Chapter 220: Bottleneck is a nasty thing
Delia spoke with an almost religious zeal.
She even had a hand raised curled into a fist and pumping in the air to show her excitement for some brutality. Everyone at the table could see that she had really wanted to have a weapon in her hands against the Bullcroc. Having to strike at it with just her fists empowered by her storm magic and disappointingly failing, had annoyed her quite a bit.
Also, her saying singing would not get them through it all had very little to do with what Eloise had said about reading through the notes on the various beasts Professor Lea Gilligan had taught them about, and more to do with her wishing she had done more.
So, yes, she was excited to exploit the ’loophole’ in the rulebooks so she could have a weapon. Alas, a reality check brought her right back to earth from her soaring mental height.
"But then, who cares about the rules when I can’t even get a weapon to wield," she said with a sigh.
"How so?" Caius asked.
He was never against Delia wanting a weapon. Hell, he’d like one too, and hearing her say what sounded like backtracking on her words, prompted him to ask that question.
Delia shrugged.
"My family hates the Mage-Knights’ way. They’re definitely not sending me a Mage-Knight weapon," she said, "Best I’ll get is the practice weapons from Mage-Knight Training class and I’ll rather use my fists than those useless pacifist things."
"I mean, you could still try to ask," Aylin said.
Delia shrugged again.
"They’ll probably send a staff instead. Or worse, a wand," she said.
"Ah ha, I knew you had a preference," Kaya said bringing up an earlier conversation and still ongoing—though more sparse and less passionate—debate.
"Well, a staff just works better for wacking than a wand," Delia said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Fair enough," Kaya said, "Still a win for the Staff though."
"So you’ll be getting one?" Delia asked her, "For the Mid-Semester Tests?"
"Well, it’s an Arcane Tool. Might not be something they’re willing to send over to me," Kaya said and she looked a bit uncomfortable talking about this.
Delia took the hint and diverted conversations elsewhere.
Family was a bit of a touchy subject for Kaya.
Having been left with her father by a mother she didn’t know, she had never felt quite at home with her siblings, all born by her father’s lawful wife. Mistreatment was not particularly a thing but there comes a level of neglect and ostracization for essentially being a bastard. Always feeling a lot like an outsider in her father’s own home.
When the conversation shifted elsewhere, the energy at the table picked up again but, occasionally, Caius and Kaya shared looks. She always gave him a smile like she could tell he was thinking about her plight and was telling him, without using her words, that it was fine.
Was it fine?
Caius knew much about Kaya’s future, at least as they had been in [To Kill A Demon Lord...], and she certainly had a happy ending. But there were regrets she had still, even as the story reached its end. Regrets for things long past and impossible to change by that point.
Caius wasn’t sure just yet how many of those events he should change. I.e how much of her life he had any right to interfere with beyond fostering the relationship between them.
But, he was definitely sure of how many resources he now had access to and how he could use those resources to help those close to him. The one gesture he definitely still had a right to perform.
•••
Break ended and the First Years headed for their final class of the day, Alchemy.
As they walked, Caius became aware that Aurelius, Doran, and Baler were only a few feet behind him and the girls.
"Go on ahead," he told them, and hung back while they walked ahead.
Kaya and Eloise looked at him, confused but they kept walking. The two of them were seat partners for Alchemy anyway while Doran was Caius’s so he wasn’t going to ’catch up’ with them. But it was fine.
They had had him with them for Break after a long while and that would tide them over.
Aylin looked back at Caius as well, walking with her gang of gal-pals but when she faced forward, there was a look of purpose in her eyes.
Caius hadn’t caught that look because he grabbed Aurelius’s arm gently then, pulling him out of the middle of Baler and Doran.
"Oh, hey," Aurelius said, looking surprised.
"I wanted to talk to you," Caius said releasing the arm, "If you don’t mind."
Baler frowned. It wasn’t even that Caius had dared talk to his friend. It was that Caius was even at all this close to him.
"Very well," Aurelius said.
"Alone," Caius added ignoring Baler to give Doran a friendly smile as he greeted,
"Hey."
"Well excuse us," Doran said as he grabbed Baler’s arm and pulled him away.
"Let go, peasant," Baler said, pulling himself from Doran’s hold, and then he looked at Caius with disdain before scoffing and walking away.
Doran rolled his eyes at Baler but walked behind him to class, waving his hand at Caius as he did,
"See you in class, seat partner."
Soon, only Caius and Aurelius were left in the corridor leading to the Alchemy classroom.
"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Aurelius asked, still confused but friendly.
"Your magic," Caius said, "I noticed something about it during the fight with the Bullcroc."
Aurelius paused here, his brows furrowing as his blue eyes narrowed almost in suspicion.
"What did you notice?"
"It seemed..." Caius said and paused to make a show of how hard it was for him to come up with the right word, before he ’finally’ found it,
"... Stuck."
"How so?" Aurelius asked.
"Well, like you’ve reached a point for a breakthrough and you just can’t seem to get it," Caius answered.
"You felt that from my magic," Aurelius said, sounding incredulous.
"I did," Caius answered.
It was definitely a lie but probably one he could get away with. As much as Aurelius was touted as a man able to tell truth apart from falsehood by just a glance, evidence had shown many times that he could be lied to.
Also, Caius did know Aurelius’s magic was stuck. He just knew it from what was essentially an alternate reality to the one they were both living right now.
"I didn’t know such a thing was possible," Aurelius said, looking even more suspicious now.
"Well, not usually. But I’m a perceptive fellow. Also, my noticing likely has something to do with the fact that I recently went through a similar situation," Caius said, furthering his lie quite easily.
"You did?"
"I did," Caius said, nodding, "Bottleneck is a nasty thing. And I’m willing to bet your other elemental affinities are suffering from your lack of progress with Light Magic."
"How did you know Light magic was precisely my issue?" Aurelius asked.
"Because Dark Magic was mine. The two are quite like two sides of a coin. Traced back to the very existence of the Goddess who presides over them," Caius said, backing up his false claims with spirituality he knew Aurelius would gobble up.
Sure enough,
"You know of the ’Divine Sisters’?" Aurelius said, sounding impressed.
"Well, it’s not obscure knowledge," Caius said.
But it actually kinda was. The average Mage isn’t particularly very god-minded despite invoking gods in swears and the like. Even though they worship the gods, it’s to observe due process and protocol regarding certain practices while never having in-depth knowledge of godly relationships.
Even Vampires who are so close to the Goddess of Primal Darkness, that they just naturally feel her presence in their very existence, don’t know she has a sister. Some devotees even decide to entirely shun Anyxyl’s relation to the Goddess of Divine Light as the knowledge apparently serves them no purpose.
Of course, they’re wrong.
Understanding the two goddesses as being quite similar and equal can boost one’s specific understanding of either of the two.
But when even the Goddesses themselves disregard the mention of their sisters by their devotees, it’s not hard to see where the ignorance comes from and why it’s so ingrained in either God-worship.