Welldark B1 Ch. 03

The tones the houses shared, dark purple, greys and blacks, would have transformed the streets into a depressing display if unopposed. Bright curtains, carefully tended gardens, flags waving on rooftops and painted balconies all added their little charms to each house. Some had more gimmicks added to their homes, some less, but none of them went overboard and none of them felt out of place.

The entire city had a feeling of cohesive individualism. Personally, I couldn't imagine myself living here. I still felt that young call for adventure in me and I didn't think I would be happy as the owner of one of many houses in a neighbourhood. Even if I personally did not aspire to settle down here, I cherished what this society looked like. The environment was clean and clearly safe. Every house was made for a family, each with a garden and none taller than three stories.

Which only elevated the height of the bell towers that stood in every neighbourhood. Some were attached to places of religious worship. I imagined there was a whole hodgepodge of faiths worshipped around here, likely syncretic in their outlook. Most of the bell towers stood on their own. Regardless of their position, they all looked the same.

Square bases of dark stone that extended upwards, slightly narrowing towards the top. Walls encrusted with gemstones that glinted with multi-coloured facets in the sunlight. They were arranged in runic formations, curving and cutting up the wall. A brilliant fusion of magic and artistry. All the way up to the tip of the tower, I judged about fifty metres from the ground, the gems stretched. The roof was a circular formation, upheld by pillars, with stained glass in between, hiding the bell within.

Each tower was a beckoning call to lost wanderers in between the worlds. All the time, in all places, people discovered the Dimensional Truth and rarely did they know what was happening. The bells rang and gave them a direction to leave the veil between worlds. Cosmic Universities weren't just places of education, but also a chance of survival for those that hadn't been prepared for their gift.

The tower must have been there for decades, if not hundreds of years. That nobody stole a single gem spoke to the level of education around these parts. Normal people might not know exactly why they weren't supposed to mess with these things, but they evidently had enough of an idea to mind their own business.

"Do you ever wonder what the bells look like?" Arlethia asked, staring up one of the towers, blinking against the sun. "I mean, on the inside. Obviously we all saw that they look pretty normal on the outside, but there has to be something special for them to make sounds we can hear... between."

"Arlethia, you really don't want to see," I told her with all my earnesty. "It's ugly in ways you can't fathom at the moment."

"You know?'' The short succubus looked at me with interest. Willt, raising an eyebrow, echoed her intrigue.

"Yes and I won't tell you," I stared back with a serious expression on my face. This was a way too important topic to pull any jokes. "Listen, if you look in there before you are ready, get ready to spend a few weeks, if not months, in the Asylum. What's in there is not for initiates of the Dimensional Truth to see. You got to work your way up to the big secrets, if you don't want your mind to crack like an eggshell."

"Alright?" Arlethia eventually agreed in a confused tone, which was good enough for me. I wasn't schooled in getting people to realize things about the Dimensional Truth in the safe increments, so I just stayed cryptic. The instructors of Welldark would widen their horizons eventually. "How come you know and aren't babbling like a lunatic then? I mean, not anymore than you usually are."

"Maybe I already spent several weeks or months in the Asylum," I dodged a serious answer with a wide smile and quickly pivoted the topic to things I was more comfortable with. "What's that by the way?" I pointed at a conveniently large and nearby building, an ideal landmark to direct the conversation elsewhere.

Although the houses came in relative uniformity and a maximum size, same could not be said for the buildings meant for stores and services. They didn't get much taller, the bell towers remained the peaks overseeing the rest of the city, but some of them were wide enough to consume an entire city block. One of those massive structures was the building I was pointing at right now.

Stopping at the corner for a moment, I realized that it was perfectly square, both walls extending for the same exact distance. Dark red bricks, the only time I had seen this colour used to build in the entire city, were layered and stacked and arranged in a manner resembling medieval fortifications. Distantly, I heard noises through the open windows that sat just underneath the walkway atop the outer walls. Cheers and loud applause, which gave me a hunch what this building was used for. Will quickly confirmed it by looking at the map.

"Map says it's the Gladiator's Arena," he told me and fixed the position of his round glasses. "Now, I know you will be wondering 'I thought the arena was on university grounds?' and you would be correct. That is because this is the private fighting pit. It's here for out of uni entertainment fights."

"So, you can bash people's skulls in for money?" Arlethia asked, her interest piqued. Always a violent thing, that red-skinned demonette.

"That or you can bet on who will win. It's one of the ways to earn some extra Dark around here... if you are lucky, good at fighting, or both," Willt looked over to me, the jest already reflecting in his eyes. "How about it Karitas, want to take a few punches for a flatscreen TV?"

"Since it's a privately run battleground, they probably won't follow university rules," I was quick to say. "Which means two things. One, they probably won't put me against another freshman unless I take some 'boring' contract and, two, I won't get my replacement uniforms for free." I raised the handbag I still carried with me. "I haven't even gotten this one fixed."

"What, is the great and mighty Karitas afraid of some second year students?" the red-skinned succubus taunted me with big grin, her white teeth contrasting with her dark red lips.

"My short, stacked, demonic friend, I know that you know that second-year students have upwards of a year of combat training and are fundamentally more schooled in magic and experienced in usage of their artefacts than we are." I stopped my response to warningly wiggle my index finger in her direction. "While, yes, it is true that I have found knowledge and skill before you, my colleagues, I lack both the arrogance to think I can already beat up second years and the will to go through a fight for a bit of luxury."

"...You fought yesterday to get a mansion," Arlethia's dry response came quick.

"Eeeeh," Willt made a weighing motion with his unoccupied hand. "Did he? Did he really? Because I am pretty sure he just did this to choke Esther."

"I will let you know I did it to impress this lovely lady I want to claim as mine!" I protested, although now I remembered that flustered look on her face when we were at the end of the battle, my hands around her throat. A simple consequence of our tussle, most likely, but a sadist could hope. "God, please let her be into being choked," I added mutteringly. Something about having control over the breathing of another person was just immensely satisfying.

""U-hu,"" both of my companions made sceptical sounds at the same time as we walked by the arena.

The conversation came to halt, but I kept thinking about the topic a little bit more. Making money through arena fights was something to be considered. I was strong and talented, there was no doubt to be had about that. What I said about second years was just as true. How I currently was, I may have been able to beat up the weakest second years. The kind of people drawn to the arena, I wouldn't be able to compete against. Not as I was at the moment. Experience counted for a lot, especially when it came to fighting.

If money got tight, I may try my luck, but I was more likely to get a peaceful job as a store clerk or something. Best would be an occupation where I just sat around for a couple hours each week and got paid. Any job I got would be a means to an end. As the arena was left behind, so did my thoughts move on as well, concentrating once more on the city we were exploring.

The city centre opened up before us. A large plaza of dark grey, black and red stones, the last being a slight deviation from the regular color scheme. In the middle of it all sat a massive, circular fountain. It spewed water into the air with such ferocity, a moderately sized rainbow was present at every sunny moment. As wonderful as that feat of engineering was, my eyes got stuck on those that enjoyed the water itself.

Most were just hanging out by the water to cool themselves down, but a few slime girls had taken to soaking inside the actual pool at the base of the fountain. That these liquid beauties of adjustable curves had to wear the school uniform was grounds for a formal complaint, in my opinion. Especially since the red shirts refused to turn see-through no matter how much the slimes wallowed in the cooling wet.

Arlethia and Willt kept me moving along and I did my best not to stare. Openly perverted as I was, I didn't want to be that guy that stared at a girl's tits across the street for a creepily long time. I was going to look at open displays, yes, but glaring was just bad manners.

We continued on towards the grocery store or, to be more exact, the mall it was part of. Although not quite as big as the arena, the shopping centre was still a proud building. It's design was more modern, dominated by large windows and steel frames, with the gothic architecture integrated solely for the thematic throughline. It also appeared that it had been expanded with time, several segments looking tacked on in a modular way.

Even on the inside, the gothic architecture was subjugated to commercialization. The blank walls would have still betrayed the original design, but barely any wall was left empty. There were picture frames, signs, advertisements and all the rest. Separating the gleaming, stone floors of the corridors from the carpet of the shops were rarely more than a wall of glass. The interior of shops was usually dominated by bright colours. Red, blue and green, all designed to catch the eyes of potential customers.

The first thing we sought out inside the mall was the place to replace uniforms. It was its own little stand at the back of one of the corridors. The clerk at that store was already informed about the validity of my claim that the university would pay for fixing this one. Fixing, in this case, meant they took the damaged one and simply gave me a new shirt of the same size, covered in plastic wrap. One wash and it would be ready to go. They scanned my Ashod once, so my account was cleared of the free replacement.

Afterwards, we went and bought some casual clothes. As comfortable as the uniform was, it wasn't the only thing I wanted to wear for the next few years. Arlethia and Willt, having brought a lot more to Welldark, did not have that issue.

After we were done there, we went to stock up on food. We quickly found a large supermarket and indulged. Arlethia bought an almost comedic amount of cookies. Willt went on about how greens were important in every diet, while skimming on the meat. Despite their weird decisions, I was the butt of most jokes.

"You know you'll have to cook that, right?" Arlethia asked while I inspected a carrot's quality. "Like, YOU will have to cook that. What it looks like right now isn't going to matter after you apply your 'skills' to it."

"Whatever might you be insinuating, Arlethukinia?" I demanded to know, acting the scorned fool. "Are you trying to lord over me that cooking is the one class you consistently had better scores in than me?"

"I didn't have better scores than you, EVERYONE had better scores than you," Arlethia reminded me. "Because I think that your taste receptors are absolutely fried. The amount of salt and hot sauce you cook with is beyond hellish." I chose one carrot that looked satisfyingly fresh and went to find some eggs. "Also are you SURE you want to spend all this money on food?"

She was referring to the fact that I was going for the highest grade ingredients at every turn. At the 750 Darks a month income I had, that was sure to constrict my budget for the rest of the month. I was sure it would be worth it though. If my diminishing funds became a problem, I would deal with it. Something would come to mind. "While you do have a point, I have learned to cook some things to your inferior standards," I bantered back, wondering if I should go for chicken or jirchin (a kind of tiny dinosaur that still looked like one) eggs. "That is to say, I can follow recipes without refining the taste by adding double the recommended amount of salt and three teaspoons of pepper paste."

"...I'm honestly confused. Since when do you care... Ooooohhhh!" Arlethia's enlightened shout was the verbal extension of the switch that had flipped inside her head. "Oh, okay, you do you buddy, I will either be laughing tomorrow or be able to pat you on the back for a job well done."

Willt looked up from the broccoli display, then looked back down, he didn't care enough to ask right now. Most likely, Arlethia would tell him when they were alone in their room anyway.

After paying for the groceries we went to a nearby technology shop. While a flat screen was entirely out of question right now, as was any television honestly, I wanted some sort of PC. Not of the solely electrical variety. Those had their advantages, but what I wanted was a physical extension for my Ashod.

It looked like a laptop, had the same functionality as a laptop, got access to the internet like a laptop (even if inter stood for interdimensional in this case) but what it actually was, was a docking station. The Ashod could be inserted, making it extend its usual programs onto the bigger screen and use the additional processing power in the hull.

It could be used without the magical smartphone replacement, but then it needed to have everything installed on its own harddrive and the set-up was somewhat annoying. They were designed to be an extension. They also weren't cheap, even on the decent budget that was afforded to me. Evidently a 'reasonable living standard' didn't include luxury goods, high-grade ingredients and several sets of additional clothes. It was almost as if reasonable was the operating word. I didn't care and spent the money anyway.

Between the laptop, the extra clothes and the high-quality ingredients, about 500 Dark just disappeared from my wallet. That left me with way less for the rest of the month, another 28 days, than even the Wood Division people had. I still wasn't worried. If the money got tight, then the money got tight.

For today, I decided to buy a thirty-units pack of cupped instant noodles. That was only thirty Darks, basically a steal as far as I was concerned. Pretty sure we had a water boiler at least. Otherwise, a pot and the stove would do.

Carrying all of that in several bags, the three of us headed back to the train station. Getting back to the mansion was a high-priority task at the current time. After all, I wanted to meet up with Esther again.

We caught the train to the first-year buildings, as we had planned, sparing us the hassle of switching at the university. The remaining distance from the train station to the mansion was only a moderate hassle, the groceries were still lighter than the luggage had been. Being the one who carried the least amount of things, Arlethia opened the front gate and led the way to the door.

"You two have my envy," I said as we walked past the pool. "Having your amount of money must be wonderful."

"We have the same amount of money as you, ya tosser," Arlethia jabbed back. "Two times an amount divided by two is the same as the original amount."

"Just because you are mathematically correct, doesn't mean you are right." I got two pairs of rolled eyes at that and explained myself in the time it took to get inside. "As you will share a lot of convenience items, like a laptop extension, it is much easier for you to justify the purchase of such." The door closed behind me. "What do you think, Esther?"

As beautiful as ever, the raven-haired woman had us in her sharp, amber gaze. Her tricorne was sitting on the table supporting the upright position of her Ashod. Whatever was on her screen, it was separated into tables. I hoped she wasn't already working on her lecture schedule or at least that she kept to planning it. Taking after her in which modules I chose felt a bit stalkery. Discussing, together, which topics we were interested in and making our decisions based on that was natural. It also served as an easy excuse to learn more about her.

There were only so many windows of opportunity and I had to capitalize on them when I could.

Esther leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms, averting her gaze and staring into the air with an enigmatic expression. For a few moments, I was afraid she could suddenly explode with anger again. However, when her gaze returned to me, her dilated, slit pupils indicated no anger. Her red lips parted, forming words in a sultry, firm tone - like silk stretched over a luscious body. "Assuming no lack of context traps me, questioning Karitas, I am in agreement that it is easier for pairs to properly finance their life."

"Ha!" I victoriously declared, doubly enthusiastic since she was calling me 'good' again. The way she spoke that word made it feel simply wholesome. I had known one girl in the past who also tended to do that and she had addressed me like a beloved dog in those moments. The sex had been good, so my younger self had put up with it. Adolescent me had been just as horny and less wise about such things. Not that I had learned everything either.

"To reduce your enthusiasm," the lady of my desires continued on. "As a singular person, you should possess the necessary discipline to keep your own finances in check. What you do not need, you should not desire. Ignoring that, sharing is a drawback on its own merit. What is easier to buy remains one item still."

"HA!" Arlethia threw back at me while her boyfriend quietly stored their groceries in the fridge. "So, how was your morning?" the succubus asked Esther, sparing me the awkwardness to ask. I gave her a thumbs-up behind my back.

"Uneventful," she answered with a single word before returning to her Ashod.

All of a sudden, she was withdrawn again. I wasn't sure whether this was her retreating into her proverbial shell or if she just had nothing more to say. Yesterday had taught me that she was willing to entertain conversations, as long as the topic kept her interest. This morning, however, had reminded that I knew her only for a little over a day. I was a captain navigating a foggy sea, filled with reeves.

While deliberating my next move on her, I decided to store my new things away. Clutter was unacceptable, no matter what I decided to do. Even without Esther's stern attitude as a motivating factor, I did like a modicum of order in my life.

Groceries went into the fridge, the laptop into my room, and new clothes into the washing machine. I noted that we didn't have a dryer, while in the washing area of the cellar, apparently that was seen as luxury to be bought. I could see the argument, but it was still interesting to see what did and did not quality. Thankfully, there was more than enough room to hang the laundry of ten people in the many rooms of the cellar, not to mention the garden.