Keeping a low profile

Brella sorted through the pigeon holes while selecting the dried herbs scribbled on the list. She carefully wrapped the contents for each request in separate sheets of parchment after double-checking it again. Only then did she lift her large woven basket and leave the other couriers in the large storage room.

Nodding with the occasional wave of a hand to bustling older girls, she entered the long workshop and hastened across the stone corridors. She paused before the first door while confirming the name on the door with the top package neatly stacked in her basket. After a month of working, the little brunette had familiarized herself with this massive workshop.

Pushing open the door to avoid unnecessary noise, she entered as if treading like a cat. Expectedly, the occupier of this enclosed cubicle sat cross-legged over a cauldron while in deep concentration. Brella rested her delivery on top of the preparation table, taking great care to avoid disturbing the arched old back facing her before leaving.

Under the same modus operandi, she delivered the remaining packets.

"Ah, Brella did you find it? I've been complaining to that old coot for months."

"Senior, Elder Apprentice Shi said to tell you to stop bothering him and that Godama grass doesn't grow on trees. He found three stalks for you after much trouble in the Adventurers Guild and if you want more, then go join the Alchemist Guild in the Capital."

Brella sighed. The white-bearded man carefully opened the package while unable to mask the excitement bubbling on his wrinkled face. She shook her head and exited, knowing the old man had long forgotten about her. Sometimes she likened these old fellows to when she received wrapped presents for her birthday.

The last delivery saw her exit the workshop and walk across a cobbled footpath towards another large stone structure. She opened a side door and slipped into this open one-room building. Walking down the aisle between the semicircular stone seats she arrived at the base and round stage of this enclosed amphitheater.

A stone podium, cauldron, and long preparation table occupied half of the stage. Three old men, one in a white robe with the other two dressed in scarlet, bickered while expressing themselves with their hands.

"Have the Military gone mad? Do they know the high cost of making these pills?"

"Not to mention the absurd risk of failure, even our best apprentices have less than half a chance of success for each batch."

"Senior Tarot, Elder Shi, I can lecture and demonstrate the pill making to the apprentices this evening but I don't know if the new recruits can help. Most likely they would simply waste the precious ingredients."

Brella avoided the gesticulating old men as they voiced their grievances and made her way to the table. She placed the last package from her basket onto the table, away from the clutter of mortars, pestles, knives, and similar apparatuses. Before she turned to leave, her eyes happened to fall onto an open scroll filled with familiar-looking ingredients.

"Huh, Blood Booster pellet?"

Blurting out the name unconsciously, and then recognizing she did it out loud, the innocent girl clasped a hand over her mouth. Under the dreadful silence, she turned her wide eyes towards the frozen conversation and the curious old men.

"Brella, you know about this pellet?"

Elder Shi inquired on being the first to break the silence. For a courier to recognize the name of a pill was amazing enough, especially one of this age but then he remembered that this familiar girl dealt with the older and more difficult apprentices. She probably saw this formula lying around their workstations.

"Young girl, by any chance have you seen this before?"

Asked Council Mage Tarot. Unlike the other two old men, he did not recognize her through her everyday interactions but from accompanying the genius. Brella's mind spun with all sorts of fibs and excuses before decided to speak the truth. Breathing in deeply she steadied her thoughts while calming her mind.

"I've seen the ingredients before. Our cook knows more about it than me..."

***

Sue stooped down next to a recently tilled plot while prodding her finger at a young sprout exiting the earth. She rubbed her satisfied face adding another smudge of mud to it. After a month of caring for this plot, the herbs had begun to sprout vibrantly. Some of them grew faster than those in the other plots since she had experience in planting them previously on the farm.

"Greetings, is your name Sue? I need you to follow me please."

A young scribe looked at the dirtier grey robes and specks of mud on the short light-brown hair. He had no idea why the alchemy lecturer would send him out to fetch this girl. He did know, however, not to make any snide comments.

The scribe led her to the amphitheater and knocked on the office door at the rear. Ushering the girl inside, he closed the door. With a Council Mage present among the occupants, he dared not enter.

"Miss Sue, we have a few questions..."

Sue glanced over at Brella sitting on a chair who cast her a pitiful face. She soon understood the reason for this summons.

A short time later Sue stood on the stage with the three old men beside her. Brella sat at the lone spectator on the lower stone seat of the amphitheater.

The freckled-faced girl brushed away a strand of short hair while speaking beside the table.

"Indeed it is a blood-boosting pill for Hounds. I remember this one because of its difficulty. Dyna had me crying for days. In the end, Chu made a few modifications which helped."

The three mages sighed. Although the girl recognized the pill, she also encountered the same difficulties. Before ushering her to leave, Elder Shi asked a question out of curiosity. He still harbored doubts on how and why these little farmgirls dabbled in alchemy.

"I see, well it is understandable. By the way, how was the success rate?"

"At first it was pathetic. We successfully made a pill around three out of ten times but then when we used the measurements it finally went up to nine out of ten."

Sue complained on recollection. She turned to leave only to feel a wrinkled hand clasping onto her shoulder. The owner stared down with eyes gleaming like a miser looking at gold. Her casual words nearly had the three old men coughing up blood.

With a shameless smile, Elder Shi guided her over, back to the workstation.

"Show us..."

"I can Elders, but you need to make a few improvements first..."

***

"Dammit Sahara, why do you have to keep tugging us to eat in your courtyard every day for lunch. Today the canteen is serving stew you know!"

"Well, why don't you go Miki. I am inviting Lucy, not an uncivil commoner like you."

"I dare you to say that to my face again you crow."

"Crow? Only you are brazen enough to call me that in this empire, you... you black-haired Inyoni!"

"Who you call'in Inyoni."

Miki yelled as she pounced towards the grey-eyed girl who promptly shrieked and hid behind Lucy. Holding Lucy's shoulders she poked her head out from behind the blond hair and stuck out a tongue.

Their antics prompted the crowd dispersing for lunch to stare at them. It also earned both Miki and Sahara a karate chop on their heads. Amanda dropped her hands and scowled at the troublemakers.

"Stop acting like kids and giving our class a bad name. You two lazy bones have been chattering during class like demon apes. Later you both will hand over two extra pages. And no, you can't have your guards write it for you."

Amanda said while glaring at the two guards. When she dropped the karate chop on Sahara, the two men had stiffened with their hands moving towards the sheathed swords. The burly men clad in leather and iron armor had paused on sensing the gazes from the four girls.

"Haha, stupid Sahara I'll see you suffer with me. As for those guards of yours, it looks like they want a beating from me again."

Miki smirked and then narrowed her eyes at the two guards. The usual expressionless faces bore wry grins. Lucy grabbed the girls by their collars and dragged them along with a circle of friends. If she left Miki and Sahara to their devices, then they would all starve.

They had befriended Sahara during the first week at the academy. At first, she tried to use her noble standing to dodge the orders from the elected class monitor Amanda. She soon realized she kicked a hard stone. Her guards had once tried to intervene only to receive a beating from Miki.

The black-haired girl ambushed them in the occupied classroom and disabled them among the rows of desks with some well-timed and well-placed kicks more devious than an assassin. Only after suffering at her hands did they understand not to underestimate this fanatic.

Sahara had envied the friendship of the three girls and the way they made fast friends with the girls living in the dorms while she lived alone in an isolated, secure, private courtyard. Little by little she soon realized they had roped her into an entire class of genuine friends.

***

Mage Hud thought he struck it rich. After a month of punishment, an apprentice from the Outer Circle brought the news in an attempt to suck up on him. Apparently, the new female recruits in the publishing workshop consisted of some rare beauties.

Scribes, apprentices, and mages who recently underwent promotion found themselves with a little free time after the grueling hardships of education and mental training. It was normal that they turn to certain areas to vent their desires. Older mages conducted themselves as if removed from these desires.

A concentration of noble girls consisting of the crème de la crème offered an easy picking. Mage Hud hastened with this apprentice in the lead to woo the top beauty before she succumbed to the willies of his peers.

Walking over the fields, he spotted a large group of girls and young women chatting while trodding towards a courtyard. He quickened his steps to launch his introduction as the apprentice trailed behind, in the hopes of feeding on the scraps.

"What a beauty, a wife like that would make any mage aim for Archmage."

He muttered as his eyes scanned the field of beauties and fell on a striking golden-haired young lady. Even from a distance, his eyes lingered on the oval face and golden curls. Clearing his throat, Mage Hud approached the sweetly scented flock.

"Greetings young ladies. This one is Mage Hud and I have been dazzled by..."

Mage Hud spluttered in the middle of his planned pickup speech on recognizing the fairy among the cranes. The unforgettable face within the carriage when he tried to berate Apprentice Tye that day swept through his mind.

Worse yet, his eyes fell on the two blonds casting inquisitive gazes towards him. One had accompanied the fairy while the other held a status where if he trod wrongly could earn him death by a thousand cuts.

The guards behind her belonged not to the Tower and answered to only one family. Mage Hud understood why none of those hot-blooded young mages swarmed around these girls.

Cough! He needed to flee and flee now.

"Ah, esteemed ladies, how are you. This mage hopes you find the accommodations within the academy fitting. Feel free to contact me should you need anything."

Before he could turn and step away, a graceful black-haired beauty around fifteen parted and exited the crowd.

"Ah, mage Hud is so kind. Coincidentally, we do have a few extra needs. Martha has complained repeatedly of the small bath in the dorms. Ling says we should have more specials in the canteen, while Grace..."

When the girls departed with smiles and laughter, Mage Hud vented his anger on the apprentice before stuffing the list of requests into the guy's swollen mouth.

Only an idiot would try to scheme against these girls...

****