856 C-7, Rain Month 2, Moon 28
“Here are my logs, Master,” I said, holding a hefty stack of papers from my journals up to a familiar middle-aged man with blue eyes and shoulder-length, slightly graying, black hair tied into a short ponytail.
“O-Oh, thanks, but...my hands are going to be full with handling the criminal, so maybe another time.”
“I’ll send them through courier, then. What’s your new address? Or should I send it straight to headquarters?”
“Headquarters? Uh, yeah, maybe... But, oh, you know what? I’m barely at the office. It’s just going to collect dust, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to your precious reports.”
“Uh-huh...” I gave him a suspicious look. You’ve never had any intention of looking at these, have you?
“Anyway, I heard that you’ve been doing a great job with the barrier maintenance,” he said, trying to change the subject.
“You mean the few hours a night I get to handle it?” I scoffed.
“Practice makes perfect. You’ll be ready for bigger tasks in no time.”
“Sure...” I rolled my eyes.
“Look, Karen, I know it might not make too much sense now, but you being here is the absolute best way for you to develop your skills.”
“Yeah, being surrounded by people who know absolutely nothing about our order is really going to help me become a Guardian,” I said sarcastically. “I don’t get why I can’t just travel with you, Master. I know I messed up once, but that won’t happen again! I’m ready.”
He softly smiled at me. “I know it’s not a satisfying answer, but even if you think you’re ready, you’re not. Most Guardians begin training after living almost twice as many years as you have. You lack the same life experience that others have. You’re certainly very talented in the arcane, but there’s more to being a Guardian than just skill. You need to learn more about the other races that inhabit this world, and this academy is the best place for that.”
“Humph. I think I’ve learned enough.”
“When you’re a full-fledged Guardian and put your first limiter on someone, you’ll thank me for the experience you were forced to learn here.”
“Right...my first limiter.”
There was a secret that I’d been keeping from my master that I’d planned on telling him—if he took all the logs I’d written. The truth was that I had actually already put my first limiter on someone, and it wasn’t just anyone. I desperately wanted to tell him that I’d put a limiter on an elder dragon.
However, there had been many reasons why I’d decided not to tell him about El’s existence after she’d first arrived. First, I hadn’t been able to reach him. Second, spite. Third, I’d wanted to prove I could handle myself as a Guardian. Lastly...I’d been concerned about what would happen to El if the order had known about her. Asylum wouldn’t have been an option. They would’ve immediately sent her back to her realm, and I couldn’t let them do that after hearing about the dangers that awaited her there.
That’d been why I’d pushed President Victoria to secure asylum for El at the school without involving the order in the slightest. I’d even told her that my master had insisted that it be kept secret. But this had gotten me into a whole new mess. After hearing this, she’d agreed to keep El’s identity as an elder dragon as well as her asylum case away from Guardian eyes, but the only catch had been that I had to get my master’s signature first so that she could convince the school. In a manner of speaking, they had received his signature—it’d been just kinda...forged. Fortunately, I’d been trusted enough by the school that nobody had given it a second thought, but I’d get in huge trouble if they found out, to say the least. Plus, whenever they wanted to reach out to my master, they’d usually come to me first, so at the very least, I could either make up his responses or pretend he was busy.
The reward for taking this risk was El’s safety and also me getting Guardian experience my way. If he wasn’t going to train me, I’d take matters into my own hands. If he’d decided to read the logs he’d forced me to write, it would’ve proven to me that he hadn’t been giving me busy work just to avoid training me. But now it was all too clear that he’d simply tossed me here as a way to not have to deal with me. Am I really that much of a nuisance? Or am I unreliable to you?
“At any rate, it’s been great seeing you, Karen. I should be on my way.”
“Right...”
“I’ll be back, Karen. I truly look forward to seeing your growth.” He smiled, gently patting me on the head.
“Sure...”
As he began to leave, I turned around, but then I felt something in my robe pocket. Oh wait! I almost forgot! Get it together, Karen... From my pocket, I pulled out a black glass orb that I’d recovered from Ca’al’s battle.
“Wait, Master,” I called out, causing him to turn around. “Do you know anything about this? It looks like a magisphere, but I’ve never seen one like this before. Plus, as hard as it is to believe, I’m almost certain it contained multiple very complex high-level barrier spells.”
He came back, took the orb out of my hand, and began examining it, holding it up to the light as he rotated it. Judging from how he was squinting at it and furrowing his brow, I could guess his answer.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this type of magisphere before... You said that this contained multiple barriers?”
“Yeah. About four of them. Each one would’ve taken a while to decipher and dispel even for me.”
“I see...” he said, gazing intently at it. “Well, it’s empty now, so there’s no telling what its contents were. Magispheres have always been designed to be single-use, after all. But how curious... Their design should only allow for basic spells to be included.”
“Right...” I sighed. “Sorry to have bothered you about this. I’ll dispose of it since you have your hands full with the prisoner,” I said, taking it back from him.
“Thank you, but, Karen,” he said with a serious expression, “if you encounter another one of these, use the emergency contact method to reach me immediately.”
“Is...there something wrong with these magispheres?”
“Wrong? Oh, no. Just...” he trailed off. “I have a theory, but there’s far too little evidence to support it right now. So that’s why I’ll only suggest you exercise caution for now.”
“Okay...”
I was a little concerned, especially since my time with him had taught me that, more often than not, his hunches—even his most outlandish ones—were correct. But I can’t imagine a magisphere being anything too big to worry about, so I guess I won’t think too deeply about this.
“Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Karen. We’ll speak again soon.” And with that, he left to go retrieve his prisoner, leaving me by myself.
Thinking back, this is pretty much the same way as how he ditched me here the first time. Although, at least, Ca’al was here with me that time. I exhaled. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to El and Ca’al soon.
Just as I was about to leave, I heard a voice call out to me. “Karen, perfect timing. There you are.”
“President Victoria? You were looking for me? Did I do something wrong?”
“Oh, no. Quite the opposite. I wanted to thank you.”
“I don’t really remember doing anything that deserved thanks, though...”
“Nonsense. You protected the school in my absence. Who knows what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there.”
“I really can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or serious. All I did was cast a stun spell. If you really want to thank anyone, it should be Ca’al and El.”
“I’m being serious, of course. You were a great help, even if you don’t see it yourself. As for those two, I owe them a sincere apology for my negligence.”
“I don’t think you have anything to apologize for though. You came back as soon as you could. Plus, in the daytime, you can’t use your full powers. Not to mention, you were busy rescuing that idiot, Rhand.”
“I appreciate you being so understanding, but I have a duty to the students to keep them safe, and I’ve obviously failed that,” she said, hanging her head.