Chapter Five: Translocation
Zenith moved along the stalls, waiting and pausing in front of any stall that sold more snacks than the last. The school was almost empty with the students heading home.
He stopped in front of a stall and pointed at a panda shaped bread, and showed three fingers. The blushing store owner rushed to the shelf and took it down, she packaged it and added a fruit based version of the bread in the package as a gift.
Zenith didn't notice this as his eyes had turned to Sir Bennett who had been keeping a distance from him. "I was sure I didn't say anything." He muttered to himself. Sure, he had glared at the teacher for leaving him alone and he got bored and hungry but that's a normal reaction, right?
He had gone through three months extensive training and behavioral sessions to be allowed by his agency to join a school. His manager had specifically said that not everyone could handle how blunt he spoke, so he tried not to say everything he thought.
Of course, he didn't plan to do that forever but until his new manager, Sir Bennett, felt comfortable with him. Yet that seemed to be taking forever for the teacher to warm up to him.
Wasn't he always the one who won the 'Top Mage You'd Like To Meet A Once In Your Lifetime'? And four years in a row. Didn't it matter to non-mages?
The stall owner dropped the snack on the counter and Zenith reached for it and walked away without turning to her. The stall owner paused, watching him leave without paying, but decided to brush it off and bask in the thought that the young Mage would eat her snacks.
Zenith paused, looking at the snacks in his hand and noticing the stall owner still staring at him. In the world outside his agency, 'give and take' was the rule.
At his agency, the whole building belonged to him. He could go to any cafeteria and restaurant and have a meal without bothering with the concept of payment or change. In fact, he feared that concept.
His eyes glowed and moved around. He was currently viewing his office, searching for the wallet filled with the country, Gaden's currency, gaads that his manager had given him. He found it buried in his bag.
"Translocation." He kept the snacks on his palm and they slowly evaporated to nothing. Then, a thick black wallet materialized in place of the snacks. The spell swapped objects of equal size and while it used relatively low essence, it was tiring to use Ultra Vision to find the object to be swapped with.
He sighed. All was in a bid to fit this world as much as he could, he couldn't take free snacks from the stall or she'd go bankrupt from how often he'd visit. He returned to the stall and opened the wallet. He looked the stall owner in the eye. "Take the snacks' worth."
The stall owner stared at his determined eyes and questioned why. She looked at the wallet filled with currencies, could it be he was determined to pay as respect to her hardwork?
She felt touched and took a note from the wallet. She went to another table to make change because the note she took was worth thrice the worth of the bread. It was the highest gaad note but that's all he had in there in bundles.
"Thank you—" she returned and searched for the Mage but he was gone. She looked at the change in her hand. Did he let her keep it? She touched her chest. The young Mage was so different from what the news said. "Such kindness."
The very last bell for the school day rang. Sir Bennett stayed at least four feet from the young Mage, who looked into the wallet, trying to refresh his memory on the concept of currencies.
"I hope I didn't underpay that stall owner though." He tucked the wallet into his pocket. "She just took one."
He walked back into the school and ignored the excited and thirsty stares from the students, the snacks he bought remained on his mind.
A blond teacher walked out from the teachers' office with a pile of books. He frowned when he saw the young Mage. "Zenith?"
Zenith, along with all the students walking towards the exit, turned to the teacher. The students couldn't believe a common teacher would call the young Mage by his name, even if the teacher was a non-mage.
Zenith only had an issue with the tone used. He noticed the teacher had books and assumed it must be Class 11-B books. Finally, he'd be doing a teacher's work.
"Translocation." He didn't need to use Ultra Vision to find what to be swapped since the teacher stood before him. The teacher slowly evaporated and panicked screams filled the hallway.
The teacher's frown turned to bewilderment when he found himself fading, then reappearing were the young Mage had stood.
Zenith held the pile of books, and looked curiously. "Class 11-B notes, right? That teacher is quite nice to have arranged it for me." He said inaudibly to himself, as he marched towards his office.
The students stared wide-eyed and the blond teacher had a tear at the corner of his eyes, he really thought he'd be sent to oblivion.
The sudden cheers from the students made him scream and the students surrounded him, some laughing while some touching his body that disappeared in front of them.
"I thought he used his famous Word's Will to turn you to dust!" A girl laughed, while pinching the teacher's skin. "You looked like you'd shit your pants, sir!"
Another student fawned. "Sir Zenith is so cool! Imagine walking away after giving Sir Duke a major heart attack!"
"I wish he actually made him disappear."
"Yes, Sir Duke has a big mouth for a non-mage."
The poor teacher silently sobbed, feeling bullied. He sprinted out of their midst with a cry and locked himself in the teachers' office. All the students laughed and kept on speaking about the incident aa they walked to the exit.
Nephis and Layla stood few meters away from where the incident had happened and while Nephis had a stunned expression, Layla looked like she peed herself. Her breaths came in heavily. Didn't that Mage almost kill Sir Duke? She had literally felt his bloodlust.
Nephis patted her friend's back. She had gotten a download of how powerful an S-Classed Mage was, by a fear-stricken Layla. Layla also explained that what happened hadn't really been the Mage egging her to kill herself but him being oddly supportive of it.
But instead of feeling thankful for not being grandly punished by the new teacher, Nephis felt insulted that he didn't try to defend himself against her attacks. Did she look that weak to him? She'd have to show him.
"Let's go, Layla. The gods will protect us." She pulled her hyperventilating friend towards the exit.