A week after a Light Court Wizard had been sucked into a vortex-rupture.
PIING
Manegia
Year 1421
An eleven-year-old girl, 141 cm in height appeared on the transfer circle. She had black hair that reached below her chest tied to a ponytail and matching obsidian eyes. She wore a white blouse with a blue jacket over it, blue shorts, white fingerless gloves, and a pair of white shoes. She also had a cylindrical bag strapped to her back, as half as tall as she was.
“Rin, good to see you! Welcome to the Otherworldly Court.” A red-haired girl greeted her.
“Uhn! Good to see you, big sis Alicia! Hello, Ruze-senpai,” Rin greeted back Alicia and also said hi to Owen.
“Yeah, morning,” Owen said.
“So this is the Otherworldly Court big brother talks about,” Rin muttered.
One of the Transporter Room operators, John, turned his swivel chair around. Other operators did the same.
“This lady is?” the operator asked.
“My name is Rin Fujiwara, please take care of me!” Rin bowed to them.
“Oh, Haruto’s sister. We heard a lot about you.”
“Really?” Rin tilted her head.
“Well, your brother has always spoken about you every day,” The operator said. “And to be honest, it’s quite annoying.”
“Eheheh, sorry.”
“No, we should be sorry.” The expression of the operators gloomed. “We couldn’t find where your brother had been sent to by that vortex-rupture.”
“It’s okay, you guys did your best, right?” Rin said with a smile.
“Now I see what Haruto was spouting,” one operator muttered softly.
Looking in awe of the main hall of the castle where the Otherworldly Court was based.
“I assume Daisuke taught you about maneg?” Owen asked.
“Yes, it was really weird, everything was very bright for a day.” Rin waved her hands above her head, gesturing a star or some circular motion. It was adorable. “Grandfather taught me Orders.”
Daisuke had informed that the Maneg Soul had completely merged with Rin’s soul the day after it entered. Since it’s a light Maneg Soul, the pseudo-symptoms she experienced was increased sensitivity to light. Lightbulbs seemed brighter, she can see well in the dark, the sun shining down made everything white; no physical evidence was shown in her vision. It was mostly gone after the light Maneg Soul was fully merged, Daisuke then taught her some Orders.
“I see, but I still need to see you give basic Orders with my own eyes,” Owen said professionally. “We’re heading to the Training Grounds.”
BOOM BOOM
BOOM BOOM
BOOM BOOM
BOOM BOOM
“Eek!” Rin yelped in surprise as multiple missiles in a circular formation flew across the horizon and then fell, hitting the ashes creating an explosion.
“I was surprised too,” Alicia sighed. “This is a common occurrence, you will need to get used to it.”
“O-Okay.” Rin smiled wryly.
“Keep your distance, we don’t wanna make Maneg Beasts here,” Owen told her. “Daisuke told you about them, right?”
“Yes,” Rin nodded. “But I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“If Court Wizards could make Maneg Beast with two Orders with different Element, why deploying Court Wizards with different Elements in the same mission? Haruto told me stories about how he and his teammate creating Maneg Beasts in their mission.”
“Yeah about that, deploying Court Wizards with the same Element wouldn’t be very flexible,” Owen explained. “Risking Maneg Beasts is better than failing a mission, or worse, getting killed.”
Talking about it, Alicia was quite lucky that a Maneg Beast had not been created during her mission so far. She shuddered thinking about that wolf-type that gave almost killed her. She prayed she would never encounter such a scenario during her missions, ever.
“But creating a Maneg Beast is a rare occurrence, as we usually take turns giving Orders or keep them away from each other. Even if it did, we usually keep our Orders small so that there’s less maneg around to form Maneg Beasts if the Orders do collide and just collapse immediately. It’s just that your brother…” Owen trailed off before suddenly glaring at Rin. “Actually, screw that, your brother does the exact opposite of all of that! Haruto is the only guy who kept making Maneg Beasts left and right that we got pretty good adjusting around him so that it doesn’t happen. We are supposed to hold back so we wouldn’t make them, but that idiot never listened. Don’t do the same as him, you got that!?”
W-Wow… I have never seen Owen snap like that…
You betcha!
And with what Owen told in consideration, Alicia realized that Owen and Will had been unusually careful when giving Orders around Haruto, who had been giving larger Orders than the two, against the – she shuddered – Maneg Beast, something she didn’t do. It was only fortunate that the worst-case scenario didn’t happen.
Wait! Can loyal maneg even cause a Maneg Beast to be formed, Voice?
‘Course not! Loyal maneg is loyal maneg! Me is me!
I see, that is a relief.
“R-Right,” Rin responded meekly at Owen’s warning. “But what about that person?” She pointed to where the explosions are being set off.
“Which is precisely why we won’t ever get close to that guy, got it?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, first Order, [Shine], make it last three seconds,” Owen ordered.
“Okay,” Rin nodded.
She concentrated her mind and then, a ball of light manifested in her right hand. She threw the ball into the air and then…
SHIING
Argh, too bright!
It stopped in the empty space (save for the air) and it then emits a light so bright Alicia shielded her eyes with her hand.
“Oi! Don’t make it too bright!” Owen yelled.
“Sorry!”
Three seconds later, the Order broke, Owen simply continued on.
“Next, [Beam]. Make it small and just direct it to the ground.”
Rin focused her mind again. A small circle, 10 cm in diameter was formed 20 cm in front of her. It shone a beam of light directly to the barren land, burning it a bit. That reminded Alicia of Haruto’s Orders on that Maneg Beast, giving her goosebumps.
“Next, [Mirror].”
A white square, two meters in height and a meter wide formed in front of her. The white color faded to reveal an exact image of Rin who was standing in front of it.
“Wow!” Alicia exhaled.
“Finally, [Eject],” Owen simply continued on. “Across, not up to the air.”
“Hai.”
Responding in her mother language, a large burst of light maneg was released from her back. The force from the release of light maneg emulating physical form launched her like a catapult across the wasteland. She landed about ten meters from her initial position, almost faceplanting to the ashes.
“Did I do good?” Rin asked after returning the other two Court Wizards.
“It’s not bad, the basic Orders are simple enough to not mess up on the first try,” Owen said. “You still need to stick that landing.”
“Uhn! Thank you!”
“Yeah, sure sure.” Owen shrugged.
“So after this,” Alicia raised her voice. “Rin will need to see Master Pierre, correct?”
“What!?” Voice appeared, looking upset. “I don’t wanna go there!”
“Why, Voice?” Rin asked, a figurative question mark appearing over her head.
“Because there’s that Evil Mad Scientist Lady!”
“Uhn?” Rin tilted her head, unsure of the pixie’s rambling.
“It is a long story,” Alicia explained. “Master Pierre’s younger sister, Amelia, wanted to do tests with my hundred percent loyal Maneg Soul. She wanted to see if Voice and I were separated. Suffice to say, Voice became very hysterical.”
Rin already knew about Alicia’s Maneg Soul, by the way, courtesy to a certain pixie.
“Yeah! That’s why she’s an Evil Mad Scientist Lady!” Voice yelled. “I also can’t believe you helped her, Alicia!”
“Oh,” Rin could only let out a single word to such an event.
“Well, she sort of went too far because my father suddenly came and beat her up,” Alicia said with her head down.
“Eeh!” Rin gasped in surprise.
“Yeah! That b*tch got what she deserved!” Voice smugged with her arms crossed as she casually swore.
“Language, Voice,” Alicia scolded.
And the sound of explosions went on.
Going up the elevator, completely ignoring the beautiful spiraling staircase, they were in front of a wooden door painted white. It had a sign saying, ‘Maestro Pierre, Guardian of the Mother Soul of Light, Greatest Magician’s Chamber.’ Quite the long name and narcissistic too.
RATTLE RATTLE
Well, the sign jerked off as the door opened on its own. Rin was staggered for a moment, Owen seemed unfazed by it.
Well, it was surprising at first…
It must be a normal thing for this particular chamber.
“So you have come, young Rin!”
PON
A man in a white magician’s garb appeared in front of the open door after blasts of smoke ignited dispersed.
“Hee~!” Rin jumped in surprise. Again, Alicia and Owen did not react too much as they had concentrated themselves to detect that particular light Maneg Soul on the ceiling.
Alicia was told to focus her Maneg Soul to detect the Light Guardian’s Maneg Soul to anticipate whatever stunt he would pull every time you enter (detecting other Maneg Souls was an on and off thing). Pierre’s surprise was really meant for Rin. Turning on her Maneg Soul for detection, Alicia could feel another Maneg Soul inside the chamber
“I welcome you to my chambers,” The Light Guardian bowed with his left hand below his stomach and his right arm holding the hem of his cape and raised it high in the air. “Come in!”
“Is the Evil Mad Scientist Lady here!?” Voice asked while hiding behind Alicia’s shoulder, scanning the chamber.
“Ah, unfortunately, my beloved sister has required her presence in another realm.” Pierre held his hat to hide his face. “So fortunately for you, little pixie, she’s not present.”
“Well, I did not felt her Maneg Soul,” Alicia said to Voice.
“Well thank goodness!” Voice jumped from her master’s shoulder and flew inside.
“Also, refrain from addressing my beloved sister with that epithet,” Pierre mooted. “She is not an Evil Mad Scientist Lady!”
Turning his back with his cape fluttering behind his back, Rin was first to step into the room. Owen, looking unamused, entered next, and then Alicia.
Name: Rin Fujiwara Age: 11 Sex: Female Species: Human World: Rakarok-Earth World Merge Element: Light Element Color: White Cherished Armament: - Rank: New Wizard
A white sheet of metal-containing Rin’s ID was engraved.
Owen quickly demanded the Light Guardian to make the ID before he gets into performing sleights of hand which struck his ego.
“Now then,” Pierre continued. “I would be giving you your first mission, but perhaps-”
FLING
“My hat!” he exclaimed as Owen suddenly swiped his top hat and threw it out to the open balcony like a frisbee. The wind blew the hat away. Pierre frantically chased after it, launching himself with [Eject] to catch up to it, though it seems he won’t be back anytime soon.
“Why did you do that, Ruze-senpai?” Rin asked, surprised by his action.
“That guy will do magic tricks for on and on,” Owen grumbled. “It’s better to have another guy giving you missions.”
Due to the current Light Guardian’s antics, the chamber needed to at least have one more light Court Wizard when Pierre was present. Then, you will distract him by doing something similar to what Owen did and then the other Light Court Wizard will take over his job.
“Yes, I will give your assignment.” A white knight who was lounging with a glass of juice put his drink down and stood up. “I am called Richard Sworsis.” He gave a salute. “May I ask your name, young miss?”
“Oh, my name is Rin Fujiwara,” Rin gave her name. “Nice to meet you!”
“Ah, Haruto’s brother,” Richard noted. “Sorry for what befell him.”
“It’s okay.” Rin gave him a smile.
“I can see why your brother speaks fondly of you,” the knight mused. “Well now, I will give your first assignment.”
He rummaged the desk, which was littered with magic trick tools. Well, the entire chamber was decorated with the current occupant’s interest. There were posters of magician-related stuff plastered all over the wall, a bookshelf full of magician books, several wooden stands holding different colors of the same garb Pierre was wearing, a bunch of playing card decks, etc. And that was only the first floor.
Yes, you read it right. The castle of the Otherworldly Court was split into three stories, however, the first and second are twice the height of the third story, the unused observatory, so really, the former are two floors high, hence it should really be five stories high. It’s just that some rooms on the first two stories have utilized the high ceiling to have two floors and some do not. For example, the Transporter Room used its high ceiling to build a second floor to house more monitors, however, the hallway outside the room reached the ceiling. Also, the second floor of a room was only accessible in that room. So it’s much less confusing to say that the castle of the Otherworldly Court being three stories high. Besides, the elevator only has two buttons (you still have to take the spiral staircase to the observatory due to architecture failure).
So, for the second story, it would be a waste to have each chamber a very high ceiling filled with nothing. So, a second floor was made. Mind you, the chambers for the Guardians are meant to be a family-size apartment for them to live in, even if they don’t live there. So, most of the chambers are decorated for other uses according to the Guardians and their relative’s tastes.
Amelia Rickens, Pierre’s sister, had transformed the entirety of the second floor of the chamber into a laboratory, a high-tech even. There was your standard lab equipment; then there was that expensive equipment you’d see in sci-fi movies like full-body scanners, holographic monitors, a bunch of weird science stuff on locked cabinets, and even a stasis chamber! It’s empty though. Alicia remembered while having a casual tea time with the other female Fire Court Wizards, that girl suddenly grabbed her arm and dragged her from the fire chamber and all the way to the second floor of the light chamber. She then demanded to do some ‘tests’ on Alicia’s Maneg Soul which ended up with Alicia’s father coming over and promptly beat the ‘Evil Mad Scientist Lady’, as Voice called her, up.
“Ah, this is a good one,” Richard said as he opened a particular file on a computer, never mind how a medieval knight was able to operate one. “The record here says that this was the first assignment your brother took.”
“Okay, I’ll accept!” Rin did not even bother hearing the mission’s content.
“Well, that was a quick response,” Richard chuckled. “So the assignment is…”
Azhure: So, what do you all think of this sub-chapter? Is it good? Are there any problems with it? Any reviews or feedback is appreciated as long as they’re not plain insults meant to blow off your stress.
Voice: Don’t do that to people! Not even on the internet!
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