Outcast

I made my way down to the ground floor and began lookin around as I looked for something similar to a cafeteria. I didn't know if there was one but I was really praying there would be.

After a few minutes of walking I saw a couple girls walking towards me from the opposite direction while chatting with each other.

"Haha, Hannah you were right about Professor Ferdinand looking like a frog when he gets angry! Did you see him yelling at Michael to-"

The girl on the right stopped in the middle of her sentence when she finally noticed me in the hallway. The other girl, Hannah I presume, was looking at me with a wary expression and also a defensive stance.

"What the... Who are you? You know we're mages right?"

However after fighting for my life today I unsurprisingly wasn't afraid of two teenage girls. Looking at them unfazed I asked a simple question.

"Is there somewhere to get food for free here?"

Scoffing the first girl turned to Hannah while pointing her thumb at me.

"Can you believe this guy? Walking into the mage barracks and asking for free food? Who does he think he is?"

However it seemed that Hannah was the more logically thinking one as she inspected the blood on my clothes more closely.

"Were you a participant in the defensive battle earlier?"

"Hah... 'Participant'? Try 'sole survivor'. Even that wasn't voluntary either."

The first girl's face scrunched up in dissatisfaction but Hannah showed a softer expression.

"I'm sorry... You must be the mage who can use Ice Magic... The dining room is this way, we were about to head there, so you can come with us."

"Ugh, Hannah!"

"Stop, Grace, he saw people die today..."

At this Grace shut her mouth but stuck her tongue out at me.

Too hungry and tired to argue I simply ignored it before following behind the two girls. Hannah tried to make conversation with me.

"Those are some weird clothes... You should have a robe delivered to your room tomorrow morning and some clean clothes... If it ever gets dirty there is a bin in your room for dirty clothes. The maids will come by at night to take those away and wash them."

I took note of that and nodded quietly. I didn't care about the clothes I was currently wearing but I was worried about William. He was in a poor looking shirt and pants.

"Do we get wages?"

Grace scoffed but Hannah lightly punched her in the arm.

"We get a weekly allowance of 15 silver. I don't know when you'll get yours but it should be within a few days. But we're allowed to also get part time jobs as long as it doesn't interfere with our lessons."

I nodded and thanked her.

"Thank you for answering my questions, I know it must seem annoying to you but it's a big help to me."

"Hmpf. Surprised you know manners."

I ignored Grace once again, as she received another punch to the arm and we came to a halt. Hannah pushed open the doors and we found ourselves in a large dining hall with a big banquet table in the middle.

There were several teenagers already seated at the table spread around. By my counts, including Hannah and Grace, there were a total of 24 students.

'Room 25... Guess I'm the 25th Mage in training.'

"You're free to sit anywhere but a lot of people like to sit in the same spot every night, so just be careful about that."

"It won't be a problem. Can I take my food to my room?"

Surprised, and unsure, Hannah looked at a servant who happened to be walking by. The servant was flustered but ultimately nodded her head.

"T-That shouldn't be a problem. Will you be willing to bring your dishes down to the kitchen when you are finished?"

I nodded and asked for a double serving of food. The servant pushed through a door at the other side of the room from the entrance we came through, and spoke to someone who was in there. After waiting a while she came back out and handed me a platter with two bowls filled with some sort of stew.

"Thank you, ma'am. I will bring them back when I am finished."

She quickly stopped me as I was bowing and waved her hands.

"Please! You don't need to bow to a servant like me, sir mage!"

However I shook my head and looked her directly in the eyes.

"I don't care about your status. Respect is given to whoever is deserving."

While the rest of the teenagers had looks of shock on their faces I quietly left the dining room and headed back to my room.

****

I watched as William began stuffing his face ravenously as soon as I handed him his plate.

*chomp chomp*

*slurp*

"Pah! Thank you so much Mr. Simon."

"I thought I told you to stop talking so respectfully. You can just call me Simon. Plus I didn't do anything for it, so you don't need to thank me. I'll bring up meals everyday but I can't just leave you up here doing nothing all day."

"So what am I going to do? Do you want me to clean?"

I shook my head.

"Don't worry about cleaning. There are maids who will come clean the room. When they come just hide until they leave. No, I'm going to have you learn how to read and write. Do you know how?"

"No.."

"That's fine. I will teach you, so you can lead a better life in the future. Come here, do you know the alphabet?"

William came over to the large desk I was sitting at and looked over my shoulder. I pushed my stew to the side and began writing on a piece of paper. Thankfully they had pens in this world, otherwise I might lose it if I had to write with a feather.

Dipping the metal pen in the ink I neatly wrote the alphabet. Capital letters next to the lowercase counterparts, all the way to Z.

"I want you to memorize the letters first. I'll go over it with you tonight, but tomorrow I will be busy so I won't be able to help you all day."

"Okay... I'll try my best."

I then went through the alphabet with William. A knock on the door came about an hour later. William hid in the closet but it was just a maid who came with my new clothes. I thanked her and took the clothes from her. I heard there was a washroom at the end of the hall. One was for women, the other for men, but it had warm water ready for people to use to wash up.

I told William to practice while I went to bathe. He sat down at the desk and I noticed he was eyeing my stew. I grabbed my new clothes before walking over to the desk and pushing my bowl towards him.

He looked at me in surprise but I simply pointed to the bowl.

"Eat it. I'm not hungry."

I then left the room and walked to the end of the hall where I found a room labelled 'Washroom'. Stepping inside I found a large open bathroom much like the Japanese style community bathhouses. There wasn't anyone inside so I took the opportunity to begin bathing in peace.

As I was finishing my bath the door was pushed open and three teens stepped inside. They were laughing together but when they noticed me they got quiet. I ignored them as I went to grab my towel and clothes, when one of them suddenly snatched my stuff before I could grab it.

Looking at him I asked calmly.

"What are you doing?"

Sharing the same stupid expression with a shit eating grin, the three of them looked at me, and the one who grabbed my towel spoke first.

"Mm. Well we were just gonna help you understand the way things work around here."

The three stooges snickered at me and the leader spoke again.

"We heard you fought outside the walls today, but you don't have a single wound on you. So you probably just stood around instead of actually fighting, so you shouldn't let it go to your head and try to act all haughty here. So we're going to teach you a lesson in humility. We're gonna take these, and then get everyone to come out of their rooms while you do a walk of shame."

"Ahahaha!"

I couldn't believe that people were really this stupid and immature. I didn't have the patience or energy to deal with getting bullied. I had better shit to do.

I grabbed the bucket with leftover water and threw it at the three boys. As they were covered in water they turned angrily back at me.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, FRESHMEAT?"

I looked at them and shrugged innocently.

"Did you not hear what magic I use?"

Their faces, still upset but now mildly confused.

"Yeah, ice magic, so what?"

I shook my head and raised my middle finger at them.

"So you decide to try to mess with me in the washroom? Where there is water?"

A look of realization appeared on their faces and they tried running towards the door. However they were soon hit in the backs by a ray of blue mana and their clothes instantly froze. Their bodies were now encased in a small, but hard, layer of ice.

I walked over and grabbed my towel from them. Wrapping myself in it, I grabbed my clothes and made my way to the door. Turning back before leaving.

"I hope one of you knows how to use fire magic. There's no more warm water."

I waved my hand across the room and froze all the buckets of warm water. Satisfied, I turned and left. I didn't particularly care about being bullied or disliked. The stupid games that teenagers usually played felt like they no longer applied to me.

I had made it back to my room and threw my bloodied clothes into the hamper in the room. William was still sitting at the desk studying when I came back, but I told him to head to bed since it was dark out.

We had to rely on natural light or candles. The sun had completely set by the time I came out of the washroom so I decided it was probably close to 8 or 9 PM. I laid myself down onto the floor and closed my eyes.

A lot had happened in the past day. From fighting at the crack of dawn, to handling a great deal of grief and finally getting thrown into a totally unfamiliar world. I was exhausted mentally and emotionally. I wanted to so desperately close my eyes and not have to deal with it for just a brief moment.

It wasn't as if I didn't want to go back to Earth, but everything felt too real for me to deny the possibility that I would be stuck here.

'I never craved for power or control... Why was I chosen to come here? Am I the only one?'

Feeling like I was going to spiral deeper into useless thoughts I shook my head and cleared my mind.

After a while I felt myself twitching, and realized my body was ready to sleep. Completely relaxing I soon drifted off and quietly snored.

****

I woke up to soft crying. I opened my eyes groggily and rubbed them a little to let me see a bit. I sat up and saw that William was standing next to the bed while crying. I stood up and walked over to him, whispering.

"What's wrong?"

William pointed at the bed while crying still.

"I-I'm sorry Simon. I-I couldn't hold it in and I had a bad dream..."

I looked at the bed and saw that there was a large wet spot in the middle of the bedding. I patted William on the back and consoled him to stop crying.

"It's okay William... It happens. Let's just remove the sheets and put them in the hamper okay."

I pulled the soiled sheets off the bed and shoved them into the hamper. We laid the blanket down over the spot and he would have to sleep on top of the blankets for tonight.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom again? Before you go to bed?"

William nodded and I peeked my head out into the hallway. I didn't see anyone so I took William by the hand and headed towards a bathroom next to the washroom at the end of the hall. While this world wasn't very advanced in traditional science, it still wasn't as backwards as the medieval times on Earth.

The bathroom didn't have running water but there was a small crystal that hung above the back of the toilet, that when you channeled mana into would produce water to wash your business down the pipes. It was interesting as the only people who could use this technology were those with magic, but people just accepted that this was simply a privilege for mages.

I stood outside as I let William go inside to do his business alone, and while standing there I suddenly heard a voice from my side.

"What an odd time to be awake."

I jumped and turned to find knight Verys standing next to me.

'When the fuck did he get right next to me, and how did I not hear him?'

Collecting myself I bowed lightly in greeting.

"I didn't know I would be running into you so late in the night, Mr. Verys, I was just going to the bathroom."

Verys looked at me and raised his eyebrow slightly.

"By standing outside of it?"

Realizing the hole in my lie I was about to make another one when Verys interrupted me.

"Who is the kid?"

"Huh? What kid?"

"Sigh.. Simon, I'm a knight, I can hear him peeing in there."

I closed my mouth tightly, realizing I had been caught, but I felt like Verys wasn't yelling at me so I told him the truth.

"His name is William, sir. His father was the bearded mercenary from the wall this morning.."

Verys's expression softened when he heard this, and he looked towards the bathroom with an unreadable expression.

After a few moments of silence Verys said something.

"There is a servant's bathroom on the first floor, by the kitchen, tell him to go there if he needs to use the bathroom while you're away. He won't get in trouble if he says he's your servant."

"I-Thank you Sir Verys. Thank you."

I bowed completely at this time. Verys patted my shoulder and told me to stand up.

"Don't thank me... I owe more than just this to the men who died outside the walls today.. How old is the kid?"

As I was about to answer William cracked the door open slightly and called to me.

"Simon... I finished but the crystal only shoots a bit of water when I touch it. Can you come help?"

I was about to go inside when Verys grabbed my arm. Confused I turned towards him.

"What's wrong Verys?"

"This kid.. He just said he was able to make a little water come out."

Realizing what that meant I motioned for William to come out. He stepped out and jumped a bit when he saw Verys. I didn't blame him though, Verys was a grizzled knight with a very intimidating aura. He had beady eyes like a crow and a thick beard that his his expressions.

However I told him it was alright.

Verys kneeled down to Williams level and took hold of his arm.

After a moment Verys nodded slightly and stood up before talking to me.

"He has the blessing of mana, he could be a knight in the future... I could take him as a squire now."

"That's a good thing isn't it?"

However he shook his head lightly.

"The training will be hard. Physically it will be harder than your training by several times. However the decision is yours, since you are now his guardian."

I looked at William. I wasn't really his guardian, I just was someone who was trying to do the right thing, so the decision was his to make. 

"If it can help Simon..."

However I shook my head immediately.

"No. This is your choice. Do what you think will make you happy."

William went silent for a moment before nodding.

"I want to do it... I want to become a knight!"

"How about you start as a squire and go from there. Do you know how to read or write?"

"No, Simon is teaching me."

Surprised Verys looked at me.

"You know how to read and write? Why were you on the frontlines fighting... A mage who can already read and write who was formerly a commoner.. What was the lord thinking."

Shaking his head Verys excused himself and told us to be careful while he handled the process of making William his squire. We bid him good night before heading back to the room. William was so excited he had trouble going back to bed, but after telling him that he needs to sleep so that he could grow as much as possible.

I laid back down and immediately fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning there was bright light streaming in from the windows. I raised my exhausted body and checked on William. He was still sleeping quietly so I made sure not to wake him yet. I put on the clothes I had gotten yesterday and the robe over them. I looked just like the kids from yesterday now.

Admiring myself in the mirror I fixed my hair a bit before walking over to the bed. I stood on the side and tried waking William.

"William."

...

"WILLiam."

...

"WILLIAM!"

"Huh? What? What's happening?"

I looked at him and shook my head.

"Get up. I'm late to training so I need to leave immediately. I'll bring some breakfast up when I'm done."

I didn't wait for his response. I was supposed to be downstairs ten minutes ago, when the sun rose, and I was still on the fourth floor.

Running down the stairs normally wasn't a hard task, but the moment my foot first touched down on a step my leg immediately gave out from under me.

Falling abruptly down the stairs I protected my head with my arms the best I could. Finally I stopped moving and I slowly opened my eyes.

But instead of a long hallway I was looking straight up a skirt.

'Teddy bears are considered cute in this world too?'

My eyes slowly wandered up and I made eye contact with Grace, who I met yesterday, and her face slowly turned red. I thought since she hadn't reacted yet I might be able to calm her down. 

So I slowly raised my hands and started to talk.

"I didn't see anything. So let's just go about our separate ways and forget abou-"

"KYAAAAAAA!"

She immediately screamed as loudly as she could before running up the stairs to the fourth floor. I was still standing in the hallway with a blank expression when I heard shouting coming from upstairs.

'I should run. Wait! I didn't do anything wrong, running would make me look guilty, no?'

I shook my head. It didn't matter if I was innocent. A young girl screaming would make anyone guilty of whatever she accused me of, and no one would bother listening.

So I fled down the stairs. This time I knew my legs couldn't muster any strength so I grabbed the railing and fell forward while holding myself up with the railing. My knees got bruised but it was bearable.

Finally I got to the ground floor and saw Verys waiting for me.

"Seems you've made quite the impression in your short time here."

I looked at him with an aggrieved expression.

"I didn't do anything wrong. I fell down the stairs and when I looked up I happened to see something by accident."

"Mm, fell? Looks like you took the training seriously yesterday. That's good. That will be your training every night, starting tonight."

My mouth went wide as I looked at him but he simply ignore me.

"We will start with training your body in the morning, and you'll begin mage training after that. Start doing push ups."

I lowered myself to the ground and began doing push ups.

"How many?"

"What are you talking about? You're going to do them until you can't move your arms."

It was at this moment that a sense of dread seeped into my heart, and my impression of Verys changed.

I realized he was a demon in human clothes.