^^ Mana Puzzle ^^

--- Oscar Hidden ---

The door closed behind us with a decisive Click, and I grinned. "I like him. He's unapologetically manipulative." I said simply.

"You should be more respectful. He's a Count, and a very powerful Mage. That man is one of the only 1st-Tier Wizards in Fallon Castle, and we have a collection of the finest mages from around the world." Lillian sighed.

"Well... on two points, your argument is moot. One: I'm a Duke-In-Waiting, technically a Baron and a War-Chief of the Golden Hoard's son, and I am therefore much higher than him on the nobility totem pole. Two: His magical prowess does not grant him my respect, only his actions." I said simply.

She blinked. "You're serious?"

"Yep." I nodded, and looked up at the birds.

"Oi, lookit mista bright eyes, hea!."
"Shaddup ya stupid pigeon."
"No seriously, the brat's lookin' right at me!"
"Yeah, wonderin' how one bird manages to look so fuckin' stupid!" The rest laughed at his expense.
"Shaddup! Come on, imma prove it. He's listenin' to us."

The little crow dove out of the rafters, and I raised a hand for him to land on. "Hello, little one." I said simply.

He squawked in surprise, flapping away. "See?!? I fuckin' told you pigeons! He's got a fuckin' Raven Tongue!"

"Oh, shit, midget pigeon's right... betta' watch our tongues, eh? You know how Val gets when we corrupt the youth." The bigger bird, a parrot of some kind, snickered softly.

"Yeah, you got it, boss." The ravens and crows circled a few times, then a few settled down on Lillian's shoulders, examining me.

Lillian raised an eyebrow at the giant parrot, nearly two feet tall, with brilliant silver and blue feathers. "Hello, James." She nodded.

The parrot fluffed his feathers, and actually spoke in English, surprising me.

The translator spell kicked in, and I grinned. "You do know you owe me some berries, eh? Look at this shoulder! It's like a snowy peak! Get your dandruff under control, kid!" He squawked.

She laughed softly. "Sorry James. I'll work on that."

"Good. And you! Kid! What's your name, huh?" He tilted his head at me.

"Oscar." I said simply.

He nodded a few times. "Oscar, eh? Alright. I'll see you around, kid. You need anythin', you whistle, huh? And have some food on hand when you do." He flapped off, ignoring Lillian's sputters as he smacked her face with her wings.

I snickered. "I like the birds here. More interesting than Russia."

She sighed, pulling a long feather out of her hair. "Oh yeah? What do birds talk about in Russia?"

"Cold. Food. Cold. Eating. Cold. South." I said dryly.

She snorted. "Yeah, about what I'd thought. Now let's get you back to my quarters; you're my responsibility until your mother comes, so I say you need a bath and some food. Sound good?"

I nodded. "Food sounds good. I took a bath this morning."

"Yes and then you bathed in the blood of the mildly innocent, so another bath you will have." She said easily, and started walking towards the second tower, which was connected to this one by a thick walkway.

I halted and gazed at the birds-eye-view of the castle and city, what looked like a thousand feet below us.

Pam grinned. "Yeah, this is a great view, eh? Look out the other side, though."

I walked to the other side, and grinned at the wide view of the ocean. "It's amazing... and what about during a storm?" I asked.

"There's a magical shield that goes up if the wind gets above 20knots." She shrugged.

"Sweet." I nodded.

We continued towards the second Tower, and I halted at the door. "There isn't a ground floor entrance to this place, is there? Why?"

"So any intruders to the residential area have to go past the Count's Study, and gods help them who piss off that old man." Ryan smirked.

I smiled. "I see... makes a bit of sense."

"There are, however, several exits on every floor that exit the Tower, in the case of a fire or something similar." Lillian nodded.

"Ahh, good. I'd rather not be trapped like a rat in a maze." I sighed in relief, and followed them into the Tower.

The interior was much like the other tower, except instead of offices and classrooms and lecture halls there were what looked like full apartments, and a room where a group of people were playing a very odd game I didn't get to observe much, because Lillian marched on, with her nose in the air.

There were a few places that smelled enticingly like food of all kinds, but again we walked past them, and then reached a barrier of some sort.

"This is the barrier to the Security Forces headquarters. I am Vice-Captain of those forces, and Ryan is a Corporal. My quarters are through this wall." Lillian nodded, and pressed a hand to the wall.

It shivered, and then someone stepped out.

The man gazed at us. "Identification?" He said simply.

Lillian handed him a piece of paper, and then a piece of glass. "Mine and his, you know mine, he's knew. My ward for a few days. He'll be staying here." She said simply.

"Aye, Vice-Captain!" He saluted, and then opened a set of double doors in the wall with a wave of his hand.

She walked through, and I followed, while Pamela and Ryan surprised me by waving and walking away.

"Come on, Oscar." Lillian nodded as the man closed the door, and sat at a table next to it, picking up a hand of cards, and a pipe.

I blinked at the cards as he started placing them down with the other four men, seemingly betting a pile of colored, flat marbles that had some sort of imaginary values.

"What game is this?" I asked after a moment staring at the cards, and trying to determine their meanings.

The gatekeeper gazed at me, puffing on his pipe slowly. "Hmm... it's Poker. Do you wanna learn, kid? Isn't that difficult."

"After you've bathed, you're more than welcome to learn this game, it's rather fun, but let's go, luv." Lillian shook her head.

I sighed and nodded, following her across the atrium, full of other people armed and armored in various ways, all doing seemingly nonsensical things in their leisure time.

We climbed a staircase, and she reached the single door at the top, inserting a key from her pocket.

"This door leads to the Security Forces Barracks. Each person gets an Apartment, like the ones upstairs, but more secure, I guess." She nodded, and led me into a room that had only a revolving deck in the middle, covered in a gondola of doors with various patterns and colors, each labeled clearly with a number, 0-300.

She walked up, tapped the door numbered '47', and the gondola stopped spinning. The door she'd tapped slowly extended, and she inserted a second key, opening the door into an apartment.

I blinked slowly. "Wait..."

"Hmm?"

"What, for the love of all that is holy, is that?" I asked slowly.

She blinked. "Uhm... a Dimension door? Relatively simple to make, for a high-Tier Wizard. They create a ripple in the space-time continuum, and lock a small gap in, attaching a door to it, and a key to unlock it. Then you build something inside it. Simple." She said slowly.

I grinned slowly. "Whoa."

She snorted. "Get in here, kid. I'll start the bath." She walked off towards the only door inside the room, and I stepped in cautiously.

The door closed behind me, and I jumped, then sighed. "Interesting..."

---

I towel-dried my hair, then brushed it meticulously, making sure every strand was straight and perfectly placed, then tied it all back with a thin rawhide thong from my pocket.

Lillian snorted. "You, little one, are far too vain for a child."

"Perhaps." I shrugged. "But there are worse flaws to have. Vanity, when tempered with Morality, does not a deadly duo make."

She smiled. "True, I'll give you that. Now for food, huh?"

I nodded, following her out of the tiny pocket dimension. "What's the biggest one of those can get?" I asked her as we exited the barracks, into the massive atrium.

"Hmm... I think one guy tried to make one, about two years ago, that would hold an entire castle. It collapsed in on itself, though luckily he wasn't inside. He's not dead, thankfully."

"No, just bankrupt." I smirked.

She laughed. "True, yes. But the castle he was trying to put away was almost the size of our entire city, so it was destined for failure."

I nodded. "Interesting... and is it possible to link one pocket to another without outside representation?" I asked.

"I... I don't know, honestly. Listen, Oscar... I know I might seem smart to you, but I'm a member of the Security Force for a reason. I'm not much of a Scholar. There are others that would be much better suited for those questions." She said candidly.

"I'm sure, but I don't trust them. You are simply too direct to try to trick me." I said simply.

She blinked slowly, and smiled a little as we exited the atrium in search of food.

---

I stared at the bowl of thin pasta, covered in a black/brown sauce and pieces of beef, and situated in a soup of chicken stock. "What... exactly... is this?" I asked simply.

"Is Ramen, boy! Eat! Good for bones!" The chef, who was cooking in front of me, grinned heartily.

Lillian nodded. "It's an Asian dish, very tasty. Filling, too."

I hummed and shrugged, stabbing a fork into the bowl of noodles, and swirling it around to catch more noodles, then took a giant bite of the accumulated mass. I grinned at the sweet taste, and scarfed down the entirety in a matter of seconds.

He chuckled. "You like?"

I grinned widely. "I like very much, yes... for our tab?" I placed a gold coin on the counter.

He blinked, leaning away from it. "You sure? That a lot of meals, child."

I nodded. "Yes."

He shrugged and swiped the coin swiftly. "You want more bowl?" He asked easily.

"Not for now, my stomach is only so big, you know?" I chuckled.

He smiled. "True, yes. Come back at dinna-time, I cook you Korean BBQ and Wulyong Dumpling! Good food." He nodded seriously.

I laughed. "I'll be back, then! Thanks for the food!" I hopped down from my stool, and started meandering, while Lillian followed, casually eating her soup as she walked.

People seemed to recognize her, and so a path was again made in the crowds, this time without her sword.

She eventually led me to a large lecture hall, mostly deserted, except for an elderly man and three students around my age.

"Elder Bacchus, can I speak to you, sir?" She asked when he'd finished talking about the responsibilities of a healing mage.

He hummed. "Indeed. Children, line up next to the Mana Puzzle, I know you're all eager to show off your improvement!" He clapped once, and they darted over to a long wooden hexagonal log, covered in a mosaic.

They began carefully taking turns, pressing a set of random patterns into the mosaic on the box, and then flooding it with magic.

I hummed, watching nothing happen, as whatever was inside the log absorbed their magic like a sponge, and they sat down, one by one, exhausted.

I noticed a single one of the six triangles in the hexagon on the side had lit up, after each of their turns, and was at three triangles now. It slowly faded, and I hummed.

"That is a very interesting device." I said clearly.

Lillian, who had been talking in English with the old man, blinked. "The Mana Vault? True, it's very interesting. You can try it, if you like." She nodded.

I nodded and approached it, then mapped out a pattern on the side that looked like a feather. I pressed the pattern gently, then gripped the ends of the log like they had, though my arms had to stretch to reach both ends.

The other children laughed a bit at my shortness, until my magic was called out by the log, and the entire room flooded with my Mana.