Chapter 29.

PART 1.

Hatori goes out for a walk. Zeko encourages these walking sessions, because he wants him to go out more, and get used to moving around outside on his own through the help of his magical sensing.

This time, Hatori has come very far. He is still on Zeko’s property, which he knows by the signs scattered throughout the area. ‘He must be quite rich.’ Hatori realizes.

He also sees large trees with fruits growing on them, as well as vines with things growing on them. He only recognizes bananas, and oranges; the other, extremely large thing is unfamiliar to him.

Hatori goes to touch the vine with the unfamiliar fruit… vegetable? Thing. He goes to touch the vine with unfamiliar things, but the familiar footsteps of Zeko halt him. “I see you found my farm.” He said, putting a hand on Hatori’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I never got this far.” Said Hatori. “What is that thing though? I don’t recognize it.”

“It's pumpkin. You probably never saw it grow like this.” Said Zeko.

“Yeah, I only saw a slice.”

“They are sold like that. These aren’t fully grown yet, though.” Hatori touches one of the pumpkins.

“But they are already so big!” Zeko smiles.

“And they’ll get bigger than this. Now let’s go, it is time to eat dinner.”

PART 2.

While Hatori is busy exploring his surroundings, Porus is busy hearing a case. The body of a woman was found, apparently a victim of some crime. People in charge there, instead of following the procedure, like calling the necromancer, burned it quickly.

Now, the case has reached his court. To him, it is a simple case of gross mismanagement and incompetency. He just shook his head. The people arguing suddenly stopped. That headshake always means something bad is about to happen.

“Enough of the arguing. Send someone from the necromancer guild, and call the soul of that woman.”

“But your majesty—”

“No more arguments.” Said Porus. “Or do I need to remind you who is the king here?”

PART 3.

Hatori is sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, listening to Neshma’s instructions. He might fail to meet her standards, but Neshma couldn’t deny that the boy was an attentive listener.

“Now, in any kind of combat, magical or otherwise, accuracy is very important. A wasted spell or a missed punch is wasted energy, which you’re not gonna get back. Today, we will practice the accuracy. I will move around, and you must tag me with a Knockback spell as much as you can. Ready? Begin!”

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From his sitting position, Hatori fires several Knockback spells at her, but she manages to dodge. This bought him some time to get up. Though the strategy is sound, Neshma could have tore him into pieces if she wanted to, due to his slow speed.

This goes on for 30 minutes without a stop. After it is clear that Hatori is unable to continue, Neshma puts a stop to the practice of today. “We will work on your accuracy in the coming time.” she said, ignoring the flopping boy on the ground, struggling to breathe.

Out of hundreds of spells he fired at her, he only managed to tag her once. Casting so many spells exhausted him, but the moving which he had to do to keep his aim right also exhausted him.

PART 4.

The time for the dreaded formal dinner has arrived. Hatori will leave with Zeko for the city where the hosts live. Neshma is coming with them, because Zeko doesn’t want to break the flow of training for Hatori.

Hatori is left alone to pack his clothes, apart from what he will wear during dinner. Zeko has already chosen the clothes for that occasion. Somehow, he just knew that it'd be a miserable affair overall.

OMAKE: PRESENTING THE STORY.

The author is sitting in front of the Publisher’s Man, whom he is trying to convince why they should invest in his book, and publish it under their banner. The Man has flipped through the manuscript, and he asks the first question. For simplicity’s sake, the Publisher’s Man will be referred to as Man from now on.

Man: So, a blind boy ends up in another world. Why do you think this will sell?

Author: As shown by the popularity of Kenshi and Toph, disabled characters have potential. Besides, there is a trend of people liking weak-to-strong protagonists.

Man: So, he ends up in another world. How does he adapt?

The author looks at him for a moment. Hasn’t he looked at the manuscript already?

Author: through magic. He senses the surrounding area, slowly getting good enough to actually live independently.

Man: You’re character seems villainous and childish. Why would anyone like it?

Author: I do think that given current times, many people will identify with his cynical outlook.

Man: But there is no philosophy, nothing to pander to the… ahem. Different and diverse crowd.

Author: If it doesn’t have any plot importance, then there is no need to add it artificially.

Man: Honestly, Mister Author, I don’t think we can publish your book. Better luck elsewhere.

The author gets up, and with a motion, lights the Man on fire.

Man: Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The author walks outside, his shoulder sagged in defeat. Maybe going online will be a better idea, though chances are no one will read his work even there. Maybe there is some truth to behind all these rejections.

(End.)