[kota's Perspective]
"You two get back here, Damn it!" Tera yelled as she ran for us. "I will not allow such things to be said to me without a reward!" She said lustfully.
How'd we end up running from her? Was it when Griffin said he'd love to have her as her teacher? Or the fact that I accidentally agreed to the many gossips of her curvy body and weird antics?
Probably both. And now we are running along the Market district trying to survive her Lust. Is it weird I'm saying lust? I count it as lust, she's chasing two young boys to give them a 'reward', I don't know how else I'd put it.
"I-Is she always like this?" Griffin said as we took a right turn into an alleyway. The market district wasn't that big, but it had some alleyways we could hide in. This particular alleyway actually had some barrel we could hide behind, it was draped with a cloth, perhaps it was a makeshift tent or something? I didn't really think anyone here was homeless, but maybe I'm just thinking this place was just too good for that.
Me and Griffin huddled behind the barrels, the cloth cloaking us as we heard the steps of heels grow near.
"She is not like this, why'd you have to compliment her?" I asked, I looked back at Griffin who was on all four while I was just crouching.
"Who wouldn't want her as a teacher? She's hot! How old are you, maybe you'd understand." Griffin seemed unaware of Teras lust for power or attention, I mean she literally was moaning and doing provocative things during our entrance exam. I don't know what other signs you need to realize she is batshit crazy.
I take that back, I adore her, but I'll never tell her since I'll somehow find myself in her home. Now, thinking of what Griffin just said, Someone my age would be more focus on school or having fun.
"I'm eleven years old. Aren't you…something something old?" I didn't ask Griffin's age before we left, I was still under the impression that he was maybe thirteen or fourteen judging by his height and physique.
"I'm fifteen years old." Griffin scratched his green hair as he said that. He kept adjusting his position as well, lifting one leg up to mend the pressure and swapping to mend his other leg.
"Hey, is the coast clear?" He peered past me, looking between the barrels.
Looking between the cracks, I saw Tera furiously walking back and forth. Mumbling to herself and throwing her hands around.
"Damn it, you ran for the kids and now they disappeared! What's kale going to say about this?" Tera said, kicking a piece of rock. She then took her blue hat off and angrily swiped her black hair onto her right shoulder, she then looked towards our direction, squinting her eyes.
"Psst, hey! What's she doing?" Griffin whispered. He was trying to nudge his way next to me to see.
"Shh, she's looking this way!" I looked back at him and said that before looking back and noticing that she had vanished. I blinked a couple of times and looked around to see if she was still even in our view. There was nothing.
How does someone just vanish like that?! Wait…
Why's that tapping noise?
Looking up to the top of the barrels, it seems as if the cloth was moving a bit, not from me or Griffin. The tapping was from the barrels, someone was tapping it in a particular pattern. It sounded like the one Tera used on Kale's door when she came by.
Oh shit, Tera is on the barrels.
"I know you two are under this. Why don't you come out and we can do some negotiation. How about this?" I could hear the clothes ripping as she made a little gap in it, peering inside to look at us with her green eyes. "I'll train you two in a 'special' magic session at some point. I'll forget about that little remark and compliment you both said and we can go on without any trouble. Deal?"
Why kinda special training? I don't trust her a bit with that little word she said. Special can be anything, it could mean an intimate special. It could mean a dangerous exam she'll give us to strengthen us. It could even involve her basement or someshit, does she even have a basement? Fuck if I know. I don't actually wanna know.
In any case, both of us wouldn't want to be a part of that…right?
"Uh, deal!" I heard Griffin say. Damn it, he's too entranced by her weird lust! Does he even know what'll happen to him?
"Fufu, good boy for accepting. What about you, Kota? Would you rather have me chase you down or take up that offer?" Tera's eyes looked at me.
Now I've known tera for two months now, I've seen what she's willing to do to mess with kale. But you know what's scarier? Not knowing what she would do if you were alone with her. Especially if you are on her list of powerful people.
I'd rather take the chase than find myself somehow trapped during that special magic session.
So I made a break for it.
"Haha, Screw that! No way I'm getting touched by you!" I yelled as I ran out of the alleyway and took a right turn.
I could hear tera yell at me, but I couldn't decipher what she said as I hastily made my way into another alleyway, at the end of this alleyway was a park of some sort. As I got closer to the end of this alleyway, it became more clear that this was for a large tree that was planted here.
You think I could climb this tree and somehow hide from her? I had my fair share of climbing trees during my young days in my old world.
Before I could process it, I rammed into another kid who was passing the alleyway.
"Oof!" I crashed right into the kid, both of us falling and the kid falling right on top of me. He had brown hair that almost had my own hair style. He was wearing a white and blue patterned outfit. It almost looked like he was wearing a noble outfit. It was like a suit that had leather on the shoulders and metal plating. There was a blue cloth that went around his left shoulder and stomach.
"Ow, hey! You have any idea what you-." He yelled before stopping to look at me. It was a focused look, like he was analyzing me. What's up with this kid?
He finally got off of me, and that's when I noticed the surrounding guards. Was this kid like a noble or something? Why does he have like four guards with him?
He's wearing the signature color patterns of this kingdom, so he must be from here. Perhaps a noble from the residential area who just has enough money for these guards? Maybe he's a kid to one of the king's advisors or something.
Whatever it is, this kid is giving me spoiled brat vibes.
"What are you looking at? Middle class!" He spoke with such toxicity that I wanted to smack his face. The boy crossed his arms and stood dominantly above me. " A royal blood is standing before you!"
The guards surrounding us made a square shape, eyeing the alleyway and both sides of the road we were on, one of them was oddly looking at the tree and behind it.
"Well? Answer the question!" The boy shouted.
I started expressing my irritation at the boy by giving him a frown, then I got up and realized that I stood taller than him, by like an inch. Somehow that made me feel better and my frown turned into a smile which caused the boy to throw a tantrum.
"What are you smirking at?! You think you're better than me because you're taller?! You're just a middle class-No, you're a peasant! Grr, stop smiling!" He jumped in frustration as my smile grew. Something about this kid just made me laugh and smile.
The boy stopped jumping and stared at me with furious eyes, it almost looked like he was about to cry. Which almost made me laugh. I don't know why, but I'm just finding this whole thing quite funny.
"Heh. alright, look…" I started, as much as I found this hilarious because this kid was throwing a baby tantrum because I was taller. I had to be a bit careful with what I say since I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth about being from noble blood. Anything I say would quite literally fuck me over in the future somehow, what if this kid somehow makes me unable to meet the king? That'd fucking suck.
"My apologies. I do believe I'm..pfft haha!" What made me laugh more was when I looked at the kid again. He had snot coming down his face, was he fucking crying? I had to quit chuckling when I reminded myself that this could possibly jeopardize my chances of finishing my task for Arael.
"I..do believe that I'm in front of..hehe…a noble blood…" I finally said, giving the kid a bow.
He cleared the snot from his face and instantly had a smile on it.
"Hmph, that's right! Took you long enough!" He sneered. He was back to his spoiled brat mode.
This little shit.
"A-apologies. It should've been noticeable…" As much as I wanted to smack this kid, the fact that these guards were here would make that near impossible.
"My lord, We should hurry back to the castle. Your father is waiting." One of the guards said.
"We haven't even gotten my pastels yet!" The boy cried, stomping his feet.
The guards looked at each other with blank eyes. Seemed like they were used to this as one of the guards casually picked up the boy by his waist and held him.
"Come on, Chris. Your father is waiting. Run along, boy…And pretend you didn't see us." The guard who held the boy said as all of them walked off. The boy was screaming and flailing in the guard's arm.
I stood next to the tree as I just wondered what the hell had just happened.
Thinking about it now, this was the first time I ran into someone that was noble here. Most of the people I've seen walking around were either from the middle class or common class. Rarely have I seen anyone else. Maybe Kale would know some of the nobles since he works for King Lucian.
"Kota?" Someone called from behind him. Turning around, it was Lilith holding a basket of food alongside kale. They Both looked a little beat up, their cloaks somewhat dirty and matted in dirt. Lilith had her hood on, her silver hair cutely sticking out a bit as she waved.
"Lilith? What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here? Where's Tera?" Kale asked. He looked around for her. "Weren't you guys supposed to be at the Entrance exam?"
"We were there, I passed the exam. I'm only here because Tera chased me." Lilith clapped her hands in celebration while Kale nodded.
"Yay! Good for you Kota!" Lilith smiled as she said that.
The sudden sound of tapping interrupted our celebration as I looked down the alleyway I came from.
Tera was aggressively walking towards me, Griffin following from behind.
"Well well, found you!" She yanked me up, lifting me in the air. "Running off and not sealing the deal is a no in my book! Someone could've kidnapped you!"
Tera didn't seem to acknowledge the presence of Lilith or Kale, but the two didn't mind as they casually watched as Tera shook me.
"Now let me give you my special training, Kota! Griffin has already agreed, aren't you two friends now? You can't leave a friend on his own!"
"I-I-I-Can you P-put me downnn?!" I struggled to say that as her shaking grew more aggressive.
"Special training! It involves nothing sexual, ok? Got it?" Tera wildly said. Kale finally stepped in and patted tera on her shoulder, which surprised her.
"Tera, put him down. What's this special training about? Kota looks like he's going to pass out…"Kale looked at me as I tried to recover from the shaking. My head was hurting from the shaking.
"Kale? Lilith? What are you two doing here?" Tera confusingly asked, patting Kale's hand.
"What are YOU doing here? I thought you were taking Kota to the exam, and who's this kid?" Kale looked at Griffin, who bowed.
"That's Kota's friend, Griffin. We were just heading back to your place so that I can go back to the university to prepare for Kota." Tera then lifted Kale's hand off of her and mimicked his stance. "What are YOU doing here, kale? What an odd coincidence that we'd see each other here. Where'd you take the girl?"
Kale rolled his eyes at her actions and scoffed. "Well I took Lilith out with me to watch me do my job, maybe learn something. Then we came to the market to buy food. And now we stumbled onto Kota. Actually, kota what were you doing here besides running from Tera?" Kale looked at me, he probably found it odd that I didn't really hide from tera at all and was just standing around.
"Well when I was running, I ran into this kid who was of noble blood." I answered, kale eyes perked with intrigue. "I didn't get his name, but he seemed important?"
"Hm…" Kale rubbed his chin, while tera looked at him with confusion.
"Why must you always rub your chin when you think?" She asked.
Kale looked at her with annoyance. "Why must you annoy me and distract me from my focus?"
Tera scoffed and went to Lilith, who was nibbling on a pastel from the basket she was holding.
"Was the boy with guards? Brown hair?" Kale finally asked.
Well shit, he figured it out? I'm starting to think Kale was some sort of detective in the city or someshit. I only gave him a small answer and he checked the boxes on who I saw.
"Uh…yes? How'd you figure it out?"
"You probably met Chris, King Lucian's boy. Every now and then, Chris gets the chance to walk around the kingdom, though heavily guarded so that he can get a full understanding of how the place works." Kale explained. "Only reason I knew was because this is usually the time he comes out to do his walk." Kales scratched his head when he said that. "Actually, I'm pretty sure King Lucian told us about Chris's walk some time ago. Kinda flew under my radar until now."
"…so I just met the Son of the king then?" I scaredily asked. It seemed my heart had sunk when I realized that. I just laughed at the Son of the king. What if he puts me in a bad reputation with the king?
Wait, wasn't Arael's task to make acquaintance with that kid? Aw, shit.
"Yeah, probably did. Anyways, what's with this special training you're doing with kota,Tera?" Kale turned to Tera, who was crouching and nibbling on a pastel with Lilith.
"Hmph. That's a secret. What? Want to join? I'm afraid only mages can do it. Unless you want a different training with me…" tera gave a mischievous smile when she offered that last one. Kale frowned at that and crossed his arms.
"Gross. Also, not asking to join. You can't just leave him-." He turned to Griffin who was standing idle, confused at what to do in this situation. "-And this kid is an utter mystery on what they are going into."
"But isn't that the fun part about training? Not knowing everything so that they learn to always be prepared?"
"This is different."
"Hmph, fine. But I'll tell the two privately." Tera looked at Lilith. "Lilith, can you kindly take kale and bring him home?"
Lilith nodded and looked at kale. "Come on, kale! You heard the lady!"
"I-…whatever. No fighting with this.." Kale immediately walked off with Lilith, looking back at me and Tera. "Make sure he comes back safely!"
"Oh, he will…" Tera whipped around to face me and Griffin. "Alright, I'll tell you two what you are getting into. Gather around." She waved at us as we gathered.
Crouching, she got to face level with both of us and had a serious face.
"Now this special training isn't a part of the university. It is from Ithryll." She began to explain. "During my time there, I met a mage there. This particular mage was specialized in something we don't teach here." She held out her staff and started to chant.
"With the ground shaking and moving, Fire and earth are in sync. Heat rises and churns as the earth blends with it. I cast Lava!" Her staff turned a deep red color as suddenly a heat blasted me and Griffin. Taking a step back, Tera held her staff afar as a red ball appeared in front of her. It flowed and seemed to spill downwards onto the floor. Bits of black pieces surrounded the ball.
"This is a lava spell, one that is a prominent spell in Ithryll! I would teach this to you!" Tera exclaimed. " Kota, do me a favor and cast a water spell."
Casually, I lifted my staff and conjured a water ball. Griffin stared in awe at the spell Tera had done.
"Now, I suppose I'll teach you two how to put another mage at a possible disadvantage. Once a spell is conjured, it must be used. There are no exceptions. Once you commit to a spell, you must use it. Now with this sort of spell or any Fire spells, they can be weakened or outright extinguished." Tera looked at me and pointed at her lava ball.
Realizing what she wanted me to do, I carefully aimed the water ball at the lava ball, launching it at it.
The water ball made contact with the lava ball, hissing and bubbling as it cooled the lava ball down.
"Another one, Griffin would like to try?" Tera asked.
Griffin nodded and chanted his water ball. Launching it to the lava ball as well.
Soon the lava ball had hardened and cooled down. Tera simply dropped it onto the floor, a large thunk sound made it obvious that the ball had fully hardened.
"Well there you go! Look at you two! A lava ball is now a hard ball!" Tera picked up the ball and tossed it around.
"What was the point of that? Both of us had to stop it?" Griffin asked.
"Ah, you see. With this sort of spell, one has to commit to it, yes? Some spells work automatically once casted, but with spells that need the user's navigation and guidance. One person trying to dispel it would leave them vulnerable to another attack." Tera looked at Griffin. "You could've easily attacked me when I focused on Kota's water ball."
"Oohh…ok!" Griffin understood what she was trying to say.
Tera smiled and looked at me. "Do you understand?"
From what I read and studied with Synthia, some of the spells she told me did say that they would need the user to focus on it. Though what Tera was telling wouldn't really work on a one versus one, it seemed very good when it came to a group. Maybe she had used it before when in Kale's group?
"Yeah, I understand." I nodded as I said that.
"Good! Now, Griffin must head home! We will speak more at the university!"
Griffin nodded and waved at me. "Got it! See ya, kota! See you, Miss tera!" And the Griffin ran down the alleyway I came from.
"Ooh, I love it when I hear the miss part." Tera turned to me. "Ok, now off to kale's home! Perhaps they are already making dinner!"
Tera took the lead and headed down the arias we were on, and I followed in suit. From doing the exam today, making a friend. I somehow also met the king's son today…so many massive things happened today. Perhaps it's a weird coincidence?