Chapter 6: A Sneaky Surprise

          Whoooosh!

          All of a sudden, Priston saw a shadow move from a tree. It kinda giggled for a bit and lunged itself towards him. It was a little too dark to see as the figure is all clad in black and all he can do is sense its movements. Although he has never killed another person before, his heart is urging him to do so. It is an urge to survive. He drew a knife from his leather handbag — a normal knife for cooking purposes given to him by Nina — as he surveyed his surroundings with the knife on guard, not leaving any spot for the perpetrator to attack.

           A few more seconds, he heard a silent growl five meters away from him, near the bushes at his left side. He grabbed a smooth stone from the ground and threw it to the direction where he heard the growl. Without a warning, the 'creature' jumped at him showing a mouth full of sharp yellowish teeth. His hair stood up from his back, sweat dropping nonstop from his forehead. It was the first time for him to encounter such a wild beast like this.

          "Should I shout? It's not that far away from the dorm. I mean, I can just shout but I don't wanna be some laughingstock. Damnit! I don't wanna die yet!" He cursed as he ran towards the entrance with every ounce of his strength. The 'small' dark beast ran after him, jumping from side to side of the path like a ninja from some mainstream anime people are getting crazy about. Priston felt like the beast is toying with him, like a cat playing with a dead rat before dinner. He ran like crazy, zigzagging his way across the woods. This technique was taught to him by the elders from his village back on earth. They say 'If you ever come across an 'aswang' zigzag your way and you might be able to survive.', he did not believe it back then. He knew that if you do something like that the pursuer will definitely get a hold of your neck in no time but he's got no choice now. He ran like crazy yet he was not able to shrug off this one. After a few more breaths, he saw an old man wearing his pajamas standing near the entrance.

          'Maybe that's the cook.' He thought. 'Why is he out right now? Is it normal for people here to be like that?' He did not stop running. He can't do anything for the old man right now. Even he himself cannot kill the beast. All of a sudden, the beast jumped at the old man. He looked away. "It will be bloody. Poor old man, I'll mourn your death after this. Thank you for saving me. I won't ever forget you. May we meet in the afterlife." He looked at the scene clasping his hands together as he began to pray for the old man's soul. The small beast stopped and jumped at the neck of the old man. Priston readied his heart. It was the first time for him to see something so gory. His heart racing, he hid his presence and went to spectate from a small bush.

          Gulp.

          He opened his eyes. He was surprised by what he saw. Instead of attacking, the small beast went and perched itself on the old man's back in a gleeful manner different from the savage beast he saw a while ago. 'I think I'm getting hallucinations now. This school sure is brazen.' The beast whispered something to the old man and signaled at where Priston is hiding. The old man slowly took his way into the shrubbery and grabbed the young man by the collar, who is curled up like an armadillo.

          "Please don't kill me, your Excellency. I am but a new student from this school. I saw nothing and I won't tell anything to anybody." He can't do anything but to say those cliché words spoken by those unfortunate characters in novels. He knew that once this line was spoken, only death awaits him. He clenched his teeth, 'This might hurt a little bit like being circumcised'. He thought to himself, reminiscing his not so memorable past. 'If I have been bolder before, maybe I could have a lovely, caring, and very beautiful girlfriend by now. I don't want to die a death like this but I can't do anything against fate.' The old man looked at him grinning secretly.

          "Please give me a quick death. I'm yet too tender, I'll be shouting if you cut me inch by inch. It would definitely alarm the guards. I know the guards are pretty strong. Do anything you want to me but don't touch the other students. They're still young and have families." He said it like an 'honorable' cowardly person. 'If I'm gonna die today, I'd rather die a noble death, or at least make it look like one.' He shut his eyes close when the old man threw him down to the ground.

          "You must be the student called Priston. Sir Trepolos told me to look after you. He told me that you are talented but he never told me that you are talented to this extent. Blabbering noble words while acting cowardly must be an innate ability of yours. By the way, 'I' am the only guard here and there's not a single soul who's stronger than me here." He chuckled, emphasizing the word 'I' while acting out it's equivalent in sign language.

          "You must be having a lot of fun, old man. I didn't know that guards here are like this. Indeed, I am the student named Priston and I am here for lodging. " Hearing that, Priston regained his composure. He acted like nothing happened. Brushing away the dirt from his clothes, he stood up and picked the knife from the ground and sent it back to his handbag. The handbag is also a dimensional storage so a lot of things can be inserted within. The guard handed him a key with an engraved number '24' on it. 'Mamba, pretty neat. I like this number. Purple and Gold, here we go.'

          He is a Lakers fan since young and watched every single championship won by the Mamba. He's got a lot of number 24 posters that it almost filled half of his room. Before he was a tennis player, he was a basketball player. At the height of 174 cm, he played power forward in high school. Back then, that height is already pretty tall. He didn't make the team because of his lack of shooting range and rebounding ability. He is a really good dribbler but that's the most of it. He grew up playing pass-first point guard but he outgrew his peers when he went to high school. The coach made him play center and forward positions but he just cannot play it well. He never had the talent playing anything but point guard and that's why he didn't make the cut for the high school basketball team. He looked for another sport that may suit him and thus ended up picking up the tennis racket.

          "By the way, nice knife kid. Where'd you buy that? Looks good for peeling potatoes." The old guard clowned him. How can a peeling knife protect you from beasts?

          Priston looked at him intently. "This is not for potatoes." He took out a few more knives and showed them to the guard. "This one's for onions and other softer vegetables, you can see that the blade is different. The one with the blue handle is for fish, the large one is for meat, and the one with the yellow handle that has a weird blade is for peeling stuff. I've had mister Prions do these. It's first-class." He bragged as he put them back to his handbag.

          "Pretty neat huh. You can cook?" The old guard looked at him with eager eyes. "Yeah, a little bit. Learned a few things at home." Priston answered, shrugging his shoulders to make himself look humble.

          "Then you can visit me at my house and whip up some food sometimes. The one in the front is my house. Just tell the caretaker that Old Oliver told you to do so." He winked his eyes and petted the beast in his arms. "Yes, mister Oliver. I can even cook for the little friend sometimes. Just don't let him bite me okay?"

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          "I promise, his name is Gopper. He's a level 9 Wingless Shadow Bat. He likes to eat fruit and he doesn't bite so you do not have to worry. He uses spells to fight and his teeth are not that sharp for his level so he barely uses it." Gopper acted cute after hearing that he will be fed fruits. It looked like a black cat with a pig's snout whose body is as big as a dog. "Seems like he's looking forward to it." Priston acted friendly with the bat. He knows it's terrifying strength and without Old Oliver here, aggravating it will only cause Celia and Nina, who's back at home, to receive a death certificate. He did not like Celia that much because of her attitude but due to being with them for a lot of years, he's grown some kind of sympathy with her. He kinda liked Nina because she definitely is a beauty, not to mention her being a tsundere. The only thing that's holding him back from totally liking her is his past memory.

          "Thank you for guiding me here, sir Oliver." He looked at the bat and smiled as he patted it in the head. "You too, sir Gopper." He bowed his head and bid his goodbye.

. . . .

          In a dark corridor, two hunched-backed figures together with two small beasts of different shapes walked side by side as they chatted with each other.

          "I don't know what's getting into that emperor's head right now. It's been a few years since the last civil war and no one in the whole empire dares to move against him." The old man with a red armadillo-like beast walking beside him stopped for a bit.

          "I do not know sir. Even you —the great sage, Trepolos— do not know anything about it, how can I have any understanding regarding this matter?" The one holding a catlike beast smiled, answering in a very 'polite' manner. They moved to a hall where a few people are chatting and eating.

          "You don't have to be too humble, Oliver. We've known each other for many years and you're still like that. You're not weak yourself. You've achieved level 13 at the age of 70. You're not that far from my brother.” Trepolos patted him by the shoulder. This seems to be some sort of show for them, for they do not want to let others see them talk casually in public.

          "I dare not compare my lowly self with sir Pedro. He is a really strong mage and also is an expert with weapons. I am just another decent magic user with decent magic power that can easily be destroyed once the enemy got a little closer." "You're too humble. That's not very good. You're a shadow mage. I don't know how fast that enemy you are talking about but I know that not even the level 12 speed-type leopard beast we encountered last time can make it near you." The beast they are talking about is a speed-type beast called Frost Leopard that they encountered in the war against the beast tamers of the northern savage lands, also called the land of the savages, a few decades ago. They are feline creatures whose size must be bigger than that of a horse and is covered with white fur. Their eyes blue and the white fur that's covering them are dotted with light blue spots looking like a giant discolored leopard.

          After a half-minute of walking in silence, they arrived at what seems to be a library. It was packed full of magic scrolls of different elements. Journals, recipe books, magic tomes, grimoires, and other books that focus on magic crowds the place. There are some cooking books in there too. They went to a table and sat. "I think you've seen Priston already. So how was it? He's a very unique child isn't he?" Trepolos took one of his notebooks from the handbag and laid it on the table. He stood up and grabbed a very thick book from the shelf and went back to his seat. The cover of the book is entitled 'How to kill a potato monster' but what the title inside says is 'A Thousand Ways to cook potatoes'. After checking that there are no more people inside the library, Oliver spoke. "He can cook." "Potatoes?" Trepolos whispered. "Not just potatoes, he said he can cook other stuff too." Oliver smiled. "Do you think he can cook mashed potatoes with thick potato gravy matched with oil cooked skinless potato sticks?" He read the name of the dish that's been highlighted in the current page he's at as he wiped his drool and whispered back to Oliver. These two must be part of some kind of potato cult somewhere. "I should go and ask him later. I'll contact you once he comes. Prepare a few crates of potato, I'm gonna bring my precious china set out." Oliver showed a sinister smile, like that of a villain's, as he swept his hand across the bat's fur.

          "Sure! Firero likes to eat porcelain so you must always keep your china away from him, okay?" "He better not. I'm gonna cook him up and use his hide to make a fine set of fireproof armor if he does." The dog-headed red armadillo shivered the moment he heard those words. He crawled away and rolled into a ball. "Firero! That's just a joke. Don't be too serious. You'd die a virgin if you always act like that. Remember the other Crimson Bigaloo last time? She's kinda pretty but you didn't even notice her. Maybe you like guys." Trepolos joked. Hearing this, Firero let out a cloud of smoke towards Trepolos.

          Cough. cough.

           The smoke rendered him unable to properly breathe. He slapped the armadillo by the head and cast a small spell.

          "Binding Light!"

           Few shining lines came out from his hands and shackled the poor armadillo's limbs. It tried to break loose of the spell but nothing in its arsenal could ever do so. The armadillo sulked and groaned as it stayed down. It did not bother moving anymore, it already knew that there is no other way out as the caster is 10 levels stronger than him.

          The two wizards laughed at him. The two chatted for a few hours before unlatching the armadillo from the spell. Afterward, they went to the tower's cafeteria to grab some grub.

. . . .

          It was already dark when two figures came into the Student Quarters. They wore gray robes. Their hair, eyes, head shape, nose, mouth, and every other physical characteristic are very similar if not exact. In their hands are baskets full of fruits and bread. They do not look like gluttons at all, they can even be described as fit. They walked straight to their room when they found it open. They saw a blonde-haired guy sitting cross-legged on the floor, unpacking some stuff. Although they were twins, the elder one is actually a little bigger than the other. His muscles are a little bigger than that of other 9-year-olds. He walked in first. Afterward, the younger one timidly entered.

          "You are Priston, right? We have already been informed by the cleaners about you. We are the Birch Brothers." He offered his hand for a handshake. Priston responded with a nod and he shook his hand. The younger brother then copied what his older brother did.

          "Pleased to meet you two. How do I address you? You look exactly the same!" Priston exclaimed. "I am slightly bigger and I'm the older brother. My name is George and I am 12 years old." He held his hand at his left chest and bowed, showing a noble greeting.

          "My name is Geoffrey." He just copied what his brother did. George and Geoffrey are pretty small for their age.

          "As you already know, my name is Priston Farlake and I am 9 years old. I'm sorry for being rude but he's pretty timid isn't he?" Priston pointed out.

          "You're pretty young, aren't you? You must be some kind of genius. My brother is kind of shy to people. He's been like that since we're young. Don't mind him. He's only like that to strangers. Once he becomes used to you I think it won't be like that anymore." George explained.

          "So we're going to bed early. You can just turn off the light apparatus." George said as he tucked himself to bed.

          "How do I do it?" Priston questioned. He is not that ignorant with magical stuff as he has already reviewed some important stuff but not including this one.

          "Seriously dude? Just think of putting out the light and it will instantly do so." The silent Geoffrey said in a whispering voice that can only be heard by those around him by 1-2 meters. Luckily, Priston managed to hear it.

          "Thank you very much!" Priston bowed at them and went back to his task He was not angered by the guy's tone. He has already considered that this might just be how the guy acts.

          'I'm not some kind of Chinese fiction protagonist who will kill anyone who talks to him in a rude way. I don't want to be irrational. Now, let's get back to work!'

           After a few minutes of sorting out his items, Priston went to bed and slept.