Chapter 13: Squirrely notes

Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):

My new room here at the dorms was smaller than my room at home. It was of a similar design but less wide and less tall and only had one loft. I’d put Drugu on my bed and had hung the poster on an empty stretch of wall. Anyone who would see it would think I was a bit weird for having it, but I didn’t care about that. Not this time. It was a gift, and it was one of the few collections of facts about my species I knew for certain to be true. There was no debate about it. That was how my body worked, simple as that.

After putting away the books, I made my way outside. I’d made promises to myself that I would at least try to socialize instead of staying in my room all the time.

The gardens were nice. People lazed about on the grass, sat at tables, or were sparring in the field. Some were even in the pool splashing around or doing laps.

At my approach, most looked my way and sat up straighter, or started talking quieter. Most also winced at seeing my injuries. I stood there for a minute, just looking around the garden, searching for familiar faces, or some activity I could maybe join. It was hard. Would they mind if I joined the pool? I did take up a lot of space… Or I could lie down on the grass near the elves and try to join a conversation. Except I didn’t want to be rude and interrupt what they already had going on.

In my moment of indecision, one of the humans stood up from their table and approached me. She appeared and smelled like a woman and wore some very nice clothes. A princess of some kind, probably. Or maybe just a noble.

I waved at her, and she waved back, so I waited for her to cross the distance. But before she got the chance to introduce herself, I heard someone shout my name.

“Hey, Felix! How are you doing?”

I swiveled towards the voice and there stood Tiki, the shadow elf I’d met… yesterday? It felt longer ago than that. Right, I mostly slept through yesterday. It was the day before yesterday that I’d met her.

“Hi, Tiki,” I said, nodding her way. “I’m doing well, all things considered. But I’m afraid you’re interrupting something. This young woman got to me first.” I’d talk with her later if she was still interested.

Tiki rolled her eyes, though I didn’t feel like the gesture was aimed at me. “All she wants to talk about is more funding for their crystal mines. They were bragging about it earlier.”

Looking back at the human woman, she stammered, then huffed and spun around, striding back to her table.

I frowned. Great. It had started already. I couldn’t even help her with what she wanted. At least this time I didn’t have the reputation of the big scary monster; I hoped. My injuries probably didn’t help.

I turned back to Tiki. “Nevermind, then. How are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m fine. The pool is really quite nice, and I went to visit the library yesterday.”

“That’s good to hear. Did you find any good books?”

She smiled. “Yeah, I did. There wasn’t much fiction, so I picked up—” She was interrupted by a loud familiar voice and winced.

“You beast! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Oh, sweet Moons,” Tiki muttered. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I turned to see Conad standing behind us in the entrance to the dorms. His already dark face had gotten even darker with a new shade of red, and he was pointing at me.

I leaned in closer to Tiki and whispered to her. “What in the stars’ names is he talking about?”

She shook her head, looking just as confused as I felt. “I have no idea. But if I’d known he was going to do this, I would’ve waited for him somewhere else.”

I sighed and turned the rest of my body to face Conad. He was glaring down at me from the stairs, but his gaze occasionally flickered to his sister.

“What is your problem?” I asked, my tail flicking from side to side in annoyance. “I’m literally not doing anything. You were doing the same last Monday. I was just minding my business, and you went off insulting me, my father, my job—can’t you just leave me alone?”

Somehow, his face turned even redder as he glared at me. Instead of responding, he turned to Tiki. “Why are you talking to… it?” he said, spitting out the last word, gesturing to me. “I thought you said we were going to the arena together to check it out? So why are you wasting our time?”

Tiki sighed and pressed a hand to her face. “For the love of the moons, Alfred. Show some basic decency and respect. He’s a person, don’t call him ‘it’. You’re such an asshole, sometimes,” she said.

“Just sometimes?” I muttered, and Tiki shot me a sheepish look. Conad—no, Alfred—didn’t notice, though.

Tiki continued. “And I’m talking to him because he is nice and pleasant to talk to, unlike some people. Besides, you were the one wasting time. Or do you think I was out here waiting for you because I felt like it? Your clothes aren’t that important, you know. Not here.”

Alfred scowled and stalked off, but not before shooting me a final glare. “Don’t think I forgot your threats, beast,” he said. “I’ll crush you when the combat classes start.”

Right, I had asked Tiki to pass along a threatening message for me. That felt so long ago, now. But it had just been the day before yesterday.

“I’m sorry about that, Felix,” Tiki said. “I hate it when he acts like a stereotypical storybook villain like this. I should never have gifted him those books. I’ll try to talk some sense, or at least some basic decency, into him. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Alright,” I said. “But next time, let’s not meet up while you’re waiting for your brother.”

She grimaced a little. “That sounds like a good idea.”

Then she left, chasing after her asshole of a brother. It seemed the guard had been right about him being trouble.

All alone again, I wasn’t sure what to do next. But then I noticed the pool was empty now, so I decided to float around for a bit. Maybe it would feel like flying. I was missing it already, and maybe it would help. And if not, swimming was also fun just on its own.

I put my saddle near one of the trees that lined the edge of the pool and dived in. Despite having such a large form, I didn’t make much of a splash. After I resurfaced I doggy paddled from one side to the other. It wasn’t that fast, but other methods of swimming didn’t work for me. I could use my wings, and that worked really well, but the pool was way too small, and far too shallow, for that. It wasn’t so much that my wings didn’t fit—though that might have been an issue too—it was simply the fact that water contained like this in a pool provided too much resistance and splashback. It made moving my wings through the water like I was pushing them through mud.

It made my wings not an option. You know, aside from the obvious problem of missing one.

I swam from edge to edge and back again, going twenty-five meters each way. It was nice, even though it didn’t really feel like flying. But that was alright; it was still fun and relaxing. After about ten laps, I had enough and got out of the pool. I shook off the worst of the droplets and considered the best way to get rid of the rest. I could just flash some basic fire mana or wind mana through my scales and it would’ve worked just fine, but I had the time so I might as well practice a little with my instinctive magic.

After thinking it through for a while and going through various combinations, I settled for the Permutation target-water-direction-outwards-wind. The permutation was both simple and very difficult. When the mana touched the water, it would create a wind effect outwards from my body. The hard part was getting the mana to follow a five concept request. It was not an efficient Permutation by any means.

I reached out to my mana pool, only to stop. I swore it was bigger than just a few days ago. I checked again, searching my memories of how big it should be. My mana pool was definitely bigger. I could grasp at more mana than I should be able to. It wasn’t a lot bigger; it had only grown by about ten percent, but it had grown. For the first time since I was born, it had actually grown in size.

Was there something wrong with it? Why did it do that? Maybe this was why I had no System. No, that was ridiculous. The System didn’t have anything to do with mana pools except letting them grow. So why did mine? Was it because I was eighteen now? Would it just keep growing? Or did it happen because I killed the high-level monster? Maybe this was how I received Experience with no System to handle it. But I didn’t feel any stronger, so that couldn’t be it either.

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I sighed. I had so many questions, and no answers. Some of these would probably get answers over time, like whether it would keep growing, or if this was how I got Experience. The others would require experimentation, and some I simply couldn’t ever answer. There was no way to test if it happened because I turned eighteen or if this was why I didn’t unlock the System.

But the rest… Yes, I would see if I could replicate this. I could only imagine what I could do if I had twice the amount of mana to work with. The strength of my magic was partially decided by just how much mana I had to throw around. Combat magic might actually be a reality instead of an increasingly distant dream.

“What are you grinning about?” a voice asked from the left of me.

I turned to the voice and found Tiki standing there. Thankfully alone this time.

“Huh, you’re back soon,” I said, focusing on the woman. “And I just discovered something cool, is all.”

“I left Alfred to cool off. Maybe sulking in his room alone all day will teach him some manners. And what did you discover? A squirrel?” she asked with an amused tone, glancing at my front talons.

I looked down, and indeed, there sat a large squirrel between my talons. It was holding out a small piece of paper to me with its tiny paws. How did it even get there without me noticing?

“Is it... Is it holding a note?” she asked.

“It appears so.”

I tentatively grabbed the note from the squirrel and it sprinted away and up a tree. From between the branches, I could see it glaring at me. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to wrong this particular squirrel, so I ignored it. I opened the note, and it read:

““To Alex,

I hope this note finds you well. I have finished collecting my thoughts and findings on our discussions yesterday and have written them down. I have also found the guide I mentioned and you may pick it up at your earliest convenience. Marlijn will let you in.

Kind regards,

Professor and amateur squirrel-breeder Sìnna Vuillio.””

Attached to the note was a list written with tiny letters. As the note wasn’t actually meant for me, I didn’t read it.

“What does it say?” Tiki asked.

“Oh, it’s a note for Alex from professor Vuillio.”

She cocked her head, an eyebrow raised. “The crazy squirrel lady?”

I sighed. That joke had really gotten away from me. At least no one seemed to be feeding the damn pests any more, so that was good.

“Yes,” I said, “the crazy squirrel lady.”

“Huh. She’s Alex’s mentor right? Why did she send the note to you?”

“She is, and I don’t think she did. I have never in my life seen her send messages with squirrels before. It must be new and not entirely functional yet,” I lied.

The reason was probably that I smelled like Alex. More specifically, my saddle did. He’d spent so much time close to me, and had even bled onto my saddle, it was no surprise his smell lingered. It must simply have followed Alex’s trail and stopped when it saw me near the entrance. Tiki didn’t need to know I still had Alex’s blood on my saddle, though. I’d clean it later.

“Cool. Want to go deliver the note together?” she asked. “I know where his room is.”

I smiled and nodded. “Please, lead the way.”

She guided me through the building into the west wing, where we ascended a bunch of stairs to the third floor. The hallways were large enough for me to fit through, but some of the doorways were a little more problematic and I was required to squeeze through several times. I guess I was never meant to actually go up here. The doors to all the common areas worked fine, after all. But eventually, we made it, and there, at the end of the hallway, was Alex’s room.

It sat near the middle of the building and shared a wall with my tower. Neat.

I knocked on the door and waited for Alex to open.

“I’ll be right there, just a few minutes!” he called from inside.

I sat down to wait and expected Tiki to leave, but she didn’t.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I asked.

“What?” she said, sounding offended. “You’re not the only one who can spend time with him, you know.”

“Sorry, that came out wrong,” I said, mentally berating myself for being so rude. “I was just curious why you were waiting, too. I didn’t think you knew him that well.”

“Then how did you think I knew where his room was?”

I blinked. “I didn’t really think about it, I suppose.”

She chuckled and continued talking. “We met yesterday when he returned from his visit to his mentor. We got to talking and found we had a few interests in common, such as reading.”

“Oh, good for him. You’re free to join us the next time we go to the library, if you want.”

She nodded. “Sounds like fun; count me in. And you’re free to join us when we visit the theater, too. If we ever get enough free time to visit one, anyway.”

“I might do that. It’s been a long time since I went to the theater,” I said. The last time was two years ago with dad. We used to go together, but he stopped having time for it.

There was a loud crash from inside the room and a muffled “I’m okay!”

Tiki and I both giggled at that. I hoped he didn’t break anything. I knew he didn’t have the money to pay the Academy back for the damages. It wouldn’t be an issue since I would pay for it, then, but I knew Alex wouldn’t like that very much. Something I could somewhat understand.

“What’s up with your brother, by the way?” I asked. “I’ve met assholes before, but never someone so outright hostile. He does realize my father controls the entire Academy, right?”

“I’m not sure he does, honestly,” she said in a bemused tone. “I’ve told him to do his research before he picks his targets a thousand times, but he never listens. And I think he’s jealous. He doesn’t like it when I spend time with other people in general, but especially not with you.”

“Why not tell him to stop?”

She tilted her head. “Do you think he would listen if I asked him that?”

“How would I know? I don’t have siblings,” I said, wishing for the thousandth time I did.

“Oh, right. Well, he wouldn’t, so I try to steer him to where he causes the least amount of damage.”

I raised an eyeridge. “And how’s that working out for you?”

She shook her head, sighing. “Poorly.”

“But why is he so… provocative in the first place? I just can’t understand it.”

“I’m not sure. I think it might be the superiority complex he picked up from his books. It doesn’t mesh that well with the idea of something he considers a mere ‘animal’ standing above him. Which is dumb. Like, really dumb. You’re clearly as smart as any of us, and clearly a person. Anyway, combine that with his jealousy… and well, you get Alfred.”

The door opened, and Alex came out. “Oh hey, Felix! Tiki!” He gave me a quick hug and Tiki a small wave. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Got you a note here from professor Vuillio, personally delivered by a squirrel to the wrong person,” I explained.

“Oh! She actually followed my idea? Can I see?” I handed him the note, and he looked it over. ”Neat. I have to go pick up a book at her house. Do you guys want to tag along?”

I thought about it for a moment. My legs were pretty sore, but I didn’t want to waste an opportunity to spend time with Alex. Besides, what else was I going to do? Be bored in my room? Fuck that. “Sure, I’m in.”

“Is it far?” Tiki asked.

“A bit,” Alex told her.

She thought about it for a moment. “Hmm, is the library on the way?”

Alex wouldn’t know the answer to this question, so I answered. “No, but a detour wouldn’t cost that much time.”

“Alright, I’ll join you until the library then. I want more books. The ones I got weren’t actually all that great.”

Having decided, we started walking outside.

“You’re awfully chipper this morning, by the way. Did something happen?” I asked Alex. There was a bounce to his step that wasn’t there when we went to the library two days ago, and a smile seemed permanently etched onto his face.

“Oh, I just had a really good conversation with professor Vuillio yesterday. She helped me make a few realizations and helped pick my classes. I haven’t felt this directionless-less since I left home. So yeah, I’m feeling happy.”

“I don’t think that’s an actual word, but that’s good to hear!” Tiki said, smiling at Alex. I nodded in agreement. “I hope I can talk with my mentor soon as well, how did you manage to meet yours so early?”

-------

Alfred Conad sat in his room, pissed at his sister. She was spending way too much time with that beast. She’d even left early when they went to visit the arena! He’d then later spotted them together again when he walked back home. It was disgusting, and it was wrong. He didn’t go to the barns and roll around in the mud with the pigs, either, so why was she wasting her time with that monster instead of with him?

Even when he and his sister had finally left the beast behind earlier did she continue on and on about him and who his supposed father was. Alfred didn’t believe a word of it. Why would the mighty and respectable Headmaster keep such an ugly pet? It was quite literally unbelievable.

And then she’d told him not to fight the beast, saying it had used a Potion of Headstart and was already stronger than him to begin with and that he wouldn’t have stood a chance. That was ridiculous, of course. Who’d waste such a rare and expensive potion on an animal? Then again, he knew people were irrational. His parents had wasted their only Potion of Headstart on his sister, after all. If he’d been in one of his books, that would never have happened.

Alfred sighed. Alright, maybe he could believe it, though he hated the thought of another potion going to waste like that.

Still, he could’ve won! He always won the sparring matches with the soldiers and knights back home, even the high leveled ones! This wouldn’t have been that much different, would it? The beast hadn’t even had a level.

He frowned. Why hadn’t it had a level? He had been told many times by various classmates that it had turned eighteen years old this week. And his sister had told him that it had drunk the potion, which only worked when you had a System. So why?

Did it not actually have a System? It made sense. It was an animal, after all. A beast. Nothing but a talking monster. And anyone who was smart believed only people had Systems.

So even the remote possibility that it might have defeated him if they fought now would ultimately be transcended. He’d just need to level up. Yes, he would wait. And then when the time was right, Alfred would go monster hunting.