Chapter 28.

PART 1.

After his battle for water in the morning, and taking a bath, Hatori waits for Zeko to call him for the breakfast. In the meantime, he passes the time in the hall by walking, and imagining a chess game in his head.

He then senses a newspaper left on the table by Zeko. He comes to check it. It will be for the first time he tries his reading spell on a newspaper. The very first news which he reads is concerning, about how a youth was burned alive for walking on a newly built street, because he was of the lower class, and did not deserve to walk on that newly built street. That is one hell of a news item to read on your very first try. This dimension clearly has no concept of kid friendliness. Upset from this horrible news, Hatori shuffles off, his head hung in sadness.

PART 2.

Zeko worries about the softness of Hatori. He saw his reaction to the news in the morning. If news is enough to upset him, then how will he deal with the harshness of this world in person? Though he does admit that the news which he did read was particularly harsh.

He can only hope that his experiences in the academy will harden him. But for that to happen, he must survive it. And to do that, he must prepare himself. Zeko is waiting in the tea shop near his house, after leaving Hatori with his homework and his training in the morning.

He takes a sip of his spicy tea, while a woman with short hair sits across from him. The woman is in her early twenties, and her build suggests that she is quite powerful when it comes to physical confrontation. Zeko puts his empty cup down.

“I can’t believe you drink something like that. Tea is supposed to be relaxing.” She said to Zeko.

“And I can’t believe you’ve lost your edge.” Said Zeko.

“What?” She turns around, only for him to grab her hands in a vice like grip. “You’ve made your point.” She grunted as Zeko let’s go of her hands.

“One would think a mercenary would be hardened by this point.” Zeko jibed.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh for now. Soon enough, one of us will hand you your ass.” she declared.

“In your dreams. but as pleasant as this meeting is, I have called you here for a reason.” said Zeko, while ordering something to eat for himself.

“And that is?”

“I would like to hire your services to train my apprentice in dueling.” Explained Zeko, while bringing out the contract. “Here are the terms and conditions.”

“So, you finally managed to trap some kid, huh? They’re not that smart if they’ve agreed to become your apprentice.” she said, while reviewing the contract.

“I offered you, remember? You refused me, just like my other students. Besides, this one has an advantage of sorts by accepting my apprenticeship.” Said Zeko, while biting his snack.

“I’m sure. So, the boy is nine years old, and you want me to train him in magical combat?” Then what she has just said sinks in. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“First of all, it is dueling.” Zeko said firmly.

“Let’s be honest here. You really don’t like that formal competition in the first place. So let’s not dance around it.” She glared at him. “You probably are training him in physical combat. Why do you want to train him in magical combat as well?”

“Because otherwise, that boy has no chance of surviving in the academy.” Zeko said, while pushing his empty plate away.

“What, don’t tell me that all those mad children would be gunning for him?”

“Precisely.” Zeko confirms.

“Okay, fine. But I will run his training my way. You won’t interfere, and lift a single finger to help him.” She puts on her own conditions.

“That is fine by me.” Getting up, Zeko asks. “Coming?”

Signing the contract, she goes after him. “Don’t have a choice.” She muttered.

PART 3.

In the afternoon, Zeko arrives at his house. Hatori is meditating in the garden. He gets up after listening to his footsteps. He senses another person with him, but he decides that he will leave it to Zeko to introduce that person. For him to have someone at his house must mean something, for Hatori has observed that Zeko is an intensely private person, and does not like to have guests in his home.

“Did you do your homework boy?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m done with it.” He replied in a bored tone. Compared to his usual training or Zeko’s lectures; the school assignments are boring to say the least.

“Good. Now, I have someone to introduce to you. Her name is Neshma Ashar. She will be your dueling instructor.” Said Zeko.

Neshma observes the boy. His build is solid, no doubt a result of Zeko’s training. However, his missing eyeballs are quite shocking to see at first. However, she decides that she won’t make a comment about that. She could not make anything concrete of his magic. it seems to be flowing through him smoothly for a child; but that alone will not make him suited for dueling.

“She’s one of my former students, so you can expect excellent training from her.” Zeko said with a touch of pride. “Of course, if she does act like a spoiled child, you should come to me, and I’ll straighten her out. Remedial lessons are sometimes needed.”

Neshma sends a fireball over Zeko’s head. “I think I will take over from here.” She said, not appreciating her dirty laundry aired in front of her charge. “Tell me few things boy. How many spells can you perform?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Hatori almost responded “Depends.” But he got the feeling that would not be appreciated by this woman. So he decides to answer with only the number. “Four.” there. If she wants details, she can ask more questions.

Neshma twitched in surprise. Even if all of those spells are not direct effect spells, that is an impressive number of spells to know at his age. “How many of them are directly affecting spells?” she asked.

“Two.” Once more, Hatori answers with the number only.

“Very well. Now, let’s talk about the difference between dueling and magical combat. Though your master talked about me teaching you dueling, in reality, he wants to give you combat experience.” Zeko just shook his head. Must she put it like that to the boy?

“Here’s a sharp difference between dueling and general combat. Dueling is formalized combat, with pretty detailed rules; it also takes place in a limited area. However, magical combat can take place anywhere in the world, and has no rules at all.” She explained.

“Why can’t master Zeko teach me all of that?” he asked.

“Because my methods might be good for straightening out children, or for physical training, but if you were to learn magical combat from me, you'd die.” Said Zeko grimly.

“Finally stopped calling it dueling, eh?” jibed Neshma. “He’s not joking kid. He trains some of the men from the king’s army, and they barely survive his training. At your age, his methods will do more damage to you than help you.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Hatori does not want to experience unnecessary hardship. Living in this world is more than enough as it is.

“Good then. Let’s test you. I will duel with you.” She said. “It’ll last as long as you can throw spells at me, and keep up with me. I won’t leave this garden, and neither will you. Your master will monitor the duel. Ready? Begin!” She did not give Hatori any chances, and sent a spell at him.

Hatori managed to get out of the way of that spell, which exploded loudly, making him stumble from the force of that spell. He tracked her through his radar spell, and sent the Knockback spell at Neshma, which she batted aside with contemptuous ease. She refrained from commenting on it, however, sparing the poor boy’s ego. Which wasn’t much of a conciliation, as more spells came Hatori’s way, and he has to dart around to avoid getting hit by those.

Neshma of course, did not want to hit him. She fired those spells at him with such a slow speed that he could dodge them after sensing them coming. She wants to see his endurance, and whether he can fire back in the heat of battle.

Seeing the Knockback spell alone is not going to do much, Hatori decides to fire the Piercing spell as well, sending that spell in the combination of Knockback spell. All these spells are batted aside by Neshma, and Hatori is left gasping on the ground, unable to get up.

“See?” She comes and lends Hatori a hand. “This is why your master calls me to train you. Imagine your state if he were to train you with his own methods.”

“I… understand…” Hatori gasped out.

“The greatest thing you can do is duel with me two or three times a week. In the meantime, I will monitor your diet. And you will workout with me each morning, while you will work out in the evening with Zeko. Is that clear?”

Hatori nodded, not wanting to waste energy by speaking. “Now, we will do this again three days later.” She said, and walks away.

PART 4. ZEKO’S LECTURES ON MAGIC: RUNES.

Instead of getting a break from his exhausting duel today, Hatori is carving on a wooden board, while receiving lectures from Zeko. “Runes are considered to be the language of magic, essentially putting down the effects of any spell, curse, or enchantment into writing. They are used in creating wards and boundary fields, formulas for spells, and countless other things. Needless to say, a basic understanding of runes is a must for any mage.” Zeko said, while Hatori continues to carve.

“Of course, if you make a mistake in your runes, it can be dangerous for you and the people around you. It is very important to write the runes correctly. The material on which the runes are written or carved also has an effect on the overall magic, since if the material is too weak to contain the energy of your runic effects, it is likely to burn into ashes.” Hatori tracks the lines he has carved on the wooden board.

“For now, you must get used to carving straight lines on this wooden board. A shaky-hand has taken many students lives. Once you start to do that correctly, then I will make you carve angles and shapes, and then basic alphabets. So continue to carve the lines.” Instructed Zeko.

Hatori’s hands shook, while he tried to carve a straight line. He has been doing this for the last two hours; the sweating hands are not making anything better. Thankfully, nothing attacked him during his carving.

“Boy, leave your carving for tomorrow. Come here for dinner.” Came the voice of Zeko after some time. Leaving his board and sharp pen, which he has been using to carve the lines on the board, Hatori leaves for dinner.

He learns that there won’t be any fried potatoes for him; apparently they are bad for your endurance. His dueling teacher has banned him from eating those. He was just going through this shock, that the table attacked him, leaping from its standing place, and coming at him, flying.

Knockback spell barely fazed it, while piercing it with Piercing spell and making holes in it made it just angrier. Hatori, in his panic, takes control of the flying table, and through his levitation, launches it to the wall, shattering it into pieces.

As the table repairs itself, Zeko watches from the corner. ‘His combat instincts are improving.’

(End.)