First purchases and first disappointments (1)

Krito still looked sleepy, but he had no choice; life was more valuable than sleep. Thus, the young man slowly trailed behind Katrina, who was heading north from the Main Building.

"And? Where are we going?" he inquired, stifling a yawn. "If we need supplies, it's better to go to the nearest town."

"Which one is the closest?" asked the sorceress after a short pause.

"Rimia. It's a few kilometers west from here," Krito replied, recalling the Academy's map.

"Don't worry, we'll have time to go for supplies," the girl waved her hand, her thoughts clearly wandering somewhere far away. After a brief pause, she turned to her companion again, "Your generous lady forgives your laziness, for I managed to make great use of this time."

"Oh, really?" a sense of unease grew within the young man.

"Yes! I found us a home near the guild headquarters. It not only has a convenient location but also vast surrounding grounds, so we won't have any trouble with training!" The princess beamed with pride. "Of course, it has its flaws, but with just a bit over three hundred gold coins from two scholarships, I couldn't afford anything better. Besides, I'll still need to find you some weapons."

"I don't like this at all! I really don't like any of this! She bought a house all on her own! Katrina, who believes in tales that if a person doesn't eat at an exact time, they'll die of hunger, and that you can get pregnant from a mere touch!" With each step, my concerns only grew.

"Well, here we are!" my boss declared cheerfully, approaching the massive stone gates.

Indeed, the location was favorable, just a ten-minute walk from the main building, but the dilapidated state of the road raised some doubts. The training field was genuinely not bad: half a kilometer wide and one and a half kilometers long, with the added benefit of leading directly to the seashore, even capturing a portion of the beach. However, it was completely empty. No training dummies, no arena, no shelters for resting, and to complete the picture, not even the slightest trace of magical protection. There wasn't even a basic fence; four rotting poles stood at the corners of the territory instead. If this lightning-born creation started training here, the nearby educational building would undoubtedly be in peril. This was unacceptable; she would have to go to the training grounds on the southern side, and that would take her almost an hour to get there!

The gates we approached seemed ludicrous, not even attached to a fence due to its absence, yet the hefty lock hinted at their extreme necessity. Ignoring the obvious, Katrina proudly took out a large key from the hanging lock and began to fiddle with it tirelessly. However, the stubborn rust showed no intention of relinquishing its position easily. The battle between Katrina and the iron mechanism continued for almost ten minutes, and doubts started creeping in my mind. "No, can't she really notice anything, or is she just pretending to be an idiot? Or perhaps there is indeed some powerful magical shield here, and you can only pass through the gates?"

Deciding to test the hypothesis, Krito slowly extended his hand towards the presumed location of the invisible wall. Nothing, absolutely nothing! There was no wall, just as there was no sense in these enormous gates. Demonstratively circling around them a couple of times, the young man now watched with increasing impatience as the princess fought the iron contraption in a bloody battle. The confrontation lasted for about twenty minutes and ended with a resounding victory of the human over the soulless piece of metal. Katrina, immensely proud of her first triumph, forcefully pushed the gate open and with a masterful air, invited me to enter.

Of course, all that fuss paled in comparison to the sight of our future headquarters. If there were universal competitions for the title of the worst house, this building, without a doubt, would be among the top three finalists!

Externally, it was a log cabin, one-story, measuring about 8x4x3.5 meters. Suspicious marks on the walls suggested that it had been a bomb shelter surviving more than one great war. The house had six tiny windows, barely allowing any light inside. The roof had an impressively sized hole, which I initially mistook for a seventh window.

Inside, the house divided into a hallway, a hall, and a small kitchen, was even more terrifying. The dust accumulated over at least two centuries of inactivity swirled into thick clouds with the slightest draft. It was astonishing that this house stood upright for so long without collapsing. At first glance, it seemed like the entire structure relied on the spiderwebs spread throughout the corners and sometimes simply dangling from the ceiling. And, of course, how could we do without the local inhabitants? Six-legged, eight-legged, and winged insects scattered in all directions when a person approached but were undoubtedly ready to reclaim their territory at the first opportunity.

It was one of the worst houses, but I never would have thought that renting such a miserable place could cost three hundred gold coins. A terrible thought flashed through my mind, and I had to check it:

"Katrina, how many months did you rent this house?"

The girl looked at me like a sheep at a new gate and, clearly not understanding the question, asked again:

"Rent? What's that?"

"As I suspected," I groaned inwardly. "She bought it! I'd rather dig two graves in the cemetery, at least there I'd get a decent rest." But aloud, I asked with resignation, "Did you spend 300 gold coins to buy it?"

"Well, yes, I told you that my finances are not yet in order, but probably all guilds start like this," she spoke nonsense with such an innocent and enthusiastic expression that it was impossible to be angry with her. There was only one thing left to do - bang my head against the wall in the hope that the brain concussion would erase this moment from my memory. "But don't worry, I also saved money for equipment."

Muttering a faint curse, I prepared to leave when I heard the words I didn't want to hear:

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you... You're staying here tonight."

"Why on earth?!" I tried to resist.

"Well, I couldn't afford protective magic, and I don't know how to create it myself yet. Oh, right! They also haven't fixed your room yet."

"So, because of you, I'm forced to spend the night in this pest-infested dump?!" My eyes burned with the most righteous anger in the world. "Maybe Your Highness would care to keep me company?"

"Firstly, that's the job for subordinates!" Katrina raised her nose proudly. "And secondly, I have a place to sleep, and you don't."

"But it's because of you!!" I tried to protest, to which Katrina only gave a demonstrative snort. "And where do you even stay? You're not in any of the dormitories."

"What? Where do I live? Over there," she pointed to the clock tower. "On the second-to-last floor, there's a large room with stained glass windows overlooking the entire academy."

"Since it's so spacious, maybe I could stay there?" It was my last desperate attempt to avoid spending the night in this dusty hovel.

"Pervert! Under such a brazen pretext, trying to sneak into a girl's room!" The girl's voice trembled with anger, and her cheeks flushed red. "You will sleep here until your room is fixed, and that's it!"

"I'll kill her! I'll definitely kill her. I'll wrap my hands around her slender neck and strangle her until she stops twitching, then bury her under this shabby place and set it on fire!! And then they can search for me, I won't give in to anyone," - with these thoughts, Krito reached out towards Katrina's neck, but alas, he didn't carry out his dark plan.

"And now, off to Rimia for equipment!" with this joyful exclamation, the princess briskly marched away.

Damn it, she hasn't seen the last of me!