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

As we were walking, the sun was vertically above us, it shone with a blue light on the city as the wind blew through the streets and the sky.

"Ah! Look, there it is, that's one of the entrances to Alkmard," came Eville's cry as she pointed her finger forward.

I guess I would have thought so even if she didn't point that out, after all, it was quite conspicuous. No, it was 'very' conspicuous. In the middle of the road was a large square in which there was nothing but the empty street except for a big gate on a bridge, under which was a river, or waterway.

The strange thing was this bridge didn't seem to connect to anywhere it just disappeared midway or early way. The rest past it was covered with smoke.

"This is one of the four main entrances to Alkmard, the East Bridge. There are a lot of small ways to enter and stuff but people mainly use these four bridges to enter." she continued.

Was Alkmard beyond the bridge, in the part hidden by the clouds? But why didn't the bridge hardly even touched the mist, it was clear as day that it stopped barely touching it. I looked at the guide to explain, but she just shook her head.

"You'll understand after we enter, even I don't really understand how this happens."

"Wait, you just aid 'we' right? That means you can enter too?"

"Big brother Ashwaal, I never said I couldn't enter. I go in from time to time to visit Aunt Redwood. She said that I could go in and out as I wanted. Oh, and the orphanage also has a personal way that they use to head to Alkmard, we go in and out whenever we want since we can only visit the orphanage in there anyway, so basically the orphanages are connected and since they're big we can't leave unless the sisters allow us to."

The Old Hag was her 'aunt', that made her a special little existence in Alkmard. It was clear now, this Mother Franklin and the Old Hag were related. This mattered the most.

"So little Eville, you said you met the Old Ha... I mean Principal Redwood before, right? Well, how was it?"

"Of course she's really nice to me. She's like another Mother Franklin but I only see her inside her room, I wonder what she does there all the time. Wait, big brother Ashwaal, why are you asking me this?"

"Please make sure to make a grave for me if I don't live after I meet her,"

"Eh!?"

"Anyway let's go, better do this while I'm not willing otherwise I might end up running out of here as fast as I can."

With that, we went to the bridge. The gate hung high above didn't even have anything supporting it from below or above, staying in the air by itself, it truly was amazing.

There was some humanoid statue-machine thingy at the middle of the bridge. It had the shape of a human. It was wearing a light brown coat with matching pants and a white shirt underneath, wearing a tie above. It had black hands that were made of materials I don't know, and its head was covered in a mask except for the part that showed its closed eyes as it had a gap at this part.

Maybe this was the gatekeeper who protected the gate. I could feel danger written all over it. It was quite the machine. They could even manufacture stuff like this, I wonder just what they couldn't do these days? The west was rich in ancestral magic while the east had their own ancestral magic but the majority were engaged in technology, finding ways for magic and technology to proceed alongside each other and they were definitely succeeding.

"Big brother Ashwaal what are you looking at, come over already, aren't you the one who wants to get there quickly?"

Eville already went past the gatekeeper, standing at the bridge just before a line. It was probably that past this line could be considered the bridge.

"Are you ready big brother Ashwaal?" she sounded like she had something in mind.

"Ready for what? Aren't we just stepping on it?" And with a one, two three, I finally place my foot on the ground, but it wasn't at the bridge, it landed on a patch of grass.

Grass? Why was there grass here?

Well, that was because that wasn't your ordinary bridge, but rather a 'bridge' between two worlds. The two ends of the bridge were at two different worlds.

A yellow sun hung in the sky, the sky was clear and no clouds were visible but it wasn't too hot, instead, it felt just right. But here it oddly felt like Winter, which was not the same as the season before.

"Is this another world?" I could see the grass with a lively green shade, the forests at a distance from a castle enclosed by walls, though it wasn't visible from here, I'm sure that there was some kind of city and it was in the middle. The city was definitely big, just like the castle was too. It was quite far, even the trees near it were like little dots but still, it appeared like a big mushroom amidst the small weeds.

"I thought that too the first time I came here, but it's not a new world, but more like a different plane. Though I don't know what exactly that means, it's what Auntie Redwood told me." came there answer of the little girl who I treated as a guide.

"So that city must be Alkmard."

"Yeah, that's the 'actual' Alkmard. Oh, and by the way, big brother Ashwaal I forgot to ask you, since you didn't even apply but still got admitted, what exactly are you going to do here? It's a given that you'll be a student here, but that isn't what you're really going to do is it? Like what is your main goal?"

Being questioned by Eville, I tried to search for answers, but this girl would be hard to lie to, that I knew, so,

"Uh, how about we get to Alkmard first, I'm already a month late after all. Lead the way little guide." I evaded the question and yes, the last part was intentional.

"Hmph! Who are you calling guide? What are you supposed to call me?"

"I mean, lead the way, little sister."

"That's right, you had better remember who's the little sister here. If I tell on you to Auntie Redwood, that you were bullying me, then you'll definitely be in for it."

That literally brought sweat to my forehead, this was what I currently feared the most. Little Eville, with her talent and well, being little, was definitely treasured by the Old Hag. If she ever did that then..... I was too scared to image it.

"How could I ever bear to bully my little sister?"

"Yes, how could you ever bear to bully her? If you did then I don't mind chasing you through the whole world." What answered was not the voice of Eville, not mine either. It was the voice of a demon, a witch. My instincts were screaming, telling me to run, but my legs wouldn't move, they couldn't. It was stupid to run from the Old Hag, it only made things worse, I'm could tell from experience.

"Already a month late and to think you have the gall to pick up girls, don't you think you're a little too brave?" No please, I'm definitely anything but brave, "And to think its Eville, my precious Eville too." Wait! You've got it all wrong, I'm the one being shackled here.

The thing I wished most right now, was to cry out those words. No, it was not to run or meet her, people might be able to escape fate, but not the witch of calamity. You couldn't even run away from her with luck, it depended on ability, one I didn't have.

I saw the figure of a woman suddenly appear before us. Maybe this was the last I would see. The sight of a woman who was smiling like a demon and.....

And before I knew it, my vision went dark and I fainted, even before I could clearly see her. My thoughts before passing out were, for a moment, a really brief moment, that I wouldn't wake up again from this. But I was sure, that I would wake up or that she would force me to wake up, it was clearer than the day had ever been.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I could hear the sounds of the birds outside as I woke up. The leaves rustling in the wind and it passed through them up high to the sky and back again.

Outside? Was I inside a room? I slowly opened my eyes as they grew clearer and was greeted by the sight of the white floor, it was pure white and also woody, I could make that out even with my clouded eyes.

My hands felt sore and also hurt a bit at my wrists, and also at the part just above my ankles. I was sitting on a chair and my hands were on my back. Why were they back there? I tried to move them but they wouldn't, my feet too.

Well. that explains it, I was tied to a chair. I could see the black ropes that bound my legs, it was probably the same rope that was used to bing my wrists too. I could slip out of normal thread easily, but these were magic ropes. They relied on the mana of the caster to bind people. The stronger the caster, the stronger the bind.

In this case, the caster was someone that could be said to be the strongest in Omera, inside Alkmard.

I didn't even have the energy to even try to break out of them, though even if I did I still wouldn't try to. It seems I wasn't really 'treated well' while I was out cold.

Now as my vision cleared, I stared at the woman who was sitting in a chair in front of me, a large desk between us.

She was wearing a black coat over her white shirt. Her black hair falling down on her shoulders, her bangs covering her forehead. Her eyes were ash-black, leaning more to the black side. Her thin eyebrows were curved upwards. She had a high nose bridge that was sized perfectly, not an inch big nor thin, just right.

She really was beautiful. So much in fact that she would surely have been a subject to the worship of many people, maybe even be regarded as a goddess. But instead, she was regarded as a witch, which in fact might be more suited to her if they were compared, even her coat still couldn't hide her bulging chest. But the real reason here was that that, she was just too scary.

I couldn't even stare at her for long and averted my gaze. She was staring at me with a smile on her face. My breath was going to be taken away, not by the beauty of her smile, but rather the menacing intent behind it. The smile of the Witch of Redwood, was not something that people looked upon with zeal but rather fear.

"Um, can I get out of this...."

"Take that as the consequence of being late, and I'm already being lenient here, so don't make me repeat myself."

I could only keep quiet. Even her voice that, even more, melodious than an enchantress, was not enough to calm my nerves.

"Now little Ashwaal, you were supposed to arrive a month ago I wonder why you are a month, a day, 9 hours, 24 minutes and 30 seconds late? And I'm not even counting the time of bringing you back here with me."

Why did she have to note it down to the second? Maybe she even noted it down to milliseconds or microseconds.

"Nevermind that anyway, since whats done is done I'll have to change my plans a bit. First, you want to know why I called you to Alkmard, don't you?"

I nodded my head,

"But first let me tell you about Alkmard, I'm sure you still don't know anything about it, you would'ave if you were 'on time'."

"I'm sure you must've thought this was another world linked by the bridge, but no it isn't. Instead, its another plane, that is, another plane of existence, both on the same world. Like for example, parallel worlds existing on the same world, connected by the bridges."

"Now here's the important part. In this case, the reason why this 'parallel plane' is existing is due to a magical-sphere core that my father used to create this plane. In fact, it started off as a place with its ends at the city's walls, then continued to expand. From the moment it was created, it started using the mana of the world and expand itself, though it still has limits, it has now become quite large."

Oh, that's right, the Old Hag's father was Alkmard de La Redwood, the founder of the academy, but strange thing was, it was recorded that he was born 10,000 years ago and that Alkmard only existed 1000 years ago. The man lived for a stunning 9,000 years and it didn't end there. Even with magic, a normal person still wouldn't normally live past a 100.

But now the man was dead, that was for sure. He was given a grand burial 500 years back, so history says, and as for the Old Hag, though many knew that she was Alkmard's daughter, they didn't know how long she had lived. Of course, I was 'unluckily' one of the ones who knew that, as for why, well, the old ancestor knew a lot of things, even much more than that old Alkmard. In fact, they were of the same generation, but just that my ancestor died a lot earlier. Maybe 5000 or 4000 years earlier, I didn't remember clearly.

"As an academy of magic, Alkmard could be said the best for the humans, and one of the best amongst the races. Now the city is around 30 miles long, as for the plane, maybe 10000 kilometres, I haven't bothered to count yet. For me, whats important is the city. It would be good to note that the castle, including the whole city, is within the grounds of my 'witch's castle. As for what I can do because of that, leave it up to your imagination."

That was definitely a clear threat, and I'm sure some of my imaginations were right. Like that she could tell where I was in the city, maybe even to the extent of knowing what everyone was doing and where they were, if she wanted to that is.

"The reason why Alkmard is a cut above the other academies or schools is that of the things it has. You won't find some resources, even the daily rations, anywhere else other than Alkmard. The teachers, the ones teaching the students too, also contribute a lot to this fact. And in the field of research, I guess we're at the forefront of the east if not way ahead. So wouldn't everyone want a piece of the pie?"

I gave another nod.

"Well, that's too bad because pie's not free."

And here comes the cold hard truth. Even old Alkmard was depicted as a sly old fox in my ancestor's notes that he left behind, I remembered them clearly though I was only four that year.

Like father like daughter, truly. In fact, it was amazing how his daughter wasn't as stingy as he was.

"The price the general students pay for studying here at Alkmard is simply contributing and doing the 'development' thing for me, that's all. But for the magus sphere people, whom I'm sure you've at least heard of, it's a different thing. Anyone who's part of it is not allowed to leave this plane at all, yes it also means you can't leave but leave that for now and listen."

Listen, how? I still had a lot of things I had to do back at the other place, a lot of dreams that I wanted to fulfil, but now I hear that I might never leave again. Who could stay clam right now?

"It's not like you're going to be here forever, even the teachers, who were once students here, all voluntarily chose to stay here, and they definitely weren't forced to make their choices."

Really? If that was true then I might be able to...

"Though only a few ever graduate amongst the students. Seriously, they should know how hard it is yet why do so many idiots still enter every year."

My hopes were instantly crushed. If there really were that few students who actually graduate then yes I shared the same thought as her, why were idiots throwing themselves to the fire? Because they didn't know? Please! As long as general students attend classes, they were able to leave as they wanted to. At least this much I knew, I saw a lot of people wearing the same clothes as we passed the city.

"Anyway, for magus sphere's who aren't able to leave, would mean that they are valuable assets of Alkmard, and yet they aren't truly under the control of Alkmard's ruler, me, at all." She didn't even deny being the ruler. Who knows, maybe her father was actually a tyrant himself, it would be easy to cull the bad rumours for a man like him. In fact, even to him, rumours might not even matter.

"In fact, some of the more idiotic ones are trying to go against me. This whole place is my property, and they want to boss me around. I really want to cull the whole lot of 'em, but then, not all of them are bad. I still have things for them to do and most importantly, Alkmard would no longer be an academy without 'Magus Sphere'. So it can truly be considered an association of mages, an important one. Though only a few students join every year, half of all the teachers are members of it."

"And that brings me to why I brought you here. I want you to deal with 'Magus Sphere' for me. But not to destroy it whole, just keep them in check and to tell them who's boss so that they won't forget."

"Couldn't you just do that yourself? I'm sure there's not much that an Ol... I mean the Witch of Calamity can't do."

"Of course I can, it would be quite easy to do so too. But where would the fun of doing that be? And even if I were to do it, you're still not off the hook, that's only one of the reasons why I called you here. I also need you to take care of other things like the safety of the students, hunting magical beasts, basically, they all involve hard labour, so you're going to be quite the hard-worker during the time you're here."

"Though I can't tell you the main reason yet, because that would be spoiling the fun."

Seriously, she was a grown Old Hag, one shouldn't be fooled by her appearance, but here she was going fun this fun that like a little girl. Speaking of girls, where was Eville?

"So welcome to Alkmard, little Ashwaal. I hope you enjoy your stay here. You should deal with the 'Magus Sphere' problem as you please."

*Whew* I could finally leave the room, I didn't want to spend a minute longer here. Like I said, my instincts were 'trained' ones, that came through repetition or in other words, 'experience' and they were still screaming 'danger', sensing the danger coming from her. Why the hell did she have to threaten me back when she first came to call me?

As I stood up she just had to add in her final words, I really wish I didn't hear them,

"And if you ever try to run away, take a look at these for a moment." she pulled out some old black letters from her desk. I counted around a dozen or so. Though they were stained and rusted even, the most catching thing was that they were signed 'MurkVeil' in the centre. This was the part that didn't fade nor was stained.

"These are promissory notes that your ancestor signed, he lost bets against my father so the condition imposed, by his own words, was ' As long as my blood flows in them, then they would be forced to do your bidding'. So aren't I such a nice person, being so lenient on you?"

Yes, yes, you are definitely such a nice person. And since you're so nice, can't you just let me go?

"I won't use them, you can be sure, there's no fun in slave driving. But they still give me every right to threaten you."

Now I wish she would just use those notes and get this over with. Just my luck that I was stuck with such a witch. Some people would be lucky if they were 'stuck' with a world-class beauty or something. To me, she was a witch, and her beauty couldn't hide that. She might have given me Wiccaphobia already, and that was from a 'first meeting'.

"So go have fun with your life here. Someone should be outside to take care of you if you have any questions ask them about it. Now off you go, its already time for my nap."

And right at that moment the windows of the room, to my left, were closed by themselves and the lights went dim. It really was time for her nap, it was even synced to her biological clock.

This wasn't our first meeting and introductions weren't needed. I seriously had to thank her for this. If she wasn't all 'to the point' or 'just business' with me then I might've pissed my pants. Maybe someday I would be able to normally converse with her. But that time was not right now, nor would it come so soon.

I went out the door, and the fresh air of the outside never felt so better than this. It really was a blessing to have lived through that ordeal.

To be honest, I would rather fight with an unending horde of monsters and magical beasts than face that woman in her anger. And she was yet again, another eccentric one.