Chapter 136.

PART 1.

“So, I drew a circle to restrain this soul, but I didn’t use the right frequency.” Hatori was saying, telling Zeko about the experiences of this year. “That caused the soul to flee.” “Mistakes can happen.” Said Zeko, “Especially when you are using something new. That is why I always made you practice anything new I teach you in spars with me before in a real battle.” “Yeah. but thankfully, that soul didn’t evade us for much long, as we used a dummy to draw it out, and then I fought it while Munshi drew a circle to capture it, and then disperse it,” said Hatori, finishing his recount of his final case. The incident with Anantayudha does not count, that whole trouble was unrelated with any official case. “Then you ended up fighting a resurrected battle mage?” asked Zeko, having heard about that from other people. Apparently, Surendra told his circle, the word reached Fernandes, and he told the people in the king’s circle, including Zeko. “Yeah,” said Hatori. “But it was pretty horrific to see what kind of events lead to these people dying, and becoming a vengeful soul.” Hatori puts the glass down, feeling very somber. He feels sad whenever he thinks about this topic. “Alas. That is the cruelty of the world,” said Zeko. “But I suspect your experience in combat was useful?” “More than you realize.” Said Hatori. “Even though I fought mostly souls and spirits, the training was still useful. though I don’t think I would have come out alive if I faced that battle mage at the peak of his power.” “No one could.” Said Zeko. “But you’ve been fighting spirits since I brought you here, so that was nothing new to you.” “I know, but they let me hit them,” said Hatori. “These ones, however, didn’t want to get hit, nor did they want to let me win easily.” “Of course they don’t. souls wish to survive, while spirits do not wish to tarnish their reputation with a loss. I suspect that Yaksha would be roaring with laughter when you tell him about that female spirit you encountered.” Said Zeko with amusement. “Probably.” said Hatori, grinning himself while remembering that spirit who tried to stop them on a bridge. “Anyway, the most tiring part was the travel. I don’t think I can handle it for the rest of my life. I rather have a stable lab where I can run some experiments at any given time instead of traveling all the time.” “But you have chosen a profession which does require traveling.” Reminded Zeko. Hatori gets a frozen look on his face. “I’ve made a great mistake.” He said with horror, making Zeko roar with laughter.

PART 2.

“I’m home, mother, father.” Said Josh, greeting them both. “Where is George?” “I am right here, son.” Said George senior. “Since when did you start to call your father by his name? I think you need some disciplinary action.” “You very well know who I was referring to.” Said Josh in a frosty tone. This tone has served him well during his two years as president of the Academy. “I know, I was just joking.” Said George senior. “Your father’s humor is not the best one,” said Maria, giving Josh some coffee. “Your brother is out; he is currently meeting with all our business managers.” She said, ignoring the stink eye from her husband. ‘It appears that the brother has reached the final stage of the grooming process.’ thinks Josh. He has been handling more responsibilities recently, taking the load of the family business on his own shoulders. His father is preparing for an early retirement, while George Junior gets ready to run the businesses of the Fernandes family, which have been left vague because the author cannot bother to come up with business ideas… ahem. Ignore that train of thought, lest I get a pay-cut, again. “So, how was your year?” asked Maria. George suddenly becomes attentive; he wishes to hear this as well. “Tiring, and boring.” Said Josh. “No secret conspiracies, no plot to overthrow anyone or kill anyone, aside from the usual natural causes.” Said Josh. “Enjoy this time, son.” Said George. “Because soon enough, when things get interesting once again, you will wish for this time.” “That sounds ominous.” Said Josh, not liking it one bit.

PART 3.

Shin wrote a letter to Zeko, requesting to live in his house and, in return, do whatever chores or work he assigns. Zeko accepted, but he never let slip that he had developed a soft spot for the boy. his experiences seem to mirror his own so much, that it is not even funny. Hatori was happy to see him there, though he quickly realized that there wouldn’t be much free time for them to talk, as Shin immediately started to help out the Durve family on Zeko’s farm. “I never thought you would be able to work on a farm.” Said Hatori, when Shin returned from his day’s work. “After all, you always liked to keep yourself clean, while farming is not the sort of work that you can do without getting dirty.” “True.” Nodded Shin, the bells in his hair jingling. “But you gotta do what you gotta do.” “Man, I underestimated you,” said Hatori. “That is good. means no one looks at me as a threat,” said Shin. “It is important to live a peaceful life.” Hatori agreed, but he resented how he never had that chance. “Anyway, do you have any good traveling stories?” Shin smiled. “Boy, I have tons of them to tell you. starting with my heroics.” He then begins to recount his year to Hatori, and Hatori listens, silently dispatching the shadows that do come to attack him. By this point, Shin is used to this, so the flow of his stories never gets disrupted.

PART 4.

James climbs the stairs to his and his father’s apartment. They cannot go back to their family home yet, ever since James escaped with his father from that house, his aunt is monitoring that place. James has no doubt that if they were to return there, they would disappear, and it would be called a tragedy, and the entire thing would be swept under the rug by Shakuntala. “Dad?” he enters the house and sees his father sitting in the hall. “High son.” Said Jimmy, looking up from the book he was reading. “Wow, you look better than before.” Said James, observing how his father had lost the jerkiness in his limbs, and his sickly pale face had regained some healthy glow. Still, the decade and a half of forced alcoholism shows its shadows. Jimmy smiled. “I know right? I’ve even started to regain the stamina which I used to have. That is, of course, the result of eating better and sleeping better.” “Now, if some of my friends would learn that,” said James. “To be honest, you are also a workaholic son, you just need something to inspire you,” said Jimmy. Their conversation is disrupted, as someone knocks at the door. “Hey Jimmy, can I come in?” “Sure, come inside.” He called. James observes this tall man who has just arrived in the house. “Meet Kamal, he’s a friend of mine since our school days.” Said Jimmy. “Is he your son?” asked Kamal. “Yep.” Nodded Jimmy. “Man, he looks just like you. though he is much more reserved.” Said Kamal. “Of course he is—” “Which means he won’t be pulling off any foolish stunts like you,” said Kamal, interrupting Jimmy in the middle. “What kind of foolish stunts?” asked James curiously. “Well—” This time, it was Jimmy’s turn to interrupt. “Why don’t you go and take a nap, son? You must be tired with the traveling!” said Jimmy, wishing that James would take the bait, and leave the room. “Sure. Wake me up in two hours or so.” He silently left a monitoring ward. Friend or not, he does not trust people so easily. “You have a one paranoid son.” Remarked Kamal, the ward did not escape his notice. “Of course, though he likely would have tried to use a better ward if he knew that you are a squad commander in the army.” Said Jimmy. “Probably.” Agreed Kamal. Kamal has been coming to visit Jimmy, ever since he learned that he has been living in the city. This has helped him in his recovery. It was pretty maddening to see a boy who was so full of life reduced to a husk like that, but Kamal was happy to see the recovery right in front of his eyes. “So, got any girls interested in you?” asked Jimmy. “Not really. Military career does not leave much chance for romance.” Said Kamal. “There are women in the military, I thought you would have melted one of those frozen hearts by now,” said Jimmy. “Yeah, no. those are dangerous ones. You don’t have any idea what they do to their husbands just because of a small spat.” “Quite frankly, I’ve got no interest in learning that,” said Jimmy, he has enough horror in his life thank you.

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PART 5.

Amarnath returns to his office, having heard out the new idea of the king. Porus usually listens to Amarnath, since he feels that he is too brutish to manage the public. However, the idea the king has come up with this time, Amarnath thinks he should have been the one to think of it. Letting Porus tour the country, allowing him to meet people, and go to the remote areas of the Subcontinent, letting people know who exactly is their leader, that is the sort of thing which is his responsibility. But since he did not think of it, he is determined to make it as successful as he can. “Father?” walked in Avinash, freshly showered judging by his hair. “You look like you’ve spent a lot of time under the son.” Said Amarnath, after looking at the tanned face of his son. “Yes, I did exactly that,” said Avinash. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t planting crops though. I was just chasing the chickens.” “Chickens?” asked Amarnath. “Yes, chickens.” Said Avinash with a straight face.

PART 6.

Zeko dodged the spells coming his way. the lightning scorched the floor of the sparring room, while the old mage retaliated with his own spells. his apprentice has grown so much. it feels like only yesterday when he wasn’t even able to make him move from his place. Now, he is dodging his attacks, and he is making him work. Thankfully, Zeko is happy to know that he is not huffing. Getting out of shape would be an insult which he cannot tolerate, after all the lectures he gave to the people trained under him. More spells come his way, but Zeko easily shields himself from those and makes a motion to stop the spar. “It seems you’re not having any problems in adapting to your vision.” Said Zeko. “Honestly, you’ve adapted to it much quicker than anyone else.” Hatori smiled but did not talk about the room of frozen time, which helped him in adapting. “Also, continue to keep your eyes hidden as you have been doing now. no need to let other people know about this. Let them underestimate you.” “Yes, master.” Said Hatori. “What about your runes?” asked Zeko, as they walked out of the room. “Same as before. I never needed eyes for those anyway,” said Hatori. “Good. Good.” nodded Zeko. “Do try to improve your reading and writing though, it is much faster to write by hand or read by yourself than make some enchanted pens do it by talking to it, or make some spell read the text to you.” “I’m working on it, but I just don’t have enough time,” complained Hatori. Zeko laughed. “Hahahaha! Get used to this boy!” he slaps him on his back, making Hatori stumble. ‘I would have all the time in the world if I could get that room to work outside of the Academy.’ Thinks Hatori.

PART 7.

Shakuntala has heard what took place at Sindapur. Naturally, it is not possible to hide a thing like this, since someone is bound to blab, then other people will also blab to more people, and it quickly devolves from there. but whatever the events were, it did not provide her with any peace. The plan of Manoj failed, and her brother-in-law and his cursed progeny are still a thorn in her side. At least that entire thing made her realize why mercenaries are not willing to go after the boy. it is one thing to kill him and think about the anger of the king and his master since it will take a while for the news to reach them. but the boy himself is dangerous, how else could someone of his age go against a battle mage, and come out without losing a limb? Even at their weakest, the battle mages are still stronger than any normal mage. Hatori should have been dead, along with his necromancer master. But they survived. The battle with Jimmy continues, which just adds to her stress. ‘Really sis, how could you share that all-important research with him, but not me? we were family, related by blood, weren’t we?’ “Looks like you need some help,” said Manoj, walking right into her study. “How did you get here?” she asked, not liking this blatant violation of her privacy. “Easily. Your wards are pathetic. They cannot stand up to someone like me.” said Manoj. Shakuntala looked at the man. he looks like a walking corpse. Judging by his words though, he has gotten out of that whole mess which he created, unscathed. “What do you mean by help?” “Exactly what I said.” Said Manoj. “Just help me out a little. Give me some resources, and I’ll create a chimera. We’ll attack the capitol, kill the king, and I’ll reward everyone who joined me and helped me.” “Including me?” asked Shakuntala. “Including you.” nodded Manoj. “Fine. But do not use my name,” said Shakuntala. “Of course!” he smiled. As he walks away, Shakuntala hopes she is not making another mistake.