by D. S. Craig
Lesti was working hard to move forward after we had failed to save the magical beasts Thel’al had enslaved. Yet, at this moment, there was hardly anything I could do for her. All I was capable of was simply watching over her and making sure she didn’t overwork herself.
Just as those feelings started to rear their ugly head, Malkael ended the group discussion. “Alright, I think that’s enough discussion for today.” Looking around at all the students, he smiled softly. “Please come prepared tomorrow for more hands-on training. Class dismissed!”
With that, the students began to go their separate ways. Several of the other classes had ended as well, but a few continued their lectures. It was quite a chaotic scene. Students went every which direction while instructors tried to lecture over the growing noise.
“Rarf!”
Fang ran over to join us, Aurelia hot on his trail. He stopped in front of me, lowered his front half to the ground, and looked up at me eagerly, ready to play. I guess the sparring match and masses of people had gotten him all worked up.
I looked back at Lesti. “Well, it looks like I might be occupied for a while. You didn’t need me for anything, did you?”
She smiled wryly. “Nope. I’m just going to go get some dinner with Auri, and then we’ll be heading to the usual practice spot. You can meet us there, okay?”
“Sounds good.” With a nod, I turned my attention back to Fang. Quick as lightning, I reached out and bopped him gently on the head before dashing off. He gave chase, his tongue flopping out of his mouth as our game of tag began.
Gardens and Letters
I peeked out from my hiding place, looking to see how much time I had. Fang had been chasing me around for some time, and my stamina had finally given out. Using a little misdirection, I had managed to slip away by darting around the corner and using Air Walk to go over the top of the girl’s dorm. After that, I climbed a tree, hiding among the branches. I knew it was only a matter of time before Fang came and found me. I could already see him tracking my scent off in the distance.
I looked around the area through the foliage around me. The sun was already starting to drop, even though the sky was still a clear blue color. Students hurried across the grounds as they went about their day. Everything was as ordinary as it could be. The peaceful nature of the scenery and the warm sun peeking through the leaves left me wanting to take a nap.
Just as I was considering that option, I heard the rhythmic sound of dirt being tilled nearby. Gazing between the branches, I spotted a small garden being worked by a young girl I had never seen before. She wasn’t dressed in the usual uniform of the academy. Instead, she wore a simple beige tunic and brown trousers with sturdy leather boots. A straw hat topped off the outfit, protecting her face from the sun.
I hadn’t noticed a garden behind the dorm when I was summoned to this world in the fall. The girl must have started it on her own once spring had rolled around. There wasn’t much growing at the moment as it was still early in the season. Yet, she hummed happily as she tilled the land and prepared it for the first seeds of spring.
I watched as she continued to work the field until the rhythm of her tilling started to lull me to sleep. I closed my eyes as I began to drift off. However, before I could relax entirely, I had to check on where Fang was. The last thing I needed was him sneaking up on me while I was napping. So, I activated my magic sense causing the darkness around me to fill with color.
I extended my senses out in the direction I had last seen Fang and saw his distinctive signature still sniffing around. As far away as he was, his magic was oddly bright, but thanks to that, I could probably get in a short cat nap with no issues. But before I could do that, something else caught my attention. It was the girl and the field that she had been tilling.
On the edge of my senses, I could see that the glow of magic was far more spread out than I would have expected from a single girl. When I turned my attention that way, my jaw nearly fell to the ground. The entire field that the girl had tilled up until this point was aglow with magical energy. This wasn’t the tiny glow of simple life, such as bugs and weeds, either. No, this was the glow that I would have expected from a larger creature.
The only problem was that there was no such creature in the area. The glow came from the tilled earth itself. Even more shocking was where it was all coming from. As the girl continued to till the soil, her own magic flowed down through her hoe and into the dirt, infusing it with a golden light.
I stared in awe as I watched the girl infuse her tools and, by proxy, the very earth around her with magic. As simple as breathing, she was doing something that I had been trying to figure out for over a month. Since we had first seen Thela’al’s bracelets from the slums, we had been trying to figure out how to infuse objects with magical energy in the same way. I tried to use my vision to figure out how she was doing it, but the girl froze as I started to focus.
Unsure of what was happening, I opened my eyes and found her staring at the base of my tree. Looking down, I saw Fang standing at the bottom, looking up at me with his tail wagging happily. Realizing that my relaxation time was up, I hopped down from the tree using Air Walk. Fang made to chase me but paused, looking confused when I didn’t run.
“Sorry, Fang.” I rubbed up against him and turned my gaze over toward the mysterious girl. “There’s something I need to look into, so playtime is over for now.”
With a slight whine, Fang laid down and looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. He had learned to do that from Lesti, since she would pet him or play with him every time he did it. Still, I had to ignore him this time around. I began walking toward the nearby field.
As I drew closer, I was able to see the girl’s face for the first time. Bright blue eyes peered out from under her hat, looking at me nervously. She appeared to be even younger than Lesti, albeit slightly taller, probably a first-year student. Poking out from under her hat were strands of light pink hair, cut far shorter than I would have expected for a girl in this world.
I continued to approach with my heart set on asking the girl how she had managed to infuse the ground with magic, but tears started to form in her eyes as I drew near. I paused, unsure of what to do. I had no idea what was bothering her or why she looked so scared.
Taking one more step forward, I called out to her. “Hello. Sorry to bother you, I-”
“…” The girl muttered something under her breath and started shaking slightly.
Suddenly worried about the girl, I decided to ask what was wrong. “A-are you okay? You’re shaking rather hard.”
This time she managed to sputter out a response that I could hear. “S-stay away from me.”
I paused for a moment, considering my options. For some odd reason, this girl seemed really scared of me. But I needed to know her secret, so I took one tiny, cautious step toward her. That appeared to be her breaking point.
“No! Stay away from me!” Dropping her hoe, the girl took off running in the opposite direction at full speed.
“Hey! Wait! I just want to talk!” I tried to call out to her, but before I could stop her, she had disappeared around the corner of the building. Even worse, Fang was giving chase, misinterpreting her fear as playfulness. I let out a heavy sigh as I heard Fang’s barking and the girl’s screams echo in the distance.
* * *
A couple of hours later, I finally managed to wear Fang out. So, we both headed back to the unused classroom that Lesti and Aurelia used for our evening study sessions. As for the girl, Fang chased her around until she finally ran into the girls’ dorm and locked herself in her room. Even after that, he had stood outside, barking until I scolded him.
Based on her reaction to Fang and me, I concluded she must be scared of animals. There was really no other reason that she would run away from us like that. That was going to make talking to her rather difficult, but I had a plan. If she was scared of me, then I’d just get Lesti to speak to her. It was a good opportunity for her to make a new friend a
nyway.
Unfortunately, when we entered the classroom, I found Lesti was in an unusually foul mood. She stared out the window with an anxious look on her face that was tinged with anger. It wasn’t like her to let something get under her skin like that. Realizing something big must have happened, I went over and jumped up on the desk to join her.
“What’s with the scary face?” I brushed against her arm to get her attention as she glared out the window. “Did something happen?”
Suddenly realizing I was there, Lesti blinked rapidly and smiled gently as she reached over to scratch behind my ears. “Oh, Astria. Sorry. I didn’t see you come in.” She picked up a couple of pieces of parchment off the table. “It’s just the contents of these letters has me a little worried. It’s nothing big, but…”
As her voice trailed off, the tension returned to her expression. She read the letter once more before letting out a heavy sigh. “I really don’t want to deal with that jerk.”
“That jerk?” I tilted my head in confusion. “Is the letter from Frederick?”
Lesti let out a little chuckle. “I wish. Frederick may be a bit of a spartan teacher, but he’s a good person under all that. No, these letters are from my uncle and Elliot.”
“What’s so bad about them? You’ve said before that your uncle is a good man, and Elliot seems like an alright guy himself, so what’s the problem?”
“It’s not the people sending the letters that are the problem. It’s the contents. First, Elliot shows up at dinner and gives me this invitation to celebrate his birthday,” she said as she held up one of the letters for me to see.
“Oh, that’s not so bad.” I felt some of the tension drain from my body. I had thought something awful was going on based on her reaction, but it was just a birthday party.
“Well, that’s true, but I hate these sorts of events. I have to get all dressed up in a fancy dress and act all ladylike. It’s a giant pain, but I’m somewhat used to it, so I can get through it. Still, the real problem is in the contents of the second letter.” Lesti set the previous letter down and picked up the other one. “It’s a warning from my uncle. My betrothed will be visiting to check up on me and attend Elliot’s party.”
All at once, everything clicked into place in my head. Not only was Lesti going to have to attend a stuffy party that ran counter to her nature, but the person she despised most in the world was going to be there.
“I’m guessing there’s no way you can get out of going, huh?”
She shook her head. “No. If I skipped, it would be a huge insult to Elliot. Plus, it would probably send Augustine, my betrothed, on a rather nasty tirade. Got any other ideas?”
“Well.” My tail swished across the floor as I tried to come up with some way to make this whole thing less miserable for Lesti. Nothing really came to mind. She couldn’t skip, and I couldn’t think of a good way to keep her fiance away from her. “I think you’re just going to have to deal with it. Sorry. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be there with you, so I doubt this Augustine guy tries any funny business.”
Lesti smiled at me. “Yeah. That’s true. Although, even if he did try anything, I would just blow him away at this point. He’s not much of a mage after all.”
“Mm. You could easily beat him, I’d say.” Aurelia walked over to join us, having finally given Fang enough attention for him to stop pestering her.
“What about you, Aurelia? Are you going to the party?”
Aurelia grimaced slightly at my question before replying, “I’m not sure.”
“What!? You’re not going?” Before she could even explain her reasoning, Lesti was looking up at her with a pitiful look. “Come on, Auri! You have to go. It’ll be so boring without you!”
Seeing that she looked troubled by Lesti’s outburst, I decided to probe deeper. “Is there some reason you don’t want to go?”
“Mm. I’d like to go, but I’m worried about my current position. By now, the news that I sold out the smuggling operation will have gotten back to Lord Dawster.” She turned to gaze out the window as the last rays of the sun faded into the horizon. “It’s likely that one of his sons, or a lesser lord from his territory, will be there. What if they cause a scene?”
Lesti shook her head. “I doubt they’d do something like that in such a public place. It’s more likely that they’ll just try and revoke your sponsorship here at the school. As far as they know, you’re more valuable to them alive. They need you as a bargaining chip with your tribe.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” I nodded in agreement. “If something happened to her, then her entire family would probably fight like they were possessed to drive Dawster’s men from the forest.”
“But if I lose my sponsorship, you won’t be able to train me anymore.” Aurelia looked at me, eyes full of worry.
However, without any hesitation, Lesti blew those fears away with a smug grin on her face. “Oh, even if they revoke your sponsorship, you’re not going anywhere. After all, I was planning on becoming your sponsor either way.”
“My sponsor?!” Aurelia looked at Lesti wide-eyed. “But, how? I’m not a citizen of your territory.”
“That’s true, but you’re not a citizen of the Dawster territory either.” Lesti’s smile grew more devilish. “In fact, you’re not even part of the alliance, technically. So, you’re like a foreign exchange student, of sorts.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Wait, if what you’re saying is true, then does the alliance allow foreign students to enroll in the academy? I thought this place was to train mages to bolster the military. Isn’t allowing Aurelia to enter counterproductive to that?”
Lesti nodded. “That’s right. Normally, a foreigner would never be allowed to study here, but there is one exception. Students from a foreign territory that have a mutual defense agreement with their sponsor.”
“Ah!”
Aurelia and I both shouted at the same time as we realized the meaning behind Lesti’s words. As part of the beast smuggling incident, Lesti had gotten Aurelia to agree to work with us. Part of that agreement was that her clan would enter into a mutual defense agreement with her territory. Apparently, the process was already underway behind the scenes, thanks to her uncle. But there was one thing I didn’t understand.
“Wait, then how did Lord Dawster get her enrolled here?”
Lesti shrugged. “He lied, of course. According to the headmistress, the school was presented with a copy of the defense treaty. It was supposedly signed by the chief of the Mori clan and the Lord Dawster. I’m guessing they bribed whoever was sent to inspect the claim as well because they confirmed it.”
“Of course they did.” My tail swished about wildly as I tried to suppress my agitation. “Well, I guess it works out for us in the end, so it’s fine.”
Lesti nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it should be fine until they realize that the Mori clan has set up an agreement with us. Once word gets around about that, they might try some shady tricks.” Standing up, she looked at Aurelia and me with her usual enthusiastic smile. “With that in mind, as well as the upcoming spring tournament, I’d like to speed up our training a bit.”
I tilted my head to the side. “What did you have in mind?”
Lesti put both her hands behind her head, looking at me as if the answer should be obvious. “Well, I was thinking that we should start skipping Malkael’s special training sessions and hold our own private training sessions instead.”
“You want to do what!?” As a former teacher, I was slightly offended that she wanted to skip Malkael’s class. At the same time, I kind of understood where she was coming from. Still, I wasn’t going to let her off without a proper explanation. “Tell me your reasoning. Depending on the answer, there may be a lecture in store for you.”
“Mm. I’m curious too. Why do you want to skip?” Aurelia chimed in with a quick nod.
“Alright. Let me explain.” Lesti took a deep breath before continuing. “I honestly think that there’s nothing that Malka
el can teach us at this point. You saw his Fireball today, right? I’ve noticed it before, but I don’t think that he can use instruction-based magic.”
I kept my gaze firmly fixed on Lesti. “Yeah, I noticed the same thing. It’s a bit strange to me. Even Lani seems to be able to use it, and she never trained at the school.”
Lesti pointed at me. “Exactly! I talked to Lani about where she had learned it, and it seems that Frederick trained her as part of her being hired here. So, why wasn’t the same thing done for Malkael?”
“Isn’t that just because Frederick is busy hunting down Thel’al?” Aurelia asked.
“I don’t think so. All the teachers here can use instruction-based magic, as far as I can tell. Malkael seems to be the only exception.”
“Alright,” I decided to cut her off before we got too far off-topic. “So, what does this have to do with you wanting to skip class?”
“Right.” Lesti cleared her throat and continued, “The main reason is that Malkael’s lessons don’t have any value to me. I can’t really use image-based magic. Plus, he’s mostly teaching the basics, so students will be able to transition to instruction-based magic if they’re chosen. Since I’m already using instruction-based magic, there’s no point.”
“What about Aurelia? You said you wanted her to skip as well, right?”
“Yeah.” Lesti nodded and looked over at Aurelia. “I think you should focus on your coordination with Fang as well as the training that Astria has been giving you. Both of those will help keep you safe if Lord Dawster tries anything. Being able to sense magic, even vaguely, should help protect you from surprise attacks. With the element of surprise gone, the two of you should be able to defeat any assassins.”
Aurelia looked at Fang for a moment, then shifted her gaze to me. “What do you think, Instructor?”
Closing my eyes for a moment, I considered everything Lesti had said. Once I had come to my decision, I opened my eyes once more. “I agree with Lesti. I think our time would best be spent on our own training.” I turned to glare at her. “You’re still going to get permission from Malkael, though. It would be rude to just stop showing up to class. Got it?”
