Katachi dipped the dusty cloth into the bucket and twisted it hard, forcing the water out of it. With the cloth at suitable moisture, he continued wiping the chandelier in the main atrium.
B: "This is stupid! Don't you have lessons or anything? Surely you didn't come here to be a janitor or a caretaker."
Bael stood idly, reading a book on catalysts and natural remedies used to improve one's efficiency and focus. She was annoyed that the young man atop the stepladder appeared so carefree, and nudged her arm against the wall repeatedly to find a comfortable position.
B: "It's been five days! Five days! You've spent every one of those days cleaning some part or place of the school nobody even visits! And of all days you're cleaning the school when the teachers aren't around so it's not even a punishment! They're not paying you to clean this place or anything, so how could you even enjoy something like that?"
Katachi paid no heed to her and continued cleaning.
B: "I sometimes don't know if, if you're retarded or something! How could anyone stand cleaning the school faculty without pay or any form of benefit?"
K: (I can't let her know I'm trying to map out blind spots and escape routes.) "What do you mean? There is a benefit to cleaning."
Bael was appalled at his sudden rebuttal.
K: (I need to distract her.) "For one thing, cleaning makes the place healthy and habitable. Mother Rin has always emphasized cleanliness and I don't see why you wouldn't want your surroundings to be clean. Surely you don't appreciate ants and termites eating your documents, do you? Cleaning helps one to keep in touch with their inner self, devoting oneself to the environment much like devoting yourself to the people important to you."
Bael rolled her eyes at the mere mention of Mother Rin.
K: "The exercise allows people to train their temper and attentiveness. Just as how people would not disturb you for passionately studying your field of magic, the practice of hygiene is a form of cleansing for both the area around you and within yourself."
His ramblings were starting to get tedious.
B: (Doesn't this guy give a break or something? For every day I've met him, he's mentioned that name at least once. What is she to him, his lover?) "Uh huh. Yeah, sure."
Katachi put extra strength into the cloth to scrape off a resilient stain which looked like it wasn't getting off any time soon.
K: (She seems annoyed. Is the distraction a success, or have I made my true motive more apparent?) "That's a hidden benefit of cleaning only those who have done it actively would learn of."
B: "I would much rather laze around than waste my energy cleaning then."
Bael continued reading the last few lines of an entry on Surcleus in her book and flipped a page.
K: (That's a relief.) "I have my reasons, but I'll leave it at that... What are you reading?"
Bael looked up at Katachi with much interest, ecstatic that she finally found some form of what could be considered an actual conversation with him.
B: "It's a book about herbs and how certain spices and wild plants can be used to enhance the mental state and the body. Herbs that coagulate blood quickly, herbs that help produce alcohol faster, anything can be used if you look in the right places so knowing them is important."
K: "That sounds interesting. Does it contain the dangerous, poisonous types of plants to avoid?"
B: "Yeah. The book's pretty extensive."
Katachi squeezed and twisted the drenched cloth to adjust its water content.
K: "Are the plants described within all local or is it scattered across the lands?"
B: "This book was made by Irving Daniel. I'm guessing that unless he's a traveling guide or a merchant's tabs keeper, it would most likely contain information about the plants found in Anik."
Katachi frowned a bit upon hearing Anik.
K: (Irving Daniel sounds like a name from Rugnud though.) "Anik? Are you planning to migrate over there or something?"
B: "No, silly. What I meant was, if Anik's market shifts and herbalists start coming over to Yhorfe for the spice trade during Jaanthro season they might be interested in trading their own herbs. I could make unique drugs and medicine that other apothecaries have yet tried, maybe even discover new effects to them."
Katachi nodded slightly in agreement as he continued wiping the glass beads dangling from the chandelier.
K: "I guess that's an interesting idea to have market-wise."
B: "Yes it is, and I'd rather you spend your time doing something more constructive for your future like this instead of wasting all your time cleaning obscure spots in school."
Bael retorted with a spiteful glare but Katachi replied to her calmly, having anticipated such a reaction.
K: "I don't really have any lessons to attend for now, not until Tuesday. I might as well spend time meditating like this since I have nothing I need to rush."
Bael's eyes widened.
B: (Tuesday?) "But you said your lessons were on Wednesday and Thursday, didn't you?"
When did he sign up for a different course? Why did he not tell her? Bael felt like she was left in the dark, as though she was not important enough to know. Were they not friends, or was her friendship unrequited?
K: "I asked Bertund yesterday and he helped me sign up for an additional course to discover my affinity."
B: "Wait, wasn't what you had on Wednesdays and Thursdays a lesson oriented on your affinity?"
It was not normal for a student to attend a magical course when they had no talent for it. It was like telling a fish that could only swim to spontaneously grow two legs and walk on land. So, what exactly did Katachi attend for only one lesson?
B: "Did your previous course end on the first lesson because it wasn't a magic you had an affinity with?"
K: "You could say that, and yet you really can't, but... It's a bit hard to explain, but you can consider it like that."
B: (Katachi's wording it weirdly. He could have just agreed with me but he didn't, so could that mean the lesson on Wednesday was a type of magic that didn't involve affinity?... A Reincarnate Art?)
Certainly, his choice of words narrowed down the possibilities available, yet it was still out-of-reach. Bael felt proud to notice that slight nuance in detail.
B: "Is it a Reincarnate art?"
K: "Ahh-aah-aah-aah-aah! Ahh! Ahh!"
Katachi winced from her response and he gripped onto the chandelier with his free left hand. He desperately tried to regain his balance by holding onto its rings and trying to distribute some of his body weight onto it.
It was quite a miracle since the chandelier did not fall off the ceiling despite being tugged at by the entirety of his body. Yet, would it not be wiser to simply grab the stone stepladder he sat upon? That foolishness easily reflected his clumsiness for anyone to see.
... If one disregarded the sinister brilliance beneath the charcoal hair.
B: (Hoho, that reaction. Perhaps I'm on the right trail?) "I hit a nail, didn't I?"
K: "... I won't answer that question."
Bael's smirk flashed ever so slightly on her face with triumph but her heart was leaping all over the place, barely contained by her façade.
B: (Ha-ha! That reaction is so cute! He's never talked about the magic he's used before but I guess I have a rough idea now! He must be using some form of Reincarnate Art!- ...)
She firmly believed that she was making significant progress by thinking that far, but the answer she derived at only served to raise even more questions. Bael's face stoned into a daze.
B: (... There's quite a handful of Reincarnate Arts to choose from. Which one is he using? Dardicel? Ilpoh? Croxa? Most of these Reincarnate Arts don't require any form of prayer or such, which would fit nicely because of his lesson schedule. In that case, maybe he's attending a different class?)
The rabbit hole only went deeper.
B: (The basic lessons for Dardicel lore began recently in the first days of the Month of the Halberd. What if he's already started on the Intermediate class? That would explain a need to separate him from the normal curriculum... Arrgh, guessing is a pain! Why is he so dodgy about it anyway?!)
Frustrated with half-answers and wild guesses, Bael tried the most standard approach to an otherwise impossible question.
B: "Hey, Katachi, what god do you worship?"
K: "None."
It failed.
B: "Come on, don't be like that! There must be some god or legend you're worshipping!"
But with enough persisten- Or more politely 'perseverance', one was destined to succeed.
K: "Segus."
B: (Segus? Is he serious?! He's not even a Reincarnate!)
Anyone would be taken aback had they heard that he followed the footsteps of a pacifist legend. It was simply not normal for a child to follow someone so passive, not when most bedtime stories she knew of were filled with the honor and glamour of gods, heroes and legends alike.
Unfortunately, Katachi possessed no such fortune. Mother Rinnesfeld had long donated the children's books away, leaving the black-haired child with nothing but reference books, magus research materials and dark histories too cruel to mention.
B: "Are you serious? Segus!? That's not even worth the trouble! He's just a pacifist legend who can't even fight for himself!"
But, exactly who was more unfortunate? Was it the child who faced the cruel and beautiful world alone?
K: "He's reputable because he loves all life. I pray to him at the church back at home. Mother Rin also says that loving all life is important-"
Or were the children cradled so delicately by their parents the unfortunate ones?
B: "-Enough about Mother Rin, sheesh! Also, you're lying, Katachi. Segus lessons are at noon daily, held at the West Atrium to express kindness towards plant life, insects and animals!"
Katachi finally gave up on the stain that appeared to be layered beneath the wax coating. He stopped wiping the chandelier and dropped the cloth into the pail. Bael closed her book gently as Katachi carried it down the stepladder made of floating stones and a magic of Axia's origin that set it in place.
K: "I mentioned that I do indeed worship Segus. However, I said nothing of me attending Segus magic courses. I wasn't aware that Segus magic courses existed, but even if I did I wouldn't choose them regardless."
Contrary to Bael's belief Katachi had no need for those lessons. He already understood the very nature of Segus and his spells without the assistance of anyone else since he was raised in a church that worshipped the legend.
B: "What?! That's not-"
K: "-I have to clean these up at the back, and you don't want that book to get wet, do you? Paper books are expensive."
Katachi gently pushed the core stone upward and the entire stepladder followed suit. He then placed his hand on a stone step and dragged the stepladder through the air to the back of the school.
B: (Ugh... He's a hard nut to crack, despite being so candid.)
Bael could only pout and frown at Katachi.
B: (... That's not fair. He never answered my question.)
*** ***
Event magic. It was without a shadow of a doubt considered the most unique, and perhaps even the most powerful form of magic currently in existence. It was a type of magic that forced and invoked unnatural events.
Eggs laid moments ago could age until a chick was birthed in a matter of seconds. Ice found on lakes could stay frozen, even in the heat of summer. One could force a person to utter the truth, against his will. Mountains wore down into rubble spontaneously, food that remained fresh forever, people who achieved immortality by taking on a bizarre form that allowed them to constantly rejuvenate lost and withered body parts...
That was the classification of the Words of Power – An absolute magic that would make even the frailest cowards and the weakest beggars triumphant over a king, sigils that perverted the fundamentals of magic.
K: (But that is precisely why this madness must be stopped.)
Katachi could not afford to have his secret divulged. If anyone knew of his Word of Power it would be over. He would be treated as an outcast and leered at by everyone in school for having such a ridiculous and powerful magic. It would be the same scenario in Mielfeud all over again, except this time there won't be adults to obfuscate the truth from their children.
Every waking moment would be spent in paranoia, and every night of sleep restless. Unlike Mielfeud, the academy was filled with students and wielders of magic so the danger of using his Word of Power carelessly would bear heavier consequences. It was, after all, a power with the potential to create 'absolutes'. Should the students find a way to manipulate and force two absolutes to contradict each other, it would be a horrible sight.
The only factor determining which of the 'absolutes' remained was the unique attribute known as precedence levels. But that aside, its wielders were practically invincible as long as their sigil allowed it. It would be no wonder to find one dead the next day as a result of carelessly using the power and giving away its limitations even if for a mere instant.
The madness that swirled in the world was a great, ravenous and cruel hunger that would plunge the unstable into insanity, and the stable into temptation which gradually made them unstable; an endless cycle that fed upon itself, ever-expanding. Something must be done about it.
Katachi picked up a flyer resting on the table.
K: (The Sage Raufid Young Magus Tournament... The winner is allowed three prizes, which can be anything that is within the school's power. There's bound to be competition.)
A child was timid for several reasons. The most widely accepted reason was that a child had seen something he was not familiar with. With the unknown suddenly introduced it was easy for the child to feel a sense of insecurity over what little he knew. With much misfortune, Katachi fell into both categories – It was not uncertainty alone that induced his reticent behavior.
It was the void of knowing his helplessness against it all. But, he stepped forth to oppose that darkness within himself…
K: (Place the wooden piece on the magic circle, and enter your name into the ballot box. Tournament restriction – sixty-four participants, twenty-one applied…)
Which begged the question; would other children harness that same courage to confront themselves and the world with equal determination? Exactly who was more unfortunate?
Katachi picked up a wooden tablet and placed it on the magic circle attached to his left arm. The magic circle engraved his name 'Kotsuba Katachi' onto the tablet and he dropped it into the participation box.
K: (I'll have to get first place using the most subtle method. The best strategy would be to end every match in the shortest time possible.)
He grimaced at the number of tokens in the box that didn't quite add up to two dozen.
K: (The longer I stay out of battle, the lesser the odds are I'd be discovered. It's wishful thinking, but I hope I don't have to fight any strong opponents until the final rounds.)