Reports

The sky was orange. Rewen drank a can of some drink in one gulp and threw it in the trash can. He was sitting in an empty hallway. He felt a little chilly due to the air conditioners. This momentary peace was enough for him to lean back on the bench and relax, maybe even take a nap but he resisted the impulse to do so. 

"Excuse me, is it okay if I sit here?"

A blonde young man with a fractured left hand appeared in front of him. 

"Sure, go ahead." 

"Thank you." Having a little difficulty walking, the blonde young man sat down on the other end of the bench. "You look pretty healthy. What are you doing at the 3rd Section? If you don't mind me asking."

Rewen didn't mind his question. "I have interference." 

"Oh. I hope you do well."

Rewen lightly nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you hurt yourself?

"I hurt myself in a combat duel. I won the duel though."

"Are you a Combatant?"

The blonde young man shook his head. "I'm a State Mage. I saw in a magazine that the Marquis of the Gragnor Province is hiring bodyguards for his grandniece and went there to try my luck. I did get the job but here I am. Hahaha."

Gragnor Province is one of the twelve provinces of the Eastern Dream Kingdom. Every province/state has a Marquis looking after the respective state's affairs. Nobility lower than Marquis like Earl, Viscount and Baron don't exist in the kingdom. There are two parts of the kingdom - Inner and Outer. The Capital of the kingdom is located at the heart of it and surrounding three provinces are considered as the inner part of the kingdom and directly take orders from the king. Gragnor Province is the neighbour of Nat Province, the state Rewen lives in. Both of them being Outer part of the kingdom.

"Are State Mages having unemployment issues?"

State Mages are Rank 3 Mages who didn't go into the administrative fields and are experts in combat ability. They are just a step lower than "Combatants".

"Difficult to say. It depends on tiers. For example, a Tier 3 State Mage can easily sweep his way to become a Personal Instructor of Quasi-Combatants but a Tier 1 like me had to break his arm to become a middle-ranked bodyguard."

"How are tiers made? Does it depend on the number of skills one has mastered? Or just MP?"

"Both."

"Does it not take combat strength into account? Wouldn't that be unfair to those who have expertise in martial arts?"

"There's a separate ranking system in martial arts. Since you don't know that, I presume you are still in high school or in first year?"

"First year."

"I see. Well, it's like there. There are grades given to martial arts experts - G to SSS. Just like Rank 0-9. The power difference between ranks and grades are more or less the same. Grade-G martial artists are in the same level as Rank 0 Mage. Coming back to the point, just like a Tier 1 State Mage is struggling in life, similarly a Tier 1 State Martial Artist would struggle. Though,  there are professions where Martial Artists are preferred over State Mages of the same tiers and Martial Artists usually come from a good background."

"Can I ask another question? I'm sorry if I'm making you feel uncomfortable-"

"Oh no. It's fine." He shook his hand and smiled.

"Aren't there people who do both? I mean, being a Mage as well as a Martial Artist?"

"I'm glad you asked. To answer your question, it's not that there aren't and that it's inefficient but think about it. Let's say, you are a Tier 2 State Mage and you get the opportunity to learn martial arts. Would you learn it?"

"I don't know about myself but I know most people wouldn't want to."

"Right. Now, you must be thinking - what if they train both from an early age? Well, how many non-prominent martial arts families are there?"

Rewen got his answer. A young man who had just started to get into the Mage system couldn't train martial arts as he wished. His family should have a martial arts lineage without evolving into a prominent family. If it became a prominent family, then the higher-ups won't allow them to practise magic. 

"So are people who dual wield, err, practice both mana and martial arts comparatively stronger?"

"For the most part, yes but they aren't much stronger. When you become a Rank 3, everything depends on tiers. To you, resonance might seem like an insurmountable gap if your resonance is low but that all changes as you grow. Even though there are ranks, grades and tiers, there aren't any absolutes…" The blonde young man got lost in his own thoughts.

Rewen understood more than 80% of what he was trying to say. He relaxed his back and didn't ask any more questions. As he closed his eyes, he felt drowsy and slept.

***

Viviana looked at the reports in her hand as her eyelids dropped.

A man sat opposite to her. "I'm regretful to inform you that your son has a Stage 2 Interference. While this isn't the worst case, mental care should be adequately given to him. People with Stage 2 Interference don't really lose control of their mind but they still have a very hard time distinguishing between their own simulated reality and reality. All in all, I could tell that a Stage 2 Interference causes some mild mental issues but other that, there shouldn't be problems."

"Does interference make a person strong in terms of brute force?"

"No, it shouldn't."

Viviana got up and shook her hands with the doctor. "Thank you for your time."

Exiting the room, she immediately dialed a number. It rang for a while before the other party answered.

"What are the reports?"

"Stage 2."

"I see."

"Should I drop him out of the academy?"

"If he wants to, drop him out."

"He won't agree."

"Let him continue in that case."

"Are you out of your mind? No, this couldn't continue. We have been neglecting him for too long. Even though he doesn't say it, I know he secretly blames us."

"Alright, fine. Do you have any plans for him?"

"I'll take him to my company and make him work there."

"Are you sure you can convince him?"

"I'll try."

"Okay, see you seen."

"See you soon."

Cutting off her phone, Vivian headed straight to the bench where Rewen was sleeping with mouths open. She found it a bit funny and tapped on his head. "Wake up. Time to go home."

Rubbing his eyes, he stretched his arms yawning and got up with some difficulty. "How were the reports?"

Rubbing his hair, she replied. "Stage 2." 

Rewen felt a bit unaccustomed to the sudden action but didn't say anything. 

***

In the car.

"Rewen, I have a proposal you might be interested in." Viviana said with a smile.

"What's that?" Rewen, who was playing a game on his smartphone, curiously asked.

"I'll raise your monthly expenses by five times if you agree to this condition."

"What's the condition?"

"You have come and live with us in the-"

"No." 

"How about 10 times?"

"No."

"20."

"No. I'll not budge a single inch even if you make it a hundred times."

"Stop. Being. So. Stubborn." Anger oozed out through her words. Her face remained calm but her heart was boiling. "I'm doing this for your own good."

"I won't go."

The car stopped. 

"Get out of the car." Viviana looked straight at the road in front of her and spoke in a commanding tone.

Rewen wasn't overly surprised by her declaration and exited the car before it drove off.

He had the same neutral face. For the next ten minutes, not a single trace of a vehicle could be seen. With mixed feelings, he thought of a poem. "The road is abandoned just like me." Slowly and gradually, the sky went dark.