My worries for the future seemed groundless when for three weeks, nothing really happened.
Sure, rumors spread that one kid’s parents had heard from another kid’s parents that the kingdom was about to round up every unsavory mage and ship them across the sea to Thlahzae. In contrast, another kid’s parents had heard that a usurpation within the crown family was about to occur any day.
Safe to say, none of those happened. The class continued as normal as the kids settled back into routine.
Well, my advanced magic class students settled back into a more rigorous routine, preparing for exams. I tried to be fair with what I planned to throw at them. Still, much of magic was built upon the lessons learned earlier, so regardless of whether I’d wanted to be a drill sergeant of a professor or not, the reality was that the kids had been forced to bury their noses within their assignments and notes, attempting to recall everything I’d taught, from basic mana theory, all the way to historical lessons on what happened when the celestial bodies aligned.
Which, in case you were wondering, was nothing. It was simply a trick question to weed out those who’d failed to pay attention during one class where I’d debunked several superstitions regarding magic and mana.
Three weeks, and in those three weeks, I’d effectively ceased to have a social life as well. While I wasn’t preparing to take any exams, I was preparing an exam for the students. So much like they had to sift through their notes, I’d been sifting through my lesson plans, trying to craft the perfect exam, a mix between fair and challenging, which would allow my exemplary students to truly shine. It was difficult work, but I was further motivated by the change in demeanor I’d seen from several students.
Specifically Leo. While Rias had clearly felt guilty for what her family had done to me, she’d never been a bad student, to begin with. On the other hand, Leo had a habit of sometimes dozing off, failing to pay attention or simply shrugging his shoulders at the thought of not being all that bright. When I’d first seen those traits, I was perplexed as to why he’d joined the class in the first place.
The cynical side of my brain had suspected his family had put him up to it, looking for an opportunity to trash my reputation. It wasn’t personal but a means of gaining status and reputation by showing the waste of time the magic course was.
Yet, after we’d returned from break and I’d corrected Rias and Leo, it was as if Leo had become a different person. The boy was suddenly filled with curiosity and a thirst for learning that far outstripped what he’d ever shown. Each time he’d raised his hand to ask a question that he ordinarily wouldn’t have, I’d have to fight back the rising smile threatening to push aside my façade of being a stoic professor.
This is it. This is why this is my calling.
But, three weeks of no social contact is a bit much for anybody, or specifically, it was a bit much for Rosalina, who’d suddenly appeared in front of my door one day.
“Rook.”
“Rosalina.” I frowned as I saw her, her arms crossed with a rather cross expression.
Yes, the pun was intended.
“How’d you even get up here?” I asked, poking my head through the doorway as I looked down the hall for anyone else.
“Scyla got me a pass for coming and going.”
“That’s a thing?” I raised my eyebrows before shaking my head. “No, of course, it is, for her. So, what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” If she could have crossed her arms harder, she would have. “Maybe because you’ve basically vanished? I haven’t seen you once.”
“I’ve been, uh, busy.” I shrugged, unaware of what the problem was. “It is exam season at the academy, after all.”
“Yes, yes, very important. When is the next time you’re free?”
“Tomorrow, actually,” I answered. “The stars aligned, and I managed to not have any classes scheduled for the day, nor did I have any students comings in for one-on-one instructions. I was going to use it to get ahead of my-”
“We’re grabbing lunch.” Rosalina interrupted.
“To get ahead of grabbing lunch. Right.” I sighed. “If it was anyone else, I’d tell them no, you know that, right? Not even Scyla could get me to budge right now.”
“But I’m not anyone else,” Rosalina said smugly. “I’m your wonderful sister-in-everything-but-blood.”
“Yes, yes you are.” I sighed once again. “So, tomorrow?
“Tomorrow.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This led me to my current situation, twiddling my fork in hand as we sat at a nice outdoor pavilion, music gently flowing through the air from the nearby musicians huffing away on wind instruments and plucking the strings of several wooden instruments the size of their own bodies.
“Rook. Rook?”
“Huh?” I glanced up from my fork, Rosalina rolling her eyes at me.
“Distracted much?”
“I, well… maybe a little.” I chuckled.
“Still thinking about school stuff?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I was just thinking that the library might have some supplementary resources that I could prove helpful.”
“Is that what has been on your mind this entire time?”
“No. Maybe. Okay, yes.” I admitted.
“Ugh. How about this? We pretend to have a normal conversation, and then you can run off to the library.”
“Well, now you’re just making me feel bad about it,” I said.
“Which means you plan to take me up on the offer.”
“Pragmatism.” I coughed into my hand, Rosalina not once doubting my tension to agree to the offer. “So, what do you want to talk about?”
“Well, I don’t know. How about the weather?”
“The weather.” I stared at her with a disbelieving look. “You could not broach a more cliché topic if you tried.”
“Well, you put me on the spot!” She threw her hands up in the air, a quiet laugh escaping her as she did.
“I guess. And it’s been fine? At least it’s not storming like last night.”
A massive storm had rolled through the night before, threatening several of the moored ships. Still, in the end, nothing had been damaged past a superficial degree.
“Yeah, well, that storm went and stole my hat I recently went and bought. It was a nice wide-brimmed straw hat, but I accidentally left it outside.”
“That’s rough.” I laughed, unable to hide my amusement at her misfortune, so minor of an issue as it was. “Aside from the travesty of losing a hat, how has settling in been? I know it’s a bit different than Dunehold, after all.”
“It’s been fine, actually. Scyla set me up with one of her places.”
“Like a normal place, or…?”
“Considering it has a panic room and an escape hatch, as well as who knows what else, I’m pretty sure it’s not described as ‘normal’ or anything along those lines,” Rosalina answered.
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” I shrugged.
“Does it annoy you that she went that far for me?”
“No, I do appreciate it, even if it comes across as a little extreme.”
“And work? How is that going?”
“Great.” Scyla rolled her eyes. “She has me set up at what I’m fairly positive is a shell business affiliated with her people, just without the direct labels.”
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“And what exactly does she have you doing?”
“I’m an auditor,” Rosalina said flatly.
“An auditor? Auditing what?”
“Things and stuff.”
“Things and stuff?”
“Things and stuff,” Rosalina repeated, clarifying that she wasn’t looking to divulge the information further.
“She has you in her pocket already.” I sighed. “One of her cronies. Next thing I know, you’ll be going around busting kneecaps.”
“Auditor, not enforcement.” Rosalina laughed. “In truth, it’s mostly just sifting through official documents from important nobles and institutes or businesses, looking for things that appear anomalous. You take those little clues, dig into them deeper, and next thing you know, you’ve got interesting pieces of information that you can leverage or sell.”
“Sounds very exciting,” I said dryly.
“At least I’m not stuck dealing with nose-picking brats.”
“Some of those kids are nearly your age. Eighteen, twenty. Not much of a difference.”
“Nineteen.” Rosalina corrected quietly.
“Point proven.” I leaned back smugly.
“Whatever.” Rosalina shook her head at my smugness.
“Mocking one another aside, anything of note you’ve seen recently.”
“You know, funny you mention it,” Rosalina said. “Just this morning, I was looking at the shipping records from the docks. Strangely, one of the recent cargo ships had over-reported their cargo; a shipment was missing.”
“Missing? Isn’t it usually the other way around if people are trying to smuggle stuff? They would underreport the amount of cargo they’re carrying.”
“See, that’s what I was thinking!” Rosalina snapped her fingers, happy I’d come to a similar conclusion. “Only noticed it this morning, so there’s not much to say on the matter, but it is interesting, don’t you think?”
“Have you sent anyone to investigate it firsthand?”
“Well, I reported it to my direct supervisor, so it’s out of my hands now.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled, the situation a curious scenario, a lens into a life I knew little about, be it auditing or sailing.
“What about you?” Rosalina leaned forward. “I’ve learned a little more of things happening here before I arrived. You do realize someone will take note of how ‘Zero’ came to your rescue and then disappeared just as quickly, right?”
“Yeah, well, I was going to ask Scyla for advice, but I sort of got distracted.”
“Well, take care of it sooner rather than later. Once that cat is out of the bag, putting it back is impossible.”
“Yeah, speaking of cats,” I murmured, mind turning toward my little back devil. “I forgot, but I need to pick up another fricken cow for her.”
“She eats that much?”
“Yeah, I think she’s about to hit her maturation point. She’s been growing like you wouldn’t believe it. It will be hard to pass her off as an ordinary cat at this rate. She’s the size of some dogs, not even small dogs.”
“What about her…?” Rather than say it out loud, Rosalina pointed at her teeth as I picked up what she suggested.”
“Not sure.” I shrugged. “Most information of her… ‘breed’ suggests that their bite development takes around six months. She’s only a few months old, so it should still be another two or three months, but then, she seems to be hitting her growth surge early. She hasn’t bitten me in the last three weeks, so I’ve wondered if it’s for a reason.”
What I didn’t add was that now that I knew the Shadow Blossom was far more intelligent than I’d initially understood, there was a real chance she had stopped biting me because she knew she would soon be developing a rather dangerous bite.
“Maybe I should get my own cat,” Rosalina said after a moment of silence.
“Well, make sure it’s an actual cat, is my advice.” I chuckled. I glanced to the side, looking at the time as I did.
Lunch period would be finishing up about now back at the academy.
Rosalina must have seen my glance, and misunderstanding it, she finally stood up.
“Well, I understand that you have things you need to attend to. Thanks for at least dragging yourself out of your cave for long enough to eat lunch with me.”
“No, it’s not like that; I can stay longer.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I also have my own things I should attend to.” Rosalina tapped a finger on the table as she rose. “Oh, one thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Scyla told me to tell you that while she doesn’t plan to distract you during exams, she expects you to surprise her with a special night out after the fact.”
I smiled weakly, terrified of the prospect. Not that there was anything wrong with spending time with Scyla, quite the opposite, but trying to find or make plans that Scyla would refer to as special was a tall order.
“I’ll get on that.” I sighed. Smirking at my dilemma, Rosalina hugged me, leaving me alone at the table, our mostly cleared plates, my only company once she left.
Well then.
Taking my turn to stand up, I dusted off any potential crumbs from my clothing before leaving the restaurant behind; we’d already paid our check.
“The library it is.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Walking through the massive library, I was reminded of what felt like years ago when I first walked through the ornate halls and between the towering bookshelves. It had only been a few months, and yet it had felt like so much had happened in that time.
Gods, I feel old.
It wasn’t helped that surrounded by a bunch of teenagers most of the day, I was constantly reminded that I was only a few short months away from turning twenty-five, nearly a decade since I’d first left home.
Putting the thought aside, I continued through the library, climbing stairs until I found the section I was looking for, the same area I’d explored my first time in the city.
“How time flies,” I muttered. Rounding a corner as I searched for material that would prove useful for my class, I was suddenly pushed back as a figure stumbled into me, dropping several books on the ground.
“Hey, watch it- Professor?”
I glance at the figure who’d fallen onto the ground, rubbing their behind as they stood up. For a moment, I was confused; it was not anyone I recognized, at least not one of my students. It was a boy, a few tufts of loose hair escaping from his-
Oh. Ohhhh.
Several things clicked into place. I’d seen the boy before on my first visit to the city, and not just that, I could now place the voice as well.
“Mona?” I raised an eyebrow as the girl in disguise glanced around before nodding.
“Hi, Professor.”
“What are you doing here instead of at school?”
“I’ve got permission for independent study from most of my classes. They were more than happy to permit me to study outside of class, where I won’t be distracting the other students, or them, for that matter.”
“I see.” I nodded before scratching at my chin. “And you haven’t asked for my independent study permission because…?”
“Because I prefer being in your class. I learn more from that than any of these old tomes anyway.” Mona scoffed as if such were obvious.
At that moment, another figure came zipping around the corner.
“Mona, please, you can’t just- Oh, Koor.”
“Harris.” I nodded at the man. I was rather unsurprised that her escort would be Harris. He looked no worse for wear; enough time had passed that any injuries he’d received during our duel as recovered, most of them would have been from magical backlash.
“What are you doing here anyway, Professor?” Mona leaned forward, curiosity written across her face.
“What, can you not believe your Professor would have a casual interest in visiting the library?”
“Is that why you’re here?”
“No.” I chuckled. “I was specifically looking for supplemental material I could base some of my study guides on that I could give to you all.”
Mona nodded along as if clinging to my every word before she suddenly frowned.
“Is something the matter?” I raised an eyebrow at the disguised girl.
“Professor, can I ask something?”
“That itself is a question, but go ahead.”
The girl twiddled her hands together like she was trying to wring the words from between her hands until, at last, she threw them to the side.
“Zero, you, why exactly are you hiding that?”
“I, huh?” I was taken off guard by the sudden switch in topics. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“During your duel with Harris, something seemed off. I used magic to see through the illusion of the fake you in the crowd. That’s when I realized it must have been you behind the mask.”
I glanced at Harris, but he shrugged as if he wasn’t surprised.
“You don’t exchange blows like that without noticing something isn’t right.” Harris finally said after a moment of silence.
“You kids.” I sighed, taking a seat in a nearby chair. “Noticing things you shouldn’t.”
“So I’m not the first?”
“No, but I have zero intention of spilling who the other is.”
“It’s the Ecurps boy, Elios, isn’t it?”
Well, that was fast.
“He’s the only one who has one-on-one lessons with you, so I figured he’d be the one to put it together as well,” Mona explained.
“Well, don’t take it as meaning anything more than you see. He’s a hard worker who I’ve put in extra time with because he puts in that extra time.”
“What about me?” Mona suddenly asked.
“Pardon?”
“I put in plenty of extra time. Doesn’t that mean I warrant one-on-one lessons?”
Where is this coming from?
“Firstly, you don’t need extra lessons. You’re already my most talented student by quite a large margin. Second, I very much doubt your bodyguard feels like wasting extra time attending your extra classes.”
Harris shrugged again, deciding not to add his input to the conversation.
“But what if I want more lessons?” Mona continued.
“Look.” I sighed, crossing my arms. “It’s time for a life lesson. Sometimes what we want isn’t what we need. With all this talent, I can see why you’d want to invest more time into it, but you’ve got a future ahead of you that is more than just throwing around magic. You need to understand and see the world in more than just one shade, and if all you want to spend time learning is magic, you won’t get that. You’re a good kid, haven’t lorded your status over others, and approach class enthusiastically, so continue with that. But don’t hold your wants over your needs and the needs of others. The extra time I spend giving you lessons you don’t need is time I spend away from working on lesson plans for kids who may be struggling. That is the essence of life, understanding where you can ask for more and where you need to take a step back.”
Feeling proud of the lecture I’d thought up on the spot, I examined Mona. She was chewing on her lip like she wasn’t fond of the answer, but she finally sighed.
“I… I guess.”
“Good now-” I stopped midsentence.
What the -?
It was as if I was suddenly floating outside of my body, viewing the world from a different lens. I could see the hairs on my arms rising as if in slow motion.
Then I was back, in my own flesh, glancing around in confusion.
What was that?
Before I could raise concerns, I felt something else. Not a strange out-of-body experience, but a tremor ever so slight passing beneath my feet.
“Down!” I hissed at the girl.
Harris was faster on the uptick, throwing his body over Mona as a second tremor suddenly ripped through the ground, the entire library shaking wildly as books were flung about and whole shelves were knocked over. The quake lasted only a few seconds before it went still once more. I stood up from where I’d dropped, shielding my neck from falling debris. Harris likewise rose to his feet, pulling Mona up. I exchanged a glance with Harris as we nodded in synch.
“Outside,” I told Mona, leading the way. Quickly but without panic, we exited the library, many others following our lead. The beautiful library was not exactly a sturdy shelter to hide within in the event of more quakes.
Leaving the library behind, we stood in the mid-afternoon sun. The day was exceptionally pleasant, with a gentle breeze and a warm sun that made one want to curl up in a ball under a nice tree and snooze.
It wasn’t a lazy drowsiness I felt when I stared out past the crowds leaving the nearby building.
I felt a monstrous dread rising from where it had been slumbering, like a poisonous viper biding its time, slowly growing, and feasting within my stomach before rearing its ugly head.
A massive plume of smoke was rising from nearby, rising from what I had a gut-wrenching feeling I already knew.
“The academy,” Mona mumbled in a shocked stupor, pointing toward the column of smoke like an erupting volcano.
Harris glanced at me, saying the words I’d been beginning to believe would never come over the last three weeks.
“We’re under attack.”