Bleap
patreon
Chapter VIII
🕑 Added 2025-06-13 09:04:36 +0000 UTC(A/N: I have risen. I think the shock from the whole thing has faded and my addiction to writing has come back in full force. Sorry, it took a bit. And, those of you who still saw fit to support me despite my absence, you have my deepest gratitude. I don't know how I can ever repay you... but I can churn out loads of chapters.)
It turned out the prospect of a properly paying job, a good education, free lodgings and a university professor's sponsorship was too exciting for a single mother of two barely supporting her family to ignore, even if she tried.
By the time 'Professor' Waver was done listing the pros of coming under his tutelage, I was quite certain that my mother would have forced me to accept his offer even if my wishes were to the contrary, not that they were. Being broke turned out to be quite the boon in this case, we didn't have much to pack up for the move, and by the next morning, we were well on our way to the dorms.
Ellie rode atop my shoulders, and her negligible weight made me again and again forget that she was even there... That problem was resolved when she started letting out the occasional 'ooh' and 'aah' while tugging my hair to steer.
What was she? Some kind of Italian rat obsessed with cooking?
The 'Slur' student dormitory was a considerable upgrade from our old home. The walls were a clean, slick white, the tiled floor was well-kept, and the corridor was rife with the hustle and bustle of students all too busy or sleep-deprived to even bat an eye at us, as most often were in university.
An overly excited, burly, Indian man met us halfway into the compound and practically wrenched my two suitcases from my hands with a massive grin. He spoke too loud, and his skin was only an inch lighter from one of the wannabe roadmen I'd hospitalised.
"Why's your skin like that? You're not black."
... I looked up at Ellie with pursed lips, and a newfound respect for her baby balls in my heart, "Damn girlie."
"It's because I'm from a far away land," Krishna offered a good-natured smile, not the least bit bothered. "No need to apologise, madam." He stopped my mother before she could speak, "You can't blame a child for being curious."
"You know there's something to be said about an Indian man serving someone like Waver. It's not coming to min-...omph!"
My mother knocked me over the head with a fist before I could finish my words.
"What? He said he didn't mind," I complained, rubbing my bruise.
"I didn't raise you to be like this. There's no need to be disrespectful for no reason."
Krishna's smile widened at her words and without even slowing his walk, he added, "It's fine, madam. Rudeness is how our youth compensate with the harsh fact that they're incapable of doing much."
Damn, Krishna.
I was duly humbled by the man and walked the rest of the way in silence as my mother told me off some more. All the way to our new 'lodgings', I wondered if I could get the man to teach me his ways. He had just fried me without even saying one 'crude' word. An elevator ride later, we arrived on the third floor, to a room unceremoniously labelled '5308'.
Krishna opened the dark, furnished door with a set of two keys that he handed off to my mother right the next moment before walking in and carefully placing our cases on the... the wooden floor. "Welcome to your dorm, Henry. Miss Louise. We don't typically have such cases but we do sometimes get students who want their servants to move in with them. I hope you don't mind, I had one such apartment refurbished to accommodate you as soon as I was notified."
"It's no trouble at all. Th... Thank you." Mama Smith was understandably overwhelmed.
I tilted my head, "That was yesterday though."
"I don't see how that's a cause for concern."
I guessed magecraft made such things easier to accomplish?
"Well, I'll leave you to it then." He gave a small nod, "I hope you enjoy your stay. Oh and, food is readily available in the cafeteria should you feel a bit peckish. If you have certain tastes or any allergies, be sure to tell me. And lastly, I'm quite the cook if I do say so myself."
With a final bow, he disappeared into the corridor, leaving us to our own devices. I had every single intention of exploring the new apartment then leaping on the bed right after for a good rest without the smell of fries and fish for the first time in my life but, of course, how could that be?
"I hope you'll apologise to that nice man for your earlier remarks." Mama Smith said from beside me, giving free reign to the serpentine creature that had neared us in the meantime to spit her venom and ruin my life.
"I wonder what she'd have to say if she knew what you did to me yesterday."
Luviagelita smirked, a hand under her breasts and the other hovering next to her cheeks in that rich lady way of hers. She'd changed into a different dress, a simpler one without shoulders accented by odd golden, floral patterns down to her ankles. It was still blue though, for some reason.
I mechanically turned to face her. "I thought light was poison to demo-"
"What did he do?" My mother cut me off.
"He really was quite rough yesterday when he had his way," Luviagelita smirked in a way that told me she knew exactly what she was saying. "That dress of mine is all but ruined. I certainly hope you'll reprimand him for his actions."
Ah... so that was why she changed cloth-... oh no..
"You bitc-"
My mother dragged me indoors and slammed the door shut behind her.
-
"My, I hope you've learned to respect ladies more."
Half an hour later, I sat on a bench outside the dormitory nursing a new bruise on my head that I had only because Luviagelita Edelfelt was a big snitch. She was laughing at me even now, standing right beside the armrest.
"You're misunderstanding something," I explained. "I already respect ladies."
"Then-"
"The last time I checked, banshees weren't classified as ladies, more as soul-sucking monsters."
She raised a clenched fist but I'd already backed away to the far corner of the bench and readied a spell to blast her with again before she could, two fingers pulled back like I was about to throw some gang signs and summon a fireball... which I was.
Suddenly, the blonde witch started giggling, "It's almost refreshing to meet someone who doesn't care for my standing... or his own safety."
Way to be the cliche rich girl... I kept my mouth shut this time however, not too keen on having her prattle to my mother again.
"Fine, I'll concede this time. Come on, let's head to class."
I'd been looking forward to the lecture so I ended up conceding too. But only for the sake of learning cool magi-... magecraft.
Unfortunately, my hopes for new learning were thoroughly dashed when Waver spent the whole lecture expounding on why magecraft needed to be kept a secret from the larger world, basing the necessity on the fact that it was not freely utilisable but parsing it was a possibility all the same. If the mechanisms were deciphered, it would lose its power and they most certainly would.
It made magi look idiotic, in my opinion, at least.
"So while humanity learnt to harness the power of the stars, you people sit around happy you don't need a match to light a fire but have to run complex programs for it instead? And somehow they're your lessers?"
A dreadful silence fell over the class. I knew they could understand my point, most of my classmates, the normal ones, were new magi like myself, their exposure to human science was far greater, and far more insuppressible. It's why they needed hypnosis to cast spells in the first place.
"Hal~. That's one of those things you just don't say~! You naughty boy~!" Yvette lightly hit my shoulder. "I wonder how naughty you'd be in~..."
"Let's go find out right now." I quickly agreed. Whoever had warned against not sticking it in crazy was just gatekeeping.
"You're not going anywhere." Luviagelita threw cold water over my sudden neuron activation. "The class isn't over and we have to go enroll you in General Fundamentals after."
"Oh! Oh! Are you guys hanging out after class?! Sounds fun!! Count me in!"
Flat, as always, jumped in with his shonen protagonist behaviour.
"Nobody asked you..." I deadpanned.
"Shush now Henry, we need to be nice to the mentally challenged." Luviagelita giggled into her palm. I wasn't as reserved as her though, so I just snickered out loud.
Waver groaned again. He gathered up his documents in a neat stack and picked them up.
"Well, that's an interesting way to conclude the lecture. I'll explain Henry's remarks next time, try to do some of your own research in the meantime, they do hold some merit."
As if he was both used to, and done with this shit, he sauntered off without addressing us. Just before he actually left however, he stopped with his hand on the door.
"Actually, come here, Henry."
With those words, he left the lecture room. Not too interested in explaining why my comment was justified, I bolted after him and caught him all of two steps away from class.
"That was quick." He noted.
"Yeah well, everyone wants to get in my pants and I'm not really interested in finding out how different people will do that."
"Sure..." He gave an unamused side-eye before mumbling about something to himself. "A cafe in the neighbourhood's been having some issues with electricity, I suspect foul play involving magecraft, so go check that out. I'd do it myself but something came up."
I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off too... people were doing that a lot today and I was an inch away from doing something incredibly petty because of it.
"If you want something more refined, go see if you can find some mercenary work with the Policies Department. I'm sure Flat or Caules will be happy to show you the way. Stick to low-risk jobs though, it's not just you that's going to be in trouble if something happens to you."
Right... my family.
"Cafe it is, I guess." I conceded, and I saw something of a smile on the professor's face as he hurried away... to whatever it was he had to do, I didn't know.
-
Hope you enjoyed.
Join and I will give you head.
Comments
Bleap
It's good to be alive man. I almost got my head blown off by a drone.
Potato
Good to know your okay
