"Teacher, it's been three days now since we've arrived at this city and all I've done is follow you around as you help with meaningless things all around. When're you going to teach me magic?"
"Lin, apprentice, I'm teaching you to be a wizard, not just to use magic. You should be learning from everything we're doing, even right now."
I was sat on a brick, watching Alwyn repair an old lady's roof. It'd been caved in by a fallen tree.
"You must have better things to do than waste an entire day with chores like these! You're a wizard!"
"And what's 'better' than helping the public? Should I go out and hunt a dragon? What good does that do?"
"A dragon? Is there a dragon burrow near here?"
Now that would be interesting...
"Of course not... and that's beside the point! Wizards are public servants, Lin. This is the most important thing you'll learn."
"Public servant. That's why you eliminate entire villages off the map... right."
Alwyn hit me over the head with his staff as reprimand. He'd told me not to speak of the village or what happened at all.
He feared someone would hear. I would too fear of being ousted as a mass murderer.
"If you want to learn magic so bad, then start helping."
"What could I possibly help with? It's all too easy for you to just wave your staff and all the damage will be repaired."
"Yeah? With what materials, you fool? Take this list and go to the mason, make sure to bring back everything I need."
Alwyn handed me the list, filled with all the materials needed for the roof.
"Haaahh.... okay."
I ran off, grabbing my hat from the ground. I asked around for directions to the mason and explored the city.
I'd already seen a lot of it from going around with Alwyn, but it was still larger than anywhere I'd ever been before.
Suddenly, I smelled something delicious in the air.
"Skewers! Get your skewers here!"
"Excuse me, I'll take three," I said, putting a stub on his cart.
"It's a stub per, boy."
"But I just saw—"
"Three stubs."
"Tch, yeah right." I said, snatching the skewers from his hand.
"You little brat... thief! This boy's a thief!"
"What? You're the one who tried to scam me, asshole!"
I was being approached by city guards. In a moment of poor judgment, I pushed past them and made a run for it, stuffing the skewers into my mouth.
I was smaller than they were, but my large hat made it awkward to maneuver the crowded streets.
I pushed past the crowds of people, tripping and stumbling over carts and stands in my escape.
"Stop that boy! He's a thief!"
Oh man... I am not getting arrested by these bastards!
Ahead of me, I saw a few more guards turn the corner. I looked for anywhere to go, and spotted an alley to my left.
I ran for it, and as I turned into the alley, I took off my hat and threw it to the ground. I jumped into the air and dove into the hat.
Please work...!
"What!? Where'd the brat go?"
I heard the guards above me, stumped. They were searching the entire alley for anywhere I could've gone.
"This was the hat he was wearing, isn't it?" one called out.
They'd noticed my hat.
"I think so... doesn't it look like a wizard's hat?"
The group erupted into laughter.
"As if."
"'As if', indeed! That's no wizard's hat. But, it's no boy's hat either. I apologize, proud servants of the city, but could I have my hat back? I dropped it on the way to my store, see."
Who's that? It's not one of the guards...
"Yours? I'm certain it's the same one the boy was wearing."
"Boy? What boy? It's mine. I'm an alchemist, see?"
"So that's your store, then?"
"Indeed it is! And I need to open up, so if I could have my hat back..."
"Alright. Be on your way, citizen."
I heard the guards' footsteps as they walked out of the alley. The mysterious voice was silent.
Whoever the voice belonged to was taking the hat, and me, to an unknown destination.
Should I just jump out now? I could grab my hat and run for it... but what if I can't get the hat back?
I decided to wait until the woman left my hat alone to make a run for it. Then, I could grab my hat and sneak away undetected.
I heard the woman open up what I assumed was her shop and place the hat down.
Is she gone...?
"You can get out now, they aren't looking for you anymore."
What? She knows I'm inside the hat!?
I climbed out of the hat, revealing myself to the woman.
She was a tall, dark but friendly looking woman, quite like my teacher. Certainly, she was beautiful, too.
"Tch, I suppose I'm grateful that you took my hat from the guards. I'll be on my way now."
"Ha! You 'suppose' you're grateful? What's a young wizard's apprentice like you doing getting chased by city guards anyway?"
"What's it matter to you?"
"I'm just interested in what wizard would have such an unruly ward. They say the student reflects the teacher, after all..."
"Piss off."
I headed towards the door, but the woman stepped in front of me.
"Hey! I wasn't trying to offend, okay? I'm only asking because I could use a wizard's help."
A wizard's help?
"Hmmm... what is it?"
"Well... I don't know if I should be asking an apprentice. Where's your teacher?"
"I'll decide whether it's worth his time or not!"
"Trust me, it'll be worth his time. I pay well too!"
The woman flaunted a handful of turns. It was more money than I'd ever seen in my life.
"...What is it? What do you need? Tell me, and I'll go get my teacher immediately."
"That's the enthusiasm I was looking for! But I'm afraid I didn't want to tell you for a reason. It's not that I don't trust a wizard's apprentice... but the subject is quite... grim."
"I assure you, it's fine. I've seen worse things than you could imagine."
The woman seemed a little unsettled from my comment, but conceded.
"If you insist."
The woman then unbuttoned the back of her blouse, pulling the cloth from her body. She turned away from me and showed her back in full.
Running along the center area of her back was purple, yellow and red, pulsating and... glowing.
What the hell am I staring at right now?
It wasn't raw or bleeding, like a wound, but was right beneath the skin. It was unnatural, unlike any injury I'd ever seen. I had no idea what it was.
"Ehem. I have some ideas... but I'll need to bring my teacher to consult with me. You'll be here all day?"
"...You have no idea what it is, do you?"
"I'll be back in an hour or two. I hope you'll be well."
I left the shop and started heading back to Alwyn, nearly forgetting what I was meant to do in the first place.
The materials!
I ran to the mason's shop and quickly showed him the list. I stuffed all the things I needed into my hat, handed him the money, and ran back to the house in need of repair.
"Why did you take so long...?"
"Sorry... things... happened..." I said, out of breath.
I turned my hat upside down, letting the materials fall out onto the floor.
"At least you got everything I asked. Stand back now!"
Alwyn waved his staff over the materials, and they flew into the air, melding to the building and repairing the roof, good as new.
"Sitting here and waiting for you's gotten me hungry. Wanna go find something to eat?"
"No! I'm not hungry! There's this woman, she wants to pay you a handful of turns to cure her!"
"Huh? What're you talking about? Is this what made you take so long?"
"Yes. She helped me out... but she knew I was a wizard's apprentice. She said she needed our help, and she wants to pay us a lot for it."
"Lin, listen, we don't take requests for money. If someone has something they need done, they give it to the guild."
"What!? Didn't you hear me? Turns! She had a handful of turns!"
"...Turns? Hmmm... well, I suppose there's no harm in seeing what her problem is. Did she tell you?"
"She showed me! It was vile... her entire backside is all purple and red. I've never seen anything like it."
"Purple and red? Strange, I'll need to see it myself. Take me there."
After a short stop at a food cart, I led Alwyn back to the alleyway where the woman's shop was.
"What were you doing all the way over here? The mason's shop is on the other side of town..."
"Don't worry about it, she's inside there."
I opened the door and saw the woman shelving some items on the front desk. I was about to call out to her when I saw her shocked expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh great..." the woman grimaced.
Alwyn pushed past me and approached the woman.
"Aliza? Fancy meeting you here," he scoffed.
What's happening here...??
"Who could've guessed the apprentice getting into trouble with the law would be yours, Alwyn. It's more of a surprise that you took an apprentice at all."
"Of course I took an apprentice, my genius must be passed down somehow—trouble with the law? What?"
Alwyn looked back at me, eyebrow raised.
"It was nothing serious..." I looked away. "More importantly, you two know each other?"
"Unfortunately..." 'Aliza' said.
"It's so unfortunate to be acquainted with the greatest wizard the world's ever seen? Really? Most people would treat it as their greatest accomplishment."
"You bastard! You know what you did to me, and yet you act so brazen! You ruined my life! I came out to this country city so I'd never see you or any other wizards from the tower again, and somehow, you're in front of me!"
"I did nothing. Everything that happened to you was a long time coming..." Alwyn rolled his eyes.
"Ehem... excuse me, could someone let me in on what's going on here?" I chimed in.
"Aliza... she was a witch who studied at the tower, like me. A few years ago, she was caught meddling in things she shouldn't have been... and the tower shattered her mana pool. Now, I guess she works as a back-alley alchemist..." Alwyn mockingly held in a laugh.
She was a witch? And she studied with Alwyn? What are the chances...
"Bastard, I was making those homunculi by your request! You were no less guilty than I was!"
"Ahh... but you were the one who got caught, weren't you? You didn't seriously think I'd offer myself to get punished alongside you, did you?"
"Fucker! Get out of my store!"
"Hold on, hold on, my apprentice brought me here for a reason, did he not? I suppose as a final act of apology; I can help you this one last time."
"I don't need help from the likes of you..."
"Then why do you reek of death? What've you done to yourself?"
"..."
Aliza unbuttoned her shirt once again and showed her back to Alwyn.
"So? What do you think?" she asked.
"Damn..." Alwyn muttered.
"...'Damn'? Is that all you can say!?"
"What did you do to yourself..."
Alwyn was more serious now. I suppose he had some empathy once he saw her condition.
"I was trying to repair my mana pool. I only made it worse, I guess."
"Aliza... you should've just settled down. Is being a witch really so important to you??"
"Would you have settled down!?"
"I wouldn't have done this."
This is awkward... I want to leave...
"Can you fix it? I haven't been able to observe mana at all since it happened."
"What do you think?"
"Just spit it out you bastard!"
"Of course I can fix it! I'm the great Alwyn, after all. But... I'll need items from my home."
"In the capital? Will I last long enough for you to get there and back?"
"Probably not. That's why you'll travel with us."
"What!? A trip to the capital is nearly two months from here!"
"You'd rather die than spend two months with me?"
"...When do we leave?"
Alwyn looked back at me, I couldn't tell what his expression was, since his eyes were covered by the brim of his hat.
Perhaps he felt sorry, as if this would impede on his teaching.
"Tomorrow morning, if possible. I was planning on leaving this city anyway... but we'll need to make a stop before the capital."
"A stop? Where?" I asked.
"Corvailles. I have... something to pick up there."
Why's he so evasive?
"Corvailles is kind of out of the way... do we have time?" she asked.
"There's nothing I can do about it. It's a matter of life and death..."
After that, Alwyn and I left the shop and headed back to the tavern.
"Teacher, you said her mana pool was shattered. What's that mean? Why?"
"Ehhh... when wizards or witches are caught studying something forbidden, they're punished. It's especially harsh in places of status, like the tower. The severity of the punishment depends on the crime... quite frankly, Aliza was lucky she wasn't executed for it. Instead, a group of wizards shattered her mana pool, which means she is no longer able to gather up mana and cast spells. It's the end of a mage's career."
"What'd she do that was so bad?"
"She was creating homunculi. Between me and you, most wizards and witches have created a homunculus or two. She was the idiot making a bunch of them, within her own dorm no less. She was bound to be caught. Making homunculi is strictly forbidden, since it's technically creating life. It's a nasty school of magic... literally, it's filthy. I don't suggest it."
"Creating life... like god?"
"No, not like god. Wizards can only attempt to replicate god, Lin. When a wizard thinks themself god, all sorts of things are bound to go wrong. Remember that."
We entered the tavern and went up to our room. I collapsed into bed and fell asleep shortly after.