180 A story about mages
The next day the members of the Occult Club once again gathered after classes when all other students have left the school grounds.
“The next mystery we should check should be either the Dancing Shadow or the Lonely Piano, both of these mysteries have known time frames and places where they appear. So which one should we tackle first?” Michael asked the other members in the clubroom.
“The Lonely piano could be heard throughout the school grounds, and we can’t hear it right now. As for the Dancing Shadow, it reportedly appears at Ten p.m., and right now it’s just seven, there are at least three more hours to go before it’s time so what are we going to do in the meantime?” Ha-Eun asked the other members.
When Michael heard what Ha-Eun said he became a little excited, maybe this is the opportunity he needed.
“Um, everyone as the Occult Club how about we share our knowledge of the occult?”
“The leader is right! Let us share our stories, and our knowledge and deepen our bond with one another.” Oliver fully supported this idea.
“Hmm, that sounds interesting.” Tsukasa also supported the idea.
“Alright, so who is going to share first?” Ichika also chimed in.
“How about we let our adviser share his knowledge? As the librarian of the school, surely Sir Loki has some insights on the occult that he can share.”
.....
Michael was finally able to ask Loki for advice albeit indirectly. Also, he didn’t tell anyone of Loki’s true abilities and just ask him in line with his identity as an adviser.
“I want to hear that too. If Mr. Loki doesn’t want to share any knowledge about the occult he can also share his life experience with us.”
Ichika was greatly interested in what Loki had to say. In the past few days since the creation of the club, Ichika tried to get close to Loki, but every time she approached Loki seems to disappear and start conversations with other people, especially Michael. She thought that by now Loki would’ve at least been attracted to her beauty but it doesn’t seem like he was affected at all. This was the first time Ichika experienced such a thing since she was able to use her beauty on both males and females.
Seeing the excited expression on everyone’s faces Loki could only sigh. Well, he did agree to be the adviser of the club, as long as he doesn’t expose his true strength and only shows a little bit, sharing a few things should be alright.
So what to share with them, he couldn’t explain mana to the group since for now, Michael and Oliver have the ability to absorb mana.
‘Hmm, what to share?... Oh right, how about I share my theory about the mages in this world.’
...
“Alright then, what do you guys know about mages?”
“Mages, are you talking about those characters written in some fantasy novels that can use the natural elements of the world without using inner energy?” Edward shared what he knew about Mages.
“The only thing I know about the term mages is from the video games I play,” Ha-Eun spoke while tilting her head a bit.
“Oh, mages a term I haven’t heard in a while. Back then one of my companions was the greatest archmage of the kingdom, his strongest spell could summon lightning from the heavens to strike the enemy. Still, in this world which is ruled by martial arts the mages of my old world who have weak bodies would be at a disadvantage.”
“I see, in your minds, mages do not exist in the real and all are just fabrications, simply fantasy characters, but what if I told you I can prove the existence of mages in the real world.”
The moment those words came out of Loki’s mouth, all of the members were shocked and then that shock became a look of excitement.
“Oh our lord adviser do you know of the existence of mages? I knew that you weren’t a simple librarian.”
“Mages, did they really exist?” Ichika and Erika the two who were more knowledgeable than most students frowned.
“There is no definite proof of their existence, but there are many clues in various historical texts. The most famous example was the battle of knights and martial artists. Do you guys know of this battle?”
When Loki asked that question Michael remembered the image of the royal door, but he doesn’t know the significance of that picture.
“The battle on holy ground, a legendary battle that is famously known as a myth,” Edward answered.
“It could be a myth or it could be a real account no one knows as all traces of that era were hard to come by. Still, in that story, it was described that the group of knights that faced the martial artists that tried to invade their holy land were people with no inner energy. In that story that was recovered from the diary of an old martial artist who fought in that war, the knights were using powers very different from inner energy. It is said that what they used was the energy of the world itself.”
“So are you saying that those knights were mages?”
“Yes, the energy of the world that was described seems to be able to manipulate the elements around them which have the same description as those mages in popular fantasy novels and games. Don’t you think that’s too much of a coincidence?”
“Well, if that were true then it would be quite intriguing but it’s just a myth.”
“A myth that could be based on real events. The story of the knights that use the energy of the world does not come from just that one battle. There are different places in the world that uncovered various old texts that describe an unknown power similar to what the knights used. Not only were they found in different places but the eras they came from are also different. If it just happened in one place, in a certain era this unknown power that was different from inner energy could be just a hoax a myth, but to be described in different places in different eras separated a thousand miles and thousand years, this shouldn’t simply be a coincidence, right?”
While Loki was speaking he showed various pictures, that he found on the internet regarding his theory. Indeed there were numerous murals, statues, and other ancient texts, that depict another form of power aside from martial arts.
When the students heard Loki’s theory they had varying reactions. It was indeed an interesting theory, but in the end, it was just that a theory.
“That truly is interesting Sir Loki, I wonder if somebody else is researching a similar thing?” Michael spoke while deep in thought.
“As expected of our lord adviser, such a thing if true could change this boring world of martial artists,” Oliver spoke with his usual excited tone.
“That was quite interesting Mr. Loki, I hope to learn more about it. If possible maybe you could give me some private lessons.”
Ichika spoke with a different smile on her face, it wasn’t the usual kind smile but a mischievous one. When the others heard what Ichika said, Edward and Ha-Eun’s expressions changed as well.
“I want to learn more about those people who used a different power from inner energy. I hope Mr. Librarian could tell us more about it.” Ha-Eun raised her hand waving it.
“Yes, there’s no need for private one on ones, since we are all part of the Occult Club and we are all interested in such theories why don’t we just hear it together.”
Edward spoke while urging the other members to agree with him. Seeing what the two did, Ichika was frowning on the inside, it was obvious to her that the two were stopping her from getting close to Loki, she then looked at Erika wanting her to help. Erika nodded her head as if she heard Ichika’s thoughts and spoke.
“Okay then, so how about every club time we allot thirty minutes of our time to listen to more of Mr. Loki’s theories, is that alright with everyone?”
Ichika who was looking at Erika had her mouth open slightly, it was getting harder to keep her smile on as she heard what Erika said.
‘I thought you were on my side.’ Ichika shouted in her mind while continuing to look at Erika.
‘Of course, I am on your side. This is good for you.’ As if the two had telepathy they spoke simply by looking into each other’s eyes.
Unaware of the thoughts of the two the other members agreed with Erika’s proposition. After showing a few more pictures Loki was done telling his theory regarding Mages. At first, he was going to use the Alchemist as an example of a modern mage, but he remembered that most people didn’t know about the Alchemist, so he stopped himself.
Once Loki was done sharing his theory the other members also shared their ideas about the occult.