Chapter 92: Departure – Secret Quest

With Marrow taken care of, Sen’s work in Bright Sail was complete. Though he took his time walking back through the town. He watched people going about their business and children playing in the streets. Sen used magic to discreetly deposit gold coins in the cups of beggars without them knowing where it had come from, and window-shopped as he walked by various stores. Perhaps he was nervous to find out what message might await him in the castle’s ruins, or perhaps he realized he’d miss Brightsail Academy more than he originally thought. But his walk through the town was more of a stroll than anything. 

When he finally reached the gates of the academy, it was bittersweet. He was here to retrieve Mori and Ilm; after that…well, they’d be leaving. He thought back to when they’d first approached these gates. Professor Calabari had tried to scam them, and Sen had taken advantage of the situation to get all three of them admitted. The eight months since then had felt like forever. But there were other opportunities in the world. Other adventures to be had. People to meet. He steeled himself, and the gates opened for him as if beckoning him inside. 

The school year was over now, and now that final exams and graduation duels were over, many students would go and visit their families during the break before the following one started. It left the school feeling…quieter than usual. Only a few students hung around in the entrance hall; some would stay, those with nowhere else to go. Others had luggage and were simply waiting for a carriage or whatever other transport they’d arranged. He nodded at a few people who waved when they recognized him. If he’d stood out before because of his rank, that effect was amplified by a thousand now that he’d beat a fourth-year student, Snake of all people, in a graduation duel. He contemplated throwing on an invisibility spell, but decided against it. It wasn’t as if people were stopping him to talk. He could deal with a few nervous waves or head nods. When he reached the door to his dorm, he stopped. He heard several voices inside. 

He took a deep breath. If he were being honest, he almost wanted to slip away discreetly, but he owed his friends a proper goodbye. He turned the doorknob and stepped inside. 

Mori and Ilm were there, naturally. Their bags were packed, the artifacts and belongings they’d collected since coming to this world. All of that was expected. What he hadn’t expected was Samara and Milim standing there with bags of their own. 

Samara’s sword was slung over her shoulder, and she carried a sack full of her belongings. “It’s about time. I was starting to think you left without us!” she said. 

Sen tilted his head. “Without you?” he asked.

Milim blushed. She turned to look at Mori for help. Sen noticed she had a pink bag of her own. Several of them actually, and her staff was threaded through the handles of one for easier carrying. 

Mori cleared his throat. “The girls…rightfully assumed we’d be taking our leave of the academy. They…” He searched for the right word, probably to avoid getting cut by Samara. “They’d like to join us, if that’s alright, master.”

“Uh.” Sen blinked. He hadn’t expected that. “You want to come with us? To the ruins of the Kingdom of Magic?” he asked.

Samara shrugged. “Nothing better to do.”

“Yes,” Milim said at the same time. 

Sen thought for a moment. The ruins were allegedly dangerous, but Samara and Milim were more than capable of protecting themselves. All of them had quested together plenty of times in the past. Truthfully, he couldn’t find any reason to object to it. “Will we have room?” he asked, turning to Mori.

Mori nodded. “I sent word to Zeke earlier. He said it wouldn’t be an issue at all. Everything is arranged.”

“Then I have no objections. But this isn’t something I’m doing for fun. I’m…” he looked for the words. Milim knew his secret, but Samara was in the dark. 

“You’re the God of Magic, we know boss, can we get going already?” Samara asked.

Sen scoffed. He turned to Milim, who shook her head fervently in denial. “How did you…” 

Sen and Mori turned to look at Ilm at the same time. Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. “I’m sorry! She bugged me about it for months! I swore her to a magic oath! No one else knows! Swear!” Ilm said. 

Mori frowned and turned to look at Sen. He clearly disapproved but was worried how Sen might react. 

“Well, no more secrets between us all, at least.” Sen sighed. 

Samara smirked. “None? Then I was wondering, what’s going on between you and Mil—”

Milim grabbed her bags and hurried toward the door. “We should get going now! Right now! No time to waste!” She yanked the door open and pushed Sen through as fast as she could.

Samara called after them. “Hey! What happened to no secrets!” 

Fortunately, Zeke’s transport arrived at the gates of Brightsail Academy not long after. The carriage was bright red with intricate, decorative patterns all around it. On either side were identical lines that formed a dragon. To Sen’s surprise, the carriage had no side doors. Instead, there were wide steps that allowed you to climb up to the front bench of the carriage, where a driver and a few others could sit on a bench, or, you could climb into the space behind the bench, where a door swung out to allow people to step inside the cabin. The horses at the front of the carriage appeared to be some kind of magic spirits. They were smaller than usual horses, and he found it odd that such small, translucent ponies were pulling a carriage this size. As the driver dismounted, he placed his hand on a circular rune above the door into the cabin, and the ponies disappeared.

His eyes locked onto Mori. “Hello Mori! This is her!” he said. He took a necklace from around his neck and handed it to Mori. 

Mori held up a hand and gestured toward Sen. “Actually, this is the carriage’s owner.”

“Ah, you must be Sen!” He held a hand out and Sen shook it. “Master Zeke has spared no expense on this. He hired crafters from all over to come and work on this beauty. The wards there, you see em?” The driver asked. He handed Sen the necklace. 

Sen had in fact noticed the protective wards lining the carriage. They were advanced, extremely so. “An apprentice of the Shield Lord himself came to lay those wards. They’re…uh, intricate wards, I think he called em? Self-repairing, and they won’t clash with any other spells you want to add. In fact, they integrate with other barriers pretty easily, from what I hear.”

Samara whistled at that. 

Sen nodded. He glanced at Mori, who went to work at once. If a student of the Shield Lord had really worked on this, then its defenses were probably impressive, but Sen would rest easier knowing some of their own measures were in place as well. Mori could inspect the work while adding his own. “That’s nice. What else do we need to know?”

“The circle above the doorway is how you summon horses. It doesn’t require knowledge of magic, but well, you saw how my horses looked. You’re all students of Brightsail. I’m sure yours will be more impressive. Inside can fit around eight people with room to spare. Plenty of storage compartments inside, and windows can be opened, closed, or sealed shut in case of attack. Chairs are padded, and everything is designed for long-distance trips.” 

The driver put his hands on his hips and nodded, staring at the carriage. “You all should be able to sleep just fine in there. You’ll see what I mean when you check out the inside.” 

Sen nodded. “Thank you for delivering it,” he said. He withdrew a coin from his pouch and offered it, but the man held up his hands. 

“Can’t take that, Master Zeke pays too well as is. I can’t take money from a friend of his! Well, I’ve gotta get going. Few more errands to run and what not. Hope you enjoy! Master Zeke says hello, and to stop by again soon. He’s got something in the works he wants to show you when it’s ready. Won’t be long now, according to him!” With that, the man looked over the carriage one last time, grinned real big, then took off. 

“Well, come on! Let’s check it out!” Samara called out. She and Ilm ran forward. Milim giggled at the two of them. 

Sen stepped onto the wooden steps of the carriage, placed his hand on the circle and poured mana inside. Two magnificent, seven foot tall horse spirits appeared attached to the cabin. They were a deep blue and looked like physical manifestations rather than spirits. 

“He wasn’t joking when he said it depends on your magic,” Milim said, her eyes wide. “Maybe we should have someone else summon the horses until we’re outside of town,” she suggested. A crowd was starting to form. 

Sen quickly dismissed them. The large horses disappeared, prompting many passersby to look on with even more concern.  

Milim ran her own hand over the circle, and much more appropriately sized horses appeared. They appeared like normal horses, except with a blue tint that was somewhere in between the translucent ponies from before and the physical versions that Sen had summoned earlier. This would draw far less attention. Samara and Ilm were already inside looking at the storage compartments. Sen had his temporal world, but sometimes it was useful to simply keep stuff on hand. He’d decide later what he wanted to store where. 

Mori climbed aboard and settled into the driver’s seat. “Everything is in order, so I’ll drive for now. Though there’s an…” He looked around until he saw the circle he was looking for. “There!” he pointed. “That one summons a spectral driver as well. We can travel even at night if we want to. Between the horses, the driver, and all these defensive modifications, we’ll be just as safe as we were at Brightsail,” Mori said excitedly. 

That was good news. Though Sen wasn’t sure if he’d actually be able to relax with no one keeping watch. He’d see how comfortable he became over time. He turned and followed the girls into the cabin. It was…spacious, to say the least. A window stretched across either side of the wall. You could seal them with a metal panel that locked into place for both privacy and defense. There were seats on the rear and sides of the carriage. The center of the carriage had enough room for three or four people to sleep comfortably, and the benches were wide enough to act as small beds as well. If the door were closed, then you could pull up a seat to complete the bench on the door side as well, though that person would need to get up if someone needed to enter or exit the cabin. All in all, it was a masterpiece, and Sen sensed so many latent spell functions that he struggled to identify them all. It would take weeks to analyze every piece of magic and craftsmanship that had gone into this.

Zeke truly had spared no expense at all. 

They settled into their seats, and the wagon started to pull off as Mori took control of the carriage and drove them through Bright Sail.

A thousand years after Sen left the Kingdom of Magic, he was returning.

Finally.