Chapter IV.VII (4.7) - Taroe’s Home

  As they entered into a more populated wing of the academy, students gave Kon the occasional weird look but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the group. They were used to seeing Kizu with Mort. Another supposed familiar following his group around didn’t appear to surprise anyone too much.

  The new scenery and interesting objects worked to distract Mae’s distress. The Kitsune girl couldn’t help but drop her sullen mood as she started pointing at everything chattering ceaselessly.

  “Did you see that water fountain? It sucked the water from above! It’s completely backwards!” and “That groundskeeper shed is moving!” were two of many exclamations made as they passed through one of the garden courtyards. She became particularly enamored by a student training an enhancement spell by climbing a tree with only one arm. Though Kizu suspected it was less the achievement of him launching himself upwards, branch by branch, and more the fact that he had both his uniform shirt and jacket tied around his waist, leaving a set of incredible back muscles exposed in their direction. For the first time since they started walking, Mae was actually struck speechless by something. They had to practically carry her away to get her eyes off the man.

  “Foot,” Kon growled. His hackles were raised as he locked on a nearby statue.

  “That’s the Statue of Harold,” Kizu said. “It’s an entrance into the academy’s underground tunnel network.”

  Kon continued to growl at the statue.

  “Is it broken?” Mae asked. “Why is it just a foot?”

  Kizu had no idea. It was one of the many mysteries of the academy that he’d never bothered to explore.

  “It used to be full-sized,” Aoi said. “But was destroyed a couple hundred years ago when the Tainted decided to try to seize control of Shinzou Shima. There’s an old painting in the back of the library that depicts it. It stood literally head and shoulders taller than any other building at the academy during its time. It was actually rather ironic because Harold was a gift from a Tainted alumni. It’s meant to be a symbol of their great god’s mighty soldiers and it is single handedly sighted as the cause of their failure to capture the island.”

  Kizu blinked. He’d forgotten Aoi actually was ranked quite high in history. Maybe he could ask her to tutor him in the subject. It might be a means to a better ranking himself. He needed to recover that rank as much as possible. It was still bottom of the barrel.

  “Don’t like,” Kon growled.

  Kizu saw Taroe glance at the Kitsune in irritation. He was clearly not a fan of the two newcomers’ stop and go approach to traveling through the academy.

  “Two years ago the fifth years painted its nails as their big send off prank,” Basil said. “The foot nearly crushed one student between its toes as they worked on it. But the end result was really pretty. And the pink paint was enchanted. They had to get Professor Kateshi out to strip the enchantment and even then it still took her two days. Maybe you would like it better if it was still pedicured? Bit less threatening.”

  They finally managed to pull Kon away from the statue and continued. After that little history lesson though, Kizu started to notice something about all the students they passed. Or, rather, a lack of something about them. He saw no Tainted among them. Despite the warm sunshine, the realization sent a shiver down his back.

  As they exited the academy gates, Kizu heard a familiar song on the wind. He turned his head and on a bluff overlooking the two below, sat Harvey. The Tainted boy sat cross-legged on a rock, back to them, his tattooed hands held a flute to his lips.

  The music washed over them. Mae ran over further down the trail to a different overlook to get her first look at the town, with Kon and Anata on her heels. The others followed at a more leisurely pace.

  “I’ll catch up in a minute,” Kizu said, diverging from his friends.

  If Harvey noticed his approach, the younger student didn’t show any sign of it. The music emanated from him, washing over Kizu like the rolling tides. It pulled him in.

  Kizu set a hand on Harvey’s shoulder and the music jolted to a stop after a single off-key note.

  “Kizu?”

  “Hey, Harvey. Mind if I sit for a second.”

  “Course not!” Harvey scooted to the side, as if there wasn’t already plenty of room beside him.

  After taking a seat, Kizu looked out at the town down below. The familiar streets foreign to him from the vantage point.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “Me?” Harvey’s voice deflated. “Oh. I’m fine. My family doesn’t live near anything important. Dragons have stolen a few sheep, but that’s the most of it.”

  Kizu let out a sigh of relief. Then Harvey continued.

  “Sorry, that’s not quite true. My little sister almost got carried off by one, but she fled into a rift into the World Dungeon. She lost a hand down there getting out, but she’ll regrow it in a week or too. No permanent harm so all’s fine.”

  “I’m…glad.” Tainted could regrow lost body parts. But the idea of losing a limb was particularly uncomfortable for Kizu. He felt his monstrous leg twitch slightly. “How’d you get back to the academy? Are the transportation rooms running fine?”

  “Never left. I stayed for spring break. Thought it might be a better use of my time. Less distractions. And one less mouth for my parents to feed for a few weeks.”

  “So the transportation rooms?”

  “Not available out of Edgeland. The entire continent is locked down by the Dragons. There are battles, but only two known cities have managed to hold off from them seizing control. One of them is situated on an island off the coast. The mages there specialize in water elemental magic so the Dragons haven’t been able to melt the city like they have with others who’ve resisted. Add to the fact that they have to remain in flight for the entirety of the fight, it's given the people there some hope.”

  “What about the second city?”

  “Suspended over the Chasm. Nobody knows why, but the Dragons have avoided the entirety of the Chasm.”

  Kizu blinked. That was the second time someone mentioned the Chasm recently. Weird coincidence.

  “How many cities are there across Edgeland?”

  Harvey chuckled without much humor. “At least a hundred.”

  “One hundred!”

  “How many do you have in Hon?”

  Kizu could think of five off the top of his head. There were probably more but not that were notable to him. He just shook his head. He supposed that at that size, it made sense that Hon shared their Harbinger with Tross while Edgeland had their own.

  “Not that many.” Kizu paused. “What does this mean for students here? Are they going to be able to make it back?”

  “Not for a few weeks at least. There are refugees fleeing to Tross in droves and our classmates are all rich enough to afford passage. If they aren’t dead.”

  Dead. Kizu closed his eyes. People he knew might be dead. And he could have prevented it. A different choice. A different world. But then others he knew might be dead in their place.

  “I’m glad your family is safe.”

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

  “Thanks. Haven’t heard from all of the extended branches. But the ones I care about are all alive.” Harvey raised his flute and played a few notes. Then he dropped it from his lips again, the sound lingered in the air, somber. “And Emilia is still alive, if that’s something you’re concerned about.”

  “I…thanks for letting me know. Good to know she’s fine. We’re not a thing anymore though.”

  “Figured. I think that’s for the best. I didn’t understand her until more recently. Not a good fit for you.”

  “And you?” Kizu asked, wanting to change the subject to something lighter. “How are the girls?”

  Harvey smiled, showing his pointed teeth. “Had a bit more luck recently. Get higher in combat rankings and you’ll see.”

  Kizu clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll see you in the ring soon enough.”

  “Look forward to it! Hopefully Arclight doesn’t mess up the new fighting protocol too much.”

  “Is that something that’s happening?”

  Harvey shrugged. “Just heard some rumors. Who knows? She was pissed after your fight with Ulric though. Won’t be surprised if there's a shakeup this semester.”

  Interesting. Something to pay attention to. Kizu bid Harvey goodbye and jumped down the path to catch up with the others. Between his short range jumps and the strength of his new leg propelling him forward, it took less than a minute to reunite with them. Probably due to the fact that Mae kept stopping to point at random things.

  “I’ve never seen a tree with purple bark! It’s so pretty!”

  “Ever heard of Mauve Island?” Basil asked. “Everything there is supposed to be purple. Trees, bushes, flowers. Even the ocean water near it. It’s the largest exporter of indigo dye in the world, despite being a pretty isolated island nation. Highest quality you can find too.”

  “Really? Can we go?”

  “No,” Taroe said bluntly.

  “Probably best if you all keep a low profile and don’t adventure around too much,” Aoi added. “Politics are a bit all over the place right now and tensions are a bit high. My family usually does an expedition out to that archipelago every decade or so though, maybe you could join then.”

  “A decade.” Mae growned. “By that time I’ll be old.”

  “You’ll be like twenty.”

  “Old!”

  Taroe shook his head and muttered something about adolescence that Kizu couldn’t quite catch. But Kizu was getting the slight impression that the Elite was regretting his decision to force them all to stay at his place in town. Good. That might make Kizu’s life easier when he took Anata to Owl’s Respite. The more leniency, the better.

  When they eventually made it into the town, Aoi and Basil split up from them, their own errands to take care of. They promised to meet Kizu at the ship later and departed. Basil also promised to take his cousins on a shopping trip for new clothing in the next day or so.

  Taroe’s home, when they finally reached it, was situated on the edge of town near Hayashi Forest. It was spacious, each of the children getting their own bedroom. Even Kizu had one dedicated to him, though he had no plans to use it. Instead he was scoping out a good spot to situate the enchanted bookcase portal.

  Sparsely furnished would be an understatement about Taroe’s new home. One room had a mat, table, and a small pile of pillows. Each bedroom had a futon that could be rolled out across the ground. And the kitchen had an enchanted box to keep food fresh, a sink linked to the town’s water supply, and an enchanted waste disposal unit. The rest was empty space. And if Taroe thought anything wrong with that, he showed no sign of it.

  Kizu decided to investigate the waste disposal’s enchantment while the others explored the empty house. He overheard Mae discussing where she’d place her up-coming plushie collection and Kon growling about staying in her room, insulted by Taroe giving him his own.

  “So it seems to disintegrate matter placed in it,” Kizu muttered, watching carefully as the wards along the edges of the box glowed slightly as he dropped a pebble inside. “It doesn’t transport it away though. No spatial wards. It instead requires someone to empty out the dust storage tray at the bottom.” He tried a few small experiments with the contraption. He was surprised to see that when he dropped in elemental material he created from spells, like water or rocks, it didn’t leave behind dust like normal objects but instead seemed to evaporate the items. An interesting little discovery.

  He recorded the ward scheme in his notebook, planning to try to recreate the device in his free time in the coming weeks. It might be a fun distraction from all the other responsibilities which would inevitably soon crash down all around him.

  “Orb,” he said, taking his scrying orb out of his pack when he finished up his notes. “What’s my schedule look like this semester?”

  “First period, Politics F; second, Combat F; third, Rejuvenation and Restoration F; fourth, Divination B; fifth, Illusions A; sixth, Conjuring F, and seventh Numerology F.”

  At least he would have several classes with Ione this semester. He was going to miss his Brewing S class. Professor Knoff taught Numerology F but Kizu suspected that class would be significantly different from their previous lectures. It wouldn’t be an easy free period for him to experiment and have fun like before.

  Illusions A though was something to look forward to. He might not be top of the class, like with brewing, but at least he’d be able to have some higher level lessons. And he was interested to see how they’d build on what he already knew about the subject. The same for Divination B.

  His eyes eventually settled on the most distressing of his schedule list. Politics F.

  “I really need to ask Aoi about tutoring,” he muttered to himself. Both politics and history. That was a lot to put on her though. At least he now had a better idea of the political make-up of a couple nations from listening in as Wan caught the Emperor up to speed on current affairs. That should hopefully help a bit.

  He’d made a deal with the headmaster. If Kizu ranked up all thirteen of his classes so that the total rank numbered under 1000, the headmaster would reveal Anna’s current location to him.

  “Orb, what’s my current rank standing?”

  “As of this semester, your current rankings are as follows: Combat 411, Astronomy 201, Divination 92, History 787, Politics 791, Rejuvenation and Restoration 799, Conjuring 800, Brewing 1, Numerology 799, Music 599(Piano), Enchanting 177, Illusion 81, Elemental 300.”

  “Add those numbers up for me.”

  “5,838.”

  Kizu winced. That was nowhere near what he wanted to hear. But he could trim a lot of that fat with the big numbers. He had been at the very bottom in music, combat, and elemental subjects at the start of last semester and made massive headway there. He just needed to recreate that success for conjuring, rejuvenation and restoration, and numerology while also keeping up with his successes in the previous subjects as well. Difficult, but not impossible. Especially since now Taroe would be taking on some of Anata’s guardianship responsibilities off of his shoulders. As much as he enjoyed Anata’s company, that extra bit of time should help his rankings quite a bit.

  In the corner of the room, his bag flopped over. Mort crawled out and yawned, his eyes darting about as he took in their new room. While Mort explored the room, Kizu went over to the window.

  On the second floor of the building with his room facing the direction of town, Kizu had a decent view of the streets. It looked pretty mundane, just what anyone might expect from a random street. Not many people out, but it was midday on a weekday. And Taroe’s house was purposefully out of the main town’s scrutiny. Out of curiosity Kizu scanned the street with his spellsense, not expecting to find much.

  Just the usual things stood out. Enchanted security systems on some of the other buildings, an enchantment on shingles of the house across from them to keep birds from perching on it, a pole further down the street designed to create a security bubble in case of natural disaster. He knew about and expected all of that.

  But then, as he was about to turn away, something else caught his attention. Buried in the dirt down below off to the side of the street. It barely even pinged his spellsense.

  Frowning, Kizu jumped out of his window and in front of the object. It felt familiar somehow.

  He dug his fingers into the soil. Only a few centimeters deep he found his prize. A soft round orb. He brought it up and, as the dirt fell from it, he nearly dropped it. A perfectly preserved eyeball stared directly at his face. The red veins still pumped blood into the dislocated body part.

  Kizu looked over his shoulder. The entire block was currently bereft of people. He tried turning the eye to face away from him. It rotated back into place, meeting his own eyes.

  “Wakino?” he asked quietly. That was possible. She tore apart the space of her body and could send parts of herself across the world with spatial spells. But…he’d seen her eyes before. They were a normal black, the same as most people in Hon. This eye’s iris was a ring of deep blue.

  The eye made no response. It simply stared at him.

  Kizu’s heart beat faster. He recognized this spell. He knew it, but his mind scrambled for any other solution. Maybe a prank by another student? Or perhaps Anata had loosened her control over her monster attraction? Could this be a magical creature of some sort?

  The eyeball swelled slightly, the slimy surface rippling in his fingers. Then it exploded.

  Warm goo coated his fingers and splattered on his face.

  A familiar spell. He’d seen it used a dozen times before by the crone. A hex used to spy and intimidate.

  On the other side of the world, the witches of the Hon Basin watched him.

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