Chương 28: Book 2 Chapter 9: Where's my Money Lebowski!

The first thing Jim felt after the complete and utter annihilation of his body was the swaying of the ship, but he froze when he realised there was no knocking at the door. Instead of that, there was something else. His hand shot out from his sleeping position and grabbed at the tell-tale feeling of mana above him. He opened his eyes and saw almost nothing of the cabin in the early hours of the day, where the sun had barely risen. But he did see one thing, the brown leather coin pouch grasped tightly in his hand.

Trained by countless hours of dying and the unenviable experience of Combat Magic 2, Jim almost instinctually formed a magic missile and shot it towards the surprised hooded figure in the corner of his cabin. The magic missile smashed against a fragile shield, burrowing straight through it and delivering a gut punch of epic proportions to what must have been a thief.

Jim jumped up from his cot, stuck the coin pouch back where it belonged and ran at the figure, extending his leg back to deliver a kick to their head with his whole might, body running entirely off adrenaline.

"You piece of shit!" he shouted as his bare foot impacted the cowering figure's head and caused it to shoot back and slam into the wall of the ship. He was tempted to deliver a stomp for good measure, but his breath suddenly ran out and he collapsed on the floor. Quatzel, Aktash, Paitana. Him, stuck in the middle, body being slowly ripped apart limb by limb as arcane magic raged around him, the lich failing to protect him as his body disintegrated.

"I'm. Alive," Jim said with a gasp and wide eyes after a few seconds, finally managing to breathe. Then he felt a punch impact his cheek, throwing him completely to the floor. The figure he'd previously kicked had gotten up and retaliated. Blood exploded in Jim's mouth as they straddled him and rained punches down on his body. Jim returned the favour, striking out wildly and without abandon like a true warrior.

It seemed the other person was cheating somehow and managed to beat him despite their shorter reach and smaller hands. It was after the boy had courageously covered his face and aristocratically whimpered for mercy that the raggedly breathing figure finally stopped beating on him, leaving his body one big painful bruise.

Of course, the moment the fight seemed to lull, Jim managed to summon two magic missiles and slam them into his adversary, sending them shooting into the air, after which they fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Remember this," Jim said, breathing harshly, pain shooting through his body, "as the day," he panted, "that you almost managed to rob Jimothy Papillion Savant!" he finished by exclaiming and standing up on shaky legs. The figure didn't move, causing Jim to grow mildly concerned. He stumbled over and poked the raggedy person with his toe. They didn't budge.

"Should I throw them overboard?" Jim wondered curiously.

"Don't!" the figure suddenly exclaimed, getting up on all fours and retreating away from him until their back slammed into the corner of the room where they raised their hands in defeat.

"It's done, it's alright, I'm sorry!" the unmistakable voice of a peasant of the female variety exclaimed. The girl proceeded to pull down her hood, revealing a bruised face with raggedy brown hair to complement her raggedy brown cloak.

"It's me, ok!" Jim narrowed his eyes, analysed the facial features for a second.

"Who are you?" he asked menacingly, magic missiles forming over his shoulder again. The girl froze, an expression of incredulity spreading across her face.

"I'm in your class!" Jim snorted.

"How did you sneak onto this ship?" he asked. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"We've been paired up like four times, how do you not remember! You called me the personification of a rat and asked the professor to expel me for failing to fulfill the aesthetic standards of the academy!"

"Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down!" Jim shouted angrily.

"I'm Katniss, I'm Katniss, I'm one of the girls Lebowski invited to the party because he wanted to sleep with me! The sleazy git!" Jim paused at that and narrowed his eyes, bringing up a hand to scratch at his chin.

"He does tend to invite those of lower breeding," he muttered.

"Exactly! Wait, what?"

"But that doesn't explain why you were in my room trying to steal from me!" Jim shouted again. Katniss cried out.

"It was a bet! We were playing spin the bottle! It landed on me and they dared me to go out and steal something from another student! I stopped at your door because I heard some shouting in their sleep, thought you were a heavy sleeper! No reason, I swear!" Jim stood there, menacingly, elegantly, while his mind raced. The reason why his money had been stolen was… Lebowski? Did that make any sense?

"Why go for the coin pouch, just take a quill or something," he grumbled, eyeing the girl suspiciously. Katniss ran red in the face.

"I just needed the money, not like someone like you would miss it. Once I literally heard you say you'd be flattered if someone stole from you since it would mean that the thief has the intelligence to pick a target of true means," she whispered eventually. Jim ran red in the face. That did sound like something he'd say.

"Well, at least you're telling the truth now," Jim eventually said.

"Still, it's alright to want money, it's very nice to have after all. But if you need some you should really just start a business, or invest in some ventures. You're attending the academy now, you shouldn't drag down its reputation on an aesthetic and now moral level."

"Thanks," Katniss said sarcastically.

"Anyway, I'll call a professor and have you expelled now," Jim told the girl and started heading for the door.

"Wait wait wait!" Katniss suddenly screamed, scrabbling after him and holding him up by the robe.

"What?" Jim asked, annoyed.

"Don't tell anyone, I need this!" Katniss exclaimed.

"You have no idea how hard it was to get here!"

"Why risk it then?" Jim asked derisively. Katniss blushed.

"I wa- am under the influence! Lebowski filled me up with so many bottles. Everyone else was drinking so much! I got carried away!"

"Look," Jim started.

"You're obviously not understanding what I'm getting at." He raised a hand, palm up.

"I have leverage over you right now and would get immense pleasure in turning you in, you have no idea how many nerves your stupid theft cost me," he raised another hand, higher than the other.

"This is the point where you offer me something in return." Katniss looked down, wiggled awkwardly, before slowly putting a hand up to her robe and starting to unclasp it. Jim stared at her, uncomprehendingly as she started getting undressed, revealing heavily tanned skin and a strong athletic body. He blushed.

"I didn't mean your body," he hissed.

"Oh," Katniss muttered, pausing in her gestures, quickly pulling her robe back on. Jim groaned, thinking back on his most recent death. That battle had been beyond anything he'd ever imagined. A level that he would need at least a year of concentrated effort to reach…

"You know what, I have bigger worries right now, just scram and find me something good by the end of the week," he eventually said, not believing that he was letting this go after how much time he'd invested in catching the thief.

"Thank you!" Katniss exclaimed, clasping her hands together and bowing her head, before pausing.

"What do you need?" she asked. Jim paused. What did he need? He shook his head.

"Some fucking peace would be a good start! Get out of here," he muttered angrily and opened the door to his room, causing the hesitant Katniss to look at him with a weird look for a few seconds before slowly walking out. Jim slammed the door behind her, letting it slam on the back of her heel, getting a yelp, before collapsing back into bed.

"That's one mystery down," he eventually said as he lay there, staring at the wooden ceiling. His body suddenly twitched, spasmed, shook. A few tears silently escaped his eyes as he tried to not let out a sound. He curled up in a ball and cried, burying his head in his arms. The pain from the fight was insignificant in comparison to the pain of his situation.

"Why me?" he whispered quietly just as his door suddenly opened and Katniss stepped back in, limping like a beaten dog.

"Actually I was thinking," she started, looking at Jim and suddenly freezing when she saw his tear-stricken face looking back at her.

"Get out!" Jim shouted angrily, throwing in a moment of anger, three magic missiles at the girl, at which she wisely slammed the door shut. Jim barely managed to snuff them out before they ruined the wooden construct, not wanting to pay for the damages. He paused. He hadn't been able to do that before. External mana sensing was necessary to have any sort of control over spells after they left the body. He heard the steps of the girl finally distance themselves, after which he wasn't even able to restart his crying.

He was left only with only his rationality, and that rationality was telling him only one thing. There was no returning to Sredina. Even exchanging a simple promise with the lich had caused his death, the academy somehow getting alerted. That was the only explanation of what had occurred. Sredina was, in all essence and purposes, a death trap. Lebowski, the asshole, had told him to use the time loop to live a good life.

Jim knew he needed to gain strength to do that, but there was no gain in dying over and over again. If he did so, he would never learn if the time loop reset upon failing to do anything against the calamity, information that he desperately needed. Thus, he calmly waited for the ship he was on to dock at the Sredinan harbour, upon which he exited the craft with the other students before promptly turning around and heading towards the first ferry going back to Riche.

His family would be displeased by him not appearing at the academy for the semester, but before they noticed he would be able to withdraw enough money to live comfortably for a few months. Also, they wouldn't care that much as long as he got his second circle mage classification, which he could do at the mage guild headquarters in Riche just as well as through the academy's first year graduation exam.

The small ferry carrying people from Riche to the capital of Rotto and back on a daily basis was cheap and serviceable, full of more affluent people who did not represent an affront to the eyes. Silken shirts, crocheted hats, expensive boots. All as it should be. Jim was just about to get on to pay his fare, joining his stylishly dressed compatriots, when his body froze and his consciousness was forced out of his body to observe it from a third person perspective.

His emotions dulled and he felt no panic as his body, handsome as ever, decisively turned around and started walking, right towards the academy. He strained against the decision as much as he could with his apathy, but was unable to change the course of his walk. Jim watched himself rejoin the group of students, decisively ignoring Lebowski when the other boy came up to talk to him, before splitting off again at the dorms and going directly towards the academy grounds.

He came back to his senses right then, in front of professor Quatzel's shack. Memories flooded his mind, death, destruction, despair. He raised his hand to knock on the door and was soon bid to enter. He found the lich the same way he'd found him last time, standing listlessly next to an empty blackboard seemingly lost in thought.

"Ah, you're here, that will be a detention for disturbing my peace" the lich said after Jim closed the door behind him. He bid him to sit with a skeletal hand.

"Sit, sit, let's start the first lesson." Jim stood there with dilated pupils, arteries vibrating in his body as a migraine began assaulting his head. He licked his parched lips.

"Wha- What did you do to me?" The lich smiled, for all that a piece of bone could smile.

"I didn't do anything. You should rather be asking what you did to yourself."