R-S Chapter 22 (Patreon)

“Hey, Tobias. How goes your project?” Mr. Cullman and I entered the project room that Tobias had claimed for himself. I was carrying two freshly made coffees from the local restaurant while Mr. Cullman carried a box of donuts in his hands. Tobias didn’t look up as he responded to him. “Not great. I’m having problems with drawing the runes on something as small as a sword.”

“Got some donuts and coffee for you.” I moved forward as Mr. Cullman kept talking to him. “Why not just make the focus something other than a sword? It would be easier fitting the runes on a shield, wouldn’t it?” Both sat in stunned silence before Mr. Cullman dropped the box of donuts. “Fuck me, I’m glad you said something before I got deep into this project. It’s so obvious now that someone pointed it out.”

Tobias didn’t freak out this time; thankfully, most of the work he did could be retrofitted towards the end product this time. He had the prototype design up on the board. It wasn’t as fleshed out as the previous version. I had seen the last loop, and I could feel several problems with the design that had been fixed. “This is the design for the golem focus?”

He was now wary of me; he didn’t know who I was, and I knew more than I should about the project he was working on. “Yea… Why?” I pointed out the mistakes I felt. “This bottom left part is too square. The middle part would be better connected if you changed this part to something else. The top right circle has the wrong rune mark inside.”

He looked over the prototype design again as he talked out loud while correcting. “You said it’s too square in the bottom left… I see it now, this square should be a triangle. If it was a square one, the power lines wouldn’t connect to anything. More circular middle design? I don’t see it… Wait a second, maybe if I switched it to this rune… And this top right rune is wrong? It is! That would have caused a cascading failure if I hadn’t caught that!”

He fixed his mistakes before turning back to me. “What the fuck! You believe this Mr. Cullman!?” Tobias gestured at me with both his hands while the box in Mr. Cullman’s hands shook as what I was started to sink in. “He’s a natural enchanter. I… I need to sit down.” It was only then that I realized how rare being a natural enchanter was. Tobias explained it to me the last loop, but it took having my teacher freak out when he figured out what I was for it to truly sink in.

Was that why I was chosen for these time loops? It could be. I hadn’t really thought of why I was picked over everyone else. I had the affinity inside me before the time loop started, but what did that mean? Did it mean I had the affinity in my body before the event started, or did the affinity get added in a reset before, as it calculated who to bring into the time loop to solve the problem?

Did it piggyback off my natural time affinity? Did I have a time affinity? Did I get to keep the time affinity inside my body after I figured this out? I had dozens of questions and no one around to answer them. Mr. Cullman continued after drinking most of my coffee. “We’ll… We’ll have to tell the principal about your capabilities. I have no doubt he’ll want to be clued in on this, which leaves another question. Do you want me to tell anyone else?”

I asked him to explain further. “What do you mean?” He polished off the rest of my coffee. He didn’t want one, but I guess the shocking revelation of me being a prodigy was enough to make him forget. “Well. Many noble families are looking for someone like yourself. If you came out and announced that you are a natural enchanter I have no doubt you’ll have tons of families coming to kiss your ass and get on your good side the same day its announced.”

Hmm, maybe in a different time loop. That sounded like it would come with its own set of problems and I was still getting fully settled into the time loop routine. “Let’s just let the principal know for now. I’ll decide who to tell myself going forward so I don’t get bombarded.” Tobias and Mr. Cullman had me look at a few more enchanting patterns to ‘spot’ any mistakes in their designs before we called it a day.

Most of Mr. Cullman’s plans for what I was going to learn shifted to focus on enchanting in the future. I was looking forward to it. Learning was something I needed to focus on if I wanted to get the most out of these loops. The next day I was pulled out of class to meet the principal… Except he wasn’t the only person I met.

As I entered the principal’s office, two women were already sitting inside, waiting for me. Both were beyond the normal levels of beauty I was accustomed to. My brain started to work overtime before I couldn’t hold myself back from almost shouting. “T-the princess is here!?” Both were looking at me when I entered, and both went back to looking at the principal as he explained.

“Yes. That is indeed one of the princesses of the kingdom and her personal guard. Maybe don’t go shouting it out for everyone to hear, please.” I sat down, trying to cover up my embarrassment, but considering who was sitting across from me, it was still hard not to freak out. This must have been the princess who was kidnapped, which meant she was already in the city months before she was kidnapped.

She sipped tea before the principal got down to why she was here. “So… I should have probably checked before bringing the princess here, but is it true?” I look behind me before asking. “Is what true?” He looked disappointed as he asked. “Is it true that you’re a natural enchanter?” I smiled when it finally sank in. I was important enough to get the notice of even the princess now.

“Yes.” I took a sip from the tea I had prepared in front of me as the principal continued. “What do you think about a betrothal to the princess?” I coughed as the tea went down the wrong pipe. “Excuse me?” He waited for me to stop sputtering before he said it again, more slowly this time. “What do you think about a betrothal to the princess?”

That is what I thought he said. “All this because I’m a natural enchanter?” The princess finally broke her silence. “You must not know how rare that is. The last natural enchanter we had died hundreds of years ago. We’re still using many of the inventions and creations he made while he was alive. The portal system he created has been in disrepair, with many of the teleportation nodes needing to be removed because the side effects of teleporting to them were disastrous.”

She sighed as if she were resigned to the outcome of this conversation. It was as if she already knew I agreed to the betrothal. “If you’re even a quarter of the man he was, then you could request whatever you wish. It will be impossible to keep the nobles from finding out about you. So the best bet would be to bind you to the king’s faction through marriage… And I am the closest to your age, so… I’m the sacrificial piece used to secure you.”

I collected my thoughts, gave her a polite smile, and responded. “Hmm… Pass.”