Chapter 144.

PART 1.

Porus arrives in the City of Salt. He observes the recovery of the city after a mage calling himself Avatar of Magic caused problems almost eight years ago. The name of the city is now seems to be a misnomer, it does not produce as much salt as it once did. The Gujjar region has taken over that industry entirely. Porus is thinking of renaming the city to reflect its proper function, but he then realizes how people will throw a tantrum just because he is the one doing that.

‘Better let them realize that the city is producing less and less salt, and let them rename it themselves.’ Smiled Porus. ‘And if they failed to do that, well then. I can’t be held responsible for that, now, can I?’

Then, a wonderful smell attracts the king’s attention. “What is that, Zeko?” he asked, pointing to the counter where a curry was being served with a roll of bread.

“I believe it is called pav Bhaji.” Answered Zeko. “Really, don’t tell me you have not eaten it yet?”

At an embarrassed smile of the king, Zeko started to grumble about the monarchs who didn’t know the pleasures of the world. “Fine, let’s go and eat the lunch there.”

Porus followed Zeko happily. Looks like he will get to taste a new dish today.

PART 2.

Avinash runs after the chickens who escaped from their coop. before this, he was tending to the vegetables. Before that, he was feeding the chickens. And the first thing in the morning, he released the cows on the fields. As the long list of tasks runs through his head, he catches up with the violent birds and puts them back in their coop. tomorrow, he will collect the eggs, and shift them to a new area.

He trudges back inside and checks up on Kishore. “Here, drink this.” He gave him some soup while changing the wet cloth on his head.

“You really shouldn’t take over like that,” said Kishore, after taking some gulps of the soup. “I should be able to manage it—”

“No. remember, you taught me that we should always be ready to handle extra responsibilities? I’m following that lesson until you get better.” said Avinash. After bullying the old man to sleep, he left the room.

In the evening, it will be time to give him his potions and his pills. Until then, he has nothing else to do aside from waiting for the cows. ‘Or more like put them inside.’ He sighed.

Kishore fell ill about three days ago, and Avinash has taken over the responsibilities of running the farm. True, he is not doing a perfect job like the old man would, but he likes to think that until he gets better, he is handling things nicely. One might wonder why is he bothering to do this. The answer is simple. The man has treated him well. true, he made him do some hard physical labor, but he treated him well and shared his knowledge with him without any reservations.

Taking care of his farm until his health improves is the least he could do. ‘I wonder how he managed things in the past whenever he got ill?’ he thought. Then, another thought appears in his head. ‘The better question is, why is someone of his knowledge and political experience working on this farm, unacknowledged by the rest of the public?’

Avinash has no answer to this. He is not willing to ask this question either, not until the health of Kishore improves.

PART 3.

During his lunch in his office, General Sundar stops Raven and tells him to have lunch with him. The general likes to eat his meals alone, despite the work preventing that. he is well known for his dislike of the person who interrupts his rare meals which he gets to eat alone. but inviting someone, and someone like Raven to be more specific is unheard of. But Raven knows that this is not to praise him. he has been thinking about how long will it take for the matter to reach the general, and looks like it is time to receive the lashes, all be it verbally.

“So, I hear you had an interesting incident yesterday.” Said Sundar, while taking a bite of his sandwich. “Even injured three boys, two of them without using any magic, imagine that!”

“They tried to snatch your letter from me,” said Raven.

After hearing that, the general put down the other slice of his sandwich without biting it. the complainers were very careful it seems to not mention that tidbit. “I know what they were trying to do. Would you have taken the beating if they didn’t try to snatch the letter from you?”

Raven considers the question for a moment. “I don’t know.” He said honestly. “Maybe a few bruises wouldn’t be that bad if I can avoid trouble—” Raven halted as Sundar slammed his fist on his table, rattling his plate.

“Never do that, you hear me? never!” he looked at Raven seriously. “Do not ever tolerate bullies. And for all we wish to create tough men and women in the military, we wish to do that with systematic training, not through abuse and hazing. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.” Saluted Raven.

“Better. now, tell me. what made you think it would be a good idea to damage them like that?” asked Sundar.

“Two things. first, I remembered your lesson that sometimes, violence cannot be avoided. Second, I wanted to put the fear of me in their hearts.” Smiled Raven, remembering the screams and sobs. Looks like his Hatori is showing up. “Anyway, it may sound disrespectful, but I’m not apologizing.”

The general looked at Raven unmoving for several seconds, making him sweat. “You’re not in trouble. And I will never make you apologize for taking care of bullies. I will send you outside of the castle for a few days though.”

Raven relaxed. Getting sent outside of the castle isn’t that bad when all things considered.

PART 4.

Josh is checking the tests of the younger years. he is bored with this task. There are only so much of people forgetting the operator precedency, and failing to solve the equation one person can tolerate. This actually gave him more respect for Professor Amelia.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t rage at us in the class,” he said to her, marking another question as wrong, “We probably made such mistakes.”

Amelia laughed. “Well, some of you did, some of you didn’t. did you know that your friend Hatori actually provided commentary on his papers?”

“He did what?” asked Josh, not sure whether he heard her right or not. there is no point in providing any kind of commentary on a math test.

“Oh yes, it was very amusing to read. He did that with all of his subjects, and he got really popular in the staffroom as a result.” She shared. “Some of the more memorable bits are framed in the staffroom.”

“And you still gave him marks?” asked Josh.

“Of course I did.” Said Amelia Davis. “His answers were correct, after all. Besides, a little bit of sarcastic commentary doesn’t hurt anyone, and he never crossed a line. In fact, he made sure that he didn’t use any word related to anger while answering his rune exams, and of course, while providing his usual commentary. There is a reason why Professor Krodhatma likes him so much.”

“Make sense. I would also like anyone who didn’t raise my blood pressure.” Said Josh, marking another question, but the answer was right this time.

PART 5.

“Now that you have mastered playing piano and violin, and have some knowledge of other instruments as well, it is time that you learn how to create your original composition.” Sangita was saying, pacing back and forth as Shin listened to her lecture.

“We will make heavy use of music notation during this part of your education; I do hope you are keeping up with it,” said Sangita. At Shin’s nod, she continues her lecture.

“First, we have to create a draft for our harmony and melody, after that, arrangement of instruments, followed by the finalization process, during which your composed music will be recorded, or written down in the music notation form. Once you are done refining it, you have created your composition.” Explained Sangita.

“That seems pretty rigid.” Said Shin after writing the steps down.

“From a first glance, it may look like that. but you will have to experiment a lot and play things by ear to get everything down. I personally use this method where I think of an arrangement, play it, then note it down in the music notation form, and then refine it. so, as you gain experience, you can make changes to this process according to your needs.” Said Sangita.

As the lecture continues, Shin thinks about how can he start applying himself and creating some original music that he can call his own. He is thinking of something small and simple for his first try, but trying to come up with an idea is proving to be harder than he expected. Coming up with spells is much easier compared with this.

PART 6.

Hatori is going into the house with Herik and Henish. Ever since he became the necromancer-in-training, he has visited multiple haunted houses, so he has gotten used to going inside of them. nothing intimidates him anymore. not the immaculate look (despite being haunted, these houses are always attractive), not the size, and not the abandoned and eerie feeling.

However, the people with him do not have such strong stomachs, judging by their slow footsteps, and their bodies flinching at the slightest of the sound. It is clear for anyone without the eyes (and for those who gained eyes later), that Herik and Henish do not wish to be here.

He sensed something coming at them, and he called out. “Get behind me, now!” a shield springs up in front of them, as the father and son listen to Hatori, while he blocks a snarling face coming at them.

‘Or not a face, but a full torso of a woman.’ Amended Hatori, while blasting the phantom away. The soul goes flying, and Hatori turns around.

“I got my confirmation. I suggest we leave.” Both of them obliged Hatori, as they ran in front of him, while Hatori remained behind to cover their backs.

Once they come out of the house, Herik speaks with Hatori. “What did you get?” he asked anxiously, not interested in going inside even if Hatori asked to. He will refuse to point blank.

“I wanted to confirm whether there was something there or not. second, I wanted to confirm if something was there, then what exactly was it, a soul or a spirit,” said Hatori. “It is a soul, just in case you wanted to know.”

“We didn’t,” said Henish. “Can you do anything about that thing?”

“Give me some time,” said Hatori. “I’ll give you an answer tomorrow. It is a pretty powerful soul after all. And I don’t have Master Munshi with me. I cannot take any chances, if the battle takes a wrong turn, that soul could leave the house, and come after you two.”

“What? Why!” asked both of them together.

“I do not claim to understand how the mind of a soul functions.” Said Hatori. “But again, remember this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with this situation.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have your master with you,” said Herik. He didn’t say that to insult Hatori, he was just worried for the boy. he rather leave the house if it meant not putting this young man in danger on his behalf.

“That is true. But you don’t know, Master Munshi takes a very hands-off approach.” Smiled Hatori.

He plans his next move. Hatori has to find out the history of that house, and hope to find something about that soul which he can use to weaken it. since Munshi is not with him this time, Hatori has to find out this information on his own.

PART 7.

Nearby, a fire is burning, while Manoj the mad Sharma is using it to smelt his weapon. “Add some sugar and some fat. Put some souls, and get the control!” he sings to himself.

He combined the souls of animals and humans he collected so far, and watches as they take shape. “Once I’ve got this, I’ll destroy that damned throne. And this time, nothing would get in my way, not Munshi, not Porus, not their little pawn, and certainly not my own weapon!”

He is still salty about that battle mage rebelling against his control. If Hatori hadn’t burned the body, he would have resurrected him again and punished him most severely for his failure. “But why think of the past failures? Instead, look at the future success! My product will be the most disruptive, I’ll drive my competitors out of the market, and complete my monopoly. Hahahahahahahahaaha!”