Chapter 53: A conversation of various topics
(Rudeus POV)
This was the second time I went to the Magic University, but this time it was different.
I wasn't particularly tensed up like last time because of knowing about Nanahoshi's existence here in Sharia at first. Rather, it was the students and teachers around me again.
Their stares were already telling me how curious they are.
Over the time at Rosenburg, I got used to such things after a while. And besides, there was probably a public announcement not to go outside the city for now after some of those mantis monsters nearly came inside.
Letting North God be the messenger was the better choice, as there would have been more panic ensuing if a kid informed them.
With Kalman III ancestor background in mind, people should be in the sense that they will be in good hands from here on out.
There is also that powerful sword that he is wielding. Since he has been using it for a while, he should be trained to use it to the best.
I do wonder what I could do with a weapon that insanely enhances Gravity Magic. I could imagine myself turning it into a great destructive power if proficiently used enough. Maybe instead of a staff, I should just ask North God if I could use his sword?
In retrospect, I regret not testing it out before giving it back to him. But it would have caused even more trouble should I have not.
As we got to the entrance of the school, the guard station today let me through without identification and simply bowed to me.
The way to Jinas's office wasn't that bad, as the students made way for me to go through. Less than a day spent here, and I feel like I instilled some fear in everyone.
Before arriving at his office, however, one of the teachers who was a spectator when Gearid cast Water Magic without the chant, told me that Jinas was in a meeting somewhere else and wasn't available at the moment.
The teacher was kind enough to tell Jinas to halt any preparations for any unlocking procedures as I failed to inform him about a different factor.
After that, there wasn't anything else for me to do besides wait at the school until Jinas came back.
"So, what do we do now?" Sara asked.
We were in the middle of walking through the hallway towards the campus, and I was in a thought process on how to kill some time.
I could go take a visit to Nanahoshi to see if there is any way she could help me with my Magic.
She is younger than me, but the education system in her generation must be more informative than it was in my time... I think.
She will also be pissed once she finds out that I haven't been using Perugius's second present at all.
And if I go there, I might risk Sara getting suspicious of my relation with Nanahoshi.
I still haven't managed to get the time to start taking things serious with her, but making her feel like she should rush herself because of a competitor would take it too far.
The second option would be to see how Gearid is doing after having unlocked chantless Magic. I would like to see what her thoughts are on what the flow of her mana feels like. But, I wouldn't have much time to try to teach her what to think of when trying to use specific spells.
And then there is the third option. Visiting Zanoba should he not be busy right now.
"Sara, would you mind me visiting another acquaintance of mine?"
"Uhm, sure. But, do you even know where he is?"
"Did you forget who you are talking to?" I teasingly asked.
She understood what I meant after thinking about it and waited for me while I was standing on the edge of the floor, closing my eyes and attempting to locate Zanoba with my detection.
The Magic Resistance bricks of the building were a bit distracting, but wasn't dampening my detection in the slightest.
On my search, I found out that both Kalman III and Kalman II are here as well. They stood close to some other people and the white haired Elf I saw the other day. Wonder what they are talking about?
Thereafter, I finally got the location of Zanoba. Seems like he is alone inside a room of the boys' dorm.
As we headed in his direction, I was able to tell which stairways and halls we needed to go through, since the material of these bricks makes the ambient mana flow like a ventilation system.
"He is in here."
Standing before his door, I knocked three times. But instead of him calling who it was, a ruckus ensued inside and signals of embarrassment fumed from inside the room.
"What is he doing?" Sara asked.
I couldn't fathom a theory on it, but I think we interrupted him by something important. He was the only one in the room, according to my detection.
After a few seconds, he neared his door in great agitation.
Slowly opening his door while peeking through the small slit, he swung the rest of it open once he saw my face.
"Master? You're back." He started off kneeling before me, his next words hinting an imminent flood wave of tears. "How cruel of you to just vanish like that."
"I can explain that later. But before that, please, stand up again! You are embarrassing yourself."
This man can be so outrages. Are dolls more important to him than his status as a prince? Well, now that I think about it, he did threaten to kill off his younger brother just to free me.
Sara looked at me weird, knowing that something was definitely off. Great. He made it weirder already. Just wait until she finds out that he is a foreign prince.
"I thought that since we didn't have much time to catch up, I may use the spare time I have to catch up with you again, Prince Zanoba."
Right on the moment those words were picked up by his ears, his mood took a turn and a bright smile plastered his face.
But before that, his attention went to Sara, whom I then introduced and then the other way around.
After that, Zanoba invited us into his room. We accepted his offer and each took a seat on a chair near the table inside his room.
What stood out the most was the number and variations of figurines and statues in he had hoarded in here.
Among them were not only the Hiryū figurine I gave him recently, there were also the Ruijerd and Roxy figurines.
It made me a lot happier to see the replica of my goddess again, but I would have preferred to see the real Roxy once more, wherever she is.
"Master, I have to say, I am amazed at how detailed you got this example done."
Zanoba brought the Hiryū figurine on the table for us to spectate. Of course, Sara was a bit surprised to see me having given it away so early.
"When one of the knights saw this masterpiece, they commented on how closely it resembled an actual Red Dragon but said that the green feathers were bizarre."
Ah, yes. That's a one of Hiryū's biggest trait that distinguishes him from other Red Dragons.
I was actually contempt to add that detail in and just make a regular Red Dragon but decided to do it anyway as I don't know what else differentiates him from normal ones.
"My favorite part has to be how you made it fly above the ground with the support of the flames spiraling the main body and part of the tail."
"That part was by far the most difficult to make, as the balance wasn't correct at the beginning. I actually added in more heavier stones inside the stand to correct it."
"I had a hunch that it was, despite everything I hold felling so light. But what I can't comprehend is this small detail on the right eye. It's hard to see, but I believe you've added your Great World Power symbol to it, right?"
Zanoba then pointed at the eyepatch that I had added to the figurine, as I felt committed to put as much detail to it as possible.
"It was a different attempt to make my symbol more visible to see than putting it just at the bottom. With the sheer size of this figure, putting it on the side can turn to be difficult should you not have the strength for it."
"Mhm, mhm. That is logically plausible."
Really? I just pulled that out of the corner of my mind. Oh, well.
"Is there some kind of more in-depth meaning as to why you started making these with magic?" Sara suddenly asked.
She was silently listening to the two of us chatting for a short while, but I'm glad she decided to ask her question anyway, since it is an interesting question to ask.
"Well, at first, it just started as both mana depletion for my manapool growth and practice on precise Earth Magic control. Over time, it turned into a hobby and I just created all kinds of miniature statues. Going from objects, animals, and then people in general.
When I worked at Roa for a while, I was curious about how much I could sell them for and was surprised to get a good price on one of the latest ones I made.
But then there came..."
I was about to talk as far as the Metastasis Event but stopped as it wasn't much of an appropriate subject to talk about.
"Well, anyway, the part with the painted Water Magic came much later on, but brought great improvement since it makes them look closer to the real thing."
"That is indeed something most professors of this school don't want to believe. Some students even talk about if even Master Fitts could manage that." Zanoba commented.
"Fitts? Who is that?"
"He is the white haired Elf who referred to as a master Magician. I believe you locked eyes with him before Silent Seven Stars came to greet you."
So. The person really is a HE.
Fitts. Whenever I think about that name, there is this odd feeling that there is something... I don't know. It's probably nothing important.
"Prince Zanoba, can you tell me more about this person?"
"Of course, master." he said before adjusting his glasses.
"However, there isn't much to say about him apart from the fact that he can use magic without the chant, just like you. Some say that he has been trained by an assassin's circle to come along his guardian duties at the capital of Asura.
Over the time, he has acquired himself the nickname Silent Fitts at this school.
Other than that, there is only the fact about his occupation of being the Asura Kingdom's second Princess's guardian Magician."
"That's interesting to know, but... did you just say guard of the Asura Princess?"
That last part. Asura Kingdom. Second Princess. They are here. I haven't cheeked the letter at all before burning it, so I didn't think it came from here instead of their country.
What? Was she trying to recruit another chantless Magician to be her puppet?
"Anything your highness could tell me about the princess?"
My voice was filled with dread. I could feel how Sara exuded signals of concern at me.
She experienced it at close hands when I told her about my hatred against the Asura Royalty and those noble scums.
Zanoba looked momentarily distressed at how dreadful I asked him that question but put it aside.
"Her name is Ariel Anemoi Asura, second princess of the Asura Kingdom.
She came here to this school after having lost the power struggle against her brother at capital over a year ago.
Although she was offered to attend this school as a special student, she declined the offer, saying that she wants to live a school life like any ordinary person.
With her beauty at hand, she won over the hearts of many, boys or girls alike."
What? Like some evil queen? Is she gonna rule over a kingdom with the help of her looks? Hierarchy can be so stupid when you control people who only have eyes for the outside of a person.
"Would you also like to know some things from Luke?"
"Hm? Luke? Who is that?"
"Princess Ariel's guardian knight. He is working as one of the princess's bodyguards besides Fitts. His full name is Luke Notos Greyrat."
"WHAT!?"
The one who exclaimed just now wasn't me, but Sara, who stood up from her chair.
I was actually equally shocked about that. A Notos is here as well?
"Is something the matter, master?"
"... You wouldn't happen to know if he is related to Philemon Notos Greyrat, the head of the Notos household?"
"If I recall correctly, he is Luke's father." He looked between both of our even more shocked expressions before continuing.
"Did something occur involving them?"
"That bastard sent assassins after Rudeus. He nearly got blinded because of it!" Sara yelled out.
Getting a hang of our reactions, he looked back at me with a more serious expression and tone.
"So the rumor about a relative of yours having hired assassins against you is true? That would explain Luke's recent behavior."
"Like what?" I asked, curious but already the reason behind it.
"He has been said to be rather tense at the time. His usual habit of picking up girls around the school has declined drastically. Some female students even started to get worried."
Huh. Is it just me or are Paul and this Luke guy very much alike? I always thought that Paul was like that by nature, but I haven't considered it to be in his blood to be a womanizer.
But that's besides the important matter at hand. Luke definitely knows something.
Either he has the same fear as his father about me aiming to take over the position as head of the Notos household, or he knows about his father having attempted to assassinate me and fears of my target to take revenge on.
But then there is the matter of the Princess having tried to get in touch with me.
If Philemon truly is a supporter of the princess, then why would she send me a letter? I could end up being her enemy. The danger I possess should make her reconsider her choices of contacting me in the first place.
She could be attempting to put the blame solely on Philemon. But that would put a bad light onto this Luke guy.
It could also be the other way around. Maybe Philemon acted on his own accord and the princess was unaware of the perpetrator behind it the assassination attack at me.
Then again, Jester could have just... no. Our fight wasn't long, but I'm sure of it. Jester wasn't lying. He used the last of his dying breath just to tell me his name. He may have been an assassin, but his pride as a warrior was evident.
He and his brothers could also have been hired by someone who used Philemon's name to hire them just to put the blame on him and fully turn me into an enemy of his should they fail to kill me.
Those theories brought one thought to a conclusion. Someone of high status in the Asura Kingdom is an apostle. It could be Philemon or another noble of the same or of a higher status.
Either way, I can see better now how Hitogami had placed his pawns.
By sending the [Tri-Daggers] after me and using one of the underlings, he successfully got someone to guide Randolph to a point of the dragon's incident where I got out weakened for the fight against Hiryū.
Thanks to me damaging his Future Sight, that plan had failed tremendously at the last second and I got out alive AND got a mighty pet dragon.
But it doesn't change the fact that Hitogami used people with many resources to kill me. It can happen again once they recovered from their loose.
"Rudeus, say something about it. What should we do?"
Sara's abrupt command put an end of my trail of thought and I looked at them both still in a thoughtful demeanor with my hand on my chin.
"That Luke guy will definitely try something sketchy. He is already changing in behavior since he knows what you could do." Sara angrily added.
True. Him having that tension showing off indicates just that. I would have to be careful around him and his princess nevertheless.
But there are many things hindering me from taking any action as of now.
"Let's just avoid any confrontation with them for now. There are more important matters for us to take care of than making my own conflict worse. Any of that can wait until later."
Both of them understood what I had meant. A monster attack of high caliber is obviously more critical to discuss than any political dispute from a foreign country.
Anyone who thinks otherwise absolutely put his priorities for his own sake from being a brainless coward.
I stood up from my chair and looked Sara into her eyes.
"And besides, maybe this Luke guy turns out to be a better person than you would think. I mean, it what happened with me."
Immediately her face shifted with her brows furrowed.
"With the way he supposedly treats girls, he couldn't be anything besides scum. You weren't like that nor were there such rumors about you."
"..."
Note to self. Take precaution for when Paul's background is being told. Also, find the right kind of words to tell her that I'm a pervert at heart and probably would have done the same if I had less important things to do.
"Well, we should better get back with Soldat and the others for further discussion. I should also be seeing how far my staff is in the making process."
"You're leaving already?" Zanoba asked with a sad tone.
"There aren't any other Magicians besides me who could launch a heavy enough attack for the first strike, so I'm afraid my schedule is rather time-limited.
Oh, but before I forget."
In one swift motion, I bowed my head in Zanoba's direction with my right on my chest.
"The book I received from you has been of great use for all sorts of situations. You cannot fathom the usefulness King class Water Magic [Lightning] had for me."
Getting the book from King Shirone was a great choice. [Lightning] has proven to be a potent and adaptable tool for the majority of the situations I have encountered. And I created one of the strongest techniques in my arsenal with it.
"I am glad to hear that my kingdom's gift has been of such benefit to you, Master. After all, it was meant as an apology for the misdeeds my younger brother has done to you."
Well, it is good to see that he still sees Pax's choices to be of great embarrassment to his kingdom.
There were some dreadful signals coming from Sara already as I haven't specified which country I have actually gotten my Saint and King class book from. Not like I care about Pax's reputation, but on the other hand, I do care about Zanoba's.
After that discussion was done, Sara and I had to see if Jinas available or not. Zanoba offered to keep us company perhaps, if needed, guide us through the buildings.
On our way through the building, I couldn't help but feel sorry to know that the peaceful days can easily turn upside down.
A different disaster just waiting for the right time to strike is out there, and we don't know how to handle it more properly than attacking first.
Sara was asking Zanoba and me a few questions regarding the incident with Pax and I just let it happen since it wasn't something I'm keen to hide from her anyway.
As we went through the building towards Jinas's office, I picked up signals of that Fitts guy.
When we got closer to them, I could've sworn that I saw a glimpse of red under those sunglasses.
'I know I met this person before. But, where?'
Besides him were two different people, one girl and one boy.
The girl in question had blue eyes with long blond hair and an overall beautiful attractive face.
Well, that is until she smiled at me to which I could only frown upon since it reminded me instantly of Phillip's smile.
Then there was the boy, with combed back brown hair. His face reminded me a bit of Paul, so I'm assuming that he's that Luke guy since Fitts accompanies him.
As we got our eyes locked on each other, he started glaring at me and I received signals of disdain and resentment from him.
Sara recognized him too, probably since she saw Philemon once herself.
But there is something wrong with him. I can't feel any intimidating aura from him like any other strong fighter I fought once. His strong and tall build would make you think otherwise, but I have the feeling he won't be a danger to me whatsoever.
"Greetings, Sir Rudeus." The blond girl suddenly said.
Once I turned my attention to her, she was already bowing with her head slightly lowered and her hands lifting her skirt slightly up on each side.
"My name is Ariel Anemoi Asura, second Princess of the Asura Kingdom. I have heard quite a lot about you. It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ryumao
Ryumao The bigger delays are due to studies and lack of motivation. It may get worse over time, so the next chapter may take even longer.
Weekly Power Status
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