A not-so lone bike was rolling along with the morning traffic through one of the many tunnels dotting western Norway. On the bike, driving away from Bergen’s city center was Norah, heading towards the city’s unofficial school district.
So the time has finally come, huh?
Driving out through the end of the tunnel, she entered a valley fnked by steep terrain and fjords, with quite the city-scape nestled within. This district is where a multitude of different gymnasiums, universities and other diverse educational institutions decided to set up shop, as was quite evident by the notably christmas-themed holographic advertisements floating in the sky over the different schools of the district.
And of course, with it being christmas season, a lot of the buildings are covered in christmas lights, both holographic and not.
Driving off of the highway, she follows the road until turning off towards one specific school: Bergen Technical Gymnasium, or BTG for short.
With the few things I heard about it throughout my past life, I knew that the Norwegian gymnasium system was at least a little different compared to the Danish one, but with this being the KF, it kinda has its own thing going on. There are three types of gymnasiums, those being technical, business and standard gymnasiums, where I luckily had the foresight to pick a technical school before regaining the memories of my past life. But that brings up something else interesting about this country.
A detail that Norah had been noticing was that things in the KF were much more integrated between the different countries than the Scandinavian countries of her past life. For instance, the nguage. The same nguage is used throughout the Kalmar Federation, as compared to the Scandinavia Norah knew in her past life where yes, a Danish, Norwegian and Swedish speaker could understand each other, but they were still distinct nguages with noticeable differences in grammar and vocabury.
Well, the 3 Scandinavian nguages do kinda still exist in the KF, but more as regional dialects, I guess. Though in the more far flung pces, they do have their own nguages.
While the Scandinavian they speak in the KF is like a mix of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, there are also other areas outside the three Scandinavian countries incorporated into the Federation that spoke their own nguages. Greennd, Icend, The Faroe isnds, Finnd, the Baltics, and so on. In these regions, the official nguage is still Scandinavian, but the people there regurly speak their own secondary nguage.
However, with how long the Kalmar Federation, and the Kalmar Union before that have existed, the ones who speak the other nguages are mostly old people in the countryside anyway.
Pulling into the parking garage near her school, she heard a distant explosion while parking her bike. Despite that, she didn’t even flinch. Not even the people inside or outside the garage reacted or cared even a bit about the sudden explosion.
Might seem a bit arming from the perspective of someone from my past world, but with some students experimenting with magic, explosions are kinda bound to happen, which makes them pretty common around here. Sure would be nice to explode things with magic… Though being able to use it without inciting (what I think is) the wrath of the void is kinda a prerequisite… Well, I’m certainly not gonna risk that, or any other weird side effect. A damn shame that I can’t use magic properly, though…
Internally grumbling over her cking magic abilities, she joined the group of students walking towards her school, spotting a few common faces amongst the crowd.
Let’s see here… We’ve got the three idiots over here, the d*scord moderator looking dude over there, and a certain blue-haired, well endowed girl… who seems to be rapidly approaching my location.
The girl rapidly approached Norah, popping out from the crowd and meeting Norah with a hug.
“Norah! How was your weekend? Was it nice?”
Whoah, soft!.. No, not now! Mind gremlins begone! Get outta my head!
“Uhh, y-yeah. I didn’t do much though…”
“Oh, okay!”
Just like that, she detached from Norah and began wandering off to css, with Norah following her and the rest of the students.
“...How was your weekend?”
“Oh, it was nice! I was on a boat and stuff like that, did some magic practice!”
“Cool.”
“Oh, did you hear? They are gonna test a new warship down at the harbor today! Wanna come see?”
Huh. Well, I mean, since the whole [Getting access to the workshop] deal is probably going to take a few days, I won’t have much to do ter today, so why not?
“...Sure, why not?”
“Great! I’ll meet you outside after school, then!”
The two girls, along with the rest of the students that morning, entered the school building to take their morning csses.
△▽△▽△
…Why the hell was I excited for this..? No, this wasn’t what I was looking forward to. It was-
“...Oh, it seems like our time is up. Thank you for today!”
The Scandinavian teacher noticed that it was break time as some of the students began packing their things, and announced the end of css. Some were leaving for a quick trip to the nearby T?fex supermarket, while others sat around and spoke to each other. Norah was going to join the people leaving the css, until…
“Norah! Wanna go to T?fex?”
The same girl from this morning approached Norah as she was leaving the cssroom.
Yep, there she is. Aand there go my pns to visit the office…
Sarah Kromberg, Norah’s childhood friend since they were in kindergarten. While she isn’t exactly academically inclined, she more than makes up for it with unusually high magical capabilities, with the magic elective css being the only css she regurly gets top grades in.
“Uhhh… Sure. I did want to go to the office tho-”
“What were ya gonna do in the office?”
“...Get a pass for the workshops.”
Sarah immediately raised an eyebrow. “You’re gonna use the workshops for non-school stuff? How come?”
“Uhh… just kinda got some sudden inspiration?”
“Hmm…”
Sarah began walking around Norah, inspecting her from all angles. “You sure you’re the right Norah? Shouldn’t you be going off to a sofa somewhere to sit with your phone?”
“Uhh…”
“Also, why is your aura all funny?”
Sarah went closer to Norah, briefly poking her before immediately recoiling her hand away. Norah felt a small amount of magicules flowing through her before disappearing into the mystery void.
“What the heck!? Something was sucking up my magicules!”’
That sudden remark caught the attention of all the other students in the css, with a significant number of people turning their heads towards the two girls.
“...How about we talk about that somewhere else?”
“Sure… that’s really weird, tho. I just touched you, and it just began sucking me really suddenly!”
“Phrasing.”
“...”
After a quick chuckle, the two girls began their little T?fex trip.
△▽△▽△
“So, what’s up with the whole magic sucking thing?”
The two had just exited the school, and were now walking through the pedestrian street towards the T?fex near their gymnasium.
I thought it would have been pretty weird to talk to her, what, with the whole reincarnation thing going on, but nope. I’m talking to her like I’ve known her my whole life, which isn’t that far off from the truth, since I actually kinda have.
Even though the reincarnation had a few unpleasant effects on her mentally, she had already begun adjusting.
If I think of my life as Norah as an extension of my life as Frederik, with a bit of amnesia until st weekend, then everything kinda works out in my head… everything except the whole reincarnation-based sex change…
Norah mentally shook her head.
Anyway…
“I’m not sure… When I woke up st Saturday, it was just suddenly there… I’m gonna go and talk to a doctor about it. Got an appointment in a few days.”
Sure is nice that they’ve got the whole doctor appointment thing figured out. I remember the several month wait times from back in past-life Denmark. Yikes.
“Oh, well that’s good. Sure hope it isn’t a disease or something, haha…”
They walked through the revolving door and entered T?fex, walking into the long hall in the small center. Spotting the bakery to their right, they tapped a button on a stand beled “queue” to get a number for the queue sent to their phone before standing there and waiting for the employee to call the number they got.
The worker called their number out, and greeted them with a business smile as they walked up to the counter. “289! What can I do for you two today?”
“Two kanelsnegle, please!"
“And a kv*kk lunsj.”
“Coming right up! That will be 45 kroner!”
Sarah tapped her watch up against the card reader, and wirelessly paid for their baked goods. The worker came up to them and handed them two bags and the k*t-kat-esque red yellow and green chocote.
“Have a good day!”
“You too!” “You too.”
Having acquired their baked goods, the two left the T?fex and headed back towards school.
“So, you wanted to use the workshops, right? What for?”
“...Well, lots of things. I’ve got a few ideas for how to grow energy crystals, and some more designs on my computer that I’d like to try making in real space.”
One thing is for sure: the KF gymnasiums are a lot more well-funded than the ones in Denmark from my previous life. While the workshops in Denmark would only really be open for school sponsored projects, the ones in BTG are open to anyone who has been in a workshop before and at least somewhat knows what they are doing.
“...”
“..?”
Sarah walked right in front of Norah, spontaneously stopping their walk, and stared her right in the face for a few seconds.
“...You’re acting a little funny. Did something happen?”
“What?”
Hold on, am I acting weird or something? Is it that obvious?
“...”
“...”
The two girls stood there, staring at each other for a second…
“...Nevermind!”
…before Sarah instantly returned to her usual jovial attitude, and continued walking back to school, with Norah continuing her walk as well.
…Well, guess it was nothing.
△▽△▽△
“Well, everything seems to be in order. Come back tomorrow and I’ll have your workshop pass ready for you.”
“Thank you.”
Well, guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow. But soon, I’ll have access to the good stuff. The KF really doesn’t spare any expense when it comes to education, giving me, some random teenager, access to all sorts of equipment that’s easily worth millions. Not that I’m compining!
With a slight, nearly unidentifiable smile, she left the school office and walked out of the gymnasium’s front entrance. Following the remnants of the parking garage crowd, she made her way to where she parked this morning, checking if her bike was still locked, which it was.
“...”
Looking out of the window next to the parking spot, she saw the view formed from the main street coming off the highway, cleaving the cityscape of old and new buildings in two, leading to a massive complex lying far off in the distance at the end of the road.
The KAMU. The best university on the pnet, and a pce where all the world’s magisters gather to learn and research. Certainly seems like a rather neat pce. Well, not like I’m going there any time soon.
But hey, either way, I’ll get the workshop pass tomorrow! That’s when the fun begins, even if I don’t have access to the cutting edge gear in the KAMU… I’ve got loads of ideas for interesting things to make, even though I’ve only had my past life’s memories for a few days…
But that made Norah think. Why did her memories have such a “kick in the ass” effect on her? Why did she go from a chronic procrastinator to an engineering workaholic in the matter of a weekend?
This doesn’t make any sense… Maybe it has something to do with my reincarnation? Or the weird thing that happens when I cast magic..? Well, I’ll talk to the doctor about tha-
Honk!
“!?”
Norah’s contemptive state was abruptly disrupted as a car pulled up and honked at her. Looking into the car, she saw Sarah in the driver’s seat.
Oh, there she is.
Walking over to the passenger side, she opened the door and sat down into the car.
“Well hello there!”
“Hi.”
Sarah chuckled a little. “I got you good there, didn’t I?”
“...”
“Heh.”
They set off in the car, driving down towards the harbor.
While Norah was not too impressed by the little prank, she did take a moment to look around in the car they were in.
Sure must be nice to have rich parents… I mean, look at this thing.
Soft and comfortable seats, a giant center dispy, a HUD with augmented reality markers around every car window, and a powerful mana engine that roars like a supercar.
I remember talking to Sarah about it a while ago…
△▽△▽△
“...You got a new car?”
“Yup! My dad gave it to me! Look!”
Instead of pointing out some ordinary small “first car” kind of vehicle, what she is pointing at is a fancy sports car, but surely it wasn’t..
then Sarah ran up to the driver’s side and opened the door.
“Come on, hop in! Let’s go for a drive!”
Norah hesitantly entered the passenger seat, and looked around the car.
I see a distant… marker through the window above where Sarah’s house is, and it’s got text over it saying “home”. Huh. Wait, this is one of those cars with AR windows!? The thought of how much this thing cost alone makes me nervous… But still…
“...Sarah, how much did your dad pay for this car?”
“Oh, I’m not entirely sure, something like 1.700.000 kroner?”
Norah nearly fainted after hearing such an absurd number.
△▽△▽△
Now that’s one impressive piece of machinery.
Looking out past the harbor, a massive battleship y in the water. It was the new Gunnug css TPKS, proudly dispying its massive railcannons and missile unchers to the world.
Just one of these things can take down an LSA all by itself, and is nigh indestructible as well. And considering the giant fusion reactor, along with all the magical systems and the guaranteed SMB presence on the vessel? Not exactly something you’d ever want to fight, human or giant sea leviathan.
Sarah continued driving, going past several parking spots and driving towards the end of the road. Though, curiously, Sarah passed several nice parking spots at ideal pces to view the ship in action.
“Uhh… Where are we stopping?”
“In there!”
Norah had wondered why Sarah had put the navigation waypoint on the Bergen Eksperimentel Fl?te Senter. Now, with Sarah pointing directly at it, Norah was getting slightly concerned.
“Uhh… Am I even allowed in there?”
“Sure, sure… I think.”
“You think?”
“Yeah! They usually let me bring anyone in.”
“Right…”
As they were conversing, Sarah pulled up to the security checkpoint at the entrance of the center, stopping the car as the scanner on the top of the gate scanned the entire car. When the scan finished, the power armored guard standing outside gnced over to Sarah.
“They’re expecting you, Ma’am. But, one other thing, who is your guest?”
“They’re my friend!”
“...Right. And are they allowed to be here, or..? I don’t exactly have them in my system here…”
I really don’t think I’m supposed to be here. I should really just leave…
“Uhh… Maybe I should just-”
Norah, getting worried about her current situation, tried to interject, but…
“I invited them! It should be fine, right?”
The guard looked Norah over, and took a look at his armor’s wrist mounted data terminal, looking through the scanner data, and speaking to someone through his helmet’s comms for a while before returning his slightly suspicious gaze back at them.
“...Well, if you say so. Come on through.”
…They’re letting us… me in? Just like that?
The guard tapped some button on his wrist terminal, and the wedge blocking their way into the military instaltion lowered down to the road.
“Thanks!”
…Well, I might be getting a much closer look at the thing than I’d imagined.
Sarah, along with the increasingly worried Norah, drove right into the military center.
△▼△▼△
“I invited them! It should be fine, right?”
Well, that’s certainly strange… But she is accompanying Miss Kromberg, so it should be fine, right..?
The confused soldier on guard duty stood there looking at the weird data for the passenger of the vehicle trying to enter the center.
No data… No name, magicule count, age, weight, anything… A point bnk scan from military-grade hardware should easily be able to look straight through any kind of barrier, but… Well, it’s the Krombergs. I wouldn’t be surprised if they made some crazy advanced cloaking device, or if the military was testing something. Either way, I should probably report it to the KontrollSenter.
“Uhh, KS, I’ve got a VIP along with a strange individual at gate 2, a guest of Sarah Kromberg. Didn’t pick up any data when scanned. Individual is a young white female, with bck hair and a dark blue sweater.”
After a slight pause, someone responded to his call.
<
“Understood.”
The guard then saved the anomalous scan data and forwarded it to command, sending a mental command to lower the wedge blocking the sports-car’s entrance into the facility.
“Well, if you say so. Come on through.”
“Thanks!”
When the wedge lowered completely, the young girl, along with her anomalous and visibly worried friend, drove right through the gate, entering the center.
It should be fine, right? I mean, the guy from control decided let them through… She is one of the Kromberg’s guests, so it should definitely be fine… I think…
The gate guard, slightly worried about the weird guest, continued guarding the gate as the wedge came up from the ground again, ready to stop any moron who tried to drive into the instaltion without permission.
Tasriel