Chapter 142.

PART 1.

Munshi picked up Hatori next day. He asked about how the case went. “It was the strangest thing, even by spirit standards.”

“How so?” asked Munshi.

“Well, there was this spirit, which was tormenting a guy, his friend actually wrote the letter to you, requesting help,” said Hatori. “I think the spirit was doing something with his magic. I realized that later.”

“Yes, some spirits do prey on humans for their magic, often using fear for the right response,” said Munshi.

“Probably that.” agreed Hatori. “Anyway, the confrontation turned violent, as I tried to save Veera, the guy who was tormented by that spirit. it blocked the flow of magic around me, though it didn’t affect me much.”

“That takes a while. if you had used any spells, you would have run out of energy sooner or later,” said Munshi. “But given your pool of stamina, it would have taken a while.”

“I didn’t use any magic though,” said Hatori. “The spirit attacked me physically, and I decided that this would be an excellent time to use Master Zeko’s hand-to-hand combat training. I broke all the limbs of that spirit and stomped on its head, and it exploded after that.”

“You were lucky that spirit wasn’t as strong as the Yaksha in Zeko’s house, otherwise you’ve been nothing more than a bloody paste on the ground.” Said Munshi. “Spirits often die with a magical explosion.”

“Figures.” Said Hatori. Nothing can be simple with these things. “Anyway, after that, I had a good night’s sleep, they were nice enough to host me in their room.”

“Hmm. all and all, a good performance, I’ll say. Just be careful while killing a spirit next time,” said Munshi.

“Yeah, I’ll be careful.” Said Hatori.

In the meantime, Munshi will try to ignore that Zeko’s madness about hand-to-hand combat can be useful in necromancy. No need to tell him about this incident, the man already has an inflated head. No need to make it bigger.

PART 2.

Nandan walks out of the stadium, having just received the gold medal at a ceremony. The medal is still bouncing on his chest with each step, while a towering man walks beside him. soon enough, the crowd will start to leave, but these two wish to leave before they can be mobbed by the fans.

Just a few hours ago, Nandan defeated his opponent, securing the first rank in this competition. This will raise his rank. Once he becomes the number one contender, he can challenge the current world champion of dueling. Until then, he must give strong performances in the competitions like this one. Nandan is sure that he will achieve his dream, how could he fail when he has such a wonderful master to teach him?

Dimitri Popov is a competitor himself, having competed in the dueling tournaments for over forty years. he made it clear that he was looking for a student recently, Nandan applied, and he impressed the man so much that he agreed to teach him.

“I do hope you’re happy now?” despite his size, Dimitri has a jolly voice, which often puts people at ease. However, his voice hides how deadly he can be.

“Of course!” Nandan smirked. “This will teach that idiot Roland to make fun of me.”

“Hahahahaha!” laughed Dimitri. “Continue like that, and you will never run out of the crowd to watch your match. remember, a good champion should sell tickets, just by his presence alone.”

“I’m not there yet.” Said Nandan.

“Don’t you worry, you’ll get there,” assured Dimitri. “I’m thinking of taking a retirement myself. This will free me, and you can train under me full-time.”

“Retirement?” Nandan is surprised to hear this. “Isn’t that a bit early?”

As they enter their hotel, and start to climb the stairs (disdaining the lift), Dimitri laughs after hearing Nandan’s words. “Early you say? I’ve been dueling professionally since I was twenty, discounting the school competitions. During this time, I made my body a terrifying force, optimizing it for maximum power and recovery when hurt. But magic or not, that kind of wearing and tearing takes a toll, and I have started to approach my limits.”

“I never thought about that,” said Nandan.

“Of course you didn’t. you’re nineteen, you’ve got a whole world ahead of you. but take heed when I say this. Annalyse the records of great duelists. You will notice how they start to have losses at the end of their careers, bulk of their losses come during that time. but they cannot let go of their fame and continue to go down in that arena and get thrashed repeatedly. Some of the duelists who are just ten years older than I am, (meaning they are in their seventies), can’t even walk properly. I have no intention to end up like them.”

“Huh,” said Nandan, considering his coach’s words, as they reached their room. “I think I should retire on top then; old age is hard as it is. no need to destroy my body before getting there.”

“Smart man!” said Dimitri, slapping Nandan’s back hard and making him stumble. Old and damaged or not, that man is still very strong. “Of course, I will still train you. In fact, I will be able to train you better since I will have more time on my hands.”

“Thanks for that,” said Nandan, starting to pack his bags. They will be leaving in an hour or so. “When I do win that championship belt, I want you to be on my side.”

“And I plan to be.” Said Dimitri. “Now, I do want to tell you about this offer of a coaching position at a school.”

“Yeah?” asked Nandan. He has no problem with that, after all, he can train wherever he might be. If Dimitri wishes to provide some coaching to school students, then Nandan won’t get in his way. the man must make some money, somehow.

“Indeed. You’ll be surprised which school it is.” smiled Dimitri.

PART 3.

As they come back after investigating the orphanage, Zeko has some ideas about who could be after these murders. More people have disappeared in a nearby forest, and when they went to check that out, they were treated by the same grisly scene of blood and corpses.

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Porus is unsettled by witnessing the destruction of an orphanage. Ever since the king came into power, he has tried to improve the foster care for children without families. The previous king was the same way, and orphans like Zeko are an example of their efforts paying off. But these murders of children and staff are making Porus uneasy.

Zeko thinks that they might need Munshi if they plan to dig this further, but he decides to suggest that later when the king is in a less broody mood.

PART 4.

“So, where are we going next?” asked Hatori, after a day of traveling since his last case.

“We’re going to the City of Tools. The Blake family has called me to update their wards to protect them from spirits and souls.” Said Munshi.

“Huh. this is the first time I’ve heard about someone using these wards. Judging by the cases I’ve seen so far, most of our cases wouldn’t have taken place if they had those wards to start with.” Said Hatori.

“Sadly, clients like that are rare.” Said Munshi. “On the upside, they pay well.”

“Always an important thing.” Nodded Hatori.

“Also, this will be a great chance to teach you how to put these wards in a practical setting. So be ready for that,” said Munshi.

“Sure. Just to be certain, the man who sent you that letter is called David, right?” asked Hatori.

“How did you know?” asked Munshi, pretty much confirming the name without saying anything.

“Because this isn’t the first time I’m going to that city, or that house.” Said Hatori.

PART 5.

the local necromancers are about to retrieve the memories of the dead victims. Porus is present for this, and Zeko is surprised that his presence in this city is still kept a secret. “The memories will be jumbled because the blood has mixed with other victims. However, this will still give us a clear picture of what happened at that orphanage.” Said the woman, who is the local necromancer of this area. She activates the runic array to get the memories, and they all hunker down to observe the events as they happen.

they witness the perfectly normal lives going on, until someone who looked like he was half dead already showed up, and started to kill them without saying anything. “The description matches.” Said Zeko, after the entire gruesome presentation was over. “It is him. I suggest we inform Munshi immediately.”

“I agree.” Said Porus.

PART 6.

Hatori works on the wards. He tunes them up for the right frequencies to keep the souls and spirits out. Munshi has told him not to touch anything advance than this since he could end up bringing down the whole system by his tampering. He has no interest in doing anything of the sort, so he follows his teacher’s instructions.

It didn’t take him long to complete this task. Runes are heavily involved with this tuning process, and though he had to use the standard runes, Hatori still got done with it quickly enough. David, who is a warder himself, observes him working nearby.

Hatori has arrived in this house for the second time, and both times Rita and David have treated him well. the first time when he was here nearly eight years ago, he was a young kid, who was terrified of formal dinner. He went through a kidnapping, and the mercenary Neshma also came with Zeko and him.

‘Speaking of her, I should ask about her to master Zeko. How is she doing these days?’ he thinks.

He gets up from the ground and pops his back. ‘Work like this is not good for the back or knees.’ He grumbled in his head.

His grumbling is interrupted when he sees a trophy resting in the cabinet in front of him. he completely ignored it when he arrived, but now, he cannot overlook the name. “Daphne won that trophy the previous year in the dueling competition in the Academy,” said David, looking at the trophy just like him. Judging by his tone, Hatori concludes that he is proud of his daughter’s achievement.

Hatori also notices that the hostility the man displayed in the Academy is also missing. ‘Maybe he was in a bad mood?’ he thought. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he asked a question. “I thought that you wouldn’t like that. Daphne participating in dueling, I mean.”

David snorted a laugh. “Why, because it is un-lady-like?” he asked. at Hatori’s nod, he continues. “I don’t have a problem with it as long as she can handle it. besides, girl or not, the world is a dangerous place. I cannot shelter her forever. If she wishes to pick some skills that can help her in defending against threats in the future, then who am I to get in her way?”

“How pragmatic of you,” said Hatori. He wished that more people would think this way.

PART 7: SUBCONTINENT VERSUS OTHER COUNTRIES IN A WAR.

There have been multiple world wars ever since the mage dimension was created. But not all wars are world wars. The Subcontinent has also participated in the wars against the countries from the neighborhood, most often with Zhongguo.

Both of these countries govern a very large territory, but on both sides, greedy people like to expand their land further than the current limits. Resulting in territorial wars and disputes. However, this has changed recently. For over 500 years, both of these countries have remained at peace with each other.

However, the paranoid heads do not agree with the people who say that things will continue to improve. They believe that the situation can devolve into a conflict at the slightest misstep, or when the king changes. Therefore, the army must remain in the top condition. General Sundar is a firm supporter of this camp and has lashed out at those who wish to defang the military forces more than once.

“If you didn’t have us to protect you, you wouldn’t be alive to take such foolish decisions in the first place.” Were his words.