4 The City of Edgar Brauss: Part 1

It was a strange feeling. Having someone standing right in front of you that knows your name, how old you are, and your reason for being in a certain place at a certain time, yet you have no idea who they are. The beautiful woman had just welcomed Nakayama Tadashii upon his arrival at the gate of the City of Edgar Brauss, but he didn't know much, if anything at all, about the city.

"If you don't mind…" he began, "could I ask for your name?"

The woman shut her eyes and nodded a little apologetically.

"Forgive me. I suppose I should introduce myself," she said. "My name is Lea Akayoru, the principal of the first quadrant of Edgar Brauss Magic Academy. However, from now on, you will refer to me as Ms. Akayoru for all intents and purposes."

"!!!" Tadashii jumped back a little at such a revelation. He could hardly believe it. It wasn't even that she was beautiful, it wasn't the fact that she was a principal. He jumped at the fact that the principal to an all-boys academy was a woman! Just what the hell is the system thinking? Putting a woman as beautiful as this one in a school filled with teenage boys? It was unbelievable.

"W-w-wait! You're the principal!?" he asked, completely dumbfounded.

Lea raised an eyebrow. Not really understanding why the black-haired boy was so surprised by what she said.

"Hm? Just how little do you actually know about the City of Edgar Brauss, Mr. Tadashii? For that matter, how much do you know about the academy to which you are being transferred?" she asked, leaning forward ever so slightly to try and get a response from Nakayama.

He blushed a little and looked down in embarrassment.

"W-well…" he then proceeded to look off. Any direction that wasn't the principal's he darted his eyes too.

"I see," Lea said before completely returning to her professional posture. "Well, I'm sure you'll find everything to be quite interesting," she said with a slight smirk before motioning Nakayama to follow her.

She began moving in the direction of the monstrously large gate, to which Tadashii followed, stepping over the white lines that indicate parking spaces one by one. As Nakayama stumbled his way behind her, dragging two suitcases across the pavement he began to speak.

"Wha-...what do you mean that I'll 'find everything to be interesting?' There won't be anything unreasonably dangerous, right?" he questioned, hoping to get some more clarity, although he assumed that she had probably made up her mind not to give too many details.

"The word 'danger' will come in due time, child. But, as a freshman on his first day, you won't be experiencing anything too harsh. Do not concern yourself with the future so much. Yes, your transference is quite the big deal, but it is best not to become weary of what you do not know. Magic fighters do not fret so easily."

Nakayama stared at the back of her head for a moment, but he nevertheless sighed in something reminiscent of relief or relaxation.

"Well, if she says not to be too afraid, then I guess I'll have to take her at her word." he thought to himself, looking up at the sky.

Finally, they reached the gate. No, at this distance, Nakayama felt that he had come to a realization. This was no gate.

It was more like a gigantic steel fence. There were no doors, no way inside. The only thing on the steel was, in gigantic white writing:

"CITY OF EDGAR BRAUSS"

Tadashii assumed that it probably said the same thing all over the other parts of the gate.

"Huh!?" he grunted in confusion. "How the hell are we supposed to get in!?"

He then thought back to how the principal was even standing outside. How did she get outside? But perhaps that wasn't as big a deal as to how they were supposed to get back in. He had to be in a classroom within the next few hours. The principal, though, was unfazed.

"You must come to understand…" she began, "...that all things within this city are protected by or rely on magic in some way or another."

She then turned only her head to face the teenager. "This gate, while it has no doors or openings, will freely accept all verified magic fighters, or magic students in your case," she explained. "Your father has already paid your tuition for this year, along with your dormitory rental fee, as well as your uniform fee. With all of those things paid for, you are now a part of the City of Edgar Brauss system."

"Oh…" Nakayama mumbled before snapping back to reality. "But, wait a minute. That all makes sense, but that still doesn't explain how we're able to get through."

Lea sighed and held out her hand politely in the direction of the gate, essentially motioning him to walk into it.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he said, somewhat in disbelief. But, then he stopped himself.

'Well, I guess since it operates using magic, then there's no harm in listening to her, right?" he said in his mind before gripping his two suitcases tight and preparing himself. He slid one foot back across the pavement, preparing to leap and dash full force ahead.

He leaped. A crunching sound emerged from the pavement as he threw his body forward in a full-force sprint. As his face inched closer and closer to the steel wall, his stomach churned in something like fear.

"Oh shit, what am I getting myself into!?" he thought to himself. "It's getting close! Reeeaaally close!!"

Finally, the steel wall touched the very tip of his nose and he closed his eyes out of pure reflex.

"Fuck! I'm gonna hit it! What the hell was I think-"

"-ing!?" Just before he thought he was going to hit the wall, a mystical buzzing sound surrounded him, and a portal-like opening took the shape of his body and the suitcases he carried, allowing him to completely pass through. He felt nothing. It was almost as if the wall didn't even exist. No temperature change. No opposing force. No interference. It was like walking through an open door.

As he phased through the wall, his body unconsciously stopped moving out of instinct, thinking that it was going to be crushed up against a steel wall. And because of that abrupt stop, he lost balance, stumbled, and eventually fell on his face.

Thud. "Oomph!" he exhaled as the ground beneath him punched his stomach, the weight of the suitcase on his back pressing down on him. Suddenly, he could hear that same buzzing sound coming from behind him, and then, a few seconds later, his eyes met a pair of red high heels.

"Eh…?" he looked up in a daze.

"As you can see, your body will simply pass through so long as you are a citizen here." Lea uselessly explained. Nakayama became slightly annoyed at the Captain Obvious that stood next to his stomach-down body, but he simply threw away that emotion. As he looked in front of himself, he noticed the place in which he laid.

He was stomach-first laying in the middle of a road. It wasn't too long, maybe 10 meters or less. Well, it was more like one big sidewalk. It didn't have any stop signs or yellow or white lines. Just at the end of this large sidewalk were the backsides of several buildings. Nakayama eventually determined that they were in some sort of back alley, though perhaps it was only used by people who needed to get in and out of the city. Beyond the gaps between the buildings, he could see people walking past the fronts of the buildings. Then, immediately, about four or five people came walking out into the "back-alley" in which Nakayama laid. They were probably leaving the city.

He began to stand up as the principal began talking once again. She started to explain the layout of the City of Edgar Brauss, and her explanation went something like this:

There were four designated entrances and exits. The City of Edgar Brauss' gate takes the shape of a perfect circle, therefore the locations in which the citizens can phase through the gate are at four different theoretical sections. The "phasing doors" were directly beneath the gigantic writings that say, "CITY OF EDGAR BRAUSS", in which four of those writings exist at the four different sections. The top, bottom, left, and right. Currently, both Lea and Nakayama existed at the theoretical bottom of the city.

Nakayama watched her lips as she spoke and soaked in as much information as he could before his attention would finally give out.

"That is essentially the layout of the gate," she concluded. "And, if you wish to leave for vacation or visit your family, that is how you are to leave and re-enter."

He finally stopped looking at her and looked up. "Okay, I think I've got that."

Before he knew it, she started walking again.

"H-hey!" he yelled as he rushed to follow her once again.

"The city's layout also works in four different quadrants," Lea began, not paying much attention to Nakayama's attempts to keep up with her.