"I'm sorry, I can only make an object go back, like, ten minutes at most. If more time's passed than that... there's not much I can do."
Lloyd sighed, disappointed. He'd lost his only source of information about this damn world—along with a very useful tool.
The guy walked out of class clearly frustrated, when suddenly, a hand grabbed his phone.
Lloyd turned around, finding Selene inspecting it.
"What are you doing?" he asked, but got no answer—the girl just walked away with his phone. "I seriously don't get this chick... Whatever, it's not like a broken phone's any use to me anyway. If it makes her happy, she can keep it."
He sighed.
"Maybe this'll make things a bit more exciting."
Lloyd smiled as he started heading toward his next class.
The class on magical ecosystems turned out to be pretty interesting, taught by Miss Julia Charmand, a sweet old lady who talked about the Abysses and the Land of Dreams.
The Abysses were areas where the real world and the dream realm overlapped; Lloyd figured they were basically like the dungeons from fantasy novels.
After that class, noon arrived—the time to head to the cafeteria.
The food was served buffet-style, and even for an academy, it looked amazing. Lloyd guessed that was because there were so many nobles around.
The canteen had a fixed menu each day, but you could also spend credits to get something fancier if you wanted.
The credits were stored in your badge, which basically worked like a credit card—making it even more important not to lose it.
"This looks good." Lloyd decided to spend a few credits on a slice of meat pie and some tiramisu.
For a drink, he just grabbed a bottle of water.
After getting his food, he started walking toward an empty table, when a familiar voice caught his attention.
"And then the boss said, 'Forget about me and go get help,' and he fought the Wendigo!" Lloyd instantly recognized that feline voice—it was Cath.
"I think I just found my source of information."
The guy grinned and walked over to the table. Cath was sitting with a few other students from different classes—probably Xenos too.
"Seems like you're bragging a lot, Cath," he said as he sat down.
As soon as he did, the other students' stares locked on him—it was obvious he wasn't welcome there.
"Didn't they ever teach you manners?" he asked, noticing the hostility in their eyes.
"Boss! Good to see you! And sorry about them, they're always like this with strangers," she said with a nervous smile.
"Is he...?" one of them asked.
Cath nodded.
"He's the boss. I owe him one, so you better be nice to him."
"Tell that to Caupolicán, I remember he said he wanted to 'test' him or something," another one said.
Cath's fur bristled.
"Seriously? Shit, I should've been tougher with him, that idiot's always reckless. He didn't do anything to you, right, boss?" she asked, clearly worried.
"So he was one of yours, huh? Well, you should probably worry more about what happened to him," Lloyd replied with a small smirk.
"Huh? So you guys did fight?"
"He beat Caupolicán? Damn, no wonder Cath's so proud of him."
"Anyway, I need you to dig up some info for me." Lloyd handed Cath a small note with Reinhart's name written on it.
"Why so secretive? Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'll get it done in a couple of days—it won't be easy, though," Cath replied.
After that, Lloyd ate with Cath and her crew. He actually found it... kinda fun.
Classes went on until the afternoon, when Lloyd finally went back to his dorm.
"Huh? What are you doing here? You've got the wrong room," said a voice as soon as Lloyd walked in.
His roommate—a red-haired guy—was looking at him like he was dirt on his shoes.
"No, this is definitely my room," Lloyd said dryly. "Lloyd Noir. Nice to meet you."
The guy raised an eyebrow, like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.
"What? Are you contradicting me?" he said sharply.
Well... not exactly "he."
That was Jushur Nemrod—or at least, that was the fake name.
In reality, he was she: Eloise Regulus, princess of the kingdom. She'd come to the academy incognito, disguised as a boy, though Reinhart already knew the truth.
She was his roommate now—so yeah, it made sense she'd be sharing a room with Lloyd.
"Hey, hey, relax, bro, no need for bad vibes, okay?" Lloyd said, patting Jushur's shoulder. "We're sharing a room, right? Wouldn't it be better if we got along?"
"Excuse me? And don't touch me. You disgust me," the guy replied coldly.
"Calm down, Lloyd... you can't just punch the royal pain in the ass—it won't end well."
Jushur's ability let her manipulate probability, bringing bad luck to anyone who treated her poorly.
So yeah... pissing her off wasn't a great idea.
"Alright... fine, I guess," Lloyd sighed. For now, there wasn't much else he could do about it.
* * *
Hey there, dear readers. I know the quality of the chapters has dropped suddenly, and that's because I've gotten sick.
It's been kinda hard for me to write in this condition, though I really wanted to keep at least one chapter a day coming out.
I'm still sick, but I hope to get better soon so I can go back to delivering higher-quality chapters. Maybe once I'm feeling better, I'll rewrite and fix a few of them.