Some days went by and they made it to a small town Linenstorg. After five nights of sleeping outside, they decided to rent an inn to sleep in the town. Arya was excited since it was the first time they would be sleeping in an inn. They asked someone passing by about where to find a cheap inn and were led to a small inn called Owl's Tavern. There was a stable connected to the tavern where they could put the horses and there was space for the carriage to stay.

They walked into the tavern and were greeted by a cozy restaurant or bar, Arya wasn't quite sure. There was a fire going in a fireplace in one of the corners. At the other side of the room from the door, there was a reception desk. A young woman with white hair and pale grey eyes stood at the counter. "Welcome to Owl's Tavern, my name is Alice. Food or room?" She said. "Two large rooms and one small room please" Vanessa answered. "A large room costs 50 copper and a small room costs 25 copper, so that will be 1 silver and 25 copper" Alice said. Arya didn't know if that was expensive for a room or not. You could buy bread for 10 coppers, and clothes in the village ranged from 20 copper to 3 silver. The currency went like this: 100 copper is equal to 1 silver and 100 silver was equal to 1 gold. Arya didn't know if there was a higher currency than that, but copper was the smallest. Her parents got around 3 gold in income together each year. That was a really good income. Her mother had a higher salary than her dad, and copying books made good money. Her mom said that the average person made 1 gold each year in salary, but that was excluding the taxes.

Vanessa opened a pouch and took out the required amount. She gave it to Alice. "Thank you. Enjoy your stay. There is breakfast included in the morning" Alice said. She spoke in a monotone voice and had no changes in her expression the entire time she talked. She did not wear the customer service smile Arya had gotten used to in her past life. Arya didn't know if Alice was the odd one out or not, all the store owners in her village were really friendly.

They went up the stairs to their rooms. Arya, Runo, and their parents would share a big room, Mika and his parents would share the other big room and Vanessa would take the small room.

Arya looked around the room they would be sleeping in. The room had four decently sized beds. Her parents pushed together two of the beds for them to sleep in. Runo saw that and said he wanted to sleep with everyone in a mega bed, so they ended up pushing all the beds together side by side. Arya slept on one end with Runo between her and her parents.

The next morning Arya's room woke up first and went knocking on the rooms of the other party members. They all went down together to get breakfast.

The restaurant was quite busy now Alice was taking orders and another girl was running around serving the food. She looked no older than ten. She had short brown hair put into twin-tails. Wasn't that child labor? Arya frowned. She didn't know anything about labor laws in this world, but it seemed wrong for a child her age to work.

They all sat down around a big table. Arya sat between Runo and Mika. Arya leaned over to her mother who sat next to Runo. "Isn't she too young to work?" Arya whispered and motioned towards the young girl serving food. "Hmm... some people have their own kids work in their store, it's not that unusual." Her mom said. "Miranda was taken in by us after her parents died in the war, she just helps out with breakfast in the morning." A voice spoke up behind Arya. She turned around and saw Alice standing there. "Oh I see, sorry about that, I was just worried" Arya said. "That is alright, may I take your order?" Alice asked.

They ordered their food and after a while, Miranda and Alice walked over with their food. "Here is your food!" Miranda said with a smile. "Thank you!" Arya and the others said at the same time. She looked down at her plate. She ordered some type of curry, it looked delicious. "What are you guys doing in town? It's not often I see people my age in the tavern! Can we play together after you have eaten?" Miranda asked. "I would love to, Do we have time?" Arya said and looked questioning towards Vanessa. Vanessa was the one who planned the trip since she was used to traveling. "We have time, the entry testing is open for another month before school starts. Is it ok for you guys to stay here for a few hours?" Vanessa said and looked towards the rest of the group. "Yes it would be nice to explore the town for a bit, Emily should we go looking together?" Tinala answered.

They decided to meet at the tavern again in 4 hours. Vanessa stayed at the inn looking after Mika, Arya, and Runo who was going to play with Miranda. Edward and James went their way while their wives went looking at clothes. Vanessa was picked to stay because she had already explored lots of towns as an adventurer.

Arya, Runo, Mika, and Miranda were sitting on the floor in Miranda's room. "So you guys are going to magic school in the capital?! I'm so jealous!" Miranda said. "Well we need to pass the entry test first, but that is the plan" Arya said. "I wish I could go learn magic too..." Miranda said longingly. "I also want to go!" Runo said. "I think you are a bit too young Runo. Maybe you can go if you study a lot until you are older?" Arya said. "I will study a lot and go to school!" Runo said and smiled. "Do you guys know magic?" Miranda asked. "Me and Mika are mages" Arya answered and nodded. Mika was sitting quietly, he seemed anxious about talking to new people. "I know some magic too! Look!" Miranda said and summoned a small ball of water. Mika looked up and stared at the water ball. He looked down again with a defeated look. "Woah! That's cool!" Arya said. "Alice and Tulla say that I cannot show people, but that is stupid!" Miranda said and pouted. "Yeah... I think you should be careful of who you show, I was kidnapped because of it" Arya said with a dark look. "What?! Really? Uh-oh... don't tell anyone!" Miranda said with a look of disbelief on her face. "We won't tell anyone, don't worry! And we are also mages so we can keep the secret for each other!" Arya said with a smile. "Okey! Can you guys show me some magic?! Alice only learns me sometimes!" Miranda said and giggled. "Alice is also a mage? Oh, and you mentioned someone named Tulla before, who is that?" Arya asked. "That is the cook that works here! She is really nice! She also lives here!" Miranda answered. "I also want to see more magic!" Runo said.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Arya made some mana butterflies and moved them with . She sadly still couldn't make them flap their wings. "Wow! That is SO cool! Can you learn me?" Miranda said. Arya tried to explain that she just cast pure mana and shaped it. She recommended starting with a ball. Miranda tried a few times but didn't get it to work. "Hmf! I will learn it at some point! Alice says that you just have to never give up, and I never give up!" Miranda said. She looked towards Mika who had been quiet this whole time. "You are a mage too right? Can you show me something?" Miranda asked happily. Mika became visibly uncomfortable and shook his head. "He is still working on getting . He does have and though!" Arya said. Mika got tears in his eyes and abruptly stood up and ran out of the room. The rest of them looked silently at the door for a moment. Arya kicked herself mentally for not checking up on Mika when he was so quiet. She thought he was just shy. "I will go check on him, can I ask you to look after Runo for a second?" Arya asked Miranda. "You can count on me! I hope he is ok..." Miranda said. "Is something wrong with Mika?" Runo asked Miranda as Arya went after Mika. "I don't know... do you want to play while we wait?" Miranda asked.

Arya found Mika sitting in a broom closet. She luckily saw the back of him as he went inside, otherwise, she would have never found him. She quietly sat down next to him. "Hey... you can talk to me if anything troubles you, you know?" Arya said and tried to comfort him by patting his shoulder. "It's just... I'm so bad at magic... I'm probably not going to pass the test. My mom said that I shouldn't compare myself to others, but if I don't pass the test then you won't be able to go to the school either..." Mika said and started crying harder. Arya hugged him. "Hey, it's okay even if we cannot go to the school in Dragonhelm! And we still have some time before the testing, I can try to teach you, ok?" Arya said. "Ok..." Mika answered and wiped away his tears. He still looked sad, but was no longer crying at least. "Should we go back to the others?" Arya asked. Mika nodded.

Some hours later their parents came back, and they were ready to leave again. Miranda had tears in her eyes "We are going to hang out again sometime right? Which school in Dragonhelm are you going to?" She asked. "We are trying to get into Dragonfly Academy. And we will definitely meet again somewhere!" Arya said. She left one of her mana butterflies to Miranda. She was unsure about how long it would last, but it felt right. "I want to play again too!" Runo said. "Of course!" Miranda said and chuckled.

Time passed quickly and after a bit over two weeks they made it to Dragonhelm. Arya managed to teach Mika currently he could only cast water spells. Mika's focused on water mana, he couldn't see all types of Mana like Arya could. Mika was happy with his accomplishments and that was the most important.

The group checked into a tavern and put their belongings down. "Are you sure you want to take the test today? Isn't it better to do it tomorrow?" Tinala asked her daughter. "I am so excited, I want to do it today if possible!" Arya answered. "Ok, Mika, do you want to wait until tomorrow, or do it today?" Her mom asked and looked over to Mika. He was silent for a moment before saying he also wanted to do it today.

Arya, Mika, Vanessa, Tinala, and Emily were now standing in line waiting outside the school. The men were exploring the town with Runo in the meantime. "Arya, one part of the test will probably be to output mana into a device that measures how much mana is outputted. They tell you to output as much as you can, but you should probably hold back a tiny bit... your mana level is insane" Vanessa said. "Hmm ok, but I need to get the scholarship though..." Arya said and pondered. "You will get that without outputting all your mana" Vanessa said. She sounded really sure. Arya nodded.

They were now next in line and came up to a really small building outside of the school. There was an open window with a desk inside, where a woman was sitting. It reminded Arya of a ticket booth. "Hello, what is your reason for visiting the Dragonfly Academy?" The lady asked and wore a business smile. "We have two children who wish to take the entry test" Vanessa answered. "Ok, the fee for the test is 1 silver. If you pass the test it costs 5 gold coins each year in school, except if you get a scholarship. I would not count on getting a scholarship. Only a few pass the entry test, and even fewer get a scholarship." The lady explained. Arya was shocked at the price. That was five years' worth of salary for the average person! Her aunt paid 2 silver coins for the entry test fee. The adults didn't seem shocked at the price, maybe they already knew it.

Arya and Mika were led into the school, and their mothers and Vanessa were told to wait in a waiting room. "Two people here for the entry test!" The lady called out when they got inside a building. The school grounds were large with multiple buildings, the building they were currently in was one of the smaller ones. A man came over to them. "Hello! My name is Anon, a teacher at Dragonfly Academy. I will be holding your entry test today!" He said. He nodded to the woman who took them here. She nodded back and left in a hurry. Probably more people waiting in line. "Hello! I'm Arya and this is Mika" Arya said with a smile.