Chapter 19: Chapter 18: friendly meetings

After I calmed down, I look some more at the wings. I have to use the mirror to properly see them, and they move as I want them to. No need for conscious control, but I can do it. Flapping them gives me exactly zero lift, and trying to touch them reveals that they are immaterial. I am still feeding a small amount of mana into the tattoo, and as soon as I stop, they disappear. Not wanting them gone, I restart the stream of mana. It makes sense, since tattoos were only a thing in the game to make persistent effects and once my tattoo was transported here, it was given an effect. They are beautiful, but since I needed to have lost my friend to have gained them, I would rather have her back. 

I sit down next to the fire again, smiling at Jools. This might be the first time I have genuinely smiled since coming to this world. No scratch that, I also smiled when I saw the butterfly tattoo for the first time. We talk about my wings for a bit, and I remind him of the tattoo system from the game. Feeling a bit cold, I magic back on my sweater. I could have cast a cold resistance spell, but it’s just not the same. As the flames die out, so does our conversation and we decide to go to bed. Good thing that the wings are immaterial, because it lets me keep them whilst sleeping.

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Next morning I’m awakened by nature’s call once again, though this time I realize that there is no toilet nearby. Seeing that my wings are still there, I smile. I’m going to start thinking of them as her gift to me from the afterlife. It might not be true, but I don’t have any evidence against it, and no, I’m not going to ask the gods for clarification. Relieving myself in the nearby copse is an unpleasant experience, but is over soon enough. Jools seems to still be sleeping, so I just make my breakfast. I can still see the disaster zone of our fight yesterday. The bile we referred to as blood have dried up, and most of the grass in the area has turned black and died. I enjoy my fruit and the view as I sit there with my back turned to the disaster. After a while, I decide to wake up Jools. I walk over and nudge him awake. He leaves the land of dreams quickly and sit up. As soon as he has rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he simply stares at me. I give him a questioning look, and he simply mutters “beautiful”. Understanding the reason, I simply thank him.

Neither of us really feeling the need to talk, I simply let him complete his morning ritual in silence. After packing up, we resume our travels back to Draumr. The wings don't hinder me, they might even help me, though that might just be my good mood. We take lunch at midday and after what feels like a couple hours, we see the city again. Jools asks me if I’m going to keep the wings in the city and after thinking about it for a while, I reluctantly decide to turn them off. I am not quite ready for the amount of attention they will bring.

Entering the city in what appears to be peak hours, is a little more difficult than it was previously, though not because of the guards. There simply are more people and we have to contend with them. Luckily people seem hesitant to stand in our way and if I had to guess, I look like a rich merchant or a noble, and I have a warrior like Jools next to me. He doesn’t look stern, but his stubble has gotten noticeable, giving him a gritty look. I mean technically I’m royalty, but I’m pretty sure running away like I did counts as abdication. The rich part is also probably accurate. The amount of coins I accumulated in the game would be pretty damn difficult to get in reality. I am also a powerful mage, so maybe people are right to not stand in my way. Doesn’t mean I’m going to shove them out of the way though, I think I am better than that, and I’m in no rush. Jools is definitely not going to push them out of the way though, he’s way too nice for that. 

After walking past the gate, a carriage comes moving towards us. Well probably towards the gate and not us, but we, and a lot of other people stand in its way. The person driving is dressed nicely and is repeatedly yelling for people to move out of the way. The masses of people do move to the sides, though for a moment I contemplate just not going along with it, but I decide to stand aside as well. Inside I feel a person with a significant amount of mana, nearly a third of what I have, which is equivalent to early late game when it was a game. I think he sensed me as well, since he yelled at the driver to stop the carriage. As it stops next to us, Jools seems confused, and I tell him that there is someone with a significant amount of mana inside. An old man steps out of the carriage, and he is dressed in what looks like a wizard's robe, but instead of a classy look of a wizened elder, it seems to be covered in enchante baubles. Some are so poorly enchanted that they probably would be better off not enchanted at all. There doesn’t appear to be any synergy between them either, though it might just be that he wants at least something for every occasion. The base materials of the robe are at least of a good quality, though it seems to not be enchanted as a whole. In his hands is a wand that appears to be of a quality suitable for the midgame. He looks at me for a second, before introducing himself.

“Greeting great mage, I am Dollard the second, the headmaster of the academy. I couldn’t help but notice your abundance of mana. It’s not often I meet someone with more mana than me, let alone by such a large margin. I was wondering who you might be, visiting this esteemed city.”

“Hi… I’m Zena, and this is Jools. We just came back from dealing with some troubles to the north of the city. I have to ask though, what’s up with the enchanted baubles? I can respect having something for any situation, but some of them are just bad.” I say, slightly unsure of the direction of the conversation.

“You noticed, huh. If anyone would, it would be someone like you. They are all gifts from students. They each represent a serious effort from a graduating student, and I cherish them all. I was just taking a few of my most promising students out on a field trip so that they can experience some magic on a larger scale. I had intended to ask you if you would like to join and show them something impressive, but seeing as you are just returning, you will probably want to relax for a little while. Anyway, would you honor me with a visit to my office in the academy the day after tomorrow? We will be out of the town tonight and we will probably be back late tomorrow.”  he goes on with a smile.

I see no reason to deny it, especially since I would like to visit the academy. It’s also quite adorable that he keeps the baubles from the crafting tutorial. Looking at Jools, he gives me a nod, so I accept his invitation. As he returns to the carriage, I notice the five other people inside. They all have a mana quantity close to that of a new player. I guess that confirms that new players are equivalent to talented students.

After that rather nice interaction, we continue further into the city. The first thing I want to do is rectify my inability to light a fire. It takes a while to find somewhere that sells enchanted items. After finding a decent firestarter, which is pretty much a mana powered blowtorch, I pay the seller. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to haggle, but I’m unused to it, and have money to spare. Jools only really wants to look around, so we do that for a while, whilst opportunistically filling up our stock of food. Before finding a place to sleep for the night, I suggest we look at the dingy place to see if we can find Jo. We do find her, but it looks like she has seen better days. Her clothes are ripped in places, and she is covered in scrapes. I guess she did practise her movements. As she spots us, her face lights up and she stands up to meet us. Feeling slightly bad for her, I heal and clean her as she approaches us. I smile at her as well, and we meet in a hug. I don’t know why I chose to do it, but it felt right. She immediately asked us how it went, but instead of answering now, I told her that I would like to sleep somewhere better, and asked her if she would like to join us there. She sheepishly told us that she can’t afford anything better, but assuaging her fears, I simply told her not to worry. She collected the few thing that she did not have in her inventory and we went off to one of the nicer looking inns we passed on our meandering. I was considering getting a double room for me and Jo, but as nice as she seems, I would prefer to sleep alone. As such we end up with three individual rooms, which the inn easily accommodates. 

Then as the evening passes, we eat and retell our encounter with the abomination. She also tells us how she practiced her mana propulsion. Soon enough I sleep soundly in a comfortable bed.