Chapter Six : A Womanly Duty

The night after the marathon, Touma once again visited Rex's room. However, he was surprised when he found Rex with a company. He never thought he would see the day when a strong Warrior would be feeding a feeble small child.

Nevertheless, the sight didn't feel too awkward has he thought it might have been. Perhaps, it was because Rex had slightly feminine features...

'I better not slip up and tell him so.' Touma noted.

When Rex spotted Touma, he gave him a slightly embarrassed smile, "Ah, Touma, You're early today. And you really need to stop that habit of entering through the window..."

Touma shrugged, "It can't be helped. It's been deeply ingrained into my system. By the way, who's that?"

Rex ushered the child in front of Touma and introduced, "Touma, this is Ares. Ares, greet Touma."

"Nice to meet you, Touma. You must be Papa's friend." Ares bowed and introduced itself.

"PAPA?!?!" Touma suddenly swung his head up to look at Rex, only to find him red-faced. Touman pointed a finger at Rex, "Rex, y-y-you... The child looks to be about 5, so..."

Rex felt the same foreboding emotion when Touma told him about the rumor of him and his sister. But this time, it was worse.

"THAT MEANS YOU COMMITTED A MISTAKE WHEN YOU WERE ABOUT ONLY 10?!"

...

Rex quickly sidestepped behind Touma and hit him on the back of his head. "I knew you were going to say something stupid again."

"Owww... That really hurts..." Touma complained as he rubbed the back of his head.

"It's because you jumped into the wrong conclusion again."

"So, then what? If this child is not yours, then why is he calling you 'Papa'?"

Rex signed. He knew he had to explain it to Touma soon, but he didn't think it would be this soon. "Let me introduce it again. This is Ares, my Eidolon."

"YOUR EIDOLON? But it talks, so that means... You're an S-Rank Magician?"

"Well... yeah..." Rex scratched his head, "I am... Please keep it a secret."

"I will... It's not like anyone will believe me if I said a student has a higher rank than most of the professors here."

"So, let's get back on track. I'm sure you're not here for leisure talk." Since Touma seemed to have forgotten the purpose of his visit, Rex decided to remind him.

"Ah, right." I believe I owe you an explanation on why I choose that as our duty." Touma's serious expression returned, "It's because of the information I've received. I heard Fabian Sinclair never misses his morning rides."

"Ah..." Rex said in understanding, then added, "Wouldn't it have been better if we used the time to search his room, instead of trying to confront him?"

"At first, that's what I wanted to do, but I also found out about his guards. He always has 2 guards outside his door, to stop people from disturbing him. And when he leaves, more are added, in addition to magic traps he placed inside his room, that will trigger if anyone steps inside while he's gone. The trap is enough to kill or detain an A-Rank Magician."

"But Papa is an S-Rank Magician." Ares said with a bewildered expression.

"Yes, well, I didn't know that until now. Still, we can't risk triggering the traps because if Fabian finds out that there's someone sneaking around his room, he'll be more careful. In any case, the plan is to study Fabian's mentality. Try and gauge what he's thinking."

"Basically, to interrogate him without making him feel he's being interrogated."

"Correct. I'll be the one to talk to him, while Rex, you try and read him. You think you can manage?"

"Yeah, I think I can."

"Uh huh. You seem really good at reading people." Touma said with a sly smile.

"I will take that as a compliment..."

Touma continued his explanation, and shared the information he had gathered about Fabian Sinclair. Although it might be because of his bias, or because of his rage toward the guy, everything he told Rex about the guy's negative characteristic; egotistic, bad-tempered, especially when his experiments and inventions weren't going well. And because of that, he doesn't have many friends.

"However, as much as I hate to admit, the guy as a good judge of character. Of the few friends he has, all of them are loyal. He also doesn't cut corners when it comes to his work, training, and his studies."

"In that case, you need to be very careful. If he finds out you're out to bring him to justice, you might be next..."

"Then, please look after my family when I'm gone."

"All jokes aside, when do we start?" Rex brushed Touma's serious request as a joke and asked.

"Advance students aren't due back until this weekend. According to my information, Fabian will be back on Friday night. So we won't be meeting him until Monday. Be ready on that day. We also need to get the hang of our duties. If not, there's a chance they'll throw us into the so-called 'Beautification Club'." Touma warned with a stern face. "If we get thrown there, we won't be able to get out of the hell hole for a year."

"... I understand." 'Looks like Touma had really terrible experiences there.'

* * *

The next morning, Rex arrived at the stables, only to find a girl stroking and murmuring to a pregnant mare. The mare jerked her head away from the girl, tossing it high, causing the girl to lose her balance, landing on the ground, derriere first.

A low moan came from the mare, a sound so very nearly human, that the breath in Rex's lungs froze. When the girl turned and saw Rex, her face was ruby-red coloured with a terrifyingly contained trepidation. Unconsciously, Rex stared at her and the mare.

"You, don't just stand there. Do something." She bit off the words and returned her attention to the mare.

Rex approached the mare and started stroking it as replacement for the girl's missing hand.

The girl covered her mouth in order to hide her small sobs that were on the verge of escaping her lips. "Something's wrong with the mare... She... I don't know." It had taken all of the courage she possessed to call out to the cold wall of the boy's back who had just arrived.

Joanna Ludwig had arrived at the stables before all the other students on stable duty, only to find a mare whimpering in agony. However, because she didn't have any experience with caring for a sick mare, all she could do was stroke her head, hoping it would calm her down.

The mare groaned once more and jerked her head high and rolled whitely in pain. The horse suddenly shifted and started to lean against the boy, who pushed her back in attempt to keep her in an upright position, murmuring soothing words that contrasted his starkly dark expression.

Finally, the boy looked at Joanna again, "She's with a foal, but she should have delivered it by now, which means, the foal is in the wrong posture. And the Stable Master who is in charge and was supposed to tell us what is required of us..." He stopped, then continued, "Is nowhere to be found."

The boy prolonged his last words, and the hairs on Joanna's back rose. The boy was angry. His rage was nearly acidic; she could feel it on her own throat. She imagined the leaves on the trees in the forest nearby, blackening and withering for miles and miles away because of the dark aura the boy was emitting. If the law did not forbid murder, she was absolutely sure the Stable Master would be killed.

"What will happen to her?"

"She will die, and so will the foal. Painfully and slowly, unless we put her down." He threw the words casually, hard as rocks.

"But... Isn't there something we can do?" Helplessness swelled in her, and God, she was tired of feeling helpless.

The mare's legs began to fold, and the boy threw his body against her again. He was very determined to keep her upright.

"Let me help." The words sprung from somewhere deep inside Joanna, and she was surprised that she actually meant it. However, because she did not excel in strength like males usually do, she was not of much help with steading the mare.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"No, I think I can manage." The boy said, however, Joanna interpreted the look he gave her as "You're in the way."

Restraining her anger, she inquired, "What can I do to help?"

The boy made a disdainful sound and asked sarcastically, "You will thrust your arm into the womb of a horse and turn the foal? Because that's what we need to do. But even then, we might not save her."

His fury was a contagious epidemic, and she caught it now. She yanked up the sleeves of her clean uniform, held up her arm, and glared at the aggravating mongrel beside her. "Tell me what to do."

When he began to turn away from her, she growled, "Tell. Me. What. To. Do."

The boy stared at her long and hard before demanding, "Hold out your arm."

He scooped a handful of Lanolin from a bucket, rubbed it past her elbow, and guided her arm toward the mare's uplifted tail. His voice was even, the voice of someone accustomed to seeing people obey his commands without question. "REPLACE your arm into the mare. I'll steady her. She might kick. I'll try to protect you from it, but you mind yourself as well."

She pushed her hand slowly into the mare, felt the muscle straining around her arm as the mare shifted her legs, and saw her elbow disappearing. Somewhere above her, the boy was keeping the mare up while reassuring the mare.

Her fingers, with meager space to maneuver, fumbled carefully, attempting to translate what she felt and her breath caught, "I feel a muzzle!"

She moved her fingers slightly, over a nostril, ear, and mouth. "It bit me!"

"Good. It's alive then. Do you feel the legs?"

Joanna moved her hand up around the face of the foal, and felt the knobby little legs, "Yes, I feel a leg."

"Now, feel carefully... is it a foreleg or a back leg?"

"Foreleg."

"Good. Now we need to turn its head and its legs so that it faces us. When you feel its head, guide it toward you."

She did as told, she gently pulled it toward her, but it wouldn't budge.

"Try harder." The boy said from above. "You won't hurt it."

Joanna took a deep breath, closed her eyes, prayed, and gave a hard pull, with all the strength she could muster. "Oh, it's moving!"

"All right, she'll push and you'll feel it. When she does, we hope to see the forelegs."

Joanna waited, and then the mare pushed. A small hoof emerged, then another... A minute later, a small muzzle began to emerge.

"Now, slowly withdraw your arm. We need to grasp the legs and tug. I'll let you know when."

She carefully withdrew her arm, and gently took hold of a hoof. When the mare heaved again, she pulled, along with the boy. With another heave, the foal fell into her arms, wet and warm, wriggling with life, and she tumbled into the piles of straws. "YES! We did it!"

The boy took the foal and slowly placed it next to the mare. After Joanna finished washing her hands, she saw the warm loving picture before her, and her eyes started to water. The boy went back to help her up, smiled and said, "You did very well."

She didn't know what occurred inside her mind, but she tossed her arms around the boy's neck in an almost too intimate embrace. "*Sob*. I was so scared. *Sob*"

Rex, who didn't know what to do, patted the girl's back in an extremely awkward manner. However, at that moment, someone purposely coughed very loudly.

Joanna looked towards the person, and saw a familiar face.

"Am I interrupting something?" The person asked with a wry smile on his face. "Rex, I didn't think you were one of those guys who moved quickly. And Joanna, I didn't think he would be your type."

'TOUMA!' Joanna wanted to yell at her long-time classmate and childhood friend, but when she realised what she was doing, she quickly jumped back in embarrassment.

"So what's the story behind the intimate embrace?" Touma asked as he hugged himself with both arms as an imitation of what she was doing prior to him arriving.

"Touma, it seems I didn't hit you hard enough last night, would you like another one?" Rex asked with a smile, however, his eyes had a dangerous glint in them.

"Ah, I'll pass. I'm too young to die." Touma raised to hands in surrender. "But I insist you guys tell me what happened."

The boy, Rex, explained to Touma everything that had happened. However, Touma was not satisfied. "Rex, you're really bad a story telling. I'm sure you skipped a lot of parts. And it doesn't explain why you guys were in an embrace!"

Rex suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Touma, giving him a hard whack behind his head. "OUCH! Owwww... Fine, I understand. I won't ask anymore."

Joanna, who was watching the scene, remembered they haven't introduced themselves. "Ummm, I know it's kind of late to say this but... I'm Joanna Ludwig. Thank you for helping me back there."

The boy turned to look at her without any expression, replying with his own introduction, "Rex Avery. Nice to meet you."

"I have never seen you or heard of you before..." Joanna studied Rex and was sure if she had seen him, she wouldn't forget. He emits a very enigmatic aura, a mystery people can't help but try to unravel.

Seeing Rex wasn't going to say anything more, Touma chose that moment as his cue, "It's Rex's first time coming to the academy. He just got back from travelling, and transferred 2 days ago."

"A transfer student? That's rare." Joanna instinctively knew Rex was someone with extraordinary strength to be able to get Professor Truro's acceptance. And his features, so refined that although she did not know of an aristocratic family with Avery as their last name, she was sure he was a noble.

"By the way, has anyone come here during the time you guys were busy delivering the foal? And where is the Stable Master, wasn't he supposed to be here at 5 in the morning? It's already past 6."

Rex, who remembered the cause of his prior anger, let out an alarming aura filled with killing intent.

"Oi, Rex! There's no need to be so angry, right? I only asked a question..." Touma was surprised to see Rex's aura filled with killing intent so eminent. The last time he saw it was when he was 13, during the Magic Competition, and his reaction to it hasn't change one bit.

Joanna whispered to Touma, "The Stable Master isn't here. He's angry because the mare and the foal almost died."

Touma finally understood. The Rex he knew was kind and caring to people and things he cared about, but when his beliefs are being challenged, a disrupt in his way of life, or cause harm to the people he cared about, he would simply eliminate the cause. In this case, the missing Stable Master.

As though courting his death, the Stable Master arrived.

Rex somehow knew instinctively that he man who just arrived was the Stable Master. His killing intent immediately filled the place, also suffocating Touma. However, thanks to the training he received from his father, he was able to snap out of it, but Joanna wasn't so fortunate as him.

When Touma saw her trembling, he whispered to her, "So find either the Dean, Professor Truro, or the Student Council President, and get them to come here pronto. There might be bloodshed."

Joanna, who understood the situation, grabbed a horse nearby and rode like the wind. Because she didn't know if one of the three would be enough to stop bloodshed, she went to find all of them.

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From the Author

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I'm so very sorry for taking such a long time to type this up. As many of you know, Japtem has been so busy this summer, and together with real life, it left me almost no time to get this chapter done.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

PS: You can also read the story in Japtem's FanFic section or Fable Wind for better reading.