The Devil From The Machine: The Girl From Another World

Intruder

 After taking a quick bath and donning my uniform, I headed downstairs towards the common hall which also served the purpose of a dining room in the early morning and the late evening. Its layout also changed to suit the need of a dining room as well. The dorm, at least my Pentacle dorm, was separated into 14 floors in which the bottom floor is the largest. The bottom floor contained four common halls and the kitchens to go along with them. The common hall we were assigned to depend on our year of entry. The freshmen, which have the largest number of students, have a common hall, dubbed the Freshman hall for obvious reason, to themselves but a few second years would sometime mingled in with us if their Sophomore hall lacked enough space to accommodate both them and the third years.

As I walking down the spiraling staircase that directly led to the Freshman hall, I heard that there were a lot more ruckus in the dining hall than I expected. The cacophony of noises due to all the chit chatting and the smacking sound when they did so while eating somehow reach my ears even when I was some distance away. It was either that they were too loud or I had hyper sensitive ears but it most likely a combination of both. I really rue the fact that I were born with these really acute ears. As I got closer to the dining hall, the racket I heard became louder and more unbearable. Add that to the reasons why I should not eat with the others. I really felt an overbearing urge to skip breakfast today and just stride through the hall and get out of the dorm. Alas, I couldn't just leave and disappoint Ariel now, could I?

I checked around my surroundings to make sure that they were no one nearby and manifested my Major Arcanum. A grimoire with its pages open materialized in front of me. I swiftly used my hand to try to cover the image on the cover as much as possible and chanted a Strength spell, 'Minuere Auditu' to debilitate my sense of hearing, and then I dematerialized the book instantly.

"That's a lot better." I thought to myself. The sounds they emitted before were barely inaudible now but I could only maintain the spell for a short while so it's just a temporary solution. Even so, I was glad that I was able to master the spell enough that I could control its potency.

"I hope the spell could last till I finish breakfast." I thought as I proceed to descend further down the spiraling staircase and entered one of the ten doors to arrive at the Freshman dining hall. Usually I would go through the door beside it to enter the kitchen beforehand to prepare my breakfast then would I enter the dining hall through a door connecting them. Since Ariel volunteered to help me prepare breakfast, there was no reason for me to enter the kitchen today.

As I stepped foot into the dining hall, about a hundred of students, maybe a bit more was present in the hall. There were way more students than usual. It was possible that a lot more people woke up late today due to yesterday's journey. Or it could be that this was how it had always been, it was just that I never saw it since I always left the dorm early. The chattering sound started to become audible at this point but not to the point where I can't bear with it so that's good.

There was also the enticing fragrance of Hiems bread, a type of bread that could only be made and would only stay edible in the winter. It was made out of a type of magically modified wheat created by some form of Ancient magic that allowed it to stay and be harvested in the winter. The bread was kind of hard to chew but I personally enjoy its taste. That was one of the more normal crops mom grew so I ate it regularly as well but I could not get bored of its taste.

I scanned the crowded benches for any vacant seat and noticed an empty space to Ariel's right who was engrossed in telling a story. There was even another plate with breads and eggs along side a glass of rose milk beside his. So he really did saved a seat for me and even prepared breakfast huh? It was a good thing I did not decide to not eat with him.