07 - Finding Noah

Mythology was typically a reflection of the human psyche.

As a member of the Department of Lore, it was a prerequisite to be familiar with those ancient tales.

Johan was an expert in this field, and using his mythological literacy as a qualification for this assessment, he could rightfully conclude that people were weird in ancient times.

Scratch that, people were quite weird throughout all of time.

In the Egyptian myths, there was a story that stood out amongst the rest.

The Evil God Set once tried to prove that Horus, Inheritor of Sun God Ra, was gay in order to illegitimatize his rule.

Set did this by grinding his private parts on a sleeping Horus and busting between his thighs, thus making Horus gay by having another man's semen on his body.

He succeeded.

However, Horus got understandably mad and wanted revenge.

So Horus dipped Set's favourite food, that being sliced lettuce, with his own seminal fluids.

After Set had unknowingly eaten the lettuce, Horus revealed what he had done.

Thus proving to everyone else present that it was actually Set who was significantly more gay since he had consumed another man's semen instead of just touching it.

That was a generational lost of social status, one that a man could never recover from.

...Even though Johan had never experienced anything as remotely as disgusting as that, he couldn't help but feel empathy for Set.

Empathy, not sympathy. Those two things are different because 'empathy' has to originate from a sense of shared experience.

Specifically, for Johan, it's due to the feeling of humiliation and social death.

"Hey~! Don't go so fast, you're giving me tummy aches..." Luvia complained straight to his ear as her body clung tightly to Johan's back.

When she wanted him to carry her, Johan had initially thought of a princess carry, but no, she impolitely refused such a thing.

Apparently, it was too 'scandalous' for a noble lady to be carried in such a manner by a man not from her family...

...If you actually did care about your reputation, then you wouldn't have asked for this in the first place! That was what he said at the time, but Luvia wouldn't budge.

Now she rode on Johan's back, arms wrapped around his neck, and legs supported by his arms—in essence, the Head of the Lawrence Family had been reduced to a mere steed.

He gazed down, trying to ignore the numerous weird and amused gazes from other Magi and instead, focused on not slipping on anything strange. This was necessary considering his recent curse of slipping on dubious stuff.

"...Is this some sort of humiliation ritual?" Johan complained loudly. "Do I look like a horse to you...?"

"Maybe." Luvia said with a smile that was somehow audible. "It feels somewhat gratifying to finally be above you..."

What kind of weird kink was this? Johan wanted to say, but stopped as he knew that opening that can of worms was a terrible idea.

Johan glanced up, trying to maintain a stoic and dignified expression as cold as the arctic winter. Yet it seemed pointless considering the snickering onlooker and their vicious mutterings.

He had gone all the way here to Slur Street where Norwich was located on foot whilst carrying the Edelfelt on his back, it was one of the most demeaning things Johan had done this year.

If one were to see this pair on their journey, it would quite hard to imagine that both of them came from prestigious upper-class backgrounds.

But, I guess, it's not all that bad... Johan conviced himself as he focused on the net positive side of this whole ordeal.

Primarily, of the two distinct and huge personalities that were currently pressing up against his back.

"What crude thoughts are in your head right now...?" Luvia suddenly interjected, her womanly instincts activating.

"I was thinking of visiting the Department of Zoology to get some Potion ingredients." Johan said plainly. "That's why I wanted to get Noah since he's the expert in this field."

Well, not quite an expert, but definitely more experienced than Johan.

"Potion ingredients? You don't strike me as the brewing type..." Luvia said with some distaste.

"I'm a generalist, it's better to dabble in everything." Johan responded with a shrug.

The Lawrence Family are adept practitioners of Elemental Magecraft, but that didn't mean he was restricted to only studying that field.

"Just be careful not to inhale the fumes too much, I don't want you getting crazier." The Edelfelt remarked with concern.

"Crazier? You mean, I'm already crazy?" Johan asked with a slightly offended tone.

"...You're in the Department of Lore." Luvia merely said.

"That doesn't mean—"

Suddenly, something pale and small slipped past Johan's feet as he almost tripped.

"—H-Hey!" Luvia practically yelped as she tried not to fall off from his back, her legs cradling around his body.

"Ugh... watch it!" Johan shouted as he glared at the thing that almost tripped him, but widened his eyes after doing so. "...Huh?"

It was a cat, a cat with glossy white fur.

The cat glanced back, perhaps due to the noise, and he could see that one of its eyes was grayed out, indicating that it was half-blind.

In its mouth was a writhing insect, the kind that Johan recognized to be a type of beetle, similar in appearance to a hercules beetle, but not quite the same species.

The beetle was then crushed inside the cat's jaws as it fled away into a dark corner of the street.

"Ah... what happened?" Luvia asked after readjusting her dress, she probably hadn't seen the cat just now.

"Nothing, just... an animal." Johan answered as he continued walking.

If it was really half-blind, then I guess I can't really blame that cat... Johan thought to himself, he had principles and such.

"An animal? Huh, I heard this cheap place had a pest infestation recently..." Luvia complained to him as if he would care about such a fact.

Looking around, Johan felt that the Department of Modern Magecraft definitely lived up to its reputation.

...Which wasn't a good one, to say the least.

It was the youngest of the Twelve Departments, predictably so considering its namesake.

Modern Magecraft Theory wasn't popular with the elite. It was a field of Magecraft that essentially summarized the Magecraft of past centuries into a shallower, more generalized, and 'easier-to-use' form that would better suit the modern zeitgeist.

It also incorporated a wide plethora of scientific theories, further alienating it from other fields of magical study.

Thus, the funding for this particular Department was never plentiful, and it showed.

Of course, it didn't look like a slum or anything like that, this was Clocktower territory, after all. But if you compared it to grounds of the other Departments, it looked rather... shoddy.

The architecture was a mixture between archaic buildings you'd see in the industrial revolution and more urbanized buildings that seemed to have been built more recently, all of them rather cheap-looking.

Despite the bad rep that Norwich got, the student body was comparatively quite big amongst the other Departments, this was due to all the New Age Magi flocking in.

...After all, this Department might be the only hope for them to make a name for themselves without the advantage of belonging to an ancient lineage like the Lawrence or Edelfelt.

Either that or venturing deep underground into the Spiritual Tomb of Albion, a near-suicidal endeavor.

"...Could you get off me now? We're here." Johan earnestly demanded.

"Hm...? So soon? But I'm so comfortable up here..." Luvia mumbled back, her hands clasping around his neck tightly, as if she wanted to merge into one being.

In response, Johan recklessly dropped her on the ground.

"—E-Eek!" Luvia plummeted onto the floor with an audible thud, her ass serving as the only cushions against the cold pavement. "...Johan!"

Luvia glared up with a pitiful expression for a few silent seconds before rising up from the ground and wiping off the dust from her dress.

"...How's your condition?" Johan asked as he gave the Edelfelt a second look. "Your body temperature felt normal again."

"Well, I don't feel so lethargic anymore." Luvia answered as she crossed her arms. "...And thank you for carrying me."

At least, you have the decency to be grateful. Johan thought to himself as he gave her a nod. "Now where's Noah?"

"How would I know...?" Luvia asked earnestly as her golden hair moved slightly from the wind. "I just saw him heading here, not what happened afterwards."

That's true...

Johan left his gaze to wander before it eventually landed on the nearest person beside them, who was calmly walking down the pavement whilst looking down, perhaps to avoid being noticed.

"Hey, you with the gray hood and gray hair!" He called out briskly as the Magus walked up to the suspicious person. "Have you seen a teenager wearing a wizard hat, thin build, curly black hair, slightly shorter than me, looks a bit like me, but isn't as handsome as me?"

"U-Uh..." The girl seem to shrink onto herself as she was barraged with his questions.

"Johan!" Luvia scolded as she tapped him on the shoulder. "You're scaring that little girl, slow down..."

The 'little girl' in question was not so much of a little girl and more a teenager, perhaps around 15 or 16 years of age.

She looked beautiful, but not Luvia's type of beautiful, more like the 'cute, must protect' type of beautiful... with a pair of green eyes, grayish hair, and a fair skin-tone.

Her clothing consisted of a hood that hid most of her facial features from most angles, a black-gray jacket underneath that, and a skirt of the same monochrome tone.

"Alright, alright." Johan dismisively said as he waved his hand. "Let's start again, have you seen my brother?"

"Mister..." The girl in grey muttered as she glanced at Luvia wide eyes, the kind that betrayed amazement. "Who is your brother?"

Her voice was small, and she appeared to be quaking with anxiety.

"Noah L. Lawrence." Johan answered almost immediately. "He looks just like how I described earlier, or do I need to do that again?"

"N-No, no, I... I'm sorry, mister. But I don't think I have seen him..." She answered with a shake of her head.

"I see." Johan nodded as he placed a hand on his chin. "Then be on your way, Welsh girl..."

The girl widened her eyes at Johan's statement. "...How did you know that? Can you read my mind?"

"Know what?" Johan was confused.

"T-That... I'm from Wales..."

"You have a Welsh accent, girl." Luvia answered for him with an amused snicker. "I wish he could read minds, it would have saved me a lot of trouble."

Johan gave the Edelfelt a look. What's that supposed to mean?

In response, Luvia merely smiled.

"Wait..." The girl in grey suddenly said. "Did you say he had a wizardly hat?"

"Yes, Noah likes to read those Harry Potter books, so he wears a hat in the likeness of... what's it called? I don't know, he wears a hat like that." Johan explained.

"...Is the inside of the hat a little blue?" She asked again, to which Johan widened his eyes.

"Yeah, that means you must have seen him." Johan concluded. "Where is he...?"

"Hm..." The girl in grey muttered something to herself before gathering up the courage to respond. "Yes... I... I think I know where he might have gone."

"Where did he go then?" Johan impatiently asked, tapping her foot onto the ground. "You're wasting our time..."

"I'm sorry!" She immediately apologized. "I can lead you to him! Um... if you two want that..."

Johan gazed at Luvia for a few seconds before glancing back at the girl in grey.

"Alright, but I'm not paying."

———

A/N: Please make more reviews and share this FF amongst your reader circles!

If we can reach 125 Power Stones at the end of the week, there will be a bonus 2k word chapter.