Житие Мое / Life of Mine: Глава 7

Chapter 7

Camrad_RIP 13.05.23 в 14:41

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Camrad_RIP 13.05.23 в 14:42

Boring. And you can't get drunk, except at home. It's safe, but it's no fun at all.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:42

The biggest problem of any black one is how to occupy his free time, especially if a reliable source of livelihood has already been found.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:43

The work at Biokin, not hard enough as it was, came to a pause. Polak was negotiating with the customer about the acceptance of the gas generator prototype, and everyone was waiting for the result. Johan was writing an article about a new approach to the use of improved microorganisms and pestered me with questions on the alchemical side during working hours. Carl abused the fermenting vat with all sorts of crap to try it out. We both knew that a unit with these parameters would grind any effluent with the equanimity of a cog and that all this testing was like spitting into a steam engine. Quarter's redheaded relative had gone on maternity leave, the father was to be the alchemist's assistant, also a fiery redhead, and their child, as I understand it, would only be carried in mittens. The boy was present at work only for furniture. His thoughts were somewhere far away.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:45

I was making my own coffee and counting the days until I could do magic again. I never thought I'd miss it! I could have quit my job now, of course, and quit the whole shitty business, but there was a triumph ahead, and it would be a shame not to be there for it.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:46

What is peculiar is that the new entertainment was my third wish that Rustle heard, but it was the one he did not fulfill.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:47

I decided to act swiftly - I bought a ticket to the theater for a play with the neutral title "The Road of Exile". I didn't miss it. I loved it. After three scenes, I started giggling quietly. By the end of the first act, I was giggling all the way, and by the middle of the second act, the attendant came up to me and asked me to keep my voice down.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:48

"I don't know what you find so amusing about drama, young man!" After the play, an elderly gentleman sitting next to me remarked.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:50

I, still twitching convulsively, explained to him the state a black mage must be in in order to start talking to his staff. And the staff again! A purely phallic symbol. The idea of its magical powers must have been introduced to the masses by combat mages, but I knew that the only real use for such a thing was to beat my enemies on the head, which is probably what they did back then. I knew that the only real use for such a thing was to hit enemies over the head, which was probably what I was doing in those days. For the storage of spells an ideal round (maximum cylindrical) object, and putting in simultaneously two spells still would not work, so the really cool mage - a man, hung with silver beads from head to toe, but on stage, it would take for an idiot.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:52

I could have given the theater a plus, but the next play was called "Rose of the Winds", and it made me think of white ones. Screw it!

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:56

Should I go to the races? It's a pity about the money.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 04:56

I decided to join a student club. A year before graduation. What's the big deal? They wouldn't let me into the Green World Club at all. They kicked me out the door. Quarter advised the yacht club, but I refused. I didn't like the humidity. Went to a meeting of lovers of vintage mechanics - wow. For two days, I dreamt about cogs. The history club was organizing a series of lectures on the origins of magic - I went to ask about Roland and why he was called like that. I got into an argument about the northern shamans, inserted a quotation from a book I'd seen the text of "The Testimony of the King," and got everyone off. Good!

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:00

Captain Ber came and spoiled the mood:

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:01

"I know you don't care, but consider this: Melones' trial is over, but she still has friends. They used to want to look fluffy, but now they're going to get revenge. Keep your eyes open!"

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:05

And after that, how do you treat the police?

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:05

Once again, I bought a ticket to the theater again for a tragedy called King George XIV. I wonder what it's about?

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:06

Polak saved me from strange escapades with unpredictable consequences. One day near the end of the working day, the boss appeared in the office shining like a copper candelabrum and informed me that Biokin had successfully delivered the gas generator to the customer. The concept was approved, and the firm received an order for the development of two variants of industrial units of the same type, and the final of the team's two-year ordeal would be a grand banquet. At last!

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:23

Nothing warms a black one's heart like lots and lots of free food, drinks of the kind you would never spend money on, and the opportunity to perform in front of a gathering of culturally burdened people when no one will be rude or pick a fight. The only price I paid for attending was to listen in silence to a forty-minute solemn speech alternately given by the Owner of a sludge factory and the Mayor of Redstone, an unusually well-to-do figure who had been invited to join in. No one else was allowed to speak. I knew from talking to Quarter that his uncle wished to emphasize that he had rubbed the naysayers' noses in it. He had the right!

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:34

Then everyone drank, and then it was on. I methodically tasted the contents of the bottles and decanters on the table, realizing how much I had missed in this life. What did I know about my Krowhard? Beer, mead. I tasted moonshine once at the fair. My uncle told me that in our valley someone also tried to brew moonshine, but after the first drink, he was badly kissed by a Charik (it's undead) and did not take any more risks. There's no demand for hard liquor in Krowhard! Come to think of it, even in Redstone, I did not develop a taste for heavy drinking. I do not like to lose consciousness. In our area, it's led to consequences. I had a taste for white, red, apple, and wormwood... Though I must admit that after the third glass, the difference was blurred. The people around me could not find out what the drunken black mage was capable of.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:45

"Hey, Tom, don't drink anymore." Quarter took the glass out of my hands.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:46

I was taken aback:

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:54

"What the heck?!"

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:54

"I caught a glimpse of a guy who used to hang out with Melons, but I don't know what he's doing here. He wasn't invited! I don't know what's gonna happen..."

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:55

Oh, man, it's about time! Why am I so unlucky with banquets?

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:55

Quarter was already tipsy, and his concern for his friend looked amazingly touching.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:56

"Okay!" I sincerely promised and switched exclusively to appetizers, which the sanitation magnate was also good at.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 05:58

The party was no worse than at home: the snobbery quickly faded away, the guests danced with and without music, discussed, and laughed noisily. Johan, who had been drinking only apple juice all evening, entertained the group of whites with a deeply philosophical conversation, and Polak was duking it out with another sponsor. Some little round guy kept trying to ask me if I was getting paid enough, and I tried to put it politely that only a prostitute could spit in the ceiling for a lot of money.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 06:01

It was long after dark, and it was getting close to midnight when the waiter came over and said the carriage I'd called was here. It must have been Quaкter. I'd intended to spend the night with my face in the salad. They said the room was rented until twelve o'clock the next day, but since they'd come for me, I had to go. After all, the featherbed is softer than the parquet. What if I got sick on the floor?

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 06:02

I sighed and carried my heavy body to the stroller that stood by the entrance, pricked myself painfully against something in the darkness, cursed the driver foully, emitting the scent of a fishing basket, and fell asleep almost immediately.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 06:03

The moment of falling asleep and the dream itself was not felt, there were no twilight flashes of consciousness, no visions, nothing. I closed my eyes and opened them, finding a high ceiling and a glass dome above me. A blue sky could be seen through the empty openings in the openwork frames, and it was not summer now. It was cold!

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 06:20

I shuddered and realized the fact that I was, first of all, not at home, secondly, in the unknown where, and thirdly, completely naked.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 06:21

And then my nature powerfully demanded to get up.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 06:21

"Lay still!" it said from somewhere on the side. "The dreaded spell won't let you move a finger."

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:48

I cautiously groped myself, found nothing (no pants either!), and sat down. I wonder who they wanted to buy with that stupid joke?

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:49

The two looked at me stunned, white for all intents and purposes but chewy. And a mage's physical health depends on his mental health. The guy closest to me looked especially bad. His eyes gleamed feverishly, his cheeks were sunken, his hair disheveled, and he was holding a spear. I'm not kidding; it was a natural, rare-looking spear, but he was holding it like a broomstick.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:50

"We are not afraid of you, sorcerer! The teacher killed your magic, so now you can't hurt anyone."

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:50

What a clowning.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:51

There was something painfully familiar about them, and the zombies of White Halak suddenly came to my mind. Of course, it did! Which meant that he would stab me with a spear if I let things get ugly, but on the other hand, it didn't have to happen. What was it the captain said about them? Gullible, suggestible, docile.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:52

I never thought the need to go to pee would be so stimulating to the thinking process.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:54

"Unfortunates, you have given up your souls!" I proclaimed in a tragic voice. "You are as good as dead, and the dead are at the mercy of the black mages. Obey! I spell you with the first star, the grave mist, and the guts of a black cat! Ooh! May you lose your true vision and be unable to distinguish illusion from reality! Here."

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:55

I said and snapped my fingers, wishing I could cause a shower of colorful sparks, but instead, a huge ball of fire blew up over my palm. I quickly shook it off under the table. It smelled like smoke.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:56

In short, I have to get out of here.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:56

As expected, the enchanted were unable to think critically about the situation. While the idiots clapped their eyes, trying to decide what to believe, I gathered up my clothes and was gone. And let them burn. It's their own fault.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:58

I got out into the cluttered courtyard, pulled on my wrinkled clothes, and looked around. Behind me was a sturdy but clearly demolished public building (leaves on the marble steps, a peeling colonnade, a dome with no glazing), and the greenish murky waters of the river around it-we were on an island. I could see why no one had noticed these idiots' studies-water obstructions greatly attenuate the secondary magical background.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 18:59

I felt surprisingly well. There was no hint of a hangover, my head was fresh, my body was alert, and I had a pleasant itch. I wanted to either punch someone in the face or do a magic trick. If this is the effect of "killing magic," give me three. And I did not believe that amateurs could invent something fundamentally different from the centuries-old practice of the Inquisition. It remained only to find out what the human name for what they had done was, but it was necessary to find out. Black magic is too serious a thing to rely on chance.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 19:00

Again, the fireball was not a small one.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 19:01

I had already had to effortlessly revive zombies, and they gave us a whole lecture on what all kinds of " magicians' mistakes" looked like. It was creepy, even without pictures. And then, I had made a big deal out of my spontaneous Acquisition, and they were doing rituals on me! My inflamed sense of responsibility demanded that I find the culprits and explain everything to them, and do it with my feet.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 19:03

But where to look them?

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 19:03

There was a cozy crackle inside the building and a white stream of smoke over the roof. Not for demolition, but soon the fire departments will be here, and the NZAMIPS agents won't be far behind. Do I want to explain myself to them? Silly question.

Camrad_RIP 14.05.23 в 19:04