Under the Oak Tree

Max turned her head to the sound of loud knocking against the door. She was exhausted from last night, reviewing magic formulas until her eyes were bloodshot. She was all bundled up in a duvet like a cocooned caterpillar and was dazed for a moment. Then, she weakly rolled up the thick curtains. The bright sunlight struck her eyes. The sun is already up in the sky. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and groaned. As if the guest who was knocking on her door could not be more impatient, the knocks grew louder. She stood up wobbly and stuttered.

“W-wait a minute!”

However, the ratty knocking did not cease for a moment. Max quickly pulled her slippers from under the bed, wore them, and ran to open the door. Miriam’s aggravated face came to sight.

“Didn’t I warn you already that if this frigging beast crawls into my lab again, I’ll skin it alive?”

She growled and waved the black cat to Max’s face. Max exclaimed as she felt all the drowsiness slip away. “Roy!”

Miriam was holding the cat by its neck, away from her to avoid its paws. Roy let out a pitiful cry but the evil witch did not even blink an eye.

“D-don’t hold him like that!” Max jumped to retrieve her own pitiful cat. “Give it… to me! S-stop being so mean to it!”

“And what about the meanness of this damned brat? Have you seen what he has done to my lab?”

Miriam stood on her toes to place her hand on top of Max’s head to push her down and she grew red at the blatant insult on her height. Miriam, who was much taller and had long limbs, always used that method on her. Max shook Miriam’s hand away and stared defiantly at her.

“It’s because Mi-Miriam’s pet, Peori, keeps teasing Roy! That little fly-like creature was the one to taunt Roy first…”

“And so? Are you saying that it was deserving for this ball of hair to run wild in my lab?”

Max’s tail immediately went between her legs at Miriam’s venomous glare. She spoke sarcastically while maintaining a contemptuous look at her.

“Shouldn’t apologizing be the first thing to do? Doesn’t the noble lady know how to apologize? Or is it because my lab is worthless compared to a pet of a noble lady?”

At Miriam’s fierce, endless retort, Max colored red in embarrassment. “I apologize that my… cat caused you trouble. I will never let it sneak out of the room again n-next time. Please… let it slide this once.”

Miriam’s plump lips quivered like she was about to say more, but she soon clicked her tongue and threw the cat into Max’s arms.

“This is the last time. If that wretched little monster wanders around my room again, I will really skin it alive and turn it into slippers.” Miriam fiercely retorted, swept her bangs, and turned away with a swish. “Clean up my lab this instance!”

Then, she strode away. Max could only gaze distantly at Miriam’s back, sigh deeply, and look down at Roy. Roy buried his head deeply into Max’s side and purred. She then sank into her bed and stroked his soft fur as if to soothe him. The day she left Anatol, unbeknownst to her, Roy slipped into her suitcase and went with her to the World Tower in the blink of an eye. She was incredibly bewildered when she first found her cat on the ship. However, the thought of having a friend on her side in an unfamiliar place made her secretly joyful, but she didn’t expect it would be this troublesome.

She caressed Roy’s back and heaved a sigh. “I… told you not to enter that woman’s room. That evil witch might really punish you, and do bad things to you.”

The cat’s ears drooped, and he purred sadly. Max, who was endlessly scolding the cat, suddenly noticed that Roy’s fur on his tail was slightly bent and her eyes widened. She let go of Roy to pull her curtains wider and then saw the window’s half-bent latch rolling on the windowsill. Max gritted her teeth. As she has suspected, Miriam’s pet Peori must have hid and lured Roy out. She wanted to come after Miriam right away and tell her to keep her own pet in sight, but she would only be ridiculed and scolded without clear evidence.

Eventually, she sighed in resignation, closed the window using a fork as a latch, then started to get herself ready to go out of her room. She had to hurry and clean up Miriam’s lab before her classes started. After washing up with the water from a basin, she changed her clothes and braided her tangled hair into one piece like a vine. Then, she grabbed a mop and a broom when she suddenly saw herself in the mirror placed next to her desk. She saw a pale, exhausted face, dull eyes, and shabby clothing… She looked exactly like a young servant. If Riftan saw her like that, what would he say? Max’s hand unconsciously flew to her neck as she saw her own dark eyes glaring at her face.

When she left Anatol, she made the small shekel that Riftan gave her into a necklace. As she fiddled with it, a small corner in her chest tightened. Whenever she thought of Riftan, she felt a sharp pain. As she touched the shekel’s charred surface, she bit her lips to erase him from her mind. She couldn’t bear being apart from him. Max gathered her emotions and hurriedly walked out of the door: she had gone there even at the cost of hurting him, there was no time for her to feel depressed. She had to do her best everyday, so she could return to Anatol as soon as possible.

***

The World Tower consisted of a total of five towers: a giant conical tower called Urd was the center of the island; on its west is Kabbalah, which was the fire tower; Undaim, the water tower is located on its south; Sigur, the wind tower is located on its east, and the earth tower called Gnome Hall was located on its north. In principle, wizards who had no attributes yet could freely take the classes they want to attend in any tower but that’s really just nominal. Most wizards had implicitly set their minds on which tower they wanted to take classes from while they were trainees, so the atmosphere in the World Tower was not really an environment where they could freely learn various attributes as she thought it would be. Max took a deep breath as she recalled the time she attended a class at Kabbalah. The wizards of each tower had a strong sense of competition against each other, but the wizards of Kabbalah and Gnome Hall were particularly pitted against each other, and that made Max feel like she was sitting on a cushion made of thorns the whole time she was in class.

‘But I haven’t made up my mind to become a Gnome Hall wizard just yet…”

For some reason, Max was already being treated as an Earth attributed wizard. She looked up melancholically at the towers rising above the dense grove of olive trees. Gnome Hall was shaped more like a giant’s body than a tower. The dark tower was wide as if it was pressed down from above and next to its arched, wide open gates, was a pulley that had a huge cage around 6 kvettes tall (180 cm) to help wizards go to the upper floors.

T/N: (basically like an elevator)

Countless iron chimneys protruded from the tower walls like lint, emitting puffs of smoke. There were many other strange devices in the dark vivid castle tower. An intricate mesh of cast iron pipes-like and squeaking gears like a clockwork were all over, there were also big and small pulleys used to transport objects, and a huge windmill spinning around on top of the tower. Roy began to squirm uncomfortably as they stood in front of the large, crude, cluttered exterior of the tower.

“N-no. You have to stick to me today.”

Max quickened her steps as she held the cat close to her chest. A loud sound of banging hammers pierced her ears as she crossed the forest road lined with overgrown pine trees and entered the tower gates. Perhaps frightened by the loud noises that came from everywhere, Roy squirmed harder and cried sharply. Max moved quickly to appease his discomfort. She wanted to leave the cat in her room if it were possible, but if he somehow escaped again and made trouble, Miriam would not let it slide.

Max muttered to Roy almost pleadingly. “There’s no other choice until I am able to place a repellent against Peori on the window. I promise to give you something delicious later so hang in there, alright?”

“What are you muttering all to yourself?”

As she was about to enter the communal laboratory, a cheerful voice came from behind her. Two boys with short stature less than 5 kvettes (150 cm) and round reddish faces with large sacks slung over their shoulders, were looking curiously at her. Max quickly hid her cat under her cloak and gave them an awkward smile.

“H-hi, Alec…Dean…”

“Are you practicing for the competition in Urd?” The twin brothers from the Umli tribe tilted their heads at the same time as they asked.

Max stepped back and smiled blankly. “That’s…”

As she searched for the right words, Roy popped out of her cloak and sprinted towards the door and Max hurriedly screamed his name. The cat ran across the hall and went out the door as if he didn’t hear her. At that moment, Annette Godrick, who was walking into the tower just a few steps away from her twin brothers, snatched the cat by its back.

“Roy!”