Episode 4: Twilight (6)

“What… just happened?” All Lowe did was blink, and the match was over.

“I didn’t see clearly either. It was fast.” Glenn said, slightly narrowing his eyes.

Soren had been praised for being strong in battle, so she had confidence in his abilities. And yet here, he had been utterly clobbered by Kairen. If a knight like him was considered strong then… just how much stronger was Kairen in the eyes of the church?

“I had my suspicions but… I didn’t think Kairen would so easily defeat Sir Soren…” Lowe’s first experience witnessing Kairen in combat had upended her expectations.

“Well, I don’t find it too surprising considering yourself Lowe.” Glenn chuckled.

“Me?” Lowe pointed at herself.

“A genius in auxiliary magic surpassing even the masters I know. I don’t see how that’s any different from the genius in combat found in Kairen.” Glenn mused.

Lowe thought about it and realised that indeed in some regards she was similar to Kairen—an enigma.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

Round two. This time Soren didn’t fall in the first few strikes.

A swift slash that came from a feign, quickly severed by light taps to the ridges of the flat side of the blade.

Soren, almost disarmed by the unusual vibration, strengthening his grip on the handle. He twisted his body.

Kairen’s stab missed Soren by a couple inches. But it quickly followed through with a seamless change in direction. A horizontal slash. Soren rolled out of the way.

Kairen’s sword form was unlike anything he had seen, bending in ways inconceivable to comprehend, Soren was forced into a defensive stance.

Dozens of hundreds of slashes accelerating. Flashing in a world that slowed more and more, Soren struggled with each attempt to parry or dodge.

Two brief hits, one to the shoulder, another to his outer upper left arm.

The array which Kairen handled the sword didn’t follow any patterns, as if he didn’t follow any rule or it never had one…

No thought, no form. Intention that surpassed its material and material conventions. In the mindset of the flowing blade maelstrom, Soren’s focus guided to a point, graduating from comprehension into the realm of trance instinct.

In his desperation to follow and understand the attacks, Soren found himself suspending thought all together. Something had switched something on the inside.

Chips of ice scattered from each clash, the numerous splitting shards reflected the image of the two swordsmen in contest. Their swords were beginning to fall apart.

A line that blended space and time, in that brief instant Soren saw a glimpse of immaterial. The point in which nothingness became something; The field which all things ebbed to and from.

Guided by the flow, Soren inverted his sword at a vertical point. An unorthodox stance that broke his conventional approach, one that lacked reason. Yet without adding any strength, that one point which led to the cut in flow naturally broke down Kairen’s momentum.

The crisp reverberation rang out akin to the sound of a bell…

Signalling an opportunity…

Soren suddenly woke up and realised what he had just done.

Having created an opening, he twisted his body and slashed. But…

Two calculated hits to the wrist had completely disarmed him.

The blade flew out of his hands and glided across on the floor.

Soren’s eyes followed, blankly staring at the ice sword which had flown to the very edge of the field and bounced off the barrier.

A blade was pointed to his chest. But he hadn’t the mind to care for his loss.

He compared the two states of mind which he had experienced during that exchange. How light it felt when he broke through that wall of reason; and how heavy the sword seemed to suddenly weigh as he began to ‘force’ an opportunity.

Soren who had to mobilise his whole body to Kairen’s haphazard combat style, and Kairen who took each of Soren’s perfect form with uncalculated parries and dodges…

“Best of three. Since I won two does that count as a win, or do I actually have to win all three bouts?” Kairen asked.

Soren walked to the field border and picked up his sword.

Loosening his stance, holding the sword handle with both hands still shaking from the pain—

“Three bouts.” He knew he had already lost, but…

That feeling of transcending himself, he wanted to feel it again.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

After the duel (that extended way beyond ten bouts), we had lunch.

Then… we returned yet again to the lab where Lowe and Glenn initiated another pink space. That was to say, Soren and I were thrown aside with nothing to do but observe the two flirt.

“How about another round tomorrow? ”Soren asked.

“No.”

“I feel that I could learn a lot from you. You’re a lot stronger than I thought.”

“No.”

“Do it for Lowe? I’m lacking in ability, and this is an opportunity to build up my swordsmanship.”

“No.”

“Please…”

‘Damn this guys is insistent.’

The only reason I was able to subdue Soren was because I was familiar with the orthodox swordsmanship style taught by the holy knights garrison. If he had analysed it a little more, he would realise that all he needed was to be less rigid in his techniques to shake away any disadvantage he felt.

Of course, him getting stronger from me wasn’t exactly something I looked forward to.

‘I need to get away from this guy.’

“Glenn, is there a usable kitchen here?” I asked.

“Kitchen? I thought we just had lunch?” He tilted his head and looked at me.

“No. I was thinking of making desserts.” I said.

“Lava Cake?!” Lowe reacted the instant the word ‘dessert’ came out of my mouth. Then realising how excited she had become, she hung her head, embarrassed. Haha, how cute.

“If I remember correctly, there should be one-one floor down. How about I send a light pneuma to guide you?” Glenn said.

“That would be much appreciated.” I nodded.

“Then how about I help?” Of course let’s not forget our overly clingy dog.

“Sit. Stay.” I looked at him, raised my arm, and pointed my index finger to the floor. “Otherwise, no snacks for you.”

I almost heard a whimper as he nodded with a disappointed expression.

‘The hell… he really is a dog.’

Not wanting to stay in this guy’s presence any longer, I left as soon as Glenn’s light orb began to coalesce.

I followed it—flew right out the window. From there it was a five story drop before it whizzed back into a different direction of the tower.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Oops. I forgot the light pneuma only shows the shortest route to the destination,” Glenn nodded to himself with a look as if he needed to improve on this spell.

“Nevermind, I’ll ask around.” I didn’t feel like committing suicide so I made my way out the door.

…

..

.

“Ah” Glenn recalled something important.

“What is it?” Lowe looked at Glenn warily.

“I forgot to warn him about the sugar fairy.” Glenn fell into a short contemplation.

“Sugar… wha?”

“I know a fairy that likes to hang around the pantry to protect Ms. Primillia’s sugar stash.” Glenn elaborated. Then feeling a stare, he saw Soren looking at him with eyes full of anticipation.

“Um… should someone go warn him…” Lowe felt a headache coming on.

“Perhaps not.” Glenn thought about it for a moment. “He’s competent, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

I asked around for directions, and their guidance eventually led me to this relatively clean kitchen space. The air smelled sweet and fruity, as if someone had recently made something. A kiln, pots n’ pans, workstation, metal bowls, and various rolling pins—this place came equipped with everything I needed to start work. It’s almost as if this space had been built just for me.

‘But why do they have a rolling pin the size of your pinky?’

I examined the place as I thought about what dessert I should be making. There was a larder conveniently filled with things like flour, sugar and various dried spices. And even a cold storage supplied with butter, milk, sugar and eggs among other baking ingredients.

‘Wow, how convenient.’

I guess someone here has a sweet tooth?

“But can I use them…?” Either I go and buy my own ingredients or I can ask to borrow some.

‘Well, in the first place all I wanted was an excuse to get away from Soren.’

I was coming to the decision to buy my own ingredients when the larder door shut with a snap, nearly cutting my nose off in the process. “Huh?”

When I tried to pull it open, I realised it was sealed shut.

“What in the world…” I tried the cabinet and cold storage, quickly realising that I couldn’t open them all. I felt no wind, so it couldn’t have been without someone’s interference.

I turned around in confusion, only to find a small fairy hovering around eye level. Arms to her waist, the violet haired, green eyes fairy glowered at me with her tiny face.

“How dare you try to take my master’s precious ingredients!” The little tuff-ball wearing a small hanbok yelled in a jingle-like voice.

“Sorry, and you are?” I asked.

“Master’s guardian fairy!” Right… when dealing with a fairy you can never be too polite.

“My bad. I wasn’t intending to steal anything, I was just looking around.”

“Looking around? With such gluttonous eyes?! Do you really think I’d believe your ruse? Who are you anyways? A new cadet? Looks like you’re in need of some discipline!” The fairy o-so-freely flew around my head as if to assert her authority.

“Kairen. Kairen Copper. And no, I’m not a cadet, I’m a guest.” I resisted the urge to strangle the little bugger.

“I see. In that case sir Kairen, can you leave? This isn’t a place someone like you should be in. Go. Shoo.” With her tiny hands, she tried to wave me away.

“What? Is this not a shared space?”

“No! Obviously not! This space is only for use by the people affiliated with the Magic Tower. And you sir, since you said you are a guest, it means you are not!”

I stood there slightly dumbfounded.

‘This can’t be true? Can I really not bake anything here? Won’t Lowe be disappointed if she doesn’t get her desserts?’

As I struggled to come to terms with the disappointing news, the fairy started to sizzle in frustration.

“Can I really not use this place?” Belatedly, I asked.

“No. Absolutely not!”

“Then what if I got Sage Khor’s permission?”

“Permission of the Tower Master? Hah, in your dreams!”

I wracked my head. For some reason, my prohibition to bake is triggering a great sense of crisis within me. I knew I just had to make full use of this great kitchen, and I wasn’t sure where I would find such a nice place to bake again in the near future.

In my conundrum, it occurred to me, the one simple solution to fix the matter.

“Now that I think about it… who exactly is your master? Can I just ask her for permission?”

Like crashing waves that suddenly calmed, the fairy which had been kicking suddenly fell silent. A quiet contemplation seemed to be in the works inside her small little noggin.

‘Hopefully, this fairy, being the servant of a benevolent master, would understand how to handle a kind request during this sort of…’

“No. Get out.”

“…” Indeed, one can never be too polite when going against a fairy.

“Get out!!” Sending a painless kick to my shoulder, I left the kitchen with the fairy still spewing expletives behind me.

‘Yeah, got it. Message received. Response? Screw you.’

I’ll just have to make do with Plan B then.

“Well, this will do.” I muttered as I left.

With the preliminary survey done, I’ll think I’ll go ahead and buy the ingredients for tomorrow.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

Evening.

We guided Lowe to her room before I followed Glenn to his, which was apparently the furthest away from the stairwell up ahead.

I had assumed that the Magic Tower had been enchanted with some spatial magic given just how spacious the place felt. But it really wasn’t. The only reason it felt that way was because of the thoughtful way the space was being used.

Mirrors were used to create the illusion of depth, and the rounded concept of the hallways made it so you rarely met dead ends. There were also plenty of windows which connected the outside and inside, lending to a more natural space with the occasional felt wind.

“Glenn… what the bleep is this?”

“Oh, you can sleep together with me in my room for the night. You don’t mind right?”