I reach Lector's field at the standard time again, for the second day in a row. Upon my arrival he gives me a strange look that, if I had to classify it, could only be described as … pity. As I have nothing to be pitied over, at least nothing new since this morning, I ignore his look, reasoning that it must actually be directed at something else. I look around, and, finding someone close behind me to be actively crying, I decide that that is the most likely answer.
[Man, I'm feeling strange today. Ever since Jorgenson didn't arrive for breakfast, everything has felt indescribably off, like something is wrong and only I don't know it. Of course, given the… particular selection of skills honed to interfere with my mind, perhaps nothing is off at all and it's just my madness interfering with what should be a decent mood. Yeah, that's probably the case.]
Today's lesson doesn't cover anything new… for me at least. Sir Lector has finally turned his attention to straight magic, leaving those of us who are incapable of such with a large box of endurance potions, which are probably worth a fortune, and an order to practice.
Despite not learning anything new in class today, I still opt to make the most of my time, devoting the whole class period to practicing the dual casting of two different elements that I had been working on last night.
Progress is obscenely slow, and I can't help but be frustrated at my inability to grasp such a seemingly simple concept. However, unlike last night, I do actually find myself making progress, although certainly still minimal. By the end of the class, I have, with the aid of nearly thirty endurance potions, become able to maintain two different elements simultaneously for five seconds at a time.
Any longer than that, my attention begins to slip away and one of the elements leaves my control shortly thereafter. Still, I am hopeful that, given enough practice, I will be able to master this very useful ability.
My gains come in more than just capability in this one tricky elemental manipulation activity, however. My skills have also increased! Moderate Elemental Manipulation rose a level, reaching level 8, and, arguably more importantly, my Magic Sensory Skill has reached 'moderate' in quality. Of course, magic sensory's leveling speed has nothing to do with today's practice, but it is still quite exciting: I will now be able to influence more complex elements, such as ice, lightning, and metal! I am actually rather eager to work with these new elements, to see what I can accomplish with them, but I restrain myself.
My reason for this is rather simple: I want to save working with these new elements for after I master my current task of multicasting. Otherwise, I know that my attention will shift from that task to the far more, if I dare say, [fun], task of working with new elements for the first time.
When class ends, I wait around for my master as the rest of the class departs for the dining hall.
After exchanging pleasantries with him, I, with admittedly somewhat childish excitement, inform him of my progress on multicasting as well as the growth of my elemental sensory skill.
"Oh my, so fast!" he exclaims, obviously rather taken aback by my rate of growth in both of these areas.
After I ask him if he has any leads on my rate of growth, he only shakes his head and sighs, explaining to me that he has been extremely busy today and has not had the time.
As is standard, we part ways once inside the dining hall. I immediately look around for Jorgenson, and am admittedly not particularly surprised when he is nowhere to be found.
Sighing internally, I take a seat at an empty stretch of table and begin to read, absentmindedly eating as I do so. I am reading about the geography of the Arenese empire when an all-too-familiar wave of irrational terror cuts through me, promtiong me to stiffly close my book and turn my attention towards the standing General Lion.
"Beginning today's announcements, I would like to remind you all that we will be having our our large group training exercises the day after tomorrow. Just meet here for breakfast as you usually do, and what we will do this time will be explained then.
"Now, for our other announcement, a type of announcement that is becoming worryingly regular: punishment. I did not want to have to do this again so soon, but…"
He claps his hands together and, from the same door the caged prisoners were wheeled from yesterday, comes a guard holding a chain attached to something enshrouded in the darkness behind him. Then, pulled forward by the chain, stepping into view… is a somewhat injured Jorgenson.
I have to fight to keep seated. [No, no, no, no, no! What happened? This is where he's been all day? This is why Reinhart was unable to tell me of his location earlier? How could this be? He was fine just last night…]
My thoughts race around in my panic, as my unsettled and worried feeling that has plagued me all day is validated. My questions are shortly answered by General Lion, who continues "This individual, who, like the cowards yesterday, has been stripped of his rights as a soldier, was caught betraying this military last night. He attempted to free those prisoners whom you witnessed being executed this morning. Under the cover of night, he betrayed the military, and, by extension, our nation. This has been determined beyond any doubt, by this man's confession, in fact, to be the case."
[I guess I can't be surprised, I should have expected this, talked over the sentencing with him, made sure he didn't do anything extreme! Instead, I only mentally berated his occasionally foolish sense of justice, not doing anything to prevent this easily foreseeable event. I could have prevented this!] My dismissal of his value to me earlier in the morning having been completely forgotten, I wait in unbearable tension for General Lion to continue.
"For, by his own admission, committing treason against our nation, this man, Jorgenson has been sentenced to the slow death of whipping, as is customary."
Though I obviously expected this when I heard that he betrayed our nation, hearing his sentencing being read aloud leaves me light headed to the extent where I am forced to lay my head down on the table in front of me.
[It can't be… no, of course it is. Of course this rotten world would sentence Jorgenson, the most just and righteous of its inhabitants to death. And not a quick, painless death, either. They will strip him naked before flogging the whole of his body, making their way inward from the ends of his limbs, leaving nothing but muscle shredded to the bone in their wake, with Jorgenson magically forced to maintain consciousness, and even to stay alive, so that he may experience the whole of the agony…] Jorgenson had already informed me on the horrifying details of death by whipping, a process so gruesome as to be unimaginable in my own world, where cruel punishment is customarily outlawed by most nations. To think that Jorgenson would experience such a horrible thing…
My feeling of horror slowly makes way to one of wrath. While General Lion prattles on about the importance of maintaining order in the military, my feeling of lightheadedness makes way to a ruthless pounding in my skull, alongside a red tinge to the corners of my vision. I imagine murdering every person who has led to this situation in a million different ways, each more painful and nightmarish than the last. Reinhart, for initiating this whole situation, Lion and his fellow co-conspirators in injustice, even Lector for siding with those who passed death down to those who merely wanted to live.
[Now is not the time,] I think to myself. If I were to act now, I doubt my ability to end the pitiful existence of even one of those criminals at the commanders' table. I would waste my second life in a way perhaps even more foolish than Jorgenson's failed attempt to save those prisoners.
I crush the wrath into a burning point of rage, imagining it gathering up as a little fireball in my heart, ready to be released when the time is right. The wrath actually causes me some physical pain where I place it, which is rather unsurprising. After all, I am the master of the wrath skill, which, as I learned from my master in a previous discussion, is a very rare and powerful skill. That this would give me some extra control over the wretched emotion would be, at the very least, unsurprising.
Though I had great struggle against much weaker bouts of rage in the past, I find it to be much easier to compress it and store it for later than to destroy it outright. And, in this case, I don't want to destroy it. The physical pain that it brings will serve as an ever present reminder of the one whom I could have saved if I had not been so dismissive of his feelings, my friend Jorgenson, my only friend, and one of only a few good people in this wretched world.
I turn my attention back to Lion, who has been condemning Jorgenson for a solid minute now. [I'll kill you. Just you wait. I'll kill you.]
My night is spent practicing in silence with Lector. Perhaps recognizing that I am not in a talkative mood, he leaves me to practice the same spell I had been working on. I know deep down that Lector argued in favor of execution, as most certainly did Reinhart. Though, being honest, it is unlikely that anyone argued against it; from an objective standpoint, what Jorgenson did cannot really be allowed to happen in the military.
Fueled by my new motive, to become stronger, to punish this awful world, I practice fervently. By the time the morning arrives, the time for Jorgenson's execution, I have reached a level of multicasting that allows me to complete Lector's task.
Perhaps sensing that I am not in a celebratory mood at the moment, Lector merely says "Well, done."
What he says next actually comes rather as a surprise, however. "I know that you were friends with the one sentenced to die this morning. Would you like to speak with him?"
I am too shocked to respond for a moment, both at the fact that he would offer such a thing and at the fact that he would even [think] to offer such a thing. He has always struck me as too self-centered to care much about others, at least outside of where caring about others benefits him, so that he would make such a thoughtful offer is quite a surprise.
I nod my head in agreement, and we exit his house to head towards a building that I have not yet had reason to visit: the dungeon. Nodding at the posted guard, he takes out a key with which he unlocks the front door. "He is the only prisoner currently in here, and the cell doors are made of bars. You should be able to talk with ease and privacy." I nod in response, heading down to share some final words with my friend.
The dungeon is very clearly an awful place. Cold, damp, dark, and smelling like mildew, it is exactly as one would expect from such a place. I walk down a long set of stairs, then down a hall lined with empty cells.
In the second to last cell on the right, I find my friend. Sleeping on his cell's stone floor, one arm chained to the wall, covered with small injuries, he is a rather pitiful sight.
"Jorgenson! Wake up!" I call out loudly to him. He bolts up into a sitting position, glancing around wildly in a manner that would be quite comical in any other circumstance.
"Oh, it is you, my friend. Wait! Did they arrest you too?" An expression of panic crosses his face as he looks all around me, searching for a guard in the dark dungeon.
"No, they have yet to make any moves against me."
"Have you come to save me?"
I am a bit taken aback by this question. I want to immediately deny it, but the fact that I could very well do it if Lector didn't get in the way crosses my mind. I then quickly remember my slave mark, and the fact that I could be put to death at that one commander's whim, and chase the thought out of my mind.
Eventually, I shake my head. "No, it would be impossible."
He sighs, "Yeah, you're right, there's no way that we could escape. I wouldn't want you to die too, which is all that would come of you trying to save me."
"I wish that you had thought of that, before throwing your own life away." I know I am projecting a bit of my own blame onto this, and I regret saying it as soon as it comes out of my mouth.
Jorgenson sighs, before replying "I couldn't live with myself if I let them die from something so unjust. Though I knew the odds were slim, I just had to try something. Do you understand?"
He looks at me pleadingly, whether because he wants to justify his actions to himself or to me, I am unsure.
I can't help but laugh, before continuing "Who would have thought that that which made me first notice you, that which made me realize how [good] you are when compared to this awful world, would be the cause of your demise, of our separation after only a few days of knowing each other."
He mumbles something, which I don't make out. "What was that?" I ask him.
"I really wish that you wouldn't call me 'good' like that. I am not so good as you make me out to be."
I can't help but laugh again. "Nobody's perfect. However, 'good' is, in this case, a relative term. And by the standards of this world, low as they may be, you are far more than merely 'good.'"
"I have to disagree. I am not good; I am merely able to dream of what is good. Every time in my life that I have gotten an opportunity to do good, [every single time], I failed to seize it. I talk of good things, and hypocritically condemn those who fail to do them, but in practice, I am like them. This time, I hoped that if I could free just some of them… even just one… well, my only regret is that I failed to save them. And now, I must be punished for my sins. To espouse my idealistic sense of justice without doing anything to bring it into fruition, it is rather amusing that I would die by the understanding of justice that I failed to replace."
Sensing that I will not be able to convince him, I just shake my head.
"Well, surely you didn't come down here just to criticize me," he prompts.
"Actually, I wanted to thank you for the information that you gave me. Can you keep a secret?"
"To the grave," he says, a smile lighting his face.
"I'll hold you to it. I come from another world."
I expect him to immediately protest, to call me absurd, but instead he nods, saying "well that explains some things."
"Oh? What things, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Your lack of a name, your endless questions, the way that you seem to emphasize 'this world' whenever you speak… not to mention your drastic rise in power, which is reportedly very common in otherworlders. Actually, I would be surprised if your master hasn't found out already. The signs are all there, and if he is paying attention he has most certainly noticed."
"Well, in that case, I better be careful around him. Still, without your information my understanding of this world would not be nearly so extensive, so for that I thank you."
"I'm glad to be of help. Though, if you don't mind me asking, what is your world like?"
"Well… perhaps the greatest differences are in that my world had no magic and the only intelligent species was humanity."
"Really?" he says, sounding rather astonished. "A world without magic… I wonder how that would be…"
I am not done with my explanation, continuing "It was, if you don't mind me saying so, a much better world than this one. Slavery had grown well out of fashion in the last couple centuries, and was no longer legal in any developed country. People got to vote for their leaders in most nations, and many rights were guaranteed. Technology had grown extremely advanced as well, to the point where the world was vastly different compared to this one."
"I wonder what that would be like, a world in which the rulers are held accountable to their citizens…"
"Well, the world was still far from perfect. But yes, it was also far better than this one."
"It makes me quite happy to hear that there is somewhere good out there, even if it is not here."
Our conversation is then interrupted by Lector, who I can hear coming down the hallway.
"My master approaches, it is about time I left. Thank you once again for your aid, and I wish you strength during your execution."
"Thank you. And, if I may make one last request… please don't watch. It will be much harder for me knowing that there is another suffering alongside me, so please don't come."
"If it makes you happy, I will not be there. Now, goodbye my first and only friend in this world. Rest well."
"Yes, goodbye. Perhaps we will meet again someday in another existence, eh?"
I laugh at that and start down the hallway, meeting Lector at the middle and wordlessly going with him back towards the entrance.