The Life of a Wizard

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

When Feeh asked me why I was so gloomy at breakfast, I didn’t answer him and strategically moved the conversation in another direction. I asked him what he was going to do today. Feeh loves to talk about the activities he will be doing later in the day. He is very self-centered, don’t you think. I totally don’t like to talk about my plans for the day as well. Not at all. Nope. 

“I will be going to the Le Garden and will be planting a new type of plant. I want to sell it on our journey to the Institute of Magic. That reminds me, we still have twenty-three months left of our two years here.”

“Yes that’s right. You taught me about magic and the principles of magic in one month. Then I took a day or two off. Then you taught me Krav Maga just yesterday. You rounded the time we spent, right Feeh?”

“Hehehe! You’re getting smarter! Yes, I did. However, let’s just say that if you are improving at the same rate in Krav Maga as you did in magic, we’ll go earlier than that. Let me say it like this: If you master Krav Maga in just a few months, we’ll go to the Institute right after. Sounds good?”

“Are you sure? What if I’m not ready? What if I fail the entrance exams if they have them? What if I —”

“Don’t worry about it,” assured Feeh to the nervous me,”It doesn’t really matter, since you won’t need to take entrance exams.”

“I won’t need to take entrance exams? Why?”

“Dummy, they don’t have them! The Institute of Magic is basically a place where anyone can go to learn magic. It is actually a very public place. Of course, there is a special space inside in which I will be enrolling you in.”

I was so relieved that there weren’t any entrance exams that I didn’t hear the latter part of Feeh’s sentence and just replied, "So there aren’t entrance exams? Great!”

“Yup!”

“Well,” I asked, getting up from my seat,”I am done eating, and I can see that you are, too, so can I go wash your plate?”

“Why, Cadmar, you’ve become such an obedient young man so suddenly! Even asking for my plate so that you can wash it! Oh my!”

“You’re the reason I’ve turned like this! If it wasn’t for your constant nagging, I would be living the ordinary life of a pampered eight year old!”

Even though I grumbled that, I wasn’t really that convincing. I didn’t really mean that. If Feeh wasn’t there, I may have possibly been eaten by some of the monsters in the forest. I probably wouldn’t be here if that became the case. It seemed as if Feeh also knew what I was thinking, since he gave me a knowing grin. 

“Here.”

I took the plate handed to me, and went to the sink that was powered much like the shower. A complex arrangement of pipes and levers pushed water through the tap at our sink. Feeh and I were the ones who thought up the idea. Not only Feeh, but also me. 

The pipes were all made out of orichalcum. The water held a bit of magic, and remember that except for things with magic engravings and our physical bodies, nothing else can withstand the power of magic. The orichalcum was a special metal with engravings naturally engraved on it. 

Come to think of it, I haven’t yet explained how they’re engraved on it, have I? I’ll do it right now while I’m washing the dishes. 

I once asked Feeh how the engravings were formed on orichalcum, and in his exact words he said,“The engravings formed on orichalcum were formed naturally, as you already know. How they form was the question that wasn’t answered for hundreds of years.”