Meeting the Galatea family helped me shape an answer to a question that I dreaded to answer if it ever becomes real. Though they tended to be a bit posh like most nobles they manage to have a grit about them that makes them respectable in my eyes. Even though I was Leif's vassal to help fund my education, I still count him amongst my good friends considering everything that has happened. He saved my life in more ways than one, and he'll probably never know it.

Five weeks at the Galatea estate flew by pretty quickly with me plundering the library once Count Galatea gave me the green light and spending my time with the locals of the manor. Leif would often find me to discuss politics and ask about my opinion on things happening in the world. The man rarely took my advice full force, but would always acknowledge my thoughts and often modify his plans with a pinch of my 21st-century idealism. He also showed me the family heirloom, Luin, that he keeps under lock and key. Easily the coolest lance I've ever seen, and it reminds me of that one church knight, Catherine, and her blade. I've added it to my research pile. Finally, the man is quite the connoisseur of fine wines to which I've enjoyed thoroughly. Best drinking buddy in Fodlan. Sorry, Amelia.

Ingrid only stayed for 2 weeks before she took a trip to visit other nobles in Gautier territory with her cousins, as Leif stayed behind to work with me on the crop and wouldn't return before I left for the Academy which was a bit disappointing. Though in those two weeks I regaled Ingrid with many fantasy stories from my world during rainy nights and she was determined to teach me how to properly ride a horse. Bad news for her is that asking me to ride a horse is like asking her to do my chemistry work, in that it just doesn't work. I can stay on fairly well, but it's safe to say I won't be winning any races anytime soon. And forget about pegasi riding. The stable master took me up once and I nearly crapped my pants, so I crossed that off my bucket list and I'm resolute to never do that dangerous stunt again.

Harald, Leif's lead butler and master of the household also has taken a liking to me. I keep my space tidy and I'm polite to all the staff. I try to be clean as that's how I was raised as a child since having a butler just seems weird to me. Also, the old gentleman is quite the gambling shark I learned from joining a few of the staff dice sessions late at night. Man knows his stuff and could take you for everything you have if he weren't so kind, which only adds to his mysterious winning mystique.

My research into improving crop yield and sustainability in my time at the Galatea manor stalled pretty hard after looking into fertilizer options and soil quality. The soil in the area isn't very nutrient dense with it being much like silt that is super course. As for fertilizer none seemed available since pastoralism seemed pretty nonexistent on a larger scale on Galatea territory. Sure there are farmers, but nobody is running any kind of large operation.

I've since learned that the basis on which most of Count Galatea's wealth comes from is his people's artisan work in making silverware, plates and even swords with his smelters and such scattered through village and based in his main city hub of Galatea. He also has some iron mines, but most of his raw materials seem to come from southern Faergus. With no agricultural backbone in his land, it's not hard to see why he's been slowly losing money as he is constantly outsourcing the food supply just to sustain his people.

As for magical solutions, nothing has provided long term results as of yet. Heal and Recover spells don't work on soil or microbes like I had hoped. They do work on plants, but unless you want to hire a battalion of healing mages to monitor your fields then you'd best not bother as the Heal needs to be applied about every 4 hours to keep a small batch of plants upright. Feeling a bit confused I assured Count Galatea I'd find more answers to his problem at the Academy as they had much greater research into a variety of topics.

As for my actual project of going home, I had hit a brick wall with Count Galatea's limited magical texts, as it seems not many in his family lineage have ever been well-established mages. Nothing beyond basic elemental magic application and healing methods were all I could scrounge up in the library, which was a bit disappointing, to say the least. As eager as I am to teleport things around and mess with the spells, I'm playing it patient. Magic is volatile in its natural state, and I just have to look at the left side of my body to remind myself that.

Arriving back in Fhirdiad after about a month and a half away was nice. The dreary weather in Galatea territory now replaced by sunshine and fluffy clouds that dot the sky. Harald led me to the Academy to drop me off in the official Galatea carriage, which seems to be normal as I can see other noble houses dropping off their sponsorship holders and children to study magic. We managed to arrive a day before classes would officially start, which gave me ample time to meet with the registrar to get my schedule and housing key.

I bid Harald a brief farewell as I exit the coach and enter the large imperial-style building and begin to look for some direction. I weave through adults and teens that are huddled in groups discussing various things in the hallways until I finally see a sign pointing towards the welcome back area. I quickly made my way towards the large open ballroom on the north side of the building and see that many people are organized at booths with papers and other school supplies.

Appearing to be organized by last name I get in line at the 'C' section and wait my turn. As I'm waiting I scout out the crowd to see if I could spot Amelia, or at the very least know where to avoid Cornelia, but I don't manage to see either. I finally get to the front of the line and notice it's one of my professors from my assessment exam, the younger gentleman whom I can't quite remember the name of.

"Ah, I remember you! Not surprised to see you got yourself a sponsor. Name?" The young professor asks to which I reply, "Capetillo."

He digs through his stake of papers with speed and precision until he snakes out a single sheet of manila paper. "Ah, here we are. Quite the interesting choices I'd say, hmmm? Advanced Magical Theory isn't too common for someone's first jaunt into academics."

"Well, I'm not your typical student.," I cooly reply as I motion with my eyes to the numerous teenagers around us to where the professor nods, "Ah, yes. Makes well enough sense. Here are a few journals and writing quills that are standard fare as part of your tuition. Also, here are the keys to your apartment, K234. Take care!"

I wave goodbye to the excitable teacher and depart from the building as quickly as I can so I can relax and check out my new living arrangements. I walk from the Academy to the nearby apartment complex to find my room, which thankfully only takes me about 8 minutes, which isn't too bad if I ever end up late to class. The outer door looking identical to all the others I slip the key into the lock, unlock the door, and step inside.

The place is furnished and nearly identical to Amelia's apartment from what I remember when staying with her, except on the living room tea table I notice a large basket. I walk over to the basket that seems to have some blue cloth covering its contents with a letter on top with my name signed on the front.

I pick up the letter and rip it open to take a look at the note inside which states,

Dear Santos,

Just a formality of wishing you good luck in your studies, as well as your pursuits in the agricultural field, to which I've appreciated your efforts thus far. Inside is a few things to help you get started. The staff managed to pool some coins together to help you get started, but I advise you to find work while at the Academy to earn a decent living. Sorry, I can't be of more help to you, but it is what I promised in our contract. Lastly, thanks again for helping out with Ingrid. I'd say she's back to her old self once again, perhaps even more determined than before. So thank you once more. See you when you return for Saint Macuil Day.

Regards, Count Leif Herriston Galatea

I close the kind letter to look through the basket and notice that the blue cloth is actually a mage's robe for the school, complete with the crest of Daphnel on the back to signify my allegiance. I set the robe aside on the leather couch as I go back to the basket and dig out a small coin purse. I look inside and count about 25 gold. It's not much, but the food here isn't very costly so I probably have enough for a few weeks if I'm careful.

The last thing I dig out from the bottom of the basket is a picture drawn in watercolors of me cartoonishly chasing after a horse at the stables of the manor with Ingrid in the background. She must have been too embarrassed to give it to me myself, but it's thoughtful and I can't help but laugh a bit as I look at how goofy the drawing is with how I'm displayed.

I set the painting aside, unfold my schedule, and look at the times and details of who may be teaching the classes. As my eyes scan across I notice one detail that unnerves me a bit, that Cornelia will be teaching the Advanced Magical Theory class. Other than that, all my classes appear to be in the morning Monday-Friday from about 10 pm-2 pm with Advanced Magical Theory being a 2-hour block.

After looking through my effects and gifts I begin to look through the cupboards for rations, and to my surprise is that there seems to be some vegetables and meats stocked, all of it looks smoked or broiled, but hey I can't complain about free food.

I snag a piece of jerky from the cabinet and lounge on the couch with my travel bag, as I take out one of the books I borrowed from Count Galatea's library on one of the few subjects that was inherently interesting; about the hero's relics and their powers. It mainly talked about Luin, the lance that needs the bearer to possess the crest of Daphnel to properly wield. It doesn't make too much sense of why but makes for a good question for tomorrow's crestology class at the very least.

I spend the rest of my evening lounging away and reading into the night as I enjoy sleeping in a bed for the first time in a few days. I was never one for camping before I came to this world, and I can't say doing it more often has improved my opinion on the matter. I'll take a comfy bed any day of the week over the 'great outdoors'.

Waking up early the next morning on the first day of school I make myself a quick stir fry with the provided food and wear my new robes with my old Mexican colored robes folded and put away in a drawer. The first stop is my class on warp and rescue spells followed by crestology. Feeling a bit excited as I head out the door I say out loud, "Back in school...actually feels pretty great. It's time to learn some magic the right way."

Exiting crestology my mood had taken a turn for the worse. My expectations had plummeted with my two previous classes now over. The material was base in my opinion and just reeked of hand-holding people painfully slow through the process of what I considered basic magical applications.

As much as I loathe to admit, Sevihn and Rigden seem a hell of a lot more intelligent and competent now that I have something to compare them too. They may have been monsters and treated me less than garbage in the end, but at least their explanations of magic were practical and their methodology was streamlined for someone intelligent. All the knowledge so far on creating a spell or explaining subjects seems so juvenile...or maybe I'm just in a weird spot due to being in higher education from another world and I've had tutelage from one of the world's strongest mages. Whatever it is, I can confidently say I'm not impressed with what Fhirdiad's magic academy is selling.

I walk into the room assigned on my schedule to see that it's a fairly large auditorium lecture hall, but it seems pretty damn empty from the looks of it as I see a few stragglers left from a previous lesson. I take a seat in the row behind the front row and wait idly and read my book until other people arrive. I take out a journal from my travel sack as well as my book from the other night and begin reading.

I read for about a few minutes before I hear a meek voice pipe up near me, "Um, excuse me, sir? Are you the professor for this class?"

I set my book down to look at the person talking to see a very young auburn-haired girl that couldn't be hardly out of her preteens. I curiously look at her in the school robes and notice she has a crest of some sort adorning her robes. Probably indicating some rich parents are using the academy as a babysitting service, and after experiencing some of their lessons I can't blame them.

"No, I'm here waiting for the professor. It says who the professor is on your schedule by the way. Might want to double-check that," I casually offer as I think she has the wrong room. What the hell is a little kid doing in advanced magical theory anyway?

"Oh! Right! Let's see ...Ah! You're right mister, I'm in the right place. Thanks, bunches!" The chipper girl replies as she takes a seat next to me.

I raise an eyebrow as she settles into her seat and deadpan, "Really?" To which the girl nearly jumps at my question and asks in a shrill voice, "What? Did I do something wrong?! Sorry it's my first day!"

I glance around to the empty room of seats all around us but shake my head and chuckle. I won't ruin the kid's first day of school by telling her to go find some space. I sigh, "It's fine. Just...nevermind."

Before the redhead can reply to me, the door to the auditorium swings open as Cornelia struts in wearing a low cut elegant red sundress adorned with feathers in the back paired with matching red high heels. Dress code apparently doesn't mean much when you run the joint. She confidently makes her way up to the podium and announces, "Welcome to Advanced Magical Theory. I am Archmage Cornelia of this academy, and I shall take roll call now."

Confused, I do a double-take to make sure nobody is hiding in the high up seats, but to my dismay, it seems completely empty. I look back towards Cornelia who calls out with a smirk, "Santos Capetillo."

"Here." I uneasily reply as Cornelia's lustful gaze transitions back to normal as she looks to the girl on my left and announces, "Annette Dominic?"

"Oh, that's me!" Annette happily replies to which Cornelia smiles back in one of her less suggestive expressions.

"That appears to be everyone. Not surprising that my lectures are a bit empty, learning from the Archmage herself may be a bit daunting for most students, haha!" Cornelia monologues to herself while laughing at her own hubris, to which Annette has already got a quill in hand ready to write down notes in her journal, almost white-knuckling the quill with unnecessary intensity. I instead lean back in my chair and look on with my best-uninterested face I can muster up.

"So class, since there are so few of you, why don't we have some introductions? We do have two hours so we can splurge a bit on other things than lecture, sound good?" Cornelia more or less states rather than asking for feedback and continues, "Great, I'll go first. I am the archmage of this fine academy and court mage to the Lord Regent Rufus Blaiddyd. Amongst my other accomplishments is ending the plague of 1162 and currently helping with advising the royal family. I've been an academic of magic my whole life and I'm honored to share my knowledge with you this semester. Now, who would like to go next?"

Annette shoots her hand up into the air holding it high while I simply look over to her and point at Annette. Cornelia rolls her eyes saying, "Very well, Lady Annette. Introduce yourself and tell us what brought you to this fine academy."

"Okay!" Annette shouts a bit louder than she probably intended and stands up to begin rambling, "So, I'm Annette and it's so great to be here. I'm excited to learn about magic since my mother taught me a bit, but I always wanted to learn more so here I am! I always like doing my best and studying the hardest to succeed and learn more, but also I like Fhirdiad as it's so much bigger than any city in Dominic! More about me is I like singing, cooking, tasting sweets, and-" Cornelia waves her hand and quickly interrupts, "That's good enough sweetie. Thank you. Now, Santos, care to share a bit about yourself?"

I remain seated and reply, "I'm Santos Capetillo. Traveling doctor from Almyra. Here to learn more practical applications of magic."

"Oh, that's so cool! I've never met anyone from Almyra! How is it there? Is there-" Annette jabbers on until Cornelia slaps the podium to quiet down the spunky girl stating, "That's enough of introductions. If you'd like to talk to classmates, I suggest doing that after class."

Annette nods bashfully as she slides back into her seat and tries to hide her embarrassment by hiding her face behind her journal. I shrug and state, "Well I'm ready."

The class lecture goes off without a hitch as Annette furiously scribbles pages of notes from Cornelia's lecture on the principals of magic. I pretend to write down things in my journal, but mainly I just doodle and try to look interested while Cornelia monologues for a full 90 minutes without as much as a pause in her speech. 98% of what she went over was included in the books Sevihn encouraged me to read so it only serves as a nice refresher, but not much else to me.

"Alright, that should be good for today. You are dismissed for today," Cornelia announces but slips in quickly as both Annette and I rise, "Santos, stay behind for a bit. I'd like to discuss something with you."

Annette waves cheerily to both of us as she darts out into the hallway. Once the door shuts completely and I've stood up to stretch a bit Cornelia beckons me over with a wave of her finger. I scoop up my materials into my travel sack and walk over to the woman at the podium asking, "So, what would you like to discuss?

"Oh Santos, I noticed you seemed quite disinterested. You made several doodles of a unique 'S' in your journal. Most peculiar...But I wonder Mr. Capetillo, am I boring you?"

"Not at all, your theological understanding of magic is spot on and makes a lot of sense. It's quite informative."

Cornelia dismisses my answer with a wave of her hand. "Bah, you needn't patronize me, Santos, I know all too well when someone is trying to be coy. Tell me, is it cause the lesson isn't entertaining enough for you?" Cornelia licks her lips and leans a bit suggestively over the podium awaiting my answer.

I take a step back and reply, "No, it's nothing like that. Just seems like my prior knowledge has a decent amount of overlap with your explanations. That's all."

Cornelia reverts to her standing position behind the podium replying, "Ah, so that's it. Well if that is the case, I can certainly modify the content for you. Perhaps we can discuss details over tea? Though I do wonder where you managed to get such an education on magical theory…It only adds to your mystery Mr. Capetillo."

I pause for a second to consider my options as I put my hand underneath my chin. As forward and unnerving as Cornelia is, after listening to her lecture it's obvious she is quite the authority on magic. And refusing to invite her to tea will probably draw out more suspicion and ire from the headmistress. If I'm careful enough I can probably get some details about what I actually want to know.

"Alright, let's do tea. I think that'd be good. Do you have a preference for when?"

Cornelia claps her hands together and purrs back, "Excellent, let's say afternoon Saturday? The week is quite busy for me as you must imagine. Just drop by my office and I'll be ready to host you. I look forward to seeing you there."

The scantily clad archmage struts by me towards the door remarking, "I must be off to a meeting, do take care, Santos."

As Cornelia exits, I breathe a sigh of relief and gather my belongings quickly. Her arrogance is staggering, but considering her looks and position it isn't surprising that her tactics would be effective on most males. I'm just happy my paranoia is quashing any less than pure thoughts with the conniving woman.

I depart from the empty auditorium and head for the mess hall on the first floor, since after that encounter I'd like some grub to settle my nerves. Getting to the mess hall is easy enough and not super crowded with a small line near the kitchen area. Looks like they're serving soup and sandwich with some smoked cheese, which at this point sounds delicious as my breakfast as long faded.

I take a seat at an empty table to devour my food and relax from the monotony of school life. I close my eyes as I'm ready to get lost in the bliss of a free lentil soup and ham sandwich, I hear someone plop down next to me and in a familiar high pitch voice squeak, "Oh it's you! Come on Mercedes, I found an open table!"

"Oh please no," I groan to myself as I peek my eyes open to see Annette and a regal-looking blonde girl that I presume is Mercedes taking their seats across from me.

"Hi Santos, hope you don't mind us sitting here! Most of the other tables are pretty crowded," Annette babbles cheerily and her friend adds, "Oh, do you two already know each other?"

"Yes, he's the only other student in my Advanced Magical Theory class!"

"Wow, you must both must be very dedicated to learning magic! I've been here a full year already and I haven't worked up the courage to take that class yet," Mercedes replies as she begins to blow on her soup to cool it off.

"Well, it just falls into my interests. Branching out from what I usually do," I confer as I continue to nibble on my sandwich.

"That's right, you said in class you are a doctor! Is that exciting?!" Annette chirps to which I set down my meal and reply, "Yup. I decided to finally expand my magical knowledge here to supplement my medical skills as well as sate my interests."

"That's incredible you are a doctor, but are you worried that you won't be able to help your patients while at the academy?"

"Not really. I travel frequently so I don't have a setlist. Wanderlust and whatnot," I trail off as I wave my hand to try and collect my thoughts into a believable reason.

We continue to banter lightly as our soups had finally cooled enough to let us dig in. Free lunch as part of tuition is quite the boon, considering they didn't force me to sign up for a separate meal plan like most colleges back on Earth. And I swear that I'll take that idea to the grave as students should be entitled to a free meal if they're paying tuition.

Leaving the cafeteria I head over to the library to set my true plan into motion; independent research. I grabbed all the relevant texts on warping and experimental application as well as a few texts on crestology. With my unknown crest derived from Sothal's blood finding any way to expand its uses would be greatly beneficial to getting home quicker since so far it's been a deep well of power.

The rest of my week's schedule consisted of a pattern of going to class with my books to study while appearing mildly interested in my classes. I'd play up my false engagement in Cornelia's class just to not offend her as our tea time loomed on the weekend. Annette and Mercedes both started making a habit of seeking me out for lunch, which while a bit annoying at first ended up not too bad as Mercedes seemed greatly interested in my medical knowledge to which I happily divulged. Finding someone actually interested in my years of medical education feels oddly cathartic. Annette on the other hand, while adorable and pleasant, moves just a little to fast for my taste and would benefit from toning it down a bit. I can't fault her lack of social awareness since she's arguably the youngest person here and just trying her best to fit in.

Taking the majority of Saturday to walk through the town in search of some supplemental income didn't generate great results. Being a cripple makes most hard labor work irrelevant for me, while I'm also not the beefiest guy around anyways. I could always tutor, but I'm not sure how that works at the academy...so it looks like I have a conversation point for Cornelia. Better than nothing I suppose, and it'll help quell any suspicions she has about me.

Walking up to Cornelia's office each time fills me with a slight amount of dread as I march up the stairwell. I need to be on my politicking A-game to not have her dig into my past that she is weirdly invested in. Granted, I'll admit I'm a bit strange and my motives may seem unclear to any that's not me.

I try to psyche myself up a bit in front of the archmage's office door by running my hand through my hair. I firmly give the door three knocks and wait for a response, which comes quickly as I hear a cheery, "Come in!"

I open the door and stroll in and see Cornelia situated behind her desk as normal, but with a piping hot teapot and a very beautiful tea set made of white porcelain laid out across her desk. "Hopefully I'm not too late. You did say afternoon."

I take my seat and take in the aroma of the tea which smells like a mix of sweet berries and lavender. I also notice that all the previous piles of work and paper have been cleared off as well. Topping off the display is some burning incense that vaguely smells of jasmine and something I can't quite put my finger on. As I inhale the vapors I feel the previous tension in my shoulders that I didn't realize was there vanish instantly.

"Your timing is impeccable. I finished setting up just a few minutes ago. Now, would you kindly pour the tea for us?"

"As you wish," I reply as I do my best to hold the hot kettle with my one arm and pour out our portions slowly as possible without looking like I'm straining myself. I fill each cup almost to the brim before setting down the kettle.

"Thank you, Santos. Most gentlemanly of you. Some were suspicious to have an Almyran on campus as we don't get many visitors from that land, with their reputation as savage and all, but you come off as surprisingly well mannered."

A bit of a back-handed comment but I do my best to keep my face from twitching. "Thanks, I like to consider myself somewhat cultured with how much I've traveled," I reply as I think back to all the etiquette lessons I had with Rigden now finally paying dividends.

"Agreed. You must indulge me in your travels a bit. You've been playing hard to get," Cornelia snickers as she blows daintily on her hot tea.

"Well, like I said I was born in Almyra but with my parents being traveling merchants we hopped from place to place. I met a lot of interesting people, but for a majority of it I stayed in Brigid and Dagda."

The headmistress narrows her gaze a bit with a ghost of a smile on her face. "So, how did you like it down there. What did your family sell?"

"Spices mostly," I quickly reply as I pause for a moment and interject, "You know Cornelia, I'm looking for some supplemental work while I'm at the academy. Do people hire tutors? I'm pretty savvy in the medical field."

I may have only been out of medical school for about a year and a half before arriving in this world, making me a novice in applied medicine back home, yet here with their archaic practices and lacking knowledge of medicine that doesn't involve magic I would say I'm decently ahead of the curve. Considering how impressed Dr. Shaeli was with me I can confidently make that point.

Cornelia seems to ponder my request for a moment before taking a small sip of her tea. She gently sets down the still piping hot cup and replies, "Well, there are opportunities for such a thing. You could convince me to let you host a weekend seminar, but you wouldn't even be in this position if you accepted my offer in the first place, now would you?"

I laugh a bit nervously and concede, "Well, that is true but I do want to make a bit of a name for myself. Figuring if I could help fix Count Galatea's problem with his crops it would open more doors for me in the long run."

She considers my answer with analytical eyes that I feel are looking into my soul, but she sighs and casually replies, "Ah, well that does make sense. Prestige can take you far, I would know better than most. Before I cured the plague back in 1162 I was a simple scribe. A prodigy mind you, but of no real significance in the political world. I've earned every bit of my position."

"How did you cure the plague? What was it like?"

"Ah, that. I managed to pin down the cause to the local rat population as it had exploded with increased years of poaching their natural predators. After that it just took some tinkering in the alchemy lab to make a poison to kill off the abundance of rats and using traditional remedies for fevers," Cornelia explains to which I find myself genuinely intrigued at her deductions.

"So it was poison that was the cure? Ironic," I muse as I take a sip of my tea. My answers draw out a bit of an unladylike chortle from Cornelia as she replies, "Yes it would appear so!"

We both take another drink from our respective cups and Cornelia asks, "So, I'm curious about this," as she draws out a piece of parchment and slides it towards me.

I glance down at the paper and realize it's a from the library ledger, to which Cornelia offhandedly comments, "You know Santos if your classes are too easy I could be persuaded in personally tutoring you. Just a few...negotiation points to go over. It isn't typical to see someone new scrounge up such advanced and obscure texts. Advanced Warping Applications, Encyclopedia of Crests, Theorems on Lost Magics, and the list goes on as you've used your library access liberally this week, but most intriguing is the books like Lost Cultures to Fodlan and The Fall of Sothis. I didn't even know we had such texts as they nearly borderline on heretical in the Kingdom. Care to explain what you are desperately searching for, Mr. Capetillo?"

I swallow hard and feel a bead of sweat starting to form on my brow as I cautiously replied, "Well, the warp magic stuff is related to improving trade routes. Something I'm hoping to help send back to my family. Crestology is personal, considering I don't know much about my crest other than it seems to empower my magic somehow. As for the others...I found them while digging through the piles. It's just an interest since I'm not too well-read on Fodlan history. And I imagine it would make an interesting dinner talk."

The seconds feel like hours as I await Cornelia's response as she continues to try and dissect me with her gaze, until she finally laments, "Very well. I was just curious. I didn't mean to make you feel pressured."

"Ahuh...sure that's whatcha were doing," I snidely think to myself as I take another gulp from my teacup as it finally cooled down a bit.

Cornelia claps her hands together and stands up announcing, "Well this has been informative and pleasant. Shall we do this again sometime? I'd like to hear more about how you lost your arm and your thoughts on magic application. You are truly a unique student at this academy."

I stand up as well wiping a bit of the residual tea from my short beard replying, "Certainly. I look forward to it. What about tutoring or seminars?"

"I'll send you a missive if we have an available slot on the weekends for you to teach your unique medicinal skills. Just makes sure by Monday to turn in a lesson plan to me. If it is up to my standards I'll approve of you."

I bow and say, "Thank you archmage, that would be most appreciated."

"Of course. Now, I must ask you to leave. I'll be departing shortly to attend some other meetings. Farewell Mr. Capetillo," Cornelia concludes with a dismissive gesture for me to get on my way.

I immediately head out of the office and close the door. I reach up to check my pulse quickly as I can feel my heart thumping inside my chest. 130 beats. That's a bit high for a simple conversation, even if I was a bit on edge entering the room. I can't help but feel like I'm being watched as I stand in the long hallway lined with offices, so I scurry out of the rather empty academy and back to my apartment.

I feel that I managed to fend off Cornelia's desires today, but the woman almost has a hypnotic quality to her as she floats between casual flirting and comments to long-winded interrogation queries. It's unnerving at best, and downright worrisome at worst. Perhaps it's my paranoia taking control as I can feel I'm on the precipice of a breakthrough and some real answers to getting home. Hopefully, I can navigate these last few obstacles before something completely blindsides me.

A/N: Another one in the books (Ha!) but here we begin to see how Santos gets home and takes a dive into frenetic research. There will be a bit of a time skip coming up, but it'll make sense hopefully.

Review Response:

Guest: If only I were more clever. If only.

flitterflux: Thanks for the support. Very much trying to build a foundation for an altered version to canon, but not so much to where it's unfamiliar. When we get to Garreg Mach it'll be wild once we approach the war arc and such. stay tuned!

Next Chapter: 12/21-12/22

Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading!

edited: 12/29/19 Beta saves the day!