The visit to the magic school left Linda with mixed feelings. On the one hand, she admired the majestic and spacious building, specially designed for the training and accommodation of future magicians, and appreciated the care and professionalism of the teachers. However, she couldn't help but notice the insufficient level of their training. Moreover, the textbooks offered to the students left much to be desired.
"With such textbooks, they will never reach your level" She told the director: "There is not enough detail, explanations are often confusing. And even those who are already familiar with the material may not always understand what is being discussed. Without high-quality textbooks, they simply will not be able to learn well. A mentor can teach one or two students without textbooks, but not twenty! It will not be possible to transfer all the necessary information to everyone separately".
"What do you suggest?" Ekar Denish asked: "I myself understand that our books are very far from perfect, but where else can I find others? At one time, the Mashun Temple did not allow free trade in books on magic and bought out all bookstores. They even forced the magicians to sell their own books. Those that we have, we have collected with great difficulty. Of course, we can write our own books, but the king will not give us time for this".
"We will provide books suitable for teaching in elementary courses" Helena promised: "Of course, we cannot give them away for good, just return them later. Find scribes who can draw and have them prepare books for you. Be sure to keep an eye on them so that they don't make mistakes. You will need at least twenty books, and it is best if even more are written. I'm sure the king will pay for this job. We're going to talk to him today. And let the teachers themselves carefully read these books. Apart from you, Yerber, and one woman named Dona, the others are clearly very weak. They know the basic skills, but they can't explain it to their students".
"Helena and I think that you did not plan the students in groups very correctly" Another remark was made: "Instead of separating them by age, we believe that they should be separated by abilities. This way, the training will be more effective. Currently, half of the students do not fully assimilate the material in the lessons, and then they will spend a lot of time trying to figure out the textbooks that you give".
"I do not agree to give books to higher education courses" Helena added: "And not at all because I regret sharing my knowledge or am afraid of it. They contain a lot of information that can harm both you and your students. I suggest that Master Rinda write out the basic materials in a separate notebook, to which I will add my explanations. Thus, you will be able to study these materials without any risk. The rest should be studied only under the supervision of a master. In the future, if possible, my daughter will study with one of the teachers and with the best students. Would you mind our suggestions?"
"I was hoping that you would take an active part in the education of children" The director replied with obvious disappointment: "But thanks for your offer anyway. At the moment, I am in such a predicament that I will be grateful for any help".
"Listen, dear" Linda said: "I completely understand your point of view, but my mother and I have a very important matter planned in the near future, so we simply will not be able to teach children".
At that moment, the conversation was interrupted by a servant whom the king had sent to deliver a message that His Majesty was waiting for Madame Marquise and her daughter at dinner. The women quickly said goodbye to the director and, accompanied by Fancor, went to the palace. The servant who met the ladies led them into a small royal dining room, opened the doors and left. In the spacious room there were three dining arrangements, behind which were located: the king himself, a young guy about fifteen years old who looks like him, and a beautiful girl with beautiful lush red hair. The King rose and greeted the ladies who entered:
"Marquise, glad to see you! Greetings, Rinda! In this refectory, I have lunch with my brother and the people I love. There are no servants here, so it is not necessary to observe etiquette, as is customary everywhere. Have a seat at the table with us. We didn't start lunch on purpose because we wanted to wait for you".
"I thank you for your courtesy, Your Majesty" Helena replied: "But it is more customary for me to address you by your title".
"I hope your daughter doesn't adhere to etiquette so much. Let me introduce you to my brother Horace and his girlfriend Maglaya Lang" The king continued.
The prince stood up and bowed respectfully, and the Muggle greeted them with a nod of her head, looking with interest at the women sitting at the table. Linda bowed slightly to her in return as well. The king's girlfriend looked quite like a beautiful human girl, except her eyes were glowing red. Also, talking to her, you could notice small sharp fangs, but much smaller than those that Linda conjured for herself, scaring her mentor. The prince took the dish next to him and moved closer to the guests together with him.
"May I sit next to you?" He asked Linda, giving her a kind smile: "My brother demanded a promise from me that I would not molest you. It was with great chagrin that I had to agree. But is it still possible to just chat with someone other than you? Maybe after that we'll like each other".
"Bully!" The king smiled: "Only the grave can fix someone like you".
"Have you been practicing on this performance for a long time, Horace?" Linda asked.
"What do you mean?" The prince asked in surprise.
"Your inimitable smile. Or do you have a lot of them?"
"Wow!" The Muggle said approvingly: "It's a pity you don't have fangs. You should have seen his face the moment he tried to get up to me for the first and fortunately the last time".
"Why not?" Sneered Linda, instantly turning into a vampire: "Very easy!"
This time the performance was even better than with Helena. The prince recoiled, dropping his chair, the king turned pale, and the Muggle bared her fangs and hissed. Unlike the monster girl, Linda's eyes not only turned red, but lit up with a bright fire, her fangs were twice as large, and instead of brown hair cut off from behind, a black mane appeared, which developed as if a wave of wind swept through the room.
"Rinda, stop it!" Helena immediately shouted: "Gentlemen, forgive her for this trick. Unfortunately, she scared me the same way. What else can you expect from this girl!"
"I'm sorry!" Linda apologized and removed the magic: "I just decided to have a little joke with your brother, besides, he's the reason for it".
"A great illusion" The prince agreed, put his chair back in place and sat down next to Linda again: "If you had staged such a performance in bed, I would have stopped thinking about girls for a whole year after that, as I would have lost my manhood".
"Probably all the women in the palace would be happy about this" Vadish joked: "Let's start lunch, and after that you will tell us what impressions you have about our school. And you, Muggle, is there something wrong with you?"
"I was very scared" Bura replied: "I have no idea where the Baroness found out this story, but it exactly repeats one of the legends of our people. I'll be fine now, don't pay attention to me".
"I will never joke like that again!" Linda swore: "When I did this to my mentor, she almost cut off my evil head with a sword, unfortunately today I scared all of you".
"Yes, we are not offended" The king reassured Linda: "Let's start eating faster, otherwise our meat will become completely cold".
"Does it matter that I'm talking to a stuffed one?" Horace asked, with a piece of meat in his mouth: "I just want to talk, and after lunch I will have a lesson. Could you pretend that you are someone other than Bura?"
"Of course, you can create a variety of illusions" Linda replied, slowly swallowing the delicious, tender meat: "And they may not necessarily be intimidating. A high-quality illusion is the result of long work. It can be not only visual, but also penetrate into other sensations - smells, sounds, and even become almost tangible".
"I need terrible illusions" Horace persisted: "Will you help me scare one person?"
"Leave the girl alone and let her enjoy her meal in peace!" Vadish shouted at his brother: "She has enough worries as it is".
For some time, everyone, with the exception of Muggles, silently fed themselves with food, which was luxuriously served on the tables. Linda felt an acute sense of hunger, while the dishes on the royal table were extremely delicious, so she ate beyond measure. At the end of the meal, the king pushed his plate aside, wiped his lips with a towel and looked at Helena with a questioning look.
"How are things going at your school?" Noticing his look, she asked: "There are some questions about the organization of the educational process and the qualifications of teachers, but, above all, there are no normal textbooks on magic that children could learn from. We are ready to hand over some of our books for correspondence. To do this, you will have to hire scribes and pay them for their work. There is also a question that we have not talked about with the manager. This school is well protected from magical attacks, but it is vulnerable to ordinary attacks. If the students are killed, the school can be completely destroyed. We can't take care of the children ourselves yet. My daughter has an idea how we can help you with weapons, but it will require special training from her, as well as funding from you".
"You said financing" Vadish intervened: "But tell me how much you need, and the treasury will allocate the required amount of coins".
"Coins are not useful" Linda said: "They will only attract unwanted attention and unnecessary questions may arise. It would be better if we had gold in the form of nuggets or sand".
"It's quite simple. We have not produced coins for two years now and we store all the extracted gold ore in basements. Can you tell me about that weapon now?"
"It's hard for me to explain to you how it works" Linda replied: "Imagine a crossbow that shoots without reloading and installing bolts. He shoots much faster and with much more deadly force. The bolts of such a weapon can easily penetrate indiscriminately any armor at a distance of a thousand paces. And if many warriors fire such weapons at the same time, then no amount of movement speed or cunning of the enemies will help them. Each warrior is capable of killing or injuring dozens of opponents at a time. And it's very easy to learn how to use it. It doesn't take a year of study, it can only take a few days".
"It's impossible, I can't believe it!" The king snapped in disbelief.
"Let me explain" Linda sighed: "An ordinary crossbow uses a short arrow, which is triggered by a bowstring strike. However, there is no bowstring in the weapon I am talking about. The bolts are very small and can fly only because of the power contained in them. That is why the weapon itself cannot shoot without these bolts, so they need to be purchased immediately and as much as possible. I know it's hard for you to believe me. Let's do this: I'll get some weapons, and we can test them right here for you to see. Then we will decide on the purchase for the army".
"And how quickly can it be purchased?" The king asked.
"Not as fast as you would like. I just won't be able to buy such a weapon in my country. People will try to take away my gold and put me in jail. In this state, I am considered a child".
"Will your relatives be able to help you?"
"My father passed away, and my mother is no longer there. And they, frankly, could not help in this situation. The problem is not only my age, but also the peculiarities of the laws of my country. Therefore, you will have to go to a place where it will not be difficult to sell gold and buy the weapons you need. There is such a country, but they speak a different language there, and I will have to learn it, which is possible to do in my homeland. Therefore, you must first go home to learn the language, and then return for gold and enter through the gate for weapons. But it won't take as long as it seems. With my current abilities, I will learn any language very quickly, as long as I come here every day for a tincture that strengthens my memory".
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"Will you need allies in your world?"
"Not yet, but when I go to get a weapon, I may have to help".
"What are you going to do first?"
"I will go to our castle with Fancora. I need to get books for teaching and herbs to make a tincture. After that, I will make preparations and then go to my world".
"What will you do if you don't have parents now, and you're still a girl yourself? Do you have any other relatives?"
"Of course I have relatives, but I can't turn to them. In our country, specialized educational institutions have been built for people like me, similar to your school of magic. There, children are raised and taught various subjects, and when they come of age, they are helped to successfully enter life".
"Will they let you out of there after that?" Vadish asked.
"Of course, well, there's no point in waiting so long" Laughed Linda: "As soon as I learn the language, I'll run away from there myself. No one can stop me there".
"If you have no more questions, Your Majesty, and my daughter is ready to go to the castle, we should return home" Helena said: "The Lady Muggle is with us, or have you made a different decision?"
"Of course I'll go!" Bura replied: "Do you have a place in the stable for my horse?"
"Fancore, can you help me?" Linda asked the warrior, who had just returned from the stable, where he had taken his horse.
"Naturally, my lady. Can I help?!" Fancore asked.
"I want to go through the gate, get into our castle and pick up some things from there. I can't take everything myself, and besides, I'm not sure if the right people are in the castle. Therefore, your help will be useful. And I wanted to talk to you about the future. In the presence of other people, you can address me as milady or Baroness, but when we are alone, you can simply address me as Rinda, and if you say Linda, I will be very pleased. Briefly and for my pleasure".
"I agree" He nodded: "Do you want to take any weapons with you?"
"No, it's pointless" She replied: "There are probably only workers repairing the castle, and perhaps our squad has arrived. Before, of course, I would have taken a weapon, but at the moment my weapon can be called something else".
"Still, if you'll excuse me, I'll take something".
Fancore went to the armory, but didn't stay there long. There were several more sheathed blades hanging on a belt near the ball.
"I'm done and ready, when do we leave?"
"Right now, I'm opening the gate, and you will immediately go ahead, and I will follow you".
Fancor had never passed through the gate before, but without hesitation he entered a multicolored funnel, pale in the bright sunlight. Linda took a step after him and found herself in a mushroom clearing, where the stone remains of the lighthouse were still lying around.
"We need to go behind the castle and enter through the back entrance" She said to the warrior, who was looking around: "We will immediately find out who is here now".
At the moment, there were only builders who were removing the remains of the destroyed walls, they cleaned and stacked the stone blocks that still survived. The squad has not arrived yet, and the manager left for the city two days ago on business.
"So, we're not here for long" Linda decided: "Now I'll take everything I need and we'll leave here right away".
She took the necessary books from the hiding place, put them in a bag and handed it to Fancor, and she collected the herbs necessary for the magical tincture, the dishes in which she would cook the decoction and the most necessary things that she did not take with her when they went to the reception to the king.
"I took everything" Linda reported to Helena upon her return: "We will give these books to the school. I think it should be entrusted to Fancor, and you'd better prepare the potions in advance. The broth will be perfectly stored protected by magic. I also took the dishes from the lab. Builders are currently working in the castle, from which all the dust rises to the skies, so Dicter did a good thing that he had not yet returned the squad. There's no point in them breathing all this dirty air".
"I'm not interested in the castle at the moment" Helena said: "When and how do you think you should go home?"
"After dinner, I'm going. After all, we don't know what time of year it is there now, and frankly, it doesn't matter. The last time we were on Earth, it was early spring, and now, most likely, it's already summer there. I'll look inconspicuous in a suit. I won't take anything of value with me, because they can take it away anyway. When I come to the local police department, I will play the role of a man who has lost his memory. I'll say that I don't remember where I was or what I was doing".
"What if they figure out that you're cheating on them?"
"It's not very easy to prove, especially since I didn't commit any crimes, and children, unlike adults, won't be tortured so much. After all, even with the help of hypnosis, you can't break me, but I can push them to a suitable solution for us".
"My heart may stop from these worries" Helena complained: "You're going to leave now, and I'm helpless if something goes wrong with you".
"Don't worry, nothing bad will happen to me. If pressed hard, I can always run away and try to find another way to learn the language".
An evening of sunlight penetrated through the open gates of the city park of culture and recreation, coloring the alleys in golden shades. Linda looked around intently-there was not a single person nearby. The unusually warm weather made her immediately think that it should be the end of June or even July already. There was still a lot of time before the park closed, and she slowly headed for the exit, taking her time, trying not to think about the fact that she would soon have to step on the threshold of her native district police department. Linda thought about it and decided to go there anyway. After all, in the end, they will still find her thanks to her last place of residence. Why create unnecessary problems for people and wait for yourself?
There was an old man standing at the entrance near the gate, who for some reason stared at her suspiciously. Few people were on the street, so today is a working day, because in good weather, the park usually had a lot of visitors on weekends. Linda put her hand in her pocket to get money for the bus, but eventually decided to walk to the department, walked five blocks and stood in front of the front door for a while before deciding to open it.
*****
Jason Miller was reading the latest issue of the local newspaper when the phone rang in the hallway.
"Hey, Clark!" Shouted the wife, who was busy with shoes near the phone: "Come here, you probably have a call from work".
"Jason?" His boss's voice came on the phone: "We found Jordana, who disappeared last year. She came to the district department and said she didn't know where she had been for a year. She is quite well-fed, she is wearing a decent pantsuit, but there were only two rubles in small coins in her pocket. You've been working on her case, so you should know everything. I've sent a car to pick you up, it'll be at your door in ten minutes. Decide what to do with her on the spot. At first I wanted to send her to the children's hospital, but there the inspector became seriously ill. He somehow caught pneumonia even in the summer, and there is still no one to replace it. And in the neighboring area, the children's receiver is fully occupied. I'll call Stone myself. They were asking about her at the time about some kind of gold".
Half an hour later, he was already striding down the tobacco-smelling corridor to his office, where Linda was supposed to be delivered.
Regretfully, Jason thought about Linda: "Where could she have been before that? Where can I arrange it now? A child should not spend the night on chairs".
First, he opened the window to somehow ventilate the smoky office. He never smoked himself, but his colleagues came to him all the time with lighted cigarettes. Out of respect for the fact that he did not smoke, they took cigarettes out of their mouths and held them in their hand, which caused the same unpleasant smell. He had already given up the fight against this and tried to regularly ventilate the smoky office to provide fresh air, and in summer he never closed the window during working hours. There was a knock on the door, and a girl appeared in the office, already known to him from photographs, who was accompanied by Senior Sergeant Tucker.
"Is she really fourteen years old now?" He wondered, looking at the girl standing in front of him, with the forms of a girl no longer.
Jordana frowned at the smell of cigarettes and sat down on one of the chairs near his desk uninvited.
"Hello" She said in a pleasant voice: "You're Captain Miller, aren't you? I was told that you were looking for me. It so happened, I found myself on my own".
"Where are you, Lindik, have you been for a year?" He asked.
"I can't say for sure. I only remember the last night when my mom was arrested. And then I woke up near our park, completely at a loss, in this incomprehensible costume for me. I didn't have a single place to go, so I decided to go to you".
"Doesn't it bother you at all where you've been all year?"
"Of course I'm curious, but why bother about it in vain? Won't the memory come back after that? I don't feel like anything bad has happened to me in the past. If you can find out something about my past, that's great, and if not, I'll deal with it somehow. In the end, there is only one way left for me - an orphanage. No one will return me to my aunt and we will not be moved to another housing, although the state took away our apartment with my mother for free".
"Our state will provide you with this apartment and therefore had every right to take it away" Jason replied: "I want to ask you to remember how you went with some old lady to a private collector. Perhaps my superiors will ask you about it tomorrow".
"My parents got this apartment, which means I got it with them" Linda objected: "The apartment was taken away without my consent. Instead, they offer me a bed in an orphanage. Do you think this replacement is quite equivalent? When will I be sent to boarding school?"
"It's late now, so everything on your question will be sorted out tomorrow" The captain thought for a minute, and then suddenly even for himself made her an offer: "Would you like to spend the night in my house tonight? My son is currently resting at the Scout camp, so there's a bed for you".
"Thank you" She replied sincerely: "It would be better than spending the night in your department. It's so smoky in here, and I absolutely can't stand the smell of tobacco. And about that old lady... Yes, there must have been something like that, but I can't remember".
Senior Lieutenant Adams was on duty that day, and at first he was stubborn after Jason told him that he would take the girl to his house for the night, but then he finally gave up on the captain's persuasions.
"Okay, you can take her away, but if anything happens, you'll answer for yourself".
"It is clear that I will be responsible. Listen, Green, would you be so kind as to give us a lift to my house, because now this girl and I are going to take the bus for more than an hour".
"There's probably a Stone standing near the entrance. Tell him you have permission. Try to get the car back as soon as possible".
A police car is not like taking a bus, literally twenty minutes later Jason entered his apartment with his client, where his wife came out to meet them, whom he warned on the phone.
"Here are some slippers for you" She offered the girl: "Enter the hall. Are you going to eat?"
"No, thank you" Linda refused: "I didn't want to before, but they gave me tea and cookies at the police station".
"You must be feeling tired" Belle said: "I made your bed in our son's room. If you want to take a shower, tell me about it, and I'll light the gas heater. Is there anything else you want?"
"No, thank you, I just realized how tired I am and I'll probably go straight to bed".
"Where did you find this girl?" An hour later, his wife Belle asked him a question when they lay down in their bed: "How old did you say she is now?"
"A year ago, when she was thirteen years old, she disappeared. Her mother was convicted of a drunken brawl during which she accidentally killed her husband. Although there were some circumstances that mitigated her guilt, she received a long sentence. Since then, Linda has been seen only once – she came to a private collector and offered to buy some special gold coins. Now that I think about it, I remember that the coins were unusual, arousing the interest of scientists and attracting the attention of the Committee. However, we have not been able to find either Linda herself or the old lady who came with her to the collector. And today Linda showed up on her own and insists that she doesn't remember anything about where she disappeared or what she was doing".
"It seems to me that something unusual has happened to her" Bell said thoughtfully: "I can swear by anything you want, but I can say that this girl is going to beat many of my best gymnasts right now. Have you noticed how big her shoulders are? And the way she walks, it's amazing grace! Could you tell me where you've met girls like that at her age and with such an amazing figure?"
"Yes, I saw it".
"Uh-huh, these are probably those rural girls who can be used instead of a tractor. Yes, you can probably still meet such people, but she's actually from the city. And yet, how could she build up such muscles in just one year? And have you noticed what she looks like?"
"I think she looks at everything indifferently. Indeed, it feels like she doesn't care what happens to her".
"I believe that this is not indifference at all, but indifference that comes from unshakeable self-confidence. It seems to me that she's not telling you the whole truth. She knows exactly all the details of the past year: where she was not and what she was doing there".
"What should I do with her next? How can we extract this knowledge from it? Use coercive methods? Apart from those gold coins, we have nothing on her, and even a witness then confirmed that the old woman was selling, and Linda only brought her to that collector. How can it be brought to light? She doesn't have any parents, and we can't put pressure on the child. When she came to me, she immediately said that she didn't care what we found on her, because she would soon end up in an orphanage anyway. And she also harbored a grudge against the government for having her apartment taken away from her. She said that her part of the living space could belong to her aunt, and then she could live with relatives, and not..."
"Our state cannot be blamed, although in conscience it could certainly be understood. How did you think of bringing her to our house?"
Justifying himself, Jason said that he had been searching for her for a long time. And now he has the feeling that he was not an outsider to her. Spend the night at the police station sitting on a chair...
Both stopped talking, as if they were listening to something, and then immediately fell asleep at the same time. Neither of them remembered what they had talked about the next morning, and after a hasty breakfast, Jason took his "foundling" To the police station. When he and Linda entered the office, Captain Stone from the CGR immediately stopped him. This officer was working on behalf of the Committee dealing with the case of the strange case of gold.
"What kind of arbitrariness is this, Jason?" He asked with annoyance: "Well, your superiors will deal with you, and we will take the girl to ourselves. You will receive all the documents stating that we are closing this case in a few days. Follow me, Lindik".