◇Houghtow City—Flio's House◇
Flio was sitting at the desk in his room, crafting items out of dragon
scales. He cast a spell on his fingertips that let him cut and bend the hard
material, gradually shaping it into a shield. When he finished, he let out a
soft breath and held the shield up with both hands, turning it up and down
and left and right to confirm that everything was in order.
"Yeah," he said. "This one came out all right." Satisfied, he smiled.
There was a knock on the door and Rys stepped inside. "My love," she
said as she walked up to Flio. "Perhaps it's time for a break?" She was
carrying cups of black tea on a serving tray.
"Thank you," said Flio. "You chose the perfect time." He put the shield
down on his desk and stretched his arms above his head. Rys placed a cup
of tea in an empty spot on Flio's desk and sat down herself in a chair next to
her husband.
As Flio began to drink, Rys's gaze fell on the shield and her eyes went
wide. "I never stop being impressed by you," she said. "I have never seen
such a splendid dragonscale shield in all my life!"
"Did you use dragonscale shields in the Dark Army?" asked Flio.
"We had a legion of dragons, you know," she said. "We used old scales
the dragons shed to make equipment. But I never saw anything like this."
Her eyes were shining as she continued to gaze at the shield.
"Your flattery always makes me happy, Rys."
"It isn't flattery!" she protested. "I'm simply stating facts. Were you a
craftsman in the world you came from too?"
"Hm..." Flio trailed off. "I've fixed carts and fences and shelves, but I
couldn't use magic back then. There was no way I could ever have made
something like this."
"I find that hard to imagine. I almost can't believe there was ever a time
when my lord husband couldn't use magic."
Flio laughed. "It's true, though! And I still have trouble controlling my
power." Flio returned his empty cup to the tray. "Right," he said. "Work's
done for the day. Shall we head into town?"
Rys's face burst into a smile at those words. "I would love to!" As she
stood up, though, she noticed that Flio had left the shield lying on the desk.
"Are you not going to sell that shield, my lord?"
"I'm gonna hold off on that for a bit. I'm planning something, so I won't
be selling any of the items I make for some time."
"You are?" Rys curiously followed Flio out of the room.
◇Meanwhile, in Byleri's Room◇
Hiya materialized in Byleri's room on the second floor of the house.
They snatched up a book from under the bed and looked at it with great
interest. "Fascinating..." they said.
And then the door opened, and Byleri came into the room. She was
wiping the sweat from her brow—it looked like she had just finished
working in the pasture. "Ahh," she sighed. "I'm like, wiped... Huh?!" With
a start, she noticed Hiya and the book they had in their hand. She went beet
red and then charged straight at the intruding genie.
"Oh, Madam Byleri. I apologize for not asking before I looked. I
happened to notice a very interesting book hidden underneath your bed, and
thought I would—"
"Well, like, you can't! Stop! It's a secret, y'know?!" Without letting
Hiya finish, she went to snatch the book from their hand.
She tried, anyway.
"No," said Hiya. "I find this book quite fascinating. Look, the way the
bodies are arranged in this picture... I would have never thought of that."
"Ah?! No, give it back!" Byleri whined. She was certain she had
grabbed the book away from Hiya, but somehow it was back in their hands.
Upset, she once again reached out to grab at it only for Hiya to use
Teleportation and vanish from her sight.
"Wha—?! Whahah?!" Her target gone, Byleri overextended herself and
fell on the floor.
Hiya once again appeared next to her, still poring through the book.
"This would be of tremendous use for training in my mindscape. I
understand this is a sudden request, but may I borrow this?"
"You can't! No way! Like, give it back!" Byleri scrambled to her feet,
her face still red as she made another grab at the book. This time, Hiya
teleported away entirely, along with Byleri's precious book: Affairs of the
Night: An Introduction Featuring Forty-Eight Illustrated Positions!
Byleri was of an age where she was becoming perhaps a little too
interested in such things.
◇The Garden◇
Blossom was hard at work weeding in the garden as always. "All that's
left is the cyarrots, Sybe!" she said, turning to the unicorn rabbit by her
side. "Just a bit more!" Sybe snuffled happily at her words and kept on
weeding alongside her.
Sybe was standing on its two hind legs, skillfully pulling up weeds with
both forelegs and storing them in the crook between its foreleg and body.
Blossom grinned at the sight of Sybe at work. "But jeez! This garden's
gotten pretty big, hasn't it? It's getting to be a bit more than you and I can
handle, Sybe." Blossom stood up and let out a tired breath, wiping at her
brow.
Two goblins were spying on the pair from the forest. "Well? What say
you?" said one to the other.
"Hmm..." the other goblin responded. "I don't think the barrier extends
this far... And it's just a woman and a rabbit..."
"Hm. Indeed. Shall we, then?"
"You read my mind." The two goblins nodded, and, wielding their clubs,
ran out of the forest.
"You! Woman! Give us your food if you value your life!"
"Shoo, rabbit! Give us the food!"
Blossom startled as the goblins came tearing loudly from the forest.
"Wha... Goblins?!" She picked up the hoe she had set to the side.
"Gwah ha ha! Fool! Is that a hoe? You cannot defeat the great
Hokh'hokton with the likes of—"
"Shut it!" Blossom brought her hoe down on the goblin's grinning head,
driving its entire face into the ground with the force of the swing.
"That hoe..." he moaned. "What is it made of...?"
"Oh, this?" said Blossom, grinning. "Lord Flio made it special. It's
dragonscale."
"No... No fair... Ghk!" Hokh'hokton choked out the words and then
collapsed, lifeless and limp.
"She got Hokh'hokton!" the other shrieked. "No, wait... If I can take
care of the rabbit, then—" His eyes opened wide. The rabbit that had been
bearing down on him was gone. In its place was a psychobear twice the
goblin's size. Sybe had returned to its original form. "A-Ah?"
"Gwoar!" roared Sybe as it swung its right arm at the intruder. One
attack was enough to knock the second goblin flat on its face.
◇◇◇
Blossom and Sybe, still in its psychobear form, stood in front of the two
goblins. They had tied them up tight. "So you're Maunty, and you're
Hokh'hokton?"
"Yes, you have it right..."
"Uh huh..." Resigned to their fate, the two goblins nodded along grimly.
Blossom sighed. "And y'all came here to steal our vegetables? Are you
with the Dark Army?"
"Oh, no," said Hokh'hokton. "The two of us are mere deserters."
"Yeah?" asked Blossom. "You are?"
The goblins began to tell their story. They had once served in the Dark
Army under the command of two ogre brothers. However, when the ogres
sent them to attack a human village, they were beaten within an inch of
their life and captured by a man in a blue wolf mask followed by a silver
lupine demon.
Hokh'hokton and Maunty had fully expected to die then and there, but
the man let them go under the condition that they were "never to attack
humans again."
"Me and Hokh'hokton, we felt so grateful to be alive, we quit the army
on the spot."
"Alas, with but the two of us, we could not hunt well enough to keep us
full. Perhaps you are aware, but most magic beasts are far, far stronger than
goblins."
"So," said Blossom. "You were so hungry you couldn't stand it, and
when you saw me working the garden, you made up your mind to come
pilfering?"
"Yes..." said Maunty. "Pretty much."
"As much as it shames us to break our oath of not attacking humans..."
added Hokh'hokton. The goblins hung their heads in unison. Blossom
crossed her arms and looked the two over.
"All right," she said. "I have a proposition. You two know much about
farm work?"
"What?" Both goblins looked shocked at the words. But Blossom just
smiled.
"This isn't a commercial enterprise, you understand?" said Blossom.
"We don't sell these for a profit, so I can't give you a salary or nothin'. But
I will give you food. Sound good?"
"I... I have no words!" said Hokh'hokton. "Thank you!"
"You're really gonna take us on after we attacked you?" asked Maunty.
"Hey," said Blossom. "From what you told me you don't sound like bad
guys!"
The two goblins exchanged a look, grinning jubilantly. "We... We'll
never forget this!"
"We shall work until our bones are dust!"
The two goblins bowed deeply. Blossom just grinned and patted the two
of them firmly on the shoulders.
◇Houghtow College of Magic—Evening◇
Belano sat at her desk in the faculty office of the Houghtow College of
Magic. She was looking all around her, clearly agitated by something. Why?
she thought as cold sweat started to bead on her forehead. How did this
happen...?
Back when she had served Klyrode Castle as part of Balirossa's knightly
company, she had excelled in defensive magic but had been completely
unable to use any attack spells. When she came to live at Flio's house she
began to study magic under Flio and Rys, but both were too far above her to
be of much help.
Eventually Belano resolved to study magic again, starting with the very
basics, and when she heard from the local Adventurers' Association that the
Houghtow College of Magic was accepting members of the general public,
she enrolled in a heartbeat.
But, when her incredible skill at defensive magic became known, she
ended up being scouted as a teacher. Today was her first day on the job.
"At least they're still going to let me take offensive magic classes..." she
muttered to herself. She was doing her level best to stay calm. "And they're
waiving my tuition...and they're paying me..."
"Good job making it through your first day, Professor Belano." A voice
came from behind her. She turned to see the smiling face of Oryou, the
offensive magic teacher. She was dressed as always in her unique fashion: a
kimono from the Far East.
"Th-Thank you..." she said. She looked like she was barely holding back
her urge to bolt out of the room, but she somehow managed to return
Oryou's smile.
"It's okay to be nervous," said Oryou. "You've never been on the other
side of the classroom, have you?"
Another professor walked up to them—Metálzobi, the Projection Art
teacher. Projection was a form of magic used to create illusory images.
Some, like Metálzobi and his students, used it as a form of visual art.
"You know," he said, "I was in your position once too. I enrolled in
college to study magic and ended up getting scouted as a teacher. I guess I
feel a little bit of a kinship with you. I'd like to get to know you better at
some point." He smiled and patted Belano on the shoulder.
Belano thanked the two many, many times and bowed her head,
although she didn't look any less stressed. Then, her eyes fell on the pen
case on her desk. That pen case was a present to her from Flio. He had
made it himself to commemorate Belano's new position. Lord Flio is
cheering for me too... she thought, balling up her hands into tight fists. I can
do this...
◇◇◇
A chime sounded, and Belano headed for her first class of the day. She
entered through the back door like she always did and chose a seat all the
way in the back, as was her habit. But this time, some of the students began
to take notice.
"Hey," someone whispered. "Isn't she the professor?"
"She is..." their friend replied. "But she's been sitting in that corner
taking notes for a while now..."
Belano's face turned red when she heard them whispering and stood up.
She had entered the classroom from the students' side and sat down like she
had done every day at the college until just yesterday. Realizing her
mistake, she ran up to the teacher's podium, quite flustered.
I can do this, she repeated to herself. I... I can do this... She was so
embarrassed she felt she might die. She was bright red with her head hung
low, the pen case Flio had given her clenched tightly in her hand.