Also, being encased in an invisible sphere that repelled water was just plain more impressive than the more subtle, sophisticated wards. The barrier actually worked on water in general, not just rain drops, so he didn’t even have to worry about stepping into puddles and soaking his footwear. Seeing water on the road part before him like in front of some kind of celestial emissary was mightily amusing. Also a bit of an ego boost, which is something he sorely needed after being so thoroughly outmatched during the invasion of the previous restart.
He’d probably never use the spell after getting out of the time loop, since an umbrella was good enough for most occasions and didn’t consume any mana, but finding a store that sold them along his usual route from the train station had proved surprisingly difficult. Which, now that he thought about it, suggested that he probably would use the spell from time to time, since he doubted this would be the only time in his life he’d find himself without an easily acquired umbrella.
He shook his head. He really shouldn’t be fantasizing about what he’d do after getting out of the time loop, since it didn’t appear that would happen any time soon. He had to concentrate on the present… and boy did that sound weird, considering his situation. Like what was he going to do with Zach? He was sorely tempted to just admit everything to the boy and have them try to figure out this mess together — surely two heads are better than one? Impulsive he may be, but Zach couldn’t have gotten as far as he did without having a good head on his shoulders. He didn’t feel entirely comfortable with that idea, though — he strongly suspected there was more to Zach than it appeared, and he hated to charge in without knowing what he was getting himself into.
He decided to see how Zach interacted with him in this restart before deciding.
«Zorian! Over here!»
Zorian glanced towards the happy-looking Benisek waving at him like a lunatic and wondered what he should do. He didn’t really want to talk to him. Benisek might be his closest friend among the student body, but he was also rather irritating at times, and it’s not like he could tell Zorian something he didn’t already know at this point. In the end he sighed in defeat and trudged over to the grinning boy. Time loop or no, it felt wrong to blatantly snub someone so visibly happy to see him, especially since he shared so much history with Benisek.
He did find it interesting that Benisek was present in the cafeteria at this time, since that wasn’t his usual behavior in the restarts Zorian experienced so far. These kind of unexplained divergences happened all the time, which was to be expected — there were at least two time travelers wandering around the time loop, changing things both inconsequential and crucial — but it was surprising to see a change this soon into the time loop. It had only been a day since he arrived in Cyoria. Usually it took at least a week until everything went off the rails, and even then a lot of things repeated themselves. Most teachers followed some kind of a fixed teaching plan, for example, and rarely deviated from it. As far as he knew, Fortov always came looking for him for help with the purple creeper salve, even though his accident with Ibery only happened near the very end of the time loop. Which, now that he thought about it, suggested the accident wasn’t so accidental after all. Kind of suspicious for an accident to be so insensitive to changes…
«You just got to Cyoria, didn’t you?» Benisek prompted excitedly the moment Zorian sat down beside him.
Zorian nodded hesitantly. Benisek was only ever this excited when talking about a particularly hot girl or when he got a hold of particularly juicy gossip material. Hopefully it was the latter, because there was no way Zorian would be staying otherwise.
«You’re so not going to believe this!» Benisek said excitedly. «You know Zach? You know, Zach Noveda, last scion of the Noble House Noveda? He went to class with us these last two years.»
Of course it’s Zach. He really should have known.
«Of course I know him,» Zorian said. «He is… very memorable.»
«He is?» blinked Benisek. He shook his head. «I mean, of course he is. I kind of didn’t expect you to know, though, since he’s kind of a failure as a mage and you never interacted with him much.»
Zorian shrugged. Truth be told, it was very rare for him to forget someone’s name, regardless of how often he had interacted with them or how long it had been since he last saw them. Even before the time loop, Zorian would have instantly known who Benisek was referring to.
«Anyway,» Benisek continued, «Zach escaped from his family mansion yesterday.»
«Err, what?» asked Zorian incredulously. «What do you mean ‘escaped’? Why would he need to escape from his own mansion?»
«Well that’s the question, isn’t it?» Benisek said. «Apparently he had an argument with his guardian that eventually descended into a full-blown magical duel. A duel which, get this, Zach won! Half of the mansion was trashed, and Zach fled into the city and has yet to be found. They’re searching for him everywhere!»
«Um, wow,» Zorian said, honestly at a loss for words. What the hell was that about?
«You said it,» Benisek agreed. «I’m not sure I believe the official story, though. I mean, there’s no way Zach could have taken on his guardian in a magical duel! Tesen Zveri is a 7th circle mage or something, and Zach barely passed his own certification! Then again, something sure demolished Noveda mansion…»
«How do you know this?» asked Zorian.
«It’s all over the newspapers,» said Benisek. «Besides, everyone is talking about it. I can’t believe one of our classmates would be involved in something like that. What do you think, Zorian?»
«Ben… I honestly don’t know what to think about that,» said Zorian.
And he really meant it. He didn’t doubt for a second that Zach could beat the stuffing out of his guardian, 7th circle or not — the man was a politician, as far as Zorian knew, not a battlemage — but why would he want to do that?
«I suppose he won’t be coming to class this time, then,» mused Zorian out loud. Then again, he would not have put it past Zach to just walk into class one of these days as if nothing was wrong.
«I doubt it,» Benisek laughed.
«Did he kill anyone?» asked Zorian. Benisek shook his head in the negative. «So basically he didn’t do anything that serious. What’s the worst that can happen to him if he simply turns himself in?»
«Well, Tesen must not be too happy with him now, and he’s too influential to brush off, even for someone like Zach,» said Benisek. «Attacking one of the Elders of Eldemar is actually a fairly serious crime, and Tesen could really ruin Zach’s day if he was inclined to pursue satisfaction. Not that I think he would, since that would just draw even more attention to what happened. This whole thing is a giant political scandal for him. I’m guessing Zach will come back after a month or so, after he cools off a bit, and Tesen will ‘magnanimously’ forgive him everything.»
Zorian was silent. Zach had told him that it was rare for him to spend a restart in Cyoria, and even rarer for him to attend classes. In light of that, it had been foolish of him to expect Zach to be around in this restart. Zach may have found Zorian interesting in the previous restart, but probably not that interesting. Still, this was more than a little strange. If he had wanted to leave and do his own thing, couldn’t he have just walked out of his mansion one day and kept going? Who would have stopped him? His guardian? Why would Tesen do that? The man was clearly very hands-off in his dealings with his charge, as evidenced by Zach’s frequent absences from school during the last two years, as well as Zach’s abysmal performance prior to the time loop.