Chapter 31.

PART 1.

After the dinner is concluded, it is back to training for Hatori. By this point, the teachers in the school are pushing their students hard. They want them to be ready for the academy, and survive and graduate without losing their limb or life. Zeko is no different.

He wants Hatori to be ready, so now he’s teaching Hatori a new spell. “Today, I will teach you a new spell.” Neshma observes the lesson. “Here, sense my magic as I perform the spell.”

Zeko uncoils his magic, and making it obvious what spell he’s using, casts the spell. A sharp blade made of energy comes out of his index finger, and cuts the log into two pieces. “Go observe the log, and tell me the difference between this spell and Piercing spell.”

Hatori touches the log. Neshma looked at Zeko. Zeko shook his head. It is not the time to bog him down with the dangers of magic. It is time for exploration. Ignoring the byplay, Hatori touches the place where the log was split in two.

“Instead of piercing it, you cut it in two.” He deduces.

“Exactly. You have noticed the smoothness of the cut I see.” Said Zeko, seeing Hatori sliding his finger where the log was cut in two. “The smoothness of the cut is a sign of control. Gain enough control over this, and you can even split a rock in two, just as smoothly.”

“Tut, tut, lying is bad for your health.” Neshma taunted. “I bet you can’t split the rock.” She conjures up a boulder which crashes on the ground with a boom.

“Can you cut or pierce this?” Neshma hoped to put Zeko in a difficult situation.

But without showing any sign of worry, or using his foci, he pierced the boulder, and then split in two. Hatori goes to the rock to observe the hole and the slice. “Wow, they are just as smooth as you said master.” Said Hatori in awe.

“Anything else?” asked Zeko, a challenge present within his tone.

“No, nothing else.” Mumbles Neshma.

Hatori’s performance in the duels has also improved, being able to go on for longer periods of time, though his awareness of the area still needs work. He is not allowed to use his newly bought foci during those lessons, though. Each time he asked why? Both of his teachers managed to redirect his attention to something else. He gets angry when he realizes that they have managed to evade the question once again.

PART 2.

Hatori is going out for his walk once more. Nowadays, if he doesn’t go out, Zeko pesters him until he leaves the house to get some peace from the mad man. Sure, he gets that he wants to encourage him. But talking about math nonstop is going too far.

He arrives to the land area where Zeko has planted fruits and vegetables. Unlike his previous visit, he can hear and sense some people, who are presumably working. Hatori senses the magic in use. He doesn’t understand how they are actually shrinking those pumpkins and bananas before packing them. Though he expects that he’ll understand that in the future. Shrinking items and then packing them seems useful. Not to mention, you can always shrink an enemy, and crush them like a bug. What the hell, kid?

“I didn’t know that someone so young could sense the magic.” Said a boy. Hatori reminds himself to be alert next time. He didn’t sense or hear him coming. A mistake like that could end up costing him a meal in the house.

Hatori is sure that the voice is of a boy. The boy is older than him, judging by how deep his voice is. For all he knew, it could be a girl with a very deep voice. Judging the gender of people as blind person through the voice is a tough job, magic or not.

“Sensing magic is important to me.” said Hatori, turning in the direction of the boy’s voice.

“I can see that.” He chuckled.

“Are you with them?” asked Hatori.

“Yeah. My father and uncle work for Zeko in taking care of his farm.” He explains. “Speaking of which, you must be his student. I’m Nandan Durve.” He extends a hand.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Hatori Eagle.” Hatori re-receives his hand.

“How strange. I don’t see any feathers on you.” Nandan Joked.

Smiling at his joke, Hatori hears the conversation between Nandan and his father. The boy excuses himself from the work. “Fine. Go ahead. He seems like a polite boy, and the student of Zeko. Make sure he doesn’t have any trouble.”

Nandan puts an arm around Hatori’s shoulder, and leads him off before his father can change his voice. He brings him to a quiet location with soft grass instead of gravel. He then sits on the grass, and Hatori sits in front of him.

“Thanks for that. I was getting bored. You can only pack so many oranges.”

“Not a problem. But shouldn’t you be in the academy?” asked Hatori.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, you must be old enough to go there, judging by your voice.” explains Hatori.

“Got it right in one go.” Praised Nandan. “I’m currently on an extended vacation, because I’ve just finished the junior dueling championship.”

“So, how is the academy?” asked Hatori.

“Hmm. Tell you what, wrestle with me, and then I’ll tell you.” said Nandan.

Getting up, Hatori agrees. “You’re on.”

Both boys try to take down each other. Despite being younger than him, Hatori surprises Nandan by not yielding to him so easily. Unfortunately, his age proved to be a limitation. The stronger boy got him in the ground. But Hatori proved to be slippery and hard to control. He did not allow Nandan to pin him easily. But he did get pinned, eventually.

Both boys take their former sitting position, after brushing their clothes. “So does that mean you won’t tell me anything?” asked Hatori. After all, he lost.

“Nah. I said, just wrestle with me. You didn’t need to win.” Said Nandan. “I must pick up my training if I’m having trouble with a boy three years younger than me.” He grumbled.

“Master Zeko’s training is effective.” Said Hatori.

“No doubt about it. Now, let’s talk about the academy.” Leaning close conspiratorially, he continues. “Let me tell you, Hatori, that place is not like a normal school.”

“How?” asked Hatori, interested.

“You see, in a normal school, you have to follow rules and regulations. But here, as long as you can pass the test at the end of the year, you can do whatever. Skip classes, independent studies, or take part in competitions, like I did.”

“That sounds great.” Hatori said with a grin. A place where he could study independently sounds awesome to him.

“You already are doing the same thing. Train with Zeko, and do the homework for the school, and give the end year exams. I think you’ll do great there.” ‘Assuming you survived.’ He thought of the last part.

“You seem to enjoy wrestling.”

“Yeah! It is such a shame that people actually don’t pay attention to it. Not everything has to revolve around magic.” said Nandan.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” asked Hatori.

“Yeah, an older brother. He’s currently studying with the general Sundar. You might have heard of him.” Nandan seems to admire his older brother. His tone changes when he talks about him.

“Yeah, I think I’ve even heard his voice once on court.”

“You’ve been on the court?” Nandan seemed shocked.

“Yeah. It is getting late though. I should go back. Zeko doesn’t like it when I’m late for dinner.” Said Hatori. In reality, he never had a reason to stay outside before dinner.

“Yeah sure. See you later.”

PART 3.

Hatori receives a blow to his face, making him take a step back in surprised pain. He senses a tree at the entrance. Each time he enters its range, the tree tries to hit him with its branches.

Hatori tries to pierce the tree, but it bats the spell aside with its branches. However, Hatori does some damage with Slicing spell, after which the tree disappears.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Hatori decides that he won’t go outside anymore. The rain has just started. If he would have failed to beat the tree, he had to stay in the rain outside. He has no interest in doing something like that.

(End.)