Training: Part 1

“So what do you think about this idea?” I asked Mr Arakawa. We were seated in the library, drawing up different strategies for the upcoming battle.

“Interesting move. We can make use of this as a diversion,” Mr Arakawa answered. He took the brush on his side and circled a certain area on the map.

After the major assembly, everyone dispersed to their duties. That meant I would be working as a strategist for the very first time. Mr Arakawa summoned me to the library, and we began brainstorming several strategies.

I flipped through the records of previous Sovereign’s Tourneys. It was imperative to gain insight into how warriors of Aethelheim and Ashenfall fought. From reading the excerpts, it seemed that Aethelheim relied on its magical prowess and focused mainly on frontal assaults or complete defence. In a nutshell, they were either an unstoppable force or an immovable object. There was no in between.

Ashenfall, on the other hand, was a complete enigma. I couldn’t pinpoint an exact pattern of attack they had. They fought less like an army and more like a riot. I didn’t know whether they fought randomly or had extremely complicated and unpredictable plans. I decided to ask Mr Arakawa.

“Even I’m dumbfounded by their tactics. I’ve researched everything about them for several years, and I could never understand them. It’s not like I could visit their country and scout them either.”

“We have never sent spies or scouts to the neighbouring nations?”

“That’s not allowed in the Sovereign’s Tourney. No communication is permitted between countries until the inauguration ceremony after the war.”

A sudden thought popped into my head.

“Mr Arakawa, who governs the Sovereign’s Tourney? How can they prove that no backdoor deals are being made?”

“Good question. Rumours say that a secret society lives in No Man’s Land, the battlefield of the Sovereign’s Tourney, and threatens the leaders to follow their bidding. I hadn’t seen them when I fought last time, though, so it was probably during the inauguration ceremony. Not that I believe in such rumours, of course.”

“You fought in the last war?!” I was shocked at how elusively he mentioned that piece of information.

“Of course. A Sovereign’s Tourney is held every 20 years. This will be my second one. Also, keep your voice down, idiot. This is a library.”

“Tell me everything about it!” I screamed, ignoring his request.

Mr Arakawa sighed at my foolish enthusiasm. He then began recounting his experience in the war.

At the time, Mr Arakawa was a young and inexperienced foot soldier. He brought up how the scent of blood and burning corpses wafted in the air. The ground was sticky with blood and dirt mixed together. Comrades around him were killed or thrown left and right, centre from enemy attacks, physical and magical.

“To be honest, I don’t remember much. Everything happened in a blur. The only moment I remember clearly was when a man who donned a suit of silver armour floated in the sky and slaughtered everyone around me. I remember just running and running. Even when my legs were about to break and my throat was about to combust, I just kept on running.”

I nodded and listened intently to his words. Even when bringing up such painful memories, Mr Arakawa was calm and collected. Instead of letting his past drag him into despair, he grew stronger from it. It was admirable, and made me understand why Yukino, Chiyo and Riku respected him so much.

“It was the biggest regret in my life. I failed to protect the people of my country because I was a coward. No more. I won’t back down from a fight again.”

His eyes, still looking down at the map, were focused and serious. This was Mr Arakawa’s reason to fight in the war. To him, the Sovereign’s Tourney was personal.

“I’ll do all I can to support you, Mr Arakawa!” I stood up and saluted him out of respect.

“Sit down, you fool! Stop making a scene!” My limbs adhered to his commands immediately and froze in place. I really thought I was going to die from his glare and voice alone.

“But thank you, Mr Kurokawa. It’s nice to have your support,” he remarked while smiling lightly at me, “Let’s not get carried away now, though. Get back to work.”

We continued our work, not realising the flow of time.

—-------------------

“I should learn some magic.”

That thought sparked in my mind as I was reading some stories from past battles. Magic played a major role in winning battles historically. If I wanted to stand a chance, having some knowledge of magic was necessary. I thought of asking Mr Arakawa for advice on learning magic, but I didn’t want to disturb him any more than I already have. There was only one other option.

Once again, Chiyo was training by herself in a corner plot of the field. This time, she was practising some sort of chant. I approached her as quietly as possible, trying not to disturb her concentration. The plan failed horribly.

“Flamma ardens spiritus sancti!”

A sphere of flame materialised in the air, setting its sights on me. In the blink of an eye, it honed in on the area between my eyes. I rolled on the floor, narrowly dodging the deadly attack. If I hadn’t been paying attention, my head would have been singed off.

“Tch. I missed.”

“Don’t sound disappointed!”

As usual, Chiyo’s expression was unchanged. Sometimes I wondered whether she secretly wore a mask to hide her feelings. My theory felt less and less stupid the more I spent time with her. I picked up my glasses from the floor and brushed off the dirt from my clothes.

“I thought you specialised in support magic. Why practice attacking magic now?” I recalled her introducing herself as a support mage in our first introduction. Shooting a fireball was definitely not what I would call support magic.

“If I could only use support magic, I would have no way to defend myself. Even if I didn’t excel at it, learning some spells outside of my specialities would boost my repertoire.”

“You don’t call that fireball excellent? As a first-hand victim, I can assure you I was fearing for my life.”

“A review from someone who could not even land a punch on a soldier is the last thing I need.”

Wow. She really knew how to hurt a man’s feelings.

“That fireball needed to be bigger and faster. I guess I’m not compatible with fire magic.”

Chiyo gazed at her staff and gripped it tightly. For a genius like her, not excelling at something with pure talent must have hurt.

“Actually, Chiyo. I’ve come here to ask a favour.”

“I foresaw this happening. You want to learn magic, don’t you?”

That was unexpected. Was I that obvious?

“How did you know? I’ve never spoken to you about magic before now.”

“Everyone here can use magic, even if it is a little. Of course, a poor sap like you would want to learn it too.”

I hated that she was both wrong and right at the same time. Getting into an argument with her had to be one of the most painful experiences one could have.

“Follow me. It's better to teach you the basics somewhere quiet.”

Chiyo led me to her personal quarters. It was shaped just like mine, 4 cream coloured walls (one being a sliding door) and a futon in the centre. There was one big difference, though. Piles of books were strewn messily all over the floor. For someone as prim and proper as her, the state of this room was the last thing I expected.

Chiyo cleared her throat and began her lecture, “It’s impossible to learn magic the proper way in 2 months.”

I had not expected those words to come out of her mouth. My heart was shattered into pieces. I would never achieve my dream of learning magic.

“I guess it was a lost cause. I’ll see you later, Chiyo.” I got up and slid the door open.

“Are you deaf? I said you couldn’t learn it the ‘proper way’, not that it was entirely impossible.”

“Could you please stop being so misleading!” I returned to my seat, making sure my annoyance was as obvious as possible.

Chiyo continued her lecture, “By right, a person must learn the three basic elements: fire, water or wind and check their compatibility with each one. They then continue on that path until they have mastered it. This is because these three elements are the easiest to master and provide a template to learn other spells.”

That made sense. It was essential to learn the basics first. However, there was not enough time to do that. I had to find the magic I was compatible with immediately. But wait, something did not add up.

“Wait a minute. You said fire was one of the basic elements every mage had to learn. But just earlier, you realised that fire wasn’t your speciality. How could that be?”

“Nice catch. You’re surprisingly observant. That’s because I used the shortcut method.”

From one of the stacks of books, Chiyo grabbed a thick tome and threw it my way.

“My god, that’s heavy!” It was difficult to just carry it with both my hands. The density of this book was unbelievable. It had to have thousands of pages at a minimum.

“As a miko, a shrine priest, I was connected to the spiritual world more than others. I prayed to the gods for my patron's success and health regularly. This constant routing boosted my affinity for support magic, specifically healing magic.”

She then pointed towards the book in my hands,

“That book you’re holding was in my house’s library for generations. One day, out of curiosity, I started reading it during my free time. Curiosity became interest, and soon I learnt all the chants in it. I used to say it to the guests of the temple, thinking it was some prayer. It made me happy seeing patrons return the next day to thank god for His blessings. Only later did I realise that I was healing them with my magic.”

Spoken like a true genius. She unknowingly became a prodigy at healing magic from reading a book. But reading that book and saying those chants every day must have exhausted her mana pool completely.

“Didn’t you get tired of saying those chants? How did you do it?”

“Of course I did. I wasn’t some monster with an infinite mana pool. There were many days when, after doing my duties, I collapsed on the spot and was in a coma for many days. But it didn’t matter to me. Seeing people healthier than before and paying their respects to god was enough to keep me going. Their smiles were enough to push me forward.”

A minuscule smile grew on her face for the very first time. She must have really cared about that shrine to feel this way. I was shocked at how similar we were at heart. All we wanted to do at the end of the day was help people and see their smiles. Saying this in front of her was a one-way ticket to a death sentence, however, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

“Enough about me, though. What I wanted to say was that for certain magic, a person’s specific background or skillset was enough of a clue to their compatibility.”

If that was the case, then the magic I should learn was obvious.

“I want to learn observational magic,” I requested of Chiyo.

“I agree. Judging from your match with Mr Arakawa and the way you analyse your surroundings, your speciality lies in observation.”

She went to the depths of her mountain of books and brought a certain grimoire. It was surprisingly the thinnest one of the entire batch.

“Take this. Read the first page out loud. Tell me how you feel afterwards.”

Once again, she chucked the book into my arms. This time, it was much easier to hold thanks to its average thickness. Unlike the other books in this room, this was surprisingly pristine, with a clean indigo leather cover. Its pages were not tattered either.

“Did you not read this one much? It looks brand new.”

“You can say that. I was completely incompatible with this book. None of the spells worked for me.”

That was surprising. She seemed so adept with fire magic earlier, and she was able to cast healing magic easily as well. I was starting to get worried about whether I could really learn this form of magic.

I flipped open the book. A single sentence was written in thick ink, followed by some lines explaining its power. I uttered the sentence out loud.

“Oculi dei mihi visionem afferant!”

The pain those words caused was unbearable.

My eyes were numb with pain as though a thousand suns grew inside them. My pupils had exploded inside, leaving a wake of blood and spreading the fire of torture around my brain. Everything in my vision was dyed red. Nothing in my head was functioning. It had all been burnt down.

In its place, visions sprouted from the pool of red. I could barely make out the figures of Emperor Nobunaga, Yukino, Riku and Mr Arakawa. It was as though I were a spirit following them. There was another source in the corner in the depths of my brain, shining bright like a diamond. I swam towards the effervescent glow, faintly making out silver hair…

“Ahhhhhhh!” I finally registered the shouting coming from my throat.

“Kurokawa!” I could hear Chiyo scream with worry, “Affer salutem et prosperitatem a Domino!”

The flaming pain had abided. My vision of red was filled with colour. From my blurred vision, I could see Chiyo panting in front of me, her palms pointing outward. Beads of sweat fell from her forehead like a faucet as green energy enveloped both of us..

“Kurokawa, your eyes…” Chiyo spoke with worry and shock. I noticed her lips quivering.

She brought a mirror from the corner of the room to my face. Everything looked fine until I noticed my pupils. In the place of my familiar round pupils, a star dyed in the same purple as the book took its place. My tears of pain poured from my eyes, staining the floor with red. I was frozen in confusion.

The next moment I remembered was a sudden thud, followed by a gentle voice screaming my name.