บท 29: Drive To Arrive
That night, Kir had a very strange, very intimate dream.
In it, he was having some sort of discussion with Kordia about food. Then somehow, Morn was there, and suddenly everything got far more hot and bothered as a Kir-sized Stella showed up. They started pulling him in different directions, Morn and Stella on his arms and Kordia on his tail.
Things took a weird turn when he escaped the three only to find himself being looked down on by his father, who stood on the moon like a distant, gargantuan god and smirked. Raising a hand to cast a spell with a giant magic circle like out of anime...
He woke up in the almost-dawn gloom, drenched in sweat. After figuring out he wasn't getting back to sleep, he decided to start his day.
Kir liked to start his days with a small workout. He was already sweating, so it wouldn't change his situation overly much.
Calisthenics in particular, as he had memories of watching people on television doing such stretches and following along. He'd had a long time to adapt them to his tail, and had added a few techniques for his wings, though they more often than not ended up scraping the ceiling when he tried to stretch them fully.
His waking troubles for the day began when Stella reminded him he had a new audience.
"Mmm, loving the show. I didn't know you could be so flexible," she chuckled, still in her bat form.
Kir tried to ignore her for as long as he could, but then finally rounded on her as she kept going and going.
"Are you ever not horny?" he asked.
"You're asking the river not to flow, Kir. I'm guessing you had your first saucy dream?" she asked.
"That's none of your business," Kir replied.
"Oh, well excuse me. It's not like I know a few succubi that have been bonded before. Not like I have knowledge that saucy dreams come with the territory," she dripped with sarcasm.
Kir crossed his arms, his routine now thoroughly interrupted. "Sorry," he said, "I should be mindful that you are the expert here. Please tell me what you know."
Stella sat up and preened a bit. "Ah you are so polite it warms my heart... Alright then." she cleared her little bat-throat. "A familiar bond is a bit like an exchange. Some of your mana comes to me, some of mine goes to you. That carries certain... side effects... depending on how deep we go into resonating with each other."
"Side effects? Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I really, really wanted to escape Corlwin's store..." Stella admitted. "Also you didn't exactly ask."
Kir sighed.
Stella continued, "Anyway the important bits are that you might feel a bit easier to, ah, arouse... and to arouse others. As for what I get out of it, I'm pretty sure it's just a steady source of mana. With your personality, it would suck if you gave me a case of the prudes."
"I'm not a prude!" Kir said. "I just... want my first time with another person to mean something." He blushed.
Stella rolled her eyes. "Great. A romantic."
"What would you know about it?" Kir asked.
"I read!" Stella said. "I just prefer things to be more upfront and honest. Romance is more of an angel thing. Choir of Six Loves sorta crap."
"What?" Kir asked.
"Kir? Why are you up?" Darlae asked groggily, awakening and sitting up as she untangled herself from Brigit.
"Is it time for the test?" Brigit mumbled, her eyes opening.
"It isn't even dawn," Kir answered. "And I had a weird dream. Couldn't get back to sleep after it..."
"Go back to studying..." Brigit murmured, rolling over.
Darlae had a different idea. "Wanna spar?"
Later, when Brigit finally awoke, she found Kir and Darlae outside, sweating up a storm as they traded blows.
"Use your wings, Kir. They're stronger than you think," Darlae challenged.
"Kindof hard to do when you keep grabbing them," Kir shot back.
"Ahem," Brigit said. "We need to be there by noon. I'd rather we have time to deal with things if any incidents occur. Get bathed, now. Both of you."
Kir quietly accepted, while Darlae grumbled and followed Brigit inside. Because it was difficult for him to bathe normally with his wings, he had a different solution he'd developed during the caravan ride.
Gathering water above himself in a sphere, he heated it with a bit of magic before letting the whole thing wash over him, clothes and all. His natural body heat made it steam off of him, and a judicious application of magic to produce dry air around him took care of his hair and clothes.
Darlae came out with her hair still wet, and after asking Kir to dry it for her, they took off for the Academy.
First they had to head back to the wall, where after climbing one of the fancy-looking towers they were able to hire a floating carriage to take them the rest of the way.
Looking down, Kir saw the division of the city much more clearly. The lowest tier was crowded, the middle tier had much more space between buildings and nice parks, and the upper tier was basically one giant building, with how richly covered the streets were. Between it and the academy grounds was a massive lawn covered in various flowers, and the carriage came to a stop in front of the star-angled structure at the base of the Academy.
Brigit paid their driver a whole gold coin, and Kir was immediately surprised as he set foot on the ground.
"This place is huge." The Academy loomed high into the morning light, such that he had to crane his neck to see the top. It was tall enough that he even detected hints of blue as the air between him and the top colored the light.
"Eh, it's just the Knight Academy," Darlae said, still staring forward.
Kir looked down and finally noticed that the fortress before them had a massive coat of arms on the door.
"Any second now..." Darlae said.
A few moments later, a huge cracking sound and metallic strain announced that the doors were opening. They did so with no obvious mechanism, opening toward the outside like a pair of massive, welcoming hands.
Kir felt Stella retreat into his hair at the sound. "Wake me up if you need me," she said once it was over.
As Kir and his moms walked into the Knight Academy, they came to a massive open field at the center of the structure. Where Kir had expected there to be the center of the tower, instead he saw that the magic academy floated in place about ten meters above the ground. A set of floating stairs lead up to its entrance, which had no door.
As soon as they stepped onto the field, a voice boomed from behind.
"Darlae!" A large elven man called out, approaching her with arms wide open. He was dressed in what looked like a dress uniform to Kir's eyes.
"Meximus you old bear! You're still alive?" Darlae turned and gave the old man a hug.
"I am. Nearly lost my head on the last dragon hunt. Decided to call it quits after that." Meximus replied. "Now I spend my days circulating paperwork and mana." He looked past Darlae, "And who's this?" he asked.
"Don't act like you don't remember me," Brigit said, stepping forward.
"I remember you throwing a rock at me last time we fought," he answered.
Kir smiled at the thought, but found Meximus' gaze lingering on him.
"Meximus, this is our son, Kir," Darlae announced, stepping back to her family.
"Seems a strong lad. Here to join the knights?" he asked. "Fought alongside plenty of demonkin in the past. You part beastkin as well?"
Brigit interrupted as Kir was about to speak, "He's academy-bound, Meximus. He's way too smart for the likes of you."
Meximus laughed, "Well go on then. I assume you're here to be first in line for the day. One thing you should know though is that they test students in batches now. Both Academies have been a bit focused on quantity since last year, ever since we heard that Hell's been marshaling for war..."
Brigit frowned, "So you're saying they've lowered their standards?"
"More like... the nations are putting up gold to get as many mages as they can. If we get a few more years to prepare, we should do a lot better than the last Heavenswar. Hopefully."
The man had a look about him that said he was keeping back something important, but for Kir's family, the time had come to arrive at the Academy, and so they said their goodbyes, with Darlae promising to visit Meximus for a sparring session.
During the conversation, the yard had filled with knight students from within the building. Kir saw a wide mix of people, but a lot more demonkin and beastkin than he'd seen in the crowded lower city.
More than a few stared at him, and he did his best to smile and wave, until one gaze caught and held his.
Lugh glared at Kir with open hatred, holding his practice helmet in his hands as he paused his preparations for training. He glared as if hoping that he could vaporize Kir with his gaze.
Kir paused for a moment with his foot on the first floating step, then gave him the finger.
This time, Lugh didn't look up.
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