After leaving the bespectacled girl to her lunch, I was walking through the maze-like halls of the Library to my default haunt: the Magical Archives. Elin had pointed out several schools of magic I should probably review and while I could do it via the Grimoire menu, zoning out in the middle of the day was somewhat noticeable.
I glanced up when one of the doors to the archives clicked and slowly swung open. Nostradamus's dark figure framed the door and behind him—
My heart jumped to my throat as I immediately dropped quietly to the ground and scuttled away.
"—hope the collection is of use to you, Vesa."
Getting back onto my feet, I walked quickly away as Nostradamus said his parting remarks to the blond alfr I spotted within the room. I suppose the magical section was out as long as the conference was happening. And Elin had basically warned me about this too.
Slowing down and trying to calm my poor shocked nerves, I was considering places other than the Library I can be at in the day. It had to be somewhere private, preferably abandoned, so I'd get to mess with the Grimoire menu without getting suspicious looks.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I froze after flinching from the sudden contact.
My eyes slid to the side and my shoulders only loosened an iota when I saw a dark fall of hair instead of blond. Immediately breathing again, my nose told me the rest: this was definitely Nostradamus.
"Have you eaten yet?"
I opened my mouth to say an excuse before he continued.
"You are avoiding Shaman Vesa," he said casually in his accented Continental Standard. My jaw snapped closed with a click. "We have not had time to chat much outside Magical Archive."
Clearing my throat, my reply was light. "That's true…"
Nostradamus always made me feel uneasy, though I wasn't sure why.
"You study Mana Flow too, yes? Vesa has told me much," the half-alfr patted my shoulder a few times before finally letting me go—as if sure I wasn't going to run off anytime soon. "Let us enjoy repast together in my office."
… This bastard was doing that on purpose, wasn't he?
I sighed, giving up. "Yeah, sure, lead the way."
Internally grumbling, I sucked it up and just followed the Master Sorcerer out the Library and in the direction of the Studium Generale. Nostradamus seemed to be in a good mood, as usual, a light not-quite-there smile on his lips as we walked the less trafficked path.
It was inevitable for us to meet others though, since we were heading into campus, so I basically just pulled my hood over my head as the young women noticed their dreamy (unattainable) professor walking the grounds and started greeting Nostradamus.
Most of them were not his students, as far as I'm aware.
'Master Sorcerer' was a title much like 'Shaman.' Nostradamus was also an archmagus, which was not as fancy as it sounded, to be honest. It was simply a designation given based on power-levels and control of magic. Rare for a human but not that uncommon for long-lived alves who were naturally inclined to magic.
I was referred to as a 'Magician' because that was basically the catch-all term for magic users without a specific specialty. The Jack-of-all-Trades magic users to the two-bit kind that can barely pull off a single spell.
The one aspect iconic to a True Magician though, was the non-specialization of pure mana-based magic. They were also called Mages if they had a specialty for certain kinds of spells—usually in the form of titles such as X Mage (Wind Mage, etc). So while a Magician was a Mage, a Mage might not necessarily be a Magician if they were simply one-hit ponies.
Maybe it was the fact Nostradamus was a Master Sorcerer that had me nervous. I mean, he was part of the Council of Scholars, so he probably refrained from some of the shadier aspects…
There were various schools of magic systems that are mainly based on Faith or usage of artifacts and Rituals. Magicians were almost purely mana-based magic users. Warlocks and Witches were almost always reliant on rituals, items, and foci to perform magic.
Sorcery was basically like a hybrid between both methodologies.
I have read up on sorcery and the lack of common sense to reach a result has given me countless headaches. It didn't help that it was really easy to slide to the Dark Side if one was an item-based practitioner—first it was animal experimentations and BAM! Next thing you know, you're digging up graves or trying to find virgins to sacrifice.
[...]
'What? Was I wrong?'
[... statistically, you are not incorrect.] 37 was very reluctant to admit.
I'm not saying that Magicians had no Forbidden Magic either but it was more fines from fraud or counterfeiting. If a Magician were creative, I'm sure they can also summon a demon, but why would they want to when they already had power at their fingertips?
"Nori, you have been well?"
Glancing in the direction of Nostradamus and meeting his unsettlingly purple eyes, I blinked back from my bored mental drifting. The students had left.
"As well as can be, I supposed," I replied as we resumed our walk to somewhere. I should probably ask, actually. "Where are we heading again? Your office?"
"Yes," he replied brightly before giving me the general location of where it was.
I settled for a bit of a stroll since he was settled in one of the high towers, walking a bit more than an arm span away from the half-alfr. Nostradamus had a slight problem with personal bubbles in the sense he tended to ignore mine. I mean, I'm usually not that bothered with skinship but the Master Sorcerer always made me feel like I was being observed under a microscope.
Or as a guinea pig.
Just a little bit creepy.
Well, maybe it's a plus that people on campus saw Nostradamus and I walking together. Then, if this was a trap, at least Elin might be able to find me before I became potions ingredients? Hopefully.
[...]
Arriving at a classroom, I followed the half-alfr as he went through another door and we headed up a winding set of stairs. I glanced as we passed by a lab with a set of glass equipment mixed with herbs and pickled animal parts and a stone slab made for drawing magic circles. The next levels were storage areas before we reached a loft-like area with a desk—his office, at last.
This was like Dumbledore's office without the portraits, I quietly made the comparison as I boldly checked the platform out.
"You eat meat, yes?"
I spun back to the desk, to see the table cleared a little with a smorgasbord of food. A bit owlishly, I snapped my eyes to Nostradamus, "Do you?"
He only smiled mysteriously. "Da, I am part Dark Alfr. I do not glow."
Blinking rapidly from the information, I slowly walked up to the wooden board laden with bread, butter, and cheese. A
"So you're friendly with Shaman Vesa?" I asked as I took the offered slice of bread from Nostradamus.
"It is more he is familiar with me. Do you like deer meat or moose more?"
"Uh, both are fine. So, um…"
"Nori, how old are you?"
"You never ask a lady her age," I pitched my voice higher, clearly deflecting the dig into personal details.
So began a dance between me and Nostradamus with words for the next half hour.
I made my excuses and left when he started talking about dessert, heading out of the Master Sorcerer's office as quickly as possible and started walking the halls of Studium Generale as I retraced our steps back to the outside.
It had been an enlightening(?) discussion involving dodging personal questions from the half-alfr. The entire lunch also made me all the more confused over Nostradamus as an individual—I just could not read him well and it annoyed me something fierce.
'Hey, Thirty-Seven. If you can quantify Levels for the locals, what would Nostradamus rate?'
37 spent a long moment calculating.
[... Inconclusive.]
'How about that blond alfr then? What Level would Shaman Vesa be based on the system you created?'