by D. S. Craig
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. With that settled, there’s just one more thing that we need to discuss.”
Lesti looked at me, seemingly confused. “There’s more?”
“Yeah—while I was out running around with Fang today, I saw this girl working a small garden behind the girls’ dorm.”
“Working a garden?” Lesti furrowed her brow and looked over toward Aurelia. “Was there a garden behind the dorm?”
“Rarf!” Fang looked up at Aurelia as he barked, his tail wagging excitedly. He must have been saying something to her because it took her a minute to reply.
“Well, I wasn’t aware of one.” Aurelia broke eye contact with Fang and turned to look at us. “Fang says there’s a nice girl with short hair who started one a few days ago. She apparently plays tag with him.”
I was about to ask when he had played tag with her, then remembered how he had chased her back to her dorm. The silly little pup had mistaken her running away in fear as a game of tag. It would probably be better to let him know, but whenever I looked at his goofy face, he seemed so happy I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth.
“R-right. Tag.” Shaking my whole body to recover my focus, I steered the conversation back towards its original purpose. “Anyway, as this girl was working the garden, I noticed something strange. The land she had tilled was infused with her magical energy, just like the collars and bracelets!”
Lesti suddenly swooped me up in her hands and held me at her eye level. “Are you sure? The magic wasn’t dissipating like it did for us?”
“Well, it wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot closer than we ever got.” My tail flicked through the air as I recalled the girl’s magic imbuing the earth around her. “It was dissipating very slowly, but at that rate, it would probably take days to clear out entirely. That and I don’t think she was doing it on purpose.”
A worried frown started to form on Lesti’s face. “You think it was just a fluke?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think it was a fluke, but I can’t be sure, if I’m honest.” I turned my gaze over toward Fang and sent a private message to Lesti. “Don’t tell Fang this, but I think that girl is scared of animals. When I approached her, she froze up and ran away. Fang chased her all the way back to the dorm screaming in terror. I never got the chance to ask her about it.”
“I see. That’s a problem.” Lesti furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before her usual cheerful smile returned. “Still, if that’s the case, then Auri and I will just have to approach her. We’ll go see her tomorrow after classes and ask her about this technique of hers.”
“Mm. Count me in,” Aurelia nodded with a smile. “Meeting someone who can communicate with nature like that sounds fun.”
“Alright, then it’s settled.” Lesti finally sat me down as she laid out our plans for tomorrow. “First thing tomorrow, we’ll ask Malkael about skipping out on his special training classes. Then, we’ll start our new training regimen. Finally, when classes finish, we’ll go see Astria’s mystery girl. Sound good?”
“Mm. No objections here.”
“Ruff!”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Alright, then let’s turn in early tonight. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day, after all.”
With no objections, everyone started to pack up their stuff. Despite Lesti taking forever to get her things packed, we still left the classroom far earlier than we normally would. I knew that taking a break like this was a good idea every once in a while, but at the same time, I felt restless after not putting in our usual hours. With those conflicting emotions running through my head, I followed the group back to the dorm.
* * *
Later that evening, I lay curled up next to Lesti, enjoying the warmth of her body even as I failed to drift off to sleep. In my head, the fight between Alex and Lesti kept replaying over and over again. Each time, I used my imagination to slightly tweak the battle, but she still lost no matter what I changed. There was a simple wall that I just couldn’t see her overcoming, and that was Alex’s raw magic output.
The speed and strength of his spells were simply astounding. Having finally seen him in action, I could see why he hadn’t been impressed by Lesti’s improvements. The efficiency that I had so proudly bragged about over a month ago meant nothing to him. Even if Lesti increased the performance of her spells tenfold, she wouldn’t get anywhere near what Alex could accomplish through raw power.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t give up on it. I knew there had to be a way, so I started to play the battle over in my mind once more. However, just as I did, I heard Lesti whisper in the darkness, “Astria? You awake?”
Looking over, I could see her staring at the ceiling, wide awake. “Yeah, I’m awake,” I said. “Is something wrong?”
“I just can’t sleep, is all.” She rolled over on her side and looked down at me. After lying like that for a while, she started talking again. “I just keep thinking about Elliot’s party.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” I was surprised. I had expected Lesti to be more worried about her battle with Alex than Elliot’s party. After all, she said she didn’t care much for formal events like that. Wondering what was going on, I repositioned myself so that I was curled up just under Lesti’s chin. “So, what’s eating at you? You’re not the type to normally worry about something like this.”
She snuggled up against me and ran her fingers through my fur. “It’s just that I can’t figure out why Augustine is coming. He’s never shown any interest in me before now. He viewed me as a tool for claiming territory of his own and nothing more. For him to suddenly decide to show up like this, it makes me think he’s up to something.”
I laid there for a moment, thinking about what Lesti had said. However, I could only come up with one possible reason Augustine would show an interest in her now. “I think it’s because you’re part of the first class now, right? He’s probably worried that someone else is going to swoop in and try and steal you. I can imagine there are more than a few nobles who would be interested after all. I mean, you’re second in your class, and marrying you guarantees them some territory.”
Lesti’s hand froze. “So, that’s why, huh? It’s pretty frustrating that I couldn’t come up with that myself.”
“Frustrating?” I glanced up at her, curious as to what she meant.
“Yeah.” She began running her fingers through my fur again as she explained. “Even though I plan on defying the will of the council and claiming my parents’ territory as my own, I just assumed that others would follow their decisions blindly. I never even considered the possibility that someone else would try and take me as their bride. It just shows how much I’ve been underestimating my rivals.”
Rubbing the top of my head against her chin, I tried to comfort her. “I think that’s pretty normal. The council has been the greatest authority in the alliance for your entire life, right? Most people wouldn’t be thinking about defying them at such a young age. Especially since your family wasn’t particularly influential. It’s just a matter of perspective, and yours is just now changing, I think.”
“Perspective, huh?”
“Yep. Besides, isn’t this a good thing?” I decided to try and lift the solemn mood that had fallen over our conversation by changing the subject a little, “After all, not all the guys who come to marry you will be like that Augustine creep. Maybe one of them will sweep you off your feet, and you won’t have to go through all the trouble of defying the council.”
Lesti grabbed my ear and tugged on it playfully, replying in a mocking tone, “As if! If anything, my new rank as second in my year just means that the list of people I’m willing to accept has grown even smaller. After all, I can’t go handing the future of my people over to someone who isn’t at least as great as I am.”
“Is that so?” I batted away the hand that was tugging at my ear and looked up at her. “Then, I guess we’ll just have to make sure that they all unde
rstand how great you are to filter out all the bad apples, huh?”
Lesti looked down at me and smiled. “Yeah. We’ll show them all what we’re made of. Once we’re done, nobody will dare mess with us!”
“That’s the spirit.” With the strange mood finally gone and my own excess energy burned, I curled up and let sleep start to take hold of me. However, just as I was drifting off, I heard Lesti’s faint whisper.
“Thanks, Astria.”
A gentle purr rippled through my body in response as I finally drifted off to sleep.
Malkael’s Magic
The next morning, we found ourselves in the teacher’s quarters, standing before the door to Malkael’s room. All four of us had gotten up extra early, and the girls had quickly eaten their breakfast before coming here. The halls were still mostly empty except for a few students and teachers, who were always up this early.
With a deep breath, Lesti reached out and knocked on Malkael’s door. “Instructor Malkael. It’s Lesti and Aurelia. There’s something we wish to discuss with you.”
The sound of footsteps echoed from inside, and a moment later, the door swung open. Standing there, staring at us with a perplexed expression, was Malkael. Even though we had shown up unannounced, he was still well put together. His long hair was pulled up into its usual neat ponytail, and he was already dressed, seemingly ready for the day. For a moment, I wondered why he was always showing up to class at the last minute since he seemed so prepared, then I looked past him into the room.
The space behind him was a chaotic mess of scrolls, books, and ink. The desk and bookshelves that lined the walls were overflowing to the point that only a single path existed through the room. Even the bed had scrolls and books tossed on top of it. The chaos was in such hard contrast with Malkael’s appearance that it was hard to believe he lived here.
“Wow.” Seeing the mess sprawled out behind Malkael, Lesti let out her own sigh of disbelief. “Instructor Malkael, you have so many books.”
“W-well, yes. You see…” Malkael began to stutter out an excuse, but before he could, Lesti cut him off.
“It’s amazing! Are any of them on magic runes? If they are, can I borrow them?!” With eyes that practically sparkled, she stared at the sea of books and scrolls. Her reaction caught me off guard, causing me to look up at her in shock. Apparently, her sigh hadn’t been one of disbelief, but of wonder. Seeing the look on her face, I got the sneaking suspicion that I would have to be careful, or else our room would end up like this in the future.
Malkael also stared at her with a surprised look on his face for a moment before recovering. “N-no. I’m afraid that the contents of my personal collection aren’t suitable for second-year students.”
Lesti looked at him with a blank stare for a moment before asking another question. “You mean they have to do with instruction-based magic?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
At hearing his response, her face lit up, and she took a step forward. “Then it’s no problem! I’m sure you noticed in my sparring match with Alex, but I already use instruction-based magic, so it’s totally fine. Come on. Please? I’ve already read through all the books that the library and Lani have on the subject, and it’s really slowing down my research.”
Malkael took a step back as Lesti continued to press forward, trying to convince him to lend her his books. Seeing that he didn’t know how to handle the situation, I decided to step in and save him. I transformed into my tiger form and picked Lesti up by her collar like a kitten. “Knock it off. We didn’t come here for this. Besides, no one is supposed to know you can use instruction-based magic, remember?”
Lesti looked back at me with her cheeks puffed out. “Oh, give me a break. There’s no way he hasn’t figured it out after that sparring match.” She turned her attention back to Malkael, who was still in recovery mode. “Right, Instructor?”
Realizing that she wasn’t going to let the subject go, he let out a heavy sigh. “It’s true. I had my suspicions before based on your magic circle research, but the sparring match pretty much confirmed them.” A dark expression came over his face. “Yet, even with all my evidence, the headmistress refuses to act. Just how did you manage to pull that off?”
“Well, that’s a secret, but if you let me borrow some of your books, I might give you a hint. Still, it actually works out that you know about it. We want to skip your tournament preparation classes and do our own self-training.”
I sat Lesti down, and Malkael gazed at her as if he were trying to see through some sort of facade. “What’s your reason for wanting to skip? Do you find my lessons lacking in some way?”
Lesti quickly waved both hands in the air in front of her. “No, no. It’s not that your lessons are bad or anything. It’s just…” She paused for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. “You can’t use instruction-based magic, can you, Instructor?”
Malkael’s eyes went wide at her expression. “How did you know that?”
“Sorry. That would be my fault.” I transformed back into my normal form and stepped around Lesti, so I could look Malkael in the eye. “My ability is that I can see the flow of magical energy when people cast spells. Just watching that is enough for me to tell that you use image-based magic.”
“I see.” Malkael frowned, clearly not happy that his secret was out, and turned back to Lesti. “It’s true that I can’t use instruction-based magic, so most of what I can teach you won’t be applicable in the tournament. Fine, I’ll grant you permission. What about you, Ms. Aurelia?”
“Mm. I would like to skip as well.” Aurelia turned her gaze to me. “I’m training with Astria to learn a unique skill. I think that’s what’s best for me.”
Malkael brought his hand to his chin as he considered her request. Seeing he wasn’t entirely convinced, I decided to give him one last push. “Instructor Malkael, I would like to request that you allow Aurelia to focus on our special training as well. This isn’t just important for the tournament, but given her situation, for her future as well.”
“Her future.” Malkael closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. “Very well. I heard about some of Ms. Aurelia’s circumstances from the headmistress after the attack on the academy. If you believe this training will be valuable to her, then I will trust your judgment. However, I do have one condition for both of you.”
“Sure. We’re asking a lot of you here, so as long as it’s not too unreasonable, we can play along.” Lesti smiled brightly.
I could only stare at her in disbelief. The way she had agreed to his conditions without even hearing what they were was just plain reckless, even for her. I understood that she probably felt bad for putting Malkael out like this, but still.
Fortunately, Malkael dismissed my worries a moment later. “I’d like you both to show me the results of your training before the tournament. I need to judge if whatever you have learned is safe to use.”
“Makes sense to me.”
“Mm. I’m fine with that.”
The conditions were reasonable, and both girls readily agreed to them without any hesitation. I could only imagine that this resulted from seeing Lesti’s compressed Fireball spell out in the field. No doubt Malkael was worried she would come up with some other crazy variation of a spell that could seriously injure someone who wasn’t prepared.
“Alright.” Lesti pumped her fists excitedly. “Let’s go get started right away, then. Thanks for your time, Instructor!”
Lesti turned and started down the hall toward our usual study spot, and the rest of us made to follow her. However, after a few steps, I came to a stop. Something was bothering me, something that I wanted to ask Malkael about. Lesti noticed my hesitation and shot me a questioning glance. “Is something the matter, Astria?”
“No, it’s nothing.” I turned back toward Malkael, looking at the group over my shoulder. “There’s just something I’d like to ask Instructor Malkael. Go on without me. I’ll catch up.”
“A
lright. Try not to take too long, though. Aurelia can only do so much of her training without you.” With that quick comment and a wave, Lesti and the others set off down the hall, leaving Malkael and myself alone.
“Well, then.” I turned my gaze to Malkael, looking him in the eye. “Why don’t we step inside your room, Instructor? I think this is a conversation that’s best kept private.”
Malkael narrowed his eyes at me as if trying to probe my intentions. “Very well, come in.”
Stepping aside, he allowed me to walk past him into the room. I had noticed it slightly before, but the musty smells of ink and paper filled the space, making it feel a bit like a library. Well, if that library had been hit by a tornado anyway. At my size, the entire room almost felt like a labyrinth with books and scrolls stacked all over the place.
I carefully followed the only walking path back through the room and jumped up onto one of the few clear spaces on the bed. Malkael made his way over as well and joined me, sitting in the chair at his desk. Looking at me sitting amongst the piles of books and scrolls hastily tossed on his bed, he seemed to realize just how messy the place was.
“My apologies for the mess. I rarely have guests in my chambers,” he said as he fidgeted slightly, almost as if he had the sudden compulsion to clean the place.
I started grooming myself, trying to act as casual as possible. “Not a problem. Although you really should look at cleaning this place up. It’ll leave a bad impression on your students.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. At any rate, what was it you wanted to discuss?”
I stopped my grooming and looked around at the piles and books strewn about the room. “There was something you said that caught my attention. Your books aren’t suitable for second-year students because they have to do with instruction-based magic, right?” I turned my gaze back to Malkael so I could see his response. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would someone who can’t use it have so many books on the subject?”