Chapter 1 part 4

12th of July, 0721 AED, Field Charlie, Mage Sector, Military Training School, Royal Capital Zarens

“—you are the biggest disaster of a mage, I’ve ever seen in my whole 7 years of teaching.”

HOORAAYYY!!! Should I say, MISSION COMPLETE?

“SLEEPING in the middle of magic artillery barrage, painfully LOW grades one would suppose the lessons merely pass from one ear to another, and a whole week of learning flight magic with SLOW PROGRESS, instigating 37 INJURIES upon your fellow students—24 light injuries, 11 heavy injuries, and 2 still in bed, tended by healers.”

I guess there were some terrible after-effects… but I could make up for them…

“If they saw your record, in doubt, others would be forced to consider you might be doing this on purpose,” Instructor Grieve’s serious gaze was set upon my school record. Beneath the table, my palms started sweating profusely and I gulped from anxiety.

—B-BUSTED?!

“…But, you are young. It is understandable. You have not experienced real life—much as you have not experienced real war.” He sighs as he lights off a cigarette.

“Do you not blame the world? Forcing its young to take part upon their forefathers’ long ancient dispute—to do such thing, we appear to have abandoned the future,” his eyes were distant; a trace of sorrow lingers on them.

Then with a brief sigh, he diverts his gaze back to me. “Student, don’t screw this up. A much dangerous path lurks once you go downhill.”

—Wait. C-could you please elaborate that?

“Those who flunk out of training school either gets earlier assignment to the war as mage observer—in other words, cannon fodder—or becomes mana battery,” he states my likely grim future, seemingly after seeing my puzzled expression.

Oi. I’ve never heard of that!

“…Mana battery, sir?”

“Those that supply mana to certain large magic weapons—ancient magic artillery, for example. It forcefully drains you of your mana. A lot has suffered from excruciating mana loss. Basically, this is done only to prisoners but as you have done a lot of damage to your fellow trainees, you’re that much of a calamity that you might be considered as one.”

Y-you should’ve told us that from the beginning! I DON’T WANT TO LIVE THE REST OF MY LIFE IN PRISON!

The mere thought of the prison room haunts me, giving me unexplainable cold shivers out of extreme horror. I swallow back the erupting hurl coming from my churning stomach.

Instructor Grieve saw my trembling, terrified state and immediately reassured me that the situation is not that unrecoverable and hopeless. It was a mandatory enlistment and I have not reached adulthood—he says I could still be pardoned. What I had to do was show more progress; show that I am better of use as a scout mage, and catch up to the others.

—If only I could just do that…

Then again, war is as much horror as prison—manageable as a scout mage, but still dreadful.

With this, I had steeled my resolve and came upon a decision. I was given two choices: to continue to be the lowest of the low, disaster of a student or to start taking things seriously as a military mage trainee. Both have the endpoint of either going to war or going to prison—two things I hate the most.

—Guess I’m going to have to flee training school, after all.

Chapter 1 end.

to be continued...