sea of time

4

The carriage finally arrived at Garreg Mach. Caspar had slept through the ride, so it felt like nothing to him.

Woah.

The main building was huge! It reminded Caspar of the type of castles he’d seen in movies. There were a lot of students who had just arrived at around the same time as them.

“I can’t even see the highest part…” Caspar said, mostly to himself.

“It probably doesn’t help that you’re short”

“Hey!” Caspar said jokingly. “Anyways, I don’t really want to go in like this, at least not for very long.”

“Well, we’ve only got to go in and see that professor I was telling you about. Her name’s Manuela. She should probably have a spare uniform or two, hopefully one in your size. I’ll warn you though, there’s probably going to be a lot of students there picking up their uniforms.”


“Sounds great!” Caspar smiled. He wanted to get out of this sorry excuse for shorts as soon as possible.

“It should only take around 40 minutes, so don’t worry.” Dorothea said.

“Sounds… great.” Caspar tried to fake a smile.

It clearly did not work, but it only really got a laugh out of Dorothea. “I’m just messing with you. It should take only 20 minutes.”

“Well, that’s a bit better.

————

The walk through the monastery was horrible. It was only around 10 minutes of walking, but it felt like each step took an hour. He could feel people staring at him.

Some girl with pink hair laughed at his misfortune. Another girl, who looked like she hadn’t seen a bed in months, quieted her down. A boy with gray hair looked at him with pity. Another boy, with the ugliest haircut he’d ever seen, raised his head up like a snob when he passed.

Luckily it didn’t seem like that many people had arrived quite yet, or everyone was somewhere else, because he didn’t see many people other than them.

He couldn’t completely blame those who judged, he did look pretty ridiculous. If it weren’t for the dirt on his skin, he would’ve looked like some rich toddler who was playing dress-up.

Eventually they arrived in Manuela’s office. They seemed to have arrived at the perfect time, because the room was empty.

Caspar didn’t really notice, his eyes seemed to find the ground to be the most interesting thing at the moment.

“Dorothea! It’s been ages!” a woman who he assumed to be Manuela gave Dorothea a hug.

“I know! I’ve hardly seen you since you left Mittelfrank! Dorothea ended the hug.

“So…. Who’s that?” Manuela gestured to Caspar.

“Well, you see, I found him passed out outside of Mittelfrank just yesterday. He doesn’t remember much, just his name, I think.”

Manuela walked over to him. “Aw, poor thing! Mind if I do a bit of a checkup? You probably  hit your head pretty hard, or you were cursed.”

Caspar raised his hands up in a shrug. “I’ve got no problem with that.” I guess they probably did believe in curses and stuff in the eleven-hundreds.

“So anyways, I brought him inside and gave him some clothes.” Dorothea said.

“I can see that, dear. Not sure anyone would purposefully dress themselves like this.”

Caspar chuckled a bit.

“So, Manuela… I was hoping that, maybehecouldattendgarregmach? Dorothea ducked her head like a turtle.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Maybe he could attend Garreg Mach academy? You know I can’t just leave him on his own! Plus I brought the money!”

“Slow down, Dorothea! I have no objection to him attending. I mean, I don’t know if he’ll be allowed, this is pretty last minute… But I’ll go ask Seteth. Stay right here.”

It isn’t like I have anywhere else to go.

—-

Manuela came back not too long after with two people, a man with green hair, and a woman with lighter green hair, and the most complicated dress Caspar had ever seen.

“So, what do you think, Lady Rhea?” Said the green-haired man who Caspar now assumed was Seteth.

“Any opportunity for someone to learn about the goddess is important. It does not matter whether he is wealthy or poor. He may attend.” Lady Rhea left with Seteth seconds after giving her answer.

If it really doesn’t matter if I’m rich or not, then why does it cost so much to attend?

Dorothea sighed dramatically. “Thank goodness!”