"You knew about this?" Baz turns to Kit with an accusatory gaze. "And you didn't tell me? Did it not occur to you that I should know about this?"
Kit tries to defend himself, "The Director told me to keep quiet about it–"
"But why couldn't I know about it?" Baz sulks, "It wasn't like this information was secret to me."
"Well, you never asked either," Kit shoots back.
"Because I thought that was all there was to it!"
"Did you not stop to think about who might have summoned that creature?"
"Not really! I mean, vaguely, but it definitely wasn't my number one priority! Especially because I didn't think it was anything as serious as a demon!"
"Maybe you should have," Kit is starting to grow annoyed, "You should have given it more thought, instead of–"
"That's irrelevant now," Kat cuts in. "It's no matter when you find out about it. What matters is we deal with the situation accordingly, which is what I wanted to talk to you about. What we will need is a carefully planned set of guidelines to follow. Luckily for us, the Bureau already has a plan should a situation like this arise."
Baz taps his finger on the table. "Which is?"
"Well, first we must keep a constant state of vigilance. Anything, for as small as it may seem, needs to be reported. Either to me or the Director, someone with a direct connection to headquarters must be informed. Also, from now on, all and every single job must pass through me first. That way, if anything seems suspicious about it, we can prepare ahead of time."
"What would qualify as suspicious?" Baz asks.
"Anything that could be seen out of the ordinary. Even something as irrelevant as an unexpected change of climate or an area where an uncommon amount of pests spring up. Because we think we're dealing with a demon, evil energy will be attracted to them, and we might be able to notice those patterns."
It is suddenly all starting to feel very real to Kit. Before, while he was healing from his injury, he had unconsciously pushed the matter to the back of his mind. But now that the topic had been brought up again, he could feel small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "If, and I must lay emphasis on it, if the demon were to be found before they cause another major incident, what are the steps then?" Finding a demon or angel, unless they chose to reveal themselves, was extremely difficult. They had two forms: their natural form, and their "human" form, where they could make themselves pass off as a normal person, so they were able to hide themselves in plain sight. Most times, when they would choose to reveal their true nature, it would already be too late.
"Extermination." Kat doesn't even blink.
"What?!" Baz slams his hand on the table, "You can't be serious! How can you talk about killing a demon just like that?! Finding it is hard enough. Even just apprehending it… It's too risky!"
In all of human history, there wasn't a single recorded case of a friendly interaction between species. In fact, every time an angel or demon appeared in the human world it was with the purpose of killing humans. 'Divine Justice' they called it; to judge humanity for its sins. They would leave as mysteriously as they would come, never to be seen again. Most celestial and demonic creatures were exterminated and sealed, with varying degrees of difficulty depending on the creature's power level, but never had a true demon or angel been even restrained. Killing one? Completely unheard of. It was ridiculous even entertaining the mere idea.
Kit has to agree with Baz. "Why would the Bureau even order that? Are they out of their mind?!"
"Don't ask me why," Kat pushes up her glasses, "I was simply given the order. But believe me," she says sullenly, "I had pretty much the same reaction as you did when I was told."
"That's it?" Kit asks when he sees Kat has no intention to continue talking. "They didn't give you more instructions? No elaboration on how to carry out the extermination?"
Kat shakes her head firmly. "Nothing at all."
Baz runs a hand across his face. "We're fucked." He starts laughing, a low sound at first, but it increasingly gets louder. "What the hell, we're so fucked," he throws his head back, covering his eyes with his hands, shoulders shaking with laughter. "The higher-ups have simply abandoned us to our fate."
~~~
Kit has been distracted ever since the conversation in the common room. He only vaguely registers Dee excitedly shows him she is able to make the eraser levitate a few inches now.
"Ah, that's very nice," he pats her head distractedly. "Keep practising until you have full control over it."
Dee blows a raspberry, but she goes back to practising. After a few hours though, they have grown bored. "Ugh," they let their head drop to the desk with a loud bang. "When do I get to do other stuff?"
"What?" Kit doesn't hear them the first time around.
"I said," Dee picks up her head to look directly at him, "when do I get to do other stuff. I'm tired of this stupid eraser."
"Oh. Right." He looks around his working space. "Here," he sets a stapler in front of her, "try with this."
Dee groans. "The same thing all over again?"
"Pretty much. But since this object is larger the amount of energy it will require will be greater." Learning to use magical energy was similar to muscle training. You had to start out small and go up by increments, but instead of acquiring muscle, you would develop "pathways" through which the magical energy could flow easily, and channelling it would become almost second nature. If it was practised with enough frequency, one would be completely comfortable using large amounts of energy, which was required to advance to more complex spells and techniques.
"I'm tired," Dee declares after just one try. "Why can't we just continue tomorrow?"
Kit sighs. "If you get tired from just that, then you'll never get to the actually 'cool' stuff," he baits her.
Dee huffs. "Fine." She focuses back on the stapler, resting her chin on the edge of the desk so it is right in front of her face. It was a bit endearing, Kit had to admit. But after a few minutes, she grows bored again. "Hey, Kit."
"Hm?" (He makes a mental note to try and get her to call him Master Kit.)
"Can I ask you something about the new lady?"
"Kat?"
"Who?" Dee scratches her head.
"That's her name."
"I guess?"
"No, no. I'm telling you."
"Oh. Anyways." Dee clears her throat, a bit ashamed. "Why does she talk funny?"
"Funny?"
"You know, like…. weird," Dee's face scrunches up; she must be thinking really hard about how to describe it. "Like she'll say words differently and just… I don't know, it's like she's talking with more force. Her t's are very strong. Almost like clicking her tongue."
"Oh…That…" her meaning finally gets through to him. "It's just the northern accent." Honestly, his brain had stopped registering it, to the point he'd even forgotten Kat had the accent. The first time he'd met her it had been painfully evident to him, but as time passed by, it had faded to the back of his mind. Now, her accent wasn't that noticeable to him, but he supposed to a person hearing it for the first time, it would be as clear as it had been to him back then.
"What's that?" Dee asks.
"Well, you know…" he doesn't know how to explain it. "People from the northern region just talk like that."
"Ah?! So she's from the north?" Dee seems surprised by this.
There were four regions in the country. The coastal region, which was all the land directly east and south of the Blue Mountains. Even though the other regions also had coastline, it was called the coastal region since most, if not all, the fishing was done in this area and the whole region's economy relied on its proximity to the sea. For example, the seal town of Citrine was located here. Additionally, no part of this region was more than a thirty minute drive away from the beach.
Then there was the central region, the largest one and it encompassed all the major trading ports and farmlands; Juniper was also considered part of the central region. Most food came from this region, since all the major livestock farms and crops were here. Even if there was a lot of commerce in the area, the population density was pretty low. The only major towns and cities were near the coastline, with the rest being sparse across the rest of the land.
The capital region, which was the area all around the capital, and thus the region with the highest population density. It had a narrower coastline, aside from the fact that most of it was private land, thus accessing the beach from this region was impossible unless you were the owner of a house by the sea, something only the most insanely wealthy people were capable of. The only reason why it was separate from the central region was because of the former royal palace having been located here. Most historical buildings were in this region, and it was also where all main governmental offices were located, the Bureau of Magical Affairs' being one of many. Advances in all fields of research were synonymous with the capital, since it was where all the best professionals made their home, not to mention all the most important research facilities were in the region.
An example of this was the Royal Academy of Magic. Even though it wasn't the only school for magical learning; there was one in the coastal region and another in the central region with different names, it was by far the most prestigious of the three. The acceptance rate was below five percent, while the other two were around 30-40 percent. What made it such was not only its position in the capital or the tuition fees, but the difficulty of its entrance exam, for which the Academy was notorious. But if one managed to pass the entrance exam, as long as they were able to keep up with their classes and maintain an acceptable average score, the tuition was basically free. What was costly was investing in the magical education before they wished to enrol. There were some schools that even had exclusive programs developed specifically for preparing students to pass the Academy's entrance exam, but these were the ones that were expensive as hell. (Once again, children from the four main magician bloodlines were at an advantage; they would be taught by their families' private tutors, all of which were renowned magicians.) But to graduate from the Royal Academy of Magic was basically an insurance to success in the real world. This was the same principle for most jobs, schools, or other institutions in the capital region. If you could build a life for yourself in this region, you were basically set for life. This, in summary, was why there was a distinction between the capital and the central region.
Last, there was the northern region, bordering the neighbouring country. It was the only region with no direct access to the sea, but instead had a river that began in the Forest of Mist and ended at sea (the river mouth was located in the capital region). This river served as the natural division between the capital and northern regions, and it was also what kept the north semi-isolated from the rest of the country. It was said that the ancestors of the northern people were different from those from the rest of the country, which is why all magicians from the Masterful Rainbow clan hailed from the north. Even if now they were scattered across the country, their roots could always be traced back to the northern region. Most of the region was surrounded by woodland, with the Forest of Mist to the west and the Maple Woods to the north. Because it was so far away from the central region, farm meat was usually pretty expensive since it had to travel such a long distance, and thus, if one were to travel to the north, they would find most dishes consisted of game meat and plants that could be found in the woods, mainly roots and mushrooms.
"Is it really that hard to believe?" Kit questions Dee. In his opinion, Kat looked almost every bit like your average northerner with the deep black hair, the clear blue eyes and the snow-white skin. She even had the Masterful Rainbow technique.
(When Kit had found out Kat and her brother were tied to the main house of the clan, he had almost been shocked to death.
"S-so is Heath the heir?" he had stuttered.
"Oh, god, no," Kat made a face, waving her hand. "That's our older cousin. My grandfather had two sons, and our father was the youngest, so we're just a branch family."
That had taken away some of the shock, but it was still shocking, nonetheless.)
"No, no, it's just I've never met anyone from that region before." Their eyes have a shine to them, "Is it true people in the north keep bears as pets?"
"...I'm pretty sure that's just a rumour."
Dee's expression falls.
"But why don't you ask Kat?"
"Really?!"
Just as they're about to go in search of Kat, the door to the office bursts open. Aster stands there, xeir clothes looking dirty and xeir hair in disarray.
"We have a problem." Aster gets straight to the point. "And big."