Chapter 110 –
“Hey, Dagon! Time to take a nap!” Johan called to his ward.
He was slightly taken aback when he saw Xander’s group in a circle, all of whom were gently stroking Dagon’s spiky hair.
“What are you doing?” he asked suspiciously.
“Oh, Dagon is just so cute!” replied Xander with his usual silly grin.
“We were just praising how cute he is!” said Mordecai.
“Dagon is very cute!” agreed the dragon child.
“How silly!” Johan mumbled as he picked Dagon up from the bag of snacks he’d settled in. He came out carrying a big bag of chips and a half eaten candy bar. “Come now, Dagon, we’re gonna be busy for class, so sit down with Dean Alcione for now, okay?”
He then stopped in his tracks, and looked at the bag of snacks.
“Can he have the rest?” he asked Mordecai.
“Of course!” the medic replied, all smile. “It’s the least we could do to thank you!”
“what ever...” Johan mumbled in return. “Thanks.”
“So, since the partners get to chose what to duel on, I decided that we could simply try to heal as many of our classmates as we can,” said Mordecai as he explained to a mortified Benette why he chose to duel with him. “I’m sure that there would be a couple or so students careless enough to hurt themselves in our class today, so let’s have a healing duel instead.”
“A h-healing d-duel?” Benette asked uncertainly.
“That’s right,” Mordecai continued. “I propose the winner of our duel be decided by the number of people we could heal during our magic defense class today.”
“O-oh... I-if that is all, then, I guess it would be okay...” Benette said, sounding relieved. “I-I was just worried that you would want to d-duel with me like you did with Dorin-”
Benette suddenly covered his mouth.
“Like my duel with Dorin?” Mordecai asked him with a smile, his eyes closed and shaped like arches.
“W-well... you know... in our previous classes, you had sparred with Dorin twice...”
“You mean, three times,” Mordecai corrected him.
Benette looked up at Mordecai who still had the same unreadable smile on his face.
“T-three times?” he asked, slightly feeling hopeful.
“I believe we sparred in this place before, you even asked me once about it, the day after that class.”
“You remember?” Benette asked, wide eyed. “Y-you actually remember?!”
“It seems, we are the only two people who does,” Mordecai said, touching his lips to silent his companion. “I just got my memory back when I touched the dragon child.”
“Dragon...?” Benette looked confused, then brightened up. “Oh, right, Sebastian said Dagon’s very immune to magic, particularly enchantments,” he said in a soft whisper. “Dorin and Johan can’t remember anything as well, and Johan still thinks I dreamt about all of it, but Sebastian believes me,” he added, “he told us not to get too close to her, even if she’s Dorin’s best friend.”
Mordecai’s smiled widened.
“How about Dorin? What did he say about his ‘friend’?”
“We can’t actually tell Dorin,” Benette said, looking worried. “Sebastian said Dorin admires her too much, he might confront her about it and get all of us in trouble! He said we had to make Dorin see the truth on his own,” Benette went on, glad that he finally found someone to talk to about the events on that mysterious day.
“Point taken,” Mordecai said thoughtfully. “We would need to make him see the truth on his own.”
“So, what do you think we should do now?” asked Benette.
He watched as Mordecai walked towards two dueling students. One just fell on the ground, admitting defeat, and Mordecai was fast to heal the scratches on his arm.
“Oh! I almost forgot about our duel!” Benette said, mostly to himself.
“For now, I have a plan,” Mordecai continued as he walked back to where Benette stood. “I told Prince Xander to duel with Johan, hoping that their actions might trigger their memories. Johan is always with Dagon, after all, and my liege is always looking for his little dragon whenever we chance to meet in class.”
“That’s right, since you don’t come to our room as often as-”
There was a sharp crack. Benette suddenly rushed to the aid of a classmate who fell three feet backwards from her opponent who held an elemental shot gun.
The other students around stared as the fallen student kept still.
“Is she okay?!” the opponent asked as she went to Benette’s side.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a fresh wound,” Benette replied with a smile while a pool of blood seeped around the student’s body. Her eyes were still wide open, staring blankly at the darkening sky.
“Is there a problem here?” asked Dean Alcione who rushed at the scene.
“S-sir...” the girl’s opponent was starting to panic. “She told me to hit her with the elemental gun, she said her armor was impenetrable!”
“Don’t worry, I have medics at the ready...” the Dean reassured her, when the girl, surrounded by her own blood, blinked, and raised her head up.
“Woah...” she said, shaking her head. “That was some hit!”
She looked at her bloody chest and at the big hole that exposed her flawless brown skin underneath.
“I guess... my Armour worked...?” she asked, uncertain herself.
“Yes, it was just a flesh wound,” Benette assured her as he helped her up.
“Go to the medic’s tent and rest for a while,” the dean told the student.
The class were too relieved to notice the bloody hole on the back of her uniform.
“Hmm, very impressive,” Mordecai said beside his opponent. “That makes us tied at one-all.”
There was another bang and a shout of pain.
“Or not!” Mordecai exclaimed while rushing for the next patient.
Meanwhile, Johan has been feeling very strange as he fought with Xander.
“As expected of Prince Alexander! He’s such a very powerful fire mage!” cheered their classmates.
“He’s just what a true Ignacius is supposed to be.” cheered another.
Why does it feel like he has heard these taunts before?
He stepped out of the stone alcove he summoned to shield himself from Xander’s earth spike attack, but even that felt familiar.
“Did you hold back on me on purpose when we last...?” he cut his words short, certain that he had said them already.
He looked at Xander instead and saw the third prince looking confused as well.
“No... I was simply caught... unprepared...” he paused. “Haven’t we had this conversation before?” he asked instead.
“I was thinking the same thing, so your next move is...”
Johan looked at the ground he was standing on, sure enough, he felt the slight tremors and quickly leapt in the air, as the ground he stood on turned to quicksand.
“Quagmire!” the prince shouted.
Several students were caught in the thick mud instead as the area surrounding them turned into a bog.
Johan landed on solid bedrock and cracked the ground with his fist, aiming at Xander.
“Magma whip!” Xander called out.
But It solidified before it got near Johan, falling on the ground and breaking up into fine sand.
“Magma whi-“
“Still haven’t learned your lesson?” Johan said with a grin as the whip disappeared before it could form.
Xander was surprised to see that he was merely a couple of feet away from him.
“You know, you’re doing the same thing as... as...” Johan scratched his lengthening red hair. “When did we have this conversation again?”
“Magma whip!” Xander yelled again.
“I told you, stop telling me your mo-”
Johan was about to counter the whip when he noticed that he had sunk a foot of quagmire.
“I guess you remembered your lesson,” he told the prince with a grin.
“I guess a battle cry really is enough,” Xander grinned back as he gave a loud cry and sent a flaming fist towards Johan’s jaw.
“Almost!” Johan replied, grabbing his fist and pulling him to the side, at the same time, tapping him hard on the nape.
The prince’s eyes closed as he fell unconscious towards the ground.