Arthur made his way to the principal’s office and walked in, ignoring the assistant.
“You, me, duel. Now.” He said with a tired expression.
“Excuse me?”
“I know the little loophole, or old rule, or whatever you call it. Fight me so I can do something more worth my time.”
The old man’s expression darkened. “I do not enjoy being pushed around so lightly. You do not scare me like-” He was cut short as Arthur stared at him with two glowing red eyes as the room around the darkened. He felt as though there was a knife directly to his throat. “We’ll have the diploma delivered to your room by tomorrow morning.”
“Make it this evening.” Arthur said as he walked out the door without closing it.
The old and established wizard stared at the open door. ‘That’s the second time this week. I’ve had enough. I’m retiring. I never want to deal with students again.’
--
Ifrit was pacing back and forth in his palace, deep inside a volcano. He had felt the world become separated from the outside for only a few seconds, but there was still something after it. Faint echoes of a scream that resounded through the world. It was barely strong enough for him to notice, which meant the other members of the spirits most likely also noticed. And most likely were not going to do anything about it. Sometimes he felt like he was the only one not complacent. The ruling fire spirit before him noticed there were strange things going on in Hell. Fearing the demons were preparing for an invasion, she had led an army into the depths of Hell. That army never returned. Or more like: it disappeared without a trace alongside Hell itself not much later. Ifrit became the replacement, but he was never really accepted by the other spirit rulers. He was younger and therefore weaker than the others. Not to mention, they kept using the excuse that he was born after the ‘war’ to act as if he was some naive pup. Truth is, none of the spirits really fought against the demons, none except Ifrit’s predecessor.
He decided that he had had enough of waiting around and doing nothing, so he changed from the formal clothing he would wear normally to some comfortable clothes more fit to travel and blend in. And then, he set off on his journey to try to get answers.
--
The wind was howling mercilessly in the North. At night even the bay froze, locking the ships that were not removed in place. There was barely any movement on the streets as everyone huddled around their fireplaces and under heavy blankets to keep from freezing. Except for a single man with a slender and elegant build, in a thin shirt and black pants. He was carrying a large wooden chest usually carried by four people on his shoulder. Despite the weight, his boots left no marks in the snow, it was as if he were floating on top of it. The snow that fell on him or the chest just vanished, leaving them completely dry.
He walked to the palace, where they didn’t even bother putting guards at the gate. Clearly, anyone willing to put up with the cold was the kind of person a few run of the mill guards wouldn’t really stop. That was the joke, anyway. The real reason was that there was no money that would get guards to stand motionless outside at night in the winter during a blizzard.
Arthur walked in through a side entrance that was locked, but any non-magical lock was not much more than a decoration for him. He walked through the empty halls, all the way to his room. He quickly unpacked and threw up enough magical warding on the walls to hold off an army or a whole lot of cold. He buried himself under the sheets, knowing that without Yuuki to make things turn into easy mode, he would have to be a lot more diligent. He knew not to try and predict her, but this was simply absurd.
When he woke up, he quickly freshened up using cold water and began making a plan. Not just what to do that day, but in general. He would have to ask his father to teach him as much as possible, as fast as possible. Speed was necessary, because he wanted to be fit to rule before his brother would inevitably challenge him. Without Yuuki to act as the perfect advisor, he would have to settle with ‘Politics for dummies AKA how not to ruin a country 101’. The work ahead of him would take a lot of effort, but if he backed down now, he would forever regret it. So, with steely determination, he went to see his father.
--
“No. No, that’s not it. No. Listen, if you don’t trust anything I say, why don’t you come here and check the footage yourself, I’m telling you: those ice-cream packs straight up vanished! No, I’m not doing this as a prank, seriously, I’ve watched the footage six times already, and that’s the best explanation I can give.”
A store clerk was currently busy explaining to his ‘boss’ on the phone that three buckets worth of ice cream just disappeared. He had no idea how it was even happening, and it was freaking him out. He wasn't one to believe in supernatural stuff, but this happened right in front of him. He started this small business with his friend, and they were running it together, but he was only doing it as a side-gig. As he put down the phone and stared at the ceiling, there was a momentary silence. Just after that, there was a loud thwack on the counter.
He stared at the gold bar that must’ve weighed at least as much as his 3 year old son. Next to it were two papers. One of them were the papers proving the legitimacy of the gold. The other was a note which said:
‘I’m taking the ice cream again, hope you don’t mind. If you keep things a secret, I’ll keep giving you nice things. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter, no one will believe you. Also, no one will find you getting rich suspicious, I'll make sure of it.
Ps: You can tell your friend.
PPs: You get some lime flavor and I’ll give you a large diamond ring to gift to your wife for your anniversary that's in 2 days.’
“what”
GG, Yuuki wins.
A gold bar a day, keeps the suspicion away...