"I see… Well, it is as you say; I will need to figure this out with her after all. Let's go eat then!"
"Now we're talking!"
Shortly after they arrive at the mess hall, no wonder, as it was right beside the gym after all.
"So, Louis, you brought your ID, right? You will need it to get your food."
"Yes, it's in my wallet. What do I need to do?"
"Easy, basically just hand it to Miss Rosane, and she will ring you up. You can eat as much as you want, but the menu is a bit limited, and also we gotta remember to pass by tomorrow to get some food supplies for the mission."
"Ok? I can live with that, I guess."
"Ah, just a reminder, be polite to Miss Rosane; she is a teacher as well, though most of her classes are for the students in the second year forward."
"I see!"
As they make their way to the line, Louis takes note that while the mess hall is a bit big and could fit about 500 people or something, there seem to be only three more students eating.
"Hey, Jeanne, where is everyone? Seems the place is pretty empty."
"? It might be their day to do a mission; everyone is pretty busy at the start of the week, especially after an awakening ceremony. I think most of the people that went up the throne took a day off." Jeanne responds while looking around. "And also not many students here anyway; it's a small school in a small city anyway."
"Why do we need all this space then? Even if the town is small, real estate is pretty expansive."
"Ah, two reasons, I think. This place also doubles as a research facility, so if I remember right, there are actually more people working here than studying. Usually this place always gets more full on evenings, and also, governments put some money on these places; the more strong people going around, the better, I guess."
"Are things dangerous out there?"
"Kinda? You never know when a beast or specter might show up; there are also criminals running about. The more good, strong people go around, the less danger there is for those that can't defend themselves, even if they aren't working as sorcerers or guardians."
"Are you guys just going to chat, or are you ordering?" The orange-robed woman with a hair cover at the counter is hurrying Louis and Jeanne.
"Oh, I'll go first then. Here you go, Rosane!" Jeanne hands Rosane her ID card; after she does, Rosane seems to be messing with something below the counter.
"How many pieces do you want?"
"Today was pretty tiring; I can go for 8 pieces!"
"Sure, give me a moment." She takes out a tray with half a piece of bread and a seemingly fried fish in between, both steaming as if they were just heated.
Just as Louis was getting confused about what kind of service was serving half a sandwich to people, the lady grabs both sides of the sandwich and starts pulling; without any effort, the food is duplicating.
After putting 8 sandwich halves in Jeanne's tray, she hands back her ID.
"See you at the table!" Jeanne then starts heading to the table while Louis stands there baffled.
[Where is that even coming from?]
"Any problems? Just give me your ID and tell me how many you want." Rosane tells Louis.
Louis hands her his ID and then says, "I-Uh… I'll have 4 pieces." Louis didn't feel hungry from the start, but seeing that, he is not sure if he feels like eating anymore.
"Sure." With nimble movements she duplicates the food and hands it to Louis; after that she puts the original fish and bread half back into the box. "Have a good day."
"T-thanks." After watching the entire process, he goes to Jeanne's table.
"Hey, took you a moment, huh?" Jeanne promptly speaks when Louis approaches.
"Y-yeah."
"? Anyway, is there anything you are having trouble with recently? We should eat quickly, and I will help you sort something out for the mission. If we leave everything for tomorrow, stuff might get too busy!"
"I think I need to go to the administration room in a bit and then go do the doctor's office and get some info on my job; besides that, I had some trouble handling the stuff at my dorm."
"Yeah, I figured. You can't use sorcery anymore, right? Most sorcerers just cast spells directly instead of using tools, but people like us gotta use other trinkets. You don't have one of these, do you?" Jeanne lifts her hand to show a bracelet on her wrist.
"No, what is that?"
"Sorcery Multitool-basically most of the civilian stuff sorcerers can interact with spells; you can also activate it with this. Once you get yours at the admin's office, you can just point at the lights and snap your fingers, and then it will just work. Also, see these slots here? You can put CS cylinders here and slot some useful spells for missions. You can also buy some outside. You should also get a compass, a map, a fire starter, and some other useful things!"
"That is very nice!"
[This might be the closest thing to a smartphone I might find around here…]
"Yeah! Right before the mission, I will tell you some cool tricks to use, and, uh…"
"Yes?"
"What's wrong? You haven't touched your sandwiches yet… Hehe, forgot how to eat?"
"No, it's just… a bit weird, I guess?"
"What is weird about it? Don't worry, Miss Rosane washes her hands properly before preparing the meal, or like… did you want something more varied? Me too… I could go for some rice and beans… maybe with some chicken?"
"No…! More, it's more that, isn't that infinite food? Where does it come from? Is it cloning? Do they use the same fish and bread forever? Isn't it bad for us?"
"Ah, don't worry about it; you've been eating that stuff for years. If anything, the first person that would get sick from it would be you, but look at ya! You are looking fine and sturdy!" Jeanne says while tapping his shoulder.
"Uh, thanks! I guess I'll just try it then…!?" As Louis tries the sandwiches, his mood lifts up instantly. "This is pretty good actually!"
"Haha, see what I mean?"
Jeanne and Louis chat for a bit more, and then they leave for the administration building.
Once inside, Louis takes note of a clear wall with a single small window inside.
"Ok, Louis, check this out." Jeanne goes to the window and knocks three times.
"Hello, I am here with Louis; he needs his incomer package again."
From the window, a small box materializes, as if pushing through a solid object.
"Ok, now you should put your ID in here, and the package will come out."
"This is kind of cool…" Louis follows his instructions, and after a moment, a closed box comes out of the window the same way as the previous one.
"Is there actually someone in there?"
"Yeah, it is one of the administration officers; he doesn't talk a lot."
"What is his name?"
"Dunno, he doesn't answer."
"Uh, how does anyone know what to do here then?"
"There are other workers; they just aren't here today. Usually they sit at that counter over there on that side." Jeanne points to an empty counter.
"I… I see?"
"Wanna open the box together?"
"Sure!"
"Good! Come here!" They both sit together by the chairs outside of the main administration office; Jeanne morphs one finger into werewolf form and uses the claw to cut open the package.
"First of all, check out this small tube over here. What do you think it is?"
"A canteen?"
"Good guess!" Jeanne opens the cylinder and pulls out a cloth… "It's a backpack!" With two shakes from Jeanne, the cloth morphs into a medium-sized rigid backpack.
"Pay attention to these strings here." Pulling the strings makes sections of the backpack fold themselves, turning the backpack into a small rectangle with arm handles.
"Wow, so… Is this to make it easier to carry when it's empty, I guess?
"Not really, it didn't change the backpack's volume at all! It would still work even if it was full of stuff!"
"What do you mean? How would that even work?"
"It just folded into the 4th dimension, get it?"
"No…?"
"Hahaha! Me neither! I just went 'ah… sure…' when I heard it as well!"
"I am just not going to think too hard about it then; I just need to remember about these two strings, right?"
"Yeah, Just tie them and then untie them once you need to open the backpack again. If it is something you need to access quickly, it shouldn't be in your backpack anyway."
"Anyway, besides that, just one last thing." Jeanne picks up a small case from the box and opens it.
"Here is the multitool. Come on, give me your wrist!" Jeanne gets Louis' right arm and puts the multitool on his wrist.
"Now, this CS is over here." Jeanne says, holding a capsule. "It is the compass; it has two functions: first, to know which way is north, and second, to find your friends while on a mission!"
Jeanne inserts the CS in his multitool and then touches it with her own, " See, now we are connected!"
Once Louis pulls back his arm and presses on the CS, a circle with two lines shows up, one pointing with a white arrow to what he assumes is the way north and another with a yellow arrow pointing directly at Jeanne.
"Hoh, pretty neat!"
"See? Now we can find each other with no problem! You can't run away from me anymore, hehehe!"
"Hahah…" While she said it with a joking tone, her eyes looked a bit scary…