[Rien's POV]
Bright, clinical light stabbed into my eye.
I groaned and tried to turn my head away, blinking through the glare. Beside me were several cloth partitions. High up on the white wall there was a red cross, while a nurse leaned over me with a clipboard.
"W-Where's Fritz?" I asked immediately. My voice was hoarse and dry.
"Who?" The nurse raised an eyebrow.
"Fritz Alimont," I repeated.
The nurse checked her clipboard. "Should be a couple of cots down. They're in bad condition."
"WHA—coughcoughcough."
The nurse handed me a glass of water. "You're in no condition to be worrying about others right now. A doctor will come check you over again. If all goes well, you'll be released at the end of the day. Try not to move your arm so much."
"Okay," I nodded, sipping from the glass with my good arm.
I heard the nurse's footsteps fade away and lay back down. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least Fritz was… more or less okay. I didn't know what happened, but knowing that they were alive was enough.
For the next few hours, I drifted in and out of sleep until a doctor came.
By the end of the day, I was released, but not before I got a chance to see Fritz. They were out cold, plugged into so many different machines that they could've been mistaken for a robot. I wanted to stay, but the nurses ushered me out, insisting I was in the way. I resolved to come by the next morning.
A receptionist by the door handed me back mother's revolver along with my bullets packed in a small paper bag.
By the time I left the hospital, a rosy-orange sunset was already cresting the horizon, and the streets began to bloom with the warm lights of countless lanterns and late-night shops. The night market in the square around the giant bell tower came to life as vendors brang in their wares and carts, while dockworkers flooded into town, grabbing seats at bars and pubs after the long day of hard labour.
It was going to get rowdy soon, and it was about time I got home.
*Clack, clack, clack.*
My boots echoed against the familiar cobblestones as I walked and gingerly lifted my left arm. After the doctor's treatment—plus that of a medical mage—the pain was reduced to just a slight soreness.
"Sigh…" What the heck happened down by the dock? I guess I'd have to wait again for an explanation by the Archmage's constabulary… whenever it was that they'd release that. Besides, it was quite literally the day after I got the letter from the academy at midnight… that couldn't have been a coincidence, could it?
I shook my head.
"No, I'm thinking too much into it."
I still had some money, so I popped by a small pub and picked up a piping-hot lamb chop and cheese sandwich before heading home. It was a good savoury bite. The bread was kind of hard to bite into, though.
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By the time I got home, it was fully dark. Not that you'd know it—with all the street lamps and open-windowed shops around, the coastal city was so bright it felt like daytime.
*Clack*
When I unlocked my front door and stepped inside, a familiar envelope greeted me on the ground just under the letter box.
"...Already?" I shut the door and tore open the letter, skimming the contents.
From what I could summarize, all of my school materials, expenses, and uniform would be provided for by Chrysanthemum academy. All I had to do was show up with the letter and whatever personal items I wanted.
…That was, if I even wanted to go in the first place. The entire thing was pretty suspicious—with the letter being delivered late at night as well as offering me a scholarship even though I haven't done anything—but…
Fritz wanted me to go to school. Mother and father would've wanted me to go, too. The de la Fontaines used to be a noteworthy atelier and family. Not going would feel like letting all of that fade away.
I exhaled slowly.
Maybe… it wouldn't be so bad.
"…But who's going to look after the house?" I muttered. Asking Fritz—though they were a close family friend—felt like asking too much.
My eyes snagged on the last line.
"Please meet the quartermaster of the ship HAS Tidedrifter at the docks at 10:30 AM tomorrow."
…Tomorrow.
"You've got to be kidding me."
I climbed upstairs, almost banging my knee on the banister. I dragged out my enchanted courier's bag—which was light as air despite its impossible depth—and flung open my wardrobe.
I didn't have that many clothes and the academy uniform would be provided for me, but I should probably bring some clothes with me, right???
I grabbed another set of working clothes, a nightgown, and a slightly nicer semi-formal dress that wouldn't get me stared at too badly.
After fitting what I could into the bag, I stopped by my parents' room. It had been a long time since I'd dropped by, but I walked inside. The bed was neatly made, and I kept the room clean and tidy.
Just in case, you know… if mother or father came back some day.
I opened mother's closet. There was a certain thing I remember mother telling me when I was small. I carefully looked through her dresses before finding the one I was looking for. It was a deep midnight blue with long, translucent sleeves and a high neckline. A small silver wave brooch inlaid with shells and pearls was pinned over its left breast.
I gently placed it in a garment bag and laid it neatly inside a separate compartment of my courier bag. "Forgive me, mother. You told me to take this when I was going to leave the house for a long time, and… now seems like a good time…"
I was too tired to walk back to my room, and the house seemed to creak as I sighed, slumping down against the bedframe. The day's exhaustion caught up to me, and I quickly fell into a restless slumber.