by Tj Dixon
“I don’t sing for humans, but I suppose I could sing to myself, so just go back to eating and drinking. That’s better than listening to humans wrecking good elven songs.” Sakura says. She doesn’t reappear but her voice fills the room as she starts another song. So the singing contest ends a bit earlier than planned, but we get to listen to Sakura sing ‘to herself’.
The celebration lasts a while and then I return to my room with Angelika, Hermes, Asuna, Rin and Yu Kii. We just talk, but it is a little more private so we can talk a bit more freely than back in the classroom where the whole club was present.
Chapter 27 (Multiple)
(Midori)
“So I just have to chase you and hit your shield three times?” I ask, surprised that it is so simple. It is what he told me yesterday, but I was sure there had to be some sort of catch.
“That’s all, but I’m not going to make it easy for you.” Peter warns me.
“Of course not, but I’m not going to lose.” I tell Peter confidently.
“Cherry said something similar, and she only beat me on the last day when I got distracted.” Peter says.
“What distracted you?” I ask curiously.
“The stars.” Peter tells me, which seems a bit odd. I know he has an obsession with the stars, but they must have been there the whole time. Why did they suddenly distract him then?
“Well, try not to get distracted today, because I’m not going to go easy on you.” I warn him. Peter smiles, jumps into the air and raises his shield.
“You can start.” He tells me and darts away. I jump into the air and follow him. Of course he is just as fast and agile as I remember, but that makes this fun. I know how he flies, because I’ve watched him fly even when he didn’t know I was watching. As I follow him it just brings back and reinforces what I already know.
My first wind slice hits his shield with no problem. I suppose it is my third, since my first two were feints. Of course the same tactic isn’t going to work twice, because Peter will react differently, but I know exactly how he’ll react when I attack next. Sure enough I’m not disappointed. My lightning strike hits first time despite, or more precisely because, I aimed to miss. Of course aiming to miss wasn’t enough. I had to aim exactly where I knew he was going to dodge to and convince him I was aiming at him.
Now Peter is worried, because I’ve hit him twice already and he doesn’t understand how. I feel guilty for making him worry, but for the sake of a date I suppress my guilt and aim for my third and final hit. I miss. I figured as much. Now he is worried he isn’t going to be easy to hit. The first time probably felt like a fluke, but to hit twice proves I am a threat.
I use all my days of stalking, I mean admiring, Peter to try to score the third hit. It isn’t easy. Even if you know the way he flies and dodges, if he takes you seriously enough he is simply too unpredictable no matter how well you know him. I’m determined though and only need one more hit to win.
It is dark before I know it and begins to rain again. It seems to rain every other day now, which puts a dampener on our training sessions. Even so I am not going to give up just because it is cold, wet and dark. I have five more chances, but this is my best chance because Peter underestimated me at the start. He’s not going to make that mistake again. If I don’t win today I’m unlikely to win at all.
“Ten more minutes and then we stop!” Peter calls back to me. Ten minutes to win or lose. I try to hit him whilst he’s distracted by calling out to me, but my lightning hits a tree instead, which explodes. The trees here are all dead so I don’t need to worry about it though.
Not that I’d be that worried even if I blew up a living tree. It is only a plant after all. I kill living creatures and monsters to protect people and earn money whilst I’m on the bounty hunts. Unlike plants they at least have some basic thoughts. The goblins are probably about as smart as humans, but since they are evil I don’t feel too sorry for them. I’d feel much sorrier for the humans they would torture and slaughter if I left them alive.
I can’t afford to get distracted now so I return my focus entirely on Peter. I’m not going to hit him if I keep on playing it cautiously like this. So I ready the majority of my remaining power and go with brute force. Fifty simultaneous lightning blasts. Peter dodges them all just as I expected, but I also sent five wind slices at the points I thought he was most likely to dodge to. The fifth wind slice hits spot on.
“That was a bit drastic.” Peter says looking at the now blackened area I just destroyed.
“It would take more than that to take down your shield.” I grin.
“I wasn’t expecting anything quite so powerful, so my shield might not have held up against so many lightning bolts if I’d been hit.” Peter tells and my grin falls. “Well they didn’t hit, so I suppose it’s alright.”
“I’m sorry. I was sure you’d be able to shield against my attacks, so I didn’t hold back.”
“So was there anything in particular you wanted to do on our date, or should I come up with a plan?” Peter asks and it suddenly hits me. This is real. Not just a dream. I really am going to go on a date with Peter.
“I’ll come up with a plan.” I tell Peter. I don’t want to distract him and this gives me a chance to impress Peter with something other than magic.
“Thanks. It will have to be after the tournament of course.”
“Of course. Now you’d better not lose. I’ve never heard of this Jade before, but Sor sounds like she is serious trouble.”
“I have a plan for Sor.” Peter says with a confident smile.
“That’s good, but don’t underestimate her, or Jade for that matter. Sometimes what you don’t know can be worse than what you already know is dangerous.”
“Don’t worry. I’m taking them both serious. Jade is an earth mage and from what I hear she’s a damn good earth mage, but I don’t plan to lose to her or to Sor.” Peter assures me.
(Peter)
I wasn’t expecting to lose in the first match against Midori. I am glad she is on my side, because she just demonstrated how dangerous she can be. I was sure Cherry was a better wind mage and I’m not sure that I’ve changed my mind, but there was something uncanny about the way she kept on guessing my every move. I managed to just about stay ahead of her most of the time, but she made me work far harder than Cherry did, and Cherry made me work really hard, so that is no easy feat. Cherry will be shocked when she learns tomorrow that Midori has already beaten me.
“Peter, we need to talk.” Lucy tells me sleepily. Asuna, Angelika and Hermes are still at training so it is just the two of us here.
“Lucy…?” I ask surprised and worried. Is her condition worse than just tiredness?
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while, but you’re always asleep or in lessons whilst I’m awake.” Lucy yawns. “First though, have you managed to get the port barrier working correctly?”
“Yes. Professor Schwarz gave me a few pointers and I got them right with Asuna’s help.”
“Good. If you get that right you should be able to beat Sor.”
“Probably.” Sakura mutters without revealing her presence.
“Probably?” Lucy asks worriedly.
“There’s something not quite right about that girl. The port barrier will probably work, but…”
“Sor’s aura is odd and dimensional magic is her specialty. I still want to know how she recovered from the after effects of her curse.” I say worried about Sor again now.
“So is there anything else Peter can do?” Lucy asks.
“Beat her before she beats you or keep moving so even if she does port, you are somewhere else before she can attack you.” Sakura tells me.
“Perhaps the tactic I used against the Rainbow Twins would work. I create a duplicate of me and hide my own presence. That way Sor attacks the duplicate.”
“You’ll need a very good illusion. To use it from the start it must fool not only Sor but the teachers.” Lucy says worried.
“Thank you Sakura. That would be a big help.” I tell her gratefully. She remains silent.
“I still need to talk to you, Peter.” Lucy says wearily.
“Ok.” I say worried again about Lucy now.
“The reason you are falling out of bed every day seems to be because of your dwarven arms.” Lucy tells me and I blink. “They are attracted to the stone on the floor, so they try to drag you closer to it.”
“Oh… What about the window?”
“That’s Sakura.” Lucy tells me with a shrug.
“So if I sleep with my arms against the wall I should be ok, since that’s the same stone as the floor.”
“What I don’t understand is why your arms pull you towards the floor and not the wall.”
“I suppose I’ll give the wall idea a try and if it doesn’t work I’ll have to think of something else.” I tell Lucy.
“If it doesn’t work I’ve already told Asuna what to do. I finally got a chance to speak with her this morning after you ported to class.”
“What did you tell her?” I ask curiously.
“Try the wall idea first.” Lucy tells me and lies down in her blanket. She is snoring before I can say anything else. I hope she recovers soon. I also want to see Dairon, Kai and Elucia again. Perhaps after lessons tomorrow I’ll skip training and port to Lucy’s home to see them.
“Hi Peter.” Asuna, Angelika and Hermes all say more or less at once.
“Hi Asuna, Hermes, Angelika.” I say as I turn to face them.
“How did Midori do?” Hermes asks.
“She completed the challenge.” I say and both Asuna and Hermes are clearly shocked.
“She must be good to beat you.” Angelika says.
“I’ve never seen her beat Cherry though.” Asuna says with a frown.
“She was very good at outguessing me. She’s a good wind user too of course, but it was her ability to outguess me that let her score the hits on me.”
“Oh. That makes sense, since it is Midori.” Hermes says with a nod.
“Why because it’s Midori?” I ask confused.
“No reason.” Hermes says realising she has said something she shouldn’t have. I don’t understand why, but I can tell that much from her aura and expression. I don’t press the point. “Rin will be jealous though. She’d probably love to go on a date with you, even if it was just a pretend date like with Midori and Cherry, though she’d never admit it.”
“Pretend date?” I ask confused.
“You couldn’t go on real dates with more than one girl.” Hermes tells me and I don’t really understand. Right now though, I have more important matters to worry about.
“Well I’m going to bed now, so good night.” I yawn. Midori really worked me hard today.
“Good night Peter.” They all tell me as I get into bed. I make sure my arms are against the wall and quickly get to sleep.
Morning arrives and just like usual I am on the floor. This really doesn’t help my sleep. I’ll talk to Asuna later to see what Lucy’s bright idea was. I hope it works.
(Kai)
I’m fed up. It feels like we’ve been here forever. It’s not like there’s anywhere in particular I want to be, but it is like being back at my home village. Well, I suppose it isn’t as bad as that, but I’m not free to go where I please and so I feel like an animal in a cage. A gilded cage, but still a cage.
The room they gave me is the most luxurious room I have ever seen. The bed could fit three or four people quite easily. It is enchanted to relax you and the softest bed I have ever slept on. I have no less than three tables and six chairs, even though it is just me in here. There is a wardrobe with clothes ranging from extremely fancy to practical clothes that I could fight or run in without any trouble.
I eat as much here in a single meal as I am used to eating over two or three days. I’m not talking about the days when I had to ration myself or had nothing to eat, but days when I ate as much as I needed without going hungry. Part of me loves this lifestyle, but the adventurer in me wants to leave here and explore the world again.
Of course I’m not lying around idle. I’m busy each day helping to further train Elena’s elite mages and so is Dairon. Elucia on the other hand is being personally trained by Elena. Apparently this is almost unheard of. The last time she personally trained anyone was supposedly about five hundred years ago, and before that it was thousands of years ago. Elena Fillia like her daughter Lucy is of course an immortal, though unlike Lucy her immortality is still intact.
I get out of bed and then get washed and dressed. I then port down to have breakfast in the common room. This is where all the guards, servants and anyone else who is not considered an honoured guest or a member of the family eat. Elucia as an honoured guest of course eats with Elena, but Dairon and I eat with everyone else.
We are somewhere between an honoured guest and a guard, but not fit to eat with Elena. That’s Lady Elena I correct myself. If I don’t think of her as Lady Elena I may make the mistake of just calling her Elena again. She wasn’t too happy the last time I did that. Not that I see her very often.
“Good morning Kai.” Dairon says cheerfully, though I suspect he may be faking his cheer just like I am. I also suspect he has a legion of faeries flying above him unseen. We haven’t revealed the faeries to Elena or anyone here.
“Good morning Dairon.” I say and match his cheerful voice with one of my own.
“Good morning Kai.” One of the guards I am training tells me cheerfully. She probably isn’t faking it. They have all improved a lot since I started training them, so she is probably looking forward to continuing the training. For now though she is sat with a wooden bowl filled with porridge at the long wooden table that we all eat at. It is one of ten and each could fit a couple of hundred people easily, but we only use this table. It makes the servants’ lives easier if they only need to clean one table rather than ten. The hall we are in is huge with a seamless grey stone floor, roof and walls clearly formed by magic.
“Good morning.” I reply wondering what her name was. All these Contractians look so similar with their short blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin that I have a hard time remembering their names. They aren’t exactly the same height, but they are all shorter than I am.
I join the queue for breakfast and take lots of bacon and sausages, as well as a couple of fried eggs. By the time I have my breakfast Dairon has finished his and ported away to begin his day’s work. So I eat alone. Well, not exactly alone, since the room is full of people. But with nobody I want to speak to. Even so breakfast is as tasty as ever and it isn’t long before I am ready to start my own day’s work. I port to the training room that I was assigned and my first trainee of the day is ready and waiting.
(Dairon)
It has been another long day spent trying to train humans in this tiny stone room. Human mages can get a short way very quickly, but once they reach a certain point, it becomes very hard to take them further. Elven magic is natural to elves, because it was developed for elves to use. Humans aren’t elves, so it is a bit like a fish trying to teach a dog to swim, and in this room it is a bit like doing so without water.
The door opens and I realise I must still have one more human to train. To my shock and relief the human who enters is not one of Lady Elena’s mages, but a very welcome face indeed.
“Peter! I am so glad to see you!” I exclaim.
“Dairon, it is good to see you too.” Peter smiles.