I look at her with a confused expression, not sure if I should run away or fight back. If she really knows about my special programming powers, she probably wants to capture me in order to run some experiments or maybe she wants to make me slave away creating unique cartridges for her. My mind is racing at a thousand miles per hour until she finally speaks:

“What?… Don’t tell me you don’t even have an analyze cartridge with you? Who wouldn’t bring an analyze cartridge with him when visiting the black market? Do you want to get scammed kid?!”

Phew… Looks like she wasn’t talking about my programming powers after all.

“What are you talking about?”

*SIGH* “You’re really a newbie, or perhaps some spoiled and sheltered heir? Anyways, make sure to bring one next time, even an ‘eye-of-truth’ magic would suffice to analyze lower level cartridges.”

“S-Sure, I’ll use ‘eye-of-truth’ when I reach my dorm.”

I never even heard of such a magic before, looks like Mr. Ito didn’t actually prepare us for the real world… Well, what would you expect from college?

After putting the cartridge inside my dimensional-tattoo, I turn around and start walking towards the train-station. I take Miss Izumi’s advice and try not to think about the murder I was just implicit in.

“Hey boy! Don’t forget about my job offer! I’ll be expecting you here tomorrow!”

*SIGH* I know… I know…

…

I finally arrive back at my dorm with still a somewhat sullen complexion.

I try to force a smile before entering, I don’t want to worry my roommates after all.

“I’m back!”

Looks like nobody was waiting for me… Well, it’s to be expected, it’s already late…

Suddenly, Sara pokes her head from out of the bathroom. She's already in her pajamas, a cute bear-onsie.

“You’re back late, don’t tell me you’re already cheating on Juniper?!”

“Oh come on, like I could ever do better than Juniper… Wait no, we’re not togheter in the first place!”

Weird, I’m actually not annoyed to see her for once…

“Hmpf! She isn’t THAT amazing… Wait, did something happen? You’re not as annoying as usual…”

*SIGH* She’s weirdly attentive at moments like these, or maybe I’m just bad at hiding my emotions…

“Sara… Have you ever… Have you ever killed a person?”

“Ha, quit being so serious, it doesn’t suit you at all.”

She playfully pokes at me, but after realizing I’m not kidding, she sighs:

“You’re serious? *SIGH* Well, I personally haven’t, but my dad certainly has. You don’t get an executive position in the golden lions guild by being a pacifist… I don’t blame him for it though, he doesn’t kill randomly and doesn’t take pleasure in it, it’s simply part of his job. I think taking someone’s life isn’t inherently good or bad, it’s more complex than that. Murder is supposed to be a difficult choice, otherwise we would be no different from animals, but I’m not naïve enough to think there’s good in everyone, some people have to die for other’s survival.”

“That… Makes sense… It’s rather mature too, especially coming from a princess like you.”

“Hey! I was trying to give you advice!”

She starts pouting and weakly hitting me with her small fists.

“But… Thanks, thanks a lot… I needed that…”

“R-Really?”

She moves in front of me and slightly tilts her head downwards, I can see her cute red cheeks shining through her flowing silver hair. Does… Does she want me to pat her head or something?

I hesitantly place my hand on top of her head, fully expecting to be skewered by another icicle, but… Nothing happens.

I lightly move my hand up and down over her soft, silver locks… Feels quite nice actually. I can even hear her making some cute noises:

“He He…”

She probably snapped back to reality after letting those noises escape from her mouth though, as she hurriedly and awkwardly walks back to her room without saying a word.

That was nice… Sara can be really cute sometimes…

After relishing in Sara’s cuteness for some time, I also decide to head back to my room for some much needed shut eye.

…

As I wake up in the morning, I realize I didn’t even check out the cartridge of rat-man before I went to bed.

His magic seemed quite useful, he would disappear as soon as he activated it. Maybe it actually was something like teleportation? Nah, it wasn’t instantaneous, more like he accelerated after turning invisible.

Well, only one way to find out.

I take the cartridge out of my dimensional tattoo and pop it into my chest implant:

Shadow steps huh? Sound like a movement technique. This must be some good stuff…

Let’s analyze it!

Niku20

We finally reached 30+ chapters! Let me know what you think of the story so far, drop a comment, leave a review or give 'Programmable Magic' a rating. Positive ratings and comments motivate me to write more often 😊 At the end of the first arc we’ll also do a popularity poll, so look forward to that! I'll also just leave this here ;) PAYPAL Every little bit helps, but please don't send more than 5 bucks lol, you could probably spend that money on something more usefull.