Chapter 91.

PART 1.

After his fight yesterday, Hatori is healed up since Zeko dunked him in the pool of Yaksha, which has magical properties to accelerate healing in its water. The pool is located deep in the house, and it is guarded by Yaksha, a water elemental spirit. Hatori still has no clue about these spirits and shadows, what they are, where they come from, and why the mages tolerate them. In his understanding of humanity, humans annihilate anything which they fear or do not understand.

“Rise and shine!” said Zeko, entering his room.

Stretching his jaws with a yawn, he greets his master. “Good morning master Zeko. Did I win the fight yesterday?”

“Of course, you won.” Said Zeko. “But you were pretty out of it by the end. I think you were running on autopilot.”

“I was. I don’t remember being brought into the house at all.” Said Hatori.

He is not surprised by the autopilot phrase. Mages do have flying ships, so they probably call people who fly those ships pilots. Naturally, if you automate the process, you will get an autopilot. ‘I must find a ship. I’ll dismantle their autopilot system to see how it works.’ He thought, grinning at the possibility.

“Come On, it is time for breakfast.” Said Zeko. “And brush your teeth.”

“I always brush my teeth. I’m thirteen!” he grumbled.

Zeko hid a smile. It is so fun to tease students, especially when they hit their teenage years. Though Hatori is the one who has lived with him, and trained under him for the longest. He hasn’t complained much so far, but then again, he does not have any other options. He knows that, and that's why his complaining is minimal.

‘But I’ll change that in the next few years.’ He grinned while imagining Hatori cursing his name until he was old and dying.

‘All in the name of good —I mean training.’ He must not slip into his thoughts.

At breakfast, Zeko is giving his thoughts about the battle of yesterday. “I noticed that you have learned the lightning element. I couldn’t teach you because I’m not good at that element. If you would have damaged yourself, I wouldn’t be able to help you. But I am good with fire; so, I taught you that one. I must add though, that it is rare to see the use of multiple elements at your age.”

“Thanks.” Said Hatori. “Professor Dhiraj helped me in learning the lightning element.”

“And I’m glad he did. You could have electrocuted your own heart otherwise.” Hatori pales after hearing that. “Though I notice that aside from the fire element, the rest of your elements lack the hard-hitting spells.”

“I don’t have much practice with earth, though I built an underground camp with that,” said Hatori.

“Indeed?” said Zeko.

“Well, I got some help. but I dig the whole for it,” said Hatori.

Zeko just smiled. Hatori ignored him and continues. “And I couldn’t study up on lightning spells much because I had to sneak everywhere. By the time everything got sorted, I didn’t have enough time.”

“No matter. I’m sure you will learn good spells in the future.” Said Zeko. “Now, this year, I will focus on training you in manners, that you should use while meeting with older or more influential mages. And apart from that, the use of transmutation and animation in battle. Your fight would have been so much easier yesterday if you would have used it properly. But before then?” He suddenly attacked Hatori, trying to stab him with a fork, which he conjured so fast that Hatori thought he was hiding it in his sleeve.

Overturning his chair, Hatori avoids the stabbing attempt, as well as the spells coming his way cast from the fork. Despite the unusual foci, the spells do not lack in force, as various cutleries and frames attest to. Hatori has no interest in suffering a hit this early in the morning.

“Good. Your dodging is up to the standard.” Said Zeko. “I would have to bring it up otherwise. I was looking forward to it, truth be told.”

He had a whole plan of attacking out of nowhere and screaming “Dodge!” at the top of his lungs to train the dodging skills of his pupil. Guess he won’t get to do that anymore. “Anyway, I’ll train you in the transmutation and animation for the battle, and manners. It will take a long time, so be ready.”

The manners and etiquette lessons were enough to test his patience. He suspects Hatori might explode from sheer frustration by the end of his vacation. For now, Hatori gets to relax, but Zeko laments that he never has enough time to train him properly. If he had more time, his banishment would be so much easier to endure.

‘I wonder what exactly is animation?’ thought Hatori. This is new for him. But he reserves his questions until when training starts. It is time to relax.

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PART 2.

Ramesh Tandan is the president of the student council. This body was created a hundred years ago by students who wanted to reach out to the administrators of the Academy. However, it got corrupted fairly quickly and became a tool for the students from the high families. Ever since it has been used to squash any rebellious thoughts among the students of the lower cast, the most recent example being against Hatori Eagle.

Ramesh is in his eighth year, a tall and handsome boy of seventeen; he has all the hallmarks of a noble. He has kept this position since his fifth year, and he will leave the position of president next year when he graduates. Currently, he is meeting Santosh Dhakad, a recent addition to the council. Professor Krishna Menon has been on Hatori’s case, and since the banishment card failed to yield any result, he wishes to take out the boy. Ramesh has thought of giving this responsibility to Santosh to prove himself. If he can’t take out a fourth year despite being a sixth-year student, he does not deserve to be on the council.

Santosh greets him by bowing and clasping his hands, as befits his position. “Rise.” He commanded. “I have called you for a special task.” He spoke. “Professor Krishna Menon wants that blind boy taken out, or subdued. If you manage to do this, your influence in the council will increase, and you will have my support.”

Santosh smiles. “I will not fail you, sir.” He spoke. “May I leave to plan?”

Ramesh smiles in return. “Of course.”

Santosh leaves the room and relaxes his body. Meeting the president can be so tense sometimes. If he manages to do this right, he will take full advantage of this, and bid for becoming the next president.

PART 3.

James is restricted by Shakuntala in his own house.

“Grab the boy!”

Correction: James was restricted by Shakuntala in his own house.

He was not allowed to leave for the castle this year. But he didn’t like to obey someone when they did not own his house. James escaped the house with the clothes on his back, but the local goons are pursuing him with Lucie on their heels.

When he realizes that he won’t be leaving without a fight, he stops running and turns around. He opens with an earthquake, shaking the buildings nearby, and disrupting the footing of his pursuers. He laughed after seeing Lucie fall face-first after the ground started to shake. ‘Serves her right to run after me in high heels.’

Focusing on the goons, he continues his ground attack. Focusing as they came close to him, several arms came out of the ground and grabbed their legs. He did another earthquake, and the buildings nearby fell on his pursuers. He felt guilty for doing property damage like this, but he quickly got over it, as Lucie is on top of him.

Though she opens with an acid spell, which turns anything it touches into acid, she fails to follow up on that. Lucie is not used to the violence, since she has always made someone else do that for her. After all, the lady is not supposed to dirty her hands.

But James has spent three years around a guy who is often in violent situations and has also trained with four strong mages constantly. Lucie is no match for him. He doesn’t give her a chance to use another spell, she looked painfully slow in casting after going against duelers like Shin and Hatori. He extracts water from the air, and soon enough has a swirling whirlpool on the top of his head.

All this water is directed at Lucie, and it hits her right in her face. She cracks her head in the street with the force of water, and she is carried beyond the rubble of the fallen building. Not caring about her condition, James starts to run. He does not doubt that more goons would come after him if he waited too long. Patting his pocket, he is happy to have brought enough money to pay for the trip to the City of Throne.

PART 4.

Hatori has started to befriend the crows around the property of Zeko. It is a slow process since these crows are not as smart as the crows around the Academy. But he is slowly winning their trust. He has also gotten a chick to raise when he found an empty nest, and after waiting for hours, no crow returned in it.

Zeko doesn’t mind him raising the chick, as long as he takes care of and cleans after it. The crows use images instead of a proper language telepathically here, which is harder to understand. But Hatori is sure that he will get used to it soon enough, and the younger crows will pick up the language from him. already they have started to use some words.

Also, some of them just love showing off the area around where they fly, the things they observe, and even their less than charitable thoughts about the humans they encounter, or how they just love pestering other animals, such as repeatedly pecking at a dog’s tail which is double the size of a crow.

(End.)