Dean's squad

The next day, Dean slept straight through until noon. He was exhausted; the whole of yesterday had worn him out so badly that he simply couldn't get up today.

Knock, knock, knock!

Someone knocked at the door, but very gently, as though deliberately holding back to avoid breaking the shabby little door of his shabby little hut.

"Dean, are you there?" A soft, timid voice came from outside. Unfortunately, Dean didn't seem to hear it.

"What do we do, Kana? Dean doesn't seem to be inside." The timid voice sounded again. There was no need to ask—that had to be the petite, delicate Yanxi from his squad.

But there was no way she could wake someone sound asleep like that. Even someone on the verge of waking would be lulled back to sleep by Yanxi's soft, gentle voice.

"Yanxi, you'll never wake someone who's pretending to sleep like that. Let's leave this to Kana!" As he spoke, Priest Lamore led Yanxi aside, away from Dean's hut.

"Hmph, looks like it's up to me again. This guy is always the last to show up, and now he has the nerve to sleep in! Just watch me tear down his shabby little hut today." Kana was getting serious.

"Heh, Dean, oh, Dean. I'll show you what happens when you waste this much of my time. First, I'll turn your shabby little hut into a pile of rotten wood!" As she spoke, Kana approached the hut, holding a small hatchet that had come from who knew where.

Kana was an archer, so why did she carry a hatchet around? And she seemed quite skilled with it, too.

"Kana, let's... let's not be so violent. Otherwise, Dean will have to fix his house again!" Yanxi said, unable to bear the thought.

"Yanxi, rather than worrying about Dean's shabby little hut, you might as well look around for some decent timber. We can lend him a hand afterward and build him another one!" Lamore shook his head. They had seen this so often that it no longer surprised them.

In the year since the four of them had formed a squad, Dean's shabby little hut had been smashed to pieces no fewer than ten times.

Of course, all of that had been the work of the hot-tempered Kana.

It wasn't that Dean never learned his lesson. He sometimes fell asleep while meditating, then slept until noon, and occasionally that happened to coincide perfectly with the time his squad was supposed to head out on a mission.

Still asleep, Dean seemed to sense something. A chill ran through his body, making him shudder, and he hurriedly scrambled out of bed.

"Kana, you... wait! I still need to get dressed!" Dean shouted before he even had time to get out of bed.

Kana paused at the door. Now that Dean had spoken, she couldn't tear down his shabby little hut, which only made her angrier. She had been itching to swing her hatchet and split his front door apart.

Now that Dean had answered, she had no excuse to act. But... Kana narrowed her eyes as another idea came to her.

"Dean, you little brat! Get out here within one minute! Our time is limited." As she spoke, Kana buried her hatchet in Dean's doorpost. Luckily, it was the doorpost, which was sturdy enough to withstand one blow without snapping.

The sound of that blow gave Dean a fright, too.

"Good heavens, can't you be a little gentler? Three minutes. I need three minutes!" Even as he spoke, Dean hurried to get dressed.

Dean had answered, but Kana still wasn't letting him off. She worked the hatchet from side to side a few times and pulled it free.

Thinking Kana had finished attacking Dean's shabby little hut, Lamore and Yanxi both breathed sighs of relief.

Crack! Crack, crack, crack!

Another blow landed, right in the same spot. It seemed Kana was quite handy with a hatchet—at least she could concentrate her force on the same point.

The poor little hut. Before Dean could escape, the doorpost buckled under the weight, and amid a series of cracks, the entire roof came crashing down into a heap of rotten timber.

"Aaaaah! Kana, you she-dragon! You were supposed to give me three minutes, but you... you... you tore down my room again!" Wrapped in his mage's robe, Dean crawled out of the heap of rotten wood.

A collapsing house might have looked like a serious accident, but it posed no danger to Dean at all. The only pity was the house—no, the wooden box made from a pile of rotten boards.

Dean was already used to it, too. Whenever Kana caught an opening, she would immediately tear down his shabby little hut, all under the noble pretext of getting him to live with the others so the squad would be easier to manage.

Good heavens, Dean lived in the slums, where there was no rent to pay. He only needed a few Copper Coins to buy some large boards, then find an empty patch of ground and put together a "wooden box" he could live in. Of course, he also had to hand over ten Copper Coins each month as protection money.

This really was protection money. For just ten Copper Coins, a house built in this anything-goes slum would be protected from being torn down by anyone else.

Of course, since Kana and Dean were teammates, houses she tore down weren't covered by that protection. Dean could only spend a few more Copper Coins and build himself another house.

That blasted Kana! Dean's heart was bleeding. The other three lived in the commoners' district, in a place that cost five silver coins a month and wasn't much bigger than Dean's current room.

Do you think I don't want to live in the commoners' district? If I lived there, how would I have any money left to buy new spellbooks? Dean badly wanted to say that, but after thinking it over, he let it go. Mages were different from the others, after all.

The skill books for their three classes were relatively cheap. Compared with spellbooks of the same level, they were practically a steal, costing only thirty to fifty percent as much. Being a Mage was a bitter lot.

Kana didn't reply. Humming happily, she walked behind Lamore and Yanxi and looked smugly at Dean.

Fortunately, Dean hadn't embarrassed himself too badly. At least his clothes were all on properly. He had to admit, a mage's robe really was a wonderful thing.

Dean had spent all his money and had only a tiny bit of savings left. Apart from that, his magic staff was the only thing worth anything; everything else was just worthless odds and ends.

No one would be foolish enough to leave valuables in the slums. Even if someone protected your house, that didn't necessarily guarantee the things inside would remain safe and sound.

Dean looked at the house and sighed. "All right. It's time I said goodbye to this filthy place for good."

"Huh? You're not going to live here anymore?" Kana looked a little surprised, then suddenly remembered something. "You little brat! Did you buy a new spellbook? Come on, tell us what spell it is."

As soon as Kana said that, even Lamore and Yanxi couldn't help moving closer. As their squad's only Mage, whatever spell Dean had learned was bound to be important.

"Just a minor spell, not worth mentioning. But there's something I need to tell you: I've taken Sanderson of Bru Magic Academy as my mentor." Dean brushed the dust off his clothes and spoke with pride.

(End of chapter)