Breakfast consisted of some hard bread and soup, not as good as what Aoi made but something in me was welcomed. It wasn’t much time after that we began traveling east. The talking around us seemed to point to the idea that we were due to reach the border sometime tomorrow. Luckily Mina found me before we got too far. I was a bit worried.

Hana and Hina stuck to me and they both seemed happier after the completion of the spirit tree ritual, but the whole situation left me feeling drained. I wasn’t much for stamina to begin with and I had hardly recovered from yesterday, so the prospect of walking for eight or more hours was definitely not something I was looking forward to. I was struggling to keep the pace even in the first hour.

“Theodore,” a harsh voice called. I turned to see Yuto. “You sure you ain’t a girl?”

What was I supposed to say to that? I dunno, let me go check? “Yeah.”

“Pathetic, how did you even make it this far?” he asked.

“Yuto!” Hina said. “It isn’t his fault! He did two spirit tree rites! It’s our fault!”

He scrunched his brow. “I thought I told you two not to be a bother, though, even at that. Just two? How little mana does the boy have?”

“Actually it’s the opposite!” Hana shouted. “He pushed so much mana into the tree he burned his hand. I have never seen anything like it. It was marvelous.”

“What? You fool!” he said, smacking the top of my head. “Why would you do that?”

Gah! Why would you hit me for that! I guess honesty is probably the best policy here. If he asks me any questions about magic I won’t be able to answer and if I feign knowledge now, he will know I was lying. “I never actually used my mana before. It was hard to control.”

He looked closely at me, I could tell what his glare meant. Something along the lines of “is he strong or perhaps lying, or maybe dumb?” It was a look I had seen in plenty of adults from my hometown. It was scary since I didn’t know the consequences of earning his ire just yet.

“Follow me,” he said. We came up to a wagon. “Climb in.”

Was this mercy? I was skeptical but I clearly wasn’t going to last. So I was looking forward to the help. I tossed my bags on the wagon and tried to pull myself up but I just didn’t have the arm strength and there was only one step. So I couldn’t slowly climb up.

“Really?” he said as he grabbed me with one hand and lifted me with what seemed like superhuman strength. I know I was thin but I wasn’t so thin that a person should be able to handle me like I was a couch cushion. I see, if people augment their strength with magic, then my lack of physical strength was even more of a red flag. Crap.

“Thank you,” I said.

“I should say that Hina and Hana have struggled more than most. I am glad you gave them something to smile about. Not understanding your mana is dangerous though. Rest for now, I will help you test your mana tonight.”

I had a feeling his offer was not entirely genuine but there was little I could do about it for now. I found a somewhat empty spot in the corner. The wagon smelled pretty bad, I had a feeling this was mostly bed rolls and similar things. But that did make it a bit more cushy than just the bare hardwood of the wagon.

“So Mina. What did you learn?” I asked.

“For one, there are several countries nearby. Two nations have been at particularly high tensions recently before they erupted into a full on war. Hoshizora and Asahi. One fighting began, they quickly sought aid from the nearby countries. Yumegi and Yogure seem to have been squeezed the most and most of the refugees here are among those nations. ”

“I see, what of where I claimed to be from, Hikarigawa?” I asked.

“Hikarigawa is on the west coast, and borders these nations on the other side. So a lot of refugees are going that way too. All the Hikarigawa citizens traveling east appear to have settled in Yogure and find it more reasonable to travel the shorter journey east then back home.”

Okay, that gives me something to play with. Wait, does that mean the two groups that met up, one was from Yogure and one from Yumegi?

She nodded. “You have mainly been interacting with Yumegi people, it seems.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I lucked out there. “Anything else?”

“No one knows what to expect at the border but some people have papers to present. I have snuck a peek at many of them,” she said.

Interesting. Forging papers may be useful, But for that to happen I need to see what Mina saw. I wonder if she can share images in my mind.

“I dunno, I never tried. Shall I?” she asked.

Still not used to the fact that she could just hear my thoughts but I guess it is efficient. “Yes, please.”

Her eyes began shining blue and moments later I could see the images inside my head. It was disorienting but I could recognize what I saw. It looked like a form in a strange language. Hikarigawa forms were much neater than the other places. Though, I don’t know where to put my name. The rest I could simply copy outright. But the name was something I’d like to copy, especially since I saw Hina and Hana carve my name on the tree.

“I’ll look into that when things settle down,” she said. “I have one more thing to report. Seasons and time keeping are different here. I have gained a vague understanding of it.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“I don’t know all the details but this world is separated into four seasons. Known as earth season for what we call spring. Fire season for summer, wind season for autumn and water for winter. A month here is composed of three ten day weeks. People say we are currently in the early rising fire season.”

That would make it like June back home. Good weather for travel. I don’t know how harsh winter is, but at least I got a reasonable amount of time to prepare. “Thank you Mina, it is valuable information. I gotta ask though. Do you know anything about mana?”

She shook her head. “I do not. Sorry, captain.”

“It isn’t an issue. When we stop, if you can find out the name section of documents and mana, that would be my next curiosity.” I said.

She nodded.

“If you don’t mind though, I would like to experiment with something,” I said. “If you are my summon, I want to try and practice summoning and dismissing you.”

She just nodded again. I smiled at her level of helpfulness.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture her returning to the book. Opening my eyes revealed nothing had changed. Guess it’s not that simple. But I had nothing but time to practice.

***

I yawned as I opened my eyes. After all my practice, I had managed to summon Hina at will but it had left me very tired. Looking outside I could tell that the sun had just nearly set and the wagon stopped moving.

“Good morning, Captain,” she said.

Huh, so she did manage to exist while I was asleep. Neat.

“I’m gonna go look for more information now,” she said, jumping off the wagon.

I need to save some food to give her later, she has to be hungry or do summons get hungry? I had a lot I needed to learn. I looked around only to spot Yuto. Agh, him again. I guess he said he planned for us to train today but I didn’t want to do more with him.

“Theodore! You seem rested, let us head to your camp spot tonight,” he said.

We went to the edge of camp. People were setting up their bedrolls, but it appeared to be a bit early for bed since the sun was still up, even if barely. None of the guards from last night were around. Actually no one was around except for those setting things up.

He tossed me what looked like a rock on a necklace. It has a brown color to it. It kind of looked like a fossilized piece of tree bark. “Pour your mana into that. As much as you can.”

“Not to be difficult but I would preferably like to understand what you plan to do with my mana before I give it,” I said.

“Nothing dangerous I assure you,” he said. “It is a wood mana stone. Mana has weight, by measuring the weight after you flow it in, I will be able to gauge your baseline level of mana. I just wanna see how much mana you have.”

I was also curious if I had a high level of mana. So I decided to try it. I remembered back to the tree and tried to let that warm feeling dance around my hand. In an instant I felt this strange sensation in my hand. Like on one side it reminded me of a vacuum being pressed against me, pulling, but on the flipside nothing was happening.

My hand was getting hot and all while the rest of my body was starting to feel chilly, but that perhaps was also due to the fact that the sun was now over the horizon. I fell to my knees and the stone fell out of my now limp hands.

He picked it up. “Heavy.”

“Wait! Is that it! You don’t have a scale or something!” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nah. Don’t need one to tell this is a lot, but there is a second way to test how powerful your mana is.”

“Oh?”

“O divine, listen to your children and grant us life in this harshest of times. Tier three, sprout!” He shouted as he slammed his hand into the ground.

A sapling emerged where his hand had been and continued to grow at an incredible rate. The cracking of the ground as it pushed things out of the way was loud and startling. I know this was literally magic but seeing it go from nothing to a full grown tree in a matter of minutes was shocking. My mana did that?

It even went so far that it began producing green fruits that reminded me of an apple by look.

“These will be useful,” he said.

“I take it I have a good magical potential?” I asked.

He looked at me with a glare. “Do you know so little about magic and the world that you fail to see the value of growing food in an instant?”

Crap. I guess that was a fair point. I couldn’t counter his logic. I just had to lean into it. “I told you that I knew little of mana. You fault my ignorance but still won’t give me a solid answer. Even if I am to interrupt what you just said to mean this is impressive. How impressive!”

“You make a point,” he said. He took out something from his pocket and flung it towards me. “Payment for the fruit. That better answer your question?”

I caught the coin. It was gold. Frankly, no! That didn’t answer my question but even I could tell that was the worst possible thing to say. “Given these trying times, I am beyond grateful for this,” I said. I hoped it was enough to satisfy him without forcing me to say one way or another.

He nodded and began to walk away. “I’ll have the girls bring dinner for you. So wait here. Your body is likely tired from using that much mana. You shouldn’t move much until you eat.”

I just laid back and spread my arms and legs out. Scary!