Free and Unfettered 15 Oh, I'm Going Too

She was extremely dissatisfied.

She wanted more. She felt like she had reached a bottleneck in her understanding of magic. So far, she could combine two different types of elements, but when she tried to combine more than that, she failed. Nine ran through the various theories in her head again, trying to see where could be improved. She already knew the parts that werent working out, but for some reason she was unable to puzzle out a solution. There had to be something she was missing.

Nine got up and tossed a book to Shade, having finally gotten around to completing the magic manual for him.

Shade caught the manual with curious eyes, his eyes dropping to the cover. It was blank, with no name on it. Puzzled, he glanced at his master, before having a flash of enlightenment. He'd seen him writing in a couple of books the past few days. Was this written specially for him? He felt a thrill rush through him at the thought as his face flushed with excitement.

Flipping through the manual, Shade's eyes brightened as he stared at his master with unabashed admiration and gratitude. Nine subtly moved her gaze away from him as she resisted the urge to cough.

"You stay here and start practicing. I'll be going out for awhile."

Shade wanted to protest, but wasn't able to go against his master's orders when he had already given them. But he would comply, mainly because he knew the crown prince was much stronger than him, and stronger than anyone in this world. His master's magic was oppressive and dominating, but it was also dignified and just as beautiful. It felt like a force of nature, something that couldn't be fought against. Glorious but devastating at the same time.

°•°•°•🐢...

Nine unceremoniously entered her elder brother's residence, avoiding all his guards and servants without any trouble. Sometimes she would enter the proper way, and sometimes she wouldn't, depending on her mood. She subtly spread out her magic and located him.

She silently teleported behind him, not a ripple of magic escaping from her. Not even the most magic sensitive person would have been able to locate her teleportation.

She found Deltan with his arms crossed, muttering to himself. He dressed up with his normal white cape and red outfit, though his clothes always got wrecked whenever Nine paid him a visit. He was wearing the same outfit as usual, and Nine wondered if he just kept a plethora of the exact same outfit, or if that particular outfit had some sort of repairing feature to it.

"-no, if I do that then that bastard will just find some other way to torment me. I have to get rid of that bastard somehow," he said, clicking his tongue. "Thankfully, I start school soon so I still have some time."

Nine raised an eyebrow. Her stupid elder brother was delusional and still plotting against her. She knew he went through cycles of obediently listening to her then going back to plotting, so she kept her visiting schedule random. The cycle was extremely amusing to her. Also, she just felt like he was extremely silly and wasn't cut out for this villain act at all. You'd think by now he would have stopped muttering his 'evil' plans out loud. It was almost as if he wanted to be found out.

"Eldest Imperial Brother, you're starting school soon?" Nine said, enjoying the way he leapt a foot in the air.

Deltan's heart just about exploded in his chest when he heard his younger brother's cold voice behind him. Oh god, how much had he heard?! Since when had he been standing there?! He felt like his heart was trying to escape out of his throat as he stuttered out a reply.

"O-oh, you're here, Fourth Imperial Brother. Haha, you didn't tell me you were coming today," he said. He felt like the blood had all rushed to his head, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. He prayed so hard his younger brother hadn't heard anything.

Of course, Nine wasn't so nice as to let a potential opportunity to bully him go. "Who's the bastard you're talking about? Do you need me to help you teach him a lesson?"

Deltan was beating himself up inside. Ahh, why! Why did he talk out loud to himself?! He wanted to go back five minutes in time to slap himself for being an idiot. "Haha, of course not. I'm not so weak that I need your help to take care of my problems."

"Don't worry, eldest brother. I won't let anyone bully you."

Deltan heard Nine's words and immediately felt like he was crying tears of blood. The one bullying him was himself, okay?!

Deltan struggled to put a smile on his face and remain unaffected. "Then, I'm counting on you, Crown Prince."

Nine nodded with satisfaction, her eyes gleaming. Deltan didn't notice anything in his nervousness.

"So you're starting school soon?"

Deltan felt like he was bleeding every time Nine opened his mouth. Ah, couldn't they just be nice and not hurt each other?! When had he ever looked forward to starting school, if it wasn't for avoiding Nine?! Thankfully, he would soon be too busy with school and would have a legitimate reason to turn him away.

"Yeah, I'm starting school for Fourth Circle Magic," he said somewhat proudly. Only people who had already completed the previous course as well as achieved Third Circle Magic was allowed to attend. As such, the ages that attended the school was always varied. There was no doubt that Deltan was the youngest one in his class. Then, he remembered how his younger brother just casually threw around Sixth Tier magic that was even chantless and original no less, deflating his ego instantly.

Oh, Nine drawled in her mind. If he really was going to attend school then the times where she could pop over and torment him would be significantly lowered.

Something had to be done. Hmm, she was experiencing somewhat of a bottleneck now anyhow, so maybe a new environment would help her lower that threshold and give her new perspectives.

She instantly made up her mind.

"I'm going to school too."

Deltan felt like his brain was crashing. No! Didn't this mean that Nine was free to come over and torment him everyday?! Suddenly, he felt less enthused than ever about going to classes. He felt like coughing blood. Why did he feel like his younger brother was trying to follow him around?! He didn't need this service.

If Emperor Destan knew that a few lines from Deltan had changed Nine's mind, he would probably rush over to throttle Deltan, berating him on why he didn't say anything to her in the first place. He had tried for so many months to convince her to go to no avail, but suddenly she was going to school! He should have taken care of his younger brother!

Chapter end