The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Well, I don't know. I've seen a few tricks but never really dwelt on it. Mama was very adamant about keeping it a secret. How long have you been here?" Vernon asked, changing the subject. Thinking about his mother had brought the subject to mind.

"I'm since I was three," Devant muttered slowly.

"What?" Screamed Vernon. "Don't you miss home?"

Devant scratched his head, "Yes, I do but you can't exactly leave."

Vernon knew that but it didn't exactly stop him from being hopeful and thinking just maybe he'll get a chance to go home. "So, you've been here ever since not going anywhere?"

"Nope," Dev said matter of factly.

"So, we can never leave?" Vernon asked, twisting his fingers as he felt the cold hands of fear touch him.

"Yeah, you can but only if you are strong enough. I think the strongest five, get their wish granted or something besides it's fun here, you get to do whatever you want and eat whatever you want, the only downside is the constant training…" Devant ranted on but Vernon wasn't listening, he was still stuck on what Dev said earlier.

"Wait, what do you mean gets their wish granted?" Vernon asked but Dev wasn't beside him anymore, he had rushed to the counter to get served.

Vernon tried to join him around the same time so they could be sure by side but someone beat him to it and he had to wait to ask Dev any more questions.

He watched Dev go take a seat just as it was his turn to get served lunch. "Vernon," Florence called, she looked happy to see him.

"Good day, Florence. How are you?" He said as he stretched out his plate to get served.

"Very good, thank you." As she spoke she gave him a huge slab of chicken and Vernon knew she had taken a liking to him. He didn't mind her either, he thought she was quite jolly.

"Bye, Florence." He waved and went to take a seat.

When he joined the crew, everyone was staring at him with their mouths opened. He bent his head in shame, figuring out that Dev must have told them about the farting incident.

"You call her Florence?" Dev said, breaking the silence.

"I guess but this is the first time I am calling her that. I heard Madame Jessica call her Florence so I assumed that was her name." He explained as he looked around, wondering what he did wrong.

"Yeah that is her name but nobody ever calls her by her name especially as casually as you did except the adults," Dev replied, the look on their faces only managing to ease up.

"Really? Then what do you guys call her?" He asked, curious. He didn't feel like he did anything wrong and Florence didn't scold him for calling her by her first name. He hadn't thought about it when he said it out loud the first time but when she didn't complain, he figured she was fine with it.

"The counter lady." They announced with pride.

Vernon cringed, he couldn't comprehend how ‘The counter lady' sounded better than ‘Florence'. He could never call her that. "Have you ever tried to call her by her name?" He asked. "What?" He shouted when they all looked at him like he had just sprouted horns.

Nobody said anything but went on to eat their food. Vernon took the hint, they weren't going to call Florence by her name any time soon. He bowed his head and dug into the meal, he was surprised at how tasty it was.

They ate the rest of the lunch in partial silence. Only the occasional chit-chat here and there. A few people asked him questions about magic and he answered. His response caused them to look at him strangely and he wondered how weird he really was.

Nevil was the only one who hardly spoke or said anything to him. Just minded his business while he ate and Vernon did the same thing. He has no idea why Nevil was being this way to him but he had no intention of letting it bother him.

Vernon noticed that after eating, nobody moved a muscle. Children just stayed in their seats, chatting while adults went around cleaning up messes. This was quite different from dinner where they had all rushed out as soon as they were done eating.

They sat talking for a while and then the bell went off again. The response was automatic, everyone jumped up and tried to rush out. "No, running!" One of the adults screamed and everyone stilled and started walking but as soon as they went out of the cafeteria doors they fled down the pathway.

Vernon and Devant returned to the courtyard where he watched them training for almost two hours, took about thirty minutes break, and exercised for another hour before they finally settled in for the day.

Vernon hardly did anything except watch and he felt so exhausted, he didn't want to think of how the students felt but he couldn't deny that it was fun and maybe wouldn't be so tiring if he could actually do magic.

"I guess the wind isn't your forte," Levisus said while adjusting his glasses as usual.

"Forte?" Vernon frowned. "What's that?"

Levisus looked exasperated. "Nevermind, I guess we won't be seeing you tomorrow."

Vernon wanted to say something smart but decided against it. He just nodded and began to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Levisus called after him.

"My quarters," Vernon replied with a bewildered look on his face. Wasn't that where everyone was going? But he didn't say that out loud.

"No, you're not going to your quarters. Have you reported today's events to the captain?" Levisus asked with a snare like he couldn't believe Vernon would forget that important detail.

Vernon however was annoyed, "I didn't know that. Nobody told me I had to do that." How did they expect him to magically know he had to do that?

"Well, now you know." Levisus said and waving Vernon away he added, "Now, shoo."