Fort Stoic also acts as sort of a soft region indicator. Anywhere inside it is considered the Inner Central Region, which was closely under the control of the Imperial Family, while the Outer Central Region is split between two ducal houses, House Pathwalker and House Hellsworn.
Rumours from the nobility say that Pathwalker and Hellsworn are two sides of the same coin, much like light and darkness, good and evil, etc. The Imperial Family still controls the entirety of the central region however since there were times that the family was few in numbers, they opted to delegate the governance of the central region outside of Fort Stoic to their vassals but since these were at heart of the empire, those vassals needed to be both closely monitored and what better house it would but Pathwalker, with their excellent history of military prowess and warriors, and Hellsworn, who held many posts of Security and were part of numerous missions considered to be suicidal but managed to succeed against all odds.
Our next major stop would be the City of Mineras. A city ruled by House Leonhart which specializes in metallurgy and was one of the cities that produces the magicite alloy used in the construction of artifacts. It would take us five days to reach it from Fort Stoic. We would also be stopping by small villages and road rest stops along the way to help alleviate the burden on supplies and fatigue.
The days we spent on the road were fun and quiet. A bit of conservation about my academy days, the early days of their career, the weirdest missions they did, etc. It was also a surprise to learn that Joran once worked as an assistant chef back in his adventurer days before officially joining the enforcers.
On the second rest stop we camped on this leg of the journey, Victor asked me as I was finishing my lunch, "Hey how did you cast your wind spell two different positions when you were definitely in front me." He continued as he scratched the back of his head, "It was kind of bugging me ever since y'know? Never faced something to that extent from both of my career experiences."
We quickly finished up our lunch and I called out Melanie as I stood up, "Hey Melanie." When I got her attention I continued, "I'm gonna teach Victor a few tricks from my academy days so we'll be stepping out for a bit." Then in a louder tone, "I don't mind everyone else joining us but someone's gonna have to stay to watch over our gear and handle the washing our utensils."
Cameron replied, "Don't worry about it." He stood up with his bowl in his hand and faced the direction of the water source for this rest stop, a small fountain which Joran said was using water from a diverted river nearby. "If you got any tricks to teach us, might as well you know. Joran and I can handle this." Everyone was surprised for a moment since Cameron rarely showed giving a first choice, but everyone agreed and waited for everyone else to finish their lunch.
"Alright!" I said aloud as Rona finished her lunch and gave the bowl to Cameron. "Let's find some space to practice with." Those who would be joining me were Melanie, Ian, Rona, and Victor, had stood up after me and waited for my decision. "Did you guys see any open space while we were travelling here or do you already know a spot?" I asked them.
We stood for a while, contemplating the decision while Cameron and Joran were busy cleaning up after lunch. Fortunately there weren't any large merchant caravans resting here, only a few traders from the small villages.
"I think I have an idea." Melanie said. "You know that the fountain here uses water from a river." She continued, "If we can follow it back to the river, we can find a space away from travellers and use the space the river occupies as our practice ground." I nodded and thought about it for a bit. "Is the river wide enough to be actually spacious enough? is it deep?" I asked her but she only shook her head, "That I'm not sure. I apologize." Melanie still talked with her expressionless face but her tone from apologizing actually had a sort of feeling down a bit.
"Oh well." I said, "Let's just check it out and we'll see from there." I turned to call at Cameron, "We'll be back in a bit Cameron! We should be back in an hour or so." He replied with a wave of his hand as he was washing the cooking ware.
I nodded, "Let's be off then." I turned to Victor, "Can you find out where the river is precisely Victor? I'm not really well-versed in using my wind magic to search for locations and detect directions." I laughed shyly as I asked him. He had a blank look for second before having a bout of laughter, "Haha! Well I can't blame ya! You would rarely use wind magic for location and direction sensing as a noble if you're not actually planning to take a post in the field. Follow me then."
He led the way, casting a spell of wind magic called direction sensing where the user sends out feelers of wind around themselves and increases their sense of hearing and smell. We trekked through the forests around the rest stop for a few minutes, occasionally stopping for a minute or so when Victor tries to reassess our heading. Eventually we could make out the sounds of a flowing river and we all picked up our pace.
When we caught sight of the river, it was only narrow enough as it ran downstream for three people abreast to cross it, though we didn't check how deep it was.
I placed my hands on my hips, "Alright!" I said aloud, and turned towards everyone, "I'll teach you the trick I used against Victor."
We only positioned ourselves in a circle formation, with my side close to the river.
"Remember the technique I used against Victor? Where I casted a skill where I was, which was in front of him, and another behind him." They all nodded as to agree that they were listening. I turned to face the river and took the artifact hanging from my belt in my right hand. I channelled my magic into it to transform it to its wand form.
"I learned this from a senior back when my moniker was established." I focused on condensing an air bubble around the artifact, filled with mana signatures similar to my own. "As we were all taught, an artifact boosts the spell power and reduces mana consumption, however, a more specific explanation is that it affects the mana of the user that matches the mana being channelled through it. This in turn, makes it almost unique since there have been rarely any cases with a one hundred percent exact mana information between two individuals."
I closed my eyes and relaxed my grip on my artifact. "This in turn, allows an advanced technique for wind mages to imbue their artifact with an artificial bubble with their own mana signature in that bubble." I explained the concept to them as simple as I could. "There is a more higher level of proficiency for this though I don't have enough understanding of it but according to my senior, you can use wind magic's direction sensing to pivot the artifact around." I looked at Victor, who paying attentively to my artifact floating in front of me.
"Usually, you can just move them from assigning them a point in space visually but, if you're proficient enough, you can move them around using direction sensing to throw your opponent off from tracking it themselves, though I can't do it myself so I can't demonstrate it for you." I laughed shyly, but I continued to demonstrate moving my artifact with using my eyesight to manipulate the bubble to travel there by using the wind to propel it there.
I heard reactions of amazement and fascination from my observers. It seemed that this trick might not be usually taught in public institutions. This technique would be pretty useful once Victor gets a hang of it, since he's a wind mage and with his thin spear, he can make ambushes work, though I'm not sure if we can adapt this to other element users.
"Try it out yourself Victor." I called for him, while my artifact drifted back to my outstretched hand. He nodded, "Alright Captain, I'll try it out." He and I swapped places, he was near the river now, and his artifact already channelled into its spear form.
"Try to envelop the spear first in a bubble of air before trying to synchronize the mana within it to be like yours." I told him the first step. He was concentrating hard, with a steady breathing and his eyes closed. We all stood still, eagerly awaiting if he can do it on his first try.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The first thing taught to an Imperial citizen is to check for their mana manipulation capability. That dictates the career path one would take. If one has enough capacity to become a mage, they can apply for a position to study at the prestigious Imperial Academy, regardless of birth, and in even extreme circumstances, climb up the social ladder. The sky's the limit due to the Imperial Decree of Meritocracy from centuries before. Being able to manipulate mana is basically a golden ticket for any commoner seeking to improve their lives however, there are those who are too ambitious for the empire to hold down.
It felt like years when we were watching Victor envelop his spear with a bubble but in reality in only took fifteen minutes or so, give or take a few repeats but at least he was determined to see it through. I walked up to inspect his work.
His artifact spear was enveloped in a very thin bubble of air. I don't think this is enough to manipulate it like I did so I wanted to test something. I turned to look at him, "Let's test the durability for a bit, I'll use an artifactless basic wind magic." I said to him.
Without using the boost from my artifact, I cast a basic level wind magic called air push, which is basically just a gust of wind in the direction of my palm. It was a breeze, both literally and figuratively but it was enough to break the bubble the spear was in, causing it fall to ground as soon as my spell broke its barrier.
Victor was downcast, "Man! It's harder than it looks okay!" He said aloud to our other companions. They all wore the same reaction of pity for Victor as well as laughing at him for his flimsy air barrier.
I clapped to get their attention, "That should be enough practice. We need to get back on the road, so I think this is a good time to head back now." I turned to look for everybody's opinions and they all agreed. We couldn't afford to spend too much time on a rest stop unless it was really urgent.
After our brief training session by the river, we went back towards the rest stop. We were greeted with Cameron and Joran discussing with a robed fellow. He was a man of average height and slim build, and had a thin beard on him. Cameron noticed our approached and made introductions. Apparently, the robed fellow was a pilgrim of the thirteen tree, the major religion of the empire. He was on his way back to the capital from a temple visit in Mineras City and they were just exchanging what they saw from the city.
We excused ourselves from him as we were about to get back up on the road but he offered us a prayer of safe voyage. We gladly accepted his prayer and a few minutes later, we were back on the road again.
This time, our next major stop would be Mineras City, from there, we would spend a few days or so for another resupply. We wouldn't need to visit the ruling governor of that city since we don't really have an official business there, just a supply route on our way to our actual destination.
Our wagon moved along steadily on the paved road and it was as mundane as it can get. it was a clear road, dotted with a few trees in intervals from each other. It was calm and quiet though, just moving along with the wagon as it pressed onwards. It was such an ordinary and peaceful day.
We were set to reach Mineras City in about two days. We'll be stopping by an inn of a decently-sized village before arriving at Mineras City by the day after.
"Sure is nice and quiet huh." I said aloud. The wagon had no conversation going on. We were all enjoying the silence but I think it was too deafening. The other wagon was within earshot but it won't be ideal for a conversation.
"So," I turned to Rona, who was reading a book, "Got any light magic tricks?" I was curious if there was a unique technique for light magic similar to the air bubble for wind mages.
She replied without looking up from her book, "Not really. We're more trained in the sciences and human medicine. It's kind of an open secret that the more knowledgeable you are about natural recovery and human biology, the more you can heal injuries, though we can't regrow limbs."
I'm impressed that light magic users needed to be that knowledgeable, almost to the calibre of an actual medical practitioner, though they are already kind of doing that role already. I left her to continue on reading so I passed the same question to Melanie.
"Hmm", she mumbled, thinking for a minute before replying, with the same monotone voice I've heard all this time. "A unique technique for fire mages is combustion magic, but since that's basic for us, it doesn't really come up as a unique technique for our element but I've never seen a similar practice in other elements though."
I nodded at her reply. it made sense since fire mages tend be attackers which explains why they learn combustion propulsion first. I turned my attention next to Ian, waiting for him to pick up the question but he only grunted, "There's nothing I know about unique techniques for earth mages."
The conversation ended at that. Ian's not much of a conversationalist nor was Melanie. I guess it's a quiet ride until we reach the village huh.
Apparently, the road to reach the village where the inn was would require us to veer off from the main road to follow a left detour to reach the village. Once there, we can enjoy some decent inn services and be able to reach Mineras City a bit past noon the day after tomorrow.
We reached the village by just as the sun was coming down, painting the scenery an warm orange hue. The inn was located at Karos Village. Its mayor apparently was raised as a ward by House Leonhart, alongside the current Count. The village was surrounded by a ring of wooden fences, the gates, or the entrance to the village was wide enough for two, maybe three wagons at a time. The guards posted at the gate seemed to be a bit bored at his station but as we approached, he stood straight and did his duty properly.
We showed our identification cards to the guard who raised his eyebrows in surprise,
"A bunch of bigwigs huh.", he muttered.
After inspecting everyone's cards, he welcomed us into the village, "You made is just in time." he turned to ring a sort of alarm bell near his post. He rang it three times before turning his attention back to us.
"Since the sun was about to set, it was about time to close the village gates and call the nightwatch into duty."
We just nodded along with him but we asked him for the direction of the inn.
"Oh! The Nest Rest huh." He said, before pointing towards the center of the village, "It should be that way, it's before the main plaza and the sign should be noticeable enough as you approach." He bowed, "If you'll excuse me then." He then sauntered off, most likely to get the nightwatch he mentioned rolling.
"Guess we just keep following the road." I said aloud, though the wagon in front of us immediately started to move again once the guard left.
The village looked cozy. The houses were built with simple material like stone and wood but they look durable enough and were similar to most small houses back at the capital, though I would assume they would lack the amenities you could find at the capital. The villagers that we passed by were closing up their stalls and were carrying groceries, probably getting ready for dinner.
After a few minutes of following the road, a sign with a silver sheen was visible in the distance. Once we got close it was the inn called Nest Rest. We parked up to the side about, not blocking the door at the entryway.
"I'll handle the accommodations, the rest of you, secure which ones we have to take with us to our rooms and which ones we can leave with the wagons." Cameron said as he hopped down from the wagon. We all agreed and we started to sort the wagons. Perishable goods like food supply we could leave some of them, but the documents I brought with me to persuade the fellow in Auburn City was a bit confidential so I had to bring those with me. There were other items we needed to bring along with us such as extra artifacts and other personal effects. Most of what we left were food supply that we couldn't eat without cooking them and rations, and camping gear. We all secured them altogether in one wagon.
"Is everyone set?" I asked as I surveyed the others. They were mostly carrying them on hand since nobody was treating this like a vacation tour so we only packed the essentials for personal effects. We waited for Cameorn to return and he came back with a brunette woman dressed in a simpler maid uniform, a worker at this inn presumably.
She bowed, "I am Elinette, please follow me to the stables at the back, we'll be guiding your horses there and will also be the parking space for the wagons."
Cameron looked at Joran who nodded without needing any exchange of words. The maid, Elinette drove the first wagon while Joran was on the second one.
"Alright, I've got us two two-bed rooms for the men, and a single four-bed room for the women." Cameron handed one of the keys to Victor, and another one to me. "The rooms for the men are on the second floor, while the women are on the third floor. The room number is engraved on that key. Don't lose it."
"The inn serves dinner an hour after the closing bell and breakfast from the morning bell to an hour after it. You are free to do as please till we leave tomorrow after breakfast."
Cameron turned around and headed back inside the inn, the rest of us followed suit of course.
The first space that greeted us was the entrance lobby with the reception desk. A black-haired maid was manning it. Cameron turned left towards a set of stairs. On our right we could see the dining hall, a few people were already inside, waiting for the dinner call.
We followed Cameron ascend the stairs. On the second floor the men went to check their rooms and leave their belongings while the women continued onto the third floor.
Our room was labelled 301. It was the first room one the floor to our left, on our right was a wall with windows spaced out in even intervals. We went in to our room and it was quite spacious for an inn at village to say the least. At the opposite end of where we were standing was a window, flanked by two study desks.
On each side of the room was a bunk bed, the space between them would be enough to fit a table and four chairs. A luxurious room for a village inn if I do say so myself. We'd be spending the night here, grab dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow before continuing on to Mineras City.