Me and Esther were, under applause of the impressed parts of the crowd, guided off the stage. It was kind of hard to appreciate the praise of my peers as the continuously reddening bruise on Esther's cheek kept reminding me of the fact that I had struck her beautiful face. I was of two minds when it came to differences between genders. Politically, we should just all be treated equally and that was the end of the discussion. Socially, however, I thought it quite healthy that there were some different expectations and treatments.
Most desperate and life-threatening situations aside, there were things one shouldn't do, not even in combat. I kept my hands from punching women in the face, the womb or cutting their hair off. In return, I expected that my balls were off-limits at basically all times. Such silent agreements on the basis of honour and in respect of physiological differences created some common understandings on the basis of which ordered interactions could be had.
By the same logic, I thought that it was on men to make the first step in starting relationships, even if that was as little as offering a cup of coffee. Granted, I was less strict on that guideline than I was one the 'do not kick me in the balls' point. Sadly, I didn't get an opportunity to make a flirting suggestion to Esther in time. We were separated by Derilea, who delegated the raven-haired beauty to another woman, likely another member of Taurus' Anomalia.
Derilea ordered me to follow her. Through a tunnel that went out underneath the watcher's area, she guided me to a quiet backroom. I just assumed that, whatever explanation she was about to give me, her daughter wouldn't need it. Once she had closed the door to the small, unremarkable room behind us, she spoke up.
"The introduction ceremony has concluded now, so don't be surprised when you leave and everyone is gone," the headmaster's maid let me know. "They'll be guided to the dormitories and to get their luggage. Even with your assigned mansion, you will still have to get yours from the same place. Now, to get things started, I require to see your Ashod."
An odd name for an odd tool. The Astral Communication Device, originally shortened to As-com-de, and eventually further shortened into the much easier pronounceable word Ashod. I had no idea who had started calling it that, it must have been long before I got thrown into this three-dimensional world, but the name stuck so everyone called it that.
As someone who had been to Earth more than a few times, I had gotten used to them fairly quickly. They were basically magical smartphones and much preferable to the paper based communications used in Hell. Even if the quill copied the words across several kilometres, it was annoying to get new parchment in the middle of a conversation.
Everyone in the university was required to have an Ashod, since it operated as a wallet, communication device and identification. Which also meant that losing it would be a massive pain. On the advantageous side of things, each Ashod was tuned to the owner's Astrality Signature, a sort of supernatural thumbprint. That made any data on there as secure as it possibly could be. Hacking into those devices was a nigh impossible task.
I reached for the small hoister on my belt where my Ashod was secured. Specifically, it rested next to the metal buckle on the front, most students carried them that way. In its dormant state, an Ashod was extremely small and fit with the design. It was nothing more than two thin stones of whatever colour the owner chose, framed by grey metal. Personally, I had gone with a nice baby blue, since that fit with my eyes. Together, the stones formed a tall rectangle. The halves were so tightly joined that the fact that they were two units was hardly visible. I let a little bit of my Astral Capacity flow inside and pulled. They came apart without any issue.
A screen of light appeared between the halves and with it came a lengthening display. Despite the look of it, the screen was actually solid and had simple touch input. It couldn't stand too much pressure though, and broke quite easily. Not too much of a drawback, as restarting the device repaired the screen completely. No permanent damage on the glass, as there was none, only magic.
Funny and ingenious little inventions, these things. Very versatile and so common in usage that production was pretty standardized and cheap. They still found ways to make better ones every now and again. I had invested quite a bit of money into the model I was holding and its processing power was pretty impressive for its size. It could still be improved by hooking it onto a physical extension.
"Here you go," I said, handing Derilea my Ashod. Although I only held one of the two stones, the other was fixed in its relative position. She took it and opened the university network program, AppDark, that every student had to install for numerous things, such as signing up for courses. I had the common decency to look away as she put in a couple of codes to sign in as an administrator. "Sure sucks that they can't analyse your Astral to immediately give you access, doesn't it?"
"A system that could immediately realize who was holding any Ashod would necessarily be difficult to build, maintain, and dangerously powerful at surveillance. You can remain logged in under normal circumstances, I just need to manually access your device for verification purposes," my joke fell on flat ears as Derilea took it completely literally and retorted with her opinion. A few moments and inputs later, she stayed her hand. "Karitas Desia... I have never heard of you before... That a fellow half elf would beat that... Esther."
Her tone of voice betrayed that there was more to that gorgeous woman I had fought than met the eye. Which was impressive, given how much there was to capture the attention of my gaze. I decided no to try and pry anything out of Derilea though, that felt out of place. "I am not a half elf," I pointed out instead.
Delirea raised a brow and her eyes from the screen, "I see that you are missing the slightly pointy ears, but those can be round enough to be missing in my kind." She glanced back down at my Ashod, her brow went up even higher, "Your identification has you as human."
"Genetically, 100% pure human," I confirmed with a friendly and slightly joking tone.
"Humans don't usually acquire pure white hair unless they have aged considerably. I fail to notice other signs of aging on you. Neither does your hair strike me as bleached."
"While I can only hope that my following words reach you in good humour, my good lady, I have to point out the following" I mused in an overly eloquent manner. "Have you ever heard of the white-haired people called albinos? While uncommon, it is a condition to be found among many creatures, not just those that hail from Earth or spawn there to this day, but among all inhabitants of the endless worlds."
