Aliens

Klein shook himself from his stupor, and glanced up towards Mr. Weathers who had flown over at the commotion.

"Hey old man, seems like their carriages explode!" Klein shouted, and then, thinking it wasn't enough, added "Wanna try and ride one?"

The veins on Mr. Weathers' forehead threatened to burst before he calmed himself down.

"What else?" Mr. Weathers asked.

"Tch... I mean, apparently, our new neighbors don't speak Common" Klein's click of the tongue did not go unnoticed at all. But rather than dwelling on it, Mr. Weathers had focused on the last thing Klein had said.

"Don't speak Common?" Mr. Weathers stroked his beard.

"Do you think we could try and invite some of them to the Academy? Using a mind-link spell here might make them think we're hostile, but we have other means to communicate, right?" Klein continued nonchalantly as he glanced up at a few windows overlooking the street.

Klein gestured towards one window, behind which was an elderly man. The window slowly opened as the man held some sort of hollow-tipped stick or staff in his hand. The old man spoke in his native tongue, cautiously pointing the hollow-tip down toward the people on the street.

"I'm sorry, old man, I don't understand alien" Klein shrugged, and then continued as he pointed to the artifact in the old man's hands "Is that a weapon? Truly fascinating..."

The elderly man continued shouting, clearly distressed by the state of everything around him.

Klein scratched the back of his head, then turned to Mr. Weathers, who was still flying in the sky.

It was only when he did so that the elderly man with the stick followed Klein's gaze. Not only him, but the others who were hiding in their buildings looking out at the commotion also did the same.

Once they saw a man flying in the sky, they wondered if they were dreaming.

But they had already witnessed two other miracles before this. Their homes being destroyed, and their limbs being healed. A flying man in the sky was no more of a surprise...

And yet, the elderly man was quick to point his stick at Weathers, and without warning, shot.

Bang!

Mr. Weathers was still stroking his beard as he felt a ripple on his shield. He glanced at it, seeing a piece of metal attempting to make its way through.

"That was quite powerful" Mr. Weathers muttered as he reached out to hold the metal piece. Had he not had his shield up, he could have been severely injured, or perhaps even dead.

The elderly man panicked and released another shot, missing his mark entirely this time.

"Hey old man, should we just bring this one with us? It's not like we can be polite in this situation, right? Who knows, they might have something that can finally kill you, hahaha" Klein laughed and mocked Weathers for being shot at, all the while, remaining completely aware and cautious of his surroundings.

"Hmm. Well, can't do much else. We'll probably need to learn their language at the very least in order to figure anything out." Mr. Weathers stroked his beard again as he fiddled with the metal piece in his hands.

'Float' Mr. Weathers cast a spell on the old man with the weapon, the latter floating out of his window towards where Mr. Weathers was.

The old man shouted and screamed, attempting to fiddle with his weapon before it floated away from him and into Mr. Weathers' hands.

'Curious...' Mr. Weathers thought as he ignored the desperate pleas and screams of the old man who was floating next to him.

"Brat, let's go back"

"No way, I still wanna expl-" Before Klein could complete his protest, he was hanging upside-down in the air behind the principal.

"Haa... not this again. Last time you did this, I almost died you know." Klein sighed resignedly as he stared down at the sky with his arms folded.

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By the time Klein and Mr. Weathers made it back to the Academy, the students and staff had mostly settled down. Before Mr. Weathers had left, he had simply made an academy-wide announcement instructing everyone to remain on Academy grounds within the scope of the shielding enchantment, and continue to conduct classes as usual.

"Ain't it kinda ridiculous?" Victor said as he stared at the tall concrete building that cast a shadow on the outdoor training grounds where they were currently undergoing classes.

Although the Academy building itself was mostly intact, the grounds outside were anything but. Broken concrete marred much of the pristine grass, metal wiring and pipes poking out irregularly.

And then, there were a few foreign people who were staring at them from a distance, just beyond the effect of the Academy shield, half-scared, half-bewildered.

Victor glanced at them, waving his hands in a friendly gesture.

A small child tentatively waved back.

"What's ridiculous?" Jane asked as she focused on casting the new spell that was demonstrated to them for the class.

"I mean, continuing the classes in this situation" Victor responded absentmindedly.

"And what is this situation?" Jane replied.

Victor paused and turned to her.

"... Huh, good point. There ain't much of a situation is there? it's just a new building crashing against the academy. Some rubble here and there, and some visitors. Nothing some nice tea and a spell or two can't fix -" Victor stopped himself as he looked up at the sky.

An enormous smoking metallic bird could be seen in the distance, quickly descending towards their location.

Jane, upon noticing Victor's silence, followed his gaze, and her pupils widened.

"What..."

The bird was approaching closer, nose-first, and it seemed a lot bigger now that it was moments away from crashing close to the academy.

'Freeze' Mr. Weathers had noticed the metal bird from afar, and he quickened his flight, making it in time to slow the creature as much as possible.

What fascinated the Grand Magus however, was that he was incapable of stopping it completely, no matter how much mana he consumed.

'Flight', 'float', 'slow' Weathers cast as many spells as he could and barely managed to direct the metal monstrosity away from the academy grounds, and allowed it to gently land on a relatively empty piece of land.

He descended along with an old man who had given up struggling, and an upside-down Klein.

"What's the situation here?" Mr. Weathers turned to the instructor of the combat class, Mr. Reid.

"Hmm... Well... As you saw?" Mr. Reid responded as he glanced at the foreigners who were now frightened out of their wits.

"So, principal, if you don't mind me asking, what are you planning to do with this situation?" Mr. Reid asked, eyes still locked on to the small crowd of gathering foreigners who had just seen a plane avoid an unavoidable crash.

"Well, aside from the important stuff, we have to learn to communicate first, don't you think?" Mr. Weathers responded as he pat the shoulder of the old man who was with him.

The old man shuddered, wondering if he was actually in some elaborate dream.

Klein dispelled his floating curse, and in a swift movement, righted himself up. He glanced at the crowd of foreigners who were observing them from beyond the Academy shield.

Klein nonchalantly walked up to them with a grin, and asked a very simple question in perfect English.

"So, are you guys aliens?"