I Am Calm

Currently, my hands are tied together and there is a cloth over my head, covering my face. Yep, there is no mistake, I am being abducted.

A few moments ago, I was still talking to Aoban and Lukas. I tried to get more information about the demi-human who escaped, but none of them were willing to talk so I let it go. They won't be able to hide it forever anyway. This is school and people talk –a lot. It's almost as bad as a neighborhood full of housewives.

Attempting to divert my attention, the two of them changed the subject. It's not like I didn't see what they were trying to do, but at this point, it didn't really care anymore.

Aoban asked me a lot of questions, mostly about mother. He seemed to be worried about her, so I told him about Yoko and Harri, leaving out the details. Obviously, I omitted to mention anything about their true origins or their personalities. Brother only needed to know that mother was safe. Those two were weirdoes, but they were trustworthy and that's all I needed.

Lukas was much more silent. He merely listened, seemingly enjoying hearing stories about home.

In the end, the three of us talked until the sun dipped lower in the sky, announcing the end of the day and the beginning of the evening.

Aoban was the first to leave.

He had to go somewhere; something related to the student council, I didn't really catch it. Lukas proposed to escort me back to my room, but I turned down the offer, not wanting to bother him any longer. Besides, I wanted some time alone. However, I clearly not expected to be attacked on my way back to the dormitory. 

Before I knew it, someone sneaked behind me and put his hand over my mouth, preventing me from screaming.  To be honest, at that time, I was so confused that the idea didn't even cross my mind. Then, I heard him casting a spell on me. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to make me fall asleep, but obviously, the magic didn't work on me.

Once he estimated that the spell had become effective, my captor put a bag over my head and placed me on his shoulder, carrying me like a bag of potatoes.

Which lead us to the current situation.

When I finally came to understand what was happening, I realized it was too late to warn my abductor that I was still conscious, so I decided to play dead. I was curious as to why I was being kidnapped. Besides, it's been a long time that I stopped being conscious of the dangers around me.

My captor seemed pretty strong. While it's true that I was shorter, and thus lighter than the other kids of my age, no one is supposed to lift a fourteen year old that easily. However, he didn't emit a lot of mana.

First, I thought that I was being abducted because of my status. Noble kids being snatched away for a ransom were something that occurred pretty often. If that is the case, then my captor is going to be very disappointed. I highly doubt my uncle would pay anything for me.

However, thinking about it, this scenario was very unlikely. What kind of idiot would abduct a kid at their own school? Besides, it wasn't any school. It was the Arcane Academy. It was protected by a barrier, and the only way to get in was this special ring given to the students and the staff members.

Moreover, if I'm guessing right, those rings are all unique. Once they are given an owner, they will only react to their mana, making it impossible to steal them. Which means that my captor belonged to the school.

So, guess number 2: someone hired an insider to get rid of me, blaming it on the school. Oh, and when I say someone, I already have a good idea of who it is. My uncle wouldn't do something as reckless as this, so who else but my aunt? She is totally the kind of person to stab you in the back when you're not watching.

Besides, I had already noticed that she started to become rebellious, my warning of twelve years ago slowly losing its effect.

And then, guess number 3: someone is pulling a massive prank on me. This hypothesis seems a little far-fetched, but why not after all? Kids are kids. Left on their own, with almost no adult to supervise them, not a lot of kids would resist the temptation to prank the new student –me.

Besides, I'm not sure if it was because of the spell my captor casted on me or because my head was upside down, but I was starting to feel dizzy and it was hard to think rationally. 

At last, after a few minute, my captor finally let me down. I could feel that we were still outdoors, except that this time, we were no longer alone. I detected four people, including two mages. But their mana seemed instable, so I'm guessing they were only beginners.

I was carefully seated on the ground and tied up against a tree.

"Is it her?"

"No mistakes, I followed her until she was alone."

Hearing their voice, my captors were much younger than I expected. Adding the fact that their mana core didn't seem fully mature yet, I understood that they were probably students, eliminating my first and second guess as to why I was being abducted. Who would hire kids to kidnap another kid? Certainly not my aunt.

"What do we do now? She's not reacting at all."

"You didn't kill her, did you? Maybe I should've gone instead of you…"

"O-Of course not! She's just sleeping! Besides, do you really think you would've been able to carry her over here by yourself?"

"Well, at least, I would've casted the spell properly!"

"Uhm… Excuse me but I'm awake," I finally said, tired of listening them arguing.

As I spoke, my captors fell silent. I heard them whispering something to each other, but with my ears covered, I couldn't understand what they were saying. After a short moment, someone approached me and took off the bag over my head.

The first thing I saw was a rabbit. To be more precise, it was a rabbit mask. A boy was leaning over me, wearing some kind of carnival mask. Looking around, I noticed that his friends were all wearing a similar mask. It was so unexpected, if I hadn't had some self-control, I would have definitely burst out laughing.

"Stay calm, if you panic, you'll only make things worse," the boy explained in an abnormally deep tone, probably trying to mask his real voice.

"I am calm," I replied.

"You don't have to pretend."

"I'm not."

I couldn't see his expression, but I'm pretty sure he was getting flustered. Oh well…

My eyes no longer covered, I was very curious to find out about my captors' identity. Their masks prevented me to see their face, but it's not like I needed to see them to find out who they were, right?

[Status].

 [Status]

Name :

Hevos Kache

Race :

Human

Class :

Apprentice Mage

Gender :

Male

Age :

16

Level :

11

Vitality :

255

Defense :

76

Strength :

67

Mana :

321

Intellect :

278

Agility :

65