Chương 31: Chapter 30: The Agreement

++My introduction into what I shall now call 'adult politics' was actually rather manageable, though the nature of those politics themselves meant that it was still far from a pleasant experience. ++ - From the writings of Isabel Vornholt, 'The Great Lich'. 1, 891 A. E After the incident with the dungeon, my time in the Winzorth Institute became significantly less eventful. For a while, at least.

The Grandmaster did as intended and worked on the memories of those other students, and with myself and Agrian corroborating his cover story it was all swept under the rug. It made me wonder how many other incidents may have gone unnoticed here. Illusion magic was not the only way to alter memories, though, and I had gotten used to the creeping paranoia of knowing that reality may not be what I thought it was thousands of years ago. If anything, the real concern was that history was not what it seemed.

And I already knew that to be true. It was part of why I had the plans I did. Myself and Agrian continued our studies, and my brother seemed to be doing better now than he had been before. Happier. Over two years passed in the Winzorth institute as we continued to learn more and more about the arcane.

I made leaps and bounds of progress in illusion and evocation magic, though in the latter field I was not able to study any truly interesting or powerful effects because of 'safety concerns' —apparently there had been incidents in the Winzorth Institute of especially stupid students accidentally disfiguring, amputating or eviscerating themselves while improperly using the actually professional-grade forms of magic in that field.

As far as I was concerned, this was a perfectly acceptable result that would serve to increase the average intelligence of the magician class by the generation. The Institute disagreed however, so I would have to wait. A lot had changed in the two and a half years since the dungeon incident. Most notably, my body did a lot more growing. At just over eleven, I was now a sizable fraction of the size of an adult—an adult woman, at least.

I had still been far taller in my previous life, but compared to the shrunken state I had entered this world in, I felt like a growing giant. My magic was gaining even more quickly. I could muster just over four thousand vis at maximum output, which meant that I was above average even by the standards of an adult magician.

I still fell far behind the rare geniuses who gained positions teaching in the Winzorth Institute, naturally, and was even weaker than many of the older students, but for the first time in my new life I knew that I was truly strong. It would not be hard to find a magician greater than me by searching, but it would not be hard to avoid them either. And then there was Agrian. After the dungeon, my brother and I grew closer.

It felt strange, this relationship, because I had never actually had one like it, and was not certain of how to proceed. He was fond of me and open in ways that a mere familiar could not be with their master, and it certainly was not a partnership of convenience. This, I took it, was what he had talked about regarding 'family'. I was still undecided on it. And still wary, I had already experienced what it was like when this bond turned sour.

The last time, it had ended with me surrounded by scavenger dogs and nursing a dozen broken bones. Still, I did need Agrian, and I found myself wanting the boy to be happy if he could be. He deserved that much, at least, for helping me.

My life at the Institute had fallen into a sort of acceptable rhythm, and had become so uneventful, in fact, that the biggest upset it to it for quite some time was when the call came from my father that myself and Agrian were to spend a summer back at our home in Lachfel rather than at the school. Naturally, this inspired a different response from me than it did from my brother.

"We're going home!" Agrian said, for probably the sixth time since he had accompanied me back to my room. I preferred it here than anywhere else in the Winzorth Institute, because anywhere else in the Winzorth Institute, people were allowed to follow me in and talk to me. Granted, my older brother did not care much for asking permission to enter my room. It was something I had made peace with. Another liberty that siblings apparently enjoyed.

"It will not be permanent, you know," I reminded him. Agrian just scoffed and waved a dismissive hand.

"Bah, I know that. We're still going home though! Are you not excited, Isabel? To see father again? Mother? We'll even see Doctor Brown!" I had to admit to some fondness for my mother and Doctor Brown, and even some mixed feelings about my father, but obviously my excitement was not as strong as Agrian's. He was, after all, a real child. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"It will be good to have more privacy," I noted out loud. As funny as it was to think about it, I would probably enjoy more time to myself being fawned over at Lachfel than I did here. Still, not having such high-quality training in the fields of magic that did not exist in my previous era still stung.

"I wish I could bring my professors back with me," I sighed. Agrian laughed again.

"I don't think father has quite enough money for that, Isabel." I did not laugh. He was right of course, our family could not quite afford to do that. Yet.

Travel back to Lachfel was not as easy for us as traveling from it, purely because the Winzorth Institute did not provide us with a cloudescraper to make the journey this time. Irritating, but I was not actually surprised by this fact. Fortunately, it was still easier than it would have been in my own era. Or rather, easier than it would have been for someone other than me. Of all the powers I had lost, my ability to teleport vast distances and fly at will were among the most sorely missed.

Trains, however, did something to compensate for this absence. They were far faster than any horse, and far more regular. My first time riding one was interesting if nothing else. Our seats were first class, paid for by our father, but I ignored them at first to wander down to the front of the train.

A few arguments with several of the staff, followed by a stern reminder that I was a magician in training and young noblewoman, thus able to do whatever I wanted, still failed to gain me entry into the actual boiler room, but I was at least close enough to hear a lot of the steam engine's workings, and see the black smoke rising high from our vehicle. Agrian soon joined me, despite how much he had protested when I initially left.

"I thought you would be interested in this," I noted as he shuffled over to me.

"I'm just keeping an eye on my little sister who keeps almost dying," he grunted.

"Okay," I said.

"Shut up. What's it doing?" He was asking about the engine, which had suddenly started making an odd whistling sound.

"I am not sure," I admitted.

"But I think it is venting out excess steam, so that the pressure does not build too much and damage the mechanisms." The whistling stopped a moment later, just as I would have guessed. I had started studying the mundane technology of this world, at first out of pure curiosity, but now, more deliberately, because I recognised that it was another avenue with lots of potential. Maybe even more than true magic.

A magician could train and study to bolster her powers enough to destroy whole armies, and an extremely powerful lich might even bring an entire nation to heel with her personal might alone, but magic was nowhere near as reproducible as simple science. Steam trains were getting more common by the year, and travel between cities on a large scale was getting faster because of it. Cloudscrapers would never compete with that, they simply could not transport enough bulk goods and passengers.

Not with their numbers and cost. As much as I would have enjoyed studying the engine for my whole journey, there was only so much I could actually learn when it was separated from me by a wall, and Agrian was a lot less enthusiastic than me. We retreated to our own cabin in one of the front train cars while awaiting arrival, and mostly passed the time by talking, reading and playing an interesting strategy game that had emerged some time after my being sealed away.

There are certainly worse ways to travel, but abject comfort did not do much to offset the fact that I was essentially being forced to spend a full day on nothing at all. By the time our train made its final stop and began to slow around the familiar city of Lachfel, I actually felt my body itching to leave it. Agrian was even more restless, and the boy practically sprinted his way off even while carrying our luggage himself. He really had gotten strong.

A carriage awaited us at the train station, leading to a thankfully shorter ride back to Vornholt estate. I noticed midway through our journey that Agrian's mood had fallen.

"What is wrong?" I asked him, irritated.

"Nothing."

"Tell me, this is annoying." He glared my way, and looked like he had something else to tell me for a moment before apparently deciding not to.

"I just thought father would meet us at the train station, is all." Ah, of course.

"He probably does not want to give the impression of being unimportant enough to leave his estate easily."

"Even for us?" My brother growled.

"Apparently, yes." I did not see him cheering up, which was unfortunate because I had no idea how I might go about doing that if this had not worked. The carriage halted just outside the gates of our estate, and then we stepped out. It felt odd to me, seeing the building again and approaching it. The last time I had walked towards that old, iron railing, I had been easily half a foot shorter than I was now. Irritatingly, Agrian's height advantage over me seemed to have remained approximately unchanged.

Unlike that of our parents, who were, at the very least, waiting for us in the courtyard.

"There's my boy," our father grinned as he rushed straight for Agrian and thrust out a hand. My brother seemed surprised for a moment, the poor thing. He must have been expecting some fatherly embrace, not realising that in the two years since we had left for Winzorth, he had grown too much for our father to ever hug again. My mother, unfortunately, did not share that social limitation.

She rushed to me as if I were the antidote to some fatal toxin infesting her, then wrapped me in a hug so tight I thought for a moment she was attempting to wring my neck.

"My little girl," she breathed while fawning over me.

"Gods, it's been so long, I missed you so much, how are they treating you there? Are you okay?" I had to hide my discomfort, naturally. It was just not socially appropriate to respond by saying 'take your hands off me, you creature, or I shall obliterate you' when your mother is greeting you after such a long absence. Instead I forced a smile.

"I am well. It is good to see you too, mother." She laughed, cupping my cheek.

"I'd forgotten how funny you speak. Come, inside, both of you," she turned to my brother as she said this, then tormented him with a hug of his own. He actually hugged back, however. I noted my father glancing at him with a curled lip as he did.

"A lot has happened since the two of you departed," my father grinned at me in particular as he said this.

"We have exciting news. Isabel, you're to get married."