Chapter 77: Brats Meet Crybaby

Shinji's POV:

We were currently slumped over a table behind the food stall. I was barely conscious while Kenji and Aiko were foaming at the mouth with green sludge as they had completely lost consciousness. The elf seemed to be arguing with the mad professor and jester over the taste of this awful garbage they called food.

While I was recovering from being force-fed a burger that had some squirming gelatin creature in the place of meat. I managed to piece together some information from their conversations. Apparently, the jester kid was the mad professor's younger brother and the scarry looking elf was his disciple. Based on my experiences from living under the same roof as that mad professor for only a week, I can't imagine the kinds of hardships he must have faced.

"Hey master what's up with these kids, and why does that one keep looking at me like I'm the saddest thing ever?"

"That's because Crybabies are always sad to look at! And as for who they are. Let me introduce you!" Just then he grabbed the still unconscious Aiko and Kenji by the face and lifted them up towards the small jester who poured buckets of ice water down their necks, waking them up with a jolt.

I was enjoying the sight of someone else getting dunked for once when the mad professor started introducing us.

"Crybaby, meet brat number 1, 2 and 3. Brats, this is my disciple and adopted sun Crybaby and the floating guy over there is my older younger brother."

"Uh?"

Our brains short circuited as there were too many things to point out about that introduction.

"So, now that we all know each other-!"

"How can he be both younger and older?"

"Thats not our names!"

"And Crybaby isn't a name!"

We took turns making complaints about that weird introduction.

"See, their brats! Always making a fuss over nothing!"

"Ah, that makes sense!" The jester said.

"NO, IT DOESN'T!" We yelled back.

"Kids, take it from someone who knows! You're just banging your heads against a brick wall!" He said with an empty look in his eyes that said more than any words ever could.

"Hm, that's interesting."

Without me noticing, the mad professor's brother had appeared right next to me, scaring the crap out of me as I turned my head to see his face 2 inches from my own. I ended up stumbling before falling backwards.

"Easy their kiddo!" The professor's disciple said, while catching me before turning to glare at his uncle.

"And what have I told you about sneaking up on people like that!"

"Come on! I was just excited cause I saw something interesting! And besides, big sis, I mean big bro doesn't seem to mind. Right?"

"Its fine. If someone gets a heart attack then I'll just zap them back to life, no problem."

"It's about more than just…*huff* fine. Whatever." My senior in suffering said as he took a deep breath and let it go as the empty look in his eyes returned.

Soon after, the mad professor returned to the stall as his next victims had unknowingly walked into his trap in the form of a food stall.

"Anyways. Brat number? Hey, si- I mean bro, which number was this guy again?"

"2!"

"Thanks! Well, brat number 2, if you're ever in need of a job then give us a call."

"What? Wait what do you mean? What kind of job?"

"My mean nephew has been working me to the bone over the last couple of years, so it would be nice having someone to lighten the load, but those meanies always look down on our kind so it would be nice to have some help."

"Hey, little bro, could you come help me with the sauce?!"

"Yeah, Coming!" And with that he flew away.

"What did he mean by that!"

"Kid! You have a spirit contract, right?"

"What how did-?"

"If you ever need a place to hide then you can follow us when we leave Walpurgis."

"Wait, Shinji you have a spirit? Since when?"

"Show us!"

*BONK*

Just as the other two were pestering me to reveal little flower and little thunder, the kind elf bonked them on the head with his fist.

"Don't pry into other people's secrets!"

"Thank you, mister…?"

"Oh right! I haven't introduced myself! I am Alex Manus, though most people call me the mad mage."

"Thank you, Mr. Manus" I said as I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head.

"HEY CRYBABY! Man the grill! I got to do something really quick!"

"COMING! We will be in town until the end of Walpurgis so if you need us then just ask around." He said as he walked towards the stall.

"Hey! Brats! How did the tournament go?" The mad professor said while he pulled out some large crab monster twice his size from inside a box and started ripping off its legs as it squirmed and clawed at his face to no avail.

"Uh! Do you need help with that?"

"Nah! I used to wrangle these all the time growing up. More importantly, have you gotten any recruitment offers yet brat number 2?"

"Recruitment?" Aiko and Kenji looked at me in confusion.

"Yeah, can I ask, what tier is Mr. Alex?"

"It's been a few years, but last I checked he was a 4th tier mage. Though if he's taking you in then you should have no problems."

"Just a 4th tier! Boss, I don't know if you know this, but there is a 5th tier magician in my family. So, I don't think it would be a good idea."

"Brat! Have you already forgotten what I said at the beginning of last year?"

"Hm?"

"An experienced mage from the magic continent is a hell of a lot scarier than one of the same tier from here. And that Crybaby could easily take on a 5th tier mage even back on the magic continent."

Just then I remembered a rumor I heard from one of the seniors at the academy. They say that last Walpurgis 3 years ago, a young mage of the 5th tier picked up a fight with one of the sages and survived. He killed countless arch mages as he fled the city leaving a trail of death in his mad frenzy. They started calling him the 'Mad Mage'. And that very mad mage who massacred a group of 6th tier magicians was currently running a food stall while taking orders from my crazy professor.

Just who the hell did the academy higher to teach us this year?

"Hey, so Shinji?"

"Hm?"

"Do you need help? With your family that is?"

Just then I realized I had been too swept up by the mad professor's family matters and forgot to explain my own.

"Well, yeah…"

I spent the remainder of that day explaining my circumstances to my two classmates. I even showed them little flower and little thunder. Aiko seemed to think they looked cute as she tried to rub little thunders soft cheeks, only to be hit with her temperamental attitude and stung with electricity.

It was a fun day as we bantered and played under the night sky while the strange and supernatural was happening in the food stall behind us.