25.5Pfft!

  John covered his mouth as he looked straight down from the school’s rooftop.

  While there were many buildings for Shi Jou’s State Academy, this specific 5-story building made him chuckle at the sight of empty pavement below.

  This is going to epic! She won’t know what hit her!

  His eyes sparkled as he watched the faculty office that was by the ground floor, waiting for his target to make herself appear.

  Madam Xuan was her name, and she was the most hated teacher among the State Academy.

  Not only she often picked on John for the sole reason of his father’s involvement in government matters, this hag had expelled plenty of students for petty reasons.

  While in comparison with the other kids, John and Ha Zun were students that she ‘favored’ more—that was due their family backgrounds where if something happened to either of them, Madam Xuan would be in deep trouble.

  If her ‘favourite’ student already held such grudges against her, it was easy to imagine the rest of the school’s affection for her.

  Not long ago, Ha Zun caught word among the teachers that Madam Xuan was on the verge of being transferred to a lesser school by the principal if she caused yet another incident in the State Academy.

  Which was why, the two of them chose to mess with this irritable crone on this opportune day.

  It was Friday, the st day of schooling for the week, both staff and students had returned before afternoon came. Besides students who stayed back for practice and whatnot, there was no other students around the school.

  “Are you going to grab yours or not?”

  Ha Zun called to John from behind as his friend held a balloon filled with water.

  “Too chicken? I get it, I would too if I was going to run around the school naked.”

  John rolled his eyes with a smile before pushing himself away from the ledge.

  “I’ll make sure to beat your stupid ass.”

  Like Ha Zun, he quickly picked up a simirly rge sized water balloon and held it in front of his chest while they quietly observe the office where Madam Xuan was.

  “Just another minute or two…” Ha Zun commented as he read his watch.

  “Are you sure no one else is around?”

  “Heh, where did all that confidence go, John?” his friend mocked. “I told you, I am absolutely certain no one is around when we do this. Besides, the other kids are pnning to give her a surprise just like us, she won’t have time to look for us.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot, the others are going to do something too…”

  Unlike Ha Zun who was well loved, John was infamous among his other peers.

  Mostly it was because of his notoriety for actively taking part in school competitions—at the behest of his father. Many of them disliked the ‘pretentious overachiever’ that he was.

  Had Ha Zun not informed him of the other kids’ pns or activities, otherwise, he would be left out.

  A gloomy expression came to him when he contempted on his ck of popurity, the prior semester with Serene had not been as harsh as this one

  Now that he lost his tigerkin pymate, his was acutely made aware of how isoted he was in school.

  At the very least, Ha Zun liked him.

  “Oh shit, here she comes!”

  Ha Zun’s hushed voice prompted the both of them to lift the water balloons above their head, taking aim at the hag as she walked closer to the ledge where the both of them were standing.

  “Ready?”

  John nodded, “Three…two…one…”

  Both the boys dropped the balloon at the same time, as they watched the balloons fall, John caught a glimpse of tangerine from a great distance to where he was at.

  Serene? What is she doing here?

  The glimpse of the beastkin girl was enough to throw John off, removing his mischievous smile from his face. He did not even bother to attempt the translocation magic to swing the odds in his favor.

  Truth to be told, he had thought to letting her into this pn of his with Ha Zun, the silly cat would have loved the practical joke.

  However, just like him, it seems that Serene too, were one of the kids who were left out by the popur group.

  Spsh!!!

  The loud explosion of John’s water balloon on Madam Xuan’s head snapped him back to his senses as he saw Ha Zun’s defeated, yet excited smile back at him.

  “WHO’S UP THERE!!!???”

  Madam Xuan’s piercing howl bsted the both of their ears from 5 stories below, causing both Ha Zun and John to duck behind the ledge.

  “Oh shit! She looked up!”

  “I think I made contact with her eyes! What do we do!?”

  “I don’t know, the others should be setting something off to divert her attention from us.”

  The two of them huddled in discussion as Madam Xuan yelled into their direction again.

  “I SAW YOU TWO BRATS!!! COME DOWN RIGHT HERE THIS INSTANT!!!”

  “!!!”

  John looked up to the sunny sky where the sun has its blindingly bright rays shining on both their faces.

  “She said brats? Not boys, I t-think she hasn’t s-seen our faces.”

  “I-I hope you are right.” Ha Zun looked at his watch nervously, shaking like he never had, “It is time, Xuan’s magic vehicle should have been blown sky high by—”

  “NOT COMING DOWN!? FINE!!! I WILL COME HUNT YOU DOWN MYSELF!!!”

  The old woman’s scream screeched as furious footsteps could be heard coming below, causing both John and Ha Zun to look at each other and spoke a single word.

  “Run!”

  Both of them broke into a run, bursting in speedy yet, silent steps as they fled from the crime scene. The both of them descended to the third floor where the office building connected to Block C and Block F cssroom buildings were.

  “She’s coming up, where the hell is that distraction of yours!?” John compined as he watched Madam Xuan who had reached the first floor.

  “I-I… uh…”

  Ha Zun was so convinced about the other kids’ pn that he froze up when he was prompted to think.

  John having seen Madam Xuan’s silhouette on the bottom floor could not wait longer as he pushed Ha Zun towards the direction of Block F.

  “We split up before she gets us!” John ordered.

  “R-right.”

  Without looking back John and his friend ran in opposite directions as fast as they could into the different school blocks, seeking refuge from the imminent danger that was Madam Xuan.

  Tap, tap, tap.

  John ran as fast as his body could, no longer caring for hiding his footsteps now that Madam Xuan was in pursuit.

  He was hoping that by splitting up with Ha Zun, it would confuse Madam Xuan enough that she would have a hard time chasing after them.

  And if she does decide to run after them, she had will have to spend a good minute to—

  Tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap.

  The noise of his own footsteps was drowned out by another in the distance.

  “I SEE YOU BOY!!! AND WHEN I CATCH YOU, I WILL IMMEDIATELY BRING YOU TO YOUR PARENTS!!!”

  Madam Xuan was right behind him, the drenched hag had somehow caught up to him with tremendous speed, gain onto him as John went thriough the different corridors and stairways to get her off his trail.

  Shit, shit, shit! I should have learned illusion magic instead of translocation magic!!!

  The stairways slowed her down more than the twist and turns of corridors. At the same time, John himself was also getting tired from the constant running.

  He was great at the performance arts, not endurance sports.

  Madam Xuan, though old, was also the trainer for the soccer team, there was just no possible way, John could outrun the old bat without help.

  Ha Zun, where is that stupid distraction of yours!!!

  He cursed in his mind for following his friend’s half-assed pn, swearing that he could get back at Ha Zun if he was caught, dragging his friend through the mud along with him for agreeing on something so ridiculously stupid.

  Was it stupid?

  Yes.

  Would he do it again.

  Also, yes.

  Hah…hah…hah…

  He panted as he climbed yet another flight of stairs, feeling the st of his energy leave him as Madam Xuan who was the floor beneath him decred.

  “OUT OF BREATH BOY!?”

  Her screech prompted John to run across the sixth floor of Block C, his feet wiggling as entered the various corridors.

  “Hah… I-I c-can’t run anymore, I-I—”

  Schwoop!

  All of a sudden, John felt a hand on his tired body, dragging him into one of the storage rooms, where not only it was cramped, it was as dark as night.

  The only source of light were from the gaps of the door.

  “Who are—”

  Young John was quickly silenced as a hand covered his mouth.

  A pair of emerald eyes looked at him straight in the eye.

  “Serene?! What are you…mmph!”

  The tigerkin further silenced him as she pointed to the ground where the shadows of Madam Xuan’s legs were casted in their direction.

  “WHERE HAVE YOU GONE TO NOW, MY DEARY?”

  The haggard voice rang loudly before them. John could feel Serene who had a hand around him flinch from Madam Xuan’s screech.

  Their bodies stiffened as he and Serene held their breath in unison like countless times they had back in the Perxin’s mansion whenever they pranked on one of the house servants.

  The thought alone brought a gentle smile to John.

  It has been a long while since then.

  But things have changed, the retionship he thought would st forever with Serene is no longer his reality after what happened between his father and the Perxins.

  He would be a fool to think of nonsensical things like that.

  Yet a fool he was.

  As he felt Serene’s warmth embrace behind him, the soft round cheeks on her goofy face, her four ears that never escaped his sight, the striped tail that she had curled around her waist like Aunt Dalene…

  Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump …

  After her constant ignoring, John should have felt nothing, he convinced himself he felt nothing for Serene—despite weeping over it like a baby countless times.

  His heart sang a different tune.

  In the end, she was his first true friend, his pymate, someone who was just as clueless as he was to the confusing world that their parents had dictated for them.

  He missed her touch, her scent, the way she ughed at him, the gnces she gave him, their long conversations, their back and forth teasing…

  Ka-boom!!!

  A thunderous shudder reverberated from a distance away, causing even John who was as far as Block C felt the rumbling in his stomach.

  “W-WHAT!? IS THAT M-MY—!?”

  Madam Xuan’s yelped in despair, following that she broke into a run as footsteps could be heard going down the stairs.

  “The thing Ha Zun said must have happened, I…” as John tried to open the door and check what happened, Serene’s striped tail flew as it wrapped itself around his arm, stopping him before he could reach the door handle.

  “N-no… Don’t…”

  “!?”

  His eyes grew wide when he heard Serene’s voice.

  “IWasAskedToGiveSomethingToYou.”

  “…”

  Still dumbfounded John looked at the girl’s darkened expression.

  Serene retrieved a letter from her school coat, pced it in John’s hands.

  “L-listen John… I-I…”

  Cck, cck, cck!

  The familiar sounds of the Perxin carriage echoed from below, causing the tigerkin’s ears to perk up.

  “Serene, w-what…w-why now? After s-so long…”

  Pomfp…

  The girl lunged into his arms, wrapped herself around him as she whispered in the most apologetic tone, one that signified the unwanted end of their retionship.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry? What? You didn’t expin… a-and—”

  “Johnnn!? Where are yoooooou!?” Ha Zun’s howl came from the direction behind them, where Block B was.

  Ha Zun’s voice caused Serene to let go of John.

  “OpenThatLetterOnlyWhenYouAreHome.”

  Her face was one filled with a anxiety, one that even he had never seen etched on Serene’s face despite being the one person who made her ughed the hardest.

  “I-I…”

  “Promise me.”

  Reluctantly, John nodded and Serene took off, leaving him behind once more.

  And the void that was in his heart, grew.

  “Johnnn! Let’s go home!!!”

  Ha Zun’s urging from behind the building caused him to snap back to his senses. With the upmost secrecy, he pced the sealed letter by the hidden pocket inside his pants, a pce where, unless someone removed his clothes would never think to find the letter there.

  “Ha Zun!!!” with a simir vigor, he called out to his friend, quickly left the storage room before regrouping with his friend below.

  “Bro, what happened?”

  His friend was chuckling as John made his appearance by one of the school’s courtyard. Ha Zun handed John’s backpack that they left in their cssroom before they went to the rooftop.

  “Don’t tell me that hag—”

  “You wish, stupid! I outran her until that sound brought her away.”

  “Pfft!” Ha Zun dismissed John’s cims. “I told you, there’s nothing to worry about, the other kids pulled it off when I went to check with them.”

  “No one got caught?” he asked.

  “Nope, some of the older kids prepared the spell, they won’t leave a single trace. Though, you should have seen Xuan’s face when she screamed at her magic vehicle’s destruction.”

  To Ha Zun’s comment, John fshed a uncertain smile.

  He hated Madam Xuan as much as the other students, destroying the teacher’s vehicle—albeit a magic one that ran on mana cores—was quite the expensive revenge setup.

  Sure, all he and Ha Zun did were dropping the water balloons on her—

  “Wait, Ha Zun. I won!” reminded of the water balloon competition between them, John proudly decred. “I was the one to hit the target!”

  “Tsk, you don’t have to rub it in my face, I was there.”

  “Oh so you’re the sore loser. Face it Ha Zun, I am superior when it comes to aiming.”

  “Hmph, you must have used magic or something. I still don’t believe your aim is that good.”

  John rolled his eyes, “Even if I can, why would I? Besides, you saw me dropping it, it was a clean, straight, drop.”

  “Lucky bastard.”

  Unable to deny his loss, Ha Zun shook his head with a defeated smile.

  “You better keep your end of the bargain, man.”

  “Sheesh, can you not rush everything? I’ve already admitted you won, I won’t go back on my word.”

  John raised two hands upwards, “Just making sure, no need to be mad about it.”

  Ha Zun drew a straight line with his lips, “I’ll dig up everything I can, though, depending on my father’s schedule, it might take a while…”

  “A while?”

  “Yeah…sometimes my father leaves his room unlocked, I have to try my luck. I will also need to make copies of his documents without him noticing. You’ve asked me a very difficult thing you know?”

  “…”

  Didn’t Ha Lun Mien said something about executing the pn sometime during the monsoon?

  He gritted his teeth.

  He did not know when exactly it would happen but word has it on the streets that the biannual monsoon of the Eastern Continent is starting sometime this month.

  Ha Zun must have noticed John’s expression, because his friend immediately followed up.

  “I’ll let you know as soon as possible, don’t worry. It’s just details on the Perxins right?”

  “Y-yeah… Something our fathers pnned to do with them,” John admitted. “I tried getting information from my father, but he never tells me anything.”

  “What’s your deal with wanting to know about the Perxins anyways? Don’t tell me it’s—”

  “No! It’s not about her this time,” John admitted. “Nothing to do with Serene. You know back when I lived with Uncle Edgar and Aunt Dalene right?”

  “Yeah? But your father forced you to, I don’t see how any of this makes sense.”

  “They are nice people, so… If what I think is going on behind the scenes, I don’t want it to happen to them. I know my father wants one thing to happen, but I have this feeling that it isn’t quite right, you know?”

  “I get it, I get it, it’s like when I tell my father something bad is going to happen but he doesn’t believe me until it actually happens. By then, it’s too te.”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  John looked into the distance, spotting his ride by the entrance on the way to pick him up.

  “I suppose this is loyalty, or doing the right thing…” he shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Loyalty, huh? Sounds pretty cool.”

  “Heh, I suppose it is.”

  “I wonder if I can do it right just like you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know, that time when you were—”

  “That time when I was doing what?”

  Ha Zun stopped as though his mind short circuited, quickly dismissing his unfinished sentence.

  “Forget what I said, it’s getting te, I wouldn’t want to dey you like st time, hahaha!”

  “Are you sure?”

  “No worries, I’ll see you soon.”

  With that, John bid Ha Zun farewell before he left for home.

  “Hmm…”

  John sat silently by the living room, waited for Kahnira who was still in the shower for dinner. His work flow finally died down and had promised the maid he would spend time reading her a story today.

  However, he had a deep furrow.

  It was the sealed envelope from Serene,

  Whatever excitement that he had to spend quality time with Kahnira was repced with a feeling of unease.

  He could not exactly pce a finger to why or how he felt that way, but the longer he stared at the letter Serene handed him, his stomach churned for him to be cautious.

  Was it because of what Ha Zun said about the Perxins earlier? Or was it because he was afraid he would be caught? Or the fact Serene had decided to speak to him after so long?

  “Master?” the maid appeared behind him, her head cocked to the right as she had a towel by her shoulder length white hair. “What are you…”

  “It seems… that I received a letter from Miss Elisabeth, Serene handed me this earlier today.”

  “Oh,” a small voice squeaked from Kahnira as the maid plopped herself beside John.

  “Yeah. It has to be her, this purple seal stamped with a rge ‘E’ on it.”

  John nudged towards the eborate wax seal by the letter, watched Kahnira dried her hair as she gave him a knowing look.

  “Is master disappointed by Serene? That she was not the sender of this letter?”

  “Me?” he replied quickly. “What do you mean? I…” his face darkened as he moved to pick the sealed letter up, “…a little bit. But it makes sense that she only talked to me for Elisabeth’s sake.”

  “The kind witch that saved us? What does she have to do with Lady Serene?”

  “Oh right, I never told you that Miss Elisabeth is Serene blood retive.”

  “She is!?” Kahnira straightened herself from the relevation.

  “She’s like Uncle Edgar’s great cousin or something, a La’tu from a few generations ago.”

  “Wow… I would have never thought she was an old hag.”

  John eyed Kahnira cheekily.

  “Old hag? Imagine what she would do to you if she heard you.”

  “!!!”

  The maid instantly covered her mouth with two hands, her widened eyes looked left and right around her, weary about a potential unseen presence who might have heard her.

  “I-I just thought she looked no older than a woman in her twenties! ”

  “Pfft!” John shook his head at her reaction, “Rex, if she does anything to you, I’ll just have to liaise with her to forgive you, she’s pretty fond…” his voice trailed off as he fiddled the letter around his fingers, “…of me, I think.”

  Why would she hand me a letter?

  The question tched onto his mind before an arm fshed before his eyes.

  Snatch!!!

  “What— Kahnira! What are you doing!?”

  The maid waved the letter she took from him in the air victoriously, almost akin to getting back at John for suggesting Elisabeth would do something awful to the maid for calling the witch an old hag.

  “Come on now, stop fooling around.”

  “Nope. This maid has decided to read this letter for master,” Kahnira giggled as she pressed the letter against her chest. “Master has kept enough secrets from this maid already.”

  “Hand it over, Kahnira.”

  “No can do, my beloved master.”

  “Kahnira!!! Give it back!” John compined, knowing once the maid had set her mind on messing with him, he would have no choice but to go with it.

  “Nope, nope, nope. Master will have to help dry this maid’s hair to get it back.”

  “D-dry your hair?”

  “I-Is that a n-no?”

  The maid pleaded with droopy eyes, her full lips brought a heartbreaking frown on her beautiful face.

  “I-if master doesn’t want to, this maid—”

  “For crying out loud!”

  John sat closer to Kahnira, pulling the towel from her head as he pced his hand on her damp hair.

  “Just tell me you want me to dry your hair, seriously!”

  The maid giggled as John began to move the towel and his hands around Kahnira’s scalp, gently wiping away the trapped moisture in her hair.

  “I love you, master.”

  Kahnira cooed with her eyes closed as John continuously rubbed her head back and forth akin to how one would when petting a gentle puppy.

  “Sigh… yeah, yeah. Next time, just tell me outright, okay? I told you I was going to read you something today, I won’t be doing anything else.”

  The maid simply nodded her head, still enjoying his hands running through her head.

  “L-love you too…” he uttered at the slightest of breath, so quietly that even John himself could not hear it. It was only until he fully dried Kahnira’s hair did he speak again, “N-now, please open that letter!”

  In quick sucession, Kahnira sat straight up, snapped the wax seal open.

  Shroom.

  A wave of magic burst forth from the letter itself, coated itself along the walls of his home with faint golden hues instantly, disappearing before any of them could blink their eyes in surprise.

  “What the h-heck?” John stammered, he looked to Kahnira who took out the letter looking for an answer from Elisabeth.

  “Hello Cutie, sorry for the fright, but that was a necessary precaution.”

  Kahnira made a face as she read it aloud.

  “This witch could not risk having her message heard by anyone other than you. Therefore, I have ced a type of barrier magic that nullifies any and all magic that spies on you in the wax seal.”

  “R-right, so that must have been it.”

  “However, do keep in mind that this barrier magic only works within the confines of the building. You ought to look up the barrier spell in that magic tome of yours, I’ve noted all the fussy details of how it works there.”

  Kahnira stopped, turned to look at John with furrowed brows and puffed cheeks.

  “Don’t stop, I want to know why she sent this letter.”

  “Master, I know Miss Elisabeth is a nice witch and helped us both…”

  “???”

  “But does she have to keep calling you cutie?”

  The brows on Kahnira’s face donned a steeper angle as her free hand tucked by her sides.

  “She’s not particurly close to master, but keeps suggesting these things.”

  “These…t-things? I don’t think I understand.”

  “Hmph, I won’t allow Master John to get with a woman that barely knows him, even if she is a powerful witch, she will have to get my approval first.”

  Approval? What is this maid talking about?

  One hand, he was fttered that Kahnira was protective over his wellbeing, but on the other, he was unsure if she was worried over nothing.

  It would be a preposterous assumption if Kahnira thought Elisabeth was trying to get intimate with him.

  To begin with, John was not interested in hundred-year-old witches, and he was certain that he was too young to be married anyway.

  Besides, Miss Elisabeth was more like an extended family member to him—as Uncle Edgar distant retive—more than anything else.

  The only thing Elisabeth meant by calling him a cutie was more of a jest at him being a naive boy who cared little about his own safety. John did not particurly enjoy that nickname, however, considering how scary Elisabeth was, he had no say in that.

  “I don’t think she means any harm by—”

  “A-anyways, don’t interrupt, master. This maid is still reading.

  “O-okay…” with wide eyes, he kept silent as Kahnira pouted and stared at the contents of the letter. “I don’t see why you are making a big fuss about it though…”

  “My cutie must be wondering, what is the purpose of this letter? Truth to be told, I just want to meddle with your life, hehe.”

  Kahnira gave a deep sigh before she continued.

  “That was mostly a joke, but the other day, little Serene came to visit me without you, and I overheard a thing or two about Dalene and Edgar themselves. They would be so infuriated if they found out that I sent you this letter to expin a thing or two about what happened between you Sarvods and Perxins.”

  “!!!”

  “Long story short, there is an unnatural force at py in Shi Jou, Dalene thinks that there is an infiltration by foreign entities within the Eastern Federation’s ranks. The other Perxins believe that the Sarvod family may have something to do with it, but there are other sources that verify it stems from someone in the north. There’s confusion amongst the ranks of the governmental world, some believe it will reenact the Howling Massacre when the Emissaries first arrived.”

  “The Howling Massacre when the barbarians arrived? How is she saying something from 170 years ago would happen in our age? Didn’t we invent magic tools that surpassed the dwarves to—"

  “I was there when they first arrived.”

  “What!?” John and his maid shared a look of surprise.

  “They killed my mother and my eldest brother. My father risked his life and sent us down South, somewhere in the borders of Shi Jou before it was even called that name. Fearing they would come for us, my second brother sent me further south, beyond the Eastern Continent. Incidentally, that’s where I learned magic, but that’s not important now. What I need you to know, cutie, is to be careful.

  “Rumors has it that brainwashing was done to many important families, or that impersonators were common amongst our ranks, tactics used simirly in the past to ruin the Eastern Continent has resurfaced in modern iterations, much more subtle and unnoticeable. Some suspect the Empire has something to do with it, but my studies indicate to a more, sinister origin, one that surpassed the barbarians that came for us in the distant past.

  “Which brings to the topic of why the Perxins decided to cut all ties with your family. There was confirmation that one of the Sarvods are in contact with the enemy, your father however, had reported no such incident. I presume it must be one of your distant retives, but I am unsure myself. Be careful, be cautious and weary, John.

  “When this letter reached your hands, this beautiful witch here would be on an expedition to find the source of evil, I wish to confirm the other rumors myself.

  “I had hesitated to contact you, cutie. But, when the little tiger made her visit to learn magic from me, she cried the whole time as she compined about Dalene’s methods of teaching her to be a Perxin. Stating things like how you stopped smiling with your eyes, and things like that. You see, Serene made a promise with her mother to keep away from you, for both of your sake now that there many spies even amongst your schoolmates, dare I say, your own family.”

  “…”

  “I have taught Serene the basics of defending herself in your pce, she told me about you helping her, quite impressive coming from a cutie like you. This letter may be the st I can do to help you and that little tiger for a long, long time. Use the magic tome wisely and be well.

  “Note: I have also heard from Serene about that maid of yours. Give Kahnira a greeting for me will you, my cutie? Apparently, she comes from an interesting lineage that even I was unaware of.”

  And so, with the st words that Kahnira read from the letter, the piece of paper glowed in purple, disintegrated by the maid’s fingertips as it became one with air.

  “M-master,” Kahnira shot him an innocent look. “It disappeared. T-this maid didn’t do anything.”

  “I know you didn’t,” John moved to pick up the envelop.

  Unsurprisingly, a simir purple glow took over, erasing all trace of Miss Elisabeth’s letter to him.

  “The kind witch, likes to keep things a secret.”