The carriage rocked to and fro as Cecilia and Lucian returned to Unasu. Lucian had killed his first magical beast. As he lay on the ground after his fight with the horned wolf, contrasting emotions came to his mind. At first, he couldn’t help but cry as the pain from the wolf’s attack overwhelmed his other senses. But, as he came to the realisation of what he had done, a sense of pride and accomplishment washed over him. Suddenly, the tears that welled because of the pain welled because of joy instead. Yet, his struggle was not common for mages of his calibre. The horned wolf took too many magical attacks, which led Cecilia to think that, despite being able to cast spells normally, as well as learning at a rate much faster than his peers, there might be something wrong with Lucian.

“Did I not do well?” asked Lucian as Cecilia pondered what to do next.

“No. You did it exceptionally well. Not all fights go the way we want them to. Your decision-making skills helped you kill the horned wolf. Be proud.”

“Ah, is that so?” said Lucian with a smile. Hearing those words eased his worries. He had thought he didn’t live up to his teacher’s expectations with how the fight unfolded, but it seemed he was worried for nothing.

“Still, not everything was great. Your spells lacked the power to kill the horned wolf in one shot. We have to see what’s wrong when we go to the capital.”

“The capital? Urythius? When are we going?”

“A week from today. Best say farewells for the time being since you won’t be meeting your family for a good few years.”

Lucian had mixed feelings after hearing Cecilia’s words. At first, when he was first given the opportunity to learn magic and go to the capital, he was ecstatic; he had trouble sleeping at night when he lay on his bed, daydreaming about what his life would be like at the capital. But, now that he had to leave his family behind, even for a few years, he felt a bit sad.

Dusk was setting in as they reached Unasu, Lucian and Cecilia parted ways, after which Lucian went to tell his family of his journey to the capital. He entered the tavern, which had customers, both drunk and sober, talking and laughing to their heart’s content. Along with the rumbling of voices was the smell of sourness from the alcohol, which was counteracted by the scent of the same old roast meat and spice, a tavern special of theirs.

I’m gonna miss this place.

Lucian then helped his family run the tavern until closing time, after which he told what happened in the morning, with some lies mixed in. Lucian refrained from telling his family how he was almost mauled to death, feeling they would worry incessantly. He had physically recovered as Cecilia had casted healing magic after the fight, so the scars would not remain on his body.

“It feels like you’re not telling us something.”

“Why do you think that? I told everything that happened today, from the start till the end.”

“Call it mother’s intuition. Forget it. What’s the other thing you wanted to tell us?”

“Uh, yeah. I have to go to the capital next week. Teacher said it might be years before I meet you again, so I should make the best of my time here.”

“I see. It’s already time, isn’t it”

“You know, a lot of things happened way too fast in this month. You were seriously ill, and we were worried sick, knowing nothing could help. Suddenly, a mage helped you get better, as well as promised to teach you to be a mage as well. If you had said that to me two months ago, I would have laughed at you.”

“Keep in mind that we want the best things to happen to you. So, relax and enjoy your time there. Learn new things, help people in need, and live a life you won’t regret.”

“Yeah! Let’s celebrate Lucian’s start as a mage tomorrow!”

The next night, Cassia made Lucian his favourite dishes, and Tom told him stories of adventurers of his time. As night fell, Lucian slept peacefully, knowing that his family would be rooting for him.

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A week had passed, with Lucian getting ready as he packed what he would need in his ride to the capital. As he was done packing, Marian entered his room.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, next year is the knight’s selection. I was hoping you would be there, but I don’t think you’ll have free time to visit.”

“I’ll pull some strings there. And by that, I mean beg Teacher to let me leave for a few weeks. Surely she’ll let me leave if I go above and beyond in my training.”

“Really? You would do that for me? Aw, you’re making this big sister of yours happy. But don’t tire yourself out. It’s okay even if you can’t come. Do your best there, okay?”

“Got it.”

Lucian went outside as he finished his talk with his sister and found his teacher waiting for him outside. After exchanging pleasantries and bidding farewell, Lucian and Cecilia got on the carriage to Urythius.

The carriage took a different path to the Noxfera Forest. This time the carriage had to go northeast from the town. When the carriage exited through the northern gate, Lucian felt a sense of thrill similar to the time when he went to Noxfera Forest. As they rode the carriage, Lucian asked Cecilia about the capital.

“Urythius is a well-fortified and beautiful town. Traders from around the continent come by to sell their wares. You can find stuff there that’s very commonly sold, that is wildly different from what you are used to, like B-class beast parts. If you look hard enough, you can also find merchants selling magical artifacts in some of the shadier areas. But it’s best you steer away from those places. No good deal comes from those places.”

“What about the mage’s academy there? I heard most of the mages of the kingdom come from there.”

“Right. There’s that place too. It’s a place where a bunch of heirs to noble families come and form connections rather than study magic seriously. Although, I will admit, sometimes there are some who are actually interested in learning magic, and in those cases, those types of people become the forefront of the kingdom’s might. The academy is not completely bad, as it favours merit more than lineage, much to the noble’s annoyance. So, commoners also have a chance to become mages after being tested if they are capable.”

“Woah. I wonder if I can join too.” Said Lucian, earnestly listening to the barrage of information from his teacher.

“What do you mean ‘wonder’? You are going to the academy whether you want to or not.”

“A-Ah, okay.”

“However, the age requirement for prospective academy students is seventeen years old. How old are you again?”

“I’m going to be sixteen after three months.”

“Hmm. We have a year before the entrance exam. Well, I guess you’ll have to train with the same routine for a year. What do you feel about that?”

“I’m used to teacher’s outrageous demands by now.”

“Hmm. I guess I can increase the training if you can adjust so quickly. As expected of my student!”

“N-No! Anything but that! I barely get time to rest!”

As Lucian was protesting the unreasonable adjustment to his daily routine, Cecilia quickly turned to the right side of the carriage, where she could sense something. A few seconds afterwards, Lucian turned to the same side as Cecilia, as both of them sensed a group of mana-bearing beasts dashing towards the carriage. She then orders the carriage rider to stop as she gets ready to fight.

“Stay here. I’ll deal with this.”

“I can help too. I didn’t learn to be a mage for nothing.”

“I want you to see how a proper mage fights. It will be useful as a reference, so stay put and watch closely.”

As the group of beasts drew closer, Lucian could finally make out what they looked like. The beasts were a pack of mutated bulls, but he couldn’t see the finer details to know what exactly they were.

I guess I’ll learn a spell that focuses on my eyesight next time, thought Lucian.

Cecilia casually waited for the pack to get closer, and as the pack entered her range, she unleashed her spells without even uttering a single word, unlike Lucian.

I guess I also have to learn to silent cast as well, thought Lucian, as he remembered what Cecilia had taught him about duels of mages who could cast silently against mages who required incantations.

They all got their asses handed back to them.

In a battle that didn’t even take half a minute, three different spells got casted concurrently, which struck the pack of mutated bulls. One spell shook the earth under them, swallowing more than half of each bull’s body. The second doused the pack with water that tore off the outer layers, hide and skin, with the last spell being a bolt of lightning that struck one of the bulls but didn’t stop there. The lightning bolt jumped from bull to bull, and with the last strike, the bulls finally stopped moving. Charred flesh remained where the bull’s hide and skin used to be. The bodies were so disfigured that Lucian had difficulty figuring out the name of the beast.

“These are Acid Bulls. More importantly, did you watch till the end?”

“I did.”

“Good. That’s the usual result when magic is cast on the beasts. But yours doesn’t do much damage to the beasts. Which is why we are going to get you checked when we get to the capital.”

“Is there really something wrong with me?” said Lucien, his heart heavy with sadness about not being able to perform well.

“Well, you make up for it in other ways. If your problem can be fixed, you might become even stronger than your peers.”

“Okay. I’ll make up for it in other ways if it doesn’t get cured.”

“Good on you for thinking rationally.”

“By the way, what exactly is the process for this treatment?”

“First, we are going to get you appraised by the church. If something pops up there, we’ll have a clue how to fix it.”

“Appraised? At the church?”

“You’ll get it when you see it for yourself. Let’s get on the carriage first.”