To Alix's surprise Hedgie was not upset that she showed up late.
"Please! The sleeping gremlin in the back won't wake up until mid-day and don't come back until the middle of the night. I'm just glad you actually came back before I closed up shop." This was a weight off of the girl's shoulders.
She didn't want to make the woman that was housing her upset. She would likely be sleeping on the streets or even worse...
Mo and Trouler would be out there alone.
Alix still apologized for coming in late and not being able to help in the shop for the day and offered to help clean up. An offer that Hedgie held no hesitation in accepting.
"It's more than the boy ever does." Alix was starting to get the impression that her fellow long-term resident was more trouble for the woman than she first believed.
After helping Hedgie clean the restaurant area of the tavern she took a refreshing bath and joined Mo and Trouler in sleep.
The following morning is where problems started to arise. And it all started with Alix and Trouler's morning jog.
Alix and Trouler awoke early as planned and left on the jog. It was relaxing and Alix could see the jog becoming the way that she clears her mind of stress. About ten minutes into this peaceful jog, however, a nuisance appeared.
"Hey there Ren! I didn't know that you also liked to run in the mornings." Alix glared at the sudden distraction and was further frustrated to see that it was one of those cursed fools, Nasak Canoli.
"Want to race to Jaunt Square? I'll bet you my community service hours that I can beat-" Nasak watched as Alix lifted that weird hairy pig thing off of the ground and instantly doubled her speed.
"Hey wait! That's cheating!" Nasak tried desperately to catch up with the girl and to his credit he got very close several times. Sadly for him everytime Alix simply further increased her speed. By the time she lost him she was basically pumping all of her Lis into her legs and lungs to keep up the speed.
So that morning was...troublesome but it wasn't enough to make Alix's day terrible. She finished her jog, returned to the tavern, showered, ate, and left for school.
Her school day started with her daily training session with Instructor Bizen and Principle Warren. A sparring session that Ms. Bizen had not informed the principle of so he was caught completely off guard.
"Wait, she wasn't lying when she said she beat you?" Vance questioned the woman who simply nodded. "And after that, you took it upon yourself to recommend that she take sparring classes with me and you instead of just finding some other thing to throw her in and proceeded to not tell me about these spars?"
"You just repeated everything I just told you." Vance was at a loss for words.
"But my private training time!" The man whined and he continued to whine for another twenty minutes before reluctantly agreeing to the terms. He may have been a big fan of Alix's mother but the daughter was beginning to become his worst enemy.
Well, besides Nasak of the fools.
After that morning spar Alix went to her next few classes uninhibited confirming to her that this mornings incident was simply a coincidence. Winston's class only took place twice a week, at the start of the week and end of the week, so she hadn't seen any of the fools since Nasak in the morning. The rest of the day was going to be just fine.
Especially since now was her free period and she had discovered something very interesting. This school had a library that all students regardless of path could visit. And they could read books about any number of subjects meaning she could read magic books until she found a way to move to the Spellcaster path.
Alix arrived in the library and immediately began grabbing books off of the shelves. This place had so many that she hadn't read before and she was excited to expand her knowledge. At least, that was the plan...
"Well, if it isn't the girl that vanished like a rabbit diving into a hole. I did not know that you were a fellow literary enthusiast? Why don't we discuss these poems and short stories that I have been reading by a few of my favorite hidden gems. I am certain that you will find them very mind expanding."
For two hours, Alix tried to ignore the boy and continue reading but every time she almost fell into her trance he would pop up with, "Another interesting detail..." it was so annoying. Most annoying of all is that he ruined her entire free period. She went through her last class of the day and could only feel relief that she could just go home.
That was the plan at least but she was stopped by the two that Alix believed to be the worst of the bunch.
"Why are you following Mama Wolf, kid? She doesn't even like you? In fact, she doesn't even want to sense the remnant of your Lis in passing! Why don't you go dig a hole and stay in it, Alice?"
"Oh yeah! Look who's talking mountain boy! Do you smell that disgusting stench? It smells like mountain goats on Holiday! Go crawl back up that mountain that you fell down from so that I can get to know mom better!"
"Mom! Hold up, I'm the only one that gets to call Mama Wolf a maternal nickname! You can't call her mom!"
"I just did! What are you gonna do about it? Bleat at me like the Billy that you are?"
"Watch your tea, Alice! Never know when someone might poison you again!"
Eric and Alisa. This walk from the library to the front gate was no more than about fifteen minutes. But to Alix, with these two arguing back and forth nonstop from the moment that they ran into her.
It felt as though that walk took hours! Even Mo, the fish famous for his snarky remarks and constant talking, didn't say a word during the entire time that Alisa and Eric were fighting.
And things only got worse when Alix went back to Hedgie's and started to work. She had promised that she would and she was starting to think that it was a mistake.
"Oi, over 'ere Lass!"
"I ain't know ya gots a new bell maid Hedgie!"
"Ya got anymore ale in there! Me and ma crew need enough to fill a whale to the blowhole!"
...
So yeah, the day ended and Alix was exhausted. At least her bath was relaxing and she could be happy that this was just one bad day out of several good ones to come.
If only that were true...
Three days.
For three days straight the same annoying things were happening. Nasak in the morning. Denver at noon. Alisa and Eric in the afternoon and those rude pirates in the evening.
Alix had to admit. She was stressed. She was close to the end of her rope and she had made absolutely no progress on any of the simple tasks that she wanted to complete.
She hadn't gotten a chance to restock her catalysts, to practice her Spell-Script, to train Trouler and Mo, and she hadn't even found a single trace of Nuka.
Alix was already burned out and it had only been three days. She could only hope that day four would be better, though she did not have high hopes.
Then something miraculous happened.
She begrudgingly, went on her morning jog as, even with Nasak always challenging her, she still enjoyed the sights of the city. Then something strange happened.
She ran all morning uninhibited by Nasak. The boy had been nowhere in sight from the beginning to the end of her jog. She went to her classes for the day and made it to her free time where she was able to read unbothered the entire two hours.
No confusing Denver poetry or strange facts about authors that she didn't even know. Alix was starting to feel a bit suspicious. She had gone days without even a moments rest from these cretins yet now she is left completely alone.
The end of the day came rather quickly and Alix could only hope that the trend continued to the worst part of her day. Holiday and Alice arguing like siblings. And her wish came true...kind of.
There was no Eric but Alisa did still show up. Alix sighed feeling a hinge of solace. 'At least it isn't both of them.'
"Hi mom! Did you have a nice day?" Alice tilted her head expectantly. She was waiting for Alix to respond. Alix considered just not doing it but decided to anyway.
Her day hadn't been terrible so far, after all.
"It has been better than it has been recently. Was that your doing?" Alisa smiled brightly when Alix responded and nodded.
"You bet! I told Denver that an author that he really like was having a book signing in Jaunt Square and Nasak is holding back Eric with sword training!" Alix nodded thankfully.
"I did not know that F-Class could get days off to go to book signings." Alisa innocently shook her head.
"We can't! But we still sneak out anyway! It's way too cramped here!" Alix chuckled.
"I believe that you are grossly overexaggerating. The entirety of Marconix takes up about four whole blocks of the city. There's so much to do here that even after four years of this I doubt that I will have seen it all." Alisa nodded understandingly.
"I get what you mean, but you've only been here for three days! That's nowhere close to how long Denver, Nasak and I have been here." Alix frowned in confusion prompting Alisa to explain.
"Marconix actually doubles as an orphanage for kids that live on the streets." Alix eyes widened as she realized what the girl was implying. Alisa continued, "Us three, Me, Denver and Nasak ,we all ended up on the streets when we were kids for reasons that I don't really feel comfortable getting into. All you need to know is that the Headmaster was the one that brought us here when he found each of us.
At the time I was around six so it's been about ten years since then. Oh, but we weren't the only ones or anything! The others just weren't troublemakers like us three so they got to transfer into the academy like normal. We only got put in F-class because we've always been problems here and have shown no sign of remorse."
Alix nodded listening intently to every word Alisa spoke. She didn't know why she was listening to her story. I mean, Alisa had only caused problems for Alix as well so she had no reason to listen to her but she could help but want to hear the girl's story.
"You have said several times over the past few days that you want to be the greatest alchemist in the world. Does that have something to do with the reason behind your being in the streets. And I apologize if that sounds rude or pushy." Alisa smile reassuringly and shook her head.
"Don't worry, you're not completely wrong but it isn't the exact reason."
"What is the reason that you want to be a grand alchemist then?" Alisa's smile became bright enough to light up the darkening sky.
"Do you have some time? This may take a while."