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Chapter XVIII
🕑 Added 2025-06-24 14:21:54 +0000 UTCIt was a quiet morning on Slur. I sat on the balcony, idly sipping on a cup of sugary tea as I watched the students and pedestrians go about starting their day. Fools. They had no idea that a God among men was watching ov-...er... forget that. The London sky was moody as ever, and I could occasionally hear the faint clanking of the kitchen behind me.
Past the leaning and tired buildings of Slur, I could discreetly make out the faux Big Ben, the Clock Tower, that lorded over all things supernatural... or at least claimed to. I wanted to question the nature of that particular claim after I handed in my report about the daemon we'd encountered.
The representative just threw his hands up and decreed that daemons were the territory of the Catholic Church so we could go fuck ourselves. He even skimped out on my pay and handed out a quarter because I'd apparently done nothing except scout it... which was true, but fuck that guy anyway. No, the stink bomb I'd thrown in before locking the door to his office was not enough.
Daddy needed his green.
I rubbed my chin, musing the whole... stealing others' work.
"...Maybe after class?"
The paned door slid open, and I scrambled for my aviators, putting them on just in time for my mother to come floating out. With a hum, she put down a ceramic tray with bits of cake and a cup of coffee for herself. The woman completely ignored my presence up until she took a seat beside me and crossed one foot over the other like some kind of hoodlum gangster.
Well... she may as well have been a real tough guy for raising two kids all on her own with none of the patheticness that often came with such criminal elements who were only tough until someone with a bigger dick came along.
Calmly, Louise Smith sipped her coffee, then downed some of the cake and finished it off with another gulp, a bigger one this time. I could only quietly eye the wrinkles on my mother's face, the slight gaps in her tough act like her slightly slouched shoulders or her strained gaze.
"How's that university?" She asked without looking my way.
"Interesting if nothing else, can't say I don't appreciate the paycheck or the work hours either."
It was certainly better compared to working the night shift at a library where there was a decent chance of getting shanked by roadmen while balancing studies and whatnot.
"...I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm having fun and is it really living life if it doesn't kick your shit in every once in a while."
"You need to keep some for yourself." She said, and her tone told me that I was better off not questioning her.
I still did.
"What makes you think I haven't already?"
Well... I hadn't. But she didn't need to know that. She more than deserved all the green I'd been given for that daemon. I could get more... and besides, with the sort of life I was leading now, there was no need for money beyond what I could eat. Not when I could learn magic, shit on assholes, and fight awesome creatures.
She just sighed at my words before biting into her cake.
"What about you? Did you find a better job or are you still going to that old place?"
Hers was a dead-end customer service job at some firm where the hours made no sense for the pay but poor mooks like her had no choice but to work anyway. That was followed by another evening job working at a grocer's or something.
Honestly, it pissed me off to even consider it. I didn't like that and I was going to do something about it if it was the last thing I did. Today.
My mother only offered me a tired smile.
I shook my head and stood up.
"I have classes."
"Before you go..." She stopped me midway, making me sit down with her hand on my shoulder, "When were you going to tell me about those eyes?"
Everything came to a halt. The world seemed to go quiet for a singular moment but then everything came rushing back in. All I could do was... sigh... and sink back into my chair. It was folly to think something this huge could escape a proper mother's 'eyes'.
"What? Did you really think I wouldn't notice something was different about my boy?"
"Contacts?" I offered weakly... and got shut down with a motherly pout. "...Puberty?"
This time, Louise Smith crossed her arms.
"I-... Optical illusion from the sunlight coming into contact with my eyes at a certain angle through the lens of these aviators!"
She turned to look at the grey sky, then back at me. I looked down, ashamed. For her own good, I couldn't spill the beans. Not when it came to this. Not with the sort of society that accompanied this particular bit of knowledge.
I had no other excuse to give her either.
Suddenly, I was hit with the realisation that there HAD to be some kind of illusion spell. If there was, I needed to get my hands on it as soon as possible.
Finally, she let out a sigh. "Is it dangerous?"
"Not really."
Oh, it absolutely was. Her look told me she didn't believe my words at all but she relented all the same. Slowly, she unfolded her arms and eased her narrowed eyes. I quietly considered leaping off the railing right there and then. It would be better than having the coming conversation.
"When you feel comfortable..."
I turned her away, astounded.
What manner of mother was this?
"Oh, I love you so much, woman." I grabbed her by the arms and gave her a loud peck on the cheeks. Then, I bolted off before she could recover from the sudden display of affection from her normally aloof son.
Slamming the door shut behind me, I ran past Flat and Caules discussing something... Somehow, I didn't see it coming that Flat would grab the poor nerd and bolt off after me screeching like a demon unleashed from the very depths of hell.
"WHAT ARE WE RUNNING FROM?!"
"Your moth-..."
-
Waver's lecture on age and mystery, belief stabilising mystery and a simple projection spell that gave shape to an object based on the caster's mental image passed quickly enough. It was boring as hell past the spell part and he had the gall to say it was an inconvenient spell too.
Okay, maybe it was, what with the object requiring a complete understanding of it to make as well as the fact that the world inherently rejected it like all spells. Actually, to any normal magus, it wasn't worth the trouble with the mana costs to maintain it... For me however, hehe, I could get up to some nasty shit if I coupled it with structural analysis (the second spell Waver displayed).
Demonstration number one being the reason I was currently sitting in a corner of the room away from all my classmates while Svin Glascheit looked at me like he wanted to tear open my throat.
Why?
Well, I'd 'projected' a paper and lopped it at his head after crumpling it up. This was nothing. He shrugged it off. I followed up with a projected eraser. A small branch. A glass. Finally, when he refused to give me a reaction, a brick. Yes.
Flat sat right beside me by the way. He'd fallen over cackling when Svin launched himself across the class right at me, murder in his eyes. Professor Waver groaned and dragged his hand over his face, looking like he was done with life.
Now... Now I was resting my head on my palm with righteous protest on my lips.
"Death to the bourgeois."
Waver facepalmed. "What bourgeois?! You're there because you attacked your classmate!"
"In my defense, he was being a mangy cunt."
"I was just sitting there! And you threw a brick at me! A brick!" Svin snarled.
"Calm down there buddy boy, don't unleash your inNeR bEAst on me. You threw a chair first."
"That's true~! I was there~!" Yvette jumped up, flailing about a hand.
"Yvette! Simmer down! Why are you even interfering?!" Waver shouted back.
"It is a concubine's dut-"
"I did not consent to this."
"But you said you liked having me around~!"
I put a hand on my chin, looking most profound, as though the spirit of a sage had suddenly come and possessed my sacred flesh.
"Wait, that's true."
Finally, Waver blew his top. He let out a furious roar (he just groaned) and pointed a finger at the door, his crimson scarf snapping with the movement.
"GET OUT!"
I raised my hands in surrender and stood up. Without a word, I shuffled out of the classroom. But, I would have the last laugh. Before I closed the door, I uttered some enlightened wisdom.
"There's three minutes left till class ends..."
It seemed my day would not go about as I'd planned however. The moment I stepped into the corridor, a creature of the night greeted me, possibly intent on claiming my soul.
"Oh hey, Luviagelita, haven't seen you in a bit. How many souls did you steal-"
With not a word, the Edelfelt head, one of the brightest magi of our generation, stepped up to me and shoved me against the wall. Then, she slammed a hand on the wall behind me with a loud bang in a perfect kabedon.
Shamelessly, I put my hands on my cheeks like a real man and-
"Kyaaaaaa-..."
"You little-"
Luviagelita put a hand over my mouth. I licked it and seized the moment afforded to me by her reeling it in disgust. At that same moment, the class doors opened and students came piling out in a swarm. So, in the deep voice of a Londoner in his late teens, I shouted.
"Help! She's rap-"
-
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