There's going to be A LOT of exposition in this chapter, so bear with me as it will tie into later revelations for the story.
139th Spell: Bitter Feud
"What does this battle have to do with me?" Haru asked, trying to hide the anxiety in his voice. "I don't remember some war with dragons being covered in History of Magic."
Hikari rolled her eyes at Haru in annoyance. "'The War of the Dragons' doesn't literally refer to dragons, Ryuji. It's a metaphor."
"A metaphor for what?"
"The two Wizarding Clans that fought claim to be descended from Sorai Seiryu, one of the Big Four who was also the Avatar of Seiryu the Azure Dragon."
"Exactly, Genma-chan," Akaji confirmed.
Upon hearing that, Haru remembered the book he and Rui found at the Wataka Mansion on all the Wizarding Families in Japan which claimed his birthfather Taka's family was distantly related to the founder of the Seiryu Clan.
"But how can there be two families descended from Sorai Seiryu?" Haru asked.
"It's a long and complicated story," Muni said. "But there was a Warabe uta song we sang in Primary School that's about the War of the Dragons."
"Oh, yeah, I remember," Phāph Prasert recalled.
"But how did that song go?" Phlang said, looking at his identical twin brother Phāph.
Clearing his throat, the effeminate Muni sang the song out loud:
Shige to kenshi,
Koisuru futari no kyōdai.
Shikashi, karera ga
Aishita josei wa shin-naidatta.
Sorede kenshi wa sari,
Kanojo mo satta.
Sorekara mamonaku,
Kyōdai-tachi wa saikai shimashita.
Karera wa nohara ni itta mama
Modotte kimasendeshita.
(Shige and Kenshi,
Two brothers in love.
But the woman they
Loved was Manai.
So Kenshi went away,
And so did she.
Not long after,
The brothers met again.
They went to the field and
Never came back.)
While a few of the club members clapped at Muni's song, Haru was still left confused.
"I still don't get it," Haru said.
"Look, just read the chapter on Wizard Lords in Advanced Japanese Magical History," Hikari said as she thrust her copy at Haru. "No wonder you've been failing Ishi-sensei's pop quizzes as of late."
Unable to sleep from embarrassment, Haru snuck into the Byakko Sitting Room and used the light of the moon coming in through the circular windows to read the book Hikari gave him. In the Wizard Lords chapter of Advanced Japanese Magical History, there was a whole subsection describing the War of the Dragons in great detail. From what Haru could discern, Shige and Kenshi were the sons of Kume, who was the head of the Ryuji Clan during the Feudal Era of Japan.
But then the two brothers fell in love with a noblewoman named Tama Rumono, which Kume didn't approve of because Tama was from a Manai family. This didn't deter Kenshi, though, who eloped with Tama and was subsequently disowned by Kume. And so when Kume died of an illness not long after, he made Shige the official heir to the Ryuji Clan.
Meanwhile, Kenshi adopted Tama's surname and became the head of the Rumono Clan of wizards. But Shige, who had married a witch named Kiri Gumo out of an arranged marriage his father made for him before he died, wasn't satisfied and decided to claim Tama for himself. This in turn led to the official War of the Dragons where the two brothers clashed in a series of magic battles that lasted for several months. Many wizards died in this conflict with Kenshi and Shige among the casualties. Their wives, though, were left with children who carried on their legacy.
Shige and Kiri's son Tentou became the new heir of the Ryuji Clan while Tama went into hiding out of fear the Ryuji Clan would kill her. She then gave birth to a daughter named Saya, who was raised by noble Manai relatives after her mother died of birth complications. Years later, Saya and Tentou met not knowing they were related to one another. They formed a romantic relationship and got married, but after Saya learned the truth she killed Tentou thinking he deliberately lied to her. But in reality, Tentou's mother Kiri manipulated him into marrying Saya hoping he would kill her once he found out who she really was.
Saya retaliated, though, by killing Kiri which continued the feud between the Ryuji and Rumono Wizard Clans for generations. But once the International Statute of Secrecy came into effect, subsequent conflicts involving the two clans were carried out in the shadows. The subsection Haru was reading then said the feud officially ended when almost every Ryuji family member was killed by Warumo during his first appearance in the 1940s before his defeat in 1955.
"But why would Warumo target the Ryuji Clan?" Haru wondered out loud. "Is it because he saw them as a threat? Or maybe…one of his previous host bodies was a member of the Rumono Clan, and they wanted to end the feud by destroying the Ryuji Clan completely."
Haru then recalled the name on the ivory scepter: Tashiwa Rumono. Could he have been this previous host, let alone responsible for the student murder he was accused of committing while he was in Mahoutokoro? These questions plagued Haru's mind, even as he went back to bed and drifted to sleep.
Suddenly, Haru found himself standing on a beach. The waves were lapping at the rocks, while tall cliffs stood across from the shore. He thought this place seemed familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen it before. A moment later, a figure started walking towards him.
It was a tall man with long black hair. His eyes were the color of polished black stones, and his jawline was rigidly carved. While his robes were blue and indigo-colored, Haru noticed the man was wearing an unusual gauntlet that was smooth and curved like a snake scale. Just as Haru was about to speak, the man past through Haru's body.
To be continued…