Chapter 240.

PART 1.

It has been six months since the school started. Hatori has left the school operation to the people in charge. Still, he observes the activities going on in the school from time to time. He always ensures that he is invisible when he comes to the school, to not disturb the ongoing classes.

It is fun to spy upon the professors and students alike and note the progress of the students. The children are taking their time, but the adults are progressing much faster. According to the professors, that is because adults are used to learning things, and due to their greater experience, they can pick things up much faster. Children can also get distracted easily, preventing them from picking up the concepts taught in the class.

Done with his spying, Hatori goes to the ground to see how it is after six months of activity. It is not destroyed yet. ‘That is promising.’ He thought to himself. ‘Just give them a few years. I’m sure they’ll manage to burn this down.’

By that point, he will officially be out of the loop in the operation of the school, so it will no longer be his problem.

PART 2.

Avinash is meeting up with a Dwarf representative by the name of Advantageous Dealer, referred to as Dealer for short. The king is always amused at the names of the Dwarves, they perfectly describe their talents and responsibilities. According to what he has learned, these names can change once they take on some new responsibilities.

Avinash thinks that it must be a nightmare to manage people changing their names all the time, but since he is not responsible for handling this, he does not care. As far as he is concerned, that is the problem of Dwarves.

Avinash is meeting with Dealer to see how exactly the races view them after the war, ever since they have started on their latest development. “In short,” Dealer concludes her observation, “Your development is lopsided, and your species is divided. Unless you can fix these two problems, you will never be taken seriously. It will also keep you open to the threats from outside since one race or another could always come and support some of you, and pit you against yourselves.”

“I can’t do anything about the division, but I can certainly do something about the development, with the added caveat that too only in my own country.” Said Avinash.

“Don’t worry about it too much. These problems take generations to solve. You don’t need to worry about them so much as of yet.” Said Dealer. “Just focus on laying the groundwork for the future generations.”

“That, I can do.” Smiled the king. “That was a pleasant meeting, let’s sit down again sometime.”

“With pleasure.” Smiled Dealer.

As Avinash escorts Dealer out of his office, he observes various noble family representatives waiting outside. Once the Dwarf is gone, they start to bombard him with their words.

“Your majesty, you should not favor these outsiders so much.”

“You should expel them, and restore our powers!”

“They have no right to be here, much less on the entire world.”

“Shut up!” said Avinash, silencing them. “At least you have enough tact to not say these things in the presence of that diplomat.”

“But they are increasingly encroaching upon our territories. We have even lost our businesses to them.” pointed out one noble.

“Not to mention, your policies of election have also caused us to lose our chance to put some measures against their incursion.”

“Do you even listen to what you are saying?” asked Avinash. “It is all about your power, your losses, your profit. Weren’t you the ones who were sucking up to the Elves on your knees? Wasn’t that the reason why you believed in their prophecy, plunging us into the fifth war? Wasn’t that enough for you?”

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The arguments raged on for a long time, but once the king had enough of them, he threw them out, unwilling to entertain them any longer. As they leave, he says one final thing to them.

“Remember. I won’t compromise like the kings in the past. Either you are with me, or against me. Remember that.” he said, flaring his magic, and making them run even faster.

PART 3.

Young Garuda is starting his first year of school, his older sister Daphne, and his brother Sushima are already among the older years. Sushima will leave for the Academy by the next year, while Daphne will leave the year after next.

Meanwhile, he has a long time before he gets to the Academy, so he is not worried about that time much.

As Daphne and Ravina come back after dropping him off, they discuss their youngest child. “Do you think he might have some trouble?” asked Ravina.

“I don’t think so.” Said Daphne. “I am sure his brother and sister will look after him.”

“That is true.” Agreed Ravina. “It worries me a little, he is rather quiet compared to his siblings.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. I think he will get out of his shell eventually. The school does that to the children.” Said Daphne. “I do hope he will not turn out to be bad with directions. Remember how Sushima got lost while coming back from school on his first day?”

“Don’t remind me,” said Ravina. “Hatori had to fly around sensing his signature before he found him.”

“I thought he would be furious with us, but he never said a word.” Said Daphne.

“I’m sure if he was angry, he would let us know.” Said Ravina with a smile.

“Yes. he can’t hide his emotions at all.” Agreed Daphne.

PART 4.

James is reading the reports after some tests were performed on the students of the new school on the other side. The tests were not intrusive, they were performed to check whether the students faced any health complications or not, and what kind of changes occurred within their mind and body after they started to receive training in magic.

So far, it appears that aging has slowed down, and the health of the brain is improving among adults. But until they get someone who fully awakens their magic, they cannot say for certain whether all of these are because of magic, since meditation and general socializing can also show some beneficial effects.

PART 5.

Naresh is browsing the internet. The school is becoming a hot topic now, and some people are giving their conspiracies like this is some new government program to create super soldiers.

‘Well, they are half right at least.’ he thought.

Some old conservatives are subtly calling for a ban over this school, much like the cyborg technology, but it is 2061. No one is listening to them at this point.

‘Still, I think I should put my propaganda team on this. Can’t have them causing trouble at this stage.’ He thinks, and calls his private associates who manage the narrative for him.

PART 6.

During lunchtime, Hatori is surrounded by the younger kids. They are speaking to him, without being scared. He is having flashbacks to his childhood, where he hoped that the children of his own age would speak to him, but that did not happen. Now that he is a cynical man, he is receiving the attention that he always craved in his childhood.

As lunchtime ends, and the children leave, professor Kedareshwari leaves with a final remark. “For a mage who has a ruthless reputation, you get along with children quite well.”

“Of course I do. Why else do you think I have three of them?” he fired back.

The woman chuckled and left with the children.