A knock on the door interrupted my magic training. For some time I went back inside to train on using my Dry Ice spell, forming it and repeating that to increase its cast speed. Honestly, doing magic as a silent caster was like working out a muscle. The more I did it on a daily basis, the better I'd be.
But with the knocking on the front door, I had to stop and open it.
"Kota? Are you awake?" I heard a voice, it was Griffin. It seemed school was over and he came over very quickly.
Opening the door, I spotted him and Sura. Sura standing afar in the middle of the front lawn. Watching us. Her body language and expression made it look like she was dragged along.
"Kota! What do you wanna do?" Griffin asked, he let me pass through and closed the door for me as I walked ahead. "You said you wanted to explore the kingdom, right? Me and Sura can guide you around! Right, sura?"
"I didn't sign up for this." She said in an irritated tone.
"But it's nice to have some people around while you research!"
"Having you around is the equivalent of having an annoying brother around."
"Alright…but you can research Kota! Didn't you want to study him and his silent casting?"
Sura bit her lip as she looked at me, our first day of class had me using silent casting. That intrigued her a lot and she's constantly been asking me ever since about silent casting.
"Hmph…Alright, But this is only to learn more about this." Sura crossed her arms, she's trying to show her disinterest but it isn't really working.
"I'm like a hundred percent sure this won't be just for researching, but keep lying to yourself." Griffin said, he kept on smiling as Sura gave him an angry glare. "Anyways, what do you wanna look at?"
There's many options to look at in this kingdom, I haven't really looked at any of the other districts besides the market.
"What is there to look at?" I asked.
"Well…there's the magic production site, but it's really just a bunch of people making stuff. There's the other part of the market district we haven't seen, it's more like an entertainment area."
"What's in there?"
"Nothing much, but a lot of students go there after school. There's also a couple of stores down there that sell kid stuff. If you are into that."
Well an entertainment area seemed interesting, I haven't had much fun besides hanging with Lilith and cooking. This should be a change of pace.
"We could head there, tell me the other spots on the way!"
"Of course! Me and Sura will be your guides, right Sura?" Griffin looked at Sura, who avoided contact with him.
"Ugh…fine. But at some point, I'll need to see how Kota does his…magic stuff." And she was already heading towards the gate.
"Fine. And also, stop being so irritated! You're the one that asked to come!" Griffin smugly said. Sura turned around and trailed a finger to her throat, making him laugh even more.
Soon we found ourselves wandering the market district, Griffin giving me tips and guides on exploring this area. Sura on the other hand, eyed everything and jotted down some things in a notebook she had. She really went around and took notes of everything as Griffin said. He didn't mind it as he found it quite amusing.
"Don't bother her when she does her writing, it irritates her. Watch." Griffin said as he got beside her and eyed her notebook.
We were in the middle of the road as he did that, passerby eyeing the two as Sura grew angry. She gripped her notebook harder and tried smacking griffin, but missed as he quickly moved out of the way.
"No looking! How many times do I have to say this?!" Sura angrily said.
"We're just curious about what you write!"
"Hmph, annoying!" She shut her notebook and frowned at him. "Can't believe I agreed to this."
"Alright, alright. Here, That store I was talking about is down the road. Let's head there." Sura sighed as Griffin said that. She waited for us to go on ahead, clutching the notebook tightly to her chest.
"You need to relax, Sura. We're classmates, you see how chill I am with Kota and you?" Griffin looked back at her. "I'm always chill with friends, the Belark family always stay loyal."
I remember how me and him became friends during our entrance exam, saying how his family always picked people who they'd believe would stay by their side. A very picky selecter that Griffin was. In fact, I haven't seen him really make any interactions with any other students in our School besides us. So perhaps what he says about his family is true, and that He surely trusts Sura. Or maybe he's just trying to get in her pants, I don't know.
Sura scoffed at that response. "So you're like a dog then, huh?"
Griffin just laughed it off, smiling at her. "Well if it's with you, sure!"
Sura groaned at that, covering her face with the notebook. "Disgusting…"
Griffin then stopped us, pointing at the building to our left. It was in the typical fashion of a Prusha building, though slightly old with the window showing off some dolls and random items.
"This right here is the Bargain shop…or a General shop. This was the store I was talking about with the kids' toys. C'mon guys!" Griffin quickly waltzed inside the store, leaving me and sura outside.
Sura eyed the shop, slowly lowering the notebook from her face as she analyzed the whole building.
"Mhm…just like the other buildings…but I'll need to mark it…" She said to herself.
Maybe she was making a map out of the Kingdom? This place is puzzling to get around if you don't know it by heart.
She must've noticed that I was still outside as she pointed at the building without looking, speaking to me. "Go on ahead, I'd rather stay out here than to go…in there." She frowned as she said that.
"Why's that?"
"…Toys aren't my thing. I don't believe there is anything to take note of in there that I haven't already. Just go inside already." She insisted, her eye's furrowing.
Not willing to argue with her because to be honest, she was scary. I went inside the store.
Inside was a large array of general foods, shelves of handmade dolls and food laid on them. The owner stood behind a counter, waving at me.
"Hello, what's a kid like you doing here alone?" She asked.
Griffin popped his head out of one of the aisles, look at me. "He's with me! Hey…where's Sura?"
"Outside. She didn't want to come in."
"Tsk…fine, if she wants to be like that."
Griffin then showed me a wide variety of toys and candies that kids my age should usually like. I spotted something that looked similar to Liliths doll that she got from the camp outside. This doll looked like a pig, but its coloring resembled the colors used frequently in Prusha. A stope of blue went down one side of its face while the rest of its body was white. Maybe Lilith might like this, she could make a collection of this.
"I think I'll grab this one." I said to Griffin, he was looking at some low grade Magic's equipment. Most of these stores carried these sorts of things. Equipment for beginners that'll easily break and be sold at a cheap price.
"Aw, buying that for yourself my man?" Griffin quizzically asked. "I didn't know you like dolls."
"It's not for me! It's for Lilith, she's got another at home."
"Ooh, Ok. Where is she today?"
"She went with Kale to the forest to train."
Griffin nodded in response to that, still looking at some of the equipment on the shelf. "Mhm…Anyways, what do you think Sura would like from here?"
"Uh…I don't know, what does she like?"
"Besides shoving her face in her notes…she likes candies." Griffin eyed another aisle that was filled with what I presumed to be other Candies.
"I thought Pastels were candies?" I asked. To be honest, I haven't had many candies here in this world. So I've always assumed Pastels were the wording for cupcakes in this world. And as I followed Griffin to that aisle. I felt I was correct as an assortment of candies lined up that aisle.
"I mean…no? Pastels are a type of sweet bread, with the uh…Frosting thing on them." Griffin looked at me in a confused way. "Man, I thought you were smart. These aren't bread."
"Look man, I don't leave my home. I don't have much interaction outside."
"Pfft, maybe we should be taking you out for some more fun than. Haha." We both started laughing as we picked out some candies for Sura. Picking a red looking hard candy that smelled of Something similar to cherry and a chewy looking candy.
"This should do it. Hopefully she likes them. Sura doesn't really like stuff to be handed to her." Griffin put all the candies into a bag he had. "I'm pretty sure she's just waiting for us right now."
We headed to the front counter where the lady looked outside worriedly. "oh dear…"
"Something wrong ma'am?" Griffin asked.
"Oh. That poor young lady out there. Seems like she was abandoned."
"Huh?" Griffin and I looked out the door and noticed Sura, pouting outside. Seems like she had become worried about us as we took our time here. She plopped herself down against one of the buildings across from us and looked at the building.
"Pfft, haha! Look, she really does care! Ma'am, can we get these! We have to be outside for her!" Griffin said smugly. He pulled out a bag of Rubees and placed them on the counter.
"But of course dear, I'm assuming that's your friend then?" The Owner asked as she gave back Griffin's change. He nodded in response, still looking outside at Sura.
Once she finished, I grabbed the bag as Griffin hurried outside. But that was when I remembered the doll, quickly I put down the doll onto the counter. "I'll buy this one, please."
"Oh, of course. And who's this for?" The owner kindly asked.
"It's for a girl." I handed her some rubees.
"Hmm, how sweet. Someone you like?"
"Hmm…yeah, you could say that. It's someone I've been friends with for some time." I felt my cheeks reddening when I said that. The owner chuckled at that.
"Haha…young love. Ok, here you go!" She handed me back my change and I set off outside.
Once I was outside, I saw Griffin getting slapped around by Sura.
"H-hey, knock it off! We were only in there for a couple of minutes!" He frantically said.
"Well it felt more than that! You can't leave a lady out here on her own!" Sura angrily said.
Griffin seemed to have recoiled from that, giving her a face of disgust. "Who's going to do anything to you? No one here even knows us!" Though he gave her a disgusted face, I could see he was trying to joke with her.
"That doesn't even make sense! It doesn't matter if they don't know me, they might do something to me!"
"Like what? Maybe you should've came in with us."
"Tsk, you boys."
The tension seemed high and Somehow this reminded me of something, which instinctively made me move beside Sura. "Griffin, Jokes off." This caught Sura by surprise, even Griffin.
Griffin paused for a moment. and realizing he was wrong, he shut his mouth and awkwardly laughed. "I apologize." His tone changed immediately. "I shouldn't be saying stuff like that to friends." His joking demeanor changed into a more careful one.
"Uh…huh?" Sura seemed confused at his response but I looked at her with reassurance. "I…you're weird, Griffin. But…" she hesitated. "I guess I'll take that apology?"
Now the mood was awkward, With Griffin shuffling around and Sura not sure of what to say. So I decided to lighten the mood.
"Look, Sura! This doll I got for Lilith!" I waved the doll I had at Sura.
She looked down and grabbed it, examining it. "Hmm, well crafted and fluffy. She'll certainly like it." She held up one of its arms and examined it more. Griffin looked at her with curiosity.
"So you are interested in the stuff inside that store, huh?"
Sura looked back at him. We thought he was still being apologetic, but it seemed he was back to his more normal self. "Only because Kota showed it to me! I'm only looking to see if it's a good choice for Lilith."
"Suuure. Anyways, why don't we head to that other spot where all th- oh…" griffin looked past us and frowned. "Those guys."
Who? Was it someone we knew?
Turning around, I saw a group of three teens walking towards us.
"Who are they?" I asked And Sura grimaced.
"Those three? They're assholes. Ever since they saw me and Sura hanging out, they decided to be assholes." Griffin said. "Not even sure why, but they've been throwing shit at us and using magic on us when we least expect it."
Huh, a bunch of bullies. It's best that we avoid that. I really don't want to get involved in any…drama here, really.
The three students quickly noticed Griffin and Sura. The one that I presumed was the leader had red hair and a pretty creepy grin on his face as he approached us.
"Well well, babysitting, huh?" He sneered. "It's the two weirdos. How is it being in a class with that dumb teacher of yours?"
Rude. I narrowed my eyes at the teens as they looked back at me.
"I know this kid, aren't you also a part of that class?" The second teen asked.
"Yes, all of us are. But please, fuck off." Sura interjected. She protectively put a hand in front of me.
"Aw look. She does care." I heard Griffin whisper.
"Shut up!" She whispered back. "Look, just leave us alone. You really don't know who you're messing with." She looked back at the teens as she said that.
"Aw, come on. A babe like you shouldn't be saying that. Come here!" The first teen quickly snatched Sura, holding both her wrist as he eyed her. "Why don't you come with us?"
Griffin immediately moved forward, but with the two other teens moving beside the first teen. He reluctantly stood his ground. "Hands off her!"
"Or what? Water boy, you're only good at water spells. All three of us? At least we can do other shit."
Sura frantically tried to escape the boy's grip. Writhing away from him, but to no avail. "Unhand me! Let me go!" Passerby watched as she did. No one helped.
The boy holding her tan his hand through her hair, a grin creeping through his face. "Come on, leave these two and come with us! We'll show you a fun time!"
I watched as she struggled, but I felt a creeping feeling…something I recognized. I've heard someone say that before.
That girl from my past life. I'm remembering it now, when my Friends took advantage of her. I clenched my fist tightly as I suddenly felt like I was in the same scenario again.
"Kota?" I heard Griffin say. But I didn't bother.
I felt anger take over me, as I gently laid my hand to the ground. I had a good idea of what to do right now. The boy holding sura looked at me in confusion.
"What the fuck are you doing? Kneeling to me? Hah! Dumb fu-uuagah!" His sentence was cut short by an erupting pillar of earth that hit his groin. I've silently casted a earth spell.
His grip loosened and Sura quickly back stepped away, right into Griffin's hands. He patted her shoulder as reassurance, looking quite amazed.
The two other teens rushed to the first boy, making sure he was fine. The boy was clutching his groin in pain.
"No one does that ever again…" I mumbled to myself. I still felt an unbridled anger at that event of my past life. Not that I couldn't forget it, it did end up bringing me here. But it was in full force now. And I wanted to vent it out. And these teens gave me a perfect reason to beat the shit out of them.