After completing their identification, the two girls were officially Hermandry students.
Naturally, their first stop was the dormitory.
Since they were both girls, they were placed in the same dorm, along with four others. In Hermandry, first-years shared dorms in groups of six. Second-years got a little upgrade: four-person rooms. From third year onwards, it all depended on your department—students could opt for solo or duo rooms.
Their dorm had an elegant name—The Rose of Thought.
On the way there, Withney couldn't stop pointing things out. "Is that a lake inside the campus?! Hermandry is way crazier than I thought!"
Maylyn, ever the walking encyclopedia, answered with a smug smile. "Actually, Hermandry is packed with wild stuff. They have one of the biggest libraries on the continent—only the National and Royal libraries are bigger. They've got multiple sports grounds and are directly connected to the Hiddleston Wilderness. It's insane."
"You know you're such a know-it-all, right?" Withney joked.
"Of course. That's my specialty."
As they walked, Withney's eyes caught a peculiar group.
A white-haired boy in a dark green robe led the way. Three other boys followed—one red-haired, one blue-haired, and one golden-haired—along with two black-haired girls. They all wore the same robes, with a golden sun symbol on the back.
"Who are they?" Withney asked. "Who wears robes like that anymore? Only clergy wear stuff like that. And even that's rare."
Maylyn glanced over. "Oh, those are followers of the Golden Sun. It's a major religion on the Stroven Continent—some people call it the Southern Continent, but Stroven's the proper name. I think they're even building a temple near the campus. It is I think pretty close to the Church of Magic."
"A temple? Like… a church?"
"Yeah, same purpose. The architecture's different, but it's still a place of worship."
"Huh. Are more people switching to temples now? Also, aren't people from the Southern Continent supposed to have darker skin? Also, building it so close to a church... Wouldn't it cause some issues."
"They usually do, but with all the traveling and intercontinental marriages, appearances blur. Like with people from beyond the Turnovest Mountains. And yeah, it can potentially cause some issues, but we will only know after practically doing it."
"Don't the people beyond the mountain range have long and pointy ears and quite milky skin and long hair?"
"Yep. But that's harder to spot these days too. You can only see them at the Elven kingdom. Rarely they are seen. after hundreds of years of this is the result. Did you know our predecessors who inhabited this side of the mountains are said to have shorter ears and shorter hair."
"Really? Interesting so both sides have been affected?"
"Yeah, you could say so."
While they were chatting, Withney noticed one of the girls from the robe group glance at them for a brief second.
Nothing ominous. Just a glance.
Soon, they arrived at the Rose of Thought. It was a huge building with a massive mural of a blooming rose stretching across the front—probably 25 meters high. It had 9 floors and 20 rooms per floor. As they were at the cusp of the building, she saw the two girls with black hair enter the rose of thought dormitory. She found nothing out of the ordinary with this as every girl from the 1st year had to stay in the rose of thought dormitory.
Interestingly, while first-year boys had three dorm buildings, the girls only had one.
This showed how families still were hesitant to send their daughters to schools. It had only been a couple of decades that women were given the same rights as men. As people migrated from the countryside, they became more open to the idea of girl's also getting an education, but in the countryside, it was still not widely adopted.
"I heard they're building another girls' dormitory. Is that true?" Withney asked, still staring up at the giant mural in awe.
"Yeah, it should be finished by our third year, I think. Yeah, With Hermandry's money? Definitely. Look there it is." Maylyn pointed to a construction site nearby.
"Huh. How'd I miss that?" asked Witney inwardly while looking at the construction site.
Soon, the duo stepped inside the huge building.
Inside, the ground floor was a lounge. Dorm rooms started from the first floor.
Each room had six beds, each with a personal space, a private bathroom (with a tub, mirror, and basic stuff), and a keyed door. There were also public bathrooms on every floor.
"We're in 2-06," Maylyn said, reading her card. "Second floor, room six."
"I feel bad for whoever's on the eighth floor," Withney chuckled.
"Haha, yeah. I can't imagine climbing all those stairs every day," Maylyn replied with a laugh.
On the way up, they passed the two black-haired girls from earlier entering a room on the first floor.
"Looks like they got first floor," Withney noted.
"Hmm," Maylyn replied absentmindedly.
"I wonder who our roommates are gonna be?" Withney asked, her voice a mix of excitement and nerves.
"We'll know when we get there, genius," Maylyn teased.
When they reached room 2-06, a girl was already unlocking the door. Withney walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder.
"Hey! Did you also get assigned to this dorm?" she asked with a bright voice.
The girl jumped and turned, eyes wide in surprise, not expecting any company. "Y-Yeah! Are you my dormmates?"
"Yep! I'm Withney, and this is Maylyn—the know-it-all. What's your name?"
"I'm Cynthia. Nice to meet you," she said, still a little dazed. She had long, straight blue hair, fair skin, and a pretty little seashell pin in her hair.
"Nice to meet you too, Cynthia! I hope we can be friends. Right, Maylyn?"
Maylyn, who had been observing Cynthia closely, tilted her head. "Say… Are you from the Sea-Fairing Nation? Atlantis?"
Cynthia blinked in surprise. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Your sea-blue hair gave it away. I saw that shade when I visited Atlantis with my dad. It's really pretty."
"Oh, thank you," Cynthia said, suddenly shy from the unexpected compliment. "You guys are really pretty too."
Withney clapped her hands. "Okay, enough flattery you two! Let's go inside!"
Realizing they were still standing in the hallway like dorks, Cynthia quickly pushed open the door, and the three of them stepped into their new dorm.