Chapter IV.XXV (4.25) - Long Distance

  “Your rankings improved over the break,” Roba said, holding up a paper. The old woman’s face was black as she examined his test scores.

  “I worked hard on getting them up,” Kizu replied.

  “Hm. Yes. And I saw your fight earlier with Oasaji’s conjuration. You used barriers of force in combat. Quickly and effectively. I assume this is a result of Wakino’s training?”

  “Yes.” Kizu was unsurprised she knew about the spatial mage’s training sessions. Wakino mentioned sending a report to the academy. Hopefully that should help Roba curate his next bit of training. That same report likely also reported the events of the summer break. But Roba made no mention of his most recent time in the Hon Jungle.

  “You seem to even be putting a smidge of effort into studying history and politics.”

  “I have touters,” he said. “Aoi agreed to help me with politics and Faible with history.”

  “Not every teacher is a good fit for every student. And my assistant, Evie, mentioned you’ll be working with her in Combat F. You made a few wise decisions and now have a strong foundation to start the semester off. Well done.”

  Kizu couldn’t believe his ears. That sounded like a compliment from the grouchy old lady.

  On the other side of the room’s glass walls, fish swam by. A normal fancy office might have a fish tank, but Roba’s office flipped that motif. They were in the tank with the fish as the observers. Kizu met the eye of a mollusk ungulate as it glided through the water. He bet Ione would love to visit this office and study all the underwater critters.

  Roba set the papers down and rose from her wooden chair. She stretched, her bent back popping, before relaxing back into her usual slumped posture.

  “Today I have a reward for you. Come.” She extended a wrinkled hand across her desk.

  Those words made his heart beat faster. Kizu quickly snatched the offered hand with his own and felt the weathered skin clamp down.

  And then they were in a field outside with a cloudy sky overhead. Their usual training area. Kizu spotted the divot in the grass that he’d create during one of his very first jumps.

  “You have learned how to defy the pull of beacons. Now I want you to reverse engineer that technique. I have placed a beacon a few kilometers from this location. As is, you’re currently outside of its range. Your task is to seek it out, and jump. Eyes closed.”

  He knew exactly the technique she was talking about. She’d mentioned it last semester. This was the very basics of learning to jump long distances. He shut his eyes and focused. A slight pull tugged on his awareness.

  He jumped.

  Opening his eyes, he found himself a few meters away. Not at all the vast distance he’d hoped for.

  “Try again,” Roba said, her arms folded.

  He did. Again and again. One dozen attempts. Two dozen. Three. Each jump only carried him a few meters away

  “Terrible,” Roba said. She jumped beside him and gripped his shoulder with a gnarled hand. “Focus on your spellsense. Locate the pull of the beacon and latch onto it.”

  As an example, she jumped, dragging him along with her. Then they stood next to a tree with a glowing metal band wrapped around its trunk. The beacon.

  Kizu considered how he’d felt as she’d brought him here. He knew the sort of pull she was talking about and had spent hours upon hours working to defy the one at the academy. He closed his eyes and felt the beacon with his spellsense flared.

  “I think I’ve got it,” he said, trying to sound confident.

  Roba grunted and jumped them back into the field.

  The nearby beacon disappeared from his senses the moment they departed. Nothing but silence. But then Kizu felt the ever so slight thrum of magic.

  He jumped.

  This time when he opened his eyes, the field was gone and he stood centimeters from the trunk of a tree. With a yelp, he stumbled backward. Then he laughed.

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  Roba appeared beside him and nodded her approval. Then she flicked the metal band around the tree with a finger and the glow faded.

  “Excellent. Now return to the academy.”

  With a pop, she disappeared.

  “Wait!” But the woman was gone.

  Kizu let out a sigh and examined his surroundings. At least the beacon nearby had been deactivated. It was just forest all around him. He sat down on a root and tried to focus on locating the academy’s beacon with his spellsense.

  After a minute of meditation, it began to rain.

  He closed his eyes and tried to ignore how his wet hair clung to his forehead and the boom of thunder in the distance.

  When he eventually located the thrum of a beacon far in the distance, Kizu didn’t hesitate, he jumped, eager to finally get out of the rain.

  And then he was standing in a sterile gray cubicle. Behind thin walls he heard people walking and talking.

  His mouth went dry. This was definitely not the academy’s beacon room. He felt at the beacon again with his spellsense. Only then did he notice the unfamiliar pulse. It definitely was a beacon, but it felt a bit different from the one at the academy.

  “Ah, damnit. Where am I?” he muttered to himself.

  With a heavy heart, Kizu pushed the cubicle door open and peaked out into a massive foyer bustling with people. There were easily a hundred different cubicles identical to the one he’d appeared in, with people exiting them at a steady rate.

  There was a pop behind him.

  “Oh! Hello there!” An older man with a monocle tipped his bowler hat in Kizu’s direction. “Is there a complication? Everything copacetic?”

  “Um…I think I’m in the wrong place?”

  “Ah, enchantment go awry? Fortunate for you I have a minute to spare! Here now, follow me, I’ll help you sort it out!”

  The man pushed the door open with his cane and started off into the crowd. Kizu followed after him.

  The large foyer was lined with stone support beams extending high above them to reach the ceiling. Between each statue was a metal bust. Kizu caught sight of one of them that looked vaguely familiar. He thought it might be of a politician he’d shaken the hand of while in Sasaki’s court. So these were likely all political figures of some sort. There was a sign overhead that said ‘Port Kallis’ which would be significantly more helpful if Kizu knew more about geography.

  Every step on the stone floor was accompanied by a squelch of his wet socks in his boots. They passed hundreds of people all in suits, robes, or kimonos. Meanwhile he looked like he’d just crawled out of the sea.

  “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Kizu said as he followed after him.

  “My name? Vincent J. Winthropen,” the man said. “And your own?”

  “Kaga Kizu.”

  “Ah, the traditional backward naming scheme of Hon. I suspected as much of your origin based on your accent. The Kaga family sounds familiar.”

  “My parents are silk merchants.”

  “Interesting! And did you perchance fiddle with one of their transportation devices? Is that the inciting incident of this little misadventure?”

  “I don’t have any sort of device. I was jumping and I think I followed the wrong beacon.”

  “You were jumping?” the man’s eyebrows raised. “Long distance? At your age? Are you some sort of spatial prodigy child?”

  “Clearly not. I’m very lost.” Kizu was beginning to suspect he was far from home. Further than he first thought. The people who passed him were mostly human though, with only the occasional Kemon or Tainted. So at the very least he probably wasn’t in Edgeland. That would have been a disaster.

  “Your uniform, it’s from Shinzou Academy if I’m not mistaken. Have they added spatial spellcraft to their curriculum?”

  “I have a personal tutor,” Kizu replied. He decided not to mention Roba by name. Probably better to make it sound like the academy staff weren’t involved in this.

  “Fascinating. Well to have jumped this length from the academy at your age, you must be excelling in your studies.”

  Kizu was saved from having to respond to the compliment as they entered into a side room. A balding man glanced up at them and sighed dramatically.

  “Vincent. What do you want? Why is there a boy dripping a puddle onto my office floor?”

  “Albert, my good friend! What sort of greeting is this? I came to introduce you to the most peculiar young man I happened to bump into. His name is Kaga Kizu and he jumped here!”

  “Is this true?” Albert’s voice remained unimpressed as he addressed Kizu.

  “Yes? It was a mistake. I was training and I jumped to the wrong beacon. I’m meant to be at school.”

  Albert passed him a paper. “Fill this out.”

  Kizu took the paper and scanned it. Easily over a hundred questions written in tiny print with small blank spaces for his answers. He read one at random. ‘Have you at any point in the last three years come into contact with a gray skinned humanoid that expels purple waste out of its eyes? Y/N. If Y, immediately report to the nearest medical team for further instruction.’ He skipped over to another. ‘Are you currently wearing or carrying magically altered perfumes? Y/N.’

  “It’s a customs declaration form,” Albert explained upon seeing Kizu look up from the form. “Welcome to Tross.”

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