Preparations (Part 2)

Preparations (Part 2)

In the end, I was told by Master that she registered my name as a student and had rushed into making my uniform.

"Master, I at least don't want to be in the honors class." Disclosing this condition is a priority. The fact is, I'm not sure if I would actively participate in the events of the academy.

I have a mission.

The earlier I handle it, the better it should be.

After the events of that dinner I checked the newly synchronized mana system in my brain core.

[Mana System]

[New Content Menu]

[Mission]

[Ribbons List (0/10)]

[Important Events in History (5)]

This was the definitely the gift from the Cromwell Lady… Information about this timeline that only the future knows.

The list of Ribbons were nine empty slots but two were already glowing. That kinda freaks me out.

Does that mean I've already met one without realizing it? I probably have to reveal or hear it from them before this list would show me their details, huh.

"You're not in the honors class. You're coming with me in the regulars." Lady Lilith explained as we were getting our measurements.

"What? Master, you should be in the honors class." I forgot about her. Lady Polisha had an indifferent face. Her long peach hair was tied on top of her head.

"Polly, I can't study well if people would fawn over me."

"You're going in with a different identity and disguise, so why not do it in the honors class?" Lady Polisha tried to reason with master again.

It seems I'm not the only one who calls her master.

"Lady Polisha should be more concerned about her studies than me." Lady Lilith gave her a strict look with a smile on her face.

She really does resemble that Cromwell Lady.

Her face returned to their usual expressionless glint and turned to me. "As I've said before the two of us will be enrolling in the regulars classes."

I could definitely feel Lady Polisha unbothered face yet glaring eyes at me. I'll just ignore that.

"The regulars division are divided into three. The Magic Division, students focus on developing and controlling their mana. Some others focus on developing their bloodline magic here, or creating reports of already existing advanced formulas." The store manager who closed his shop for us pulled out a uniform with a green collar as soon as Lady Lilith finished talking, "They're students with green collars."

"The next one is the department of Magic-Technology, it's technically the integration of magic and technology. Blacksmith naturally and imbue it with magic, development of physical materials with the aid of magic is in here too. They focus on field work than lectures." The manager showed another uniform with a red collar.

"Students with red collars as you can see." She added.

I nodded as she continued, "Lastly, the Technology Department, which focuses on every aspect of studying the system such as equipment creation with only mana, differentiating old and making new magic formulas, experimentation and others." The store manager pulled another uniform with a blue collar.

"The technology department is where we're enrolled. Blue collars. Are you fine with that?"

"Yes, master." I nodded. To be honest it fits me well.

"Students in our class are usually stuck in laboratories. It's a specialized room for three people with large cubicles made of barriers and a special artifact that absorbs mana from a burst."

I scanned the uniforms again. It was divided into a top and skirt/slacks. The top were a white short-sleeve soft fabric with a strand of color based on their department and level.

The bottoms were both a mixed checkered of black and white, and also mixed with strands of their respected department color.

"How about the honors class?"

"Well the honors class has those same departments, but in the first place, there are only a low amount of individuals from high-ranking families who attend in the academy. They have a separate building away from the regulars."

"They're overall top are the same color of their departments, the collar only have a strand of white line for their years. Their lower clothing are the same as ours." Lady Lilith continued.

"They can also choose if they want short-sleeves or not, but all of them chose the long-sleeves ones. It looks cool, right?" The store owner explained this time and showed me the three varieties of uniforms.

"It does look amazing." I nodded at her and smiled.

"Since we're done I'll go back to the office. You two finish what you went to the square for." Lady Lilith walked away while answering a call from a cheerful and feminine sounding voice on the other line.

I sighed and said goodbye to the store owner too.

As soon as I turned around however, pair of wild yellow eyes focused on me. "We've met before at the banquet but… I'll introduce myself again, I'm Polisha Guisen." Was what she said.

"I can't deny that the show you did at the banquet was good but I still don't know why master picked you up." Then she walked out.

The store owner behind me looked at me awkwardly. I was the same.

The emotion Lady Polisha had conveyed weren't mere hostility, it was competition. She wanted to assess and prove that she was a better disciple for Lady Lilith.

She's cute being like that.

I walked out the store. My stomach tickled as if a laugh wanted to burst out in the open but I held back.

As if I had time to prove myself to others, I have a mission to focus on.

It was midday and there were already quite the number of people in the square.

Where should I look? Hmmm.

[Important Events in History]

I sat down on a nearby café and ordered lunch then scrolled through the details on the system.

Hmmm. There were five important events but the earlier ones were due next year.

'What to do…?'

*****

"Have you set up the bombs?"

"Yes, sir."

Two cloaked people were standing in an alleyway, observing at least twenty meters away from a café and to the rose-gold-haired girl who looked bored staring in the air.

"Is this really necessary just to test her?" The male subordinate asked his senior.

"The boss said that it was needed. We can't let someone who just popped out become an obstacle."

"Did Sir really say that? I don't think he's the type to just blow up a café?"

"It was an order from the first. How can he say no? Really, he's so weak for that woman. Let's start, I wanna go home already."

"Hey you! Serve this to that lady, tell her it's on the house or something." The senior yelled and the server from that same café was trembling as he held on two boxes of cake.

"Ye-yes, sir."

"That server is a born-actor. Should we recruit that guy?"

The server was already near the lady and as she felt the presence coming over, she turned to the server.

****

"Ma'am, these are for you. A gentleman had left us a note to deliver an apple cake and butter cake for you." A server who came from a different direction to the café smiled at me.

"Are you from a different shop?"

"No, Ma'am. I'm from this café." He smiled. He had a handsome glint in his face where his blond locks fell on.

For some reason he felt weird. I didn't know how to point it out either. He came from a different direction and told me someone order something for me.

I placed my hand on the cake box he placed on the table. "You don't have to pay for it since the person who ordered this had already done so. Have you finished ordering?"

The blond server stayed, smiling and standing next to my table. I ignored him for a bit and focused on my check.

There was an unstable mana coming out from the box.

I didn't want to suspect about every little detail of this timeline but it was definitely suspicious.

Seeing the server's actions, he doesn't seem to know about the nature of what he had given me.

The uneasiness continued. The box now had a distinct beating from inside, faintly.

"Miss?" He tried to ask for my order again.

"Ah no, I just ordered." I answered and the beating turned into fast beeping noises. "What is this?"

As soon as I finished that question I frowned. My spine tingled at the feeling of the large mana inside the box. The server feel on the floor when I pushed him away.

Damn it!

"Everyone! Get away!!!" I yelled. The people who could feel the surge of mana coming from the box where already running away and screaming.

In just a few seconds this box would explode and the entire café area would be damaged.

[Dust Road]

I opened the box and poured the spell on the two mana bombs on the table. Fuck.

It wasn't enough.

I was able to crumble into stone the other mana bomb but there was still one more.

"Shit!" I cursed aloud and realized that the server was still trembling behind me. "Idiot!" I swore again.

I don't have enough time to crumble the other bomb. I might handle the explosion, but this server couldn't. Damn!

[Gravity Manipulation]

My movements became lighter as the gravity restriction on me lessened. My hands instantly gripped towards the server's arm and dragged him as I ran.

"It's gonna explode!" The server screamed as he was flailing pathetically next to me.

I scanned my surroundings. There were still a few people who couldn't get away. Then I saw two cloaked people staring at me. "Fuckers!" I bellowed at them and I heard the loud beeping noises stop.

[Barrier]

The bomb exploded. It blinded me for a few minutes before finally seeing the damage. It took a chunk of the café and a nearby business area.

I panted. That was nerve-wracking.

Some areas were burning and the people who got a grip first were already using water spells on it.

I've experienced being assassinated before but this was on a different level. The difference of a simple bomb and mana bomb were massive.

The mana bomb left a fire residue while taking out buildings cleanly. I don't even know if some people got caught up in that, but it seems unlikely so.

Guess it was a good thing that I laid out a barrier on the bomb at the last millisecond.

I finally let go of the server. "Hey. Contact the authorities."

He finally got his sanity back. "Ah! Yes! I'll call MTA right away!" He fiddled for his pocket and started conversing with someone using the artifact.

I lowered my gravity level to the point that I was barely touching the ground and ran over to the alleyway I've seen cloaked men watching me.

After searching over a few alleys more, I finally found them and they ran as soon as they saw me. "Shit." One of them cursed.

When they turned their backs on me, I instantly activated gravity manipulation on them.

'I definitely hope this works!'

The magic circle on the ground activated when they entered it, the gravity was higher inside and slamming them down to the ground in an instant.

Phew.

"You bastards really made me chase you over." I huffed at them while they looked up to me. "Now… who sent you?" I smiled at them, increasing the gravity force.

After I heard a few bones breaking, the older one reached out his hands and fired a needle through his sleeve. I moved my head to the left to avoid the needle but as soon as I did that, I felt an attack to my right and immediately turned my body over.

What the hell. I didn't sense her.

"Hihihihi! You're quick!" The kid laughed. Messy blonde curly hair covered her face, but the grin was visible. "I don't think I'm weak though?" A childish voice cooed.

"Sa-save… cough! Ugh!" The men behind me were still being crushed by the gravity.

"Hihihihi! I'm not here to save you, silly silly!" She attacked me with another dagger on her other hand. Tsk. She was a little bit smaller than me, but it didn't matter to her. Her snake-like arms continued to bombard me with attacks.

At this rate, I might go into havoc phase again.

"You're soooooooo quiet, Miss! What'chu planning in that brain of yours?" She continued attacking me, light but quick movements pushed me back far from the men.

Her long blonde hair was following her movements well. Damn it. She's not even using magic yet. "It's none of your business." I retorted at her and smirked.

She pushed her head back slightly and laughed, "But but but! Kiki wants to know!!!" She yelled and tackled me.

Fuck. [Inferno]

I held her down when we fell to the ground and large magic circles surrounded us. I'll try to survive this.

"What?! Miss, you're really crazy!" Her grin faltered as she tried getting up from me.

This is really taking a lot out of me. As I could see from ahead of us the two cloaked men were still trapped under the magic albeit being able to move slightly already.

And now I had activated another high-level spell. What am I to do if I get drained? Well whatever. This place is abundant with mana so I'll take some for myself.

As I thought so, the inferno's magic circles increased in number and size.

[Barrier]

[Barrier]

[Barrier]

[Barrier]

I focused hard not to lose my shit this time and activated barriers around us. This shouldn't damage the park any more lest I'll be made out of the criminal who bombed the kingdom.

"Let go of Kiki!!! Let go!" She punched me in the face.

"Are you part of ribbon?!" I gave up on acting clueless and frowned at her. My hand which had gripped her tightly immediately took a swing at her.

I really don't like fighting but what am I supposed to do if violence was coming for me?

Even though she looks like a kid, who cares at this point? She seemed much dangerous than what I'm used to. Plus, the civil war had used human bombs too.

"Ugh..!" She groaned at the blow on her nose.

I waited for the barrage of the spell but it didn't happen. "Hihihi! Did you think I was the only one?" An arm held me up and every muscle in my body refused to move.

"Is she the one?" A deep low voice of a man quietly whispered while staring at me.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.'

What the hell is this magic?

The man's green hair was spiked upwards and bored amber eyes stabbed at me. Piercings were all over his ears.

"Hihihi! Yes! She's the new Obiel. She looks pretty sturdy, no?" The kid laughed again.

"By the way, this lady knows our identity…?" she added.

The guy finally let go of me but I still couldn't move.

"Did you know her?"

She shook her head in response. "No no. This is the first Kiki meets her. But I mean… She knows about Ribbon. What to do… Zav?"

It was fortunate that by the way she talked, it confirmed at least the existence of the group Ribbon but… my condition is not good to say 'fortunate'.

Damn. I wasn't feeling any pressure or anything so what was this, I couldn't move nor retort anything at them.

The man named Zav sighed and combed his green spiky hair. "I think you'd like to ask what I did but unfortunately, I can't answer you. Mercenaries don't share their secrets." He dropped a cigarette in front of me, barely missing my leg.

Damn it. I couldn't talk at all. I was already trying to create spells since earlier but nothing worked.

"Let's just ignore her. In any case, Ribbon wasn't established for just criminals, so it wouldn't hurt us either way. We have other members whose only better than average at magic."

"You're really no fun, Mr. Second. Should we bring her to the first?" The child named Kiki stopped smiling, her face remained to be a mystery.

The chiseled man turned around and collected the passed out cloaked men. "No. The first already sent watchers to report to her. I'm just here to collect my scouts."

The blonde child pouted and crossed her arms to her chest. Her hands which held each dagger moved under her dress and clipped it back to where it was hidden.

"See you next time, Miss." The child cooed and left with the man.

It didn't take long for me to hear voices coming from down the alley. "I saw her run over this alley!" The voice of the server I left earlier was reverberating down the area.

Soon after, steps of various people were heard.

According to the server they were MTA, Magic-Technology Authorities, which handles the aftereffects of crimes relating to mana.

"What happened? Wait, let's move her to hospital now! Move!" The agent who seemed like the boss yelled and my poor damaged body was placed on a stretcher.

"He-hey…" Ah! I could finally talk. "I ca-can't move… How is this so?"

They rushed me to a teleportation gate and the server still continued to wait beside me, he answered "Ah. It seems like you've exhausted your heart mana".

Damn it.

The server smiled at me. What the…? His smile looked ominous and the way he looked down at me on the stretcher was giving me the creeps.

"Please stay here sir." Fortunately, the agent from earlier stopped the blonde server from approaching as we got inside a hospital or something that seemed like it.

It had white walls but some were glassed, the ceiling was also white and there were staff all over the place wearing 'nurse' outfits. Ah, new word.

"Leave it to me." A female doctor wearing a white coat entered my view. Her thick-lensed glasses had covered almost half her face but the one thing that stuck to me was her short blue hair that bounced around, barely hitting her shoulders. "Can you answer some questions for me? You can just close your eye twice if you can't say anything."

"No… I can speak fine. The questions?" I replied.

She smiled at me, "Very well. Name?" We finally reached a closed off area filled with machines.

According to my acquired knowledge, these were mana recuperating machine. These are connected to the sacred tree's roots from underground.

Since the Sacred Tree was abundant with mana, it was fine to do this… probably.

If the people in this era, which were much advanced than we were, thought it would be okay then it'll definitely be fine.

"Tabitha…"

The nurses skillfully set up the machines and connected the suction-looking tubes on my skin. "Age?"

"16."

"Also if you can, can you tell me who did this to you? As short as possible."

At that moment, gentle mana enthralled my senses and caused me to relax. What a soft mana.

It's making me feel sleepy.

The blue haired doctor was trying to speak but I couldn't hear her any longer. Drowsiness was taking me away from reality.

Wait, what was her question?

Ah, right.

"Enemies… Ri-Ribbon…"

And I passed out.