Chapter 82.

PART 1.

Hatori is fighting with spirits. Now he has gotten good enough with this that he can even carry on a conversation, which he is currently doing. In the opinion of this narrator, talking while fighting is a stupid idea; you shouldn’t do that, kids.

‘So, when will you modify my friends?’ asked the snake.

‘And my gang.’ Added the elephant.

“Just send them to the pond already. I thought you did that,” said Hatori, while clapping his hand, and generating a loud sound of thunder.

‘I told you we should have done that already.’ Said the snake.

The elephant grumbled. ‘Anyway, can you add further modifications?’ asked the snake.

“No, not now.” Said Hatori. “What I’ve done is a limit to my knowledge. Maybe next year I could add some other things. You can think of tons of new things in the meantime.”

‘Makes sense.” Said the snake, hissing in surprise by sensing the vibration in the ground. The earth element plays havoc with his senses.

After nailing the final spirit with a metal shard to the ground, Hatori is done with dealing with them. His transmutation is coming along nicely, judging by how quickly he turned the rock behind the spirit into metal. Then, he just made the spirit stumble with the earth element and bam! You got one impaled spirit. That didn’t last long, though, as it disappeared into the smoke.

“I should learn the wind element to deal with those flying spirits.” Muttered Hatori while walking away.

‘Why the hell do you need that?’ asked the elephant. ‘You can already use fire and lightning to deal with them.’

“True, but I would like to upset their flight. I suspect I also will get a lot of range to attack them in the sky if they try to run from me,” said Hatori.

“Do you have enough time to do that?’ asked the snake.

“No. too many things, not enough time,” said Hatori.

‘Where are you going anyway?” asked the elephant.

“I’m going to find the Academy’s kitchen. My body cannot sustain itself on the food I scrounge up here, if it weren’t for my friends delivering nutrition potions every day, I would have collapsed a long time ago.” Said Hatori.

‘Those smelly stinking piles of goo are nutritious?’ said the elephant in surprise.

“Yes.” Said Hatori.

‘And I suppose the food is not up to the standard here?’ mocked the snake.

“The problem is not the food here; the problem is me. I don’t know how to plan a nutritious diet.” Said Hatori.

‘Fine. Do come back safely.” Said the snake.

‘Or else we won’t save you.’ said the elephant.

‘That’s a lie. Don’t believe him.’ said the snake.

‘No, I never lied.’ Said the elephant.

Leaving the two arguing creatures behind, Hatori sneaks into the Academy. At this point, he has learned that older students don’t have enough magical sensing training, not enough to sense someone’s magic to pick out an invisible third-year from the crowd. He looks around, where exactly could the kitchen be? Students are not told about it at all, and it is not on any map of the school either. Which means only the staff knows about it.

But the mess hall is always in use since students and professors alike often eat at different times according to their work. Some of them work at night, so naturally they need food at that time. But since it gets delivered there quietly, the kitchen must be close to the mess hall itself. Hanging around the hall for an hour doesn’t reveal anything, aside from making Hatori think that the food is teleported there. Which wouldn’t surprise him.

Walking away from the mess hall, Hatori detects a faint smell of food in the air; more specifically, the food is cooking somewhere. ‘Where is this smell coming from?’ He turns around in a circle, trying to find the source.

He then considers a path which he and his year-mates never take; and even among adults, it is rarely used. So, he decides to go there. The smell gets stronger and stronger, while the path itself goes downward like a slide. He finds what he is looking for.

“Now, roast that chapati carefully, don’t use too much ghee! Prepare the potatoes already, and where is the gravy I told you to ready?” Comes a near-constant voice from inside. It sounds very evil and dangerous. Like if you do not follow the orders, the voice will cook you alive instead.

Also, for some reason, the voice sounds inhuman to Hatori’s ears. ‘Maybe these are sentient yantras?’ he thought.

He opens the door to the kitchen, dropping his spell in the process. He closes the door just as quickly. It wouldn’t do if someone saw him inside, now, would it? Even though no one is there according to his magical sensing. But paranoia has served him well so far, and Hatori is not willing to abandon it yet.

The activity inside stops. This isn’t the first time a student has found this place, though this one is the youngest. Usually, a bout of overwhelming violence follows, making the student in question think whether they hallucinated in this place after getting drunk, and the injuries can be explained by a drunken fight. But things have to be different with this younger student.

Hatori senses the layout of the kitchen and its occupants. “I haven’t seen Yantras like you yet.” He spoke.

They are all quite short, and the tallest among them comes up to his chest. However, he gets a sense of physical and magical strength from them, not to mention, they do not feel like a yantra, an artificial sentient lifeform.

“Yantra? Yantra? How dare you call us a machine?” Said the one who was doing the yelling earlier. “We are dwarves. I am Khansama, and these are my people, who work for this school, preparing food for the humans every day."

“Dwarves?” said Hatori.

“Of course!” Said the Khansama. “Haven’t you learned about us on an extraterrestrial course already?”

“No. I didn’t take that course.” Said Hatori.

“I couldn’t believe it. the nerve of the humans!” Said Khansama, slamming his hand to the counter where he was sitting. “This kind of ignorance cannot be tolerated!”

“Then give me knowledge.” Said Hatori, silencing the tirade immediately.

“Ahem. Of course. Rest of you, back to work. No need to gawk!” Said Khansama. “Now, on this planet, humans are the dominant race, for better or for worse. But this isn’t true outside. Goblins, Orcs, we, the Dwarves, and those damned, insolent, arrogant Elves are a few of the powerful races.”

“But I thought you were fictional.” Said Hatori.

“Nonsense.” Said the Dwarf. “I am here talking to you, aren’t I?”

“So, does that mean Dragons also exist?” asked Hatori.

“Well… yes. But let me tell you, kid, you wouldn’t want to bother them. They are very private creatures, and they despise anyone who interferes in their business.” Said Khansama.

“Sounds like my kind of reptile.” Said Hatori. “Although I appreciate this info, I am not here to learn about what is going on outside of my planet.”

“Why are you here then?” asked the Dwarf.

“I need nutritious food.” Said Hatori.

“Hmm. Probably because you’re on a demanding path of magic. I hear it is insanely difficult to manage without it. but why should we give it to you?” asked the Dwarf. “After all, we make food for the students already, who are you to march here, and demand special service from us?”

“Because I was banished unfairly.” Said Hatori. “And Krishna Menon will pay the price for that!” Hatori’s control slips for a moment, and a pan goes flying.

“Krishna Menon, you say?” said the Dwarf.

“Yes. You know of him?” asked Hatori.

“Unfortunately.” Grumbled Khansama. “That bastard tried to cut our pay. Thankfully, your headmaster realized the idiocy and stopped it right there. Fine, we hate him enough to help you. but you must entertain me.”

“In what way?” asked Hatori, wearily, readying his magic for a battle.

“Grappler!” called Khansama.

“Yes boss!” said a hefty Dwarf.

“You’re up.” Grappler takes his position in the center of the kitchen, while Khansama explains to Hatori what he wants from him. “You will fight him hand-to-hand, with no magic. don’t use gouging or kicking below the belt. if you did that, we’ll flay you alive, you hear me?”

“Crystal.” Sighed Hatori.

There was no signal for starting the fight. Both of them circled each other in the kitchen, while the rest of the Dwarves cheered on from the sidelines, work forgotten for the moment. Grappler is shorter than Hatori, and even shorter than Khansama. And yet, he is physically strong enough to lift an adult easily, much less a twelve-year-old. Hatori decides that he won’t attack. He will let his opponent come to him instead.

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After a while, Grappler did exactly that, coming at him with explosive speed. Hatori caught him in the middle, however, his lessons from the physical magic book coming now useful. But this isn’t a spar; things could turn deadly. So Hatori paws over Grappler’s body, looking for a grip. But the Dwarf proves to be slippery. When he tried to get away, Hatori sweeps his leg and entangles his legs with his own. He then tries to get at his neck, but a punch right in the face stopped that. He was then picked up, and thrown across the kitchen, while the crowd cheered the Dwarf.

‘Getting thrown on a marble floor hurts.’ Noted Hatori, ignoring the pain and spitting the blood aside. The Dwarf is thundering towards him, and soon enough he is on top of him.

This time, he tries to find a grip, a hand, a leg, or even another leg. Hatori defended quite well for someone who is not very experienced in this position. He usually dominates anyone who gets in a physical fight with him, since mages do not pay attention to their physical strength. But here, he has no such advantage. Grappler is stronger than him. However, he dropped his guard and left his neck unprotected. What’s more, he gave Hatori access to it, when he tried to lock the legs of this tall human, by turning around and presenting Hatori with his back.

Letting the Dwarf sit on his legs, Hatori sits up, and wraps his both arms around the neck of Grappler, bringing him to the ground with him, while maintaining the choke. He did not let go until Boss Dwarf stopped the fight. “Enough. The child has won. Grappler won’t be escaping this choke any time soon.”

Indeed, the struggles of the Dwarf were going fainter and fainter, before Khansama announced the end of the fight, and Hatori had to release his neck. “Heal him,” orders Khansama. Hatori thought Khansama was referring to Grappler, but a wave of magic comes at him. his magic rises in response since he unconsciously thought it was a threat. Since it felt like the magic of those spirits who attacked him in Zeko’s house and the forest. But the wave of magic calms him down, soothes his body, and leaves him with a feeling of peace.

“Looks like you’re getting old.” Mocked Khansama.

“Looks like that boss, but my cooking is still top-notch.” Said Grappler proudly.

“Yes. Now get back to work!” said the boss, while everyone goes back to their tasks quickly.

“You did well, kid, you beat the former champion of Dwarven unarmed combat. There’s a reason why he’s named Grappler.” Said Khansama. “And don’t worry, we will deliver the nutritious food to you in the forest.”

“How will you find me?” asked Hatori, dusting his clothes.

“Leave that to us,” said Khansama.

PART 2.

Raven is playing shogi with Maria. Much to her fury, Raven always wins their chess matches, and now that he has gotten experienced in shogi as well, she seems to be losing to him in that game as well. ‘Maybe I should challenge him in Go next?’ she thinks while making her move.

Raven is not thinking about the game he is playing right now. Instead, he is thinking of what kind of chaos Hatori will cause next. ‘The time for the festival is coming. Would he make his move then?’ he thought, while responding to Maria’s move.

‘I do hope that Professor Useless will overturn that banishment, at least for the festival.’ He thought. ‘Ah, who am I kidding? You can’t straighten a dog’s tail.’

PART 3.

The dog’s tail, I mean, Krishna Menon is thinking about Hatori. “What do you think? Has the forest broken his spirit by now?” he asked Surbha.

“Well, no one has seen him outside of that area.” Said Surbha.

They have a way to monitor Hatori’s life, to check whether he is alive or dead. But beyond that, they are not tracking anything else. “For all we know, he might be badly injured.” Said Surbha.

“You worry too much.” Said Krishna. “I’ll let him suffer for a while more, and then check on him. Let’s see whether he learns to sing a different tune or not.”

PART 4.

Hatori comes back from the kitchen to see the aftermath of the war. Trees are toppled, fires are raging, and the ground is leveled. “What happened here?” he asked in shock.

‘Oh, nothing much.” Said the snake, crawling out of the surviving trees. ‘Some of our associates thought that they could dislodge us from leadership after gaining their new powers.’

‘But don’t worry, they’ve learned their lessons. I have the biggest dick, and they’ll always be under me.’ said the elephant.

Hatori takes a moment to process this. “You guys are going to help me plant new trees here.”

‘Aww, come on, that is boring.’ Said the snake.

‘I the mighty elephant plant no trees!’ declared the elephant, with his trunk in the air.

The lightning sparks around Hatori, as he brings full pressure of his magic to bare down upon the two creatures. “You will help me in planting new trees, and that is final!”

‘Okay, whatever you say, my lord.’ They said together.

Privately, they didn’t think it was such a big matter. Hatori has already increased the fruity trees in the forest since he often plants the seeds after eating the fruits. So if they toppled a few trees, that shouldn’t be such a big matter. But whatever, if it makes him feel happy, then they’ll plant trees for him.

“Anyway, the situation with my nutritious food is sorted out. but I need to know, can I talk to other creatures like I do with you?” he asked.

‘Yeah, sure.” Said the snake. ‘Though remember, outside of this area, you won’t find intelligent creatures like us.’

‘The method is simple. We send our thoughts to you; your mind receives them like a radio, and then those are parsed into your languages. That is how we communicate among ourselves.’ Explained the elephant.

“And lifting memories out of my mind bit?” asked Hatori.

‘Well, if you’re receiving something, then you’re also sending something out. We use that to get access to your memories.’ said the snake.

“Anyway to defend against it?” asked Hatori.

‘You will have to focus on your thoughts. First, try to communicate this way with us. Once you get that part down, then you can understand how thoughts are being sent and received. Then, you will have an idea of how to conceal them.’ explained the elephant.

“Great.” Said Hatori. He can already hear Zeko crowing about meditation.

‘Oh well, I’m living like a sage in a forest. Might as well meditate like one.’ thought Hatori.

PART 5.

“Ug. Sometimes, I wonder why I even bothered taking so many classes. Hatori had the right idea.” Said Josh while entering the dorm, complaining about his work.

“Yeah right.” Said Raven. “At least you don’t need to write essays on every damn thing.”

“At least you don’t need to prove everything.” Said Josh, not happy with Raven’s language.

“Oh, give me a break. Aside from math, you don’t have any hard classes. I’m handling history and math, so I also got proofs, just so you know. Shin is learning about music, so he has his own thing going on. James is handling potions and runes, which are a headache together. What are you doing?” asked Raven.

“Handling magical combat.” Said Josh. “I don’t know, why you are so triggered with just a harmless thing, I said.”

“Harmless? Harmless? Our friend is trapped outside in a forest, and you dare to complain about your classwork and call it a harmless thing?” said Raven, getting face-to-face with Josh.

“What does that have to do with anything?” asked Josh. “I’m also sad that he got banished. But maybe he deserved it. Maybe he’ll learn not to be so stubborn.”

“And learn to take punches like you, like a coward?” said Raven.

“How dare you call me a coward?” said Josh, cocking his hand back for a punch, all the magic being forgotten in his anger.

“Well, answer me this then. Why haven’t you visited him once?” asked Raven. “If it weren’t for me and James, he would have gone mad in that forest. I go there to deliver his potions every day, but I haven’t seen you do anything.”

Josh punched Raven in his face. “Then why don’t you bring this up with Shin and James?” asked Josh, “They don’t go there either.”

Raven tripped Josh, making him hit the ground when he tried to move forward in the room. “Because unlike you, they go whenever they have time. You, on the other hand, have only been there once or twice.”

Shin and James watch the entire argument from the side, unable to stop it from developing into a brawl. Both boys were left with bruises from this fight; they will be feeling its effect for several days, both physically and mentally.

(End.)