[Quest] Magician Raising Project 2

[Bird of Hermes]

3

[Cain12]

4.

[SleepMode]

​3

[Spartacus]

3

[zikari8]

★ ★ ★

Date: September 7^th, 2005
Location: Frederica’s Office

“… have you considered not beating people up? I hear it’s a very effective way to not get in trouble.”

After picking him up from the detention area, you decided to counsel Damien on his violent behavior, bringing him to your office for some counseling. Though class was in session, he was already late, so you decide to hold him for a while. While missing class time was bad, you figured it was most important to get his behavior straightened out ASAP before any incident happens. Besides, you could explain the situation to Mr. Morse later.

After several minutes of trying to talk to him about the predicament, though, Damien didn’t seem to be very responsive to your attempts of helpful advice. Was he just not comfortable talking to authority figures in such a stiff, formal manner or were you just really bad at counseling? Well, one of those seems pretty likely. Still, he just sort of sat there defiantly, not really seeming to listen to what you had to say, as meaningless as it was.

Eventually, you realized you were barking up an empty tree and decided to let him go for now, so he could at least make his next class. Properly dismissed he got him and immediately headed for the door, seemingly more annoyed than relieved to be free.

Hmmm… what a troublesome situation this was. You’re really worried about potential future incidents like this, but you really aren’t sure how to stop them. Where does the problem even lie? Does it have to do with Damien or are there other factors you should consider?

On the first day of the new term, you already have a lot to consider.

“Damien Albright, huh…”

---

After leaving behind Frederica Eru’s office, Damien Albright hurried to his classes with a surly expression.

What a waste of time…

He didn’t need advice from some stranger, even if she’s responsible for him. Don’t get into fights. Learn some restraint. Violence isn’t good. It was all just generic whatevers. And what? Did she expect him to confide all his troubles and concerns into her on the very first day? As if.

Right now, he didn’t trust her nearly enough to do that.

But well… he was a bit surprised that she didn’t lecture or scold him. Most of his previous teachers and such did so – always frustrated with the eternal trouble he seemed to attract. At the very least, he appreciated that fact. Perhaps she really did want the best for him? Well, time would tell, but for now he still wasn’t very comfortable with the strange girl who showed up one day and became his sponsor.

Still, though, it was true that he made a mistake this morning. Or perhaps the mistake he made was in the past, when he first got into a fight with those guys. Either way, this delinquent streak wasn’t doing him any good and he knew that well. If he wanted to continue to succeed at a magus, he had to do something about this belligerent lifestyle.

It’s not like he liked fighting or anything. He too wanted nothing more than a peaceful and successful career as a magus. It just so happened that he kept making enemies everywhere he went and zero friends.

Well, not like he needed friends or anything. Being a magus means being alone after all…

Still, as natural as it was, Damien Albright couldn’t help but feel a little regret that, after 5 years at the Clock Tower, he had nothing to show for it except a rogue’s gallery of guys he’s hospitalized…

★ ★ ★

Date: September 7^th, 2005
Location: Student Commons

Just a little past noon, Damien’s last class for the day ended and he prepared to call it a day. He only had morning classes today, so he was free now that noon had arrived. Thankfully, he was able to make it to his second class on time after this morning’s incident and the rest of his classes had gone much more smoothly.

Besides one’s main, core lessons with one’s mentor and enrolled classroom, students of the Clock Tower were also able to enroll in more specialized classes and electives suited for one’s personal magecraft. It varied from department to department, but the specific curriculum was rather laissez-faire; study whatever you want, learn whatever you need, it was that kind of individualistic policy that most students had. Of course, the core of one’s learning depended heavily on their personal apprenticeships.

Anyways, he had enrolled in quite a few of these side courses to a rather tough amount, but he generally tried to put them mostly in the morning so that his afternoons could be free. Thus, now that it was lunch time, all he had left to do was have lunch and then head to his part-time job.

For that purpose, he had dropped by the Astrology Department’s campus Student Commons to pick up some grub. He hadn’t checked it out himself, but he found it on the Faculty handbook map quite close to his classroom. There, it was described as a building that acts as a sort of student center facility on campus, so he figured there should be a cafeteria or something like that there…

Well, he was quite wrong.

“Oi. Isn’t this a little too outrageous?”

Inside the Student Commons building, instead of the mundane cafeteria or food court type he expected, what awaited him was instead an entire section of full-on restaurants. Though they varied in style and content, ranging from cafes to fine dining, they all seemed like glamorous and expensive establishments.

“… the Astrology Department sure is amazing… in many ways.” He couldn’t help but think.

Damn, pompous rich kids. He knew the students of the Astrology Department were on average more upper-class, but this was way beyond his dreams. Was this the kind of food they eat daily? Or rather, how the hell was he going to afford having lunch here?

“Hey, did you hear? Some people got into a big fight this morning on campus?”

“Oh, dear, how barbaric.”

“That guy over there… Doesn’t he look dangerous? What’s someone like him doing here?”

Faintly, as he looked and walked around the student building, he began to catch slight whispers from other students. It seemed that rumors of what happened this morning had already begun to spread, and his delinquent looks weren’t doing him any favors either. Perhaps it’d be best to leave sooner than later.

“Heeeeey, Damieeeen~!”

Suddenly, though, out of nowhere, he heard his name being called.

This voice… he recognized it. It was the girl he ran into this morning, Fiona Venilia. Well, considering where they were, it’s not strange to run into a classmate. Though he wasn’t the social type, it’d be a bit too rude to ignore her after being called, so he might as well greet her briefly.

Gathering his social courage, he turned towards the direction of his voice, saw two girls walking towards him, and responded appropriately…

“Oh, hey the— pfffffttttt!”

… and immediately did a spit take.

“Hey, Damien. We saw you walking around so we thought we’d say hi.” Fiona beamed as she walked up towards him, before noticing his reaction. “Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Y-you… what the hell are you wearing!?” Damian shouted, quickly covering his eyes.

For some reason he couldn’t possibly fathom, the girl named Fiona Venilia was wearing a swimsuit. Besides a thin jacket, her bare body was covered by nothing but swimwear, a bikini too to boot.

“Huh? What I’m wearing?” She looked down as if confused. “Nothing much. Just a swimsuit.”

“Bu-wha-that’s exactly the problem!” He couldn’t help but retort. “Why on earth are you wearing that?”

A flurry of questions passed through his head. Why was she wearing a swimsuit? Why didn’t she think it was weird? This is neither a beach nor a pool – the only two places on earth where a swimsuit could be considered appropriate public attire – so this is definitely strange. No, wait… maybe, just maybe it could potentially be possible that there is a pool in this building. After all, it is a student recreational center and they have a whole area of restaurants, so it wasn’t unfeasible that there might be a pool as well nearby. So then, if she just came from the pool, her attire wouldn’t be too out of place. That has to be it. That must be it. If not, then the only other conclusion would be that this girl’s an idiot.

With high hopes that his deduction was correct, he awaited eagerly as Fiona processed his question, thought for a second, and then answered.

“Oh this? These are just my normal clothes. I wear them everywhere.”

Nope, he was wrong. She’s just an idiot.

“… b-but you were wearing proper clothes this morning…”

He recalled his encounter with her earlier in the day. Back then, she was dressed in an appropriate jogging suit.

“Of course. It’s hard to run in a bikini, you know.” She chuckled a bit at his confusion. “That’s just common sense, silly.”

Oi! What right did she have to talk about common sense? She’s the weird one here… right? Right?

Looking around a bit, Damien noticed that other people seemed put off as well. The other students in the area were all glancing at the weird swimsuit girl and whispering among themselves. Oh dear, now that he’s being seen with her, his reputation was probably dropping even further.

Perhaps sensing the abnormalities, Fiona beamed a little and began to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Um, I think you’re a little confused about something, so let me explain a bit. This is actually my Mystic Code. It’s vital to my magecraft, so I wear it around at all times.”

“… oh.”

That really did explain everything.

A Mystic Code. The magical artifacts that Magi carry. Ranging from objects that amplify one’s power to conceptual weapons with innate special abilities, they were items of great importance and utility. In some sense, one could even say that the true power of a Magus lies most in their Mystic Code; carrying it oneself at all times is a good way to stay safe, not unlike carrying a gun with you. Indeed, it was also quite common for Mystic Codes to take the form of clothes or outfits. In fact, Damian had even heard of swimsuit-type Mystic Codes before. So then, Fiona’s attire wasn’t wrong. If that thing truly was her Mystic Code, it would make sense why she as a magus needed to wear it even in public, since it could end up determining life or death for her.

Certainly, now that he focused, he could feel some light magical energy emanating from the bikini.

Thus, he could no longer find a reason to speak up about her outfit. Instead, he merely reaffirmed his knowledge that the way of the magi was a strange and difficult one.

“Oh, um, sorry then… I might’ve overreacted.” He apologized, feeling a bit deflated.

“Ah, no, no. I don’t really get it, but I don’t think it’s your fault.” Fiona was quick to reply. He wasn’t really sure, but she seemed like a nice person.

Still… he was having trouble looking her in the eyes with that outfit on.

“Hm, hm, what are you two talking about, hm~?”

At that moment, a third voice interrupted their conversation.

Looking at the source, Damien found another young woman standing just behind Fiona. Thinking back, he did see two girls walking towards him. He was just so distracted by the swimsuit girl that he completely zoned out and forgot about her.



The young woman was another of his classmates and dormmates he briefly greeted the day before. Her name was Diane Debrie, if he recalled correctly. The only reason he remembered her last name was because it sounded like debris.

“N-nothing. Forget it. So… did you two need anything from me?” He asked, putting the previous mayhem aside.

“Well, we were planning on having some lunch and then we saw you, so we’d thought we’d invite you to join us!” Diane explained happily. There was something about her soft voice that gave her a bit of an airy feeling.

“Ah, the truth is we wanted to try eating here but… for some reason, none of the restaurants would let me in. Weird, right?” Fiona added.

No, no, there was nothing weird about that. Did this girl not understand the concept of No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service?

Anyways, that aside, he was being invited to have lunch with them? It seemed like an innocuous invitation and it was true that he had nothing better to really do.

Just before he moved out of his home, his father had told him to try and become more friendly with others. Now that he was an adult, he needed to try and make more connections which would be useful in the future, or something like that.

To be honest, Damien didn’t like that idea. The concept of getting close to others so that they can be useful… just didn’t sit right with him. It just felt too dishonest. Perhaps that was why he never really had any intentions of making friends.

But, in this case, what should he do?

---

What should Damien do during lunch?

1. Accept the invitation from his classmates and have lunch with them.
2. Have lunch alone at one of the restaurants
3. Have lunch somewhere else that’s cheaper
4. Go back to the dorms and cook food
5. Write-In

References

Reference Image - Diane Debrie

Source

[shanagan]

1. Accept the invitation from his classmates and have lunch with them.

[Cain12]

3.

[SleepMode]

1

[SpoonyViking]

5. Accept the invitation, but tell them you don't have the money for these places in the hopes they'll treat you - or at least to convince them to have lunch somewhere cheaper!

I have hope, ok?