6 Chapter 5: Life at the Academy

After washing my body and wearing some clean clothes, I dropped my old clothes in the dirty clothes basket inside my room. Apparently, the attendants would be using these to judge which clothes need to be cleaned and which don't.

I headed outside the room and knocked on Aria's door. She came out wearing the standard school uniform that were given to every student inside their wardrobes. I was wearing some clothes of my own, as uniforms were only encouraged to be worn during classes.

The academy uniform for boys and girls weren't very different from each other. A white buttoned up shirt on top, and trousers on the bottom. Of course, girls could also choose to wear skirts which is what Aria was wearing now. Seems like the uniforms would change as we get older, but this is what we had for now.

"Hello Aria, where you able to rest for a little?"

"Yes, the beds were more comfortable than I expected. How about you?"

"Same here, while they aren't particularly high quality, the beds were very comfortable."

"Hmm... I wanted to ask you before, but do you come from a noble family, Darcy? The way you speak just seems like some nobles I've read about in books."

"Oh- was it that obvious? I am sorry if it made you uncomfortable. How about you, do you also come from a noble family?"

"Well, we don't have noble families in the Holy Theocracy, but my uncle is an official priest, so I was able to read about the cultures of other places."

"I see... you still talk very politely for your age too, you must have had great teachers."

"Ah- thank you. This is also stuff I learned thanks to my m- I mean my uncle."

While we chatted, we walked towards to the cafeteria located in the first floor of this building. This building had five floors, and the only cafeteria was located on its entrance floor, where we and the second years would live.

Seems like we would change rooms every two years, and moving up a floor during the process. The freshman of next year would be taking the rooms of second years of this year as they move to the next floor. The above floors were supposed to have larger rooms, to accommodate our growth.

Aria and I arrived at the cafeteria, which looked like it could fit at least two hundred people in here. Considering each year had twenty students in class-s, this number seemed to make sense. Of course, this wasn't like restaurants I've ever visited in the past, where they would bring the food you ordered to your table.

Apparently, we are supposed to pick a tray and plates and get our own food from their respective counters. Aria seemed to be already used to this style, but since it was my first time, I got surprised for a bit.

Thankfully, I had someone by my side who was already aware of what to do, and followed Aria to pick up a balanced meal of a plate of pasta and a bowl of salad. Aria got some meat too, but I didn't since meat wasn't particularly up to my taste.

There were also counters full of desserts and snacks, which made me worry about some children without enough control. Since everything is already free here, would some people try to eat until they burst? Especially for young children like us, even I don't know if I can resist the temptation of those fruit parfaits...

Being in a new environment like this, I could help but to look around, and Aria seemed to be doing the same. Thinking of Aria, she also seemed to be eyeing those parfaits... would she also become an enemy of mine?

"Say, Aria."

"*swallow food*, sorry what did you say?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask how your trip from the Theocracy to the Empire went? How long did it take you to arrive?"

"Oh. It was okay, I was asleep for the majority, but I don't think it took so long. Normally I would have came here with others from the Theocracy, but my parents brought me here separately. Seems like they also had some other stuff to do in the empire."

"They just dropped you off at the academy and left?"

"Eh, kind of. But don't think badly of them. It's because my dad becomes a crybaby when separating from me or my mom. So mom just took him and left before he could cry."

"I *nom* I see."

While making Aria busy by getting her to talk, I make sure that I finish my food first and get to the dessert area before her. Unfortunately, it seems like there is a magic formation on the desserts counter, so I was only able to get two servings of strawberry parfaits.

The cafeteria is still relatively empty, as many freshman haven't registered yet and the upper grades haven't returned from their missions. Thinking that these desserts would go to waste pained me a little, but I didn't dwell too much on it. Luckily, famine or shortage of food wasn't present in the empire.

"Oh, you have brought me serving of parfait too? Thank you Darcy.

"...yes. You are welcome."

"You even got my favorite, the strawberry parfaits. Are those also your favorite?"

Yes. Yes they are. Those shiny strawberries layered with sweet cake and savory cream...

"Hahaha."

"Wha- Why did you start laughing all of a sudden? You are acting really scary..."

"Sorry, sorry. I just remembered of a very funny thing. Please go ahead, enjoy to food while it's still fresh.

"Oh, okay. Stop grinng though! You seem really creepy when you do that..."

Aria, oh Aria. I really didn't expect that someone looking so innocent would become my enemy... Perhaps all of this was an act to lower my guard?

This pain of losing a parfait... I shall repay it a thousand-fold in the future!