I had decided to take some weeks off. I had heard that Gittrian, a large city in Hjuva was very accepting of other races. It was quite far. I took one of my old catalysts. I don’t need them anymore but staves get used to fly on. Just some basic [Levitation] and [Vector Manipulation] spells.
The city was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was smaller than Witchaven but it had different races walking around. I did get some lustful gazes but nobody seemed to think less of me or had the feeling to insult me. I found a very cute shop with an old lady. She was selling magic potions.
“Helly dear, what can I help you with?” The shop was empty so she was addressing me.
“What a lovely shop, what sort of potions do you sell here?”
“I sell almost anything, and if I don’t have it, I can make it for you.”
I looked around. Potion brewing was a basic course in our curriculum so I knew a lot about magic potions. I could see that this old lady had skill. “I am quite familiar with potions; I was just admiring your handiwork.”
“Ooh, a colleague. It’s nice to hear that youngsters are still interested in brewing magic potions.”
“Youngsters? Ah!” To a human, I just looked like a sexy woman with a nice hat. I am sure that I am older than this old lady but I just look like a 23-year-old sexy human woman. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, my dear.”
“Let’s assume you create a potion, that could improve the humans as a race, but all the humans reject your potion, telling you that they don’t need it and that they are fine as they are. What would you do?”
“That's a very complicated question, my dear. I don’t think I am able to make a potion like that but if I did… let’s see.” The old woman thought about my question.
“I would give the potion to the one closest to me. I am too old to see the fruits of my labor so I wish this upon my children and grandchildren.”
“I see... thank you.” I bought 3 potions that were good for my hair and skin and left the cute shop. “Give it to the people I care about, eh?”
Paula, Remi and maybe the Idiot flashed through my mind. The old lady did mention children and grandchildren. I tried to look at my belly but was unable to. I had never thought about having children. I will need to find a research partner for that first. Maybe the idea of the old woman is better than my initial plan to bring my research to another race. I had thought about it but never went too deep into it. What if suddenly a human came into Witchaven and waved magic around that could improve our race? How would we react? Not favorably. I assume this is the case for most races.
“Leave a legacy behind… that sounds good.”
“Hey! Lassie! Want to have some fun?!” A creepy guy was undressing me with his eyes.
3 bystanders instantly reacted and kicked his ass. I was shocked. “Don’t worry lady! We will take him to the authorities, have a nice day!”
They dragged the creepy guy away and many bystanders nodded approvingly.
What had just happened? I was nailed to the floor and watched the 3 bystanders disappear into the distance. Why would they do that for me? Did they fall for my charm? I look stunning but I haven’t turned my charm magic on. If I had most people wouldn’t be walking past me like this.
“Hey, are you alright? Did that creepy guy hurt you?” An old couple checked up on me.
“Oh, honey she’s crying. That creep must have scared her!”
I wiped a tear. “No sorry, I’m fine, I’m not used to people treating me this nice.” I ran away from the overbearing strangers. I wasn’t used to this. Is this how it feels in a society where people care for each other? It might be shallow but it’s better than what I’m used to.
I didn’t feel like returning to Witchaven. But this had confirmed my resolve. After my research, I will prepare to move out of Witchaven. That is not my home anymore… I spent the rest of my time returning to the cute shop with the old lady and just talking to humans in general.
All good things come to an end and I returned to Witchaven. Nothing seemed to have changed. As normal, life just went on even without me. I decided to hand in my research paper today. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can leave. I got to the council building and started to get cold feet. It’s not too late to turn back. My mood started to worsen as I remembered what happened the last time I was there. I did some short breathing exercises to calm myself down and took out a Mistflower. I went inside and submitted my paper. I did have a copy but I had forgotten to hand it over to Remi.
I went to sit in the hall. As usual the council was tearing down research paper after research paper. I was shaking a bit. I tried to control my nerves. The hour break came and another hour of the council tearing down papers. Another break. And finally, 20 mins into the next session it was my turn.
“Ayaru Mistflower!” I stood up and went to stand in the hall.
“We have read your research paper. There is not much to say about it, it is simple yet brilliant. Congratulations, your paper has been approved.”
I had no idea how to react. I had a lot of conflicted emotions. I flashed a smile, nodded and was about to leave the hall. No questions? Nothing they found off on my paper? I was happy that my paper was approved but I wondered how and why. If I were to be honest I would say that this paper could be written by anyone, even the disappointing first year Misha. Is this how low they have set the bar?
“Halt there for a moment Ayaru.” I froze. Is there a ‘but’? Am I still going to get rejected? I turned around.
“We will return your accolades on one condition. The murder of Gillian… we have found out who is responsible. It was one of us…” I had only noticed now but there were only 35 of them.
“Verruka Saltpeter had murdered Gillian and stolen all the magic skills she knows from her hat and has fled. We are unable to act because of our position.” The council member paused.
“You were able to defeat Gilian, quite easily to our chagrin. We recognize your strength. Either kill Verruka or bring her here in front of the council and your accolades will return, we will even offer you a seat on the council and forget any transgressions and insults you have flung our way over the years.”
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I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I looked around in the hall but I was the only one here besides the other council members. I didn’t notice that I was the last one. Is this the reason why I had to wait so long? Is this the reason why my paper, which in my opinion was mediocre, got accepted? But a council member going rogue is a big issue.
“Is the reason why my paper got accepted related?”
“It is not related, most of us liked the idea of customizing our hats. We have had these models for millennia; some change is welcome.”
So, the council is biased… It is not that I did not realize it but they are quite bold in admitting it. “I will accept that assignment. However! I will leave Witchaven after I catch or kill her and I want a fair reassessment of my other research paper.”
“You dare…”
Another Misha interrupted the council elder who had been talking the whole time. “Calm down Terha. We will consider it, Ayaru, Show us results first!”
I was unsure if I could push my luck further so I nodded and left. A Misha handed me some documents. I looked through it briefly and identified that these documents contained information about Verruka.
I arrived at home and closed the door behind me. I started to dance. My paper has been accepted! I don’t care that it wasn’t my greatest work! I got more cake and celebrated. Remi was quite silent in the council hall but she seemed happy. I will visit her tomorrow and after that, I will visit my friend Paula.
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I dolled myself up the next morning and took one of my sexiest dresses. I decided to not braid my hair because that would take too long. I teleported into Remi’s office. It startled her
“Aya! How many times have I told you to stop doing that!”
“I’m happy! Be happy for me!”
Remi gave a bitter smile. “Congratulations. It was… not your best work but we liked it. The assignment that they gave you, however…”
“Oh, come on don’t be such a downer! I will beat that bitch up and drag her before the council!”
“About that, you do know that she brutally killed Gillian, stole all the magic skills the hat held and escaped right? She might do that to you too.”
“Don’t worry! I’m super strong! I won’t lose to any Misha!”
Remi gave me another bitter smile. “So that was not the full research paper, was it? Can I see the full version?” I handed Remi the full version.
“I am assuming that it uses your previous research as a basis?“ I nodded.
“I want to talk more about this but unfortunately I’m quite busy, I will become the headmaster starting tomorrow and these students….”
“Remi, trust me, I understand. Maybe they will become better disciplined with you as headmaster.” I had a good idea of the challenges Remi would face. These students are quite...incompetent..
“Thank you for your encouragement. I guess both of us have it hard.” Remi said with a tired smile as I reached out for the door.
“Aya, please don’t die…”
“I won’t! Don’t worry!” I stepped out of the office and waltzed through the insults and magic flung at me. I threw some charm magic around to turn some annoying Misha into charmed zombies completely enthralled by me.
I tried to look for the idiot but she was nowhere to be found. It didn’t seem as if she has been in Witchaven for quite a long time. I wonder what she is up to. I teleported to the small village below Witchaven. The 2 km tall earth pillar Witchaven had been built on had been a mountain in the past. My race had become tired of humans sending us requests to perform miracles. They decided to bombard a mountain until only this earth pillar was left and built Witchaven on it, making it inaccessible for many races. A village had been built at the base of the pillar. A lot of Misha live here that have formed research partners with other races. This is where my friend Paula lives. She is technically also banned from this village but nobody is enforcing anything here.
I teleported into her house and found her getting freaky with a man.
“Ayaru! How many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that!”
“Are you still with him?” I pointed at the man Paula was getting freaky with.
“Hey come on Ayaru, I’m not that bad of a person.” The man tried to hide his embarrassment.
“I know that you care about me but you can stop judging Paul so harshly.” Paula put her hands on her hips.
“But don’t you think it’s suspicious? Your name is Paula and his name is Paul.”
Paula hugged Paul intimately. “It just means that we were made for each other! When are you going to find a man?”
“I had given it a thought.”
“You would have no issues locking down a man with that killer body!”
I looked at Paula whose body type wasn’t too different from mine. She was a bit smaller and shorter. She had dark purple hair, almost black, in a single braid that hung over her shoulder.
“Do you mind braiding my hair?”
“Of course, sit down!” I sat down and Paula started to braid my hair. “So how have you been? It has been almost 2 years since you have visited.”
“I’m sorry, I got lost in my research. It is done…. It got rejected…”
“What? I have read some of your drafts, I think it’s brilliant! What were their reasonings?”
“It came down to that they want to keep the status quo… Paula, the new students don’t even know how to use mana control to alter the appearance of simple spells. They are arrogant and proud but also highly incompetent. They are also almost 5 times as old as we are…”
I could sense that Paula was getting a bit angry. “Those jerks only accept anything that directly benefits them and reject anything that doesn’t align with their personal opinions! Their reasoning for my exile was utter bullshit!”
“Well, you did steal a secret potion recipe, brewed it, and gave it to Paul to greatly extend his lifespan. If I was on the council, I would understand why but you still broke many rules…”
“Yes, but exile is too harsh!”
“I agree…”
Paul was awkwardly looking at us. I winked at him. I had laced it with some charm magic. Paula pulled on my hair. “Get your own man! Leave Paul alone!”
“Owowow I’m sorry I was just kidding!”
Paula pointed at Paul who was doing his best to resist the charm magic. He was sweating and had stabbed his hand with his sword to resist my charm magic. “That doesn’t look like a joke to me!”
Paula used a healing spell and gave Paul a passionate kiss to overwrite the effects of my charm magic. It was awkward to look at but I had brought this upon myself. “I know it is a sensitive topic but are you sure you’re not half succubus or anything?”
“I don’t know! I have no idea who my father is!”
“Well, most of us don’t know either and hybrid Misha are extremely rare but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were half succumbs. Your braid is done.”
I made an [Ice Mirror]. The braid was perfect. “Thanks Paula! You’re the best!”
Paula made sure that Paul was ok and told him to rest upstairs before I would inevitably give him a hard time with more charm magic. “So why have you come? Either something good or bad has happened. Is it about how your brilliant research got rejected?”
“A bit. I have brought out another research that had been accepted. It was just mediocre. They had told me that if I hunt down a council member gone rogue, then I can have my accolades back and they will consider giving my research another try. I am planning to leave Witchaven after I find this Misha though.”
“Do you need help? Paul won’t drag us down, I promise.”
I thought about it. I could use some companions. “Sure! Just know that she brutally killed another council member and stole the magic skills out of her victim's hat.”
“I knew it, the council members are psychos!” Paula seemed proud that she realized that years ago.
“I also have a question; you had been researching the impurities in the ambient mana, right? What can you tell me about it?”
“Hmm, unfortunately, I can’t tell you much, I got kicked out in my third research year so I hadn’t made a lot of progress, I just know that there is a condition that causes nausea in individuals that use magic. If they only use the mana, they produce this won't be a problem but every race will run out of mana extremely fast like that. So, every race besides us draws in mana from the environment and stores it in their body and later on releases it.” Paula paused and gestured for me to sit down.
“The problem is the impurities found in the ambient mana. These get stored too. These individuals who get nausea from what I call ‘Mana Rejection’ get waves of uncontrollable nausea the moment they use the impure mana that they had stored up. In exchange, they can wield pure mana better. But it’s unlikely that they will gain access to enough pure mana to do anything meaningful. Lost magic is an exception to this but I have yet to find out why.”
“Hmm, well after I finished the research on my hat, I had found out that the mana is quite impure, I never noticed before. Everything now looks so simple and impure to me…”
“Oh, I would love to read that. Your hat looks fabulous like always.”
I looked at Paula’s hat which could use a makeover. “How about this? I give your hat a makeover while you read my paper!”
“I’d be delighted!”