Chapter 3 : Hated_Fated_Encounter

The wooden-soled shoes clacked noisily on the hallway.

In normal cases, where most students would have come from Bellpot or other large cities, their shoes would have been fresh-smelling, nicely polished, comfortable leather shoes, a gift from their parents.

Katachi had no such luxury to get such expensive shoes, having grown up with Mother Rinnesfeld whom believed that Nature has much to offer those who worked hard. It was quite unthinkable from a child's perspective to get such shoddy soles to wear to a prestigious, sacred land such as the Sage Raufid Magus Academy.

Of course, physical vanity and the like weren't problems for neither Mother Rinnesfeld nor Katachi; They had used Mother Nature sparingly and expressed their gratitude whenever they did. It had become a commodity to silently thank Segus and Mother Nature for anything and everything. It appeared too good to be true in the eyes of others, but non-believers can only doubt their faith for as long as they have not experienced it themselves.

Regardless to say, everyone in the vicinity 20 meters away from where Katachi was heard the noisy wooden soles plopping and clacking, disturbing the lessons that were going on and the peace of the general area.

K : (That green man they call 'Principal' seems to be right... The people who are walking here all have their heads fixed to their front as they walk. Wandering around without the slightest clue to this place, without a destination is the solution to overriding this magic in the day... It doesn't stay the same at night, does it? Did they put some sort of rune to determine when the magic needs to switch in phase? If so, how do they set that? The bamboo books never mentioned how to set them up...)

Three girls excitedly chatting to each other noticed the wooden plopping getting louder and clearer, and stopped to stare outside their class, at a completely clueless Katachi.

"Who is he?"
"Ugh, he looks so filthy!"
"Is he a new student?"

"Why is he wearing those shoes?"

"Look at how worn-out his clothes are!"

Instantly, his distinctive differences were picked on.

Students who went to the Sage Raufid Magus Academy often came from rich and poor families alike, but with a single glance into the classroom, Katachi roughly understood the situation.

There was a rather large group of those rich children who were talking to each other in a prideful manner, flaunting their riches and such before the others. It was obvious because their uniforms were hemmed with gold and silver, their bags were of a high-quality shiny leather that reflected the sun's rays, similar to their shoes, and they stood with their chests puffed out and arms crossed, trying their best to impress the others in the group with their parents' wealth and influence. Among the 5 who stood, one was a female who even boasted about her chest.

There was another group who had normal uniforms, classic cloth knapsacks and were generally doing their own things - Reading the books they had, twiddling their thumbs, or discussing something about Fey lines which Katachi presumed was a subject or chapter they had to study on. These people who were grouped like so were obviously those of a lower status, or class, whom have probably ended up in that class by scoring roughly the same as those rich people. With that single image, one conclusion had been derived.

K : (It appears that the classes in this place are formed and based on magic compatibility instead of status, hierarchy and ranking, centralising the good and improving the quality of the magically adept by giving them reliable, relevant competitiveness amongst their classmates. It's still too soon to judge, though, so I'll just keep that as a possibility.)

Not minding the onlookers who were now focused on the clear, resonant noise outside the door, Katachi continued walking.

*** ***

Katachi walked into a huge, wonderful-looking garden without noticing.

The entire school and its structure was just absolutely bewitching, to the point where remembering every detail would need one to use those very halls repeatedly. Since turning around to look behind would set the 'destination' behind him, it would just continuously force his body to twist to his left repeatedly and pace back and forth a 2-tile wide area, forcibly making Katachi look like he's dancing to an awkward tune unheard by the other students.

It wasn't a good thing either since he was making even more noise with his already-distracting wooden shoes. Having experienced that once, it was safe to say that turning to look backwards was by no means a good idea under the influence of that magic.

K : (It seems as though that magic itself is flawed in its own way as well... Ugh. I feel like throwing up...)

Leaning against a tree to catch his breath, Katachi soon found himself in a garden, without any clue on how he got here.

It was a beautiful sight.

The pavilion to his left was covered in a lot of vines, showing the neglect it had suffered. Though it had creeper plants all over the pillars and roof, it was perfectly clean in the center, if someone would put effort into dusting. Perhaps the seat area had been enchanted or made with a certain life-rejecting material, the pavilion was full of nature and yet the center was devoid of life. To his right-

K : (... ? What is that?)

-was a strange wire, attached to a very small, well-camouflaged magic circle on one end and one of the pavilion's pillar on the other.

K : (Why is there a line here? I have never seen spiders form their webs like that. No, the line is too thick, that's most likely not from a spider. What is this doing here?)

Out of curiosity, he tapped on the wire, expecting the line to be stuck on his finger.

The instant he had touched the wire, however-

K : "Wha!?"

-it burned out into an ethereal realm with a purple tracer, leaving nothing behind. The magic circle connected to one end of it glowed a sinister red, and a few pieces of tiny bits of what seemed to be fingernails, dead bugs, a beak of a crow snapped off and the like, floated in mid-air.

All of the tiny pieces were rather pointed, and were all primed towards Katachi.

K : (Is this... a trap?!)

Within a second of them floating and stabilizing in midair, they all flew towards Katachi in a menacing, merciless omni-directional pincer attack.

In that swift instant, the only thing one could do was think. It was a trap made deliberately to assault an opponent without giving them the chance to react. One could not dodge, or cast a spell to surround themselves with Earth to shield themselves, or anything else for that matter.

But for the black-haired boy, thinking was more than enough.

K : (恒定! Constant status - Self!)

A coarse, dry whisper exhaled out the words out in the back of his head. Two words formed on Katachi's body faster than an instant.

One of the words, 定, was radiating with a golden glow. It was placed directly on his stomach region above the shirt, which would have made the cast word seem obvious. The other word, 恒, had a very faint, smoky, grey outline, resembling a word made from a cloud. It was formed the same time as the character 定 but it soon proved to be completely unstable, as it had already started dissipating the very moment it was formed.

The tiny shards flew towards his body, landing onto his skin.

The small dart objects had cleanly landed onto him, and roughly 19 clicks could be heard within that moment. However, "landing" on him seemed to be the only thing it did. The objects were fairly small, and did not seem to carry any power in itself. Even if Katachi had not used the Word of Power as a shield, he would have probably lived through the trap.

That was only true if these tiny shards did not possess any secrets; For example, had they been coated with poison, or some sort of burning magic, then using the Word of Power to protect himself was truly a right choice. It could have been worth gambling the fact that it did not have secrets, and he could have taken the attack head-on, but Katachi chose not to take the risk since there was no benefit to that at all.

K : (... Had I been late, I might have died. They may be small, but the speed they were flying at was not to be laughed at. That was a speed meant to maim, not as a harmless prank like those boys who used to dump buckets on me.)

Katachi brushed the small objects off of his body, but he's not out of danger yet.

K : (...! Oh no! Fade off, fade off, quickly!!)

The word faded off his torso in slightly more than half a second. Glancing around, Katachi tried his best to locate anyone who could have seen him. With only the cries of crickets and cicadas filling the area, Katachi heaved a sigh of relief.

The word faded off pretty quickly, but that was still dangerous - Had anybody seen that obvious, distinct Word of Power, he would have been busted on the very day he enrolled. That was something he would, with all of his power, avoid at any cost.

Thanking the Gods for his safety and luck, he continued walking through the garden.

*** ***

The "garden" was considered an important piece of history within the Sage Raufid Magus Academy.

It was a special place of many flora and fauna, isolated into a plane known as Cosmatral Neud. Its only active entrance and exit was the center of the academy itself. Sage Raufid wanted to preserve as much life as possible during the warring days, so he had invested a large amount of gold and magic to make Cosmatral Neud possible. Unfortunately, since it acted only on a natural plane, the Path-finding magic did not work in Cosmatral Neud. Therefore, the automatic lead-you-to-your-destination magic was absent in the garden. This also meant that the place was a frequent hiding spot for students.

Katachi's presence there could have a drastic effect on the living things there.

Of course, so long as he did not enter the place with the intent to destroy everything, he was always welcome into Cosmatral Neud. His Word of Power was not something any force of nature could handle, for it did not originate from nature, beliefs nor legends, unlike most forms of magic.

The green-suited man reached his left hand into his slimy hat, and scratched the center of his head. The slime wriggled excitedly as a familiar foreign object entered it and tickled it up from the inside.

Y : "Do you really think it's safe for him to be there, Bertund?"

Yorn spoke with a low baritone and an irritated face.

The principal took his hand out from his slime hat, and interlocked his fingers together.

B : "Oh, it's perfectly safe for him to be there, Yorn. He can storm through the entire garden and Bael's traps like a walk in the park. I'm actually more concerned about the animals there reacting unfavorably."

Bertund did not seem concerned in the least.

Y : "He had just enrolled today! Surely your expectations in this child are too high?!"

Hearing that, Bertund gave a low, sinister chuckle.

B : "You worry too much, Yorn. Are you really that foolish to think that all the magic in the world work on the same dimensions? Or have you forgotten how powerful the Words of Power really are, even individually?"

Yorn's face twisted into a deep frown, unhappy at the fact that he was called foolish. But, as a subordinate, he could only suck it up and tolerate the tactlessness the principal exuded.

B : "Well, you'll see in due time, Yorn. I'm excited to see how things will turn out."

Y : "What do you-..."

Yorn stopped, noticing what he meant.

B : "... Indeed. He is dangerously close to Bael's house. Let's see what will become of this, shall we?"