Amy

“And you’re sure Clara suggested I handle this?” I asked Firanna, hesitantly. We were currently standing outside a classroom - after school hours, of course. Though you’d likely be forgiven for thinking otherwise, considering the very loud noises currently coming out of the classroom. It sounded almost like a series of minor explosions.

“Well, you can’t expect me to handle all the preparations, can you?” Firanna replied. “I’m already securing us a healer, you know. I think that’s quite enough.”

“You still haven’t told me how you’re pulling that off, either,” I pointed out. “I hope you aren’t bothering to drag poor Pauline into this? I’m sure she’s seeing quite enough of me already, thanks to Professor Devulchas.”

“Is that what you think?” Firanna asked, arching an eyebrow. “That she’d rather see less of you?”

“Of course. It’s obvious, isn’t it? I mean, I’m literally in the body of her tormentor - it’s a miracle that she can stand the sight of me at all, let alone help me as much as she has already.”

“Has she told you that?” Firanna pressed.

“Well… No. But we both know she’s too kindhearted for such harsh words.”

“True enough, I suppose,” Firanna admitted, with an air of reluctance. “You can relax, either way - I won’t drag Pauline into anything she doesn’t want to be a part of.”

“That’s a relief,” I murmured, before frowning at the door in front of us again. “And this May - could you tell me what you know of her?”

“Only that she’s a student of alchemy with a penchant for raiding communal supplies. She’s used up so many ingredients that the school’s been forced to restrict her - something that has her quite infuriated.”

“So we’re planning on bribing her with the promise of keeping any herbs we find?” I asked. “At this rate, we won’t have anything to sell, in order to entice our healer…”

“I’ll make sure she gets paid,” Firanna promised, “so worry less about that and more on convincing May.”

“I still don’t understand why I have to be the one to talk to her. I’m hardly seen as a respectable figure around here - if anything, I think I’d be something of a deterrent.”

“Who knows? Maybe her eccentricity will even make her amenable to talking to someone like you,” Firanna said. “And besides - I’m on the student council, in case you’ve forgotten. The same council that alerted her to the new restrictions. If I go in there - why, she might even go so far as to throw something at me.”

“So you’re just giving up?” I asked, turning towards her.

“Exactly. Have fun!” Saying so, she turned on her heel and left, leaving me to stare at her backside for a moment before shaking my head and turning back towards the classroom.

“Great,” I murmured, grimacing. “Well… might as well get this over with…”

With that bright and cheery thought to lead the way, I reached out to grasp the classroom door’s handle - only to pause when I heard the sound of something shattering, followed by the loudest explosion yet.

“Or… maybe I should get a teacher?” I wondered aloud.

Alas, before I could make such thoughts a reality, the door was flung open with enough force to send me reeling back, as a small, hunched over figure came running out of the room, smoke trailing behind her.

“Close the door!” she croaked out.

“Um…”

“I said close it!” she repeated, gesturing at the door. “Now!”

“R-right,” I murmured, slamming the door shut - just in time for something to bang into the other side. “What…?”

“This is what happens when I have to work with inferior ingredients,” the girl murmured. “I told him there was a risk, but did he listen? No. He insisted I make it anyway, and then swallowed an entire day’s worth of doses in one go! All for the sake of some damn date with that light-loved girl.”

“Light-loved girl?” I asked. “You mean Pauline?”

“I don’t know - maybe? It sounds familiar enough. You’d think I’d know it, the way the Prince keeps rattling on about her, but honestly I blocked him out after the first five minutes…”

“The prince…?” I asked, as something banged upon the door again. “You mean… on the other side of that door, is…?”

“The prince,” May confirmed. “If you can still call him that…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, taking a step back as the door rattled again.

“It means what it means,” May said. “Thankfully, the thing on the other side of the door is too incoherent with rage to actually figure out how a door works. It’s not like it’s actually locked you know.”

“‘The thing’?” I asked. “You turned the prince into a thing?”

“Of course not!” May scoffed. “He did that to himself. I just supplied the potions that did it - potions that likely would have worked, inferior ingredients or no, if he hadn’t chugged them all in a row!”

“And now he’s…” The door rattled again. “Is he… um… going to be okay?”

“Don’t worry about that,” May said. “The side effects should be running out right about…. Now.”

Another bang.

“…Give or take a minute. Also, who are you and why are you here?”

“Me?” I asked, blinking. “I’m um… Amy.”

“Really?” May asked, frowning at me. “A nice, short, sensible name that I might actually be bothered to recall? Surely it’s short for something, is it not?”

“Uh… No, not really,” I replied, rubbing at the back of my head. “I mean, I guess it’s sort of short for ‘Amelia’ but I don’t really go by that, at all, so…”

“Amelia?” May asked, frowning. “That names sound familiar…”

“Yes, well, she - I - I mean… uh… did you perhaps hear about the duke’s daughter who didn’t get executed do to not being the duke’s daughter? Perhaps?”

“I don’t bother to keep up with current events. No, I remember that name, but… from somewhere else…”

“Somewhere else?” I asked, worried now. Was she perhaps one of Amelia’s victims? Someone she’d tortured? Someone who might have a grudge?

“Ah! I remember now! It was the name of my childhood bunny.”

“Your… childhood bunny?” I asked, blinking.

“Yes. She died when I was quite young - trying to bring back to life was actually how I first got involved in alchemy.”

“And you forgot her name?” I asked, incredulous.

“I told you I’m not good at names,” she reminded me. “And besides, Amelia was what my mother called her. I called her Bunny A.”

“Bunny… A? Did you have a bunny b then?”

“No? Why would I?” she asked, frowning at me.

“That’s… I mean…”

“Also, I think the banging has ended,” May remarked. “We should probably check on what’s happened to the prince.”

“Right,” I muttered, glancing between the door and May. “Maybe you could do that while I go get a teacher? I don’t think Prince Jethroo would be all that happy to see me…”

“Oh, don’t worry, they’re not going to be in a state to see anyone,” May replied, marching past me to pull open the door.

Smoke billowed out, threatening to fill up the hallway for a moment.

“Are you… sure the side effects… wore off?” I managed to ask, between coughing fits. “Because I think… he might have just suffocated… from the smoke…”

“Little of column A, little of column B,” May replied, cheerfully, nudging something on the ground with her foot. “Not half bad, though, if I do say so myself.”

“What are you… talking…?” I asked, only to trail off into silence as I saw the answer to my own question.

Laying on the floor was a girl - a busty girl, with long blonde hair, wearing clothes that were obviously too big for her.

“Why… is Prince Jethroo a… a…”

“Girl?” May asked. “For the sake of that lady of his, of course - or should I say hers? Apparently she’s into girls, or some such… Anyway, you were telling me your name, and why you’re here?”

“I… Um… Give me a moment,” I murmured, reeling from the shock. “Are you saying… that Pauline is into girls?”

“Assuming that wasn’t just an excuse to get rid of him? Yes, I suppose she is,” May confirmed. “Though that really doesn’t answer the question of why you’re here.”

“Pauline is into girls… and the prince… came to you to… to change him?”

“Of course,” May replied, puffing her chest out. “I happen to be one of the best alchemists around, you know?”

“But… why not a teacher?” I asked. “Or at least someone with access to better materials?”

“Well, because they wouldn’t have done it without the king’s approval, of course,” May replied.

“And you did?” I asked. “Aren’t you… you know… worried about that?”

“Not particularly. If he doesn’t like it, he can just make the girl go back, can’t he? And it worked anyway. Obviously.”

“Right…” I murmured, staring at Jethroo in a daze. “It… certainly did…”

“Now, again - why are you here?” May demanded, spinning to face me. “Other than just causing me trouble, I mean.”

“That’s… I… Um. I was sent to see if I could, perhaps, maybe recruit you into joining my adventuring party?”

“Your adventuring party?” the girl murmured, tapping at her chin. “That’s certainly an interesting suggestion. I suppose you were going to offer me first pick of any herbs gathered?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Though… from the way you’re speaking, I gather you’re uninterested?”

“Hm? Oh, no, I’m very interested,” the girl replied, smiling at me. “Especially if you’d be willing to go out of your way to pick up some particular herbs… Would I have to register as an adventurer?”

“I uh… they usually call themselves just Guild members, I think? But… yes? Maybe? I mean, if we want to be an official party at least…”

“Hmmm. Well, I suppose it would get me access to some of the guild’s info - once we increased our rank, at least… So I’m certainly willing. There’s just one minor little issue we should probably deal with first.”

“And what’s that?” I asked.

“Well, you see, it might just be my imagination, but… I think our sleeping princess has woken up. And from the looks of it, she’s not very happy…”

“I… uh…” I glanced down at Jethroo’s form, surprised to see that she’d opened her eyes at some point, and was… glaring at me?

“The good news is, there seem to be some lasting side effects!”

“That’s… good news?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, the paralysis should wear off soon enough,” May replied shrugging. “Though we might want to not be here when it does? I really do hate wasting time listening to lectures…”

“Should we maybe alert a teacher?” I suggested.

“Ooh, good idea! You do that. I’ll be off. Tata!”

“W-wait!” I called out, as May walked out the door. “You… um… we never discussed how I’m to find you later? To talk about the adventuring party some more?”

“Oh, that? I’ll come by over the weekend,” May promised. “You live in that villa at the edge of campus, yes? The one everyone avoids like the plague due to the bitch that lives there?”

“You… I thought you didn’t know who I was?”

“I didn’t,” May replied. “I don’t, in fact… but it’s not hard to put two and two together, miss Duke’s-daughter-but-not. That villa is traditionally saved for the children of the duke, after all - but, really, I must be off now.”

“Right…” I murmured. “To um… what are you doing exactly?”

“Why, I’m going to go brew some potions for the trip, of course!”

“With… inferior ingredients?” I asked, glancing at the still glaring Jethroo.

“Just be sure to follow my dosage instructions and you’ll be fine,” May replied. “Now for real - tata! See you later. Byyyyyye!”

“Yurgh…” mumbled Jethroo, clearly trying to get words out. If I wasn’t mistaken, I could see her hand starting to twitch too.

“I’ll um… go get you a teacher, alright? I’m sure they’ll have this fixed up in no time!”

Hopefully without any further intervention from me. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to deal with Jethroo right now, after all. Not when my head was absolutely swimming from the information that had been dumped on me…

I mean… Pauline liked girls?

~~~

Author's Notes

Good news! I've actually started to plot this series out in advance a bit!

Not this chapter, though. No, this one caught me by surprise at least as much as it will most of you... (Not that I didn't expect something like this to happen eventually but not now!)

Still, Plots! Plans! Ideas that'll hopefully carry the story into volumes 2 and maybe even 3 without me needing to take a long break to rethink things! Aren't you excited? Because I am!

Hope you enjoy~