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

In the dimly lit room, I was now the only one inside it. The curtains where I had placed them a long time back, the bookshelf with those books that father gave me on my birthdays. Anyway, it was time to take a noon nap. I stood up from the chair and stretched. These 'things' of mine really added to my weight. Women didn't like being called 'fat' or 'heavy', and of course, that applied to me too.

A bed that wasn't there before appeared at the back of the room, just near the empty wall.

I laid down on the bed. It really was exhausting being the Principal of a school, especially one like Alkmard, there were really too many people who wanted a piece of the pie and were willing to cause trouble, again and again, every chance they had for a piece.

"I really want to deal with all of them at once," I would have done so too if it weren't for father telling me that I couldn't just do as I please and had to think about others too. Honestly, this was the part that made it exhausting. But even if I was defiant or maybe sly at times, or even when I schemed, I still couldn't bring myself to disobey father, he just meant that much to me, even after his death. That father who could only be kind to me and no one else.

But I don't understand the words he last said before he left,

"What do you mean, father? I don't understand at all."

I could still remember the words that he left me like he was speaking to me right now. The tone of his voice, its pitches, saying, "Take care of little Ashwaal, I really do owe him a lot, because of his ancestor and also, for everything he will do. One day if you do meet him, then be there to support him, okay, little girl? I know you won't understand now but you will soon, as long as you wait."

"I really wish you were here with me, just like the other times, and explain it to me little by little, word by word. That even someone like me would be able to understand. But don't worry, your little girl definitely won't let you down, I'll definitely take care of little Ashwaal and Alkmard as well."

I closed my eyes and dozed off, in my dreams I could still see him, my father. His awful smirk and his howling laughter as he faced the world. Thinking back, he really was bad at smiling, so he tried to make up for it by laughing as loud as he could.

It really would get on my nerves. But now, I really wished I could hear him laughing, as loud as he could. Wished, that he was right there smiling at me. His laughter still echoed out to every corner of my dream. It really was a nice dream, sometimes I wish it would last forever.

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What I saw was the sight of the city, I was standing at a place high up, looking down upon the houses and uh, giant buildings, not the inside of the castle that I expected. I turned around and saw a classic witch's hut, it looked like a simple house that people had a long time back, while they still made houses with wood and hay.

It, however, was definitely made with strange materials, take white jadewood for example. Even now, all the big groups back at the other side we scrounging for it.

One thing was for sure, the Old Hag was loaded.

"I was surprised too when I first met the Principal, but that's just the way she is." The voice of a girl cleared my confusion.

I saw a girl with black hair falling down her shoulders, she seemed really similar to the Ol Ha... I mean the Principal. the only thing different was that she had much purer pupils, might have been mistaken to be white even, but there was still that tint of grey that gave it a misty look. She was a head shorter than the Old Hag, whom, the last time I met her, was taller than me by a few inches.

Was she the Old Hag's little sister?

Hardly. She was wearing a students uniform so she couldn't be the old hag's sister. And I had never heard of Alkmard's blood being passed down to anyone else. He was a truly special case, his blood was still passed to his only daughter while other people's descendants would have been wiped with time about now. Well, with such a strong father, the daughter just couldn't be weak, but did she really have to be this competent?

The schools uniform included a white shirt with a navy blue tie and grey-white pants or skirts for women, black shoes and a navy-blue blazer that matched the tie. There was the school's insignia or crest on the upper left of the blazer and on the tie.

She had a badge on her tie, I hadn't seen it on anyone else yet. I wonder what it was. It was coloured black and was probably an insignia of Alkmard. The academy's insignia was taken after the old man himself. It was a white peach blossom with 5 petals.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Hikari Westford. You can call me Hikari senpai since I'm a second year right now."

"Senpai? Year?" I was baffled, the Old Hag threw me in a place that I didn't know anything about.

Second year? Did that mean she was one year older than me here? And did she just say Hikari Westford?

"So you really don't know anything at all huh." She took in a deep breath and... I'm sorry, but am I really that troublesome? Last time I checked, that was just now, I was the one being forced to be here, being troubled.

"Not to worry, just listen carefully as I explain,"

"In Alkmard, the tradition is for juniors to call their seniors 'senpai', a tradition passed down by the Founder, Alkmard himself, continued to this day."

"As for years, they basically mean the year that a person is studying inside Alkmard. For example, as a second year, it means this is my second year here in Alkmard. And you'll also be a second year, next year while I'll be a third year and so on."

Finally a clear-cut explanation about something. I couldn't thank her enough. But having the principal's face was really a good feature for intimidation, or maybe was it only me who thought that? No, I'm sure there are others who have been traumatised too.

"Yes, uh, Miss Hi..."

"Hikari-senpai!"

"Ah! Yes, Hikari senpai!" It's just the word 'senpai', why did she care so much about it? Was it like I was calling her old if I didn't add 'senpai'?

"Then Hikari-senpai, you just said your name was Hikari Westford, right?"

"Yes, that's right. Why do you ask?"

"Then is Westford a 'conferred' household?"

"No, its something I got from my father's side. A 'conferred' household would mean a second name that was granted by the king or queen of the west, something like a title. But no, mine is because I took my father's last name but still had 'Hikari' as my first name because my mother insisted."

Or more importantly, she was a mixed blood. There was a clear differentiation between the west and the east in this world. And these 'unlucky' mixed bloods would have a hard time fitting in the east or the west. Most of them would resort to the easiest option, that was just not fitting at all, they formed clusters in the middle. Alkmard was far from it.

Point that out? I'm sorry but that would be rude. Well, not that I would care anyway.

"Then senpai, is this supposed to be the Principal's Castle?"

"In a sense yes, you must be asking because you saw a big castle here from afar right?"

I nodded my head.

"Well that's because the castle exists in the other plane, that is, in Alkmard City, in the part covered by the mist. You should remember seeing the mist beyond the bridges. This is actually because what is within the mist is extremely essential to Alkmard."

"The principal draws in mana from Omera through that castle. It could be said to be where the Principal gets her stocks of mana. She directly transfers the mana to this place and thus there would be the shadow of a castle in place of this hill from afar. By the way, the dark colour of the castle is because of the nature of her magic."

That I knew, I had tasted her 'dark' magic personally and trust me, it hurt like hell. As for why she was drawing mana from the other plane, that was because she might, no, would cause some problems if she absorbed the mana from here. One is that there would be no mana for the rest of us, another being that she would suck the mana so fast the expansion of the plane would slow down or even recede. But most importantly,

"She doesn't know what it might cause to Alkmard." It seems the old hag still had some moral sense in her.

"Huh? You were saying?"

"Uh, Hikari-senpai, why are you telling me all this. In fact, isn't this confidential material?"

"That uh....." Even she was at a loss for words. Seriously, I wish that people wouldn't tell me 'important' things when they 'weren't important. It only adds karma and then I end up getting entangled.

"Don't think that I just said that because I talk a lot or anything it's just....."

"There hasn't been anyone that the Principal valued so highly like you. So naturally, being a subject of interest of someone like the Principal, isn't it only natural that anyone's interest would be aroused?"

Isn't it just because you look so much like her and even share the same interests? Just what did the Old Hag do? Damn! If I was good at socializing with people then I'm sure I would have a way to ask but if I were to do that now then it would only be rude. Could I be blamed? Please spend 5 years in a hell-hole and try to socialise, let's see how you fare.

"Hikari-senpai, does that mean that we have to climb this 'hill' every time to meet the Principal?"

"Yes of course, why is little junior asking me that?"

"Doesn't the Principal ever go out of that hut?"

"I haven't seen her do that. Only at the start of the year for the 1st years, other than that I can't really say. Wait! Little junior hasn't even done an introduction on his part, that's bad manners,"

"Oh, right. I'm.."

"Ashwaal Murkveil. I already know, the Principal told me. I just wanted to say that."

She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled, don't tell me she was also another one that was amused by troubling me?

"Hikari senpai, just what did the Principal tell you?"

"Ashwaal MurkVeil, age 15, an outcast of the deceased MurkVeil family, lived with Father Koft in the Forest of Death, a forbidden zone, far west of Alkmard. The only known people to have survived there, or in this case, face no danger from the forest. At the age of 6 you...."

"Okay, okay, that would be enough, thank you for that senpai, but wait, doesn't that mean you know almost everything about me?" And also lived with Father Koft? Just Father Koft? Why did that part feel wrong?

"Yes I do my little junior, so you had best behave, I have a lot of blackmail material here." She covered her mouth as she giggled. For some reason, I felt that she wouldn't do what she said, even if I did something bad, something really bad.

"Now that I'm supposed to guide you, where should we go first little junior? Should we go visit those places like the Abstract Peak? What about the Wailing Beach?" There was a beach here?

"Senpai, as the guide, why don't you just pick for me?" I didn't know any places, so I couldn't be bothered to choose.

"Okay then! As your senpai, I'll be choosing...."

"Your new abode! So off we go to your new place. I'm sure it'll be a really nice place since the Principal chose it herself...Oh, right! That was supposed to be a secret" I did not need to hear that last part, would pretend that I didn't.

New abode? Well, I did need a place to stay, but I was more or less expecting to sleep under an abandoned shack or something. I couldn't help but get my hopes up from the way she said it.

She just dashed heading south-west. How did I know the direction? I remembered what the bridge we came from looked like and as that was the west bridge, the rest was simple.

But we were atop a tall hill, a very tall hill. Okay, make it a mountain. don't tell me she was going to jump off just like that? She would be crazy if she wasn't a wind mage or she..... could she?

"Senpai! Wait for me" I ran after her.

And just like I thought she just jumped off the cliff, but there was no movement of the wind magic around her. In other words, no wind magic. She wasn't a wind mage. So that could only mean that she was either even more not right in the head than I thought or...

"Weeee! Flying is the best" could fly using mana.

It wasn't a spell, but more or less just manipulation of mana in the body. One would control the mana and it would stay stationary in space for a really short while, enough to influence the body, thus weakening the effect of gravity by a while lot basically. In fact, you could actually fly if you were strong enough.

This was enough to be considered flying, but in the right since it was only gliding. The mana being stationary would not help you ascend or descend but would slow down gravity while still being slowly pulled by it. And even with this, it was a high-level skill. Most people wouldn't really care to learn it because they could 'fly' anyway, as long as they were talented and finally grew strong enough.

I jumped off too and glided just like her.

"Eh!? Little junior, you can fly too?"

"Senpai, if I couldn't and still followed you then wouldn't I have fallen straight down?"

"Um..." She put on an expression like she did nothing wrong. You almost killed someone here, please don't act like you didn't do anything even though you didn't.

We were gliding south-west, it would probably still take a long time to reach the place. Would we even reach the place gliding? It might not look like it but it was really taxing to glide like this. Though it was way more conservative than really 'flying', since it depended more on 'control' it was bound to exhaust us even if it didn't use much mana.

"Anyway senpai, could you please call me something else instead of little junior all the time?"

"Like what?"

"Ashwaal would be fine."

"Okay then, little Ashwaal it is."

"Senpai can't you just call me Ashwaal?"

"No, I can't as the senior I have a right to refer to you as my junior,"

"Senpai how old are you this year?"

"Little junior, don't you know it's rude to ask a woman their age?"

"Senpai?"

"Okay, then, I'm 15 this year."

"Then senpai, in what month of the rabbit were you born?"

"Mwf-fu-fu, Senpai-here is a rabbit born on March."

"Such a shame, I was born in February. I guess that makes me the older one."

"Nooooooo! I lost to a junior! Take that back you meanie Ashwaal!"

Meanie? You're the meanie calling me little, I'm like a head taller than you. Wait a sec, did I just grow in height?

"Here, take these and get dressed on the way, you meanie!" She suddenly threw out clothes from who knows where to me. A set of uniform with pants, was it supposed to be mine?

Shit! They weren't even flying towards me but floating up first. Changing while gliding from this height, I could only hope that I wouldn't plummet to the ground.

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I could feel the wind in my hair. Brushing through my face. It was really comfortable, with the wind blowing in a quiet breeze I could relax so easily, almost falling asleep.

Sleep while gliding? Is that even possible? How would I know? The number of times I actually 'slept' in the past 5 years could be counted with your fingers.

We were now on the ground, why? Well, someone played around too much and wasted all his/her energy.

By the way, that was me.

The playing around part was a remark by my really friendly senpai, who got mad that I was older than her. It was only a month at that.

Why the playing around remark? Well, to tell the truth, it was really hard to get dressed why I was falling down. It was amazing enough that I pulled it off and lived to tell the tale.

"Little Ashwaal is such a bore, getting exhausted so quick. The place is only a short distance away, we could have landed on the roof."

Easy for you to say, I'm not even healed by a third right now. It's amazing how I could actually walk. Wait! Couldn't the Principal easily patch me up!? That darn old hag, she literally knew almost all types of magic, where a normal mage would barely do it with, say, for example, an ice mage being able to use fire magic for cooking would be really talented. To her, 'talent' was making a sphere-bomb combined of all these different types of magic.

And for healing magic like plant magic, light magic, water magic, time magic, etc., maybe it was easier than making a pie. She could easily heal me. I could just picture her smiling with delight as she saw me struggling. It was enough to send me shivers.

"I'm sorry senpai but it's really hard for me to glide like you do, you can tell can't you?"

"I guess I can. Since you don't have much mana in your body it would undoubtedly require the level of control you need to glide to be much higher than anyone else. Isn't that right?" If you know then why did you still do that!?

"Yes, that's exactly right. Especially compared to geniuses like senpai."

"Wow! Little Ashwaal, don't tell me you're actually a playboy? At this rate, won't you be chasing skirts all around? Don't tell me you'll be chasing senpai here as well?" Though your looks actually support..."

The last part came off as a mumble that I couldn't exactly hear, but I felt that it would be rude to ask her about it.

I stared upward while sitting on a bench, resting my head. There was nothing obstructing my sight of the clear sky. We were in some place that was probably a non-building area, a park even. The streets were lined with trees in between, lamps hanging from their branches. The trees were thin but then had a lot of branches at the tip, so there were a lot of leaves. It was amazing that none of them was falling like the wind wasn't enough to make them fall.

"I'll go get a few things then since you can't move. Honestly little Aswaal, you need to get your body in shape, I'm sure you'll be very busy in the future. The people who the Principal personally 'employs' were always busy."

I knew that better than anyone except for the part where it concerned other people. Maybe she was being lenient and didn't use 'Worked to the bone'. I could just picture that scene. I dearly hoped it wouldn't happen to me, but she did 'imply' that I could take it easy, didn't she?

But she knew perfectly that my pride wouldn't allow me to do that.

"Eh? What's she doing?" She was touching this board made of meteoric-granite. Then a segment opened and she received some things from it.

To be honest, with that smirk on her face, I could only hope that she wasn't thinking of doing anything bad to me.