Chapter 6

The three of us followed Chris through the thick forest. There’s so much foliage here that I can barely walk without bumping into a branch or stepping and almost tripping on a root.

“So, what brings you here all the way out in this continent?” Chris asked as he maneuvered through the forest.

“Some… Complications arose in the city.” Daniel answered before I could. “I was hoping we could stay for a while until sundown.”

“Of course, but you are getting supplementary lessons on Magic. That was a pathetic spell you tried to invoke with the porcupine. An ember can start a better fire than your spell.”

“Eh… Go easy on me this time.”

“No.”

I chuckled under my breath, seeing a guy that’s around our age which is 20 years old, lead around a Sage who dedicated most of his life in pursuit of Magic. I’m also amazed at how Daniel doesn’t show any kind of humiliation or anger from how Chris is treating him.

Before we knew it, we arrived at a clearing with a mansion made of stone in the middle of the clearing.

“Here we are!” He opened the door and gestured for us to come in.

Daniel spoke his mind; “Why make a mansion so big just for yourself? Didn’t you tell me that no one pretty much lives here?”

Chris just shrugged his shoulders “Just felt like it… Come, sit over there, I’ll go get some tea.”

“Ah, thank you” Daniel spoke and we bowed as thanks.

“So? How is it? Not bad right?” Daniel spoke to us, asking for our opinion.

“Umm, I feel bad for imposing on him every time this happens. Also, we need you to get us to this place.”

“You’re right. But- “he was cut off mid-sentence as Chris called out to him.

“Daniel! You’re starting lessons after you finish your mug.” He walked over, holding two mugs and two other mugs floating and following him.

~Oooh, that’s pretty convenient~ I thought, not knowing how he was doing it. I turned to Rachel to see her eyes and mouth wide open.

I nudged her with my elbow to get her out of her surprise.

“He’s a Magician?!” She turned to me to ask in a whisper.

“You didn’t see him earlier? When he repelled the giant porcupine?”

“Eh… Ah… No… I was… Cowering…” Rachel shrunk back, seemingly ashamed of how afraid she was with the beast. I just returned back a smile at her.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked us, surprising us.

“I-it’s nothing.”

“Okay then.” He dismissed as he took a sip of his tea.

I turned again to Rachel. “So? Why don’t you ask him to teach you?”

“Eh…? B-but…”

“You have to get over that shyness of yours… I mean, you’re fine talking to me, but if you don’t ask him now, you won’t be learning Magic any time soon.”

She just lowers her head and kept quiet.

Seeing her like that, I just sighed and decided.

I raised my hand “Can we watch your training later on? My friend here wants to learn more about Magic.”

“Of course.” Chris answered. “Just stay back when I say so, I’m going to have Daniel here cast some dangerous ones.”

Daniel stood up “I’m ready.” Chris nodded to him and gestured to follow him.

We followed him outside of the mansion, in the clearing.

“You know I told you to not neglect your training. Just because they gave you the title of a Sage doesn’t mean anything.” As he finished his statement, four different Magics just materialized around him. Ice, Fire, Earth, Lightning, the wind also kicked up a very powerful gale. “You two, stay back. You! Defend yourself!” And with that, everything just shot at Daniel all at once.

For numerous hours, we just watched Daniel try to defend himself and retaliate but to no avail. All of his spells doesn’t even reach Chris. Rachel and I just watched them speechless. At one point, I wondered how the surroundings are totally fine even with all these spells, but gave up trying to figure it out.

Daniel has a Fireball in his hand, about to throw it at Chris but then it suddenly disappeared. “What?! What was that?!” Daniel was confused and at what just happened to his spell. I had thought it was just him cancelling the spell but seeing his reaction, I figure Chris had something to do with it.

“That’s enough, the sun is setting.” I had only just realized when Chris said it. I turned to Rachel who was still staring very intently at the two. I nudged her arm, “Hey… It’s sunset.” She was startled and nodded to me.

“What was that Chris?! I had a Fireball ready!” Daniel shouted at Chris.

“Ah… It’s a spell I recently develop… It dispels Magic, but your mind must be even more powerful than your enemy as you are trying to get the person’s accumulated Mana to work for you.”

“Oh goodness…. I’ve never heard of anything like that… You know if you just lived in a different continent you would be regarded as a Magus, the highest rank a Magician can get.” Daniel just held and shook his head.

“I do live in Atna though…. I just don’t want make myself known.”

“What?? You live in Listeria?” Daniel asks.

“Well… I wouldn’t call it MY home… Let’s just say I acquired it.”

“Acquired?”

“It was abandoned, so I renovated it.”

“Huh… So? Where do you live? So I can have you teach me some more.”

“Not telling… I do want my peace and quiet sometimes.”

“Fair enough I guess… But why not make yourself known? With your skills there’s no doubt that you’ll be a Magus.” Daniel had told me once that a Magus is the highest title a Magician can hold, the next being a Sage which is what Daniel is.

“Hmm…” We saw Chris thinking very seriously about it, which is weird because based on his actions, I wouldn’t take him to want to be recognized by anyone.

“I’ll think about it some more. I’m sure there would be a lot of things I would be able to do just by holding the title. In any case, the sun is setting. Shouldn’t you guys be heading home?” When Chris said that, I noticed that the forest has gotten darker than before, looking at it now, it’s a very eerie place.

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“Oh, you’re right.” Daniel turned around to us. “Hey! It’s time to head home!”

Rachel and I got out of our safe place and walked over to them. “Come, hold my hand.” Daniel held out his hands towards us. At that moment, Chris hit Daniel in the head with a slap.

“Wrong!” Chris shouted to Daniel.

Chris then snapped his fingers and at that instant, the scenery changed to that of the city entrance of Atna.

“Ugh… Looks like I have so much to learn.” Daniel drooped his head, looking dejected.

“Who is he? He looks so young but he just completely overpowered you in terms of Magic.” I was curious who Chris really is. It’s just baffling to see someone be so powerful. ~ Is this what all Magi are capable of? ~ I thought to myself.

“I don’t really know either, when Lord Rulio decided to hold an expedition to Phantasia, we were almost wiped out but we were saved by Chris. When I saw how Magic, I asked if he can teach me, and that’s pretty much the extent of our relationship.”

“I’m curious too. I wonder if I can become as strong as he is?” Rachel looked to be full of admiration and determination. Rachel’s goal is to become a Magus in her lifetime. This has been her goal since we were saved by a Magician from wolves.

“Don’t worry Rachel, I’ll see if I can have him teach you too.” Daniel said to her. “He’ll be a lot more help than I would be.”

Rachel bowed saying thanks.

I’m feeling very tired, if these two talks about Magic, we could be standing here for days. “Well, I’m tired, let’s go home.” I suggested to go home so I could avoid them losing track of time in a conversation.

“Oh yeah, it is getting late. Here, I’ll walk you guys home. There’s no telling what that bastard Prince will do.”

“Thank you.” Expressing my gratitude, we followed behind his footsteps, towards home.

The next morning came and I was greeted by knock on the door.

Looking through the peephole, I saw that it was Rachel so I opened the door.

“Did you just wake up?” Rachel asks, probably because of my disheveled hair that she found out.

“Yeah…”

“I need to go shopping for food. You wanna come?” Rachel has been helping my Father who is a tailor. She also lives by herself, which I thought was dangerous because she’s a very attractive woman, no doubt that someone will have the idea of attacking her.

“Yeah, let me just wash myself first.” I walked over to bathroom and took a quick shower, I don’t want to keep her waiting. After brushing my hair to look decent, I was ready to head out. “Let’s go.”

“Hmm… Eggs, bread, milk, meat, vegetables.” Rachel recited as we walked to the marketplace.

“What are you making today?” I asked. Hoping to eat some of her cooking.

“Well… I was thinking of just making stew.”

“Hey… Isn’t that…?” I noticed Chris just a few stalls in front of us.

“It’s Chris. He did say he has a house here.” Rachel declared.

“Yeah, wonder what he’s doing here?”

“Well, I mean, he’s here… So he should be shopping…” Rachel stated the obvious clearly with a hint of insult.

“Oh Har Har… That’s obvious.” Firing back with a hint of sarcasm, I started walking towards him with the intent of asking him about if Rachel can study under him. I want her to be able to properly pursue her dream.

“Wait, where are you going?” Rachel putting her hand on my shoulder, trying to stop me.

“I just want to talk to him.”

“About what?” Rachel tightened her grip on my shoulder. She probably figured out what I was going to talk to him about. I’m pretty sure she wants to do it herself, but the problem is that she will never get anywhere if she’s so shy to strangers.

Chris turned to us and saw us.

“Oh hey!” He walked over to us which made Rachel slightly startled.

“Um, Alice right and…?” He tried to remember our names.

“This one is Rachel. She’s shy towards strangers so don’t mind her.”

“Hey there” Chris offers a hand to Rachel. Which to my surprise, Rachel shook her hand with him.

“U-um, i-if possible… C-can you t-teach me in M-magic?” Surprise was probably written all over me, as I had just heard Rachel ask on her own. I was very surprised, at which point, I did nothing else besides just give her a pat on the back.

“Of course! Finding someone who wants to learn more about Magic is exciting for me!” He shook her hand even more which made Rachel startled and almost lose her balance. Chris noticed this and apologized. “Oh, sorry… I got too carried away.”

Rachel’s face lit up with glee when Chris said yes. I nudged her arm to snap her out of it.

“Ah! Thank you!”

“It’s nothing, plus, like I said, it’s fun seeing someone who is enthusiastic about Magic. So how about it? We can start now, it’s still early in the day.”

“Um…” Rachel looked lost in thought. What is she hesitating for?

“Before you guys start can you drop me off my house?” I’m not that interested in matters of Magic and I would just end up being a nuisance.

“Y-you’re not coming?” Rachel asks me with eyes filled with worry. She needs to get used to talking to other people. I get that we only met Chris a day ago, but Daniel holds him in such high regards that I just ended up trusting Chris.

“Nope, this way, you guys can focus on training.”

“T-then… I’ll go- “

“I’ll take care of your house, so you can focus on learning from now on”

I pat her on the shoulders and whispers “Just go Rachel. This is your dream.”

She nods. “Okay”

“Well then, shall we escort you then?” Chris offers to bring me home along with Rachel.