Chapter 54: The Chatting
———Orrel———
<3: 04 pm>
“Damn you Jass!” Kenni loudly complained, after all is said and done.
She was close to actually landing a fatal blow on Karra, but Jass intervened and took a shot at her while she had tunnel vision.
Considering he had no way of out-gunning any of the remaining students, he chose to take cheap shots at the others who are stronger than him. It’s definitely quite a dirty move, but not one I’m above using if given the chance.
Too bad I was caught up in the crossfire alongside Useph just before the finish line. Everyone starts piling up on each other at the end. It was a clusterfuck, to put it bluntly.
“Alright, settle down.” Rico said to calm down the tension. “So, here’s the result.”
A large leaderboard hologram appeared, showing the results of placement and kills. It looks about the same on both fronts.
“I’ll send you the replay data after the class, in case you were curious what’s going on with each perspective.” Rico said, giving us quite the valuable gift. It won’t really be usable outside of the simulator rooms, but it is to be expected considering the vastly different tech.
“Everyone is gonna hear me insulting them behind their back…” Kenni said, feigning being horrified. I somehow doubt she said anything inflammatory.
Now as for how practical the idea of reviewing this battle royale match goes is going to be hard to gauge. This is new territory in many ways, and I’m not sure if I’ll have enough time to look through it. Maybe my time would’ve been better off studying something else. It’s something I need to assess before committing to-
“Hey, Orrel.” Useph called out to me while Rico was saying something.
“What is it?” I asked, wondering what he has to say while I’m lost in thought.
“What do you think is gonna happen with all these training sessions? It almost sounds like-
“Hey now, no talking in the middle of the class. We’re almost done here.” Rico called him out before he could finish conveying his message.
This is something we need to talk about later in the day, just between the two of us.
———Karra———
<8: 08 pm>
“<So yeah. My place is feeling pretty safe still, in case you guys are still worried.>” Seemi answered. Wiina’s previous presence is a massive deterrent in itself. She’ll be fine.
The same can’t be said about the others. It’s hard to not be worried about their safety.
“What about you, Jackman?” I asked him just in case.
“<Still alive and well. I heard some commotion outside every now and then, mostly staying indoors and working out indoors too.>” He answered. Considering he has a family to look after, he can’t be risking his life even a little bit. “<Your small town is still plenty safe, I bet.>”
“You know how it goes. With all that happens around here, people are real afraid to try anything funny.” There’s so many unknown factors that would intimidate any remotely sensible person from trying to start chaos and flinging spells everywhere. “By the way, heard some news about police brutality getting worse? How is that even possible?”
“<It’s quite simple.>” Edea chimed in. “<With the paranoia that anyone could conceal a great power or esoteric magical technique, those law enforcers are much more trigger-happy. Be it genuine fear or simply an excuse, they need to be much more brutal and final with their approach to make sure the cornered rattlesnake doesn’t bare its fangs.>”
“<...That’s one hell of a way to put it.>” Seemi remarked, sounding rather spooked out. “<They got more excuses than ever, and this one have quite the plausible deniablity.>”
“<Of course, it is quite a strong argument when the death rate of officers shot through the roof.>” Edea said, bringing up the rather dreadful statistic. “<Though in general, the death rate is up by multiple folds.>”
It’s really hard to imagine something like that happening if I didn’t follow the news. When you live in a peaceful bubble… relatively peaceful bubble, it becomes hard to comprehend that such great strife exists elsewhere.
“<No shit. Can’t stop hearing how some random schmucks died for many weeks straight. It’s mainly been street brawls getting more lethal with magic involved, not terrorism, but it’s really damn bad.>” Seemi said, corroborating the claim. It does look like large-scale attacks are not the only reason things got so bad. The increased and uncontrollable strength that came with that big change caused accidents in general to be more frequent as well, especially during scuffles that probably didn’t mean to end up with someone dead.
“<Something similar on my end. People get way over their heads or something.>” Jackman said, sharing a similar experience. “<Can’t they learn how to hold back? Can’t be that hard, right?>”
“<People seem to not understand the basics of the new level of power introduced. They act like they have always done without factoring in the new element. It won’t disrupt them in their normal life, but when a fight broke out or something life-threatening comes up, they could ended up unconsciously using up that power when they don’t need to.>” Edea explained the logic behind these accidents.
“You’re making it sound like the gap is that big, even if their mana pool is small.” I know it can greatly enhance one’s combat capability, but would it really help someone who never used it before?
“<It will depend on how much they have, of course. I think the more pressing issue is that those who crudely use it can cause a backlash to their body. Someone could miscast a spell, or circulate mana incorrectly. Before you walked past that first step, using mana can be quite lethal.>” They elaborated further in response to my remark. “<The term ‘people exploding’ has been going up in searches as of late.>”
“<Ugh. Don’t put that image in my head.>” Seemi said in disgust. I don’t think that term is literal…
“<Not to worry, it wasn’t an actual explosion for the most part. The caster’s body was afflicted with the element of the spell they miscast. It manifested on their body in a rather gruesome way. Since most people defaulted to fire magic as it is the most apparently effective as a deterrent and as an offensive spell, when they fail to properly cast it, it starts burning them alive. A human torch, if you will.>” That is barely any better, let’s be real.
“<One bad image for another. Thanks…>” Seemi sarcastically replied.
“<It really doesn’t help that everyone has different affinity for different types of spell. One would be good at casting fire, another with water. They all have their specialization, and anything outside of that can be hard to control and take longer time to master.>” Edea further elaborated. “<You two have been pretty mindful of that, considering you’re both still alive.>”
“<...That a compliment?>” Seemi asked, rightfully confused at the tone of their voice.
“<Of course it is.>” They replied flatly. “<I’m sure you two are plenty strong and capable. Not the discredit either, but it might be due to the information gap, and a helping hand or two.>”
“Do you really need to point that out?” I asked, seeing no need for it.
“<I don’t want them to get a false sense of security is all. You might be a step ahead of most, but they’ll catch up eventually. Even then, you have already been bested once, Seemi.>” They continue with their critique.
“<Do you really need to bring that up again? It was months back!>” She lightly complained. “<Also, that bastard has a ton of people on my back! It was unfair in all aspects!>”
“I’m surprised they even let you live after all of that.” She was actively fighting them off during that period when she went offline. Why would they keep her around when they don’t have anything like Wiina’s Convict Generator Collar is beyond me.
“<Who knows what the reasons are at this point, but it does work out in your favor.>” Edea said, dismissing the idea of us ever figuring it out. “<The great fortune of having that walking primordial chaos stumbling upon your home cannot be understated.>”
“<That’s… one way to call her.>” Jackman pointed out. It does feel like a rather hyperbolic statement, but it is anything but.
I know they have been in contact with Wiina herself a few times, so it is no wonder they have insight into her true nature. Obviously, there’s no reason to elaborate on that point, so I’ll keep my mouth shut.
“<Do any of you even have a good idea why she’s there?>” Seemi asked, still oblivious that she’s the reason Wiina was there.
“<Can’t say I have a good guess in mind.>” Edea said with a hint of sarcasm.
“How many times are you gonna ask that?” I replied, feigning ignorance like always. “You have asked us a few times, especially Idea and I. At this point you should go on a manhunt for her. If you want an answer that badly.”
“<All she really said to the public is that she was ‘passing by’, and anyone with a brain can tell that the reasoning is pure bullshit.>” Jackman said, and of course it is. Why would someone who lives in a completely different state go to another one as a part of her morning… afternoon walk?
She only went there at my request, which was very considerate of her to do so.
“Either that group did something to piss her off, or there’s something of value there. We sure as hell don’t know which is true, and if so what and why, and that just leads to more questions.” I said, echoing the theories that have been floating around about the incident. I guess it would lean more towards the latter, but even then, just barely. “What were we even talking about at first?”
“<About the general safety of our living conditions. Yours and mine are perfectly fine, while these two have to be more cautious.>” Edea recounted. “<It is a rather sensitive topic with much to talk about. We could really go on for hours if we needed to.>”
“<I’d rather this not go on any further. I have something to do tomorrow. Really wouldn’t like to stay up late.>” Seemi remarked.
“<Then you’re free to leave. I doubt we’ll run out of things to talk about by the time you came back.>” Jackman jokingly said.
“...Aren’t you a family man? Don’t you have jobs to do?” I pointed out. Out of all of us he’s the one with the least amount of time to fool around.
“<...Gonna hit right where it hurts, why don’t ya?>” He said with a small amount of bitterness. “<But tomorrow specifically I don’t have anything to do, so that doesn’t apply right now!>”
“<What about you two? Kara, I know you are attending that weird… highschool place, so don’t you need to go do your homework or something? And as for you, Idea… Still don’t know your deal, you’ve been real secretive.>” Seemi tried to deflect the question back at us.
“The homework is rather light. I’ve done all I need to already.” I answered quite simply so.
“<And it is best that you don’t push your luck. Just know that I have a lot of free time on me.>” Edea said, making it adamantly clear that they want to remain anonymous. These two already have a lot of suspicion about them, but don’t want to be too intrusive, so ultimately there’s nothing they can do aside from speculate and ask for crumbs.
*Beep*
Hm? A ping in the classroom group… Now what is this about…
“Oh. Sorry. My classmates are asking me to join the call. Have to leave early. See ya.” I said before getting off the call. I don’t have anything else to say anyway.
*Beep*
“What’s up?” I greeted as I joined the call with a few people online.
“<What’s good, Karra… So I wanna ask something I’ve been asking the other guys here.>” Useph is the one to speak up. Guess he’s the one organizing this. So what does he wanna say? “<You think this institute is trying to make child soldiers?>”
…Ex-fucking-scuse me?