The Devil From The Machine: The Girl From Another World

Alvie: Statues

"So how do we get into the passage behind this wall here? Does it open automatically?" Natasha asked, fiddling with her buttery blond hair. "Or do we need to say some sort of magic phrases like 'open sesame'?"

That was about the twentieth question she'd asked so far, and I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the tour that lay ahead. I was starting to get a little bit annoyed at having to answer every little question she had. Even so, I guessed I shouldn't really blame her. She had just entered a whole new world, a completely unfamiliar and foreign environment, experiencing its wonder for the first time and trying her best to understand it.

I had a similar experience as well when I entered Sis's home years ago. Thinking about it made me realize that the way Natasha was acting reminded me a lot of when I was a kid. I remembered bothering Sis every few seconds asking about every trivial thing I noticed. Maybe Sis felt as annoyed at me as I was at Natasha. I smiled remembering the patient way Sis answered my questions and satisfied my curiosity. I supposed I should be following her example.

As annoyed and lazy as I was, this was what I signed up for. Even though I'd been pretty much forced into the whole situation, I couldn't really complain since I'd had the chance to transfer Natasha and her endless stream of questions to Erika but I was foolish enough to not take it. Even though I regretted it, I really didn't want to betray the principal's trust in me or disappoint him by pushing away this task he entrusted me with.

Besides, I felt bad for Natasha, that cold reception she had was unwarranted. How could the others here believe such a simple rumor? Even when it was clearly only meant to incite animosity towards the Nugarian! That's why we were still at war with the other races...

"He's ignoring me again." I heard Natasha mutter. Ah, another amazing benefit of having a keen hearing. Although it hurt a lot to be in a busy room, my acute hearing came in handy in situations such as this. There aren't many times that I praise my father's genetics!

My problem with my genetics aside, it seemed like Natasha had a slight misunderstanding. I could have explained to her that half the times I didn't replied to her were because I was taking my time to think of a response or was too absorbed in my own thoughts. But that would mean telling her that I was being rude and purposely ignoring her for the rest of the time.

"Sorry about that, I was thinking about where we should go first. I think we should first stop by the tailor and get you your robe. Then we could go to the Academic departments and register your courses. After all that, I'll take you sightseeing. Sound like a plan?" I asked.

"That's a great plan, but you didn't ans-"

"Yeah, I was getting to that part." It seemed like patience wasn't exactly her forte. The again, she was getting eager and excited to leave the dorm and explore more of this tower. New world and all that.

"Okay," I continued. "There are four hallways you can choose to leave the dorm, Gold, Bronze, Stone and Clay. Each of the four hallways requires a unique phrase in order for us to go through them."

"That makes sense." She replied, nodding.

"The one we're going to enter is the Stone Hallway since it's the shortest path to the where the tailor is. So the phrase for that would be 'Manifestum Lapis Exedram'."

As I finished chanting the required phrase, a dimly lit pathway opened behind the wall.

"So how do you close the path?" She asked.

"You repeat the exact same chant but replace 'Manifestum' with 'Abscondam' instead."

""Oh, I see. Could you close the path again? I want to try opening it by myself."