A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 240: Adjusting

Chapter 240: Adjusting

After I finished explaining everything to Ashtraz, she looked at me with sympathy for my situation.

"That’s sad man. Can’t believe you had to go through that at such a young age." She was referring to me losing my parent.

Speaking of, I lied about my father and just said that he passed on as well. Don’t want to cause mass hysteria because of that fact.

Also, both of us had eaten our breakfasts by now as well, so we were just talking.

"Well, I should probably get going before I lose track of time. See ya later Traytora." She said her goodbye’s and waved at me as she left.

"Bye!" I called out as I waved back.

When she left, I realised that there were only five people left in the Dining hall, including myself.

There wasn’t any reason for me to stay any longer, so I left just shortly after as well.

As for what I was going to do in the coming days weeks or even months, who knows?

I’ll probably explore the city a bit more and just browse all the shops and occasionally grab something to eat at some of the restaurants.

Besides that, I should also probably brush up on general and common knowledge for when I have to take the test for my enrolment in The Gilded Ophidian Institute.

But aside from those things, my time is for the most part, unoccupied. Meaning there will be many occasions where I just don’t do anything. Not particularly looking forward to those moments.

Anyways, I think I’ll start today off with a little shopping for some daily necessities. And the reason for this is because I have no comb to comb my hair with.

Which is what I spent the rest of my morning on. Just going around looking at shops and occasionally going in to buy stuff.

When I was done, I had bought a few more things than I was expecting, but that wasn’t a big deal for me.

Not only because I have all the money I could ever want, but also because the second thing that I bought was a large satchel. Three to be accurate. I bought that many in case I ever lose one I have some spares.

They’re also rather nice bags, made from leather and lined with gold, with the inside being made from the fur of a wild desert feline.

Can’t remember what they said about it, but it was nice and soft inside, and it was enchanted to house double the amount space it would appear to have.

But aside from the satchels and the comb, I also bought a diary as well as a blank tome and some notebooks. And to go with that all, I bought some ink and quills as well.

I’m not sure if I’m going to use the diary on a daily basis or not, or if I’m even going to use it at all. Still, it’s nice to know that I have it and can use it whenever I want.

As for the rest... The notebooks are obviously for when I get into the Institute, but the tome is more for personal reasons.

It’s meant to be for recording more mystical things or new spells that I may or may not make. I don’t really have any plans for this, I just got it because I thought that the idea of that was fun.

Who knows? Maybe it will come in handy.

But before I continued shopping around, I decided to get some lunch seeing how high up the sun was right now.

So I went to a café that was close by and ordered some things off the menu and waited to be served.

When my meal arrived, I eagerly devoured it all, making sure to savour every bite to the best of my abilities without scarfing it down from hunger.

It was a delicious meal with all of its many flavours and textures. I paid for my meal and then promptly left the café to explore the city a bit more before heading back and taking a shower.

And so, the rest of that day out was spent shopping more for some clothes that I could wear more casually if I ever felt like it, as well as a few more pretty dresses and robes and such for more formal and fancy events.

When that was done, I went back to my room and unpacked my stuff, which included my new clothes and bags and other accessories.

And once done, I headed to the bathroom for everyone over one hundred and fifty years old.

After cleaning myself up, I then headed to the library and brought a smaller notebooks with me to help me study, as that’s what I was here to do.

Dinner time soon came and I went and got dinner. And this time people weren’t as weird about how much I ate, but I took only one full layer of food this time and ate it all before quickly leaving and stumbling upon the weird girl from yesterday.

"AHH!! Mistress!!!"

’Nope! Not dealing with this.’ I quickly slapped her in the face and ran away. Thankfully she didn’t get the chance to follow me and I managed to escape her.

I breathed a sigh of relief and casually returned to my room and quickly fell asleep.

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The next few days were spent in very similar fashion, with me going out to browse the city and get used to its layout and where things were and occasionally buying some stuff, where upon returning to my room, I would unpack it all.

When that was done I would either go to the library and either study or just read a story, or I would go and wash.

And after doing one of those two things, I would go eat, then go back and do the other thing for a bit before going to bed.

All the whilst avoiding that weird girl and sometimes talking to Ashtraz.

I also got to know that one guy as well. His name was David. Weird name for a Serpentar, but who am I to judge?

Anyways, the three of us formed a nice small circle of friends.

Over all, I was able to adjust to this place rather easily. Minus weirdo girl that is. I haven’t bothered learning her name, nor do I care to.

But at the start of the new week on the second day, a new face appeared in the orphanage. One that I recognised very well.

It was the orphan that I helped upon my first day being admitted here.

She came into the dining hall in the morning and came over to the table that I was on with David. Ashtraz wasn’t able to eat with us as she had something to do early today.

"Hey! Thanks for your help last week." She thanked as she sat down at our table.

"No problem. Do you have a name now by the way?" I asked, since she should have one now.

"Yup! It’s Astryza!"

"Aw! Such a cute name." David commented.

"Thanks! I wanted it to be something similar to yours and the old man suggested it to me."

David was confused. "Old man?"

"I’ll explain another time what her circumstances are. For now, lets celebrate to our new friend!" I said raising my glass of water, to which the other two met me and did the same.

"Cheers!" *Clink*

We all took a sip and returned to eating our breakfast whilst engaging in some small talk. Mainly just helping little Astraya get used to being here.

In fact, that’s what we spent the rest of the day on. We also came up with a shortened version of her name, which was simply "Asty".

When Ashtraz came back, David and I introduced her to Asty and out little friend group had expanded by one.

I mainly spent my time the next few days helping little Asty out and getting used to living in this place.

And as for the other two, they had school to attend for a majority of the week.

Eventually, little Asty had gotten used to this place and didn’t need my guidance to find her way around anymore. But just in case, I told her to come and meet me at the library if she needed help with anything. I did tell her that I wouldn’t always be there though and to just wait.

If she really needed immediate help though, then she should seek out one of the caretakers

As for me, I found out that it was currently Ignorath, the fourth week of the month, and that school break would be coming next month, and academics would return the month after.

Which meant that I would have to take the entrance exam in the middle of next month. So, I spent more of my time studying in the library for the next few weeks, sometimes going out with little Asty to take a break and show her more of the wonders of the city.

And soon enough, the exams were just around the corner.