Chapter 39 - Back At The Dorms

'Dear Amy,

How have you been? I hope you're doing well. I've been wanting to write a letter to you from the very 1st day I step foot into RA, but unfortunately, it was only now that I was granted free time.

A lot of things have been keeping me busy, but learning Magic will always be enjoyable to me. Later on, I'll also be having a class about Elemental Magic and I'm looking forward to it.

I hope that mother is staying as far away as possible from you, do send me a letter if something were to happen or if you need my help in anything. If it comes to worst, please leave the Duchy behind. You've always been helping me, so please do not hesitate to call upon me as well.

I apologize if I seem to be talking about serious things, but I just really worry about you.

It's still January now, the school year has just started, but I might be able to go back home next month on one of the weekends to see you or if we were somehow given a vacation. Until then, please do take care. I'm also taking care of myself quite well here. I'm taking things slow and steady, just at my own pace.

To bring this letter to you without mother and father's knowledge, as you've seen, I will be using a bird – a pigeon to be more specific, to bring my letters to you, as well as your letters to me with the help of Magic. Along with this letter is a whistle you'll simply have to blow air into and the pigeon will immediately appear before you.

I'll write to you again soon, and I'll also be waiting for your reply.

From your lady and sister,

Aksia Euridice.'

Properly enclosing the letter inside the black envelope before sealing it with wax with the Euridice crest on it; a crow and two swords crossed together – I tied it the pigeon's body with silk, casting 'Enhance' on it to enhance its durability as well as a Mind or Imagery Magic that allows me to show an image in the pigeon's mind, and I showed it the image of Amy's room's window in the Euridice Mansion.

This pigeon... is a bird I bought just a few days before I went here in RA while I was preparing and packing my things. While I was strolling around Illira City and looking for useful things to buy I could possibly buy, I stumbled upon a store's window that displays different kinds of animals.

And seeing a sign on the side that reads 'selling a message bird for a reasonable price!', I decided to check it out. Apparently, pigeons in this world are known for being messengers.

They are trained to be one, and most of them have already memorized an area or a map – it depends on the trainer, the Kingdom, and such. Other than that, one of the things I think pigeons are known for is their navigation.

I bought it for 5 gold, which is definitely expensive for a normal or average citizen of this world. 5 gold already equals to 250 silvers which are not small at all considering that according to a study done by the Lansera Kingdom before, commoners monthly salary is mostly just around 1 to 3 gold, then 4 or 5 gold at most. Basically, I just spent a month earned money in a day.

Considering its usefulness, it's kind of worth it, however, the downside is that they mostly could only be used by Mages.

Although these messenger pigeons are already imbued with Magic in advance that allows them to hear and remember the whistle noise that comes with them when you bought one so that you could easily call them back when necessary, to use them, one would also need to use Imagery Magic to show them the location of where you want them to deliver the letter.

Well, I guess if the person using them is not a Mage, then they can also get help from a Mage since Imagery Magic only needs to be done once unless you want the pigeon to deliver the letter to a different place than usual.

Although Imagery Magic is also an Advance Magic, it's one of the easiest Mind-related Magic that there is since it doesn't involve any control or manipulation but simply a transfer of an already existing image from one to another.

A mage simply needs to clearly think of the image on their mind while transferring the right amount of Mana on the bird.

Although it's easy, if it's done wrong, there can really be some serious consequences. If the Image transferred hadn't been visualized clealry by the Mage, then the pigeon obviously wouldn't be able to deliver the letter to the right place.

And if the Mana that's been transferred to the bird is not the right amount... then it could have some 'bad' effect on the pigeon.

– Looking at the pigeon beside the closed window, I checked everything once again, and when I'm sure that there's nothing wrong, I opened the window, pushing the pigeon gently out, encouraging it to fly.

Until finally, it flew.

Closing the window again, I sat at the edge of the bed as I glance at the wall clock. 11:13 AM. I still have some time before this afternoon's class, but I can't really use that to still go to the Training Center and practice Magic since I don't think that'll be enough time for me. Besides Magic... I actually still have a lot of things I need to do.

I can already think of some possible plans, but I guess can plan and think about this in more detail once I finally have more free time, since currently... I'm also kind of preoccupied with dealing with Anastasia and the others. I'm also balancing everything with Magic and school life.

Thinking about the Euridice Dukedom also reminded me that I also have to think about what I should do with Hariz. I almost forgot that I have a younger brother.

This reminds me of my life before where I also pretty much have to balance my time.

And doing that can be really draining.

Since the Royal Academy have high security, I can't just sneak out that easily unlike when I was still in the Euridice territory. I can, but it will take much more effort to do so.

Maybe I can just go to the Morte once I had the time to go back there to see Amy as well. Since Morte is a place where you can buy a lot of things – both legal and illegal, I can also buy and seek more information there about the Euridice Family which might be able to help me.

Although I'm part of this family myself now, there are probably still some things I don't know about since the otome game didn't really focus on the Villainess side of things that much.

– I looked at the wall clock again. 11:18 AM. Since I still haven't eaten anything, I should go to the cafeteria. Although the dormitory has a kitchen, and you can also find ingredients there that all the students could use freely, I don't really have any ability or talent in cooking. Even though I would like to try and learn, there really isn't any opportunity.

Perhaps I could learn from Amy someday...

For now, I'll go to the cafeteria since that's the easiest. I haven't mentioned this before, but Royal Academy has a total of 6 cafeterias in the Main Building, and the one where Anastasia, the others, and I went to is the Main or the biggest cafeteria. Cafeterias in RA are simply named as cafeteria 1, 2, 3, and so on until 6, with cafeteria 1 being the Main, of course.

Since the Main cafeteria is the closest to classroom 1-A, and I'll be having a class about Elemental Magic later in the afternoon, then.... I'll just go there for now before going to class.