The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

The next day, Evelyn borrowed some of Vivian's clothes to get Bree dressed, and then explained her 'existence' to the two of them.

Amara didn't have much difficulty accepting it, given that she had already seen an adult Bree turn into a dumb little puppy right in front of her eyes, and then stay that way for years.

What she found strange was how she turned into a little girl who seems to have forgotten everything about herself. But perhaps Evelyn was probably as clueless about her situation as anyone else. It was best to not cause her distress by asking unnecessary questions.

After all, to her, Bree was just a friendly adult she liked. But for Evelyn, that was her only aunt. The pink-haired girl surely cared about Bree a lot more than herself.

As for Vivian, although she was shocked that the puppy could turn into a little girl now, she was more focused on celebrating finally having a same-age playmate.

Evelyn smiled as she watched Vivian chase Bree around in circles in the 'living room' of their 'apartment'.

"I'm surprised they're getting along well. I thought Vivian will take some getting used to, at least."

Amara shrugged. "You're not wrong. Vivi usually finds it hard to connect with other people, as you can see from her response to your friend. And this is especially so if she feels that they're trying to steal away either of us from her. 

"I think she's getting along well now because she never saw the puppy as a threat, and they already got along well. Since Bree is that puppy in human form, those kinds of insecure feelings never ended up manifesting."

Evelyn nodded. "I thought so too."

Her gaze turned a little worried. "By the way, will you be alright taking care of the two of them alone? It may take me a while to figure something out for you."

Amara smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be here for you, whenever you return."

Of course, the reason they had to stay inside wasn't because Evelyn herself wanted to prevent them from leaving. It was because the attendants were not allowed to roam freely in the academy. 

They were allowed to enter the academy on the basis that they would stay in their master's quarters and take care of their needs. However, during their stay at the academy, they are not to interfere with any other students or cause any disturbances or disruptions.

Of course, if there were too many 'attendants' and bodyguards running around along with each of the 'privileged' students, that would make the peaceful academy turn chaotic and crowded. Such a rule came to exist only to fix this issue.

Hence, if a non-student was caught in the academy grounds without any proper justification, their attendant position would be revoked, and they would have to be sent back home.

Which didn't sound that bad, until they realized that they would be imprisoned in the dungeons until the next 'Grand Expedition'. Which could mean up to one year of detention.

And now the situation was even worse, because with the academy's 'Helion Chain' going missing, who knew when the next expedition would take place?

Of course, it's not that they couldn't leave the room at all. As long as they had a 'valid justification', they could explain themselves even if a professor or staff member ended up 'catching' them.

These valid reasons included 'I just arrived, I'm going to my room now', 'I'm leaving for the forbidden city to purchase essentials' and so on. 

And going out without their master to simply roam and relax was also fine, as long as the place they went to wasn't in the academy grounds. Which basically meant leaving for one of the cities.

'Anyway, they won't have to bear with it for long. Vivian will be a student herself soon enough, and I can try figuring something out for Amara as well.'

Until that happened, however, the only one she was allowed to bring along with her everywhere was Ruru. As her personal spirit beast, she was considered a part of her strength according to the academy rules, and hence not only allowed to follow her, but almost required to do so.

According to Cecilia, if a professor knew she had a tamed beast but didn't bring them with her everywhere, she would get scolded instead. And if such an 'offense' was repeated many times, it could lead to a deduction in her scores for the 'Beast Taming' class.

At this time, there was an enthusiastic knock on the door, signaling Cecilia's arrival.

"Let's go, Evelyn! Let's go get your badge!"

==========

The place they were headed to was called the 'Contribution Office' by students, although its official name was 'The Hall of Merits'.

Cecilia held her hand to lead her in, while the pink fox on her shoulder looked around in wonder at the tapestry hanging on the walls. Of course, Ruru's curiosity stemmed from the strange depictions of 'foxes' on some of the tapestries.

Unfortunately, Cecilia didn't seem to know much about it. 

"Well, how can I know who made it and stuff? The art students here don't mark their artworks so obviously, only leaving behind a spirit mark. You can only tell who made it by touching it. Anyway, they're nothing special."

Of course, since Ruru was interested in the object, Evelyn thought it might be worth it to use her probe.

Unfortunately, the one point of spirit power ended up being wasted, because it turned out to be just a normal painting by an older art student. But Evelyn didn't regret it. Maybe one day she'll stumble across something worthwhile this way, who knows? And it only took her a few minutes to recover a single point of spirit power anyway.

"Ignore those useless things. Listen, Evelyn! When you're getting your badge, make sure that you pick one you like, okay? Because it's gonna stay with you forever."

Cecilia's voice was slightly regretful as she rubbed her own uncaringly picked golden sun badge.

"Ahem, anyway. Even after you leave the academy, you should keep it safe, otherwise you will have to go through a lot of trouble if you want to come back to meet a professor or something."

Evelyn nodded. It was basically a fancy ID card that she would use both as a student and as an alumnus later down the road.

"I got it."

Shortly after, they reached a counter where three purple-robed staff—one male and two female—were handling the students' requests.

Thankfully, the male staff member was idle, so Evelyn didn't have to wait and went straight to him to get her badge.

His attitude was neither cold nor warm, swiftly going through the procedures to hand her a document.

"Pick a design you like, and then tell me which color you want it in. Once you've decided, you can mark it down using ink or spirit power and submit it. If you wish, you may take your time till the end of the day."

"Thank you."

Of course, Evelyn wouldn't waste an entire day just deciding what kind of design she wanted on her badge. It was worth a few minutes of thought, at most.

There were dozens of options on the page, ranging from circular, hexagonal, and shield-shaped basic designs to more elaborate weapon, item, and even animal designs.

Unfortunately, there was no puppy or fox-shaped option, or she would have picked that up in a heartbeat.