Chapter 235.

PART 1.

After speaking with Avinash, Hatori returns to his house, which he still thinks of as “Zeko’s house” sometimes. His master has left him this property, though Hatori is not certain why he did that. Surely, he must have known some other, and more qualified people who deserved it, but since that was Zeko’s last will, he agreed to take the house.

Besides, he likes the large property, and no one ever came to dispute this property transfer.

Hatori stopped on his way to the house, sensing a familiar presence. Nandan walks out of the fields, which are freshly planted with beans and potatoes. Nandan is the son of Shyam Durve, who handles the farm for Zeko, which now belongs to Hatori. Not having much knowledge of farming, Hatori agreed to the change of crops when Shyam suggested. Apart from that, their fruit trees are producing as usual.

“Well, well, well. Look who is here. The City Destroyer himself!” said Nandan, glaring at Hatori.

“Why are you acting so dramatic?” asked Hatori.

“Haven’t you got the news?” asked Nandan, pointing to something behind him.

Hatori’s eyes widen, when he sees the diamond-studded trophy hovering behind Nandan’s back. “You won the championship?” he asked with a grin, happy for his senior.

“I did.” Said Nandan. “Looks like you were busy.” Said Nandan, waving his hand, and sending the trophy back to his house through a teleporting spell.

“I was.” Hatori agreed with Nandan. “I never thought that my life would be this dull.”

“Let me change that,” said Nandan, bringing out his staff. “There are many mages who never participate in the official dueling tournament. You are one of them, and I will test myself against you.”

“Fine. Answer a few questions before we begin to fight, would you?” said Hatori.

“Ask away.” Nandan agreed to answer Hatori’s questions.

“Where is Dimitri?” asked Hatori. “I don’t sense him anywhere.”

“He has left for his home. He will be back in two months or so.” Said Nandan.

“Did you ever resented us for getting captured, and getting your coach stranded?” asked Hatori, preparing his first spell.

“Never. I would be a petty man if I did that,” said Nandan seriously, shielding himself with water against Hatori’s fire.

While Nandan was shielding himself, a cloud appeared above his head and started to rain down the lightning bolts. The champion had to get out of the way to avoid them, and the land was scarred by the repeated lightning strikes. Nandan did not remain on defense for too long, retaliating with his own wave of water, conjuring it without any water source nearby. The wave swept Hatori away, but the water stopped at an invisible boundary near the farm. The wards are installed there by Zeko, and modified by Hatori to stop any harm to the crops.

Hatori freezes the water around him, and despite being trapped in the ice, retaliates against an incoming Nandan. Sending him flying with a gust of wind which punched the champion, Hatori blasted the ice around his body and sent the shards to Nandan.

Nandan shivered and grunted in pain, as many ice shards struck his airborne body. Stabbing his staff in the direction of Hatori before he fell to the ground, Nandan caused the upheaval of the ground, and many rocks pummeled Hatori’s body, while the earth tossed him around like a rag doll. Hatori is unable to find his feet, so he slowly starts to hover and then flies into the sky.

Nandan is not worried by his flight, he has many ways to bring him down from the skies. But before he can think of using the wind spells to slam Hatori to the ground, he is snared in chains, and he is lifted into the sky himself. Nandan thought that Hatori would channel electricity through these chains, as it was his old trick.

But instead, Hatori conjures another cloud, which bombards Nandan with multiple lightning strikes. When he regained his consciousness, and his hearing, Nandan felt pain throughout his body, while he was buried in the ground. Hatori’s soft footsteps feel like thunder to his tenderized ears.

“Consider yourself lucky. I redirected most of the lightning. If you would have survived that last attack, I would have used the positive lightning.” He said to him.

“Dammit. When did that kid surpass me?” asked Nandan in a feeble tone.

“When you helped him for the first time, so he will not have to spend the night outside in the rain.” Said Hatori. “Let’s take you home.”

Hatori notices the damage to the area, and some people peeking through their windows nearby. He listened to their whispers and winced. They are talking, thinking as if the war has restarted. He knows that the matter will reach Avinash, and he will get a tongue-lashing. But he doesn’t care about that. The fight was great.

Dropping Nandan at his house, and after explaining to Mister Shyam why is he in such bad shape, Hatori comes back to the house.

PART 2.

As Hatori predicted, the news of the duel does reach Avinash. “And the worst part is, they started to fight right there, without even any consideration!” wailed the man.

“There, there. I will give him a tongue-lashing.” Said Avinash. “He will be coming to the event held for the war veterans, I’ll let him know what a great mistake he committed.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Said the man, going away sniffing and wiping his tears.

Avinash shakes his head. People can’t even tolerate some explosions these days. The damage was already repaired by Hatori’s yantras, which were mostly on his property anyway. No farms or houses were harmed, and yet they felt it necessary to come to him and complain.

Still, he cannot let powerful mages fight among themselves whenever they like. He must caution Nandan and Hatori both for this and also others. If they are feeling frisky, then go fight somewhere isolated, like an island for example. No one would come to complain to him from there.

PART 3.

Hatori is relaxing in the pool of Yaksha. Though he is not injured, the water of the pool is good for the body and has a soothing effect on the muscles. This is important, given Hatori’s demanding regime of training, which he still continues to do.

Many people think that he should relax, but he scoffed at their suggestion. The war might be over, but he could still end up in a tangle of his own. Besides, magic is a demanding discipline. It should be respected, and it rewards those who work hard.

Hatori also has learned the name of Yaksha, which happens to be Yaksha. He learned this when the control of Zeko’s property was transferred to him. “That is so strange,” he said to the spirit. “It is like calling a human ‘Human’.”

“Well, I didn’t have anyone who could advise me on a name.” said the watery spirit. “Are you going for the veteran’s event?”

“Unfortunately.” Sighed Hatori. “When will I get my isolated lab?”

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“At this rate, probably never.” Said the spirit.

Hatori splashed some water at him in response, but the spirit just laughed, which sounded like the flow of a stream.

As he got ready to leave, Hatori worked hard to make himself look presentable. He refuses to wear anything resembling a tie, the very suggestion is treated with the hostility it deserves. Instead, he is going with a simple blue shirt, black pants, and blue shoes. That is the limited knowledge he has about the clothes, so he prefers to wear dull and subdued colors.

He has no bag with him since he carries everything in the runes in his arms. Recently, he expanded his limits, and if certain experiments yielded positive results, he would expand the limits even further.

“Bye now,” said Yaksha, coming out of his pool to escort Hatori to the doors.

“Bye.” Said Hatori, waving back to the spirit.

He then sored away and continued to fly until he reached the airport. Landing in an out-of-the-way spot, Hatori goes inside the ship and takes his booked seat. He would have taken this trip in a car, but the City of Throne is far, and he will never reach it in time with a car.

PART 3.

Josh is at the party, meeting with people, and exchanging words with them. Hatori is a bit late, though he does arrive after fifteen minutes. His towering form can be easily seen in the crowd, much like himself, since he is even taller than him.

One advantage of such a big height is that people clear your way quite quickly. Therefore, Josh can reach Hatori first and greet him. “You’re late.” He said by the way of the greeting.

“Rood. You do know how far is my home.” Said Hatori.

“Yes, why don’t you settle in the castle then?” asked Raven, appearing to Hatori’s right.

“Because I don’t want to,” said Hatori. “Drop the topic, or I’ll turn this into my kind of party.”

“You mean full of mayhem and death.” Said Shin.

“You have a violin. Are you giving a performance today?” asked Hatori.

“Yes, I am,” Shin said.

Before they can talk further, they are all surrounded by a crowd who wish to speak with Hatori. With Josh by his side, Hatori greets and speaks a few words with everyone, but their attempt to curry favor from him is annoying him to no end. It is not clear to see this from his expression, but Josh can easily see this in his body language. He is constantly twitching his hands as if restraining himself from casting a spell after speaking with someone.

Though Hatori relaxes when he speaks with a magical expert of some kind. Though Josh is aware that these experts are just as dangerous as politicians, and Hatori is not a stranger to this fact, he is still amazed by how relaxed Hatori is when talking to them.

Josh could not stay by Hatori’s side all the time; he had his own politicking to do. As much as Hatori may hate it, he excels at this kind of work.

PART 5.

Much like other mages of their Academy days, Kangana is also attending this party. Though she saw Hatori’s arrival and felt satisfaction in how he handled the public since she was the one who trained him, back when she was inexperienced, she did not see him anymore. He appeared near the tables loaded with food and disappeared once again.

She sensed around and found a familiar magical signature. She may not be as good as Hatori in sensing magic, but she has developed her ability during the war. Ignoring the ward, Kangana enters in the small area, where Hatori is eating alone.

“What a sad sight.” She said, looking down upon him with her arms crossed. “There is a lively crowd out there, and yet here you are, sitting here in isolation.”

Hatori didn’t say anything until he was done chewing. “You do know that I have my limits regarding such events, right?” he asked her. At her nod, he continues. “Well, when people try to get yantras off of me for cheap, that is where the limit is. I might be willing to do this for cheap for my friends and for the king, but not for them.”

“You’re not a businessman,” said Kangana, shaking her head.

“I never said that I was one,” said Hatori. “Neither was Zeko, even though he handled his accounting books by himself.”

“Fine. Not a businessman. But why can’t you eat with your friends?” asked Kangana.

“I think everyone is spread out. I doubt they would like me to brood on their table.” Grumbled Hatori. “Josh will immediately jump on my case.”

“No, he won’t,” said Kangana. “Seriously, get up from here. We are all busy adults; we don’t have time to socialize like we used to. It is no time for you to hide like this.”

“Fine.” Said Hatori. “You are lucky that I listen to you.”

“Trust me, I count my lucky stars for that every day.” said Kangana.

She is under no illusion that if Hatori flips out in rage, then she will not be able to stop him. She would be akin to roadkill, nothing more than that.

PART 6.

Hatori is taking a drunk Raven to his room. After the party, most guests are smashed and are in no condition to travel. Therefore, they are staying in the castle. Hatori and James are a few of the mages who actually modify their bodies to resist the effects of the alcohol, and after seeing everyone’s state, Hatori is glad for it.

“And I send them all to their death.” Sobbed Raven. “I couldn’t even save Master Sundar. Others must hate me for it.”

Turns out, behind the strategist, lies this sad man, who is still not over the war. “Easy there,” said Hatori, trying to console Raven as best as he could. “No one blames you.”

“Don’t leave me,” said Raven, grasping Hatori’s hands, as he was put in the bed by him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t,” he said to him. ‘Until you fall asleep that is.’ he added in his head.

He is glad for his modifications. he will never have to give up his mental control, and he also gets to enjoy the unique taste of alcohol. Truly, not many people understand this luxury. Plus, no liver damage at all, and no waking up with a headache in the morning either.

‘You all are going to regret this party the next day.’ smirked Hatori, as Raven finally went to sleep. ‘Let’s hope the nightmares won’t bother you tonight.’

PART 7.

That party was held 20 years ago. Since then, the mage dimension has remained largely peaceful, and Hatori’s life has changed a lot.

Apart from creating yantras, and doing research on the runes, he has played a huge role in upgrading the electricity supply of the Subcontinent. Though unlike others, he never had a particular job, or one single work.

He brought Ravina and Daphne to meet his parents, and he thought they were shocked at first. After all, a man bringing two women to meet his family is unheard of. But both women get along with his mother, and whenever they talk, Hatori and Karan hide in a room, cowering with each burst of laughter.

Meeting them brought his mother a new life. She managed to live for ten years after that but passed away when Hatori reached his fortieth birthday. His father also died two years later. Now, Hatori is here, ready to use the house of his childhood to spread the influence of magic in this world.