The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 61

"Art, can we talk?" As she resolved herself, the slight trembling in her voice disappeared.

"Sure. It seems that there’s a third party at work here trying to make us talk anyways." I sat back, leaning on my arms, my face dripping with the fresh water.

"About the k-kiss—are you mad?" Tess’s face was bright red, revealing how nervous she felt compared to her terse expression.

"I’m not mad. I was surprised, but I’m not mad." I would’ve be lying if I said I hadn’t noticed Tess showing feelings for me since all the way back when I lived with her in Elenoir.

There was brief silence where I could tell Tess was waiting for me to say something, except I didn’t know what to say at this moment.

If it was as simple as choosing between liking or disliking Tess, of course it leaned heavily toward the former, but this situation wasn’t as black and white as that. While I knew it wasn’t unnatural for children, especially of royalty, to get married at the age of thirteen or fourteen, there was another factor that came into play here: I could only see this girl in front of me as a child.

I held back the urge to let out a deep breath.

I began to question the use of being so experienced in fighting and politics when I didn’t even know where to start when it came to something as basic as love—or whatever this was.

"Arthur, what are you thinking about?" She leaned closer as her brows furrowed more deeply. The intensity in which she was staring at me made me uncomfortable but this issue wasn’t something I could keep pushing aside.

"Tess, we’ve known each other since we were four. The first time I saw you, you were getting kidnapped after you had a fight with your parents. The first thing you did when I saved you was cry your heart out. After we made our way back to your kingdom, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay in your castle, where your grandpa and eventually even your parents warmed up to me. Even now, your family and mine get along to the point of it being weird..." I took a deep breath before I tried to continue.

"I don’t understand what you’re trying to say." Tess had an impatient look on her face.

"Tess, we’re still so young. I mean, I’m only twelve and you’ve barely turned thirteen as well! I know that it’s not weird for a girl your age to get married since you’re royalty, but I mean, I don’t have that background." I realized I was stuttering a bit.

"Art. I know you well enough and right now, you’re just making excuses. You and I both know that what I meant wasn’t to get married right away. I-I just want things to progress. Even back in Elenoir, you just treated me like I was a kid! It’s been almost eight years since then, Art... I have a lot to learn but I don’t consider myself such a child anymore." Her stern gaze turned soft as she desperately tried to reason with me.

"It’s because I’ve known you since we were both children that it’s harder for me to see you as anything more, at least right now, Tess. It hasn’t even been that long since we met after such long time as well." I could feel my argument coming out more and more as petty excuses but I stood my ground.

Tess’s bangs covered her face as her head turned to the ground. She suddenly sprung to her feet, her face red and tense, as if on the verge of tears.

"So, you’re telling me that all this time, you haven’t once thought of me as anything more than a childhood friend?" she asked through pursed lips.

I averted my gaze, unable to keep staring at her.

I didn’t know how to respond. Of course there were times when I had to ask myself if I was supposed to reciprocate the feelings Tess had of me back then, but my conscience firmly stopped me. While I had spent twelve years in this body, acting—for the most part—my age, I still had memories of the near-forty years I had spent in my previous life. With memories of the children at the orphanage I had grown up in calling me ’Uncle’ whenever I visited, I couldn’t help but picture Tess as one of those kids.

"I see," she whispered, taking my silence as the answer. Tess whipped around and stomped off towards the door of the training facility.

As she opened the door, she said without turning around, "You know, Arthur. You’re so confident in so many things. Magic, fighting, using your brain. You’re so confident in everything you do because you’re good at them. But, you know what? There are things you’re not good at. You’re not good at confronting your feelings. You always put on a mask and pretend you’re happy or apathetic when you can’t handle a certain situation. I think in that sense, you’re a lot less mature than even the so-called ’children’ you see in this academy. You’re just using your confidence in your strengths to mask the insecurities you have in things you know you’re not good at!"

As the door closed behind her, I was left with an eerie silence that not even the sound of the waterfall could cover.

’Papa’s a dummy...’ Sylvie curled up a couple of meters away, turning away from me.

I sat in front of the pond, stunned by her last words. I had to admit that in some ways, maybe Tess was more mature than I was. Even in my past life, aside from being a great fighter, I wasn’t that impressive of a man. I had the charisma and character to appeal to the masses but when it came to interpersonal relationships, I considered myself mediocre on a good day. I grew up avoiding long lasting relationships, seeing them as nothing more than a burden that would eventually be used against me. In order to be the best, I had to have no weaknesses, and having a lover would’ve eventually led to my demise.

I’d come to realize this even more since coming into this world. Having family that I would happily die for reminded me of how truly weak I was. If someone were to kidnap any one of my family members, no matter how strong I personally was, I would be at their beck and call.

The thought of having a lover, someone I could call my other half, was a wonderful thing, but it was also something that truly scared me.

After clipping back the bracelet that sealed my fire and water elemental attributes, I made my way back to the surface and headed towards my next class. How was I supposed to face Tess in my Team Fighting Mechanics class? Even Sylvie was pouting on top of my head because I’d made Tess angry.

_________________________________________

"Good to have you back, Art." Claire ran to me, giving me a firm slap on the back.

"Are you feeling a bit better?" Curtis also caught up to us, Grawder following behind him.

"I’ll probably have to sit out for a few more classes, but I’m okay," I replied, giving him a weak smile as we arrived at the field.

"Good to see you walking, Mr. Leywin!" Professor Glory beamed as she spotted the three of us arrive but when she was about to walk over to us, a rather malicious intent radiated from beside her.

Lucas had a harsh look on his face as he took big, confident strides towards us.

I matched my gaze to his, neither of us looking away as he approached me. Gripping my shirt up by the collar, he pulled me close to his face.

"I think we need a rematch." His effeminate face was a sight to behold as he scowled, my nose only a few inches away from his.

Gripping his wrist, I replied, my face stone cold and eyes deadlocked to his. "This is a pretty rude way to ask for something." I gripped hard enough to make his hand lose strength, but I didn’t stop there. I surged a blast of mana at the boy, making his knees give out.

Grimacing in pain, Lucas mumbled inaudibly and soon had orange flames conjured in his free palm, ready to fire at me.

"That’s enough!" Professor Glory roared as she shoved her sheathed sword between us.

"Arthur, go rest in the viewing platform. You’re not to take part in any activities in this class until you’re fully healed—Director Goodsky’s orders. As for you, Lucas, you need to calm down. Whether you want to settle your petty grudge with a fight or with a hug, do it after Arthur is fully healed. Now is not the time." She let out a sigh as she nudged me towards the viewing platform. After walking for half a day, I didn’t need my sword to lean on but I couldn’t walk at a normal pace either.

Heading back, my eyes unconsciously searched for Tess but she was nowhere to be found. "Professor Glory, where’s Princess Tessia?"

"She stopped by not too long before you came saying she wasn’t feeling well. She said she would make up class somehow but she seemed off so Clive took her back to her dorm. Why? Do you know anything?" Professor Glory asked.

I lied, shaking my head.

"You can get up to the viewing platform without starting another fight, right? Just rest up for a couple more days." She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder before running back off towards the rest of the class.

I watched the class split up into different teams and get in various formations for different circumstances. In scenarios like sieging, conjurers played a crucial role so augmenters got into a much more defensive position, focusing solely on protecting the long-range caster. In scenarios where guerilla fights were necessary, only one or two augmenters remained close to the conjurer as the rest went off on their own.

The class was only a week in so it was very basic but it was obvious that Professor Glory knew what she was doing. The class grasped the lessons well while even having fun. It was a nice sight to see but my mind strayed off to earlier today. I didn’t regret the things I said, but I had to question whether I had actually said it well.

My next class was the class I was actually looking forward to the most: Deviant Magic Theory. Unfortunately, our professor, Professor Drywell, placed utmost importance on covering the basics first, so even after a week had passed, she was barely covering the foundation of Deviant Magic.

"Whenever deviant magic is involved, there is a much bigger stress on the price of your magic. Why do you think that is? It’s because deviant magic, like its name, is deviant from the natural elemental mana pool that is evident in our world. The mana that surrounds us is made up of only fire, wind, earth and water mana. Deviant magic that comes from the higher form of these four elements have a much greater cost, as I would like to say, compared to the four original elements because there is no such thing as lightning, plant, gravity, metal, magma, sound, or ice mana surrounding us in the atmosphere. In order to produce these phenomena in our spells, the mage must be able to directly alter their parent element and manipulate it into its deviant form." Professor Drywell chattered on. She was a very aged lady and although she had the image of a nice quiet grandmother, she never stopped talking.

"Professor! But gravity, lightning, metal, magma, sound, and ice all exist naturally in our world as well. Why doesn’t our world produce these types of mana then?" an older girl asked.

"Good question, young one! Honestly, no one knows for sure why that is! Many mana theorists believe that because a certain set of conditions must be met for those deviant elements to occur, mana directly correlated to them does not exist. Then there are always exceptions such as fire, where it certainly does not just spontaneously manifest without cause. Perhaps that is why most mages believe fire to be the highest form of normal magic, because it is so close to being deviant magic itself," Professor Drywell explained as she paced around the lecture hall.

"Deviant magic that strays even further from the four main elemental mana in our world comes at even a greater cost. All of you know what emitters are. They are healers, essentially. The mana that they utilize does not fall under the category of water, earth, fire, or wind. Instead, I would dare say that there exists a holy element, or light element, to be more accurate. Emitters gain little benefit from absorbing mana from the atmosphere because there is no light elemental mana within our world. Instead, they work to condense and purify the mana that forms in their mana core so that even when less mana is used, there is still a substantial effect in their spells." I could tell Professor Drywell was running out of steam because her voice was getting breathier.

After she finished the day’s lesson, we had a short Q&A session but no one really had any questions to ask out of fear that class would never finish. Eventually, Professor Drywell released us and I trudged on to my last class, Spell Formations I.

Most of the students in this class were conjurers but some of the smarter augmenters knew that they could gain benefits to their skills by taking this class. Our teacher, Professor Mayner, was a scholarly-looking man with a monocle and his hair parted down the middle. His mustache was well-trimmed and over his suit, he wore a white gown.

"Welcome, students. I was notified by Director Goodsky that a student named Arthur Leywin will begin joining us for class, am I correct?" He looked around, his monocle catching the glare from the light in the classroom.

"Yes, I’m Arthur Leywin, please guide me well." I gave a small bow as he nodded in approval.

"Very well! You did not miss anything too important, Mr. Leywin. We were going over the different types of spell formations, from individual spell incantations to group spell formations. Care to tell us what you know about spell formations?" He adjusted his monocle as he approached me, his back straight.