The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Vernon was thrown aback at Nevil's unexpected apology. He didn't know how to react and for a couple of seconds, he was speechless. He did not exactly expect it to be this easy, he had braced himself for a fight so, the lack of it was a bit deflating.

"This is the part where you say something again, Vernon!" Dev spoke again and somehow Vernon found that his constant chipping in was somehow beginning to get on his nerves.

Even with Devant's words, he still didn't know exactly how to respond to Nevil's apology and now that his anger was almost gone, he felt deflated. "It is fine," he muttered, turning away as he tried to break through their blockage.

"Really?" Nevil cried, he wasn't about to make this easy for Vernon.

"Yeah," Vernon pouted and threw his head backward. "I am also sorry I called your mother crazy," he muttered, not looking anyone in the eye.

Nevil chuckled, "We know that isn't completely a lie but yeah, apology accepted."

"Same here," Vernon scratched his hair. His locks were up in a ponytail because they often got in his way every single time and since he tied them up, he just kept them that way.

"We are also sorry about ganging up on you but you seemed to be avoiding us," Dev said.

"I wasn't," Vernon threw back, feeling a bit annoyed and irritated. "A lot of things were just going on and it was tiring. It wasn't like I was avoiding you, I just wanted some rest. I barely do anything all day and now I have to train every day." He groaned.

They all chuckled, "I get what you mean," someone else started to say. "But don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough."

Vernon laughed and tried again, and this time around they let him through. He quickly made his way to his bed and threw himself on the small-sized bed. He was physically exhausted but he would feel his mental strain easing up.

It was a little weird and awkward to get things flowing between him and Nevil and most of the boys in the room but all the awkwardness and weirdness soon washed away. The only person that he was able to resume their relationship was Dev.

Vernon still kept to himself but this time around he didn't have to go out of his way to avoid them or to avoid talking to them. He once again resumed sitting at the table with them and this time they made sure to include him in the conversations. He tried as much to converse unless of course when he had absolutely nothing to say.

Things sort of changed but in a good way. He still kept to himself mostly but now it was not a deliberate action where he was trying to avoid the other rather it was because he wasn't used to rowdiness and talking so much.

Magic training didn't change, they still had the same routine every day, and try as he might Vernon couldn't help but see it as monotonous. There was one thing he was curious about though which was how big the academy was.

He was afraid of taking a tour of his own because Madame Rebecca got especially vicious when children were placed where they shouldn't be, she ended up giving them extra tasks and would even go as far as to reduce their ration of food for a day.

Everybody was terrified of her and he wasn't excluded, he avoided situations that brought him and her within close quarters. It didn't take long for him to figure out she wasn't his biggest fan especially after their first encounter.

Thankfully, he had not had any reason whatsoever to fall into her trap and the one time he did, Madame Jessica had come to his rescue. However, he could not help but be paranoid that she was on the lookout for him and it wasn't completely paranoia as he would occasionally see her stare strangely at him with evil eyes even though she stared at everyone that way, he couldn't help but feel like his was a little extra.

Though he didn't let this bother him and often went around his business without so much as thinking about it but occasionally he found himself thinking about it.

One of his other problems that also affected his daily thoughts was his magic; he couldn't help but think he was at a stalemate. Although one could say it was too early to decide, he felt stuck.

Their routine hasn't pretty much changed and Pam was still focused on them trying to grow a plant from scratch. A lot of them were cracking the seeds but nobody has done more than grow a tiny twig. Vernon wasn't in that category yet, he was still struggling with cracking the seed.

He had expected he would be stronger than this at this point but it was just about a week after he first used magic so, maybe he shouldn't expect too much too early but the gap between him and the others was far too much.

He often tried to get extra training but both Pam and Vivk were against it. They said it was better he started small since he just started using magic so he wouldn't wear himself out too early.

Pam said he had a rapid growth but he couldn't help but feel she was just trying to make him feel better. Life at the academy wasn't getting any better but at least it didn't completely suck and even though he wished he was at home with his mother, he wasn't handling her absence too badly.

He still didn't know a lot of things but he was finding out one at a time. He had not seen Vivk since when he showed the dwarf his powers but there wasn't necessarily any reason for him to pay the dwarf a visit, after all, he wasn't in a hurry to get all his questions answered.