Chapter 33: Cost of Friendship (Patreon)

The thief had Hugo where he wanted him, on the ground and fearing another fireball. Instead of pressing his advantage though, he just made sure Hugo stayed down. He walked over to the cash boxes, with the one hand always pointing at Hugo.

“Halt!” a voice yelled.

It was a shimmer corpswoman. She stood a dozen feet away from the pair, pointing a shimmer gun at the two of them.

Hugo smiled and said, “Thank the gods you are here. That’s the guy.” Hugo said and pointed at the thief.

This didn’t make the thief happy, and he threw out the dust and mumbled a word. The resulting fireball was bigger this time, almost four feet wide as it raced towards the shimmer corpsman. The officer fired his gun and a ring of shimmer shot forwards.

The shimmer ring moved at the speed of an arrow, dissolving the fireball. The shot continued to race forward, and hit the thief square on. The man fell to the ground, like his strings were cut.

A residual burst of shimmer hit Hugo too, making his leg and arm collapse. Hugo let out a cry and looked up to the corpswoman. The officer should have controlled her shots better.

“Damn harvester scum,” the corpswoman said and shot again.

To his horror, Hugo saw another shimmer ring coming his way. It hit him full on, stripping him of mana.

Agony.

Everything was pain. It felt like his soul had been torn from his body. He saw himself from outside his body, and desperately willed himself back towards it. The sensation felt like he was swimming through pure pain.

Slowly, he came back to his body. He lay there, unable to move. His every muscle was powerless. He couldn’t even blink. He lay there motionless for a long while. At some point, the officer came by and put faintly glowing cuffs on his wrists. Hugo didn’t resist, he couldn’t.

His soul core wasn’t empty, it was gone. Hugo couldn’t even feel where it should be in his sternum. He had heard of criminals permanently losing their access to their magic. This must be it.

When he could move again, Hugo started crying. He had lost everything. And it was all because he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He tried to get up, but the cuffs were tight and he was weak. He only managed to sit up.

A face appeared above him. It was the shimmer corpswoman. “Witnesses say you helped. They tell me you were the one to stop the guttersnipe. You are free to go,” she said and deftly removed the cuffs in a practiced motion.

As Hugo was pulled up and standing he said, “My domain...”

“Don’t complain. You will be fine. Your magic will come back in a few hours,” she said and waved her hand dismissively. “Besides, Blue Lion students are supposed to be tough, right?” She slapped him on the back and turned away to deal with the thief.

As she walked away, two feelings washed through Hugo. The realization that his soul core was back, and slowly filling. And a deep ache permeated his body, turning into a pounding headache.

He thanked the officer, if only to stay on her good side. He was actually furious with the jerk, wishing that he could give her a piece of his mind. She had shot him, and didn’t even apologize for her mistake. But would do almost anything not to get shot again. He stumbled away from the scene.

Somehow he found himself back into the market, having gotten turned around. The fish monger recognized him and gave him a jar of sprats for free. Hugo would have laughed if he could. All he wanted to do now was to find somewhere to sleep off the pain.

When he got back to his dorm room after the break, a few days had passed. The mood was just as awkward as it had been before. Hugo decided to do something about it.

“Here, I got you something,” Hugo said and handed him the sealed jar of smoked riga sprats.

Oskar’s face lit up when he realized what it was and said, “I love these things. My mom used to get them for me every year.” Then he seemed to remember the awkwardness and said, “Um, thanks. Did you want some too?”

“No thanks.”

Oskar opened the jar and ate a few of the tiny smoked fish. He got up and walked around for a bit. He seemed like he was working up to something.

“A lot of them never use their domain again after they graduate,” Oskar said while looking out the window.

“Huh?”

“The noble students. They aren’t here for the education. They don’t have to use their domain after they graduate, it is just a bonus. They are here to make connections, to form alliances,” Oskar said and sighed. He looked back to Hugo, “That’s why I do this. I need the connections. Noble houses decide who gets the contracts, who rises and who falls. I don’t actually like dealing drugs. But if I do, they will start to see me as a man who can get things. A man deserving of access to their world.”

“Isn’t there a better way?”

“I am open to suggestions. But really. Someone like me has to work hard to get noticed by the top nobles. Just having a sparkling personality won’t cut it for scions of one of the big families. If I can’t do this, they will just ignore me at best.”

Hugo nodded. He didn’t agree with Oskar, but he could see where he was coming from. And Hugo wanted to keep his friend. They agreed to disagree. He asked Oskar to keep the drugs out of the dorm room, but also promised not to lecture his roommate about them.

...

A few days later a gentle shaking woke Hugo up. He mumbled, “What is it?” as he sat up in bed.

The sun wasn’t up yet and Oskar was standing at his bed. He was already dressed for the day, or hadn’t gotten undressed from last night.

“Hey listen,” Oskar said with a worried expression, “I think you are right, I think someone squealed about the ravim. Someone told me they are going to search the rooms this morning. I put my stash under your bed. I need you to cover for me.”

“What? No. I don’t want to cover for you,” he said and laid back down. Hugo was still waking up and this was all too much.

“You have to. If my father found out about the ravim he would kill me. Like literally kill me. I am fearing for my life here, Hugo. You gotta cover for me.”

Hugo blinked, “Why did you risk your life selling ravim then? Oskar, you need to throw away the ravim and stop selling it. It’s your only chance.”

“If they don’t find the ravim, they will start questioning everyone. I sold to too many people, someone would rat on me, I know it,” Oskar said.

Hugo rubbed his temples, “Why do you even have your stash here? I thought you promised to hide it somewhere else.”

“Hugo! Say you will do it! I will owe you big time. I can get you a job after academy. I am super popular right now, I can get you any job you want. And trust me, you will need help from me if you ever want to work in Reval. Right now they just know you as the guy that peed his pants. You need me. Just take the punishment, whatever it is, and I will set you up with a job.”

Growling, Hugo got up. If he was going to have this conversation, he might as well get dressed first. Before he could get dressed, their door rattled. Hugo stared at it as it was unlocked and two people walked in. The building’s warden and someone in light mage robes walked into the room.

The fourth year student loudly pronounced, “We are here for a random inspection. Contraband was reported on campus and we are searching all of the rooms on this floor. Starting with yours. Please stand up against the wall and do not move.”

Hugo could see the panic in Oskar’s eyes. They started with Oskar’s bed and desk before moving over to Hugo’s part of the room.

Hidden underneath his mattress were four vials of something, presumably ravim. The light mage stared at the vials for a moment before pocketing them.

Hugo saw red. That bastard had already hidden the ravim under his bed before he tried to get him to take the fall. But Oskar was planning on having his roommate implicated whether or not Hugo played along.

The light mage said, “Who’s bed is this?”

“It’s mine, but I didn’t put those there, it must have been Oskar,” Hugo said angrily.

The two mages shook their heads at him and demanded that Hugo and Oskar both come with them to see the dean. They didn’t let Hugo and Oskar talk to each other on the trip over, they were just quickly escorted over.

The dean sat there with a stern look on his face. Three teachers were there too, Sages Hanna,  Rasmus, and Marta. It felt intimidating for Hugo to just stand in front of the four of them, let alone in these circumstances.

“Oskar, I have been apprised of the evidence against you, and it is damning. What do you have to say for yourself?” Dean Artjom said.

“I apologize to the faculty here. I was caught up in forces against my control. My roommate has a history of criminal involvement and I do not. When I was approached with the ravim, I felt like I had no choice. I feared for my life. I was forced into this, but I will do anything to make up for my mistake. Please forgive me and allow me to atone. Please,” Oskar said.

“He believes he is telling the truth,” the light mage student said from the corner of the room.

Hugo scowled, Oskar had filled his statements with half truths, but believed them enough to fool the light mage student. Why wasn’t the actual light sage here? Hugo was sure someone competent would see the truth of the matter.

“Hugo, tell me the truth, did you provide Oskar with the ravim?” the dean said and gestured to the four vials of ravim.

“No, I did not. I had nothing to do with the ravim, and I didn’t give it to Oskar. I wasn’t involved with this, it was all Oskar,” Hugo said firmly.

“That was mostly the truth,” the light student said.

Hugo was offended at first before he realized that he had overreached with his statement. He was peripherally involved. He had known about the ravim before today and he hadn’t told the administration. Now he knew that was a mistake.

The dean nodded and sent them back to wait in the hallway while he discussed it with the assembled teachers. Hugo stared daggers at Oskar while they waited. He was tempted to punch out his roommate, but the other two men in the room would stop

It didn’t take long before the dean called both of them back into the room.

“I am going to make this quick since we have physical evidence. Effective immediately you are both expelled. Ravim is a cancer to society and we need to cut it from our school. I am disgusted with both of you and I hope we never cross paths again. That is all.”

“Wait!” Hugo yelled, “I didn’t have anything to do with it. It was all Oskar!”

The dean looked at Hugo disdainfully. “Oskar had to get the drugs from somewhere, who else but you? Everyone knows that ravim is produced in the narrows.” Dean Artjom held up his hand to stop Hugo from interrupting and continued, “This board is not in law enforcement. The truth of the matter is not relevant. We must protect this school and its reputation. As it stands you are both a detriment to Blue Lion Academy and are permanently expelled.”

Oskar started crying right away. They had to drag him away.

Hugo stood there in shock. They didn’t trust him. Not only didn’t they trust him, they also didn’t care to really investigate the matter. Hugo was guilty by his association with Oskar and the fact that he grew up in the narrows.

They sent an upperclassman to escort Hugo to his room. He grabbed his bag and started stuffing it full of books and school supplies. They had told him that everything was his, he didn’t need to return anything, since they had already added it to his debt. He almost considered leaving his cryptozoology book since it was heavy and almost useless. But he grabbed it and stuffed it into his second bag. He owned all this stuff, he was going to keep it.

He had to laugh when he put his half finished suit of armor into the bag. He had expected the other slackers in the class to turn in unfinished work, not himself. Now he was leaving with a bunch of heavy metal that wasn’t even functional yet. He threw it in the bag anyway.

Once he had fully packed, he was escorted to the bursar. They had been expecting him and he was directed to a young man to discuss his debt to the school.

“It has been six and a half months, and your final total is two platinums, eighty seven gold, and thirteen copper. The minimum payment monthly is fifteen gold, payable on the first of every month. There will be no payment arrangements. If you have not paid by the fourth of the month, we will report you to the city’s bonded labor division,” he said sternly. This was the same young man that had been lackadaisical when he was entering the academy. Now that he was leaving, the young man was as fierce as a monster.

They practically shoved him out the academy walls, and closed the gate behind him. He stood there, still in shock. He couldn’t believe it. They had expelled him. It was all over.

Hugo briefly wondered about Oskar. That moron wouldn’t be able to get him a job now, even if he was wrong about his father killing him. Oskar was probably exaggerating about the danger to his life, but Hugo found himself not caring too much. His former roommate had made terrible choices, and just dragged Hugo down with him. Whatever consequences Oskar had, they were no longer his concern.

The overstuffed bags started groaning. With his enhanced strength, carrying everything he owned wasn’t hard, but the material the bags were made of had started protesting. It spurred him into action. He started heading towards his mother’s house.

It was dark by the time he got to her apartment, and it reminded him of when he got home from his trip to shimmer mountain. Both days had been incredibly difficult. At least today involved a lot less death.

As he explained the situation to his mother, her frown deepened into a sneer.

“Just cus I got a room available, doesn’t mean that you can have it,” she said once he had explained everything. “Whatever happened to ‘we are both adults,’ we have to learn to fend for ourselves?”

A wave of anger washed over Hugo before he let it pass him by. He reached into his bag and brought out an aluminum bottle that he hadn’t sold yet, “Here. Take this. It’s my best seller. I was selling them to the rich kids at the academy for a few silver each.”

She knocked it against the counter to test how strong it was, then unscrewed the cap and looked inside. She said, “I don’t know about any two silver for just one bottle, but it’s enough for you to stay a few days. I’ll let you know how much I get after I sell it.”

He just shook his head and slunk back to his room. It hadn’t been cleaned since the last time he was here. He didn’t care. He just collapsed facedown in bed and tried not to think.

Author note:

Bad things happen to Hugo sometimes. I know that sucks to read, particularly when the next chapter isn’t posted yet. I just ask you to trust me, this story is going somewhere, and things will get better for Hugo. Eventually.