Chapter 57.

PART 1.

Hatori regains consciousness and gets up from the floor. His body doesn’t feel stiff, and there is no bruise on his neck. The medic yantras worked on him when he was unconscious, judging from the smell of potions in the room.

He decides to track down the pool about which Zeko was talking and see what is so special about it.

He takes a right after reaching the door of the bathroom and finds himself in an open and sunny place. There is no roof here, and only a massive door. He thinks whether he should open it or not, but, Hatori decides he might as well open the door since he has come far. This much effort is a lot for a lazy child like him.

Despite its size, the door opens smoothly, without too much noise. Hatori senses a lot of water in this place, and he feels it gets deeper the further you get. But he doesn’t feel anything special besides that. Before he can step into the water, a voice stops him.

“Halt!”

A tall man appears before Hatori, stopping him in his tracks. Before his height, Hatori looked like a small fly. Though his magic sensing doesn’t give him a sense of color unless he is looking for it, if Hatori could see, he would see the color of the skin of this tall man is blue from head to toe. But where did this man come from? Aside from Zeko and himself, Hatori hasn’t found anyone else living in this house.

“You cannot enter the water without my permission.” He said.

“Who are you?” asked Hatori.

“I am Yaksha. And I guard this body of water. You can’t enter it unless you satisfy my conditions.” He explains.

“I thought you guys were just stories.” Said Hatori, remembering reading the stories of yakshas in his textbooks back in his home dimension.

“We are not stories.” Said Yaksha. He seems more patient than the ones in the stories. “We generally decide to keep it to ourselves.”

“Makes sense.” Said Hatori. He wishes to live a life like that one day. “But what is so special about this water? Why master Zeko has told you to guard it?”

“What makes you think that your master has told me to guard it?” asked Yaksha.

“Because he will never keep this pool on his property otherwise. He would have thrown you out, or died trying.” Yaksha laughed after hearing this.

“How do you know that he would behave like this?” He asked.

“Because that is what I would do.” Said Hatori. “And though we are not each other’s copies, I do see similarities between Master Zeko and me.”

The Yaksha is having the time of his life. Most of Zeko’s students are terrified, or too subservient to talk to him so openly. “To answer your question, this water is imbued with special alchemical properties, which help in recovery and healing. One dip in the water of this pool, and your body regains its prime shape.”

“But I don’t sense anything special in the water. does my magic sensing lack something?” wonders Hatori.

“No. You just haven’t trained your elemental magic to that level yet. Now, if you wish to use this pool, you must defeat me in combat. Are you ready for that?” asked Yaksha. With that question, his tone shifted from relaxed and laid-back to dangerous.

“Am I allowed to challenge you if I fail today?” asked Hatori before saying anything else.

If this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, he doesn’t want to waste it. “You may challenge me in the future if you fail today.”

Hatori brings out his staff, and the Yaksha takes it as a sign of aggression. He attacks Hatori with a whip of water, the force of which throws Hatori to the side. Who knew that getting whipped from water hurts so much? He’s glad that it wasn’t a blade, though. His life would have been over otherwise.

Hatori retaliates with Slicer, aiming right at the midsection of Yaksha. Due to his size, Hatori has no trouble targeting him. The spells do connect, but they don’t have the same effect as he hoped for. Instead of slicing him in half, the spells only made a mark on his body. Instead of a whip, a fist of water descends on Hatori’s head.

“You will have to try harder than this to beat me, child!” He roared, and Hatori feels like he heard a river prepare for combat with that roar.

His basic shield stops the impact of the water fist, but its momentum still throws Hatori across the room, making him collide with the door. Holding his head after that impact, he retaliates with Poison Stingers, which all connect. But that still didn’t have much of an impact. But Hatori decides to wait for them to take effect. In the meantime, he keeps the Yaksha busy with Slicers and Piercing spells, targeting his midsection and knees.

Instead of a water-shaped attack though, the Yaksha surrounds Hatori’s head with water, drowning him while standing outside of the water. His arms were restrained by chains of water, which do not give a sign of how much Hatori strains to free them. He feels like he is bound with a sponge. Gurgling, he focuses magic on his throat without even thinking about it and fires the Blast spell from his mouth. The sphere hits Yaksha right in his face, and as a result of his surprise, he loses control over the water surrounding Hatori’s head and the chains restraining his arms. All that water splashes on the ground harmlessly.

Coffing the water out of his mouth, and nose, Hatori straightens. “I didn’t know I could do that.” which just goes to show how useful fociless magic is.

Taking advantage of the distracted state of Yaksha, Hatori launches himself at him, attacking him physically. Though he can’t move him because of his size and bulk, Hatori’s rudimentary training with the flames of the candles allows him to summon a small flame. This is the first time he is doing this, just following the instincts of his magic. The flame lands where no man wishes to be on fire, and the Yaksha howls before falling into the water. Yeah, I can understand why he did that.

Hatori throws many spheres of Blast into the pool, splashing water everywhere, and causing havoc within the water. The element of Yaksha has become his enemy, as the Blast spell is proving to be much more devastating in the water than in the ground. After raining down five Blast spells on the pool in succession, Hatori waits for the Yaksha to get out of the water, preparing for the final Blast spell. This is all the energy he has left now.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Slowly, he gets out of the water. “I give up.” He said in a haggard voice. “Please stop blasting me.”

“Phew.” Hatori breathed and released the Blast spell ready to be launched on his palm. “I can use the pool now, right?” He asked.

“Yes.” Confirmed Yaksha, and then he just disappeared.

No sign of him. no magic use, no splash of water, nothing. He was there one moment, talking to him, and gone the very next moment. Hatori entertains the possibility of getting tricked, but given his exhausted, wet clothes, and water everywhere, both of which were dry when he entered this room, the only water being in the pool, he discards the possibility.

Shaking his head, he removes his wet clothes. He’ll change them later in his room after relaxing in the pool.

PART 2.

James is packing his bag for the trip to the castle. From there, Josh’s uncle will drop them to Zeko’s house, where they can meet with Hatori.

“You can’t go anywhere without my permission.”

Unfortunately, Eva has gotten in her head that James is her servant, and she can command him to not go anywhere without her permission. James knows that when other younger kids like their older siblings or cousins, they behave like this. But when the kid in question calls you their servant, it is pretty obvious what they are thinking, no matter the age. James will fry anyone in a vat of oil who defends Eva through the “She’s just young” argument.

“If you won’t listen, I’ll tell you how you are a disobedient servant, and she’ll punish you for it!” She threatens him.

“Learn to speak properly before commanding me.” Said James. “And go ahead. Complain to your mother. I don’t care.”

Ignoring the spoiled brat, James continues his packing. Judging from her footsteps, she will go to Shakuntala, who is sitting in the office which belongs to his father. The near thought caused rage within him; he bent his comb without realizing it.

He listens to the ever-loudening cries of Eva. He deduces that Shakuntala refused her request to stop him. ‘Of course, she did. She thinks of manipulating Hatori through me.’ thinks James.

‘I won’t let that happen. I must teach him about family politics as soon as I can.’

Done with his packing, James quickly leaves with a family servant generously provided by Shakuntala. The man will go to the King’s Castle with him, and will then return. James has no intention of returning home for the rest of the summer.

PART 3.

Shin leaves the orphanage for the castle. He has some money with him, but no adult to travel with him on the airship. At least the warden is coming with him to the landing zone to drop him off.

Once the ship lands in the City of Throne, Shin will have to make his way to the castle and hope that they won’t throw him out. If that happens, he could spend his time outside, but that would be inconvenient.

PART 4.

Raven and Josh are excited to see the house of Zeko. From Hatori’s description, it sounds like a massive place, perfect for exploring and having lots of fun.

The fact they get to spend time there with their other friends from Academy is a bonus. “Say, do you think Zeko will be furious with us if we cause too much racket in his house?” wonders Raven.

“Nah, he doesn’t seem the type to flip out just because of some noise.” Said Josh. “Though I’m surprised that he did allow Hatori to invite us.”

“He must care for him,” said Raven.

Though they don’t mind the workouts anymore since the Academy has changed them a little, they still don’t look forward to the intense training of Zeko. They just know that Hatori will drag them into it, just out of spite.

Once James arrives, they welcome him. “Master James, I must take my leave now.” Said the man who came with him.

“You may.” Said James. “Tell my father that I arrived here safely.”

“Will do that, sir.” With those parting words, the man leaves.

About an hour or so of chatting later, Shin arrives. “Hey, guys.” He greets them enthusiastically.

“Yo!” Josh greeted him back with an equal amount of energy.

“I was worried that I would be thrown out of the castle,” he said to them.

“Nah, it hasn’t happened under Porus yet.” Said Josh. “And even if that happened, we would help you. right?”

“Right.” Said Raven and James, though the latter wonders, what he could do in that situation.

“Ready to go kids?” asked Josh’s uncle.

“Yep!” nodded Josh. They all pile up in the personal flier of Josh’s uncle and leave.

The flier is more like a magical dimension’s version of a helicopter. This narrator is very jealous at this moment.

PART 5.

“And the worst part about it is that he just kept blasting me underwater!” said Yaksha, reporting about Hatori’s combat earlier in the day.

“I’m surprised that you let him win though.” Said Zeko. “Getting blasted underwater is hardly a thing that can defeat you.”

“True.” Nodded the spirit. “But consider this. He doesn’t have much knowledge of magic, not enough to defeat me on an equal footing. I also don’t have any balls, about which he doesn’t know, because he doesn’t know about spirits yet. It was the best thing that I lost to him just by using a quarter of my power.”

“He’s coming.” Said Zeko. “We’ll talk later.”

The Yaksha disappears, as Hatori opens the door. “So, I hear you got access to the pool.” He said to Hatori.

“Already know about it, huh?” said Hatori, nothing is hidden in this house from Zeko.

“Important places like that are guarded by spirits in this house. Such as the library.” Said Zeko with a hinting tone.

“I’ll try my luck later there.” Said Hatori.

‘Smart.’ Thinks Zeko. ‘No need to get overconfident, boy.’ thinks Zeko, taking a sip of his tea.

Both of them wait for Hatori’s friends to arrive. He is too anxious to sit in one place.

(End.)