Chapter 33: Departure?
M–mom, W–what are you doing here?" Laura asked, averting her gaze from her mother’s knowing eyes.
Ignoring the question, Castilla turned her head calmly and stared at the sleeping man curled up on the bed.
"I’m assuming he’s the one responsible for your sorry state when I met you last time?"
Following her mother’s gaze, Laura answered flusteredly, "Y–yeah."
Staring at her daughter’s starry expression, Castilla sighed. "You know that nothing can happen between you two, right?"
Laura’s expression fell, and the excitement in her eyes faded. She had been denying that fact as vehemently as possible, but now she couldn’t, since it was placed right in front of her.
".....I know," she muttered.
Castilla stared at her daughter, who now had slumped shoulders and stared at the floor with a lost expression.
’I’ve never seen her like this before’, she thought.
Focusing back on the sleeping man, Castilla thought, Who is this man?
’To make my little girl have such a strong connection to him, he must be really special.’
Unable to contain her curiosity, Castilla called out to her dazed daughter by her real name, "Yamira."
Laura’s eyes widened in surprise as she faced her mother, who had a serious expression.
"Who is this man?" she asked, manifesting an emerald chair and sitting on it calmly.
Laura answered with anxiety hidden in her voice, "He’s just my incarnation, nothing more, I promise."
"Your left eyebrow twitches anytime you lie," Castilla responded deadpan.
With a wry smile, Laura answered, "I’m not lying?"
It sounded more like a question than a statement, and Laura knew she had no choice but to come clean. "I don’t know, okay?"
Castilla placed her hand on her forehead and sighed heavily. "I’m not kidding, Yamira."
Laura fiddled with her fingers for a while before replying meekly, "I’m serious. I mean, I asked him before and..."
Castilla leaned forward calmly, narrowing her eyes. "And what did he say?"
The sleeping boy’s body shivered unnoticeably as Castilla’s eerily calm voice traveled through his ears.
Laura hesitated for a moment before responding, "He said we were two broken people who were patching each other up."
Castilla fell silent momentarily, her gaze alternating between the lightly snoring man and her daughter, who was smiling foolishly.
"He thinks you’re broken, huh?" Castilla’s voice carried a heavy sense of melancholy.
Laura immediately realized and hurriedly waved her hands in denial. "It’s not like that! He just means that we’ve shared a lot of trauma, and we somehow patched ourselves... I’m making it worse, aren’t I?"
A weak smile formed on Castilla’s face as she leaned back in the chair. "It’s not your fault."
"It’s not yours, either," Laura replied, walking toward Castilla slowly.
"It was my responsibility to protect you and your sisters, but I failed, so I’m stuck with that guilt," Castilla said, gazing into the distance.
"You couldn’t have known. How much longer are you going to blame yourself?" Laura whispered as she knelt and held her mother’s hands tightly.
Castilla smiled warmly and patted her daughter’s head while occasionally staring at the back of the man in question. After a while, she stared at Clark with a deadpan expression. "I know you’re awake."
Clark’s body jolted lightly before slowly sitting up with a wry smile.
"H–hello, miss," he stammered.
"You’ve been listening for quite a while now, haven’t you?" she added, staring at the sweating Clark.
"J–just after Laura screamed," he responded nervously.
"H–hey! I didn’t scream!" Laura defended herself quickly as she stood up and pointed at the innocent Clark.
"I’m sure you weren’t even sleeping this whole time!" Castilla accused.
"How dare you make fun of a man’s beauty sleep?!" Clark retorted with a wronged expression.
"Ha! What beauty sleep? You snore like a dying pig!" Laura jabbed.
"I do not!" Clark denied vehemently.
"You do! I barely sleep at night!"
"Lies! You’re the one who throws your leg around like it’s not part of your body and nearly snaps my head off with your inhuman grip!" Clark shot back.
"That is not true! I’m always aware of my posture even when I sleep!" Laura denied with rolled eyes.
"Oh yeah? Well, I guess your posture isn’t as perfect as you think it is!" he rebutted.
Ahem.
Laura was ready to fire back, but the sound of her amused mother caused her to hold back.
"I see you two get along well," Castilla said with a smile. "You two even share beds too. Interesting."
A look of embarrassment showed on their faces as they tried to hide.
A light chuckle escaped Castilla’s mouth as she addressed Clark. "I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Castilla Ynirven, and this is my daughter, Yamira Ynirven—but you probably know her as Laura."
Clark’s eyes widened slightly as he noticed the striking resemblances and the crown resting on Castilla’s head.
Bowing awkwardly, he greeted, "A pleasure to meet you, your majesty."
"Pfft..." A stifle of laughter escaped Laura.
Glaring at Laura, who was trying hard to hold back her laughter, Clark felt a sudden urge to punch her.
"Don’t worry about the formalities. A friend of my daughter is a friend of mine," Castilla said amusedly.
Sticking out his tongue at Laura, Clark straightened up and sat at the edge of the bed with his hands on his lap.
"Wimp," Laura whispered amusedly.
A thick vein bulged on Clark’s head as he struggled to maintain a smile. ’Just you wait till she leaves!’. He thought telepathically.
"Relax, I’m not here to cause you trouble or anything of the sort," Castilla eased.
Clark let out a sigh of relief as his shoulders visibly loosened.
"But I do have a question," she continued, placing her hand under her chin with a curious expression.
Clark’s head cocked in confusion as he waited for her to continue.
"Two questions actually—how dangerous was the situation that caused my daughter to use her divinity to such an extent? And how deep of a bond do you two share for her to even consider doing so?" she asked.
Clark’s thoughts raced as he formulated a response while ignoring Laura’s signals.
"Well, for the first question, it’s pretty complicated, but let’s just say I had no choice but to fight someone way stronger than me. As for the second question... our bond is... uh... pretty deep?" he replied.
Castilla contemplated for a while. "Define ’deep’."
Both Clark and Laura were surprised; they hadn’t expected her to delve further.
Scratching his cheek and staring at the ceiling, Clark answered, "Uh... like we share an emotional bond that stems from our experiences; amongst other things."
Laura, standing behind her mother’s chair, had a secretly happy smile before saving Clark from another question. "Mom, you didn’t tell us why exactly you were here."
Castilla turned to face her daughter. "I was planning on taking you back to the kingdom—since you’d have nothing more to do—but seeing you happy is every mother’s dream. As far as said happiness doesn’t cause you grief later on, I’m not going to stand in your way."
Before Laura could respond, Clark interjected. "But what about the countdown on my system?"
"What about it?" Castilla asked with a knowing smile.
"I mean, isn’t Laura—Yamira—supposed to leave by tomorrow?" he asked dreadfully.
Castilla fell silent before replying, "That can be fixed, but it’ll take some time to arrange, and I’ll need to take Laura with me."
"So... at the end of the day, she still goes back?" Clark asked hesitantly.
"For a much shorter time, yes."
Laura said nothing, her expression darkening, tears threatening to spill from her glassy red eyes.
A heavy silence descended as everyone processed the information... except Laura, of course.
"I guess that’s good news, no?" Clark broke the silence, standing slowly and walking to the table by the window.
"We only have 21 hours and counting," he said with a sad smile as the wind blew his hair backward.
Laura stared at Clark’s back in silence, and Castilla maintained her unreadable expression.
"C’mon! There’s no need for all this telenovela sad stuff. How about you use this opportunity to tell me about yourself, that is, if your mom doesn’t mind?" Clark suggested with a forced smile.
"As far as it isn’t anything classified, it’s fine by me," Castilla agreed.
"Great!"
"Great!"
They exclaimed together, staring at each other almost simultaneously.
Before awkwardness could grow, Castilla stood up from her seat—which disappeared as she rose—and a portal opened.
"I’ll leave you two alone; I have other things to do," she said with a smile.
"Okay! I’ll assist as much as I can when I get there so you can focus on what’s important!" Laura answered.
"And what’s important?" Castilla asked amusedly, one foot in the portal.
"Finding a way to bring me back when the time runs out, obviously!" Laura replied immediately.
Faking a wronged expression, Castilla asked, "You’re willing to abandon your family for him?"
A small laugh escaped Laura as she and Clark bid her mother goodbye.
Once again left in silence, Laura rested on the window next to Clark and wanted to speak, but noticed a white envelope from the corner of her eye.
Picking it up and examining it, she asked, "Isn’t this the mail you received a few weeks ago?"
Clark took the mail from her hands, narrowed his eyes, and sat on the bed with her, tearing it open and reading aloud with a confused expression.
Volen Academy
Where Knowledge Shapes Destiny
To: Mr. Clark Thompson,
Word of your talent as a battle mage has reached us, carried by one who deems your gift too great to waste. For this reason, you have been awarded a full scholarship at Volen Academy.
Your tuition, housing, and access to restricted training grounds will be provided in full. This offer is valid until the seventeenth day of the month of Seniel. We urge you to be present during the admission process or another will claim what has been offered to you.
In wisdom,
Archmage Caldris Veylor"
Clark’s POV:
’The fuck is this?’. He thought.
’How did the academy get wind of me being a battle mage when I don’t even know about them?’
".....Kurt is responsible for this, isn’t he?"
"I guess you’re not as dumb as I thought," Laura nodded.
Throwing a pillow on her face, Clark continued, "But why would they believe him, and even offer me a scholarship without any evaluation?".
Laura shrugged. "Maybe because his disciple is there?"
"But that’s all the more reason they shouldn’t trust him! He could introduce a normal mage with above-average close-combat skills as a battle mage just to get his disciple back. They would have no way of knowing until the end. Then they could take back his disciple or pursue legal action—if that even exists here. But this doesn’t add up," Clark elaborated.
Giving it more thought, he eventually gave up. "Whatever. It’s not like I’m going to accept it anyway."
"Why not?" Laura asked.
Folding the letter and placing it in his back pocket, Clark explained, "I’ve got a tournament coming up, and the deadline is a few months before the tournament. Obviously, I can’t make it to the admission process—not that I even know where it is—and I have no clue how the school works or any other technicalities. There’s no way I’m going to a school I know nothing about."
Laura nodded. "Plus, who likes school anyway?"
"Right?," Clark agreed.
Bursting into laughter for a while, he asked, "So... what are you going to do when you, y’know, go back home?"
Laura momentarily turned silent before answering, "What are you gonna do?"
Clark was a bit taken aback by the switch. "Probably learn a few more techniques, buy some clothes, practice my scythe... I... don’t... really... can’t do this."
He began to choke on his words as tears streamed down his face, the reality he’d been avoiding crashing down.
It looked like Laura didn’t have it any different; her tears fell freely too.
Amidst sobs, Laura called out, "Clark."
"Yes?" he answered, cleaning the tears still falling.
"You... asked what we were before, under the tree?"
He nodded.
"Well, here’s what I think. Clark, you’re one of the most important people in my life. I care about you more than I’d like to admit. You never gave up on me despite how much trouble I caused, and you relied on and trusted me without reservations. We probably won’t be able to properly explore our relationship due to our difference in worlds, but always know that... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!"