by Dixon, TJ
“Just as long as it’s stuff we can do.” Rin answers.
“What about you, Yu Kii, are you up for that?” I ask.
“Yes.” Yu Kii answers.
“And you Hermes?” I ask.
“Of course.” Hermes says enthusiastically.
“So Rin, how many people do we need to start a company?”
“The minimum is twenty. It’s recommended that you have more but as long as you can form the company you can recruit more people later. If you fall below ten though, you get disbanded. Some companies have a few thousand but we will have a struggle to get the minimum. Besides, if you have too large a company you need to get a lot of work to pay for the company.”
“How many do you think we need to kill a dragon?”
“Don’t even joke about it.” Rin tells me crossly.
“I’m not.”
“You’re crazy!” Rin complains.
“You just worked that out?” I ask with a smile.
“If you’re not chasing stars you’re hunting dragons!” Rin fumes.
“Stars?” Yu Kii asks bewildered.
“Would stars count as official members?” I ask just to annoy Rin and it works.
“No!”
“So how many to kill a dragon?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Maybe a hundred thousand.” Rin answers wearily.
“We’ll never get that. How about a hundred?” I ask.
“If the oceans boil and the sky falls down, sure.” Rin says and then sticks her tongue out at me.
“So I just need to make the oceans boil and the sky fall down. Hermes the oceans are your job. The sky I’ll handle.” I say and Rin throws her spoon at me. With no magic left it hits me on the forehead and actually hurts.
“Sorry, but why didn’t you block it?” Rin asks a little apologetic.
“Without magic or quick enough reactions that would be hard.” I say and rub my forehead.
“You really are weak without magic.” Rin says as if just realising it.
“What do you expect? I’m only twelve or so.”
“Looks like she’s waking up!” Hermes says pointing at the girl.
“I thought it was meant to be another few hours.” I say to Lucy and then turn to Rin and ask. “What was her name?”
“Charlotte Dome.” Rin answers.
“My head hurts.” Charlotte says rubbing her head and then realises her surroundings and looks terrified. “Please! Don’t hurt me!”
“We’re not going to do that.” I say and look to Rin.
“Why me?” Rin asks, and then looks to Hermes.
“You were ambushed.” Hermes tells Charlotte. “It was a criminal called Claire Ippy. She used to be a student. She’s wanted for treason.”
“So why am I here?” She asks nervously.
“We couldn’t just leave you in the hall. Besides, Peter barely fought Claire off so she could be back. We figured this was safest.” Rin answers.
“Oh. Thank you. Is it safe for me to leave?” Charlotte asks nervously.
“There’s something we want to discuss first, but if you’re just porting to your room or a place with lots of students then it should be safe.” Rin says.
“What do you want to discuss?” She asks nervously looking down.
“We wanted to invite you to join us.” Rin says.
“What?!” She asks in shock and looks happy for a moment before getting suspicious. “What changed your mind?”
“Not mine. Peter’s. You explain it.” Rin says, and looks pointedly at me.
“Oh fine.” I say and shrug. “Rin told me about your friends and you sticking up for us, so I figured maybe we could trust you. If you join though, it’s a commitment to join my company when I form it. Also if you betray us I will personally make sure you regret it. So it’s up to you. You don’t need to decide now but we will be doing work between the academic years.”
“I promised my mother that I would be home for the next four weeks.” She says looking awkward.
“Then give us your answer when the new year starts.”
“Is it a problem that I was promoted?” She asks and my mouth goes wide.
“No. You just got there ahead of us. Our work is after classes and on the day off so you don’t need to be in the same class as us. It will be hard work though.”
“I know. I saw you all working after classes. I didn’t know you trained on your days off too though.”
“The days off are paid work.”
“My mother said that it might be best to start working every other week now that business is doing well. Especially since those goblins require a lot of work to process.” Rin says. “I figured we could stock up during our time off but after that we don’t need to work every week. Of course, if an urgent job comes up we may need to work unexpectedly.”
“How about we do bounties the weeks we aren’t working for your mother?” I ask.
“How about we alternate between taking time off, gathering stuff for my mother and bounty hunting? I can’t keep this pace up forever without any time off.” Rin says.
“Sounds good.” I say nodding. “Anyway Charlotte, let us know your decision when you get back for the new academic year.”
“I’d like to join. I’ll meet you for your first training session of the term. How about if I meet you outside 2D? It’s only the next class along for me.”
“Sounds good. We’ll meet you there after class on the first day of term.”
Chapter 13 (Peter)
We decide that our first day off should really be a day off and we can do a job for Rin’s mother tomorrow. Even so we still want to spend it together, so we are in the Drake which is almost empty because it is so early. We each have a different coloured drink. Mine is a strange green. It tastes great and is apparently very healthy. I can’t pronounce the name though!
We did consider visiting the capital but it is really too far for a day trip. I was a little anxious about going back there anyway but I would have gone along if we had settled on it. Instead we are going to the provincial capital. We have to pay to use a port boost but we only need a minor boost, which is much cheaper than what we would need for a visit to the capital. The port boost is in the town hall, which opens in an hour or so.
“So in the Kuroneko shrine I had to dance every sunrise and sunset. It was a really complicated dance, and if you made a single mistake you could be killed. I never saw anyone killed for a dance mistake, but I heard that the girl before me died that way. Even so it was a really beautiful dance to watch, and if I hadn’t been so scared I would have enjoyed it.”
“Can you show us some time?” I ask and Hermes nods emphatically.
Lucy yawns with her hand covering her mouth in a grand gesture, and then says dubiously. “I’ll believe it’s beautiful only after I’ve seen it.”
“It is.” Rin says.
“You’ve seen it?” I ask surprised.
“Yes. Yu Kii showed me once. I’d love to see it again though.” Rin says with glazed eyes as if recalling it.
“So what do we know about the provincial capital? Was it Utopia Camerona?” Yu Kii asks obviously trying to divert the attention from her dance.
“Yes.” Rin answers. “It was originally the capital of a small island kingdom but it was sold and sent via a dimensional gate. It is run by an immortal from the original nation called Mayor Perry, who advocated selling it and its citizens to Contractia in exchange for paying off the national debt and installing thought censorship on all the citizens of that nation. The thought censorship killed anyone who thought inappropriate thoughts.”
“What was an inappropriate thought?” I ask.
“I don’t know. The government could decide that and change the list at any time.” Rin says and then smirks. “The best part is that Perry then stabbed the king, who had supported her, in the back. One of the default terms killed him! Of course she said it was his own fault. He should have paid more attention to the details.”
&nbs
p; “I guess he should have, but I wouldn’t trust that woman no matter how much time has passed.” I say.
“It’s not like she’ll care about a few students who happen to be in her town. Just don’t think any bad thoughts!” Rin says and laughs.
“There isn’t thought censorship in her town is there?” I ask worried
“No, just joking. It doesn’t work like that. You need to have it installed.”
“Good.” I say relieved.
“So what are we going to do there?” Yu Kii asks.
“They have a great art gallery. The Mayor tried to destroy it but the Queen loved it and passed a law to prevent that happening. It is even free to enter for mages, and that includes students.” Rin says.
“What sort of art?” Hermes asks.
“All sorts of art. Some of it you need to be an adult to view, but there is plenty that we can see.” Rin answers.
“Why would…” I start to say.
“Don’t ask!” Rin interrupts me. “So we must see the art gallery. The shops too of course. We must see lots and lots of shops. We can’t afford to buy most of the stuff they sell but we can look as much as we want. We can eat in a nice restaurant. Not too expensive of course, but somewhere that’s nice.”
“There’s one place I’d like to visit.” Hermes says nervously. “Would that be OK?”
“Where do you want to visit?” Rin asks.
“The Great Library.” Hermes answers sounding apologetic.
“I don’t know…” Rin says looking concerned.
“Why not?” I ask. “You just told us all the things you want to do.”
“You need permission.” Rin tells me.
“Who from?” I ask.
“The mayor.” Rin answers.
“Why?” I ask confused.
“She says it is to protect the ‘innocence’ of her citizens. Knowledge is power and power corrupts.” Rin’s voice is full of contempt.
“Then why have the library in the first place?” I ask.
“She uses it all the time. So do some of her elite friends, but for an unknown student to ask to enter…” Rin explains.
“Why did you want to go there?” I ask Hermes.
“There’s a book I am interested in.” She says sounding embarrassed. “It’s impossible though, so forget it.”
“Which book? Is that the only place that has it?” I ask.
“The History of Ishki, and yes. Forget it though!”
“For now, but we’ll not always be unknown or students.” I say confidently. “So anything else you’d like to do there Hermes?”
“Nothing in particular.” Hermes says.
“And you Yu Kii?” I ask.
“No.” Yu Kii answers.
“I guess you get to choose everything then, Rin.” I say.
“You make it sound like a bad thing.” Rin protests.
We discuss our plans for a while longer and then make our way to the town hall. We explain that we wish to use the port boost and pay at the door. We take our ticket and proceed to the port booster. It is a simple room with a simple red glass ball in the centre that serves as a booster. Everyone holds onto Rin and the booster. Rin being the only one who has been there before then ports us.
We are just inside the city gates that tower over us. The wall looks like it could withstand a fierce magical assault, and there are soldiers with swords everywhere. I even see a couple of mages in uniform. They are of course all women.
“It wasn’t like this last time.” Rin says clearly surprised. “Anyway I figured the walk from here was quite pleasant. Hopefully once we get further in it might be more peaceful but don’t let the soldiers spoil the fun.”
We try not to let them but it is depressing watching soldiers run past all the time. It feels like they are preparing to be invaded but although we are at war we hadn’t heard anything about an invasion. Also there are too few mages. If the fallen angels were invading what good would swords do? Finally I can’t take it anymore and ask a passing solider, “What’s going on in this city? Are you preparing for war?”
“No. An old man took a young girl and we’re looking for them. There’s a twenty gold bounty on his head and a one gold reward for bringing her back unharmed, with her innocence intact.” She answers and points at a dirty poster with pictures of them. They look the same age to me but the picture is so bad I can’t be sure.
“Shouldn’t it be the other way round?” Rin asks surprised.
“The bounty is from the mayor. The reward is from her owner.”
“She’s a slave?” Rin asks surprised again.
“Yes.”
“All this for a slave?” Rin asks.
“She’s still a girl and he’s still a man. Even if she’s a slave her status is much higher than his.”
“That’s a weird way of thinking.” Hermes says.
“How is it?” The soldier asks as if talking to an idiot. Then looks at me again and says. “I don’t know who his owner is but keep a chain and collar on your boy.”
With gritted teeth I answer. “I am a free person.”
“You may not be officially a slave but you are still male.” She points out and I resist the temptation to send her flying.
“I am a student at the Academy of Contractia as a result of the queen’s personal orders.” I say.
“Even if it were true you’re still male.”
“Let’s go.” I say again resisting the temptation to send her flying.
“Teach your boy some respect!” She calls after us as we turn to leave but we just ignore her.
“Can you just port us where we’re going?” I ask Rin.
“Yeah… This is no fun.” Rin agrees gloomily and ports us all to the art gallery. There are two entrances but there is only a queue for one. Rin leads us towards the other one, explaining. “This entrance is only for mages.”
“I’ll need to see proof.” The woman says before looking at me and asking. “Whose slave is he?”
“I’m a student at the academy too.” I say and she laughs.
“Only girls attend the academy.” She reminds me.
“Not anymore.” I tell her.
“So you seriously expect me to believe you’re a student? Either way you all need proof.”
“Do we have proof?” I ask Rin.
“Yes.” Rin says and pulls out a piece of paper and shows it to the woman. She takes a look at it and frowns.
“Looks like it is true, but keep the boy under control.”
“I will keep myself under control.” I say with a smile that hides my urge to hit her.
“Regardless you can only enter the areas marked ‘suitable for males’.” The woman tells me.
We enter the gallery and I look around. The first area is marked ‘suitable for males’ so I can enter it. “What’s with this city…?” I say starting to really feel depressed.
“Sorry!” Rin apologises and bows in a very Yu Kii style.
“Why are you apologising. Not like it’s your fault.” I tell her.
“But I chose this town, and I wanted us all to have great time. I swear though, it wasn’t this bad when I came with my father and mother.” Rin says.
“Don’t worry about it.” I say feeling a little embarrassed. “Let’s just try to have a good time anyway.”
We look at the first exhibit and I don’t really get it. There are lots of blurry colours painted but I have no idea what they are meant to be and nobody else seems to get it either. The next area is not marked ‘suitable for males’ so the girls take a quick look whilst I wait for them. It feels like I am waiting ages but I can tell they rushed. The next exhibit I can enter. It is pictures of skies and clouds, and of landscapes from above. Whoever painted them was clearly a mage who enjoyed flying as much as I do, and I really enjoy their work.
We see an earth exhibit and a fire exhibit next and they are just as good. The water exhibit I can’t enter but I tell Rin to make sure she takes her time as I am sure she will en
joy this one the most. She listens to me and I can tell she really enjoyed it. I spend the time thinking about the sky exhibit and time seems to pass quickly this time.
The dimensional exhibit I also can’t enter. After that is a huge gallery of people’s portraits that I also can’t enter and I am starting to really get annoyed again. I move onto the next exhibit whilst the others take a quick look. I am not really interested in the building sketches but it is better than just waiting. After a while the girls meet me and none of them seem any more interested in this exhibit than I am so we move on. The next exhibit is ‘Not Suitable for Males and Children’.
We spend a couple of hours and there is still plenty to see in the gallery but we have had enough. I have had more than enough but I didn’t want to spoil things for everyone else. We take a look round the shopping district next. Most of the shops say ‘Not Suitable for Males’ or ‘Not Suitable for Males and Children’. We aren’t planning on going inside so it doesn’t really matter but it does annoy me.
We are getting hungry so we look for a restaurant that looks nice, doesn’t ban children or males and isn’t too expensive. It is harder than it sounds. After an hour looking we are starving and settle on a small place that looks a little dirty but the prices we can afford and we are allowed to enter. The food is OK but not as nice as the academy food, and the price is three times as much.
Waiting for Rin and Yu Kii to finish their meals I look around and see a better copy of the poster for the man and girl that the soldiers were searching for. The picture is quite clear and they definitely look the same age. In fact they look like brother and sister with similar faces and the same long blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. We don’t have dessert. It really isn’t very tempting.
We visit the wind race course next and I am actually let in without any trouble. The mages race each other through an aerial obstacle course. Having to avoid getting knocked to the ground by the air currents, they have to fly through hoops in order. I can tell they are skilled wind mages but I do wonder whether I could do better than some of them. The winner however demonstrates a skill and speed that I have never seen before. She is really impressive.