Mined Games chapter 25 (Patreon)

The next day found me up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to take on the world. Well…no, it found me surly and glaring at everyone. But I WAS ready to take on the world, unless the world gave me space to wake up.

Alec snickered at me as he watched me drag myself out of bed. “You look like a wet racoon. Spitting and slavering with dark circles around your eyes. I wouldn’t be shocked if someone from your combat magic class takes a shot at you thinking you’re a crystal beast.”

I stuck my middle finger up at him, but otherwise didn’t dignify his nonsense with a response, ignoring his annoying snickers as I pulled on my clothes. I tugged on the new outfit I’d bought for this, when I had the idea, a thick pair of mana weave pants and a padded jacket. I tested my range of motion, confirming it was decent, and then buckled on one of my knives.

There was a knock on my door, and I threw it open to find my only school friend waiting outside, looking antsy. Well, looking stoic. Cece wasn’t really expressive, but I’d been learning to pick up her tells. When she was bored or impatient she drummed her fingers against her thigh rapidly like she was doing now.

“Why aren’t you on the way to class yet?” She demanded. “We’re going to be late, and then the others will single us out, and then they’ll gang up on us and-” I held up a hand cutting her off as I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Calm down, damn.” I said with a laugh. “We’ve got thirty minutes to get to class, and it doesn’t take nearly that long to walk there. You don’t need to be nervous about this. You’re a kickass fire mage, this will be a breeze for you.”

She blew out a breath, seeming to deflate before my very eyes. The thick leathers she was wearing were crystal beast hide, and substantially more expensive than my own clothes, even without the obvious expert tailoring that had created the form fitting dark red outfit. It was clear from the expensive and durable light armor that she was taking this extremely seriously.

“I just…” She shrugged. “I’m worried. I don’t have much of a taste for combat casting. I prefer magical theory. I’ve been enjoying learning to craft because it’s a challenge and lets me explore new knowledge, but fighting…I just don’t think I’m suited for it.”

“Well, too bad.” I said, not unkindly. “The world doesn’t care what you’re suited for. People can be assholes. If you aren’t able to prevent them from hurting you then you’ll be pretty much screwed. So I’m dragging you along to learn with me, because you’re my friend, and I care about you, and knowing how to protect yourself isn’t something I can imagine you regretting.”

She chewed her lip for a second, then nodded. “You’re right. Come on then, let’s get this over with.” She turned and stalked off in the direction of the combat classes, and I smiled at her demeanor. Nodding my goodbyes to Alec I shut the door and jogged after her, amazed someone so short could make such good time.

She made for quite the intimidating picture too, with her dark red leather armor, blood red hair and piercing emerald eyes. She was every inch the intimidating fire mage. Luckily for me I had much longer legs, so I was able to keep up and we arrived at the classroom with her with time to spare.

When we got there, I saw more than a few familiar faces. First was Annika, who waved cheerfully, seeming surprised to see Cecily and I together. I also noticed Duval, though he was much less effusive in his greeting. Grace was there, to my surprise. I’d have expected the daughter of a Baron to be under strict guard.

Two of the students though, I was much less happy to see. Dalton Rouder and Terrence Halford. Seeing the asshole that had been giving me a hard time and trying to drive off my friends with Terry the Terror wasn’t exactly comfortable. When they spotted me though, to my surprise, Dalton averted his gaze quickly, seemingly terrified.

I didn’t know what the hell that was about, but I suspected dad had made good on his promise to talk to the Rouder clan. Sadly, Terry wasn’t aware of what I was, he was just an asshole, and seeing his buddy cowed made him…curious.

The large, thuggish blonde approached me while we were still waiting for class to start. Slamming his hands down on the table to try to startle me. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Lucky? What are you doing here, luck box? Combat magic is for actual mages, not pathetic nobodies who literally trip and fall into power.”

“Terry.” I said with a sigh. “You sure you have the mental space to be worrying about me before class? Most trolls can only focus on one thing at a time, right?”

His eyes widened, nostrils flaring with rage as he leaned in close, his extremely rancid breath blowing hot in my face. I kept from flinching, but not by much. Dear gods, the smell. “You want to say that shit again cripple? Or maybe you think your eye candy will protect you.” He leered at Cecily. “It’s good to know she’s a slut like her cousin though, be a waste not to be with a body like tha-”

He was cut off by a thump and his face turned red as he stared down at his hand. Which…strangely, seemed to have a knife in it. Slipping a hand under the table I snagged another knife from my inventory and placed it against his throat with a pleasant smile. “I’m sorry Terry. I couldn’t hear you just now. Would you care to repeat what you just said?”

Terry was panting, short sharp gasps of pain as he gaped at me fearfully. I suspect he didn’t think I’d be willing to hurt him. He really shouldn’t have been mouthing off about my friend. I didn’t have many of them, and I wasn’t letting Terrance fucking Halford make one of them uncomfortable.

“Y-you can’t.” He gritted out. “You can’t fucking STAB me! I’m a Halford, I’ll have you fucking killed for this, I’ll-” He stopped again I pressed my VERY sharp knife hard enough against his throat for a bead of blood to drip free.

“See, this is why I hate dealing with stupid people.” I said conversationally. “First off, threatening someone with a knife to your throat is a BAD idea. Secondly, we both know that you won’t say shit about this. You’ll go buy a healing potion and keep your mouth shut, because if someone in your family finds out you got bullied by a…cripple. You’ll be a laughingstock.” I paused. “Well, more than you already are.”

I could barely believe what I was doing. It was like someone else was moving my body for me. Stabbing him wasn’t a huge deal, people could heal wounds like that without much trouble, threatening him wasn’t a problem because of my dad, which was good information to have now but…

This wasn’t me. I didn’t stab people in the hand, or hold a knife to their throat. I didn’t stand up to Terry when he picked a fight. But then, he’d never tried to mess with me with Tara around, never talked to her with that casual cruelty he’d just aimed at Cece.

I’d spent most of my life on the receiving end of cruelty like that. Being talked down to because I was born different. I wouldn’t let my friend be a recipient of that kind of abuse from assholes like Terry. Not ever. And he’d been talking badly about Rala too. Rala who was always nice to me even when I was nobody. Who had given me the mine that changed my life.

There was a throat clearing and I looked up to find a short, pretty woman with close cropped pink and blue hair looking at me with interest. “Traditionally, students wait until at least their third class to threaten to murder other students.” Despite the harsh words, her lips were quirking up at the corners.

I was guessing she’d heard him running his mouth and approved about as much as I did. I smiled cheerfully and yanked the knife from the table, earning a keening whine from Terry as he tried not to scream. I wiped the bloody knife on his shirt and then resheathed it. “Sorry about that. Terry here was just helping me test the edge on my blades. Still getting the hang of sharpening them.”

Her quirking lips turned up in a full fledged grin. “Really? How generous of him.” She turned her cool blue eyes on Terry. “Is that the truth Mr. Halford? Were you…helping him test the edge on his blades?” She sounded like she was fighting not to laugh.

The big blonde shook slightly, looking at me with a complicated mix of hate and fear. “Y-yes. That’s right. Just a bit of…testing. Between friends.” His teeth were gritted and he was holding his injured hand against his side.

“Well, maybe you should do your testing on your own time.” She said pitilessly. “And not in my class. Take your seat, and stop bleeding all over my floor.”

She turned and strolled up to the front of the class, and I turned to Cecily. “Hey, are you alright?” I asked worriedly. “I’m sorry I didn’t shut him up faster but I-” I was cut off by a warm feeling of pressure as she threw her arms around me and squeezed. I just kind of…froze. My mind went blank as she squeezed me tightly.

“Thank you.” She murmured into my ear. “Nobody but Riley has ever stood up for me like that. You didn’t have to though, nobody cares what Halford thinks.”

I nodded. “I don’t care what he thinks. But I care what he says to you. Nobody talks bad about my friends in front of me.” She gave me a shy smile that kind of blew me away. I’d seen her smile before, but this one was so sincere and full of gratitude that it was almost blinding.

“That’s actually really sweet.” Said a happy voice from off to one side of us. Annika had slipped into the seat at the end of our table. “I was going to check on your two. Terry isn’t exactly the most friendly person.” She looked as Cecily sympathetically. “Seriously though, ignore that moron. I doubt he can lace his boots in the morning without help.”

Cece giggled at that, a quiet giggle, but a giggle nonetheless. “He probably has to hire someone to help out. Thanks for checking up on me Annika. You’re always so kind to everyone.”

Annika shrugged, teeth flashing in a wide smile. “I’m just nice to people. It’s not that hard. Better to have more friends than enemies, you know?” She scratched the back of her head. “Plus since I’m not local to the kingdom I have to make allies where I can. An exchange program across the border isn’t exactly the most popular decision the king has ever made.”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “Well, you definitely have friends here. My best friend’s dad was from Rallek, and I don’t really believe in all the inter-kingdom feuding. I say you’re more than welcome.” Rallek, our neighboring kingdom and one of the seven human kingdoms that made up the First Human Empire, was nominally our enemy, but I thought that kind of thing was stupid and pointless. We hadn’t had an actual war with them for years.

Annika’s smile got brighter. “I appreciate that Caleb. More than you know. Now, I think we need to listen to Professor Teresa. I don’t intend to ignore anyone who lets students get stabbed and doesn’t even send them to the infirmary.” We all laughed at that and turned our attention to the pink and blue haired teacher as she stepped up in front of the class and cleared her throat. And that was how my first lesson in combat magic began