7 Chapter 3 (1/5) - The Grudge that falls on me.

She came back with a map, a blue card and a black book. Maybe it would resemble outer-space if it had stars too, at least in images. Of course, humans had thoughts about other worlds too and also discovered about outer space. In fact, humans were the later ones to discover it amongst the higher races.

"These are the things that you always need to keep on you when you're in Alkmard. The uniform even has special pouches for them."

So it did, on the inner side of my navy-blue blazer were these so-called pouches.

"What are these for?"

The blue card immediately disappeared when I touched it.

"That's the student academic card. It was given out on the entrance day for 1st years, though you missed out on that."

Yes, I did, and that was the day that I was freely treading through the forest.

You'll use it till you graduate. It didn't actually disappear, just merged with your coat, tie or chest even. You just need to think of it, that you want to bring it out or summon it to get it to appear."

So it did. Disappear, reappear, disappear, reappear..... Leaving blue dust as it did so, it was quite addictive.

"Ehem! You're not a child anymore are you little Ashwaal? Please, listen for a moment."

"Senpai, should you really be saying that?"

"Continuing on, the card signifies your identity. Without it, you can't be considered a student of Alkmard, but with how it activates and all it pretty much won't get stolen or lost, you can be sure of that. Since it's maintained by the academy, then you don't have to worry about it being destroyed or broken. In fact, even I don't know what its made of. Just that it remains dysfunctional outside Alkmard."

"You'll use it for a whole lot of things like entering restricted areas, fund transfers, using machinery...."

She listed out a whole lot of things but.....

"Senpai what do you mean by fund transfers?"

"Is that the only part you got?"

I could only respond by nodding my head.

"*Haah*, well, unless you're a blockhead you'll understand those sooner or later."

"As for your question, money or funds, that is, mana dust or stones which are used in the outside world aren't used here in Alkmard. In fact, even bringing them here would be a waste of time and space. All transactions regarding funds are done through these cards. Here let me show you how. Take out your card."

She also took out hers and held it next to mine.

"Now think 'transfer 500 mana stones' as you hold it over my card."

I did as asked and there was a blue flash for a moment, then it disappeared. It was the cards that shone for a moment.

"But nothing changed? Is it supposed to be like this,"

"No, it went right. It's just that you don't have any funds in your card. You can see it by thinking 'show funds', it'll appear on the card."

And then with a thought, numbers appeared on my card. A ten digit number in fact.

Sadly, they were all zeros. Oh wait, there was 15 after the dot so it was 12 digits with two after the dot. So all together I had 0000000000.15 mana stones worth of mana with me.

In fact, that was better than before. It was a whole 0.15 mana stones more than I ever had. I didn't even have any such mana stones for the past years that I lived in that hut. Yes, young Ashwaal here was a full-fledged magician that didn't use any mana stones to learn magic.

As the name suggests, it was basically a stone that contained mana. The difference being it was 'pure' mana that didn't belong to a specific person or thing. That made it easily absorbable or useable by all. Mana stones were generally world produced and only a few were able to make their own. Of course, the Old Hag was already past that level.

In other words, the transaction couldn't happen because I was broke. It felt like I could hear the card screeching 'error' or 'insufficient funds' in my mind.

"That's strange, 1st years should get around at least 500 mana stones when they receive the card." Was it really doubtfully that someone like me was poverty stricken? I felt it was only natural, even this 'bad luck' felt natural.

"Oh, right! Since this is a new card I got from the panel, though your confidentials and all were transferred, it seems the funds were refunded on the old card you were supposed to receive because you weren't here that time. Wait, why are you actually quite happy about this?"

"Well, senpai, I had 0.15 more magic stones that I ever did before..."

*Haah,"As long as you're happy..."

"But you're going to need the funds to live here, literally. Even your daily needs that you need to buy from the shops will need funds. By the way, the lowest price that I can name right now is for a milk bottle, and that's 5 magic stones. So right now, you don't even have enough to buy sawdust. Of course, things like water, electricity and all will be provided free of charge. But even that is as long as you find a lodging. Not to worry about that though, the Principal chose you a place. And trust me, you'll like it."

Didn't matter, either way, I could go days without eating with this body of mine. As a last resort, I could also use mana as a replacement for food, though I probably wouldn't last lost without mana poisoning. Mana couldn't be 'digested' that way after all.

But that last part having Principal, would it be a normal place?

"So senpai, how do I get more of these?"

"It's easy you just have to do jobs or missions and you'll get rewarded. You can also sell items and get them from transactions and also for doing things for people. Maybe you could get into the production fields. They really good ones are all loaded." And now there was a glint in her eyes. Was she thinking of ways to exploit me or them? I couldn't stop her even if I wanted to.

"Here, little Ashwaal, let me send you your entrance funds since the panel won't provide you with any."

She placed her card on my hand, and they shone, for a short while. I checked my card and saw it now had the number 500 on it when I thought 'show funds'.

"Now little Ashwaal, don't forget this 'little' gift from your senpai, okay? Maybe someday you'll replay me, and I'm not going to be greedy, just 50000 magic stones would be fine, of course, you can pay in terms of items too."

"How could I ever bear to trouble senpai like this? Please, senpai, I can't accept your gift." Seriously, this was chaining me without even signing a contract. How would I even dare not repay her if I actually 'accepted' her gift?

"Oh, by the way, little Ashwaal, you need to pay for your new place. Though you only need to pay once, if I'm not wrong it was 100 for a room plus a hundred for each room that you have if you get a flat. The authorities are really cruel, if you can't pay for it then they might just throw you out. Its really lucky that you won't have to sleep on the road, and they say that some 'things' come and rob you at night."

"....." Speechless, I could only silently accept her 'deal'. Sleeping on the floor really wasn't for me. Besides I...

"And I'm not saying you have to pay me back so quickly. Just think of it as owing me a favour."

I'm sorry but I really didn't feel like owing people 50000 magic stones as a favour.

"Now, to the other things. The map won't need much explanation. You do know how to read, right? Little Ashwaal?"

"Senpai, why are you even asking me that? Of course, I can read." Really, I just couldn't understand. Father Koft told me how to read and write, loud and clear. Every word that I was pronounced or written wrong would get me another hit on the back. He only used paper, same as what the words that I read were written on, yet in his hands was even more hurtful than a stick.

As I was thinking back, I felt a sensation on my back, like the pain I felt in the past was kicking in. But no, what I felt now wasn't pain, it was my instincts kicking in.

"You can't blame me for not believing you, the Principal herself said that you hadn't gone to any learning institutes before. She said that you were too violent that no one would teach you."

"She said what!? Please, senpai, don't believe the lies of that Old ha... I mean the Principal so easily!"

"Then did she lie?"

"She...."

I couldn't refute her, because I couldn't refute that what she just said might have been true.

Institute? I hadn't even heard of them back when Father Koft was teaching me, as for me being violent, I guess beating up those kids that were asking for it was counted. Of course, I was never one to seek trouble, but I didn't run from the minuscule ones.

"Continuing on, the black book is the standard 'Alkmard Students Book'. Its where all the rules of the school are written. In fact, anyone would hardly remember they even had one. You'll understand if you open it."

So I did, I flipped the cover and saw that the black pages of the book. It honestly felt like I was staring at outer space. How did I know what outer space looked like? We'll leave that for later.

More importantly, the 'rulebook' had nothing written inside it. From the start to the end, I didn't see anything as I skimmed through the pages.

"See that? Nothing's written inside it. It's the Principals way of saying that Alkmard should be able to deal with its own matters without her doing everything for us. As a personal opinion, I also think this is more beneficial for us."

'Of course, you would. You not only look like her but you also think like her'. I really wanted to say that out loud. Yeah, that's right, I had to ask, just couldn't keep it in anymore. Being 'rude' wasn't enough to keep me from asking. But why not just 'not' make the book anyway then?

"Senpai, could I ask you a question?"

"Oh my! My little junior is actually going to ask her senpai about this. I don't know whether I should..." Was she joking or was she serious? The blush was even creeping up on her face. I think it's safer to assume that she's serious.

"Senpai, please remove the thoughts that are running through your head right now."

"Oh, okay then..." Why was she even dejected?

"Senpai its about you and the Pri...."

As we were speaking, a strong wind suddenly blew, strong enough to actually blow the leaves on the trees to the ground. Now they were scattered on the paved tiles all around.

The skirt the little Principal... I mean Hikari-senpai was wearing was also 'almost' blown up by the wind. She quickly held it tightly, for fear that it would fly up.

Were gales this common here at Alkmard? No, maybe they weren't, at the very least, not gales like this one. What was so different about it? It brought a change in the atmosphere. The place we're at right now seemed to get colder by a few degrees. The sun just didn't look as bright and lively as it did before. Something just didn't feel right.

"Not just feel. Something 'IS' not right." It was enough for me to speculate.

"Little Ashwaal, what's not right? Don't tell me you're not feeling alright?"

She extended her hand and touched my forehead. Though I could already guess it wouldn't feel any different, I wasn't sick or anything after all.

"Uh, senpai, I just remembered something that the Principal told me to do. Could you tell me where my room is at so that I can go later?"

"Does it have to be now? We're just a few blocks away."

"Well, senpai, you know how the Principal can be." For some reason, I was sure that this would be good enough to persuade her.

"Okay then. From here, its three blocks south-west, just next to the tall building. You'll recognise it when you see it."

"Thanks, senpai. I'm sorry for all the trouble. But I still need you to show me around so where can I find you after I'm done moving in?"

"You can find me at the front of your place."

"Eh!?"

"That means do what you have to do quickly since I'll be waiting for you at the front of your new place. I'm not about to let my junior do all the work himself while his senpai slacks off." No, I think you would do exactly that.

"If you say no then I'll come with you now, and I can guess you don't want that right?"

Being seen through, I could only silently nod.

"Now go, but be there soon. If you take too long I'll come to drag you myself."

I left heading east. Though there were buildings here and there, the path was only wide enough for around ten people to walk side by side. That was in a sense wide, but not wide enough for me right now.

I could see another small square, though not as large as the one I had been at in the other plane, it was still wide enough to suffice. Maybe a small town could even use it as their central square, though here at Alkmard it was just a small square, that wasn't even square but more or less circular.

"This place should be far and wide enough." I stopped at the centre facing the roof of the buildings,

Be it east, west, north or south, there were figures on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Who were they? I couldn't recognise them. The sun was blurring my vision, I could make out their figures, but not their features. Maybe except for the really eye-catching ones.

"Is that an actual humanoid-gorilla? I thought they all evolved to humans in the end."

There was one such figure on the roof east to me. A person with a tall stature was standing there. Even his figure, blurred by the sunlight on my eyes, still looked like one that a gorilla would have. The difference is that I could barely make out his human face.

"You want a fight, bastard? I could crush you like a puny insect if I wanted to right now!"

"Now, now, if you really did do that then we wouldn't need to be here would we?" The reply came from the person standing beside him.

This person had white hair flowing from his head to his back. His voice, that of a male, was cut and clear. This darn sunlight was really hateful, I couldn't see his face properly, in fact, from here his dress looked black. He was also quite tall, might be an adult. He was as tall as the shoulder of the humanoid-gorilla next to him.

"Forgive us for our bad reception, we didn't know when you were arriving, you have our sincerest apologies for this." He gave a quick bow and stood back up,

"Welcome Ashwaal, we have been expecting you. It seems the rumours were true, the outcast really does take the looks of his ancestor. I saw your ancestor, old MurkVeil himself once. Though it was only an image you really do look like the spitting image of him. Just lacking the authority radiating from him but that should be easy in the future."

"You can call me Lay-laff, we'll be seeing each other quite a lot in the future. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

His laughter, though not loud, was clear to my ears. It rang out through the square. This was my first meeting with this 'white-haired craze' whom I felt I would meet a lot in the future. He said it himself, didn't he?