Chapter 30.

PART 1.

Hatori doesn’t like Neshma. She’s too ruthless with her training, and she never approves of him, no matter how hard he works. Neshma doesn’t like Hatori. She thinks that her time could be better served instead of teaching a snot-nosed brat. Though Hatori has never defied her directly, because he doesn’t want her getting violent on him, both of them are aware of the dislike for each other.

But sometimes, even they can agree on something. In this case, they both agree that Zeko is a slave driver. The car has enough space inside for at least five people, and yet they are camping outside each night. Neshma and Hatori are responsible for putting up and removing camp each morning.

“Why must we do that?” complains Neshma.

“Yeah, why do you get to sit in the car, while we remove the camp?” asked Hatori.

“Because I’m the strongest. Now, do you think that either of you can beat me?” They continue their work while grumbling. “That’s what I thought.”

In reality, Neshma has no chance against Zeko, and she knows it. Whether Hatori teams with her wouldn’t make a difference, since he’s still green.

As if this isn’t enough, Hatori has to deal with the mosquitos in the night. As a result, he is unable to sleep. ‘I swear. I’ll destroy these blood-sucking fiends, if it is the last thing I do.’ And I’ll be there with you every step of the way, kid!

Due to this, Hatori is in a perpetual state of exhaustion. Thankfully, Zeko lets him sleep at the final step of their journey, only waking him when they reach the house of their hosts.

PART 2.

This is the City of Tools, where items of all kinds are available for purchase. From ritual related items, to foci, to esoteric and rare items, all are sold here, of course, at the right price. Hatori walks out of the car groggily. The neighborhood is silent here. He can’t sense anything beyond a big house, and a man on the door.

“Welcome to my house, master Zeko.” Said the man. His accent doesn’t sound right.

‘He’s probably from not around here.’ Deduces Hatori, while going inside.

“This is Blake family.” Explains Zeko, while they get seated. “They are from Albion. David and Rita are the ones in whose house we’re currently sitting.”

“Nice to meet you, young man.” said the woman, providing some drinks.

“Nice to meet you too, sir, mam.” Hatori remembers his lessons. He just hopes he won’t have to be this stiff during his entire stay in this house.

“What a polite young man.” said David, while a young girl comes in the hall.

“Daphne, meet our guests today.” Said Rita.

“Hello master Zeko.” She greeted. “And this must be your apprentice. Hello to you too.”

Daphne looked at her mother, while pointing at her eyes. Rita shook her head, and put a finger to her lips. “Nice to meet you too.” Replied Hatori, extending his hand when he senses Daphne doing the same.

For being trained with the infamous cruel Zeko, he has surprisingly soft hands.

“Why don’t you take the boy to the guest room?” Said David to Rita. “He looks exhausted.”

“Why not?” Rita left, while Hatori followed after her.

“What measures have you taken?” Asked Zeko, while Neshma lost her bored look. Things are getting serious.

“The entire house is being watched. If the children go outside, they will be followed.” Explained David. “Besides, I designed the wards of this city. They won’t be able to escape from us.”

Zeko nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll leave the boy in your care. I must do some tasks in the city. Don’t mind him, if he takes a look around the house, he is coming out of his shell slowly.”

“I understand. Besides, nothing sensitive is here anyway. You don’t need to worry about a thing.” Thus assured, Zeko took his leave, while Neshma went with him.

PART 3.

Aside from continuing his training, Zeko has another reason to bring in Neshma. She basically bullied him into bringing her with him. “Your choice of foci is more likely to kill the boy. You’ll need me to choose the right one.” she said.

And thus, they both are at the shop of Ugra Sen, a man renowned in the entire city for building the best tools. They are greeted by a pale man, who looks like he has not seen any sunlight for a long time.

“Greetings master Zeko. I am Charu Sharma, the apprentice of master Ugra.” He greeted. “He told me about your arrival.”

“One of these days, I’ll know how your master knows things in advance.” Grumbled Zeko. “Anyway, we need foci for a nine-years-old boy.”

A yantra carrying various items comes to the counter, where Charu selects a few of the strange items, and places them on the counter. Most of the foci were staff, but few of them were jewels, and there was one mirror among them.

Neshma rejected the jewels outright. She considered the mirror, but put it aside all the same. She selected a staff around the size of Hatori’s hand, and picks it up. “This one.”

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Zeko looks at the runes covering the staff. “Interesting choice.”

“Indeed. It can also change its size for easier carrying.” Added Charu.

“We will buy this one then.” Zeko puts the money down. With the jingling of the bells as they close the door behind them, Zeko is done with the purchase of foci for Hatori.

PART 4.

“Here, you can relax, or you can even take a shower.” Rita left Hatori in the room. “If you need anything, just call me, we can hear our daughter from anywhere in our house if she calls our names. Just call my name if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay.” Hatori nodded, and Rita left.

For a moment, he considers how strange it is that he is in the house of a woman who has the same name as his mother. He hasn’t talked to his parents since leaving the castle for the first time.

He decides to take a shower, and after taking a short nap, he comes out of the guest room, unable to contain his boredom. He hopes to find something to pass the time. He finds a frame hung on the walls of the corridor.

Daphne comes behind him. Aside from a small twitch, Hatori doesn’t react to her presence. After realizing that his Radar spell doesn’t work on the pictures, he walks away from the frame.

“That was a portrait of my mother and father together.” Daphne fell in a step with him. “Were you able to…” she is lost for words.

“I was unable to get anything out of it.” Said Hatori sadly. “The only thing which I know is that there was a frame hanging on the wall.”

Shaking her head in sadness, Daphne tries to cheer Hatori up. “What do you think of going to the outside?” She asked. “There isn’t much to do in the house.”

“Why not? You are coming, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Of course.” Confirms Daphne. “Mom, we’re going outside!” she yelled.

“Okay, be back before the dinner.” Came the reply of Rita somewhere from the house.

“This is a quiet place. Too quiet for a city.” Said Hatori outside.

“This is a living area. Go to the market, and you’ll find plenty of noise.” Said Daphne.

She stops as Hatori senses something. She goes after him, as Hatori finds the coconut tree. “Wow. I haven’t seen those in person before.”

“Huge, isn’t it?” Daphne has gotten used to seeing the tree, but she is left in awe of its sheer size when she sees it from close-up.

Hatori tries to wrap his arms around the tree. Unfortunately for him, his arms are not big enough to give the tree a hug. Tapping the tree in appreciation, Hatori turns around, and once more, Daphne falls in step with him.

Before they could go far, though, a girl’s voice caused Hatori to stop. “Daphne! Who is that with you?”

“He’s Hatori, student of master Zeko. Hatori, this is Ravina Sen, my friend.” Daphne does the introductions.

“Nice to meet you, Ravina. I’m Hatori.” He said politely.

“Hmm. I remember you saying about having some guests. Is he?”

“Yes, he is a guest, along with master Zeko.” Confirms Daphne.

“Trained by an infamous madman.” Said Ravina, while Daphne tries to quiet her. “Tell me, boy, how many spells do you know?”

“Four. Two affecting only me, two with direct affects.”

“And what might those two spells be?” Asked Ravina, while Daphne laments quietly. The situation is just out of her hands now.

“Radar and a reading spell, which lets me sense things around me, and reads the text on a page for me. Knockback and Pierce.” Ravina recoils.

“You know that spell? I hope you didn’t use it on someone.”

“I didn’t.” assures Hatori.

“Good. But how strange that you don’t know about levitation. This is the first spell often taught.” Said Ravina, trying to get a rise out of Hatori.

“I thought it was just pure application of magic, not a spell.” Hatori puts his open palm in front of him, and several stones start to levitate.

After leaving a gawking Ravina behind, Daphne apologizes for her friend. “Please forgive her, she is very competitive.”

“She asked me some questions, that’s all. I fail to see why you are worried so much.” Asked a puzzled Hatori.

PART 5.

The dinner starts. Spreading the napkin just like he was taught, Hatori remembers the final instructions of Zeko. “This’ll be a traditional Albion dinner, so you don’t need to worry about sitting on the floor for a long period of time. just remember to use your utensils correctly.”

Listening to his master’s voice in his head, Hatori uses his tools like he is in a boss fight, where his own weapons might turn on him at any moment. All the while vowing that he will never come to an event like this in the future. ‘I’ll become so powerful that no one will invite me, because they’ll be too scared!’

This goes on until Daphne leaves her place next to her mother and father, and sits next to Hatori. She replaces every utensil with a spoon. “Just use those. You won’t be able to eat otherwise.”

Hatori follows her instructions. After all, the guest should honor the host. They end up talking to each other during the remainder of the dinner, while the adults watch from across the table how their plan to teach Hatori went up in flames.

Maybe this dinner thing isn’t that bad after all. But still, Hatori just prefers to avoid them. He just knows that not everyone is going to be as generous as Daphne.

(End.)