A new day dawns and we see Sylvster and friends all gathered together in front of the express elevator station. Because this was the start of their mission they would be exempted in their normal classes and would be given any sort of special lesson or exam if needed.
Nevertheless, field missions are given priority over school lessons so in the end they won’t miss much, hopefully.
Unexpectedly, it was the girls who were there first, waiting for the boys to arrive. Though in hindsight there was a very simple reason for this.
“Yo ladies. You got here earlier than expected!” Sylvester said as he approached the two girls sitting inside the building.
Estelle yawned and scratched her eyes. It seemed that she didn’t expect to wake up this early too.
“What’s wrong Estelle? Not enough sleep?” Artian asked.
“Well not really. Mostly just woke up earlier than I should have because our dear guest over there was a little too excited for this trip.” She explained, causing Rossa’s ears to go red.
“I only want to be punctual. Don’t you have a saying in this world that goes The early bird gets the worm?” Rossa said in a rather defensive tone.
“It’s okay Rossa, we understand your excitement.” Sylvester said while having a mischievous grin on his face.
Rossa wanted to retort when she suddenly stopped herself as a complicated expression fell on her face. She then looked at Sylvester with concerned eyes as she unconsciously placed her right hand over her left, squeezing it.
The day before, Sylvester shared with them his past or rather he told them about his strange encounter with a masked entity when he was younger. How he was given a spell that was forced upon his young mind, making him go through such horrible pain.
This revelation and the fact that there was a possibility that it was all connected to the mission they would be working on is enough to make Rossa feel a bit more apprehensive for their destination to the point that it almost defeated her enthusiasm.
Upon seeing the sudden change in her demeanor Sylvester walked closer and smiled, giving her a light tap on the shoulder that seemed to bring her out of her stupor.
“Hey, why the long face? Don’t think much about the things I said and be excited since you will get to see a bit of our world.” Sylvester said in a reassuring tone.
Rossa, upon hearing his words, placed her hands on her chest and closed her eyes. She then breathed deeply as if trying to calm and steer her spirits before opening them again.
She then looked at Sylvester, but now with a calmer and lighter expression.
“Alright, thank you.” She said with a very slight yet angelic smile.
Sylvester then didn’t respond for half a second, as if he glitched out. Thankfully he immediately realized what happened and started scratching his head.
“Nah no need to thank me.” He said in an uncharacteristic bashful tone. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Estelle was watching the scene unfold with rose tinted lenses as Artian could only look at her in slight disapproval.
Before any of the four could continue however, two familiar voices called out to them.
“Dear members of Magician’s troupe, please come closer.” The pair of voices said unison while the difference in the tone made it clear who was who.
Sylvester and his friends then walked towards the information desk to speak with the twins before they were sent out into the wild. It seems that the twins are also in charge of mission briefing right before the act itself, making their visit to the headmaster the other day completely out of the ordinary.
However this thought also had very peculiar implications.
There were a lot of students currently enrolled in Inanis Orbis including Neophytes and the older students up the adept ranks. While they already kind of know there seemed to be multiple copies of the twins everywhere, they only just realized just how many of them there could possibly be.
And just like that, the questions surrounding Inanis Orbis go deeper and deeper, but enough about that. For now, Sylvester the rest are gonna go do some Lich investigations.
“Now then, here are your general instructions for the mission.” Nitri spoke first.
“You are going to be sent to a small town near the sea the reason being that the pattern of ghoul activity seems to be pointing heading towards it, but you won’t be taken there directly as we don’t have a hub there. While we can certainly use the elevators, those measures are only for emergencies.” Tinri said.
“Emergencies? Okay fair enough.” Artian responded.
“But at the very least, Rossa will get a tour of a modern city, albeit a short one. Aww I was hoping I could help her shop for some clothes today.” Estelle said in disappointment but her words did raise a certain issue.
Sylvester, Artian, and Estelle were all wearing casual clothes while Estelle was wearing something rather fashionable. Meanwhile Rossa was in her Inanis Orbis uniform plus her red cloak. In fact, all the clothes she has packed are just Inanis Orbis uniforms since her Vanecarian attires would stand out too much.
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The uniform itself wouldn’t be out of place, but the red cloth stuck to her back might be a little too much.
Then there was the fact that she had silver hair and crimson eyes, however this can easily be dismissed in the outside world as some very extreme fashion sense. It’s a good thing that the modern world is almost as weird as the world of magic.
The trio continued to stare at Rossa as if trying to find a solution for this very obvious problem.
“What’s wrong?” Rossa asked upon sensing the intrusive gazes of her friends. The trio then looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
“I’m sorry Rossa.” Sylvster said as he shook his head.
“This cape-thing has to go.” Estelle said as she tugged on the red cloth. Thankfully, Rossa was understanding and removed her coat on her own, placing it inside her luggage bag.
“Ahem, can we continue now?” Tinri asked as the trio’s shenanigans finally ended.
“Ah yes, we’re sorry.” Artian said apologetically.
“As for the accommodations don’t worry It has all been taken care of, transportation too. We would also like you to have this.” Nitri said as she brought out four cards.
They were credit cards that had Sylvester and the rest’s name written on each one.
“You can use these to pay for your daily expenses oh and just in case you need cash, you will be given a sum of money on the other side.” Tinri explained.
“Heh, a credit card huh?” Sylvester said in a joking tone. “If I weren’t going forward with a potentially life threatening mission, I would be jumping high into the air right now.”
“Now then, please enter these numbers in order once you get to the elevator. 0-0-0-0. You will be given a few more instructions on the other side. So with that out of the day. We wish you a safe return!” Tinri and Nitri said in unison.
Sylvester and the rest then said their thanks to the wins and proceeded as instructed. After doing all the instructions, the elevator made a familiar ping sound. Once the doors started to open, the familiar sounds of a car driving by welcomed their arrival.
Rossa was surprised by the loud noise as she immediately surveyed her surroundings. They were now inside the building that Sylvester entered back then, meaning that the four of them were in London.
As expected, Rossa’s eyes started to glow in excitement as an expression of curious enthusiasm dawned on her face.
Upon seeing this Sylvester smiled and walked in front of her, turned his cap into a tophat and placed it on his chest and bowed slightly.
“Welcome to earth, Miss Rossa.” Sylvester said in a gentle voice, and yet there was a certain playful teasing to it.
Rossa then showed a little smirk and did a curtsy bow in front of Sylvester.
"I thank you for your hospitality oh gracious host." Rossa said upon lifting her face, revealing a half smile. Her teasing tone matching that of Sylvester's. It seems that she has gotten used to Sylvester's antics and felt compelled to push back.
"Pft."
"Pft."
The pair then let out small puff of laughter before returning to normal as Estelle looked on with rose tinted eyes once again much to Artian's dismay.
The four then headed towards the front desk where they were greeted by the twins, much to the surprise of Rossa as she didn’t expect to see them outside of Inanis Orbis.
There they were given quite the sum of money, that was equally split into four. As for the amount, let’s just say it’s enough to turn the heads of even the most elite of the elites.
The trio were then led towards a black limousine by a tall expressionless man wearing a black suit. Sylvester felt uncomfortable and thought that this kind of defeats the purpose of blending in.
“Why a black limo? Isn’t this too much?” Sylvester said as he shook his head.
“Hmm, maybe this special treatment just for Rossa.” Estelle answered.
“Me?” Rossa asked as her eyes were pried away from the curious contraption in front of her. She couldn’t sense any mana radiating from the vehicle and yet it was capable of movement.
“Don’t think much too much of it.” Artian said as he walked towards the limo.
“Now let’s get inside. There’s more for Rossa to see anyway, so let’s hurry up.” Artian said with a smile.
“Ah you’re right.” Sylvster immediately responded with a laugh.
The four then entered the vehicle and began their long drive towards their destination, and as they had expected, Rossa kept staring out the window like a wide eyed child.
The limo passed by the old and classical looking buildings that were littered throughout London and saw people walking about and enjoying their day. However, her gleeful eyes turned a little sour as her forehead began to crumple.
“What’s wrong?” Sylvester asked.
“I don’t know, I guess I expected more?” Rossa declared, surprising everyone with her brutal honesty. “Don’t get me wrong, the buildings do look lovely and remind of some of the structures back at home, but those tall ugly things in the background just ruin the sky.” She pointed at the few skyscrapers that could be seen from her window.
“Yeah, I’m not even gonna try and defend that.” Artian said as he shook his head.
“Though I must admit, those ugly protruding heights are impressive on their own. These were made without the use of magic, correct?” Rossa asked.
“Yup, nothing but pure engineering prowess.” Sylvester replied.
“Really? It seems that magic isn’t necessary to reach great heights in this world.” Rossa said as she continued to look outside the window.
“Speaking of which, tell us a bit about Vanicares, about Acqua. What sort of buildings do you have there?” Estelle asked.
“Well, we do have relatively tall towers like these, but we don’t place them haphazardly just anywhere.” She bagan to explain.
"What do you mean haphazardly? If an engineer heard you they would get mad." Sylvester quietly thought inside his head.
“And yet I don’t think we have structures that would be as tall despite us using magic.” She said in a rather dejected tone. Just as she was about to continue, a passenger plane flew by and easily entered her field of view.
Her eyes darted towards it, almost glued to the car windows. She then looked at Sylvester with expectant eyes and began asking questions.
“Is that an airship? It doesn’t use magic too? How does it even fly?” She asked in one fast stroke, to which Sylvester happily replied.
“They are called airplanes. They don’t use magic and as for how they fly uhhh. It’s complicated.” Sylvester explained as best he could.
“I see.” Rossa then paused to continue looking outside the window. “I’m interested in your world a lot more again.”
“Again?” Sylvester and the other two asked inside her heads. It seemed that she was quite disappointed with Earth and it kind of ticked them off.
However, Sylvester and the rest still felt rather smug about humanity’s achievements until Rossa's next words filled them with questions.
“I wonder if my world was once capable of creating these marvel contraptions before the Dawn of magic and the Great fall.”