my moustache too?” he asked. “This is emasculating.”“You’re the one that wants to go to an all girls school,” Amaryllis snapped back.Calamity ripped his dwarven-made prosthetic moustache off and stuffed it away. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll remember this though, birdbrain.”With that particular issue solved and all of us dressed to the nines, we slipped out of the changing room to find Valerian pacing just outside. “Ah, you’re ready,” he said.“Yup,” I said.“You are aware that regardless of whether this plan works out, you’ll owe us one, right?” Amaryllis asked.“Yes, of course,” Valerian said. “I can’t imagine this being any danger, however. The academies are very safe unless they decide to have a go at each other.”“They have a reputation of being safe, but I'm not sure we can actually rely on that,” Amaryllis said. “But sure, we’ll manage. If we can handle skypirates and rogue dungeons, I’m sure we can handle a schoolyard scuffle if it comes to it.”Valerian smiled and nodded, then carefully extended a package to us. It was relatively small and wrapped in brown paper. “This is my letter, as well as a few gifts for Cottage. Please make sure she gets everything.”“Sure,” Amaryllis said as she took the package. Then she glanced down at herself and frowned. “This uniform has no pockets.”“Cottage has complained about that at length as well. Apparently the school allows for satchels and purses and backpacks, which have become the best way for someone to flaunt their wealth,” Valerian said. “There are some very exclusive leatherworkers in Inkwren who make practical works of art. They have backlogs that can last years!”That sounded... actually, that sounded like exactly what people would do. “Is it just purses and bags?” I asked.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.Valerian shrugged. “Shoes as well. Those tend to be a status symbol across all the academies, however. Most academy uniforms feature robes or the like-except for Spear’s Academy; they don’t have a dress code at all-so it’s normal for students to flaunt their wealth with nicer footwear and accessories. And in some schools, nicer, more tailored robes.”I couldn’t decide if Inkwren was weird for that or not.“So, where is Mitytea Academy?” I asked. “Is it far?”“Oh no, it’s not far at all,” Valerian said. “I picked this hotel because of its relative proximity to the academy. Mitytea is one of the academies that is closest to the centre of the city. It’s campus is quite small compared to some of the others. Just take a left on exiting the hotel, then another left at the nearest intersection, you can’t really miss the school after that.”“And where is Cottage staying?” I asked.“She’ll be in the dorms. There’s only one dormitory, but it’s quite large. Third floor, east wing. The rooms are unnumbered, but they have the names of the occupants on them. You could leave the package with Cottage’s roommate, if you want. She's quite nice as well.”We didn’t have much more to discuss past that. Awen had a satchel still, so after moving some of her emergency tools to the side, we were able to stash the package away, then we headed out.I was expecting us to get a lot of looks. Four girls and one boy-dressed-as-a-girl walking around in bright white uniforms, but surprisingly no one seemed to glance our way.Well, no one but a bunch of young men in black robes who whistled rather rudely until Amaryllis fired a bolt of lightning past their ears.We went left on leaving the hotel, and I was very aware of how unarmoured I was, which was a strange thing to notice. Had I gotten so used to wearing at least a gambeson and cuirass that now that I was without I was feeling a bit... not naked, but certainly underdressed?Like showing up at a fancy party in jeans and a t-shirt.“I’m surprised,” Caprica said as we walked along. “That you were so eager to accept this little side quest, Amaryllis.”“You’re specifically surprised that I wanted to take it?” Amaryllis asked.“Yes. Awen doesn’t seek out trouble, Calamity seeks out another kind of trouble, and Broccoli seems like she’s be willing to do anything for the sake of meeting new people. You, on the other hand, always seemed like the level-headed voice of reason.”I... should I have been insulted. Awen and Calamity seemed more amused than anything, and I was never in a hurry to find fault in something a friend said, but still, that didn’t sound right at all. I wasn’t willing to try anything to meet new people.Amaryllis huffed. “You may remember Francisco? You met him in Sylphfree.”“The rather arrogant harpy man that challenged you to a duel, yes, I remember him. You clearly have some history with him,” Caprica said.“‘History’ doesn’t cover the depths of my hatred for that man,” Amaryllis said. “In any case, Valerian is his older brother. He is... perhaps a little more simple and less cunning than Francisco, but if my parents had arranged for me to marry him instead, perhaps I wouldn’t have been so keen on removing his head. He’s a... nice man.”I processed that for a moment. The somewhat dopey and nice Valerian we’d just met, who seemed very in love right now and rather silly for it, married to my best friend Amaryllis. That would lead to a very poor Valerian whom Amaryllis would lead by the tip of his beak. I loved Amaryllis very much, but she was the sort of woman whose spine was made of some sort of magically-reinforced steel.“That doesn’t explain why we’re all dressed like schoolgirls heading off on a mission with very little time to prepare,” Caprica said.“Well, mostly I want him to owe me one, and can you imagine how angry Francisco will be when I call in that favour?” Amaryllis asked. “Ah, I don’t know how it is among the sylph, but within harpy society, a favour is owned by a family. I could call that favour with nearly any Hawk. Though really there are some practical issues with that.”Caprica nodded along. “Self-interest and a petty need to one-up your adversary then. That makes a lot more sense.”Amaryllis huffed, insulted, but unable to contradict the statement.Fortunately for her ego, we arrived at the next intersection and turned left, and I found my eyes caught by a car moving by. An actual car, not pulled by horses, but by a large steam engine billowing smoke out above it and making a huge amount of noise while a team of students from one of the academies hung onto it.“Whoa,” I said. “I haven’t seen cars in a while.”“It’s hardly impressive,” Amaryllis said. “A less useful use of an engine than an airship. Far more confined.”That... was weird to think of, especially coming from a world where cars were all over, but in a way she was right. This world had roads, sure, but most were unpaved, and they certainly weren’t asphalted. Besides, Amaryllis came from a super mountainous region, and so did Caprica. They wouldn't be able to use cars if they had them. Mattergrove might, but they seemed to be having a hard time catching up to other nation’s development of airships and the like.I set all of that aside as we paused before a large wrought-iron gate, the words “Mitytea Academy” emblazoned over the top. Beyond that was a beautiful set of buildings made of a beige stone, with verdigris-green rooftops arranged in a large C around a central courtyard.There were a number of girls within, all in the same white uniforms we were now wearing.“Looks like this is it,” Amaryllis said. “Let’s deliver that letter and get out of here.”
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Chapter Four Hundred and Three — Artful Debate
Chapter Four Hundred and Three — Artful Debate The gate to Mitytea academy was guarded by two men, one on either side. They were in white uniforms not too dissimilar to the ones my friends and I were wearing, but with pants and the weapons were a lot more obvious.They glanced at us for just a moment. Then one of them frowned. “Are you students here?” he asked.“We’re in the uniform, aren’t we?” Caprica asked.The guard’s eyes narrowed. “What’s the password?”I felt my heart sink into my tummy. “There’s a password?” I asked right back. Why hadn’t Valerian told us anything about that? It would have been really, really good to know before arriving.The other guard laughed. “He’s pulling your leg. Go on in.”My heart was still thumping away as I thanked the nice guardsmen and slipped past them into the open courtyard at the front of the school. “Let’s keep moving,” Amaryllis said as she took the lead. She immediately turned to one side and started towards a small park set to the side of the school. It was mostly just a grassy hill with a few trees and tables.“Where, ah, are we going?” Awen asked.“Somewhere where we can regroup and think without looking too suspicious,” Amaryllis said. The park wasn’t entirely empty, there was a human girl sitting under a tree reading, and a couple more at one of the tables, but it was quiet otherwise.The entire campus seemed to be on the quieter side of things.Then again, maybe classes were in session? That would explain where most of the students were.We took over the free table, squeezing onto the bench around it while Amaryllis thought. “Alright, I think the best case scenario here is that we do this quickly. We find Cottage, give her the letter, then leave. No fuss or muss.”“Sounds good to me,” Caprica said.“Likewise,” Calamity agreed. “This skirt is way too short. It’s indecent.”I hadn’t known Calamity to be prudish about stuff like skirts, but maybe having him wear one changed his mind about it. “Alright, so how do we find her?” I asked. “Valerian said where her dorm room was, do we just snoop around there?”“So, what are we expecting to go wrong?” Amaryllis asked.“Um,” Awen started. ”We could be discovered. That thing at the gate almost got us. I thought he knew we weren’t real students.”“The less time we spend here, the less likely our ruse is to be discovered,” Caprica said with a nod. “The less time we spend interacting with the students as well. We don’t know anything about the school’s culture and... well, we stick out, if only because our group is so diverse.”“That’s one thing that could go wrong,” Amaryllis said. “We might also discover that Cottage isn’t here.”“Or that Valerian duped us and she doesn’t actually want anything to do with him,” Calamity said. He shrugged. “The bird seemed alright, but I’m not sure he seemed entirely sane.”I shook my head. “He could just be in love.”“That does make you feel a little, um, insane,” Awen agreed.“Well, whatever. How will we find Cottage? Are we really just going to head to her dorm? Because that feels a little... I don’t know. Weird?”“She's probably in class right now,” Amaryllis said. “We could just deliver the box and letter to her room. That would be good enough, I think.”I nodded, then stood up from the table and walked across the hill.“Wait, Broccoli, where are you going?” Amaryllis asked.“Just asking for directions,” I called back before stopping close to the girl under the tree.She paused in her reading and looked up at me, eyes blinking behind her glasses. “Yes?” she asked.“Oh, it’s okay, you can finish your page, I can wait,” I said with a smile. It wasn’t nice to interrupt someone in the middle of readingThe girl looked down at her book, then back up. I noticed her moving her thumb over to the page to mark her place. “It’s okay. Can I help you? Uh... I don’t recognize you, sorry.”“That’s okay! It’s my first time here. Anyway, I’m looking for someone called Cottage?”“The painter girl?” she asked.“That sounds right,” I said. Valerian had mentioned that she was into art. “Do you know where I could find her?”The girl shrugged. “I don’t know her schedule. But maybe check on the art class? I know she had that one. Uh, do you know how to find it?” At my headshake, she shifted a bit, then pointed to one of the buildings not too far off. “In there. Second floor. Listen for the people arguing.”“Thanks!” I said before bouncing back to my friends. “I have a lead.”Amaryllis huffed. “That was needlessly risky,” she said.“I told her it was my first time here. I think that works as a good cover story. It’s even true.”She rolled her eyes, then stood up, the others doing the same a moment later. “Did you get good directions, at least?”“I did! She didn’t know exactly where Cottage is, but we might find her in the art classroom. It’s in that building, on the second floor.” I pointed to where the reading girl did. Those were simple enough directions for any of us.With that, we took off. I tried to strike up a conversation, but I felt like all of my friends were a bit nervous. What if someone showed up and we were caught?We crossed the path of a teacher-looking person and all of us picked up the pace and moved past them in a bit of a hurry, but they seemed busy with their own thoughts and didn’t pay us any more than a passing glance.The school buildings were all quite majestic. Old stone, carefully worked over so that the corner pieces had carvings of flowers and several statues looked out from alcoves high up in the building. Each floor seemed bigger than the average, with huge arched windows letting in lots of natural light.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.We slipped in, then took the first staircase up to the second floor, squeezing past a few students who eyed us in passing, but we were in the right uniforms and moving as if we knew where we were going, so no one stopped us.Once on the second floor corridor, I worried about finding the art classroom, but then my ears twitched and I picked up some noise bouncing from our left. Not quite screaming, but a discussion that was on the louder, more enthusiastic side of things. “Ah, this way, I think,” I said to my friends.We found the art classroom down that way. A shut door that wasn’t doing a fantastic job of muffling a loud argument on the other side.“He was a hack!”“He absolutely was not! You just lack the ability to appreciate the value he brought to the artistic community.”“His entire style is nothing but flat colours wasted on perfectly good canvas! Didn’t you read his memoires? He even admitted that he painted Remembrance of Pale-ish Blue in under a day to con some noble.”“That memoir wasn’t even written by him. It’s not a valid source for anything and you’re a fool to believe a word of it.”“Earlier, you quoted from it yourself!”I glanced at my friends. “I was expecting something else for an art class,” I said.“Like... painting and sculpting and art?” Awen asked.“Clearly, it’s some sort of art-debate class,” Caprica said. “I’ve run into this sort of person before. Don’t let them start criticising you.”“How are we going to find Cottage?” Awen asked. “We wait?”I shook my head. “No, that doesn’t sound productive.” So I reached forwards and knocked on the door. The discussion on the other side stopped for a moment, then continued, but I heard someone shuffling closer to the door, and it opened up to reveal another girl wearing the same uniform we were in. “Hi! We were wondering if Cottage was in this class?” I asked.The girl nodded, then glanced over her shoulder and back. “Did you need her right now? She’s on defence.”“Oh, uh, not really, we can wait out here,” I said with a little gesture to the corridor.The girl shook her head. “No, no, come on in.” She stepped back, allowing us into the classroom... though now that I was within, I wasn’t sure if it was a classroom at all. Sure, there were some desks with chairs, but there were also a few sofas along the walls, and it seemed like the few students in the class were spread out across them.The walls were covered in paintings. Most of them in nice frames, but a few were just raw canvas hanging on the walls, and there was even a sort of moving rack to one side with a dozen more slotted into place.The front of the room had two podiums facing each other, and a big easel between them where a painting was on full display.It smelled like paint in there too, which I supposed made sense. Though I couldn’t see any painting supplies anywhere.“That’s Cottage,” the girl who greeted us said while pointing to the front of the class, specifically the podium to the right.Cottage, as it turned out, was a small mousefolk girl in a very tiny version of the school’s official uniform. She was a pale brown, with big eyes and floppy mouse ears, and was wearing a scowl that seemed downright dangerous as she sparred verbally with the human girl at the podium opposite hers.She briefly glanced our way, but then continued to lay into the girl she was debating. I listened for a while, but even with magical translation skills, I couldn’t tell what she was talking about. It had to do with the painting between them. They had clearly taken sides and were debating over its merits, but it felt a bit beyond me.So I let my attention wander across the room. There was a lot to look at. Fantastic scenery paintings of hills and forests and glades, as well as some places that looked literally fantastical but which might have been real. An upside-down waterfall, a bunch of islands floating above a lake, a huge castle jutting out of a cliffside at a forty-five degree angle.There were some portraits too. People of all sorts of races and species, dressed in strange and colourful garb. Some I recognized. Harpy and sylph and elves and even a few cervid.Then I caught sight of one painting and let out a little gasp.It was a skeletal dog with glowing red eyes and huge, ferocious teeth.I wandered over to the painting, grabbing Amaryllis’ talon on the way. “Do you recognize him?” I whispered, pointing to the dog.She stared. “No? Wait... is that... what’s-his-name’s dog?”“Gunther! And the dog’s Throat Ripper. He was a good puppy.” I would never, of course, forget a dog’s name. Not to mention that Throat Ripper had saved Amaryllis’ life. I owed him a whole heap of scritches.“That was... ages ago,” Amaryllis said.Awen and Caprica and Calamity came around, staring at the same painting we were looking at. “That’s one ugly mutt,” Calamity said.“That’s a good boy,” I corrected. “It’s the pet dog of a necromancer Amaryllis and I met a long, long time ago.”“Ah, was that before we met?” Awen asked.“Uh-huh! I was just starting off as an explorer then. It was... hard. Amaryllis didn’t want to be my friend.”“That’s not how I remember it,” Amaryllis said with a rather snooty huff.“I’ll tell you all the story later,” I said. “Amaryllis got kidnapped, and we had to get saved by Throat Ripper.”“That dog’s called what?” Calamity asked.There was a small cough from behind us, and we all turned, then looked down, to discover Cottage standing behind us, looking somewhat unimpressed. “You mentioned wanting to meet me?” she asked.
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