Fates Parallel Chapter 37 - Problems

She had a name, now—Yoshika had mixed feelings about this. It was a cute name, and she liked it, but it was also a rather silly and thoughtless name—just Eui and Jia put together and read differently. Rika had come up with it to tease Eui about her affection for Jia, and now Yoshika was defined by that. Still, she supposed it was better to have a name than not.

It wasn’t entirely necessary—Yoshika was an individual entity, but she wasn’t really distinct from Eui and Jia. They were her, and she was them—just, both of them at the same time. It was rather confusing and unfortunately, she hadn’t had a chance to ponder it before now. Or rather, she simply hadn’t wanted to.

Jia had described it as ‘bullying’ her out of existence, but that wasn’t quite true. Yoshika wanted what Jia and Eui wanted, and if that meant focusing single-mindedly on cultivation while she was complete, then that was fine.

It’s not like she didn’t exist while incomplete, either. She experienced everything that Eui and Jia did, just as they experienced everything she did. As long as either Jia or Eui existed, so would Yoshika. With that in mind, she wouldn’t have to worry about the existential crisis she had experienced before.

There! Only a few moments of thought and she’d already resolved one of the problems that had been plaguing her. She should have done this much sooner.

With a thought, she split off some of her focus towards cultivating—no sense wasting the meditation time, after all. Once she was satisfied that with her domain’s absorption of essence, she turned her remaining attention towards the problems she now faced.

First and foremost, Tae In-Su and Sun Jaehwa—and by extension the nebulous plotting of Do Hye, who had brought them here. There were also the issues of her stalled cultivation, and Yan Hao’s inauspicious appearance—to say nothing of the various interpersonal problems caused by Jia’s awkwardness.

Yoshika had a talent for parallel processing that Eui and Jia did not—likely as a result of her nature as a gestalt entity—but for the sake of simplicity she opted to focus on one issue at a time.

As she had already established, Tae In-Su himself was only a minor issue. As intimidated as Jia had been, facing the mage she had offended, he simply didn’t have any authority or power over her anymore. Jia hadn’t seen his aura, but Eui had—from that, Yoshika could place Tae In-Su approximately as a mage in the late first stage. He would be hopelessly outmatched if he refused to give Jia face.

Sun Jaehwa was another matter. While Tae could probably be relied on to capitulate once realizing he was outmatched, Jaehwa was the type to simply find an alternate means of attack. Yoshika couldn’t be certain that Jaehwa held a grudge against Eui, but from her conversation with Jia, it seemed likely.

Worse, she had been shamelessly hitting on Jia—though Jia hadn’t noticed. She felt a strange mix of embarrassment, jealousy, and indignation that nearly broke her concentration. She quickly calmed her wavering heart by focusing mainly on the indignation. A lesson learned—when Jia and Eui’s feelings went too far out of sync, it could destabilize Yoshika.

She refocused her thoughts on Jaehwa. If she was interested in Jia, then she would treat Eui as a threat regardless of grudges. In the best case, she would try to turn Jia against Eui—out of jealousy if nothing else. In the worst—and more likely—case, Sun Jaehwa would go to great lengths to manipulate their friends and allies into isolating Jia and Eui, then insert herself as a wedge between them.

The best way to avoid that was being open and honest with their friends. Explain the history between them, and warn them of the grudge that Sun Jaehwa likely held. Yoshika didn’t like the idea, mostly because Eui only really got along with Rika and wouldn’t be comfortable telling the others about her past.

More concerning than either of them, was the man behind them. Grand Magus Do Hye had brought them here, and Yoshika couldn’t bring herself to think it was a coincidence. He knew about Jia and Eui, knew about their past, and had brought Tae In-Su and Sun Jaehwa here. How had he known, and why would he do that?

For the how, Yoshika wondered if Dae had told his master, somehow. He shouldn’t know anything about Eui’s past, though—Eui had barely spoken with Dae. So he had already known, somehow. Could he have orchestrated their arrival here? But again, why?

Trying to discern Do Hye’s motivations from such a limited context proved to be impossible, and Yoshika had to give up. Instead she focused on what he might have to gain from his actions. Dae said his master treated the world like a lab, he was like Hwang—a researcher. What would a researcher want from—

“You’re certain you won’t allow me to analyze your linked state?”

—as Yoshika recalled Hwang’s pestering she had an awful premonition. She immediately focused all of her attention into her domain, even halting her cultivation to concentrate on sensing everything around her.

She didn’t immediately find anything beyond an unusual quality to the mana in the air, but the more she focused, the more she began to realize that there were small, subtle gaps in her domain. If she hadn’t been looking, she would have never noticed the little pockets of nothing, but now that she knew what to look for, there were several of them around her.

Yoshika tried to force her domain to envelop one of the pockets and sense what was there, but it resisted her with a force that reminded her of the oppression she had felt when Jianmo and Magus Hwang demonstrated their own domains. Just when it felt like she was beginning to gain some ground, the gaps in her domain all withdrew as if they had never been there.

Both of Yoshika’s faces frowned in consternation. What had that been? Was it someone else’s domain? Was she being spied on? She shuddered at the thought, feeling mildly violated. Suddenly, her biggest priority was figuring out what that had been. She had her suspicions, of course, but it wouldn’t do any good to guess.

She’d spent enough time hiding—it was time for action. First, she’d find Dae and demand an explanation from that master of his—she’d deal with the rest later. Relaxing her breathing, Yoshika ceased her meditation, and Jia opened her eyes.

She was met by Eui’s red gaze staring back at her, before Eui averted her eyes and chuckled.

“Ok, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Is it weird that I feel almost like I’m still her?”

Jia shook her head.

“I don’t think so—I mean, we are, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s just kind of surreal.”

“It is, yeah...Sun Jaehwa was hitting on me?”

Eui scowled at Jia and flicked her in the forehead.

“Yes, and she was not being subtle. You’re just completely love-blind, Jia. Anyway, that’s not important right now. I want to get to the bottom of which weird old man has been creeping on us.”

“Right.”

Jia and Eui headed out immediately, and found that there was still a small crowd gathered in the central courtyard. After asking around briefly, they discovered that Dae and Tae In-Su were busy handling registrations for the Grand Magus’ new class.

Jia was a little annoyed to discover that they were in the same place, but she supposed she’d just have to kill two birds with one stone. She found them at a large table with a long line in front of it, filling out forms in a way that was reminiscent of the registration that Jia had gone through when she first entered the academy.

Jia and Eui skipped the line and ran straight up to Dae, who panicked slightly as they approached.

“Miss L—um, Miss, I’m afraid you’ll need to wait in line if you want to register.”

Dae subtly tried to interpose himself between her and Tae In-Su, who had been too consumed by his own paperwork to notice her approaching.

“It’s fine, Dae. I’m not here to register, but I need to talk to you or your master about something.”

Lee Jia didn’t miss Tae In-Su’s wolf-ears twitching as she spoke. His brush froze mid-stroke and he jerked his head to stare up at her in surprise.

“You!”

Lee Jia held back a sigh and bowed politely to Tae In-Su.

“Greetings, Magus Tae. My sincerest apologies for—”

Lee Jia faltered as she realized what she was about to say. Perhaps it was the influence of her recent connection with Eui’s mind, but she suddenly felt indignant. The last time they’d met he had ordered her beaten and cast out from the city—left to freeze or starve to death in the wilderness. Why did she have to apologize?

Tae In-Su noticed her hesitation, but seemed to be too confused by the sudden apology to interrupt.

“I—I wanted to apologize, but I’ve changed my mind. I hold no grudge against you for doing your job as you saw fit, but I won’t apologize for doing what I had to for my own survival. I sympathize with any troubles I might have caused you, but I feel that you have already more than repaid the favor.”

Tae In-Su stared slack-jawed at Lee Jia, while Dae glanced nervously between them. The students standing in line had already begun gossiping among themselves, but Lee Jia didn’t care. She heard Eui’s voice ring out in her mind.

“Nicely said! I’m proud of you.”

Lee Jia held back a smirk as she ignored the dumbfounded Tae In-Su and turned back to Dae.

“Anyway, Dae I need to speak with your master about something urgent.”

“Um, I suppose I can help you look for him, hehe. Tae, can you handle things here on your own for a little bit?”

Tae In-Su looked incredulously between Dae and Lee Jia and then shook his head with a scowl.

“You can’t seriously be entertaining the request of this petty criminal? I don’t know how she fooled you, but one look at the company she keeps should be all  you need to know about her character. I mean, ancestors, how did an exile even get past the shield?”

Lee Jia was about to step to her friend’s defense, but to her surprise it was Dae who spoke first. His expression was uncharacteristically steely as he addressed Tae In-Su

“Mage Tae, I understand you have your own history, but I have known Miss Lee and Miss An since the academy’s inauguration, and I consider them to be my friends. If you lack the tolerance to accept that they have begun their lives anew, then at least treat them well, out of respect to me as your senior brother-in-craft.”

Tae In-Su quailed at Dae’s reprimand and bowed his head deferentially.

“My apologies, Magus Hyeong, for speaking out of turn.”

Dae’s face softened a bit and he shook his head.

“Just Dae is fine. We’re brothers under the same master, now. Besides, if you give her a chance, I think you’ll find that Miss Lee is rather pleasant company, hehe. Given your past, she might have tried taking revenge on you.”

“Revenge!? But she’s just—”

“A second stage mage, martial artist, and spiritual artist.”

Tae In-Su choked on his words, and stared in shock at Lee Jia—she smiled and waved. Dae shook his head and chuckled.

“Hehe, that’s a fairly reasonable response. Now then Miss Lee, let’s go find my master.”

“No need, my boy!”

Lee Jia jumped as she heard Do Hye’s voice call out from right behind her. Turning around she was met by his yellow, reptilian eyes as he grinned down at her.

“Miss Lee, is it? Lovely to meet you! I am Grand Magus Do Hye, and my reputation must precede me if I’ve managed to earn the attention of such a pair of lovely ladies! How can I help you, girls?”

Lee Jia tried to hold back a grimace at Do Hye’s grandiose and vaguely flirtatious introduction. Eui didn’t hold anything back and scowled openly at the bald old mage.

“I hate him already.”

Jia couldn’t help but agree with Eui’s mental assessment but maintained a cordial tone as she spoke.

“Grand Magus, I wanted to discuss a matter of some urgency with you. Could we perhaps speak in private?”

“Certainly, Miss Lee!”

Do Hye punctuated his statement by quickly tracing a glyph in the air. Lee Jia saw the mana he infused into the air hang there for a moment before it activated and the sounds of the murmuring crowd suddenly vanished.

“There we are, a little silence spell to keep things between us. It’s no mental communication, but it does in a pinch, eh?”

Lee Jia nodded, recalling that Elder Qin had done something similar before. Wait did he just say—

“Mental communication?”

Do Hye stroked his chin and smirked. Unlike Magus Hwang, the Grand Magus was clean shaven—in fact, he seemed entirely hairless. He didn’t even have eyebrows.

“Indeed, indeed. Absolutely fascinating, that linked domain. Never in all my years have I seen two people share a domain, but the potential is rather intriguing. I can see you communicating through it, though you can rest assured that I don’t know what you’re saying.”

Lee Jia reeled a bit at the sudden discussion of one of her greatest secrets. They hadn’t told anybody about their ability to communicate telepathically and sense each other’s emotions. Lee Jia attempted to regain control of the discussion.

“Grand Magus, were you spying on us earlier? I sensed the presence of what felt like another domain in our room.”

Do Hye’s smile didn’t fade, though his brows furrowed in an expression of amused bafflement.

“Me? It’s certainly within my power, but I’m afraid not. Besides, had it been me you likely would not have sensed anything at all. What made you suspect it was me?”

Once again Lee Jia found herself thrown off by Do Hye’s pace. His straightforward attitude reminded her a bit of talking to Eunae.

“W-well, um, it only happened today, and you just arrived today.”

“Ah, I see. There’s a few flaws in your logic, miss. You only discovered the presence today, but how can you be certain that it wasn’t there before, beneath your notice? And while I have just arrived, I’m not the only one. Either of the other instructors could have done the same—well, perhaps not Sir Murayoshi.”

Lee Jia hesitated—had she been completely mistaken? She had felt so certain that it must be Do Hye, but why? Eui took the opportunity to voice her own reasoning.

“Who else had the motive to do it? We know that you had an interest in interdisciplinary cultivators, and particularly in those without previous training. We also know that you had some kind of interest in us, specifically, since you brought Sun Jaehwa and Tae In-Su here.”

Do Hye raised an eyebrow and glanced at Tae In-Su who had returned to his paperwork, occasionally stealing a furtive glance at their conversation.

“My new apprentice and the Sun girl? What have they got to do with it?”

“Are you kidding? The girl whose fiance I killed and the man Jia stole her token of invitation from? What possible reason could you have for bringing them here?”

Do Hye laughed and his perpetual smile seemed to gain a slightly wry quality.

“Haha! Ah, to be young and once again think that the entire world revolved around myself. Miss An, I brought them here to make up for the fact that I spent their opportunities in order to create one for Miss Lee. I’d have done the same for young mage Cho, but as you observed earlier, his opportunities are gone forever.”

Eui took a half step back from Do Hye and glared angrily before shooting a meaningful look towards Jia.

“He’s talking about the mage who’s token I took. He was listening to our conversation earlier.”

Lee Jia nodded at Eui in acknowledgement, but she was curious about something else Do Hye had said.

“Grand Magus, did you say you created opportunities for Eui and me? So you did know about us before? Did you set us up to come here somehow? And why?”

Do Hye’s eyes seemed to glint dangerously as he regarded Lee Jia with that same unnerving smile.

“Astute observation. Well, I wasn’t exactly being subtle about it. Yes, I orchestrated your arrival here—though don’t go spreading it around. Before you ask, there was nothing special about you two, specifically. I had several dozen mortal candidates with strong latent talents scouted and positioned to potentially find their way into the academy. You two are just the ones who happened to succeed.”

Lee Jia was stunned by the revelation. She had suspected that there was something more to her arrival here, but now she knew for certain.

“But why? Why go through all that trouble just to get a couple random mortals into the academy?”

“Why? Because nobody was listening to me. I told them that for best results we should train new interdisciplinary practitioners from scratch. So much of the education in each nation is focused on convincing students that their discipline is the ‘right’ one, and the others are all flawed in some way. They’re all flawed! So I let them stroke their egos and play their political games, while I moved my own pieces into position to prepare for the real experiment.”

He treats the world as his laboratory and people like pieces in a game.

Dae’s words echoed in Lee Jia’s head, and she finally understood. Do Hye really did play by his own rules, in a game that only he understood. Even knowing that she was caught up in his pace and letting him control the conversation, she couldn’t help but ask.

“But it was Eui and I who ended up here. I took Tae’s token, which was originally supposed to be for Sun, who’s fiance was killed by Eui, who also ended up here and became my best friend—”

“What an incredible coincidence, eh!? Fate certainly is a mysterious force.”

Lee Jia frowned and fidgeted uncomfortably.

“I thought mages didn’t believe in coincidence.”

Do Hye barked out a sharp laugh and shook his head.

“Hah! Magus Hwang doesn’t believe in fate because he can just blame anything he doesn’t understand on me! The poor man has an unfortunate tendency to get very close to making grand discoveries and falling just short—then he gets all upset when I solve the puzzle that he discovered.”

Eui shook her head and pointed an accusatory finger at Do Hye.

“None of that convinces us that it wasn’t you spying on us! If anything you’ve just told us that you had every reason to do so!”

“Did I? You’ve already given Magus Hwang permission to study you, and despite his silly rivalry he’ll happily accept my cooperation. Why would I steal what I already have?”

Eui paused, and this time it was Jia’s turn to step in.

“Dae told us that you—”

“Dae! My first apprentice is like a son to me, you know, but what son isn’t a little bit embarrassed by their father, hm? Surely there’s someone else who might have reason to investigate you.”

Jia shook her head incredulously.

“Who!? Why in the ancestor’s names would Elder Yan Hao—”

She froze mid-speech as she realized what she had just said. Suddenly, her ring felt unbearably heavy on her finger. She’d been so caught up with Tae In-Su and Sun Jaehwa’s appearance that her focus had shifted entirely onto Do Hye.

She had completely forgotten about Yan.