Magic Discovered

Chapter 29

Upon their return to the city, the Ikirian guards were waiting in the hopes that the mission had been successful. Although they hadn't gotten the lantern, the Queens were pleased that the group had been rescued and the guards wiped out. They resolved to find another way into the northern temple and promised to send word as soon as possible.

After the meeting, Delta to go check on Lydia. To his relief, she was truly unharmed and had just been knocked out by the force of the blast. In the end, she woke up quite quickly, and upon hearing of the results of the fight, went back to the laboratory and redoubled her efforts to try and mimic the lantern's design.

For Algon, the fight with the guards had shown him the large gap between them and seriously trained mages. And something like that would lead to their downfall if they were to directly go against Headmaster Nu and his force.

"So, you want access to my training room?" Aur asked when Algon finally tracked him down. "Of course. However, I thought that James was using it?"

Algon sighed. "He hasn't left our room. Ever since we got back, he's just had that dead expression on his face. I'm getting worried."

"Knowing what I know now, this, unfortunately, is not anything surprising. He killed his first opponents. For almost everyone, that sort of thing takes a toll. Have you tried talking to him?"

Algon nodded. "I did, but he didn't appear to be listening to me. I don't know how to get through to him."

"Give him a bit more time. Perhaps he is thinking things over," Aur said. "However, if you wish, I can go and talk with him tomorrow, although if he is not listening to you I doubt that he will heed my words in any manner."

"It's worth a try."

"I will do my best. Now, the training room?"

While Algon was focusing on getting stronger, the topic of their conversation was sitting in their room watching the sunset over the trees. James didn't say anything. Instead, he was just running thoughts through his head. Addressing them out loud would somehow cement what he had done. He didn't even get up to go get dinner.

When his friends returned, they gave him worried looks, but Algon whispered to give him a bit of space and they left him alone. Algon and Delta soon fell asleep, but James stayed awake for a little while longer. Eventually, he drifted off into a restless dream.

He woke up when a pebble bounced off of his head with a thunk. Sitting up, James was about to look around the room when he got hit by another projectile.

"Ow! Hey, what gives Algon?"

He glared over in the direction the pebble had come from but saw a dark shape sitting behind his sleeping friend.

"Wha...?!?"

He was interrupted by the shape's finger. "Not a smart idea. Your friends can't hear me, but they most certainly can hear you, and waking them up in the middle of the night would not be the most considerate thing to do."

James stopped and blinked, recognizing the voice. "You're the!... you're that mysterious guy. From the training room."

A small smile lit up the room. "Guilty as charged. How are you doing?

James went to answer, but chose not to, instead shutting his mouth tightly.

Instead of getting angry, the man just laughed. "Right, right. I heard about what happened in the jungle. Very brave of you."

This provoked a response. "What, killing two innocent men?"

"Well, they weren't innocent. And you saved your friend in the process."