10.1

“Come on! Drink up, John!” Randolph’s voice followed up after he bumped his tankard against the one he handed to John. “You held yourself great against Scywell back there! Consider this drink from me for having shown how people from the Eastern Continent fight!”

“That’s not…”

John tried to argue that he never specialized in any sword fighting techniques, but he gave up midway. In the beginning, he was never one who was fond of physical activities, sure they helped him to cut the excess weight he gathered back when he was a child, but he never saw himself as someone who could wield the sword and put himself on the line.

“Don’t worry, it’s just mango juice, even I know alcohol is reserved for special occasions,” Randolph insisted as he gulped down his own tankard.

“You don’t have to be humble, John. None of us has beaten Scywell with or without him using his strength, ahahaha! You lasted as long as Randolph here though!” Gobbert took a seat beside John and raised his own drink in the air, tall enough for everyone in the cafeteria to see.

They are now in the cafeteria of the main building, originally, it had been the hero’s party’s intention to eat at the East Wing pub, but a few spectators from the other residence wings happened to witness the battle between Scywell and John. The six of them end up getting invited to a farewell party—for the one week break that most students would take from Moxnet—that a handful of students had organized.

There was free food, which warranted all the reason for John to attend. But now that it is getting late into the afternoon, and with Angeline already left for home and Scywell being preoccupied by the other students—Helen was beside the hero just in case—all that was left was the three of them.

“What are you two up to when you guys get back?” John, who would be taking the midday ride back to Parac Village in a few hours asked the two of his male friends.

Gobbert was the first to answer, “I’ll be helping my uncle out, if the empire doesn’t give us any more work, I think that will be all.”

“What about you, Randolph?”

“I… Well… will be going to…” Randolph wore the face of a convicted criminal whose crime was found guilty, “Y-you know, back.”

“What do you mean back?” Gobbert made a face that anyone would upon hearing such an ambiguous answer. “Scywell and Helen are going back to Registoria, John back to his family just like Angeline, but you just go back? Back where? To your mother’s womb?”

“Pfft!”

“H-Hey! That’s rude!” Randolph complained but did not protest any longer, the usually boisterous guy was now oddly silent. Randolph would usually snap back at Gobbert with an even worse insult than the one Gobbert gave, but it seems like the guy was not willing to talk.

“Come on Randolph, where? Didn’t you said your parents wanted you to help them with rebuilding their fence, roof or something? What are you…”

After a moment of pause, Gobbert noticed the growing flush on Randolph’s lowered head, his mouth made a circular shape in realization.

“Ahhhh, it’s Suzie isn’t it?”

Randolph’s grey eyes went wide, “W-wha— What!? Who told you!!! Was it Angeline!?” his pupils then focused on John who was silently laughing to himself. “John, you…”

John raised two hands into the air, and shook his head while he held himself from laughing, “It wasn’t me, Gobbert came to that on his own!”

“I— Ugghh…" Randolph let out a defeated sigh and slapped his own palm against his face, “Shit… I look like an idiot now…”

“Aren’t you always?”

“Suzie’s idiot.”

Gobbert and John each in turn gave their sly comments to their friend who was defeated by his own emotions of love, all the while laughing at Randolph who was never shy about his preferences for the ideal female.

“You two… What should I do?” Randolph moaned as he banged his head against the table.

“I don’t know, bud. You know me, I still don’t think I am that stage yet. Maybe John can tell you something, since he’s got that tanned…” Gobbert stopped talking halfway when he remembered that John was no longer seeing the red-haired girl who was head over heels for him. “Ah, sorry, John.”

John simply made a casual shrug at his friend’s comment and brushed the matter of him supposedly no longer seeing Sheila.

He meant probably meant Ephinelyth, but I guess that’s how you perceive things when your memories get replaced…

His fingers were about to curl into a fist at the thought of Ephinelyth replacing her presence with Sheila but before he became enraged, John quickly placed his two arms onto the table and touched his fingertips together and continued asking about Randolph’s dilemma.

“Randolph, isn’t that a good thing?” John said.

“What do you meeeeaaaan…?” moaned the stressed-out Randolph.

“You like her, don’t you?”

“I didn’t say that!”

John made a straight line with his lips and rolled his eyes, still, he remained patient with Randolph, “Come on, let’s be honest, if that were false, you would not be in this state now.”

“You are just basing that with assumptions.”

John pushed his hands against the table and stood up, “Alright then, it’s just my assumptions. I guess I won’t help you out since you know what to do already. I’ll see you guys in a week.”

Seeing John who was fed up and was about to leave, Randolph stood to the balls of his feet and called to his friend.

“W-wait! E-even if it’s just assumptions, I want to hear your thoughts.”

John had a cold look on his face, it was the one he wore when they first met, the face that he put on whenever he was by himself, one reserved for strangers.

“You can assume all of what I was going to say on your own. Since it’s assumptions, it’s all the same if I say it or you imagined it.”

Randolph grit his teeth, “Fine! I’ll admit you are right, so please don’t leave just yet.”

John flashed a cheeky smile upon hearing Randolph’s admission of defeat. “Okay then, let us continue from where we stopped,” he returned to his seat and received a light slap on his palm from Gobbert underneath the table.

“Nice work getting Randolph to talk,” Gobbert raised a fist and John bumped it in response.

“I know.”

Randolph gave a large sigh as his head was about to explode from the thought of going back to his parents’ house.

“So, we agree you like her?” John resumed the pose of placing his fingertips together as he asked Randolph the question.

“Yes. A lot.”

“A lot, meaning?”

“Everything, John. She has literally become the perfect girl I had in my mind, beautiful face, soft voice, big breasts, amazing body—”

John held a hand in the air and stopped Rnadolph before he was about to be consumed by the building lust and embarrass himself in public.

“I don’t see the problem here. When you get back to your hometown, just talk to her and start from there, it should be easy from that point onwards.”

Randolph had his two hands moved from grabbing his own hair to have them become stiff as a corpse’s in front of his face, “You don’t understand! The reason I left home was so I won’t be engaged to her. And now I am like her because of how she looks? That’s pathetic, shallow and despicable of me. Someone like her…”

“Still waited for you. I mean, I don’t know what kind of girl she is, but for me, if a girl waited for me and remains pure after so long, I don’t see a problem.”

“B-but, but… I don’t know how I’ll even speak to her…” Randolph lowered his head.

Gobbert tapped John shoulders, indicating that he wanted to say something.

“Randolph, if I may. This is not from me, but this is something Uncle Warren said to me back when I was deciding whether to join Scywell on his missions. He said that life is like a game of archery, in archery hitting the bullseye consistently takes an extreme amount of effort. But if you don’t try your hand at shooting, the arrow can’t find its target.”

“…”

Randolph remained silent while John nodded along to Gobbert’s explanation.

“Just think about it, yeah? Talk to her if you still can’t let go of what you did, I am sure she will understand,” Gobbert said softly.

“Yeah… Thanks guys. I’ll try to ask her about it, if I can.”

Randolph’s reply brought smiles to his two friends’ faces.

“Just don’t go making comments about how her body is in public, or you know, your private thoughts— Mmmff!” John’s mouth was immediately covered up by Randolph before he could say anything else.

After his conversation with his two friends and bidding them goodbye, John returned to his room.

John closed the door behind him as he stepped into his room to retrieve his bag of belongings for his one-week stay back at the Harvests.

He proceeded to open his bag and made sure he had not missed anything.

“Clothes, check. Money, check. Drawing set for Meli…” his voice faltered when his fingers could not feel the sensation of the boxed present he prepared for Meli. “Hang on… I think I placed it somewhere here… Aha! There we go!” John found the premium drawing set hid inside one of his bag’s compartments.

“Phew…” he wiped the bead of cold sweat that formed on his forehead. The drawing set costed him a few gold coins with their perpetual magic brush and pencils, he could have simply bought another set if he lost it, but without the elaborate wrapping that was already covering it, it would be a hassle for him to wrap the drawing set again.

Since the pencils never wear out, I bet Mera can use it to teach Meli. I haven’t got anything for Mera though…

John became silent in thought when he realized he had not prepared anything for Mera. His brows scrunched into a dark expression, not a moment sooner, his face bloomed.

That’s it, I’ll just bring her to Registoria to visit. She can pick whatever she want then. Yes, this is a perfect idea. What a genius you are, John.

John grinned to himself like an idiot as he imagined Mera who would be pouting when she discovered he only bought a present for Meli but not her. He would then make a snarky comment like, ‘I have not forgotten about you’ and tease her just when she was about to complain to him.

“Ha! And then I’ll…”

Cling, clank.

John’s unusually joyous face dissipated.

His ears caught the sounds of a metallic clang in the dedicated mailbox by the entrance of his room.

Something just got delivered to him.

The only letters or parcels that he usually would receive were the ones sent by the Harvests, since he was returning today, Mera had already sent out her last letter on behalf of the Harvests to him two days ago.

John became silent, he understood the implications of something unexpected delivered to him right before he was to return home. Since, he barely knew anyone in the empire or even just the outside world in general, there was a high possibility of it being an unpleasant item from someone who meant him harm.

Someone like the succubus he previously dissed came to his mind.

Ughh… Something bad better not come from her group…

The sender would not be Prishine the succbus, rather her merry group of friends who probably thought it was the perfect time to get back at him for all the ‘disrespect’ he showed to their esteemed goddess that day.

If it is something bad from them… I really need to stop speaking whenever I am around Prishine…

He walked towards the mailbox, opened it, fully expecting for something nefarious exploding upon inspection but…

All he saw was a metal relic with the size of a pocket watch lying at the very end of the box. Wary for anything that would trigger upon physical contact, for John observed it from afar with a furled brow. Only when he deemed that it was harmless did he confidently reached for it and took the relic out.

He uncurled his fingers, the relic had markings that he had never seen before etched on it. From what he could make of the markings, the inscriptions resembled to the runes that formed A’vetheas’ magical border, indicating a type protective magic was cast on it.

This is weird… I never expect to see something like this here.

These runes never made much sense when one tried to read it as they were simply the byproduct of having powerful ancient magic casted on them. If one saw enough examples of them on items that had runes etched on its surface, it would be easier to understand what type of magic was applied to the object.

Though it had no concrete evidence, it was universally accepted that the rune markings all had unique designs to them, and that they were the embodiment of the caster’s thoughts during the application of such magic.

The delicate lines that formed waves on the ring of the metallic surface of the relic, the unbound grace that the runes emitted, the familiar scent of magic that the relic gave off, all of it reminded him of a particular person.

“…”

John’s face made a scowl.

The sender of this relic was now evident to him.

It was from Ephinelyth.

His empty hand hardened into a fist. His breath shallowed.

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

His heart thumped loudly, the anger he had for the dragon girl came gnawing back at him.

All that big talk about loyalty, bonds, promises, brought my expectations up like the fool I am, and now…now she dare contact me when our promise has long gone by…

He was angry. A strong rage that he never thought he had flared in him as the realization settled in him. The veins to his arms popped, he clenched his jaw as he seethed furiously.

Perhaps it was because her nullification of their promise reminded him of A’vetheas, perhaps it was because it was the power gap between him and her, perhaps it was because how he felt that she led him on, perhaps it was because how she left him without a single message, perhaps it was because he solemnly waited for her for that whole day, perhaps it was because Ephinelyth reminded him of his lost love with Raina Valindra Eridi, perhaps it was because that John…simply wished for her to honor what she had promised him…

It hurt him to see yet another promise he made with a lover fall apart. The fact that Ephinelyth simply had to disappoint him for his old wound to fester, spoke volumes about how fragile his heart was when it came to matters of love.

I don’t want this… It’s suffering… Was it so hard for him to just live a life devoid of meaningless drama?

John looked to the relic that was in his hand, his grip on it tightened as he stared at it.

“What do you think I am… Your stupid toy!? Your worshipper!?” John threw the metallic relic on the ground, intending to break it with his strength.

Alas, he was only human and had limited strength, relic bounced off the carpet ground with not a single dent made to it, even in anger his strength was not enough to break the relic.

He was weak, pathetic, hopeless, bitter, broken… If his dreams about Kahnira served to be true, he had not progressed much from since when he was a child. His body grew in size, his mind processed things much more quickly and accurately, but it did not matter if his heart and soul were just as fragile as before.

“Fuck this, if this is my fate, then I reject it. I’ll make damn sure that I will never—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the relic reacted to his words, heeded them as if he activated a hidden command, it began to emit rays of light from the rune inscriptions that were on its body.

The lights of varying colors then began to converge in thin air, forming a projection 2 meters from where John stood, the lights arranged themselves and took up shape of a figure.

A humanoid figure, one was the splitting image of Ephinelyth who did not honor her word.

I know you are aware of what I am… But I, John Sarvod am not your demon toy… he declared in his mind as he watched her lifelike image rendered before him.

John instinctively took a step back, his body tensed, he wanted to grab his weapon by the table but his head was filled with so much thoughts that it no longer matter if he had something to defend himself with. If the Elder Dragon wanted to hurt him with her magic, he would simple resist with his sheer will.

The still image of Ephinelyth formed by the lights had become so lifelike that it seemed like she was in front of him, her pale skin, her silver hair, her blue eyes that sparkled with wisdom, if only the image moved and talked…

“H... H-hello? T-testing… Is this working, Zondrac? I can see him moving but he isn’t talking?” Evie’s image flickered to have one of her fingers tapping at the air before her.

“…”

Evie paused for a moment before she started to nod at someone from her end of the transmission.

The relic he received in his mail box was hologram relic she sent John was one that allowed long distance communications, unlike conventional telecommunications where it required mana rocks and transmission lines to speak to the other person on the other end, hologram relics such as this can easily be used at one’s convenience if the one who was initiating communications was proficient in magic and had a limitless mana pool.

Knowing Evie, she probably chose this way communicating with him because with her realistic hologram projected before him it would seem intimate to John as though she was physically in his presence.

No doubt, this was her ploy to win him back from her broken promise.

John clenched his jaw in anger.

“…If he sees me, why won’t he speak or tell me he heard me? His face has been looking weirdly at me for now, I can’t tell if my projected image is appearing on his end.”

Then, John’s eyes turned cold as he spoke without emotion.

“What do you need?”

“J-John, you can see me now? Wonderful!” Evie clasped her hands together and gave a blissful expression. “Listen, John, you must not stay in Moxnet for long, let alone the academy, the current state of Dezarith Empire is dangerous, any second now the—”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Evie’s eyes opened wide, her face in terrible shock for having seen this side of John.

His was probably wearing a furious expression, something that he rather not resort to when he thought to speak to her, but have subconsciously done so. His body probably thought there was no more reason for him to keep his displeasure towards Ephinelyth to himself since the person in question was before him.

She blinked in confusion once, twice, thrice, then quickly returned to her usual upbeat expression.

“Please, you must believe me, you have to take the nearest ride to the northwest of the empire and meet with me, or else—”

“Or what? You’ll come and forcibly take me away? Take me away and forever make me a slave? No thanks, I have better things to do.”

Evie broke her smile, her face resembled broken glass upon hearing what John said “…W-what are y-you talking about? Did I n-not informed you of the dangers that I have u-uncovered about the empire? S-surely you must have read the countless letters I sent.”

“Letters? Letters? Your damned letters!?” John’s face became distorted, forming a horrible expression that he had reserved for people who were a threat to him and everything he cared about. “Let alone a damn letter! You have the audacity to speak to me after you’ve broken your promise!? You broke our promise, remember!? I was an idiot to believe you!”

“T-that’s…” Evie shrunk, her face was about to break into tears but John did not have the patience for it.

He placed a hand on his forehead and massaged his temples with two fingers. He turned his head away from her and took slow breathes before he started to speak again.

“You promised that you would explain everything once we meet, go on then, I invite you to do that now, tell me, what have you discovered about the academy is so dangerous that I have to go to you?”

Evie’s face became conflicted, her mouth twitched as she tried to speak, “I-I… I can’t say that now, our conversation is likely to be eavesdropped. If I even say something, y-your life might be in danger.”

John looked upwards at the celling, he nodded to himself.

“I see, so that is the excuses that you are giving. Because all you wanted was for me to go somewhere that isn’t under the empire’s jurisdiction and just abduct me like that.”

“Why would you say that!?” Evie looked at John woefully, her eyes moist. “All I wanted was to look after you, who made you think in such—”

John raised his hands and paused Evie.

“You did this,” he declared coldly. He could see her expression crack and fall before him. “If you have not replaced everyone’s memory of you to some random girl, I might have believed what you are saying. But… For you to erase your presence with your mind magic just because you are unable uphold the promise you’ve made with me is simply cruel!”

His heart pounded, he felt tears swelling in his eyes, but his eye sockets were as dry as the desert. John was not about to loose his tears over yet another failed romance, his time for mourning had pass, all he knew was he no longer want to partake in this conversation any longer.

“John, please, I don’t know what you are talking about but when we meet, I’ll let you be direct your anger at me however you wish. But please, please bring you and your family out of the Empire. I have plans to aid all of you to migrate from the empire, if only—”

Upon hearing the possibility of the Harvests being used as hostages, John’s fists tightened.

“Leave them out of this!”

“Eep.”

John walked menacingly towards Evie, his eyes blazing with anger.

“Mocking my emotions with your mind reading abilities is fine, I don’t care anything about your attempts to make me into your subservient tool. I admit, it is my fucking loss that I was strung up by your seduction attempts, you had me all wrapped up in your little finger.”

John spat each of his words as he gotten closer to her realistic hologram. And when his face was within two inches of hers, he looked down at her dainty stature and declared.

“But, if you dare get close to the Harvests, I’ll kill you! I don’t care who you are, what you are, how powerful you are, I’ll even burn away this empty life of mine in order to protect them.”

“…”

“So get lost. Destroy your silly relic while you are at it. I don’t want to hear from you again.”

“John…” Evie squeaked, her outstretched hand tried to reach him but failed to for she was not physically there.

John had not said another word, he silently took his bags and left the room, leaving a heartbroken Ephinelyth behind.

Was it cruel?

Yes.

But was it necessary?

“…”

John was unable to answer himself as he got onto his carriage. He was expressionless the moment he left East Wing, all he knew was that he had to leave the academy quickly so he would forget about what happened with Evie.

After so long, breaking a damn promise that she herself made, and now she shows herself telling lies about letters and danger? I would be a fool if I believed her.

Images of his last moments in A’vetheas flashed in his mind. The ugly faces that the elves had for him as the disowned him without a single thought. Queen Veissa’s expressionless face, Raina’s apathy, and most importantly Alwin’s betrayal.

John’s heart became void as his head repeated the same scene in his head over and over.

Life is suffering…

“Mister Sarvod, is Parac Village your only destination?”

The deep voice of the coachman from the outside brought John out of his daze. John moved his hands to wipe the liquids that have somehow appeared by the corner of his eyes.

“Y-yeah. I think so.”

“You think so? Young lad, if you have any other place in mind, do not hesitate to request it from this old man. The last thing I want is to make the infamous John Sarvod feel like he does not get the respect he deserved.”

“Respect?”

“Oh yes, the good hero Scywell Shatterstep might be displeased if he learned that his good friend is treated as dirt. What say you, do you simply wish to return to your hometown only?”

That’s right, I am actually someone valuable outside of A’vetheas. I have a group of friends who I’ve been through life or death situations with, I have a loving family, I am in a good school.

John brough a finger to his nose and rubbed it gently in attempts to calm himself.

“In that case… Do you know any places worth visiting while we are on route to Parac Village?”

“Oh, plenty my good lad, plenty of interesting places I can introduce you to!” the coachman sounded happy with John having taken an interest in his suggestions.

“Then, bring me to visit each and every one of them.”

“Every single one?” the coachman became confused, John could almost picture the coachman’s puzzled face from just the tone of his voice.

“Is that too much?”

“I assure you, it isn’t! Nothing is too much for me, but should you visit each of the notable places, by the time you arrive back home, it might be late in the night. Is that alright with you, Mister Sarvod?”

John placed a hand underneath his chin a thought about it seriously.

Nighttime, huh? I do want to go back too early but after that bad taste left in my mouth earlier, it wouldn’t hurt to enjoy some scenery myself.

John affirmed himself, he said he would be back to the Harvest household by today, but he did not say what time specifically. As long he made it back by midnight, it will all be alright.

“No problem, I am just going to stop at each place for a while, get my mind off things, you know?”

“As you wish.”

The coachman cracked the whip on the horses and John left Moxnet Academy.