Bookbound Bunny

They continued to chat for quite some time, and since it seemed that Aura had nothing important to do, she joined in on the conversation.

The two had plenty of questions for Lily and her strange cloak, and she was more than happy to give a small demonstration—after all, she'd earned her proficiency through endless practice. She briefly explained its utility and defense, while also mentioning that she could control it almost as if it were an extra limb.

Lily tried to ask a few questions about Lotte's magic, but the girl kept brushing it off by saying its only purpose was to kill. Eventually, the topic drifted onto Familiars, and Lotte also expressed great interest in Arakil.

Both of them were pretty interested in the story of a "ghost" possessing a "dungeon artifact," and the topic of a better item to house it was brought up again—it seemed that everyone thought the idea of a ghost sword was a fantastic concept.

Wanting to defend Arakil's honor, Lily blurted out a little more than she probably should have, mentioning unlimited paper and the fact that the book was sealed to anyone but her and Arakil through the Familiar bond.

Of course, Lily also brought up the idea that she could use it as a shield, and while the other two agreed it was a good idea, they still admitted that a weapon would've been a better option.

Then the conversation shifted towards Lotte's Familiar—Jade. Which unfortunately there wasn't that much information on. Jade couldn't speak yet, or do much of anything, as she seemed pretty content to just laze around and eat—like a big fat cat.

Lotte mentioned that Rebecca was also quite upset with the lizard "disproving her theory," but calmed down after she started saying "truncating outliers from the data."

She was identified as some type of horned lizard, but the green-tinted scales were a mystery, and the best bet anyone had was that she was likely poisonous or venomous. Even Arakil couldn't offer any insight, as he stated that Familiars could quite literally come in all shapes and sizes.

And then, naturally, the two younger girls pressed Aura to show off her own Familiar. Aura, however, was extremely reluctant, and it wasn't until their insistent nagging finally got to her that she relented.

She made them both swear not to laugh, and only after they both agreed, multiple times over, did she finally bring it out. It was an egg. A large egg, by normal standards, but still, just an egg. It was red in color with glowing yellow-orange cracks running across it, giving off the appearance that it was containing heat or energy.

Lily was restrained enough to not laugh, but Lotte had to bite her own lower lip to stop herself. Aura was not happy and scowled at Lotte.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I summoned an unhatched Familiar. It's still better than the kid who summoned a rock."

"Have you tried… sitting on it?" Lotte snickered.

"I have," Aura replied in a dead tone. "I've also tried feeding it more Mana, but I have no idea when it will hatch. It's good at eating lots of Mana, but has almost no desire to give it back. Needless to say, I was never a first pick for any teams, but at least I had something to keep me warm in winter."

[Unless I'm mistaken, I think that's a phoenix egg. Aura will need to keep it exposed to much greater heat if she wishes to hatch it sooner. Although since it is a Familiar, it should eventually hatch when fed sufficient Mana.]

The thought of the phoenix bloodline summoning an actual phoenix almost caused Lily to break her promise as she suppressed some giggles. It was painfully ironic and really fostered the idea that the Familiars often suited the person who called them.

I wonder what people will read into me, assuming I summoned a "ghost"; hopefully, nothing too bad.

Lotte rushed to touch the egg after hearing it was warm. The moment she did, she let out a pleased sigh. "Okay, that's very good. I'd love to cuddle this egg in winter… Jade isn't warm at all."

The horned lizard seemed to frown at her master.

"Look. No offense, but we reptile types aren't great at generating heat. You should know that perfectly well with how badly you keep hogging the blankets."

The lizard let out a strange mewling sound and turned its head away, refusing to make eye contact with Lotte.

"I think she's angry with you," Aura sneered.

"She'll get over it when it's time for dinner," Lotte said, brushing it off. "Or when I refuse to give her the extra blanket."

Maybe I should try to make them a glyph to keep warm? If I use the fire crest and then draw in plenty of restrictions to keep it purely for heat, it should be pretty efficient. The biggest issue is the material, as even Arakil's pages lose their durability when removed from the book…

That was one of the main reasons Lily was looking forward to the enchanting class. She wanted to create more permanent glyphs, and that was her best chance to find a method.

Arakil mentioned needlework… something like sewing a glyph into a stuffed animal that keeps you warm? Actually, that's not a bad idea!

"Lily! Stop spacing out!" Lotte's voice rang in her ears.

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"Huh?"

"Finally caught your attention," Lotte said. "You were in your own little world there. I thought you might be ignoring me."

"Sorry. I was just thinking about glyphs and enchanting."

"Save it for the classes," Aura murmured. "Anyway, you two have fun, I've got work to get back to."

"What work?" Lotte commented as she walked away.

"Um… so what were you trying to say?" Lily asked.

"Aura mentioned that we should go look at the Maranix building, we might be able to introduce ourselves to some seniors, or maybe meet someone else in our year."

"Oh, actually, I wanted to go there myself, too. So that's perfect," Lily cheerfully responded. "I can already say I know one boy who's in our faction, Thomas."

"Oh? What nefarious type of demi is he?" Lotte asked.

"He's human. I think?" Lily answered.

"Humans… the most dangerous beast of them all," Lotte replied in a dark and serious tone before she cracked into a big, cheeky grin. "Well, shall we be off?"

Lily nodded and was about to pocket her final remaining bread roll in a napkin when Jade suddenly flopped onto the table and devoured it.

"Agh! Sorry about that," Lotte quickly apologized.

"It's okay, it was just one roll. Besides, I probably shouldn't be taking leftovers to my room; it encourages me to become a hermit.

"Still, I feel bad, I'll have to treat you to some food sometime."

"As long as it's not Aura's cooking…" Lily whispered, causing Lotte to give a wink and a smirk in response.

Right when the two reached the doorway to leave, Aura's voice called out to them. "And don't forget to wear your badges!"

The two of them flinched and quickly pulled them out, fastening them to their collars before finally departing. Arakil floated behind Lily's shoulder, his now default position, and Lotte carried the barely moving Jade. She couldn't help but draw a comparison to Rebecca and her sloth creature that refused to move.

"Hopefully, you learn to dismiss and resummon soon if Jade refuses to walk."

"Well, she doesn't refuse exactly," Lotte explained. "But it's more of a waddle than a walk, and we'd only reach our destination by nighttime. You're quite lucky Arakil can float and talk, even if he is a book."

"I'm sure Jade will start talking eventually."

"Gods, I hope not. Can you imagine how much she will just keep going on and on for food?"

Jade let out a whiny growling noise, but ultimately did nothing. It appeared this lizard was all bark and no bite—for now anyway.

They continued to chat, slowly growing more familiar with one another as they ventured out of the main castle and onto the grounds. Lily briefly mentioned her time at the orphanage, while Lotte shared some small tidbits about her family life and what it was like growing up with nearly a double-digit count of siblings.

They both soon realized that there was a common similarity between them—they both had childhoods marked by poor health. Lotte confessed that her parents often thought she was going to die, as her body was quite literally killing her at times.

That was until they discovered her extinct bloodline and proper countermeasures could be taken. Her main reason for choosing Regarth was her desire to grow stronger in the dungeon—strong enough that her bloodline would cease to interfere in her daily life.

It was an odd circumstance for Lily, as she'd always assumed everyone with a bloodline was happy, assuming you ignore the fact that they are often targets of envy or that some individuals saw them as political pawns.

Rose was a perfect example of some minor suffering from the latter, but she was strong enough to shrug it off and refused to let anyone control her. But Lotte's bloodline was actively harming her.

"I must say I'm a little jealous. It sounds like awakening your bloodline saved your life," Lotte said somberly.

"Yeah…" Lily agreed hesitantly.

They were wandering the grounds aimlessly until they finally asked another group of students for directions. Even though they were from a different faction, it seemed like they were willing to help newbies to the school and point them in the general direction.

Eventually, they found the building that had been assigned to Maranix. Lily had been expecting a cottage or a house at most, but the size of the building was somewhere between a manor and a lodge and roughly three stories tall.

On the outside of the building, she spotted a familiar black cat sitting atop its perch like royalty.

"Hey Thomas!" Lily called out.

He turned around and gave a friendly wave, while Yona let out her signature "Mrawr!"

Not to be outdone, Jade let out a "Skrraaah!" in response.

Both mages scolded their Familiars respectively, leaving Lily to giggle at the sight.

"Nice to see you again, Lily," Thomas said politely. "I see you decided to check out the Maranix building, too. Is this your big dragon sister you kept talking about?"

"I told you people keep mistaking me for a Dragia," Lotte replied. "And no, I'm a Serpia. Name's Lotte, and this blob of scales is Jade."

"Skrraaah!" Jade hissed again at Yona.

"Oh. Sorry, Lily kept mentioning her, so I jumped to conclusions. I'm Thomas, and this is Yona."

"Mrawr!" the cat let out defiantly, some drool from her mouth dribbling down.

"Looks like Yona still hasn't changed," Lily giggled.

"I wish she would. I'm starting to wonder if I should have picked Beast Handling…" Thomas grumbled.

"Have you already decided on your electives?" Lily asked curiously.

Thomas nodded, "I picked Hearthcraft and Household Charms, since that sounded like a hidden gem, and then picked Sorcerous Warfare for myself."

"Look at you two picking more than one. I hope you don't get swamped in homework while I'm relaxing," Lotte teased.

"Well, it's not like I have a bloodline to worry about," Thomas sighed. "So I should have more free time than most. Although I suppose I'll need to pick a specialty like Professor Elius mentioned."

"I hope you don't regret picking Sorcerous Warfare, I heard it involves a lot of marching," Lily warned.

"Well, it is supposed to be a course tailored for prospective Mage Knights and even generals. I expect the military discipline is just to prune any bad habits we might have developed so that we are ripe and ready to learn battle formations, tactics, positioning, terrain advantage, and—"

"Woah! I think we get it," Lotte interrupted. "This is why I'm sticking to just alchemy. Mix the potions and drink them. Simple."

Lily's eye twitched for just a moment. "It's not that simple."

"I'm paraphrasing," Lotte brushed it off.

"So did you get permission for enchanting, or will you be stuck with first-year classes?" Thomas asked.

"Headmaster Fabrelis said I could take it; he even had me draw a glyph. I'm also taking Alchemy and Hearthcraft."

Thomas let out a whistle. "Three subjects. I hope you're prepared."

"It should be fine. I'm also in a strange position where I don't think any of the teachers will be able to help me with my bloodline, so I should have the time slots to swap around."

"Just make sure you're in the same alchemy classes as me, you promised to show me the ropes," Lotte said with a wink.

"Seems our bunny here has a habit of befriending anyone with scales," Thomas said in jest.

"Does that mean you're hiding some scales of your own?" Lotte quipped back.

"Just a plain old, boring human, I'm afraid."

Lotte shrugged and turned back to Lily, "But seriously, you didn't tell me your big sister was a Dragia! I guess that explains why you knew I was a phoney, unlike Thomas over here."

"Yeah. Although she's in Terravix…" Lily mumbled.

"Wow. Sucks for you two," Lotte said, sticking out her tongue. "I hope you're good enough to fight a dragon."