8. Farewell Gift

Agatha knew it very well that the journey to the Skyscraper Academy was going to be an epic of… epic proportions. Malachite was a small village – if it could even be called that – and the only caravan that passed through it had just passed through Malachite, so it wouldn't be back for many days. Maybe even weeks. This meant that if she wanted to get to Knight's Ascent, the city that hosted the academy and the capital of the realm, she had to either walk there or hitch a ride.

Beyond the fact that walking to an unknown city at the other end of the kingdom was a death sentence in and out of itself, it didn't help at all that she hadn't traveled in her life, so Agatha had next to no confidence in her orientation abilities.

But she had to do that journey. Her mother herself had said it before, the special summon was both a boon and a curse. She couldn't afford not to reach the academy.

"Couldn't you accompany me?" Agatha meekly suggested to her mother.

"Don't be stupid," Esmeralda harshly responded. "How am I supposed to earn my bread on Knight's Ascent, Agatha? I'm a seamstress from a backwater village in a backwater region."

"But you are a good seamstress!" Her daughter could recall how she would get work from minor local nobility from time to time.

"Mayhap," the seamstress sighed. "Alas, we have no savings to our name. Even if I were to make the journey with you, we would blow away most of our money. And unlike you, I won't be able to stay in the academy grounds. If I were not able to find a job… well… I'd rather not say."

Her mother didn't elaborate as she herself had stated, but the mere suggestion still left a very bitter taste in Agatha's mouth.

"So how am I going to make the journey there myself?"

"I dunno," the blond woman shrugged.

"Mom!" The girl stomped on the ground with a mixture of rage and distress.

"I already told you, we have no savings whatsoever. The village and I can provide rations, but transportation… that falls all to you. Such is the ruthless truth of the world. You might have been given an opportunity to attend the most prestigious academy in the nation, but it all is for naught if you are not capable of making it there in the first place."

"That sucks," Agatha stated plainly.

"I know, I know." Those pathetic words were the only comfort the woman could offer to her daughter as she patted her on the head. "But I doubt the journey will be that bad. The road to Knight's Ascent is the safest in the kingdom since it became the capital…"

"There was another capital?" Agatha interjected with a frown.

"Oh, yeah. The actual academy is an old castle from a few centuries ago which the Shining Knight… repurposed. With the war against Grwcia and all, the academy became the center of the kingdom as it focused more on the military and… I think they will teach you all of this at the academy in its due time. It will be better if your teachers explain it."

"How come I've never heard of all of this?"

"The war's far from here, and I intended to keep it that way forever if I could," Esmeralda responded softly. Tiredly. "A shame that I had to even bring it at all, but oh well, I can't deny the Skyscraper Academy is the best chance at a good education that you have, even if that means you will be a soldier."

It was a curious expression that her mother made as she spoke. Her smile shone sweetly, but her eyes lacked their usual luster and were filled with bitter nothingness.

"Now, now," the seamstress liberated her daughter from her embrace. "You should go visit Mister Krugger to retrieve your little sapphire and say goodbye to the villagers as I finish with the luggage."

"'Kay…" Agatha agreed weakly as she felt something was off with her mother, but she knew better than to press the issue.

It took but three steps out of her home before Agatha was stopped.

"Is it true?" A boy ambushed her; his eyes shone with the might of the Light command. "Are you really going to go to the Skyscraper Academy?"

"How do you even know about that, Gran?" Agatha frowned at him.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Gran – short for Granite – was one of the many boys of the village who had bullied her because she had a single agate; a year younger than her and average in every sense of the word. He was also the first one to turn around completely after she beat all the boys into a pulp.

"Pa' told me," Gran shrugged.

It took one second for Agatha to connect the dots. Gran was the son of the chief of the village – if what they had could be classified as a 'chief' – and considering her mother was talking about securing financial aid from the village…

"Quakes and faults!" The dirty-blond girl cursed. "The news really moved fast."

"I dunno why you react like that. It's marvelous!" Gran jiggled and wiggled with canine enthusiasm. "Our village has produced a Skyscraper student! No other in the barony as a matter of fact!"

"Right…" Agatha made a wry smile. She didn't share the boy's enthusiasm, at least not in that way. "I prefer to make as little noise as possible. It's going to be a very long journey, and I'd rather not get exhausted already with people swarming me before I depart."

"Right, right!" Gran nodded. "I'll be stealthy about it!" And he dashed away.

"Why does something tell me that I will have a gathering before I leave?" The girl sighed before continuing on her way to Mister Krugger's house.

As she knocked on the door, a coarse "Come in" came from beyond the door, and Agatha entered the carpenter's home.

"So," Mister Krugger started, "a Skyscraper student?"

"By my mother's tits! You too?" The seamstress' apprentice gutturally groaned.

The old man chuckled. "What can I say? These types of news move faster than your little sapphire. You should just take the loss and bless your luck considering there won't be enough time for the villagers to drown you in questions."

"Thank the earth for that," Agatha sighed with the exhaustion of an octogenarian instead of a teenager. "Now, this whole thing about the academy reminds me of a thing. Weren't you in the military, Mister Krugger?"

"Yup," the carpenter smacked his wrinkly lips. "But I dunno what has to do with any of this."

"Well, the Skyscraper Academy is a military academy…"

"Hahaha!" Mister Krugger broke into a fit of laughter and slapped his knees. "Girl, I never got close to that place."

"But didn't you work in a high-ranking position? An engineer?"

"Military engineers are more valued than soldiers, yes, but that isn't a high-ranking position at all."

"But aren't those supposed to be master lapiloquists capable of shaping an entire battlefield on their own?"

"Ah, you are thinking of those engineers…" The man sighed, his eyes clouded in remembrance. "I was what might be called in the military a civil engineer. Not particularly notable, our kind basically follows the orders of an actual military engineer, those who make grand calculations and such. We were glorified workers with education just making sure construction was up with the schematics. But this does remind me of something. Here's some advice, Agatha. If you find a military engineer, do not trust them. There's no sane person in that position. Avoid them at all costs if possible."

"Kinda hard considering I'm going to the greatest military academy…" She added meekly, partially intimidated by Mister Krugger's serious tone.

"I know, but at least have that piece of advice in mind: there are no sane military engineers."

"…Got it," Agatha affirmed after a short pause. "Now, I've come here to get my agate back."

"Of course, of course," the carpenter stood up from his rocking chair. The man slowly walked to the table next to the chair and opened a small wooden box. "Here's Agatha's agate."

The girl rolled her eyes at that sentence – one she had heard a thousand times already – yet her expression completely changed the moment her eyes lay on the trinket the old man was cradling in his hands.

"Oh," she let out a soft moan.

"May I?" Mister Krugger asked with a toothy smile, to which Agatha responded with a silent nod.

Agatha cleared her hair out of the way and allowed the man access to her nape. With the precise movements expected of an experienced carpenter, Mister Krugger tied the knot on her nape and let the string fall down.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"Marvelous. Simply marvelous," the girl mused as she grabbed her hanging agate and weighed it on her palm. It was a necklace. "How have you done it?"

The pendant was rather simple in its design as it was a little less than a hollow hemisphere that clutched her little sapphire from the top like a bird's claws clutching on prey.

"With a lot of work and patience," the man chuckled, but elaborated further as Agatha gave him a tired gaze. "Your sphere is perfectly spherical. I cannot stress that enough: it's a perfect sphere. And when things are completely smooth, there are some engineering tricks that can be applied. Try resummoning your agate and placing it back into the pendant's socket."

The girl did as commanded and blurted her agate out of existence. The pressure on her neck from the string suddenly alleviated, but her little sapphire wasn't so heavy as to be an issue. A moment later, she summoned it back on her hand and pressed the gemstone against the socket. It slid in perfectly with a satisfying pop.

"Oh, woah," she moaned in genuine astonishment. "It's not falling!"

"Engineering trick," Mister Krugger said with a proud, smug smile.

"Thank you so much!" The girl rushed to the old man and hugged him. "Just not for the necklace, but for your advice and wands too! It's because of you that I can make it to the Skyscraper Academy. Thank you so much, Mister Krugger!" She almost felt like crying.

"No need for thanks, girl," the carpenter said that, but a smile was drawn on his visage. "'Tis just the duty of an old man to the younger generation. Now," she patted her head, "stop hugging me, you are gonna break my old spine in two."

"Oh, sorry!" She dashed away, a hint of blush on her cheeks.

"No problem. Just make haste, you have quite the journey ahead of you."

"Yes!" She leapt toward the door with boundless energy. "Bye, Mister Krugger!"

"Farewell, Agatha," the old carpenter muttered as the girl disappeared into the village. "Skyscraper Academy, huh?" He mused once he was alone. "I wonder why Esmeralda has even allowed her to go with everything that happened…"