4 Chapter 2 (1/3) - Alkmard, the Witch's Castle.

*Tap*Tap*Tap*

The sound of footsteps rang out through the square. A boy was pacing about the square, going in circles seemingly waiting for someone.

"Why is she so late? It's almost high noon, at this rate I might get flayed alive..." just thinking about what she would do to me was enough to make me cringe.

It was now morning, could be said to be noon even. The sun was up high, almost vertical. Shining down its light blue rays, illuminating the square and the city. The clouds were high in the sky, dispersed everywhere. The gales were blowing, making the clouds move along faster. They also brought the fresh wind to the square.

Well, I guess I couldn't help it, I'm the one waiting for her and not the other way around. Besides, now that it was mentioned I really hadn't met anyone else except Eville, if you counted only humans that is. The square, like yesterday, was still empty, I couldn't even see the silhouettes of people even outside of it, though it was quite large I'm sure it wasn't enough to do that.

Did this have something to do with this 'Mother Franklin'? From the way Eville said it, the only place she could practise magic would be this square, and it was so conveniently empty.

Even if we consider for a moment that this 'Mother Franklin' had something to do with the square, that it was her 'property'. For a square, this large, the mana that required to activate it alone would be immense, not to mention that it needed a continuous supply, it was a level way above mine. To do this there could only be two ways, one would be if she had a way to suck the surrounding mana to the square or,

"Make the square ingrain itself to the magic of Omera, that way, she won't have to trouble herself with it. Omera would just do her job for her." Our world really was too generous, but it definitely had an evil side to it.

"Do what big brother Ashwaal?" A shadow crept from my back, I turned around to face it. It was the same girl that I met yesterday, Eville Olsmer.

"Never mind that why are you so late? Its already high noon, weren't you supposed to be here in the morning?"

"You never said anything about that and a lady needs ample time to get prepared."

Now that she mentioned it, she was wearing a full sleeved white shirt with a yellow skirt that went down to her knees, there was a pair of suspenders pulling it up, she was wearing white sandals decorated with a little blue rose. I guess what changed the most was her hair, long enough, was now tied in a ponytail and braided, wouldn't it be immense work to do it herself?

"You mean you were late because you needed to 'dress' yourself up?"

"Not 'dress' myself up but 'prepare' and I wasn't 'late' I was just not early." I couldn't refute that, but seriously, was she an old lady? This was a little kid here, a little kid.

"Besides, it's the sisters back at the orphanage who said I couldn't simply go out when I told them that I was playing with a friend, other than the rest of the kids."

"Wait! That means you told them about me?"

"Of course. But only I needed to help you and that you would play with me as well. Oh and I also told them how old you were. They also said that if you bully me or make me cry, then I just had to tell it to them and they would hunt you down and put you out for good." She had a beaming smile as she said that last part, with her hands at the back maybe anyone would stare at her absentmindedly.

But I couldn't bring myself to do that, especially because of that last part she said. Who were those seemingly dangerous Sisters that took care of her? Was that even a proper orphanage? It didn't feel like one at all. And most importantly,

"Did you tell 'Mother Franklin'?"

"No, of course, I didn't. If I did, she would probably be here with me and you would be captured easily. You won't even get a chance to run for your life." For some reason, I felt that she wasn't lying at all. Should I ask about her? No way, it was easy to get involved with someone as long as you knew about them.

"Anyway, back to the point. We are running late here and I really need to a place. So..." I was cut off before I could finish.

"We? Aren't you supposed to be taking care of your dear 'little sister'?"

*Ack* Now I remember perfectly how I was scammed, why did she even do that?

"Now wait a moment, that was...."

"Oh, and I told the sisters about the promise you made, so if you end up breaking it, well, you might end up breaking as well," Another smile on her face, even prettier than the last. Since I couldn't go back on my unintentional words then I had to go the other way.

"But that was only if you were going to show me around, wasn't it? Now quickly we don't have a lot of time, if you want me to do my job then I need to be alive to do that." Maybe she was able to feel the desperation in my voice, she stopped teasing me and answered,

"Okay, okay then big brother Ashwaal where do you want to go?"

"Actually, I don't even know where I am at the moment. But I feel that I'm in the right place, or right city."

Now, why was she staring at me like that? I wasn't an idiot. When you run for your life, would you even remember exactly where to run? I too only remembered that I needed to head east, and that was already capable enough.

"Here, this is all I know, or have, about where I need to go, and also could you tell me about that letter?"

I handed her the letter I kept in my pouch, it was amazingly unwrinkled and neat, the same as before. It was a black letter, more or less like an un-openable envelope, with white words written on it that read 'Accepted to Alkmard'. This was why I was so confused, you didn't need to be accepted to enter a city, right?

*Haaah*This is going to be a hassle* It seems the little girl was more troubled than me, I wonder why.

"Well, big brother Ashwaal, we're really close to the place so why don't I tell you about it on the way?"

"The faster the better, please lead the way." With a nod I let the 'guide' lead the way. We passed the square heading in a path that headed to the north-east direction. I could now see people and more were still visible now that we left the square. That proved that the square really wasn't your normal 'place'.

"Now listen carefully big brother Ashwaal, I'm not going to repeat myself again."

"Yes yes, little teacher, I'm all ears."

"The city we're in right now is called Citrum. Though I guess people even forget that nowadays. So technically the city we're in is now called Alkmard City. And yes, you're in the right city but still not at the right place."

"The reason why it is called so is that of Alkmard Academy, the most famous 'human' facility or school in Omera. If you're human then you won't find a place better to learn magic anywhere else, at least that's what people say. But its also true, there are many things they have that you won't find anywhere else in Omera, and that's not only about tools but also about knowledge, books and all kinds of things So ever since the academy rose to face a thousand years back, people have generally been calling the city Alkmard City and refer to the school or academy as Alkmard Academy or just Alkmard."

"But the thing is that even if its the dream of many people to one day learn at Alkmard, they can only try to do so once every year at the time when Alkmard opens its gates to the masses. They undergo tests and if they pass then they get a letter, an admittance letter to study at Alkmard. But 80% of the people who take such tests always fail the tests. Since Alkmard doesn't only accept humans, the people of other races also increase the number of failed people by a lot."

"But big brother Ashwaal, if you don't even know of the place how did you get this letter, this IS the admittance letter. They say that it merges with the owner the moment they enter Almard. There are only a few special cases where people were let in without merging with one. The only one who can actually send out these letters is the Principal herself." Hearing the word Principal, why was I feeling really uneasy.

"Especially a letter like this. Big brother Ashwaal you see how the letter's black instead of white? This is a mark for those accepted to the Magus Sphere. Out of the accepted 20%, which is still a lot, not even 1% of them actually receive one or know of one. So its really amazing how you, a backwater airhead, was able to get one. Don't tell me you're the Principal's adopted son?"

"Uh.... tell me one thing, what's the Principal's name?"

"It's Mellrose de La Redwood. But people just call her Principal Redwood or..." she seemed hesitant to continue, looking around trying to find if anyone was listening,

"The Eastern Redwood or Black Redwood Witch."

Well, that explains why she was so scared of just saying a name, it was the Old Hag's name. It was considered disrespectful to call old people like her with her title, little kids like us were to respectfully call her Granny Redwood. Now my doubts were clear, it was the old hag who was behind everything. I wonder just what she was planning putting me in such places, maybe this was all required for the 'job' she had for me. No, not a job, more like a do or die request.

"So big brother Ashwaal, I've been doing most of the talking why don't you tell me things too? Aren't you supposed to be the big brother?"

"Like what?"

"Well for starters, where did you live before you came here? Was it fun out there in the outside world? Are there really gigantic places called forests where you find trees everywhere? And are there really scary monsters there? What about ghosts do they exist? I've only read about them in books and I haven't seen one yet. Do the souls of dead people really come back to haunt you? Have you ever met a magical beast before? What about..."

"Okay, okay, slow down. I can't answer all your questions at once, ask one at a time, please." or my head was going to burst.

"Then big brother Ashwaal are you strong?"

"Well, what do you think? Isn't that why you asked me to take care of you in the first place?"

"But why can't I feel much mana from you at all? In fact, it's not much more than what normal people would have, doesn't this mean that you're really weak compared to a trained mage?"

*Cough*Cough* "If you could tell that then why would you make such a promise with such a weak person? And anyway just because I have low mana doesn't mean I'm weak, it just means that...."

"That you can't cast spells that use a high amount of mana and can only stick to the elementary ones that kids use, doesn't that make you weak?"

"I...." I couldn't find any way to refute her, everything she said hit the mark, of course, I could tell her off even without transforming, but that was just asking for another hit. And I couldn't tell anyone about that transformation, that 'dark' state of mine, even our Old Hag didn't know much about it, just that I had a state where I could do quite a lot of things that my ancestor could.

"And besides the real reason why I made that promise was that..... that I felt something from you. I told you I haven't met my parents so I don't really have any people to call family, except maybe the sisters at the orphanage and Mother Franklin and the other children. But I have to be the big sister so...." she had a sad look on her face, her eyes were moist like tears could drop any moment.

I silently patted her head and rubbed it as we walked through the street. Who knows how long it would take? But right now all that was on my mind was this sad little girl, and that I would really take this promise seriously.

"But that doesn't mean I've acknowledged you or anything. I've met a lot of strong people too, even stronger than you.

So you still have to work hard before I really treat you like my big brother."

I just kept on slowly rubbing her head with my palm as she went silent. We could hear the street peddlers making deals with the customers as we went past them. Kids running around laughing, adults chatting with each other. But the world, to us, was quiet. I was reminded of a few things too.

Like the fact that she, Eville Olsmer, was just a little girl who hadn't met her parents, like me. Maybe that was what she felt when she saw me, that we were in a sense alike.

The fact that she was a sheltered young lady that needed to keep a big sister act, and that since she grew fast compared to the others, she was the one taking care of them.

Also the fact that I was just as lonely, or even more so than her. And this reminded me of why I was, one of the things that I set out to do, was in a sense, to solve this loneliness of mine, but that wasn't making friends or anything, it was bringing two idiots back.

Now all I wanted to know was what lay in store for me, what the Old Hag had planned for me, and when we would reach Alkmard.