12 Chapter - 4: A short normal day.

"Eh? What am I doing here?" Standing in an unfamiliar place, the sight of the buildings and students and people walking around greeted me. The buildings made of paving stones, marbles and other materials. The smallest of these were the size of a normal house, then there were those that were two-stories, three, and then a large jump to 5 stories, then to 7 and finally semi-skyscrapers.

They were scattered around here and there. Wasn't there any rules on construction here? And where was 'here'?

The common trait of the buildings was that they had a navy blue colour on them. Yes, all of them. For example, the semi-skyscraper to the right of me wasn't the type to be full of glass but instead made of paving stones or marbles that were painted blue, intertwining with grey and white from time to time. For the small house to my left, the roof was of blue tiles. A small cottage house maybe? I doubt it. This was Alkmard, nothing was to be underestimated.

"Alkmard... That's right the map!"

Just as I thought the map really did come into good use. Compared to that useless diary or book or.... did it even have a name? That little rule-book. A waste of materials no doubt.

Checking my inner-pouch for the scroll, I felt the old scroll-paper. It was still there. The pouch had a separate space inside it exclusively for the scroll.

The map when spread apart clearly depicted each part of the city. Though it was in the past era's style, it was still clear and simple. The blue dot was me and the rest were places that I could know about my pointing on the map. Maybe I could even use my voice. Could I?

"Locate, Hikari Westford."

The map went blurry for a moment, showed the words 'permission denied', then returned back to the map of the city.

"This really is a great artefact. In fact, it might've been made by the Principal though I highly doubt that she would do something so bo..... something of such a low standard when she's so busy. Things like these should be left to lowly ser..... I mean subordinates. If she does the core then its fine isn't it?"

Had to be careful, the walls had ears. In fact, the whole city might be one, and also an ear, a nose, a tongue, maybe it was part of a nerve too.

If the map was so knowledgeable then maybe I should try...

"Locate Lodging, Ashwaal MurkVeil"

Would it fail again? I hope not.

And it didn't. This time instead of blurring, the map showed a small glowing white dot at where my 'lodging' should probably be. And that white dot was around 30-42 cm's away from the blue dot. I guess this should depict around 3000 km or something? That's quite far, why is that?

"Let's see, I'm currently at the north side of the city, so... Wait! Why the hell am I here? Did the alleyway really reach this far?" I turned back and even the alleyway was not there. Such a strange thing. Was the city moving? If not then when and how did I move? The sun hadn't moved an inch. Still at its same place, up high in the sky.

Thinking back, where was the alleyway again?

I couldn't remember. Why couldn't I remember? Was I going mad? Did I have mental problems? I guess I did but that started from way before, and this was new.

With blank spaces in my recent memories, I had a nagging feeling it related to something big. Did someone secretly removed my memories? I didn't think so.

"And it's not like I removed them myself, right? After all, memory manipulation, even with magic, is something that people shouldn't really mess with. Not that I could actually do it."

It's true, I seriously did not know magic relating to memories. They were things that happened, they were the 'past', experiences. Things that helped develop someone. To 'remove' memories was another thing, but you couldn't remove the 'results'. Otherwise, wouldn't that be rewriting the past?

Like you couldn't make a swordsman's way of the sword even if he was made to forget that he was a 'swordsman'. The moment he wielded a sword again, it would come back naturally. If the results of countless years of effort were 'removed', then maybe it would border on 'rewriting' the past? Though stealing is possible but 'rewriting'? Never heard of it. I'm sure the world wouldn't allow it.

I looked around and saw that people were walking here and there. Some alone, some with other fri... companions. Some as a whole group of people. Contrary to my expectations, they were in quite a large range of ages.

I had expected the people to 'all' be students and between 14 - 19 years of age. Excluding the 5th/6th years, that is.

But now the range of people far exceeded that. Say, they looked mostly around 16-20 years of age. And these were the students. the ones in uniform. Surely they amongst the 1st to 3rd years right? From the short 'introduction' I got from a certain someone who looked a lot like a scary old hag, the 4th years and above were normally all busy with their work and other stuff. Maybe they were away on missions?

"Speaking of that, I wonder what Hikari-senpai is doing? She said the Principal picked the place so.... don't tell me she actually has the key and is waiting inside? If so then.."

I seriously had to leave quickly and find that place. Suppose you had a new house, a new place to live. You finally get to enter for the 1st time, and then you find out that it as all mess up by someone, and you dared not vent your anger on them. What would you be left with? A bad mood, anger, and a whole lot of work. Things that I hated most. Not only hate, loathe was also there. However, if they weren't my own emotions or feelings, then there wouldn't be such.

"Hm? That's odd. I'm standing here and no one's talking to me. In fact, they aren't even looking. Don't tell me I died and currently am a ghost?" Do I really hate this world so much that I would come back to haunt it?

Please! If there was an afterlife then I would be happy with it. Why would I bother with the trouble of coming back here? Who knows, I might be lazying around contently if there 'was' an afterlife.

But I wasn't dead yet. That I knew. A moment or two was enough to know whether I was alive or not.

And yes, I was alive. So another reason would be...

"Shift cloak? Why do I have this on? Don't tell me I ran all the way here from something?" Or maybe someone?

Shift cloak was a rare space magic that couldn't be ranked. Its speciality was that only people who actually had the capability to move to other planes were able to use it. Dimensions worked too. For example, not all space mages would be able to go to another plane or shift to another dimension even if they were strong enough.

Normally there were people inborn with the ability, that is, to shift between here and there. Then there are those who moved through planes and dimensions due to fortuitous or tragic encounters. For me, I got sent to another dimension by a cursed toad. Through this mouth and no, I did not come out of the other hole, I got spit out.

These 'creatures' were strange. All those they swallowed and actually spit out would then be able to cross planes if they knew space magic. Yes, this was, 'is' being exploited at the moment at various places. Though I won't mention them. But why are there so few 'plane shifter's'. Well, that was because the swallow and split thing only had a success rate of 1%. Even the swallowing creatures had limits, and they were on the brink of extinction too. Even 10 people produced per year were plenty. As for the rest, well, may their souls rest in peace. But could they?

Having shift cloak on was like walking on another dimension/plane yet at the same time moving in 'this' plane/dimension. In the most basic term, it was concealment. It depended on the strength if the mage.

So the real question is, why was it on? Would I ever get to know? I had a nagging feeling that I would. But the nagging feeling didn't describe when.

Try to put it on the back of my head? I could barely do that.

I have to confess. As a coward, how could I do such a thing? Did I even know what it would bring? Pain? At what level? Would I lose a limb? Two? Maybe even putting a risk on my life? Would it really? Maybe it might just end me?

How could I rest easy when all these piqued my mind? Yet I had to, for better or for worse. Otherwise, I might never be able to.

"So, then, south should be this way. I guess I just have to go on. Hoping that she won't do anything bad... Would she?" I would have to see first.

With a light tap at the ground, I started running south. To where my new lodging was, where I would see be seeing dawn from.

The wind blew. The people walking around remained unfazed. The guy with a blue tie and a suite was running around anxiously as if he were late for a meeting. The youth and the lady were walking on the streets, arms linked, enjoying their day. The kids were running around, playing with other children. The students, either alone or in twos, threes, groups, were all busy with their own lives. This was the main square in the north, that 'was' not such a place in the right sense. Yet a bird's eye view would show exactly what that meant.

But would the people ever know what was running in the undercurrents of such a place, that was only a part of the whole city, yet was like a miniature one itself? Maybe, maybe not. One thing was for certain, the Redwood Witch knew. Knew, yet not giving a thought. The undercurrents were flowing freely. They had to, for if the current was blogged then it would flow another way. Only if there was no liquid would it stop.

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"Please be alright. Please be alright. Please be alright...." Chanting a prayer as I walked, I passed through many, many things.

Such as a real, actual skyscraper/tower. That was made out of white light-marble. I couldn't get a view through its windows, but it was massive. So much, that I couldn't guess its size. It was hexagonal in shape. I really wished I could have explored it. But right now...

"Even if you do anything, please give me a chance to actually see the place." Why was I so worried, even when I only met her? Because if she was anything that I thought she was, then I was in for a load of trouble.

There was a guy with black hair, maybe around 18 years old, coming out from a building that looked like it was infested with such students. There were 5 rooms from the front on each floor and it had 10 such floors. Then it was connected through balconies and stairs to another building at its back. Having around 10-20 rooms per floor. Again with 10 such floors. I'm sure there was another building to which it was connected, but I had no luxury of straying from my path.

Because right now, even displacement wasn't fast enough.

"Honestly I wish I was a light mage. They might not be able to actually move at the speed of light like the 'Light Master' but even reaching half of that is already fast enough to outpace anyone." But did speed mean everything? It carried power true, that was for sure, but it was just one of many aspects.

While thinking of such things...

*Swoosh* "That was a close one, missed it by a foot. One more second and I would have bumped into that pole." But that didn't stop the wind from moving around too much. As a result,

*Meow*#Chomp#

Yeah, I got bit by a cat. It fell from the sky and chomped down on my right hand. Even flinging my arm wouldn't work, I wasn't bothered to try. Why? Because this wasn't your typical everyday cat.

It was a size bigger than a cat. Dark Violet in colour, Its tail was thinner than a normal cat's and had streaks of black and violet intertwining with each other. Though its body was still the same shape, it now had four really sharp nails on each of its four paws... I mean claws. It had a patch of skin on both sides of its back that was deeper in colour than the rest of its soft fur. Its whiskers were ink-black like they would drip with ink. Its forehead had three wavy vertical grey lines and the most discerning difference from a 'dyed' cat would be that it had two other pairs of slits other than its two large eyes

with violet pupils.

The cat, no, the feline was a Nethersky Feline. Sky as in they lived in the sky, naturally, they had wings for that. It was that patch of darker coloured skin. There was a saying that when Sky Cats, or as they prefer, Sky Felines fly high up, they can enter a separate space where the City of Cats exists, or as I like to call it, City of Furballs. Though I haven't seen such sky cats cough furballs. In fact, they could be said to be way evolved from the normal feline. Even to the point of losing their feline tendencies, such as litter and furballs and..... you get what I mean.

As for what it could do, firstly,

"If you keep sucking my magic then I'm going to run out of... Wait! Don't absorb my blood either! That's even worse than my magic."

"Oh, now you go back again. I'll smack your head if you do anything beyond normal biting." Their teeth were sharp enough already. Able to literally pierce through almost all levels of magic.

Yes, the first thing was that they could absorb magic and lifeblood from the victims of their bites, and if long enough then even absorbing the 'essence' of such things was possible.

Secondly, they had an inborn resistance to magic. They weren't magic immune, though I haven't seen someone as strong as the old hag do a full power strike, which might flatten at least two cities or worse, on a nethersky feline but I did see someone half her level or maybe lower, do a full powered strike, without holding back and the result was, the feline was unaffected.

Research showed it was because of their closed slits and if those ever opened, which only happened on one occasion, then one pair of their extra eyes would provide magic immunity and the other would provide complete control over an element.

Yet they were one of the weakest creatures, that is, magical beasts to exist. Obviously, because it was almost impossible to open their slits. At the same time, they were also rare, rare in the sense that if you were to find one, then it would just fall from the sky, just like now. If you weren't fated to find one, then you wouldn't for the rest of your life.

"Crap! Don't tell me you're going to fall asleep locking your fangs like that. Wake up you nasty... Dammit, I don't have time for this. If a man doesn't have a home to return to, then where is he going to bring his wife home?" Bring home a wife, now what would a 15-year-old virgin like me be saying that?

"I guess I'm too anxious, with getting bit and all...."

Wait! Getting bit?

"Please don't tell me I'm going to get sick?"

Mages only get normal diseases when they are in weakened conditions because of over-exhaustion and other causes. So for a mage getting 'sick' means mana sick, which in this case, would mean mana disorder of the body and yes, this would definitely be problematic. Luckily I had an ace up my sleeve.

Now, why would I be so adamant about this new 'house' or 'place' or 'lodging' of mine? To be honest even I didn't know. Yes, I didn't understand myself, a lot. But one reason could be dated to a past experience and also due to the fact that I had never had a place to myself. The first place I lived in, had these pesky people who did nothing but mistreat and abuse, second place was way better and it was fun, but the one who called the shots was a big hunk.

I also have an experience of sleeping on the streets and... that's something I definitely don't want to repeat.

Tumbling about while being bit by a cat, I couldn't help but start stepping on walls and roofs as I proceeded towards the place. Propelling myself higher to get better space for balance.

"Wait, someone actually hangs out their clothes in the sun?" I thought that was only done by people who didn't want to use magic for daily necessities, which by the way was truly wasteful. Only people who lived in those places where magic was 'worshipped' as something divine, would do such things. And also, people who found it enjoyable.

And I had a guess that this was the latter. I turned my head to the side to get a better look. The building was only a two storey building, so the roof was...

*Dong*

A *thump* sound was made as I fell down, my back hitting the floor. To be struck unaware really did hurt a lot. Hitting a signboard with your face was not a pleasant experience.

"A gong signboard? Is this an eastern shop?" This was quite rare, in Alkmard that is, even if it was the east. I had the chance to see what the other shops were selling while I passed them, and they were all non-affiliated even if they sold things of eastern or western origin. North even.

But to show your affiliation this clearly, I wonder what this shop owner did to even get permission.

"Hm? Wait a sec, how could the gong actually hurt me? What about the mana shell? Don't tell me it penetrated through it? No, that shouldn't be. Maybe negated it?" And as I was thinking the door opened.

The shop, I could guess, was an eastern antique shop. Painted with the traditional red, and with their designs carved onto the wood that the walls were made of. Glass was inserted into the wall so that one could see the merchandise inside. The inside looked quite large, that was what I could see from the opened door, which too was of eastern culture.

It was a man, that opened the door, his hands still at the doorknob. Quite tall, in fact, if I was standing he would still be taller than me, maybe by a head or by at least half.

His head was oval in shape. He had bowl cut hair as black as his eyes. He had straight and thin eyebrows coupled with his eyes that were open and closed at the same time, in fact, I could barely see his eyes from between the narrow slits of his eyelids because right now I was on the floor propelling myself up with my arms. His grin was curved downward making a somewhat 'V' shaped grin. All that gave him a scheming look, which also matched perfectly with being a shopkeeper.

He was wearing a Chinese dull-red long robe, with black pants and black kung-fu shoes. So naturally, he 'had' to be the shopkeeper. He just had that 'look' about him. In fact, maybe this was his shop.

I didn't like that grin on his face, it was as if he found a treasure and was measuring its worth. It made me feel insecure and uncomfortable. People like him could not be underestimated. Merchants were not 'common' people. And he was definitely not just any 'street' merchant.

"Oh, my, youngsters these days have all the time in the world, don't they? Some are running here and there, some are freely lying on the street. Say, young man, would you be interested in..."

"Crap! I've got no time for this." I got up and started running again. I had a feeling that if I spent even a second longer then that creepy shopkeeper would try to tie me down with his words to keep him company. Obviously, he would've also invited me to 'see' his shop and so on.

I'm sorry but I'm done falling for your tricks. I'm busy enough running like heck here, now which way was west? This way or that way?

"Youngsters today are really energetic, aren't they? If they keep making messes like this then how long would I have to keep cleaning up after them?" He waved his hand facing the gong signboard of the shop.

And with it, the mark I left on the gong with my face vanished like it never happened. The gong returned to its previous state.

If I was here then maybe I would be shocked. Fixing something was possible, easy even. But reversing time was not. Maybe you could make time flow 10 times slower or faster for specific things, but even that wasn't reversing time. But reversing time like something never happened, that was where children should not be playing with fire.

Time shouldn't be messed with. Because that was left to the experts. And the only known expert left was the Timekeeper, but he should have been gone on a journey 500 years ago and disappeared thereafter. Why did these people get to live so long yet just disappear like that?

The shopkeeper then took a newspaper that was attached to the door. Humming a tune, he went in and closed the door to the shop. Separating the inside and the outer world. Who knows what he would be thinking of.

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*ring*ring*

The sounds of the doorbell echoed outside.

"Wait up! Be right there!" The reply came from the other side of the door. I wondered what it would be like on that side. Like a door separating the inside from the outside world.

Here, the outside world had space and a lot of it. To make it even better, they used a whole portion of this space, specifically the centre, to make a park. It could be described as an island surrounded by a sea of cobblestone. And surrounding this 'park' were 10 really large buildings, matching with the wide park. The buildings were arranged in a decagon with cobblestone paved road in between each building.

And last but not the least was a giant aqua-blue crystal glacier at the centre of the park. The 'park' was full of trees with green, red, orange, white, and yellow leaves, making a contrast with the blue glacier. A lake surrounded the crystal on all sides. The lake water was a clear aqua blue. You could even see the bottom of the lake which was 15 to 20 metres deep, fishes swimming in the lake, and the ice lotuses blooming near the crystal, glowing a deep blue from time to time.

The 'island' wasn't surrounded by any fences and was directly joined to the streets, seemingly placed in just like that. One foot lands on the cobblestone, the next landing on the grass.

The 'new' house was the one at the west end. Yes, it was one of those really big buildings, a semi-castle even, that was 'recently' vacated due to some problems, at least that was what I heard by walking and hearing other people talk. I'm sorry but I refuse to consider this eavesdropping.

The buildings were all guilds buildings. They had to have a lot of people inside so they needed the space. I guess there used to be a lot of people inside 'this' too, doing what they love, what they like, what they need. Now it was all empty. It seemed magical that they would all just disappear like that, even 'magic' wouldn't make them all vanish out of thin air suddenly. The old hag 'could' do that but that would be because the whole city was her's. And she actually wasn't the culprit.

The building that would now be the place of my lodging, as marked in 'white' by the map, was previously occupied by the ..... guild. Was the place cursed? Did they do something they weren't supposed to? Just seeing it brought about new worries already, it would only be fair if it brought new hope, but that wouldn't be permitted.

For simplicity's sake just picture the main building of a castle, without those gates and stables or the like, the real main building, with its large halls and all that. Except not old style, but instead a modernised castle, with blue lamp stones instead of torches, and fewer of those long narrow corridors.

It wouldn't be wrong to call it the fusion of a large mansion and a down-sized castle. A vacant one at that, I'm sure there were many people who would really like to go live in it, much less take a tour. Would all the other guild buildings be like this? I knew the answer already, it was yes, probably.

It wouldn't be strange that a few people's eyes would be on me, some pointing their fingers at me. Okay! There weren't only a few, but a whole lot of them. In fact, why did all the guilds have to be located so close to each other? The number of people passing by was immense, and not all of them were here for business or with any intent, just going around here and there because 'people' were there. They only made the weather warmer, the place packed and was also wasting their time.

"Shit, there really are too many people pointing at me here. Is it so strange for a guy to stand outside a large door? Hey, open up quickly, I think some people are actually trying to come talk to me." If they did so, then I couldn't help but 'rudely' send them away. If I was lucky then they would spread all sorts of rumours after they went away. Not that I cared about it, but I was sick of dealing with more and more problems.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" The cry came from the other side of the door.

With a few sounds of the mechanical lock of the tall door being opened, one half of the door finally parted, showing the inside of the place. Even this half-door was enough for 4 people to fit through, 4 'normal' adults that is. Especially not the pudgy guy who was coming forward, either trying to have a talk with me or entering the place. If it was him then even 1 more guy would barely be able to enter at the same time.

"Hey, friend! I haven't seen you around before. Are you a new student?" He said in a seemingly friendly manner, whilst walking/running as he came forward.

"I'm sorry, but please I'm not interested." Quickly went in and the door closed. The sound of the contraption activating, metal hitting metal, then the door was again locked. It even had a sound isolating feature, that would be useful on later days.

"Alright senpai, please tell me you didn't make a mess out of the....." I turned around and before I finished, I saw the place and was awestruck.

First was a large ballroom that would be enough to fill maybe 10,000 or more guests? That too just by itself, no spatial manipulation. There were no pillars supporting the room/hall, instead of chandeliers there were white lamp stones on the black ceiling and they would probably portray what the night sky would look like, giving the ball a night feeling even if it was daytime.

Second was that, as feared, it was a mess. There were holes on the ground, ditches here and there, glasses on the walls were broken, the stairs to the high floors at the end of the other side of the door had all the railings bent at oblique angles. There were whole lines of steps missing. Were all the floors like this?. There were also stairs leading to the balconies to the extreme rights and lefts of where I was standing, which were relatively fine, just a few scratches.

As for the balconies, well, what balconies? The only things left were the marks that they 'were' there once, and also the pieces of the tiles there were once there. Though the 'hole's' where the balcony and the first floor were connected were still there, they were in the same state.

"What the...! Senpai, please don't tell me you ate some bad medicine?" My cry rang out, but the one who opened the door was nowhere to be seen.

"Senpai!? Are you there?" No reply came to my cry, just where could she be?

"Your sweet senpai's gone. Now you join us too Ashwaaal." A barely audible, creepy voice entered my ears, sending a chill to my spine. It went to my ears like a voice from the grave. Only,

"Senpai, why would a ghost that I never met know my name? By the way, I'm particularly not scared of them. They're just another form of energy."

"Oof! Such a spoilsport, can't you at least pretend to be scared or panic? Such a boring junior, how will you get girls to like you if you keep pouring cold water over them?"

"Senpai, how the hell does that relate to any of this?"

"And anyway, even if I did pretend like,'Oh my! I'm so scared!' Would it make you feel any better?"

"I have to agree with you my little junior, that it just made me even more irritated and annoyed." She didn't even have to say that, one look at her face and it was easy to tell that she 'was' annoyed.

"Anyway senpai, what wrong did I do to you? What wrong did this place do to you, that you would leave it in tatters? In fact, this is beyond tatters, but just before making the place fall apart. Just a little more and...."

"And you will earn a smack on the face. Tell me Ashwaal, would you like to taste Senpai's magic, I haven't told you about it before right? Why don't I 'show' it to you?"

"Senpai, please, you don't know what you're doing. You're putting a life at stake here."

"And just how am I doing that?"

Her eyes were sparkling like she found something interesting. And as for me, I'm not kidding, remember that little bite mark on my hand? The right one? That drained almost all my mana, so right now, I'm defenceless. If I took a hit on my face, I might get hospitalised for a month or more. Of course, there were always people with healing magic but... I had a feeling that even they would feel helpless and leave it up to time.

As for the culprit, the criminal, the merciless soul who endangered my life, possibly as revenge for endangering its life, which I did not do by the way,

"Meow!" Was snuggling contently in my bosom. After leaving me with a few drops of mana, it went ahead and cut the buttons on my white shirt, specifically the strings they were attached with, then it went to sleep on my bosom.

I couldn't just grab and throw it, could I was gunning for time and felt weak all over. Hell, even running that fast made me exhausted at that point, but I couldn't just stop now could I? As for grabbing it and pulling it off me, If I wanted the skin covering my ribcage gone then sure I might've 'tried' to do that, though I couldn't do it with so little mana in me. Even if I had the mana, I treasured my life a lot.

So the only thing I could do was do a quick stitch with some black magic-threads.

Was it even supposed to 'meow' like a cat? Wasn't it different from a cat? If it kept 'meow-ing' then might as well call it 'Cat'.

Why was I naming the 'Cat'? Well, I had decided to keep the darn feline, for better or for worse. Even to just get back at it for what it did to me.

"Meow!" Another cry came out of its mouth. I guess it was now awake. It peeked out its head from between my shirt. And clearly, as anyone, or maybe everyone would expect,

"Kyaaa! What an adorable little kitten. Come here! Let big sister take care of you." It attracted the attention of the 'big sister', a female of the species like it was nature.

She extended her arms and 'Cat' jumped straight to her bosom. It even let out a content cry as it snuggled comfortably in her chest.

"So cute and fluffy, tell me little Ashwaal, where did you find this kitten?"

"Senpai why are you calling it a kitten? For one, it's already bigger than an adult cat and two, it's not even a cat."

"It's a kitten if I say it's a kitten! So is it a kitten?" A threatening glare was sent to me. Of course, I had to comply.

"Yes, yes, it's a kitten." Sometimes, it was better to compromise. And most of the time for this senpai of mine.

"So where did you find this kitten, little Ashwaal?"

"Well, senpai, I was really in a hurry while I was coming here and Cat..."

"Cat? Is that what you named it?"

"Yes. Why? It's just a..."

"What kind of name is Cat for a kitten? More importantly, do you even know whether its a boy or a girl?"

"Well, it's..... it's a....." I couldn't answer, because I really didn't know. Wasn't it just a kitten? As for the name, hell, it was better than Bufucus or Raphaotr, two evil hellhounds who were now dead. As a note, they didn't die by my hands.

"Senpai. don't tell me you've actually met these kinds of felines before?"

"I've read about them, and with a little woman's intuition, its enough to know whether its a girl or a boy."

"Or you could just check the...."

"Now little Ashwaal, you won't need to finish saying that. You just have to listen." She cut me off before I could finish. Seriously, couldn't you just do 'that'?

"You see her right ear? See how the top part is white?"

I finally noticed now that it was mentioned. Cat's right ear 'was' white near the tip. I wonder how I only noticed that now.

"Make sure to remember. For cats of this kind, the males have white rings on their tails, females have white right ear-tips. Also, their fur is more violent than the pure black male ones so that should be easy to notice. Yet also hard to know because they're so rare. Maybe even more than winning the one in one million lotteries. Maybe you won't even meet another one ever."

Her eyes were glowing, like the lustre of treasures were projected in them. She was staring intently at Cat, no longer snuggling but now was lying on her arms with its eyes closed.

I had to take it from her. And surprisingly, 'she' complied without resisting. Maybe it could feel that it wasn't so 'safe' at that moment. For some reason, someone had a strange habit of gaining profits.

And then someone here was a little, or maybe a lot, though it wasn't shown, reluctant to part. If I was a bit slower, then she would have grabbed ahold of Cat.

Now Cat was safe and sound in my hands.

"Meow."

Taking a nap on my head was also fine. Just don't...

Cat, likely understanding my intentions, didn't move too much. Nor 'cut' hair to make it more comfortable. Its body was now in a vertical position, hanging onto my falling hair and its head was at the top of mine. Its front paws etching onto the hair just before my forehead.

"Anyway, senpai. Back to the main reason. Why is the place like this? It's like this was a previous battleground between two maniac mages?"

"Even I don't know the answer to that. It was already like this the first time I came here, and that was a year ago. People also say that it's been like this for a decade."

"And this is where you'll be staying little Ashwaal. There's a room on the second floor that's been prepared to live in. You can take that room."

"Wait, wait! Senpai, if the place has been like this for a decade then why hasn't anyone tried to repair it? I'm sure the place is still as stable as ever."

"Of course people have tried. They do it every year, even this year, though you weren't here at that time. But in the end, after three to seven days, they all vacate the place again, giving the reason that everything they repaired returned again to their previous states. Even after a decade, they couldn't find the reason."

"Though, I did discover that the only room that this didn't apply is the room you'll be staying at, so you don't have to worry?"

Don't have to worry? Are you kidding me? I'm staying at a castle, that, for all I know, would render me unable to spend tomorrow, making me stuck in a loop, or cause some unforeseen problems leading to my passing.

"By the way, the place has 5 floors and you shouldn't bother going to the 3rd and higher floors. You'll see what I mean if you do try. So hurry up and go check your place, you'll be staying here for a long while after all."

So I would. It was definitely better than staying outdoors or camping in the woods or, well, you get what I mean. Having no roof over your head was not a good experience, nor was it good for the body, or the mind, or the heart, or the...

"Oh! And while you're staying here, do us a favour and find out the reason why the place remains the same alright? I don't mean you have to do it now, but make sure you remember. Now go check your new place, you might be surprised."

So they were still trying to make use of me, even to the point of having me deal with my lodging place? One look at this place, with a few rumours and it was enough to paiant the word 'problem' all over it.

"Also, you have to go to the main academy building tomorrow. There are classes and other things. So make sure you go."

Hm? Was it necessary for me to attend? Though I seem to remember the old hag saying that I 'do' have to actually go to these. But she didn't say all of them, did she?

I went past the large ballroom, passing by the various ditches and holes whilst wonder what really did all this. Walking up the stairs needed even more care. Just a tad more pressure and the stairs felt like they would collapse. But if the 'rumours' were true, and I believed they were, then they would return to before their collapsed state, to be yet again easily broken.

"Second floor, second floor, ah! It must be this room." Heading up from the right side, then a left turn and a sharp right led me to the room. Unlike the others with broken doors, this one had an intact door, with these odd carvings and designs. The door handle seemed fine.

*thud*thud*

"Eh? It's locked?" Why would it be locked? Is this another prank?

"Oh about that, I forgot to tell you that's my room, yours is the one on the far left. Right over there."

Damn! I would've crossed a certain distance already if it weren't for me stopping myself. Was that intentional?

"Wait! Senpai- do you mean to say that we're both living in the same 'strange' castle?"

"Yes my junior. And this is my room."

"Well then senpai, good night."

So I went for the far left room and opened the door. And I, was 'not' surprised at all.

There was a bed, a dresser with an empty flower pot and a mirror, a wardrobe, a table, and a chair. All of old style designs, with dull grey reddish-brown coats. There was a window by the side of the bed.

Just what I expected, but I couldn't care less at the moment.

I slumped on the bed, staring at the wall. I was just so exhausted and I wanted a good nights sleep.

Cat was already sleeping atop my head and didn't move an inch either. I just wanted to spend a normal day, even if half of it was fake. Even if half of it had to be an illusion to make it normal.

I would just deal with all the problems when I wake.

With that last thought in mind, my mind drifted off, whilst staying at the same place.

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Cold, so cold.

"Hey, you there! Can you hear me?"

Hm? Is someone calling me? Aaaah, I might be hearing things from the snow in my ears.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! At least look at me in the face!"

So someone really is talking. I can't even move my eyelids. Are they frozen? Could they be?

It's just so cold.

"Father, come quick, I think he's still alive. But he's all blue, do you think he'll live?"

"It's never too late dear. Now go back and boil some water for me. I'll bring the kid. The little lad has a blazing will I'm sure."

"Don't worry, we definitely won't let you die."

Is that light? Are my eyelids opening? Can I hear a bit clearer now?

Is that a girl? Haven't I seen her before?

I remember! It's...

"...."

And just as I'm about to call out her name, about to remember, everything goes dark, clouded in darkness. Then comes light, and then it goes dark again. Repeating one after the other. Till everything turns back to memories."

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