Ferrudion was very happy with his magic. Unlike the mortal magics he had seen thus far, it had been utterly efficient. Not a single strand of managy had been wasted and allowed to leak out. Thus, it would only have been detectable for the split second that it was active.

Lemme om Apox, all the while, noticed that all her pockets had suddenly become heavy. Most of her possessions were gone with her ship that the merchants had left drifting on the sea.

Actually, that had not bothered her. What was gold when you were in the company of a godly being?

Still, she knew the feeling of a pocket full of gold. This was it.

“Lemme on Apox, empty one of your pockets to show the others what I mean.”

Ferrudion confirmed her suspicions.

She carefully reached for the pouch sown into the inside of her waistcoat and then removed her hand holding a handful of Palevinian gold coins. The people around her stared at the eleven glittering metal disks in her hand.

It was not actually that much money, but it was peculiar to see someone keep so much money in their waistcoat.

Remembering their backstory, Lemme om Apox explained,

“I would be a foolish guardian not to hide some wealth among my person before taking my charge to a different continent.”

This simultaneously made sense and did not, but no one chose to question her.

In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, Karla Sapuk, the official and apparently their guide, asked,

“Would you like for me to call a carriage and take you to the Luminous Moon?”

“Yes,” Ferrudion agreed.

The woman ran back inside the office only to return a few minutes later.

“It will be here as soon as possible.”

Ferrudion had felt the magic, so he knew the mortal had used a primitive managy communication method.

‘I should think about getting a pouch.’

It would be convenient to have a place on his person he could create things in without blowing his cover.

‘A pouch has so little space. I wonder if there is something bigger.’

He decided to ask his mortals later.

They stood there waiting in tense silence while Ferrudion looked for a diversion.

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He noticed that he had not been looking at the material world in detail. In fact, it was difficult for him to do so.

Looking at the ground, he immediately sensed the absence of both pure spiritual energies and managy. Instinctively, he turned away only to force his attention back.

‘I am too used to living in places where everything holds energy.’

The ground beneath his feet was uneven. It was made of small plates of sedimentary rocks stuck together imperfectly. Thus, lines of another, softer material shown between them.

Ferrudion expanded his soul outward and grasped at the strands of free managy around him. They were feeble and short, but his powerful soul willed them to do this bidding.

He sent them into the ground to observe the soft, brown substance between the rock slices:

It was a mess. He could not believe how many materials had been mixed into the stuff.

‘It is the impurest material I have ever inspected.’

Both of his parents' domains were focused on structure and order, so he knew very little about the more chaotic concepts that existed and could exist.

He felt kaolinite, small grains of various minerals, and many organic compounds that he had no knowledge of. It was overwhelming.

Releasing the managy, he shifted his focus away from the material.

‘I should take a few years to study that stuff. Perhaps I can learn its concept and dump a heaping of it on that annoying ferretoid when I get back. I bet that would get his attention.’

Before he could further his plans, he felt another three souls enter his inner perimeter. They were unremarkable, and he was about to disregard them when Karla Sapuk tried to break the awkward silence.

“That should be the carriage.”

‘Let us see this transportation method that mortals prefer to walking.’

Ferrudion had liked the ship, so he had high hopes for the mortals' land-based vehicles, but when he saw the carriage, he was baffled.

It was a small cabin moving on rotating rings. The reason for its movements were two curiously shaped mortals who wore an equally baffling contraption that connected them to it. They were walking at a steady pace, moving it forward.

‘They want me to allow those… husks to move me?!’

Their souls were so faint Ferrudion doubted that they were even intelligent.

The third soul was a man sitting on a bench before the cabin. His soul was a little brighter. It comparable to some of the souls he had felt on Kalou Saha's ship. The man was just sitting there.

“This is the carriage?” Ferrudion asked in disbelief.

“Yes, my Lord. My apologies for calling such a humble carriage, please forgive me.”

Ferrudion was torn between refusing and playing along.

‘Since I am playing a mortal, is it okay to pretend to be weak? Do even powerful mortals lack the capacity to walk? Why do they show such weakness and allow others to move them.’

There were things a greater god could delegate and things he could not. Ferrudion had never seen his parents allow anything else to move them.

Then again, right now he was not a greater god but a mortal. At least, he wanted to pretend he was.

Grimacing, he said,

“Okay.”

Lemme om Apox rushed to the side of the carriage, and to the chagrin of the carriage driver, opened the entryway for him.

Ferrudion sighed, and entered. Inside were two more benches. He sat down in a corner and waited to see Lemme on Apox and Kalou Saha take their places on the bench opposite him. Kalou Dan looked a little awkward.

He was unsure if he should try to squeeze in between the two adults, a seemingly impossible task, or if he should dare sit besides Ferrudion.

“Sit down. I want to see how fast this vessel can move,” Ferrudion hurried him.

The youth asked,

“Can I… sit next to you?”

Ferrudion frowned and noticed the situation.

“Yes.”

Kalou Dan carefully sat down to his right, trying to give him as much space as possible.

‘Will that woman want to squeeze in between us?’ Ferrudion worried, but his worries were unfounded.

The carriage started moving, and he sensed her soul next to the other human. She must be sitting on the bench outside with him.

Disliking the cramped, shaking space, Ferrudion voiced his decision,

“Next time, we will walk.”