Wizarding 101

I spent the night in the inn Minerva told me about. A little place called the Crooked Wing. It’s got a bed, desk, and wash bucket inside. All the hotel amenities you could think of. It’s certainly no Motel 7, but it’s a lot better than sleeping in the stables.

After I leave the inn, I start to stroll around town before I head over to Maddie’s place. It’s a beautiful autumn morning and the smell of maple leaves fill the air. There’s a light breeze that feels just wonderful on my skin. It’s a beautiful day in the not so fictional town of Tauwren. Nothing could ruin this moment… or so I thought.

“Hiya June!” a voice calls out to me from behind a nearby tree.

It’s the cat girl from the isekai group meeting we had yesterday. I believe Maddie said her name was Azuki. She has mostly ginger hair with the occasional odd patches of white and black mixed in. Her ears perk up playfully as her tail curls around a low branch of the maple tree. From the little bit I learned about her, it seems like she doesn’t have the greatest reputation.

I politely wave before carrying on my way. I really don’t want to get in trouble with anyone, especially since I just got here. I walk away with a little pep in my step. Otherwise I’ll be late for magic lessons!

As I look over my shoulder, I realize she’s following me like a lost kitten!

“Sooo… where are you going?” Azuki inquires curiously.

“To Maddie’s place in the tower. Why do you ask?”

“No reason...”

If she has no reason to ask, then why is she still following me? I continue my pace trying to ignore my friendly feline stalker.

“...Y’know you’re heading the wrong way right?” Azuki snickers. Oh. My face turns a bright red in embarrassment. Dang it! I don’t want to seem like an idiot. Make something up June!

“Yeah, I know! Actually I’m just out for a stroll before I head there. Because… because… I like exercise…?”

“Uh-huh yeah, I can tell…” Azuki says sarcastically looking at my frail limp body. Harsh. She’s not wrong though. Those inflatable tube guys you see at car washes have more strength in their body than me.

Damn it! I should have come up with something more believable. Seriously though, how come almost every other isekai gets to be an epic bow-wielding elf or a cool muscly orc, but I look exactly like how I do in the real world! I should really start working out. I can barely lift my backpack sometimes.

Azuki continues, “Alright so when you’re done with your ‘exercise’, head in the exact opposite direction of the Isekai House. Just pass the statue of Fern the Fearless and continue up that leftmost pathway towards the hill ahead. Maddie’s Rapunzel tower is at the top.”

“Thank you…” I mutter out the words.

“Silly humans and your lies. Just be honest next time okay?”

“What do you mean, you’re a human too!”

“Touche.” She flicks her tail with an air of ignorance. I guess she must have been stuck here in this world for a long time if she refers to this cat form as her body. I should give her some grace. Ugh, but as I walk forward, she’s still following me!

“Don’t you have anywhere better to be right now?” I snapped.

Azuki pauses in her tracks. Her face drops for a moment.

“No… not really.” Azuki says almost tearfully. “I don’t have a ‘where’... I don’t have a home.”

Oh God, I totally screwed up! Why did I say that? I try to think of the words to amend the situation, but nothing comes to mind. The sound of laughter fills the silence. Azuki’s laughter. Wait, AZUKI?!

“Hahahaa, you totally bought that huh? It’s alright June...” She pats me on the back in a patronizing tone as if to reassure me. What’s wrong with her, I was totally concerned!

“Please be serious!” I back away from her and shout in frustration.

Azuki’s expression once again sours. “Oh? So, it’s serious you want?? Well then, you’re going to love magic lessons with Maddie. Try not to choke June…”

Her lips curl upwards as she walks away, disappearing with a smile just like a certain cheshire cat.

Wow she is so infuriating! Is she trying to jinx me?! She just wants me to fail! At the very least she did give good directions. I follow a small path through the trees that leads up to a hill. Maddie’s tower sits right at the peak.

“Huh, so this is where she lives…” I mutter to myself as I walk towards the observation tower at the top of the hill. It’s a beautiful building. Firm stone, a couple intricate stained glass windows, and inside, the coolest spiral staircase I have ever seen! Grandof from Emperor of the Lantern would totally be jealous of a place like this.

I continue to walk up to the top floor to find Maddie hunched over a collection of shiny trinkets. All bathed in brass lie objects like telescopes, compasses, and is that thing called an astrolabe?

Her blue eyes have a steely focus on her work. She brushes a few short strands of blonde hair behind her ears to help her focus. She looks up, her eyes meeting mine. Her posture straightens and her expression immediately brightens.

“Hey June you made it!” Maddie says excitedly.

I wave back politely. I’m still a little new to this place, so her positivity is difficult to wear off on me. I still really want to go home. Maybe if I learn a bit of magic I can figure out a spell to save everyone and bring them back to earth? It’s a little too ideal, but you can’t blame a girl for dreaming.

“Now before we begin, let's get you a real wizard's wardrobe!” Maddie says rushing off to grab something in the corner of the room.

“Here. It's a little old, but it will definitely complete the look!”

In her hands is a blue wizard hat with a slightly worn buckle. The beautiful cobalt color is a perfect match for the cloak I was isekai’d in. It's beautiful. And it's a gift for me.

“Thank you Maddie…” The offer is so sweet, I'm not sure what else to say.

“Of course! So, since you’re new to this, let’s start out with some easy spells,” Maddie remarks.

“Ooh! So, will I get to learn to shoot bolts of lightning and stuff?”

“Pssh yeah right. Let’s take it nice and slow. How about we start with a simple levitation spell? Here you’ll need this.”

Maddie picks up a massive spellbook and plops it into my hands. My body nearly collapses to the ground given the weight. Oh crap what did I get myself into?

“Alright, flip to page 300 and let’s begin!”

Whoa, the levitation spell is on page 300?! I thought she said we were starting off easy!

“So, levitation-related magic is a fundamental spell in a wizard’s arsenal,” Maddie explains. “Despite its name, it can be used to push, pull, or lift solids or liquids in any one direction. It can also be held, sped up, or slowed down with focus. Telekinesis didn’t feel like a good fit, so they stuck with referring to all of these singular movement direction spells as levitation spells. Now the principal method to-”

She continues talking. I’m going to be honest, I completely zoned out just now. Probably like how you just did.

Maddie lets me borrow her wizard staff to try the spell out. Its twisted roots curl upwards to hold a beautiful blue crystal. I feel really cool right now!

Unfortunately, that excitement doesn’t last too long. Immediately I realize I have no idea what I’m doing. During the entire lesson, Maddie tells me all the things I’m doing wrong, and when I fix one thing, I mess up somewhere else. My posture was too stiff so I relaxed my back. Then, when I loosen up there, my grip on the staff becomes too flimsy! And when I focus on my stance too much, I completely botch saying the word to trigger the spell. Needless to say, the whole day goes to waste.

“We’ll uh… we’ll keep working on that.” Maddie says, trying to hide her concern. “Let’s try again tomorrow! I’ll lend you the spellbook so you can do some light reading between lessons. See you in the morning bright and early!”

Later that night I began to flip through the spellbook Maddie lent me, starting with the section on levitation. I don’t know half the words on this page! Surely this has to be too advanced for me. I flip over the book to read the front cover. Spellbook for Dummies: Wizarding 101 Ideal for Beginners. Damn it.

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Well I read a few pages before giving up entirely. Crawling out of bed is a slog. I just don’t understand why this is so hard for me. I sigh and begin walking to the tower ready to repeat the whole process again. Hopefully Maddie doesn’t have a pop quiz for me based on the reading.

“You’re a little late June.” Maddie says in a slightly chastising tone. “So, how far did you get on that chapter last night?”

“Was I supposed to read all that?”

There were A LOT of pages in that section and after this she wants me to learn transfiguration spells? No way. Not possible.

She lets out a sigh. “June, if you want to catch up to great wizards like Grandof, you’ll need to put in the work. This should be easy for you.”

“Well Grandof died at the end of the third book so…”

Oops I didn’t mean to say that out loud! Maddie hears my little aside and scoffs indignantly. The rest of the lesson doesn’t go much smoother. I keep practicing and at the very end of the lesson, I finally manage to get a quill to gently hover over the ground. It was only a few seconds, but still! I can actually cast magic spells! Hell yeah!!

“Keep working on it. You can do better than that if you keep practicing.”

As soon as Maddie speaks, the joy gets sucked out of the experience. She’s clearly unimpressed, even though she’s trying to reassure me. She must have caught on to learning magic way quicker than me. Just like back in the real world, everyone is better than me. It doesn’t matter what it is. Sports, academics, art. There’s always someone that I will never be able to reach. So why bother trying? Giving up is so much easier.

I continue to dread going to Maddie’s lessons in the morning. I show up late. I get reprimanded. I fail at a spell. She tries to hide her scowl. Then it repeats. Everyday. Just a loop of the one before. This is just like school, only there I had a book club to retreat to. Here? I have no one.

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The next day my lesson with Maddie takes a detour. Apparently, the owner of a magic shop in the town lent her a key so we can use the place. She wants me to borrow a spellbook there to learn transfiguration. Y’know, a spell that can turn common household objects into small magical creatures. Simple really. No pressure at all.

We finally make it to the shop. It’s a quaint little place with plenty of fun magical trinkets and tools. Crystal balls, astronomy equipment, magical scrolls, you name it. If I was by myself, I’d have so much fun exploring every nook and cranny of this tightly packed shop curious about everything. But I’m not alone. I’m stuck with my tutor ready to learn something I already know I’m going to fail at.

Once inside, Maddie hands me another large spellbook with a little more force than usual. In my other hand, she aggressively places one of the shop's wizard staffs. Ah, I’ve finally broken her spirits. Just like my other teachers who hoped they could fix me. I am a lost cause.

“Alright, so we’re going to work on that transfiguration spell June. Did you finish your reading assignment?”

I don’t want to lie to her, so I just stay silent. Unfortunately, that silence speaks volumes. I can see her disappointment. I try to stifle the angry voice bubbling up inside of me, but I can’t. It all comes spewing out the top much like the famed volcano in the Emperor of the Lantern series Mount Calamity. Everything erupts in an instant.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m not good enough for you!! I know I will never make you proud, so why would I even bother to try Maddie?”

She scoffs. I’m helpless. I am a total lost cause, but she’s so stubborn she won’t give up. Instead she shifts the blame not on my talent, but on my work ethic.

“Maybe if you tried harder, you could actually learn something!”

“Or maybe I’d learn something if I had a better teacher!”

I snapped back, but Maddie quickly retaliates with a string of heated words of her own.

“Well if you don’t put in the effort, you’ll never amount to anything! Come on, this is a beginner’s level course-”

“‘Course you’d think that. You’re lying to yourself! Just a full load of bull sh-”

“Shh!”

Maddie motions to shush me. I realize the staff in my hands is glowing violently. I follow its glow to find out that I did somehow manage to cast a transfiguration spell.

A golden sextant, y’know, one of those astronomer tech thingies, floats out of its location on a nearby shelf. It gradually begins its transformation, growing to a monstrous size. It’s not long before the shape of the creature is bigger than Maddie and I combined. A loud grunt booms out as the bovine takes form, a form that surely would have even the bravest matadors running away in fear.

Damn. Of all the creatures I had to create with a transfiguration spell, I made that thing? Now THAT’S a real load of bull.