The Hidden World

Yuki watched as the lithe form of Yuna ran away from the scene of the battle he had with the golem. He wasn’t sure why she had came when he had already told her to go back to the meeting site. But he wasn’t worried about whether or not she recognized him. When he was in elf form, he looked quite different than how he looked as a human.

Turning back his attention to the fallen body of the golem, he noticed Akira shaking her hands. She had fought bare handed due to the lack of weapons that they had. A stone sword would do nothing against the metal body of a golem. So she decided to use her hands along with Yuki’s buffs on her. But even with those to help lessen the blowback, it would still hurt.

Yuki walked over to her and grabbed her hands without bothering to ask her for permission. She startled at the contact but didn’t try to pull away while Yuki began to infuse mana into her hands. He relieved her pain and soreness somewhat and was treated to a soft sigh of relief. Then he let go and went to examine the unmoving golem.

Like he had guessed before, the body seemed to be made of some sort of metal. What type of metal it was Yuki did not know. But as he used his mana to analyze the material, he realized that it far outclassed any metal that he had ever seen. The durability and toughness of the material was impressive as well as its ability to absorb mana.

‘I would like to use some of this to make some weapons,’ Yuki thought. ‘Maybe some armour. With how easily it accepts mana, I can make some interesting things.’

He stretched out his arm and using his earth magic, he broke off chunks of the body. The fact that his elemental magic could affect the golem played a big role in the battle against it. If Yuki couldn’t use his magic then he would have ran away. But since earth was very effective against the golem and its metal body, Yuki easily overwhelmed it.

‘It was a very nice advantage for me,’ he thought as he gathered the chunks into a pile.

Then he snapped his fingers and a magic circle formed around the pile. It flashed a bright white and then the pile disappeared. This was a spell that Yuki had made the day before when Akira mentioned snacks.

Using the right runes, Yuki was able to create a form of storage. The way it worked was that whatever material or item that he wanted to be stored would be converted into mana. Then this mana would be transferred to the jewel inlaid onto a ring that Yuki had bought the day before when he was out shopping with Akira. When she was looking around at jewelry, a silver ring with a ruby gem caught his eye. After she begged him, Yuki also got a matching ring but with a green gem for Akira.

The storage spell was convenient and Yuki was quite satisfied with it. It was proof that he was able to create his own spells. However, there were some drawbacks with the storage spell. Some things were not possible to break down into mana. Only simple things such as materials and food could be stored. The amount that could be stored also depended on the capacity of the ring. And lastly, since the ring was being stored with mana of other things, Yuki wouldn’t be able to put his own into it. It wasn’t possible for him to use mana of other objects.

‘When I get back to my dorm, I should start trying to make my own weapons,’ Yuki thought to himself. ‘Good weapons are necessary to survive.’

Speaking of weapons, he looked at the pair of makeshift daggers he had created. Because of his lack of a good weapon, he had used his magic to break the loaned sword that he had gotten from the school. With it, he created his two daggers using the metal from the blade of the sword. Now he put the sword back together. He didn’t want to have to potentially pay for Academy property.

Akira went to stand next to him, doing what seemed to be finger exercises with her hands.

“You probably came to the same conclusion as me, right?” she asked him.

“About?”

“Why there was a golem here,” she clarified.

“Oh, yes. I think so too,” he replied. He turned his head toward the direction of the meeting place for the students. “We should go back first before we discuss this more later.”

Akira nodded then disappeared in a flash before being absorbed into Yuki’s arm. Then he started to sprint back toward the rendezvous point, changing back into his human disguise as he did. Before he was seen by the students, he slowed and walked into the clearing. The other students turned their heads at his arrival and stared at him.

‘Why are they staring at me?’ Yuki thought.

“Yuki! You’re alright!” a voice yelled.

Yuki glanced over to the right to see the form of Yuna running toward him with an expression of relief and worry. This confused Yuki slightly as he didn’t expect her to care that much about his well being.

“I’m fine,” he replied. “What happened to the golem?”

“It was killed,” she said, her voice filled with wonder. “I saw two beautiful women fighting it and they won.”

[Beautiful women,] Akira repeated in his mind with a giggle.

‘I don’t even care anymore,’ Yuki responded.

“Really? That’s good news, at least,” he said out loud.

“I would like to hear more about the women,” Nataru suddenly said.

Yuki looked away from Yuna and saw Nataru standing in the center of the clearing with the students gathered around him. He was staring at Yuki and Yuna with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know much,” Yuna replied. “I just saw them fighting. One was an elf and the other was a beastkin. They are very strong and were able to defeat the golem.”

“I would like to know how they got in,” Nataru said. “Outsiders shouldn’t be able to enter so easily.”

“I wouldn’t know, sir,” Yuna said.

“I don’t expect you to, I was talking to myself. But I will need to talk to the headmaster about this.”

“What about the golem?” Yuna asked.

“Yes, that to,” Nataru said. “There shouldn’t have been a golem in the forest. We don’t have monsters that strong around here. The strongest we have might be a troll or two but nothing on the scale of a golem.”

‘Of course we don’t,’ Yuki thought.

“We will hunt again tomorrow,” Nataru announced to the students. “Due to the unexpected appearance of the golem, your time was cut short. Some of you did not seem able to kill a monster in that time. And so we will give you another chance tomorrow to do so.”

There were cheers from some of the students.

“That isn’t something to cheer about,” Nataru scolded them. “Even though your time was cut, you should have still been able to kill at least one goblin. We will give you another day so that you can look back on your mistakes and hopefully don’t fail again.”

The cheers stopped and the students shifted uncomfortably.

“Those of you that did managed to kill a monster today won’t need to attend tomorrow’s class,” Nataru continued. “I know that Yuna did in fact kill something. So she doesn’t need to attend. I believe her partner, Yuki, also did as well. But the rest of you, I’m disappointed. The person that came from another world where they don’t even fight beat you. You have to step it up.”

Some students began to glare at Yuki and Yuna. Most of the looks, Yuki felt, were targeted at himself.

“Class is dismissed for the day,” Nataru said, clapping his hands. “You can do whatever you like now. Go train is what I recommend. You all need it.”

The students dispersed and walked out of the forest, some of them still shooting looks of hostility toward Yuki. Yuki ignored them and strolled out. Yuna followed him.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he replied.

“I wonder how a golem got into the forest,” Yuna asked no one in particular.

“I have an idea,” Yuki said but didn’t elaborate. Yuna eyebrows shot up and she gave him a look of curiosity.

“How?” she asked.

“These are just suspicions, nothing worth mentioning until I have more proof,” Yuki answered.

“You can tell me your theories, I don’t mind,” she said. “At least it’s something. That’s more than what I have now.”

Yuki looked at her as he carefully considered his answer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her his theory but rather what the theory contained. If the wrong person heard it then Yuki’s life might become even more complicated.

“Promise me that you won’t tell anyone,” Yuki said. “At least, not until I’m certain.”

Yuna nodded and looked at him with eager eyes.

“There is a magical barrier that protects the campus of the Academy,” Yuki started. “This barrier prevents outside monsters from entering the Academy provided that they are naturally spawned monsters. The problem lays in that golems are not naturally made. They require a mage to craft and give life to them through mana. Because of this, something like the magic barrier around this school will not stop it as it would not be recognized as a monster. It would be seen more as an item.”

“But if golems are made, then who made this one?” Yuna asked.

“This is the part where I’m not sure yet. And the part that is the most important,” Yuki replied. “I believe that the golem wasn’t just randomly set free and decided to roam here. Someone made it and sent it to the academy.”

“You mean this was an attack?”

“Was an attempt at an attack,” Yuki correctly. “I also believe that whoever this person was first targets were the first years. That is why the golem appeared when we were all dispersed in the forest. If it wasn’t for those two people you saw defeat it, the golem may have killed dozens of students. Then it would have moved onto the main campus and destroy as much as it could before the teachers defeat it.”

“Why would someone do that?” Yuna asked, her voice rising.

“I do not know and that doesn’t matter,” Yuki said. “All that matters was that someone is trying to attack the school. But that isn’t what’s bothering me.”

“There’s more?”

“Yes,” he said. “In order for the golem to be perfectly timed to attack when all of the students were dispersed and for it to start at the forest can be explained as good research. What is odd is that someone decided to use a golem to attack. This would mean that this person knew how the barrier worked.”

“Can’t someone research that as well?” Yuna said.

“No,” Yuki answered. “This information is classified to be only available to some students and staff of the Academy.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Raphael told me,” Yuki said. “But that isn’t the problem. The problem was that someone had information on the barrier. There are other much easier ways to attack a place than to create a golem. Especially a golem as strong and sophisticated as the one that was here. But because the person did not go those routes and decided to attack with the one thing the barrier wouldn’t block suggests one thing.”

“That can’t be,” Yuna whispered as realization dawned on her.

“Someone told this person information on the barrier,” Yuki continued. “This would also explain how the attacker knew when to attack and where to attack. It is also possible that this person was in possession of this information already. And there is only one place where someone can get this information.”

Yuki looked up and stared directly into Yuna’s eyes.

“There is traitor in the school,” he announced calmly.