Fate Alchemist - A Regression Academy LitRPG

Kalee led the way to the restaurant and stood in the short line out front. There was no need to order; everyone was being served the same thing from a counter embedded in the wall. The line moved quickly, and Wulf and Kalee barely stood still.

Kalee reached into her coat pocket and retrieved a handful of silver nuggets. "I'll pay for it today."

Wulf tilted his head. "You don't have to. I—"

"No, no. I just won my next tournament fight, and I've got my hands on some winnings," she shook the coins in the palm of her hand.

"Oh." Wulf gulped. "Uh, sorry for not coming to watch. I didn't know. I kinda just thought you were skipping your chores on Fifthday."

She chuckled. "You really did inherit a nineteen-year-old's brain. I'll remind you when I'll be fighting next time, and you can come watch. A small portion of that falls on me, I suppose. I should've told you."

"Thanks for not being mad."

"I've learned how boys can be sometimes." She offered a faint smile. "You're good."

"I'm not sure if I should be insulted or not," Wulf said.

They reached the front of the line, and the servers presented two clay trays with fried, sugared-covered sweet bread with a helping of whipped cream on top. Kalee exchanged her handful of silver for them, and then they set off.

As they ate, Wulf asked, "Did you spend much time in this town during your last life?"

"Not really," she said. "Went once or twice. Got dragged along by my roommate before the attack, all that. But from here on out, we've vastly altered the course of time. None of this would be here if not for us."

Wulf nodded. "Speaking of which…on the way back, I need to harvest some demonflesh. And bone chunks, maybe." He took another bite of his breakfast. It was warm, crispy, not too sweet, but pleasant enough to go down easily.

"I'd expect nothing less," Kalee said. "But get your mind off alchemy for a bit."

"Of course. But just…one more thing. When we find Seith and Irmond, we're probably going to want to talk business again. That wasn't the only wave of demon attacks we'll ever face. The next wave will be in spring, and we've got some work to do. I assume we plan to help fight off that wave, too?"

"I assume you'd go with or without me?" Kalee asked.

"Precisely."

"We can talk to Seith and Irmond about it when we meet up with them."

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, they wandered the streets of Arotelk. Wulf and Kalee helped clean up damage wherever they found any. They cleared debris off the streets and assisted crews in pushing around the paving stones.

Halfway through the morning, Wulf stumbled across a scattered newspaper. He picked it up and skimmed through it out of curiosity, and like he expected, most of the segments wrote about how demon attacks were taking place all over the world. But, about halfway down, a small segment wrote:

Tremors in the southern mountains near Clegghold have revealed an ancient cavern within the deep. Where dwarven mining teams hunted for deepstone, now they have uncovered the resting place of the previously lost Oronith Silent Wraith, a giant built during the first demon invasion.

At that, Wulf felt a glimmer of hope. There were still some good things that had come out of the attack.

Despite Kalee's earlier comment that they'd already helped enough, neither of them flinched away from their duties when they stumbled upon a street that wasn't getting as much attention as the rest. At lunch, the workers they helped awarded them with a free lunch and apple cider, which Wulf gladly accepted.

In the afternoon, all repairs halted. They took calmly to the streets, where people were gathering for Dr. Langold's and Dr. Azanthius' appearances—and presumably, speeches.

The roads filled up with people. Everyone packed in, crowding shoulder to shoulder along the main thoroughfare of Arotelk. It was wide enough to fit thirty people across, though the late autumn sun was low in the horizon, and the guild towers blocked out most of the incoming light. Some stores still had candles and lanterns lit.

A hastily made podium stood at the end of the road, constructed with planks of scavenged wood and crates. Dr Langold and Azanthius, as well as a few other members of the faculty, stood upon it, holding voice amplification constructs. From Wulf's vantage, they were incredibly distant, but there were still plenty of people in front and behind.

"We've gathered here to celebrate the survival of our city," Langold announced, "and to mourn the loss suffered in the attack. So far, we have recovered one thousand, two hundred and fifty-five bodies, but many more are still missing. But we now know that—"

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Langold cut himself off when a different professor, who Wulf didn't recognize, nudged him and whispered something.

"—that, yes, thanks to the enormous efforts of the Academy, the city was saved from a horrific fate," Langold continued. "While we celebrate our heroes, the rest of the world mourns. There are still demons and fiends roaming the world as we speak, though our brave Crews are hunting them down and—"

"What about Emerald Vanguard?" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Vanguard was only one of many Oroniths who fought the demons," Dr. Azanthius provided, shouting from the back of the stage.

"We all saw it!" someone else shouted. "Vanguard saved our city!"

In a roundabout way, it was true. If Wulf, Kalee, Irmond, and Seith hadn't stolen an Oronith and alerted the Academy, then there would have been no one available to deal with the last fiend.

The crowd erupted in a roar, chanting, "Vanguard! Vanguard! Vanguard! Vanguard! Vanguard!"

Finally, Dr. Azanthius tapped his communication construct, and an artificial screech blasted over the crowd. "Yes, yes, thank you." He raised a hand. "We are very pleased to see your praise for the teachings of the Istalis Academy! Their efforts, especially of the wonderful staff who trained the crew, will not go unnoticed."

Wulf snorted at the posturing. He didn't need them to praise him specifically, but their efforts to take credit for his crew's actions, when the Academy was in some ways his biggest roadblock to success, made him smile with dull acceptance.

But he didn't let it kill the mood. No one even knew what he looked like, and he simply blended into the crowd.

Still, an eerie silence overtook the crowd. No one said anything, and there was no more chanting, but the air turned thick.

"Academy pricks," a woman muttered to Wulf's left. "Gotta make it all about themselves. Always do."

"If they spent less time on fancy bathhouses and new halls, they could build more Oroniths," a different man grumbled.

"Confederacy still subsidizes them, and for what? For them to put their statues all on display?"

Wulf looked down, well aware that he was wearing an academy coat. Kalee leaned over to him and whispered, "You need to get some more casual clothes."

"If I'd known this would happen," he whispered back, "I would've gotten Ján or Irmond to lend me a shirt."

Then Dr. Langold proclaimed, "In celebration, the Academy has offered to foot the King and Stone tavern's bill for the night! Drink, celebrate, and be merry!" It sounded more like a desperate plea than a call for celebration, but the murmuring stopped. "Today is not the day for worries, friends!"

With that, he and the faculty members retreated off the stage, and a few hesitant cheers resumed. It grew louder and louder until eventually, the crowd was roaring once more.

"That could've gone better," Wulf whispered to Kalee.

"Could've," she agreed. "Want to find some lunch?"

~ ~ ~

When the sun dipped behind the spires of the towers, Wulf and Kalee navigated through the streets until they arrived at their chosen meeting place—a nondescript tavern at the edge of the city, the Ripplekeg. Inside, it was still busy, but not as busy as some of the central taverns would be.

With a moderately sized interior, it held about a hundred patrons on the first floor. A few fiddlers played in the corner, but the din of the guests nearly overwhelmed them, and Wulf couldn't even hear himself think. Stacks of barrels filled the corners, and tables ringed the edge, each with a healthy helping of guests around them. Workers darted to and fro, delivering plates of food and foaming mugs.

When Wulf and Kalee stepped inside, a half-empty table in the corner beckoned—literally. Irmond and Seith already sat at it, waving their hands and motioning for Wulf and Kalee to step forward.

They wove across the tavern, dodging patrons, until they arrived in the secluded corner. Away from the rest of the crowd, it was somewhat quieter.

"Had a good day?" Wulf asked, pulling off his coat and hanging it over the back of his chair. To be a little more casual, he undid the top button of his academy tunic.

Seith wore a casual short-sleeved shirt, suitable for the warm interior of the tavern, and Irmond wore the embroidered shirt he'd lent Wulf earlier in the semester. Kalee peeled off her coat, too, and hung it over the back of her chair.

"Somebody should've told me to find tavern clothes," Wulf muttered.

"We thought it was imperative," Seith said.

"You look like…better, though," Irmond said, looking directly at Wulf.

"I'm glad. Kalee talked some sense into me on the way over." He smiled her direction, and she smiled back.

"Now, to get some business matters out of the way…" Kalee began, the smile fleeing her face. "This attack was just the first wave. There will be hundreds more."

"Do you guys happen to know when the next one will be?" Irmond asked. "And like…where?"

"Yes to both," Wulf answered. "In the spring, in a few months, the next wave will arrive. But it won't be here—it'll be farther south. There's a big city to the southeast where a major attack is going to happen. They won't be ready for it, either, even though they'll have an Oronith posted."

"We've decided that we want to help," Kalee added.

"Alright, alright, pause a second," Seith insisted. "How? How do you know this? And…don't get me wrong, you were right the first time, and we believe you, but…how?"

Wulf glanced at Kalee. "The Oracle told us multiple—"

Irmond held up his fingers. "We were curious. We went to the library to look it up, and sure enough, there're like…no oracles in all of Carolaign or Threnia. Unless they were super new oracles, like I suggested to Seith. But it's kinda weird that you told a different story to the professors. Did you actually see a Messenger?"

Wulf swallowed, then chewed his bottom lip. These guys were his team, and he needed them to trust him. But…did that mean he could tell them the truth? Would they believe him?

He wasn't about to speak for Kalee, but he looked directly at her when he said, "You guys are going to think I'm insane. But…I'm from the future."