Gods damn it.
I felt my smile flutter, fading as I was confronted by the woman once more.
“So, you know my husband?” The woman crossed her arms, her mouth turning upward slightly. “And how exactly did you two meet?”
I glanced at Zet from the corner of my eye, unsure what to say.
Shit.
“We, uhh, met when I was younger.” Zet smiled, his smile far more convincing than I could have managed. “He was an understudy in a town that myself and my sister had been visiting. We were visiting the library when we ran into him.”
A better lie than I could have come up with.
Isania looked between us, frowning lightly before she shrugged.
“I suppose that makes sense. Your academic dreams started young as well if you could call magic an academic pursuit.”
Let it slide, Rook.
“Well, you know how it goes.” I forced a smile, trying to remain pleasant. “Start young, and you’ll always connect with it.”
“Mhmm.” She nodded, clearly unconvinced, before sighing. “Well, I’ll leave you two to catch up.”
Without another word, the woman turned around before marching off, undoubtedly, to start another argument.
“Sorry about that.” Zet exhaled as he watched his wife walk off. “She’s never seemed fond of the topic of magic for whatever reason.”
“So what made you fall for her?” I brushed the topic of magic aside; clearly, it wasn’t a winning subject.
“If you move past her prickly nature, she is well-meaning.” Zet chuckled. “She’s a lot like Veronika. I think that’s part of why I was drawn to her. She’s worked her ass off to get where she was, bustling to get a patron to put her through her schooling. She’s smarter than anyone I’ve met, but being that she never came from privilege, she has always been looked down upon.”
Great, a sob story.
I wanted to retain my annoyance toward the woman, but the more Zet spoke, the harder it was.
“How’s Tez been?” I changed the subject once more, prompting Zet to frown.
“Busy, wild, a bundle of fire as always. I haven’t seen her in a while. She last visited me six months ago, only a few months since her rank promotion. Always on the move, her. Actually-” Zet leaned in closer, his voice barely a whisper. “-she told me about the dungeon.”
My mood instantly soured as the topic of the dungeon came up. I preferred to keep it in the past; the entirety of the events surrounding it had been nothing but horrid, from bad, to worse.
“I can see why you decided to leave that life behind. Now, if only you could have convinced my sister.”
“Yeah, well, she was always more in love with the notion of being an adventurer than I. It took me a while to realize I was only doing it out of a sense of duty.”
“Duty?”
“My mother was once an adventurer, so I followed in her footsteps because I wasn’t sure what else there was for me. I mean, I was what, fifteen? How was I supposed to know what I wanted for my life.”
“Hah, haven’t we all been there?” Zet chuckled. “I tried locating my parents for some time after I left adventuring behind, but they never turned up. That was when I realized I’d substituted a real personal want with a single-minded goal. It lets you hide from responsibility for your own life, ya’know?”
“Yeah, I suppose,” I said quietly, mulling the words over in my head.
Has that been what I’ve always been doing?
“So, have you found what you’re after, then? I mean, you did say you’re going to be a professor now, after all!”
“Honestly.” I sighed. “I’m still not sure. I followed this up as a suggestion, but… But I think I’m ready to start searching for what I want and not whatever gets sent my direction.”
“You sound like you’ve only just realized that,” Zet said.
“Well, maybe I’ve always known that, but I ignored it. Maybe this is exactly what I needed to hear.”
“Uhh, no problem.” Zet rubbed at the back of his neck, taken aback by how profound the moment had been for me.
“Don’t worry, you haven’t made me leave my teaching job before I’ve ever started.” I laughed, Zet relaxing a moment later.
“Oh, that’s good. The way you were talking, I was afraid I’d accidentally convinced you to do something rash.”
“Not at all,” I said, shaking my head. “Call it a new experience for me. Maybe it’s exactly the thing I’ve always needed.”
Zet opened his mouth, prepared to say something, but he frowned, nodding his head past my shoulder. “Uhh, I think someone wants your attention.”
Again? How in the world am I so popular?
I turned around, dreading having another confrontation, but I sighed in relief upon seeing who it was, the Director standing there with her hands on her hips.
“Mr. Koor, if you have a moment, I’d appreciate it if you’d come with me.”
“Koor?” Zet looked at me with confusion before he let out a snort of laughter a moment later. “Right, I see what you did there. Go on, I don’t mind.”
Nodding to the man, I followed the Director as she led me toward the front of the temporary chamber, where a large window had been constructed, from which we would view the parade as it finally made its way here.
“Is something wrong?” I questioned after we’d come to a stop.
“No, but I saw you did a terrible job of avoiding conversation.”
“I tried my best, but-”
“But Isania found you. Yes, she has a keen nose for sniffing out arguments. What did you make of her?”
“She really doesn’t like magic,” I said with a shrug. “Also younger than I expected.”
“Yes, well, considering she lost most of her family in carrion gulch, it’s no surprise she disdains magic.”
“Carrion gulch?” Over the years, I’d often heard the name spoken, but from what little I’d dug into it, I’d only ever uncovered that it had been a battlefield of a rather nasty uprising that had been put down swiftly.
“Yes, twenty-eight years ago, a group of fanatic followers of Bisharu managed to get their hands on a rather significant relic from the Lost Era. With it, they opened a portal somewhere… else, intending to lay siege to the country, utilizing the things that emerged from it. The full might of Haerasong was brought down as swiftly as possible upon their base of operations, based out of Carrion gulch. It was a bloodbath, and it was because of Carrion Gulch that the disdain for magic and the supernatural was reignited. It doesn’t help that there were rumors that the relic in question was obtained through Nochesuki, though no hard evidence was ever brought forward.”
“That’s, uhh, a lot to take in.” I tapped my finger along my bicep; something about the story confused me. “For such a major event, why isn’t there more about it in the history books?”
“In what world would you want to actively promote the information that there exists objects which can allow an uppity group of would-be revolutionaries to potentially oppose the entirety of the country?”
“Right, that makes sense when you phrase it like that.”
“Yes, and from my investigation, I uncovered that Professor Isania lost during the events of Carrion Gulch.”
“Oh, well, I feel for her loss then.”
“Oh, you shouldn’t, as she certainly doesn’t.”
“Excuse me?”
The Director smiled briefly, but it was no expression of goodwill but one born of dark irony.
“Her parents weren’t on the side of Haerasong.”
“Oh. Ohhhh.” I nodded. “Losing your parents to a fanatic cult they joined is a good reason to disdain magic.”
“Exactly.” The Director agreed. “Now, we should probably squash such topics before we are overheard, nor is it our place to discuss such subjects in the first place. Besides, I believe the procession will be coming here shortly.”
I glanced toward where a clock was hanging, surprised at just how much time had passed.
Must have gotten too caught up to notice.
Not wanting to end up in a seat with a bad view-
Well, as if any of the seats here had a bad view.
-I quickly nabbed a spot near the viewing window, twiddling my thumbs as I sipped on my second glass of champagne, hoping I could avoid any more conversation in the time it took for the parade to make its way here.
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I wonder what it’ll be like?
I’d never been a part of a big event such as this. Even during my years in Songhold and Dunehold, there had at most been only minor ceremonies or celebrations; the days were essentially the same as the last.
This was to be my first experience with such a scale of events.
The crowds outside had gathered to the point of claustrophobia, the plaza filled shoulder to shoulder with strangers, all doing their best to catch sight of the platform that had been raised where the procession would gather for the ceremony proper.
Well, thank the gods above that I’m not stuck out there.
Sitting quietly, I listened in to several nearby conversations as I waited.
“…heard that the funding comes directly from the crown treasures.”
“…nonsense. They wouldn’t bankroll us at such major expenses to themselves.”
“…than do you suppose that the parents of some of the brats will-”
I tuned out, no longer interested in the direction of the conversation.
Just how much longer do we have to wait?
From within the confines of the V.I.P area, I could see the crowd growing rowdier, the atmosphere darkening as they were forced to wait ever longer.
If this takes much longer, things might begin to turn ugly.
My anxiety grew as I saw the crowd begin to grow antsier and antsier. I finally exhaled my apprehension when someone to my left pointed a finger toward the farthest portion of the plaza, where an open road led from.
“Looks like they’re here.”
The first of the parade to enter view was what looked like a jungle gym of bars and platforms, and flipping between them were dozens of acrobats, flipping flames hoops around as they did in an obnoxiously gaudy display.
I could almost imagine Tez being up there.
The next float to enter view was even worse, in my opinion, pulled along by two pairs of war elephants, until on a second inspection, I realized that while they looked like elephants, the fact that they had seven eyes and scales instead of hide, clued me into their real identity.
They really managed to not just contain, by tame four Haftusks?
The monsters were known to be rather… challenging to deal with. They were a beast that could be found traveling in small herds along the southern border of the central desert, migrating from one watering hole to another. While they weren’t outwardly aggressive, they were territorial to the extreme. Stepping even a single foot into their territory would cause a Haftusk that had been seemingly docile and even-keeled to go into a rampage.
While seeing the monsters was a grand sight itself, it was the fact that they were nothing more than beasts of burdens drawing forth a carriage of-
Now that’s an awful joke.
It was a carriage the size of a house made entirely of gold, silver, and even a third shining metal of white that I wasn’t altogether familiar with on sight.
Encimca maybe? I hear it’s valuable, but since it has no practical use for swords or armor, I never took the time to learn much about it.
While the status of having tamed such territorial monsters was probably part of the show, the fact that the carriage was the size of a house and made of heavy metals meant that, in truth, it was likely it could only have been pulled by a group of such physically powerful monsters in the first place.
I bet I can guess who’s in there.
The parade, surprisingly, wasn’t over with just the carriage containing the regent and her entourage as more floats continued to stream in down the road. A float that was literally floating was pulled along by flying stallions, deep black with three horns sprouting from their heads, the float itself had several figures waving from it who I couldn’t recognize, but I was sure were somehow important. Then came a float with fire-breathing snakes wrapped around poles blasting their fiery breath out above the crowd as a group of women in scarlet dresses tossed-
Are those teeth!?
-candy, tossed candy, something I confirmed after I saw kids pushing about to grab and throw the small white cubes into their mouths, into the crowd.
On and on the floats went until the final float rolled through, a single black altar with a man in gray robes chanting something that I couldn’t make out from inside our station.
Which reminds me, how are we supposed to hear anything from here?
My question was answered when a single important-looking man made his way atop the main stage, flicking his wrist as a greenish-looking ring appeared in his hand that he raised before his mouth, his voice projecting loudly.
“To the people of Akadia, thank you for joining us on this momentous day! For those who may not be aware, I am Uralyu Foress, Prime Council of our heavenly bestowed regent-to-be!”
Oh, so a big shot.
“We come here today to celebrate not just the appearance of the regent in this wonderful city of learning but also what it means for our country! For far too long, we have felt the tension of neighbor against neighbor, of brother against brother, of-”
A big shot who likes the sound of his voice got it.
“-and yet, we have come together. In the act of goodwill, of cooperation and hope, we continue to strive for the future in which we-”
The words blended as my attention drifted off again, entirely uninterested.
I’m reminded of why I’ve never cared much for the news of those of higher stations.
It was always the same story on the few occasions I would take the time to check in on the news of the powerful and influential. Pretty words, long drawn-out speeches, talks of our ‘unity’ and how we could truly strive for a better future as one.
A load of garbage, basically. Anyone with half a brain could have told you they were nothing more than pleasantries, idle words filled with fake intent. To those with power and money, there was little concern for those deemed beneath them. If the people weren’t revolting and their safety wasn’t in question, we were nothing more than pieces on a board, numbers on a sheet of paper.
Though, I’m not sure if I’m one to talk anymore, considering how much time I spend around those very same people.
Bored but with nothing else to do, everyone else in our area seemed enraptured with the man’s words; I opened my mana sense, only pushing it to the extent of the room we were within. I wasn’t specifically looking to search for anything or do anything of note, but anything was better than listening to the bag of hot air as he got off on the sound of his voice.
As I examined the mana contents of the room, no one of any note inside, I found myself fixating on where I knew Zet was standing. There was nothing special about him, but it was something I’d once wondered. When Tez had explained how she had awakened to dragon mana, I’d begun to wonder if the journey through a strange dimension of mana had somehow altered the entirety of our party. Still, Zet seemed as normal as any other person, with no peculiar pulses of sharp feeling mana from his heart.
He could always be masking it.
I shook the thought aside after only a moment of consideration. It was unlikely. I doubted the man had it in him, given what I knew of him,
Then I wonder if it really was because of me that she developed dragon mana?
It was an exciting idea, but I had no way of knowing without seeing her again in person, and who knew the next time that would occur.
Or ever, the continent was a massive place, and she clearly enjoyed her life spent as an adventurer, always on the move.
Still tapped into my mana sense, I took stock of the concentration of mana around me. It was about as neutral as it could get, if perhaps leaning more toward aqueous nature, given how close we were to the ocean. I mentally poked and prodded at it, all without ever injecting the intent needed to manifest into outward magic.
Is this the equivalent of magically twiddling your thumbs?
The seconds passed into minutes, and eventually, even the minutes passed into hours until, at blessedly last, the feel of the room changed enough that I could sense it through the mana itself.
“-and at last, it is with great pleasure that I welcome our future ruler, the regent-to-be, Arete of House Narmer!”
From the ostentatiously expensive-looking chariot, a girl was guided to the main stage; she appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years of age. The garbs she was decked in took me by surprise, far more reminiscent of the central style of fashion rather than her home in the south, with beads and green jade bracelets covering her arms, a silken dress of ivory threads that seemed to reflect a rainbow worth of light depending on how the sun shone on it. Her hair had been twisted into rows of twisted locks, with even more precious-looking beads within the twists of her black hair. She walked with a rehearsed grace, and yet perhaps it was just me, but it was as if I could sense a hint of teenage awkwardness in each of her steps, her regal expression only betrayed by eyes that occasionally glanced to the man next to her as if for comfort.
Huh. He looks a little familiar.
Curious, I enhanced my sight with mana as the features of her aid suddenly refined into perfect detail.
Wait, isn’t that Harris?
He was wearing garb to mask some of his features, but the slant of his eyes stuck out to me, having seen him up close as I had.
What’s he doing there?
Last I’d seen, he’d been next to some noble kid, a slightly younger boy.
Wait, that makes sense when you think about it. He’s probably a go-to bodyguard for nobles who can front his bills without issue.
Satisfied with my deduction, I began to pay more attention to the girl as she took center stage, curious about what direction the future ruler would take when addressing the crowd.
The crowd went still, holding their breath in anticipation for the girl to address them. Her council gave the girl a deep bow before handing over the small green disc which had been projecting his voice earlier. Before she could speak, the man pressed a hand upon her shoulder, smiling like a proud father, but there was something about the gesture that seemed off, too well rehearsed to be genuine.
Eh, what do I know? Probably what you’d expect from people in their position. Of course, it’s been rehearsed.
“My people, or, uh, my future people.” The girl spoke, her voice the usual pitch of a teenage girl who’d just been set out to give a speech in front of such a massive crowd.
Not like there were many teenage girls who went through such situations in the first place, but I digress.
“Today, I stand before you, not as your future ruler, but as a child of our country. I stand here, with love in my heart and eyes wide with the sight of our future before us-”
Right. Don’t know what I expected.
I could already chart the course of her speech, nothing more than just another standard speech filled with nothing of substance. Young, she may be, but already she had been versed in the arts of speaking without once saying anything.
Coming to this stupid ceremony was a mistake.
At the very least, I’d manage to meet Zet again, even if nothing else of note had occurred.
Well, almost.
There was also the little discovery I’d made upon expanding my mana sense wider than ever before.
I guess it wasn’t all for waste, then.
Leaning back in my seat, I felt my eyes flutter, exhaustion overcoming me.
I’ll close my eyes for a minute. No one will notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Mr. Koor.”
“Huh, wait, yes?” I jumped to attention, head darting back and forth as I recollected myself.
Huh. Must have fallen asleep.
The V.I.P room was empty now, only one other person standing an arm’s distance from me, her hands on her hips.
“Uhh, Director?”
“I see you had a pleasant nap.”
“Oh.” I sheepishly rubbed at the back of my neck, glancing anywhere but her eyes. “Uh, how long was I out?”
“The entirety of the regent’s address, as well as the closing remarks by the Viceroy of Dunehold.”
“Oh… How long was that?”
“The regent’s address? Ten minutes. The closing remarks by the Viceroy? An hour and a half.”
“And I thought the Prime Council was filled with hot air.”
“Excuse me?” The Director held me with a withering gaze, and I felt myself breaking under it until, at the corner of her lips, I noticed a slight twitch as if she were trying to suppress a smile
“Uhh, I just said that the Prime Council and the Viceroy are quite well-versed in giving speeches.”
“Well, that could be an interpretation of calling them bags of hot air.” The Director snorted.
Ahh, so she did hear that.
“Officially speaking, this wasn’t a formal event by the academy, so I’m not required to chastise you for your behavior.” The Director sighed. “But may I suggest not snoring next time?”
“What, I don’t snore,” I said defensively.
“Perhaps, it did sound more like a whistle.” The Director responded though it wasn’t much better. “Point being-”
“Don’t look bored during big events with important people.”
“Exactly.” The Director nodded. “Otherwise, I’m afraid you’ll doze off during staff meetings.”
“Staff meetings?”
“Well, I’ll be going now. I just wanted to address this little act of unintentional rebellion.”
“Unintentional rebellion?”
“Yes, or at least, that was how falling asleep during the remarks of the monarchy might come across to others.”
“Oh.” I inwardly cringed. It would take some getting used to that my actions could have ramifications and interpretations for even the most benign moments.
“Have a good day, Mr. Koor.” The Director waved, walking away, before pausing right before the exit. “I’ll be seeing you in a few days.”
Then she was gone, leaving me alone in the now empty room.
Be seeing me in a few days?
I was puzzled by the comment until, with a painful thud, I palmed my face.
Right. I totally forgot.
My entire reason for being here.
The school year had all but officially begun.