"Lower, young lady!"
"Um... like this?"
"No, still a little too tall." The plump witch behind the glass window sized Colmar up. After a moment, she nodded thoughtfully. "You could try taking off your cloak and hat. That should make you a bit shorter."
As everyone knew, wizard hats had tall pointed tips. In a sense, that was a perk for short wizards.
"Then where am I supposed to put my hat and cloak?" Colmar took off her hat and looked around.
"Do you think this is your home?" the receptionist cried dramatically. "Hold them in your arms, dear. You have to keep your own hat safe... squeeze it down a little. It would be even better if you could stuff it into a storage bag."
Colmar immediately stuffed her cloak and hat into the ring on her left hand.
But the teleportation magic circle still did not work.
Mottled "mosaic" patterns flickered around the chair, accompanied by crackling sounds in the air. Yet the visitor sitting in the chair was not moved so much as a hair.
"What do kids these days eat to grow up like this? You simply can't fit in." The plump witch shook her head and began grumbling. "Of course, it isn't entirely your fault... I've reported it to the higher-ups many times. Danhaag's teleportation magic circles are all old fossils. They can't handle young people like you with all that excess nutrition. But the academy has limited funding, and the Foreign Affairs Bureau would rather spend its limited budget entertaining big shots than on young people like you."
"Big shots?" Colmar blinked.
"Those lofty Archwizards," the plump witch sighed deeply. "They don't have to line up and suffer like you do... The old men in the bureau say young people should go through more