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If there was any useless life lesson that NAILS could teach, perhaps one of them was a clear awareness and acceptance of the fact that it makes no sense to plan anything in advance. Once, Nira could afford to make long-term plans, which usually came true, but over the months of studying at the academy, she suddenly realized that she could not even plan events for a miserable week. Today you are holding a beauty contest, and an hour later, a hundred-meter-high tree wall grows in the middle of the square, and bandits with knives appear out of thin air. Today you are planning to publish a magazine, and tomorrow you will find out about a murder, kidnappings, and who knows what else. Today you want to invite friends to celebrate your birthday at a local coffee shop, and soon it turns out that all the suppliers have been bought up by shrewd foreigners.
It all went wrong after the chance meeting with Sister Rani at that ill-fated competition. Or rather, not that things were much better before. But at least she could more or less cope with the past events, sort them out, and place them in the framework of this crazy performance, where she herself was assigned a suitable role. But since October, the whole picture of reality before her eyes has lost all the shades and brightness of colors. It was no longer even a black and white portrait, or even a gray canvas. Now, the emotional response to what was happening was simply emptiness.
Acting, magazines and fashion, parties and shopping, studies and competitions - all this began to seem a little strange and distantly remote. In a world where even members of the royal family are apparently not protected from the madness that has engulfed reality, what plans, dreams, and hopes can "ordinary mortals" have? In the city or at the academy, at any moment of the day or night, she could say goodbye to reality at the whim of unknown puppet masters. Neither money, nor power, nor connections could protect her from this. Perhaps, even if she were a mighty king-sorcerer, she could still become a victim of some magical dandelion.
Recalling the events of the first month of training at the academy, she could not suppress a hopeless smile: how naive and foolish they were then! They caused a panic because of some double murder, ha-ha, as if this was something surprising and unexpected in the modern world. And now... now, just surviving until the new year would be a feat. Perhaps, even the upcoming attack in December by sorcerers from another planet riding three-headed dragons will not even be worthy of a page in the newspaper news. Where have all these first, pristine emotions gone? How quickly human feelings become dulled, eventually turning into an abyss of emptiness. Perhaps, this is what "growing up" is.
One of the first days of November, Nira visits Futabu in her office (?), to tell her about the depressing state of the local shopkeepers and the status of their magazine:
—...As you probably know, new foreign entrepreneurs from the well-known trading network "Monaim" appeared in Alma in October. It seems they are from Oleander or somewhere else. The fact is that they bought out all the suppliers from local artisans and are trying to completely monopolize the market in our city. On the one hand, there is nothing illegal about it - I checked, but the absence of any restrictions does not mean that it is right... Now, the Monaim people are setting any prices they want, or simply renting out goods, that is, "borrowing" items at an obviously inflated price, while remaining their full owners. The "Bless" and "Bezhopega" technologies are still afloat, but the other Alma traders are doing very badly. "Claire" and "Rainbow" have run out of suppliers and will not last long, "Vseznayka" has lost all its books, which is very bad for students and our library... At this rate, we will soon have only one store left, sucking all the money out of residents and students and sending it directly abroad. Of course, I have no right to suggest any harsh measures that could lead to unnecessary conflicts, but it seems to me that supporting our local traders with state aid could make sense. After all, unlike foreign millionaires, it is they who drive the economy.
—And secondly, it concerns our advertising partnership and the magazine. We would like to publish it in November, especially to support our partners in these difficult times. Initially, Miss Starlight was in charge of the issues of our magazine, but given the situation, this is no longer possible... I hope she is okay, by the way. In general, if you haven't seen the final version of the magazine yet, I have a copy with me for review. We plan to sell it for a hundred reiks, like other magazines. With your permission and help with distribution. And on our part, as promised, all the proceeds will go to the academy's treasury. That's it...
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