13 Backstabbers

An intriguing part of the tower life was how quickly news could spread from one corner of it to the other. There are always people who love to gossip.

It had been over an hour since Seph and her friends had entered the gardens—Almost time for the first class of the day to end. The four still had two hours before they had to head to class, however, and they intended to spend the rest of it in the gardens as well.

Unlike Seph, the other three hadn't missed breakfast and were in the mood for a snack. Their plan was to target the central courtyard and hopefully secure something before the horde of students gets there after the end of their class.

Seph could bet her entire allowance that they were already too late for that.

Well, maybe not the entire allowance, but certainly about... a tenth of it?

Nevertheless, the four walked towards the central courtyard. It was the main entry and exit point to the gardens, and the place where the majority of the student-owned and run facilities existed. It was the place to go to have something different from their canteen's rigid menu. The place to shop for trinkets. The place to waste your pocket money in the most enjoyable ways possible.

Teak lead the group. He had an uncanny ability to find the right paths in this labyrinth of a garden. Of course, most of his routing decisions were made after spotting the large crystal lights hanging over each of the three courtyards, but one could—no, would—still get lost despite it. Teak was the natural enemy to these tricks of the garden.

Callu was right behind him, surrounded on either side by Seph and Hiila. Hiila spent most of the journey quizzing Callu about her various doubts about elemental magic. Callu was among the top of their class when it came to the elements. Hiila was not. She often asked doubts like these when they were alone.

Teak often complained about this. They were here to relax, not talk about their damn homework! Hiila often hit him because of that. Maybe also because Hiila just liked to hit things.

This was a conflicting subject for Seph. On one hand, she did not like being reminded of the academics (unless it was magic control and rune theory. You could ask her about those all day) during free hours, but honestly, magic was also fun for her. And she knew the same was true for Teak as well, as she watched his scrawny figure turn back to look at the two every once in a while.

So she'd agree with Teak on the surface, but join in on the discussions every once in a while as well.

Callu preferred demonstration over theory. She'd hop right up before them and show off all the intricacies of elemental design whenever she found the reason to.

And then she'd hop right beside Seph and cling to her arm. Feigning tiredness.

Yes, feigning. Seph was sure of it.

'Easy to read! Talk about yourself first!' Seph's internal grin seeped onto her face with thoughts like these.

But Seph wouldn't call her out. After all, Callu was soft.

A short while later, they reached the eastern courtyard. The three courtyards were joined by two straight, wide, paved paths. They just needed to go down the path connecting the eastern and central courtyards now.

But, right as they were to start the second half of their journey, Seph overheard a group of students laughing about a certain event.

"...Did he really do that?"

"Yeah! Professor Krys just ran around the ninth year's classrooms with a knife!"

===

Krys and Kyvas spent the next hour or so recounting everything they could about the summoning. Kyvas did not speak much about what happened on his end. It scared him that if they knew that he had suffered the effects of the summoning for 3 months instead of just a week, they would decide not to contact the Immortal. Every day here equalled half a month on Earth. He did not want to think about what would happen if they were unable to come up with a solution in the next few days.

At one point amid the explanation, the Headmaster set up his quill again, preparing to get the letter that Jach should have sent back by then. Unfortunately, the quill spit out all of his messages chronologically, and it took him half a dozen sheets of paper before he finally received the letter from Jach.

Half of the notices before that turned out to be complaints by other teachers about Krys running around with a dagger.

Krys, without batting an eye, pushed all the blame to Kyvas. Kyvas did his best impersonation of a glare in response.

The Headmaster finally decided to summarize what the two had told him.

"You and Jach decided to use the dagger to cast the summoning spell. The summoning spell worked, becoming the first spell to affect a living directly. It summoned you, Kyvas, but only your... conscience? I can't follow that part. Anyway, it summoned you into the dagger. And you're saying you're from another world—one without magic at that."

'That's the gist of it, yes.' Kyvas confirmed. Now both the headmaster and the Professor were in contact with him, making it possible for him to relay his thoughts to the two.

The Headmaster sighed. "... We need to keep him a secret." He pointed to Kyvas.

Krys nodded in agreement.

"If word of him goes out, there's going to be too many out there willing to get their hands on him. Or worse, attempting to repeat the experiment," The Headmaster continued.

Kyvas frowned at their priorities, but he knew they were right, so said nothing of them.

"Which is why we have to try to send him back as soon as we can," Krys said. "And we need the Immortal's help for that."

The headmaster agreed with that notion, then looked down at the dagger and scratched his short, scraggly beard.

The room stood in silence for a short while, the only sound coming from the beard being scratched.

Then the Headmaster stopped and tapped on Kyvas's handle.

"... Say, you did not enchant him with Telepathy. How can he send his thoughts without it?"

Krys's eyes widened. "You're right!" He bounced off of his seat and grasped Kyvas from the table. He immediately drew a set of runes in the air and sent his mana into them.

Kyvas felt weird—like something was probing his insides.

'... If I were human still, I'd be hurling all over you, Jafferi.' He complained.

He knew it was likely the effect of the spell, so he did his best to not fight against that feeling.

A moment later he saw Krys frown.

"None of the enchantments, bar the Self-Repair ones, are on the dagger anymore." He shared his findings with the other two. "This is weird. The enchantments didn't explode this time, so where did they go...?"

Krys tapped the blade. "... And what was that..." He trailed off.

The Headmaster just tilted his head in confusion.

Krys noted the Headmaster's confusion after a glance at him.

"You see, there was this small fluctuation when the detection spell first started. I'm just wondering about that." He said.

'What do you think it was?' Kyvas asked.

Krys's eyes widened. "There! It happened again! It looks like..."

A moment later, Krys lightly slapped his forehead and stared at Kyvas again. "Kyvas! Say something! Quick!"

The intensity of his request took Kyvas by surprise.

'O-okay?' He muttered.

"No, no, no something longer!" Krys almost yelled.

'You try coming up with something on that short of a notice!' Kyvas yelled back.

"That'll do!" Krys grinned, a gleam in his eye.

He took Kyvas over to the Headmaster. "Here! Observe him when he speaks."

The Headmaster blinked and reached out for Kyvas. "Alright then."

He moved his hands and drew the same runes as Krys did earlier in the air.

The gut-probing feeling redoubled. Kyvas groaned.

'Can you please stop doing that? It feels terrible.' He pleaded.

His pleading was met with glimmering eyes. Kyvas felt a chill run up the edge of his spine.

"He's emulating the telepathy enchantment whenever he speaks. Interesting." The Headmaster mused. Krys nodded.

...

The next half hour was spent with Kyvas acting like a lab rat. The two made him use every single form of telepathy he could. Generic, Exclusive, Sending Images... All the while probing his insides constantly.

Needless to say, by the end of it, Kyvas wanted to cry.

===

After satisfying the sadism of the Headmaster and Krys, Kyvas was feeling tired. At the same time, both of the sadists saw the repairing speed of the knife improve many-fold.

Krys and Lyre concluded that this was enough for the day. With how Kyvas was reacting, it would be imperative to observe him over the next while. And the best people to keep watch would likely be Krys and Jach.

"I'll give you and Jach the day off then. Cancel your classes completely. I think you need it after today." The Headmaster offered.

"That would be for the best, yes." Krys accepted. "I can't believe it's still the morning. This entire day's feeling like a week."

The Headmaster nodded empathetically.

"Well then. If that's all, let's end this meeting and I'll go send the message to the Immortal." The Headmaster suggested.

Krys nodded and stood up, stuffed Kyvas in his belt, and made his way to the door.

"I'll send you a message as soon as I get a reply." The headmaster called after them.

Krys jerked to a stop as soon as he reached the door. "Oh, YES!"

And immediately ran back to the desk.

"There WAS something I wanted to ask!" He grinned at the Headmaster.

The Headmaster blinked, slightly confused and nervous.

"What is it, Krys?"

"Why does the tower not have any windows?" Krys asked.

'... Goddamnit, Krys.' exclaimed Kyvas.

The Headmaster blinked again. "Just... that?"

Krys tilted his head.

"Oh, ahem," He cleared his throat. "It's just to keep the tower pressurized. The air gets too thin up here, and any holes make the magic devices in here's job harder."

Krys frowned a deep frown.

"But that doesn't make sense!" He tapped a finger on the table. "I climbed up here and had no problems with breathing!"

The Headmaster now looked genuinely surprised.

"That... That's your robe, Krys." He looked at Krys, clear concern showing on his face. "The teacher's robes are enchanted that way."

Krys stared at the Headmaster, wide-eyed.

"Don't... Don't tell me you've never even tried to check it for enchantments!"

Krys's face heated up. He immediately drew the runes to check his robes.

Kyvas couldn't help but let out a snort. 'How long have you even been a teacher for?'

"Six years, now shut up." Krys's face flushed even more.

'...Goddamnit, Krys!' Kyvas broke out into a chuckle. 'I feel like I'll be saying that often around you.'

He could see the Headmaster break into a smile as well. "By the Immortal, Krys! I can't believe you never checked!"

Krys moved his lips but said nothing. He seemed to have found something, as he suddenly furrowed his brow and flared his nose.

"And I can't believe NO ONE told me that the cloak could heat up!" He yelled, prompting the Headmaster to burst out into laughter.

'How did you ever get this job.' Sniggered Kyvas.

"And I even had to install all those terminals outside the tower! IN THE BLOODY WINTER!" Krys complained.

The Headmaster was too busy laughing to retort.

Kyvas, however, was not. 'I'm telling all of this to Jach when we get back!'

"Oh, oh no you don't!"

He immediately made for the door.

"I'm leaving! Have to find a box to imprison this monstrosity!" He yelled, pointing at Kyvas.

"Go, Go! I don't think I'll be able to send the message otherwise!" The Headmaster urged, then quickly grabbed another sheet of paper and started writing on it.

The first words and the only ones Kyvas could read before the door slammed shut were

"Dear Jach Jafferi,

"You should know what I found out about Krys today!..."

It seemed like even if Kyvas couldn't tell Jach, the Headmaster had them covered.

Kyvas grinned a sadistic grin.

===

Seph walked without her group towards the cafeteria. They had all rushed off to their rooms first, to wash up or to prepare their books or materials first before having their lunch.

Seph, however, was starving enough to push all of that aside and have lunch first. She was, after all, the only one that hadn't had anything during their stay in the gardens.

She went to the counter and just ordered some fried rice. She'd rather not wait for something that might take longer. Or, well, something that'd cost more. Her breakfast was already bigger and better than what she usually grabs. And she had bought a hairpin in the gardens today as well.

She just wanted a simple one, but Callu insisted she get a good-looking one instead. And so she did. A purple flower, made from some coloured glass. Suited her black hair. At least Callu said so, anyway.

It didn't take long for her order to be prepared—She only had to wait for a couple of minutes or so before she had a plate of steaming hot fried rice in her hands. She made her way to an empty table, one near the cafeteria entrance.

She saw a couple of groups around her notice her and greet her. Her plate filled hands couldn't greet back, so a nod was all they got. People tend to know about you when you've gotten caught sneaking inside the tower's core. Some ignored her group for that, a few even go as far as berating them for it, but most would rather hear the story than cower from such behaviour, so it was all fine.

She put down the plate first. Her sling bag then found its home on a chair. And a spoon full of rice founds its way to her mouth before she had even sat down.

It was too hot—her tongue got burnt. Seph regretted her actions immediately.

And so she just sat there and ate, slowly and steadily. And waited for her friends to get there.

She saw Fenn first. Not someone she talked with often, but a classmate of hers nonetheless. A hard worker. Always on time, never misses anything. That kind of girl.

What drew her attention to her wasn't anything to do with her group of friends, though. Fenn came in alone. It was the fact that Fenn had changed out of her uniform. That was unusual. They still had four more hours of classes, and Fenn never misses classes. Why would she change out of her uniform so soon, then?

She blinked and ate another spoonful.

And then she saw another group of four enter. The four track maniacs of her class. She didn't care enough about them to have learned their names. But just like Fenn, they were out of their uniforms as well.

Similar successive entries of ununiformed classmates, however, made her think.

'Are Krys and Jach's classes cancelled entirely?'

The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

Her friends entered not too long thereafter.

Teak was the one that spearheaded the group, as usual. He half jogged over to Seph to tell her the news.

"New notice! Did you get it yet?" He grinned and asked as his hands slammed on the table.

Seph blinked. "... Krys and Jach's classes are cancelled?"

Teak nodded enthusiastically. Hiila reached them and rolled her eyes.

"Why do you think that happened? Something to do with the dagger?" Teak asked, paying the eye roll no mind.

Seph nodded. "Probably." And stuffed another spoonful into her mouth.

Callu walked past them, heading over towards the counter. Ordering food for the three likely.

Hiila dragged the chair opposite Seph and sat down in it.

"I say Krys just got into trouble." Hiila theorised. "The Headmaster's punishing him or something for that stunt with the dagger. I mean, running around, swinging it near a crowd of students? What else could it be?"

'No, probably something else.' Seph discarded the theory mentally.

Teak thought for a second. "What about Jach then?"

Hiila frowned and flicked Teak's forehead. "You think Jach will just sit and watch as Krys gets punished?"

Seph blinked. Teak complained about the hit.

"No, he'd definitely scold him more." Jach chimed in from behind them.

The three froze and turned.

Professor Jach Jafferi stood beside their table. A lunchbox in his hand, and a twitching smile on his lips.

"Now, would you mind telling me more about this 'stunt' of my husband's?"

===

Cainsworth-13 1232, 5:20 Evening

I feel betrayed. The Tower is full of backstabbers.

Krys Jafferi.