Chapter 238.

PART 1.

Hatori’s personal project is done. He also has established a great relationship with Naresh, who plans to move beyond this city. It is now time for him to take the next step in their plan, and that is to establish a school to teach magic in the area.

Hatori fixed a meeting with the mayor and explained his intentions. “Wouldn’t it cause an uproar?” was his first thought after listening to this proposal.

“Normally, you would be correct.” Said Hatori. “But we will not start big. At first, it will be a small effort, and later on, we will scale this further. Of course, I do think the general population will be a little bit apprehensive, but if we take this slowly, they won’t cause a fuss.”

“What about the teachers though?” asked Naresh. “Forgive me for being so blunt, but you do not strike me as someone who would have the patience to teach adults, much less children.”

Hatori smiled. “You are correct. But that is the important thing. There are qualified people on the other side, who are good at teaching. They will be the ones who will teach the students here, not me. I’ll be the face of the overall operations, nothing beyond that.”

“And you would want my endorsement sooner or later?” asked Naresh, expecting to hear “Yes” in the response to his question.

“That is true. But again, not much of a big event. We want this to spread among the people naturally, rather than force it upon them. Besides, I’ve looked. There are some magic schools in the world already.” Said Hatori.

“What? Where!” said Naresh, now alarmed. If other countries are already using magic, then they need to up their game.

“Relax.” Said Hatori. “Those are nothing but a bunch of cults or just meditation classes. But They will not remain like this for too long. I imagine in the next hundred or so years, they will be contacted, and other countries of the Mage Dimension will take over these schools, and use them to start their own operations.”

“But we won’t be using a cult.” Said Naresh, warming up to the idea. “We will be using a newly established school, where actual credible people will teach. Is that correct?”

“Correct.” Said Hatori.

“Very well. I will send you a list of potential locations for this school, you choose which one you think is the best.” Said Naresh. “I look forward to cutting the ribbon. I bet none of my peers ever opened something like this.”

“And they probably won’t,” said Hatori. “Remember, this entire approach is resting upon your shoulder. We have not approached anyone else so far.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure our efforts will go far.” Said Naresh, and escorted Hatori when he got up to leave.

After Hatori is done speaking with the mayor, he goes to the Mage dimension and meets with Altan there. “So, the school is about to start. We just need to find a location.” He finishes his description of the meeting he had with Naresh.

“That is fine. We will have to find some good people to teach there since the Academy is unlikely to give you their professors.” Said Altan. “Also, given the environment there, I don’t think these first-time students should be exposed to them.”

“That is correct.” Then Hatori starts to think, and slowly, his face dawns a horrified expression. “I have to interview people?”

“Hahahaha! No. I know that the only rejection you’ll give is murder. Don’t worry, I’ll put my people on this task. You just handle the running of the school and the politics.” Said Altan, amused to see Hatori so scared.

“Yeah, that is good to hear.” Said Hatori.

PART 2.

It is nighttime, but Avinash is still awake. He is reading the report of Hatori. One thing he can say for certain. Hatori takes his reports seriously. There was a violent incident a few years ago when he crippled one of his fellow researchers when they made a sloppy report, and then refused to apologize and correct it.

This report, however, is not about any simple research project. It is about their plans to supercharge their growth, and rather than go to the future one step at a time, rush into it head first.

Avinash wants to establish his country’s presence on the other side for many reasons. First, it will give them a backup if a war gets too destructive. Second, the technological developments there can give a much-needed boost to magical research, which would help them to slowly close the gap with other races. Then maybe, they could prevent what Elves did to them in the future.

As a response to learning that the entire prophecy was false, Avinash has closed any research into this area, having concluded that predicting the future is best done through data and observations rather than mysterious prophecies.

He is surprised at how well Hatori has managed this. He does not handle politics well. And yet, he has managed their political contact very well. Enough that they are just about to open a new school, once the location is selected.

Putting the report down, Avinash goes through the scenarios that can go wrong for them at this stage. ‘Things don’t work out so easily. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. This Naresh can also cause us a lot of problems if he decides that we cannot fulfill his ambitions, or we are not giving him his due.’

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

PART 3.

Sushima and his sister Daphne Junior are out in the city, seeing the world from the other side. They have never seen such a huge population before, because, in the Mage Dimension, the magic-using humans do a wonderful job of controlling their population by killing each other.

When they come back home, they also see some more examples of the technology from the non-magical side. Sushima and Daphne are both impressed by the computers and their capabilities.

“This could actually help us in the runes. Don’t you think?” asked Sushima.

“Also, math.” Said Daphne. “No more asking Uncle Josh to help us out.”

“That too.” Said Sushima. “Though the device itself seems very complicated to build. I wonder whether we can build it through magical means?”

They also get exposed to the human-enhancing capabilities that the decade of 2060 has to offer, but Daphne has an uneasy feeling when she sees the cyborgs for the first time.

“They are more yantras—I mean machines than humans!” she exclaimed.

“Well, look at it this way,” said Sushima. “They don’t have magic to enhance themselves, so that is how they do it.”

“But still, where does the machine start, and human end?” asked Daphne.

“Doesn’t matter.” Said Sushima. “It is only the will that matters.”

“Now you’re talking like dad.” Said Daphne.

“Of course, I am. Father is wise. You clearly have to do a lot of growing up before you can recognize his wisdom.” Said Sushima wisely.

“Grow up? The short boy is telling me to grow up?” said Daphne, launching herself at Sushima.

PART 4.

Hatori is walking in his created dimension with Kalicharan. They are both taking notes on the revived plants and animals. They are all placed in their natural habitat, and Hatori is interested to see how will they evolve when given time over the years.

“Did you include the geological movements here?” asked Kalicharan.

“Yes. if things don’t change and provide challenges, then they won’t evolve.” Said Hatori. “Even still, the world will keep a record of them, and unless all the possibilities are exhausted, it will introduce them once again.”

“This is going to be a wet dream for many people, you know that right?” asked Kalicharan. “I mean just look at this. I never thought I would be adding something like this to my resume.”

“Whatever.” Said Hatori. “Most people won’t get access to this area. You are one of the few exceptions.”

“So harsh. If they learned of this place, they will try to take it from you,” warned Kalicharan.

Hatori smiled. “They are welcome to try.”

Hatori walks out of the room where the teleporter to this dimension is located, and then Kalicharan leaves for his own home in the Mage Dimension. Hatori is done with his daily tasks, and Daphne and Ravina are busy with children. ‘Looks like Sushima and Daphne are fighting once again.’

Ignoring the commotion, he sets some runes to slow the time down. These are not as good as the room that was discovered by him in the Academy, but they are still enough to let him have some extra time on his hands to enjoy his favorite things.

Such as all the anime Hatori never got to watch, and all the anime he watched previously, but is now watching with his own eyes. Not to mention, the games. Though given how wild the developers have gotten in the current era, Hatori mostly sticks to the older games. He plays these games on a recreated hardware, which took him a lot of research to do. It is probably not legal to play these games this way, but Hatori is amused at the thought of someone trying to drag him into the court for this offense.

As he finishes the final fight in the BlazBlue Centralfiction and watches the final scenes of the story, Hatori starts to cry, and at this very moment, Ravina finds him. “Oh, how cute. A grown man is crying over a story.” She mocked. “Why don’t you wipe those tears, and play with the children instead?”

“Yeah, I’ll go do that,” said Hatori, wiping the tears away, and dismantling the runes to slow the time. Maybe it is time that he introduces Sushima to the glory of BlazBlue?

PART 5.

Hatori and Ravina are entertaining Sushima and Daphne Junior outside, while Daphne is inside with Garuda, who is the youngest child of the family. “Mom?” he asked. “Did you ever meet Zeko?”

“Why do you ask?” asked Daphne.

“His pictures are everywhere, and he was close to Dad.” Said Garuda. “Look, even in this second house, he has the pictures of him, right with grandma and grandpa.”

“I met him once or twice.” Said Daphne. “Though you must ask your father about him. I did not speak to him much.”

“Okay. I’ll ask Dad.” Said Garuda. Looking at the clock, he compares the positions in his head and judges the time. “Isn’t it time for the dinner?”

“It is. Why don’t you call your father and mother inside?” asked Daphne.

“I’ll get them,” he said, before leaving.

Daphne has never met Zeko, but her father was close to him, and so was her partner. He served as a second father for Hatori, who raised and trained him in the magical world.

Though some of his methods were downright horrifying. Daphne and Ravina did not recognize this until they became mothers. Hatori was confused when they told him that he could not use the full power of the module for their children.

Not that they minded, they do have to teach their children to protect themselves. But they do not have to use the methods of an S-rank mage or his equally dangerous student.