"We are going to the capital in about half a year," Says mom suddenly during dinner. Oh, right, she did say she goes to the capital every few years, and she hasn't gone since i was born. "You should come with us then." She tells auntie.
"Sounds good." Answered auntie, and so it's decided.
"Lance, now that you're done with your education, you need to think about what to do with your life. Have you decided on a line of work?" Asks mom.
"What?... Mom, i'm four?" I answer.
"It's never too early to think about the future." She says with a straight face.
"Don't worry, Lance," Says auntie "I'm sure you'll find a good job in no time. And since you're so young, you have plenty of time to try a line of work and see if you like it." But i'm four!
"Even if you can't find a job," Et tu, Athena?! "You can always just stay here and work for me." ... Now that i think about it, this is also an opportunity to get rid of my boredom...
But a job sounds so boring...
~~
Now that it seems my freedom is limited, i have to use what's left of it well. There are a few big boy ideas i should finish pursuing before i'm shackled.
Printing technology (Already exists but can only be used by mages) and improved carriages.
I wanted to start an industrial revolution with my mana engine project, but i'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough to make something like that. So i'll make do with improving transportation and communications a little bit to contribute for something like an age of enlightenment.
For printing, i'll make do with the basic stuff: A board where you attach letters to make what's essentially a big page-sized stamp.
I also made a few ballpoint pens while i was at it, because quills suck.
For carriages i made a suspension system with tires and springs and i also tried various ways of making the rest of the carriages lighter and tougher.
By the way, this country already had access to rubber, they just didn't make much use of it yet.
The end product ended up as a metallic skeleton frame that one uses as a base and attaches seats and storage compartments. I made it in three sizes: big, medium and small. And made three archetypes: one specialized in storage, one specialized in human transport and finally, one that does a little bit of both.
Now that that's over, i still have some time left before we leave for the capital. I decided to look into an idea i had a long time ago.
You see, there is this peculiar pair of magic tricks called calm animal and scare animal. To cast them, you simply concentrate on an emotional state like calm or anger and use mana to send it towards the target. The only spells i know that use this style of magic are 'war cry' and 'soothing sound' that intensify and spread the effects using sound, also allowing it to work on more intelligent beings.
But here's the thing, if i can send over my emotional state, can't i use the detection spells' feedback runes to read a target's emotions as well? So i experiment with that using the animals inside the castle, but i don't really get anywhere with it, what a shame... Let's make some fancy gifts just in case i need them while in the capital.
~~
Now, the journey to the capital is soon upon us and i'm four and a half years old. I'm pretty big for a four-year-old, to the point where i wonder if magic helped me grow somehow, i must be almost as big as a six-year-old. I have my father's curly hair and golden eyes, and my mother's vertical pupils and sharp teeth. My hair color is the same as Athena's, that is to say, a mix of father's brown and mother's blood red.
Sadly, mom doesn't allow me to practice any fighting until i'm seven. But at least i can still run the obstacle course.
Horace really liked the carriages and the ballpoint pens i made, but he doesn't think much of the non-magic printer, he only sees it as a cheaper option to the magic printer. You can't win every time, i guess.
On the topic of the journey, we'll travel for a month towards the northernmost port on the eastern coast and then take a boat ride that should take between half a month and an entire month. Man, travelling sure takes long.
Mom, dad, Athena and auntie are all going, so is Renee and Joey. Of course, we are going on one of the carriages i made, this one i enchanted to make lighter and tougher.
We are headed towards Turin at the moment and, while i'm still using detection spells, i'm trying to teach my family some road trip games.
"I spy with my little eye... something purple!" I declare.
"Is it a flower?" Asks Athena.
"No."
"Is it an animal?" Asks dad.
"Yes."
"Is it a bird?" Asks auntie.
"Yes."
"That's not fair!" Says Athena while mom and dad nod in agreement. "I don't know many bird names..."
"That's okay, i can still see it, so if you can point towards the one i'm thinking of it still counts as your win." I say.
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They look around outside the carriage for a purple bird. I smirk, there is no way i'd make it as easy as picking something close to us, i had to use magic to spot the twilight pheasant. "Ah!" Uh-oh, Athena noticed my smirk.
She narrows her eyes and i can almost see a light bulb going off a moment later. She starts enhancing her eyes with magic while looking around. Everyone else, notices this and start doing the same.
Mom is the first one to spot the pheasant and now it's her turn to pick something... You don't have to be so smug about it, mom... "I spy with my little eye... something red!" I have a bad feeling about this.
My bad feeling is confirmed when 10 minutes later we spot a red flower in the horizon on the way we came from.
Everyone agreed to stop playing this game, except for mom who kept acting smug.
During rests, i would cast a combat spell and dad would give me a few tips on how to improve them. That or just heal mom's training partners (punching bags). By the way, mom did hire the bounty hunters from last time, but they aren't coming with us, the current punching- i mean, training partners are just the usual knights.
We passed by Turin on the way to the port and grandma made me spend an entire morning healing soldiers again, but that didn't delay us much. We also picked up Mr. William from the inquisition there.
The place we are headed towards is called Zaderi port town, there we will join a small navy fleet that will escort us towards the capital. The capital is located on a bay on the eastern coast of the country and is famed for its exotic market and great ship builders (aside from being, you know, THE capital).
We are already close to Zaderi and i'm excited to see the navy guys and their ships' enchantments, i'm not very excited about the ships themselves because i've seen illustrations of them before and they are very mundane.
The sea around here sure is pretty.
The navy knights aren't that different from normal knights, aside from wearing lighter armor and shorter weapons.
The ships enchantments are as you'd expect aside from one uncommon one that i would call something like... Hydrodynamic? Anyway, it helps the boat slide across water easily.
The fleet we are joining only has five ships, three big, sailing only ships, and two galley-like ships with both paddles and sails.
It didn't take long for us to set sail and... it didn't take long for me to run out of books to read and realize how boring this is...
"Mother, help me, i'll die..." I tell my mother with my voice weak.
"Don't say something so grim just because you are bored, go read a book or something."
"I've already read every book on the ship. Even the captain's..." Captain Zach is a nice guy for letting me read his books.
Athena, who's also in the room, says. "Why don't you try fishing?" Fishing, huh? "I think one of the sailors has a fishing pole."
"Athena..." i speak with tears on my eyes. "I'll never forget your help on this day." I say before running off to look for a fishing pole.
A while later i finally start fishing... and... it's BORING!
So i cast a spell to detect life aside from humans to look for fish and whatever else live in these waters. When i detect a fish, i use a magic trick called lure animal and when it arrives near the hook i use telekinesis to stab it with said hook and body strengthening to pull it up on the deck (some fish are a little bit too big for me to be confident in pulling without magic).
I learn how to prepare the fish for cooking from one of the sailors and use magic to do it so i don't get my hands stinking of fish. I use magic to cook it without adding any spices and snack on it while looking for my next prey.
The smell of my fish attracts other predators in the form of Athena and mom. "You shouldn't eat too much or you'll be too full to eat dinner." Says mom while Athena nods, i can see where this is going... "So i'll help you by eating whatever you catch so it doesn't go to waste."
"Me too!" Says Athena. "So it doesn't go to waste!" No matter how serious your expression is, you are salivating too much.
"Athena can eat, but you can't!"
"Now, now, that's no way to talk to your mother when i'm only trying to help you." She says as she sits down near me anyway. "Athena, go grab a few spices for us please." Don't ignore me!
After a day or two i get bored of magic fishing as well and start experimenting with new ways of using detection magic.
The new spell i come up with is a very complex one with tons of runes in it, but it's built mainly on top of the missile rune. It launches an invisible projectile that flies into the distance while scanning it's surroundings. When it reaches a certain distance it initiates phase two of the spell and launches a second projectile that i call feedback projectile, since it's what delivers the feedback to the caster.
Like this i start looking for other ships at enormous distances, maybe i'll find a pirate? But before pirates i detect a whale nearby!
"Mother! I found a whale! Should we hunt it?" I'm pretty sure i read somewhere that whale oil is valuable and its meat a delicacy.
"Do you just kill everything in your way when you're bored, son?" Says dad. How rude.
"Don't you want to know what whales taste like?" I ask.
"I already know its taste, i've eaten it once before i married your mother."
"Then how can you judge me for wanting to try? A whale had to die for you to eat that."
"Stop bickering, you two." Says mom. "Yes, son, we can hunt it. But only if the captain agrees to help." I don't wait for her to finish and run towards the captain's quarters.
"CAPTAIN!" "By the queen! What is it, boy?! Are we under attack?"
The captain isn't very tall but has a lot of muscle, he has dirty blond hair kept short and a big nose.
"No, don't be silly. I found a whale! Can we hunt it?!"
"Don't scare me like that, boy! But still, a whale huh? And how big is this whale?"
How big, huh? i look around for something to compare. "About from that wall to the mast." I point out a distance of about 10 meters.
"Oh! They rarely get that big around these parts! Fine boy, we'll do it, but i'll have to talk to the other ships first." He shouts something at the sailors. "Tell me boy, where is this whale?"
I have a name you know? i mumble as i cast the spell again. Oh it's closer. "About 500 meters that way." He looks at me, then at the direction i pointed, then back at me.
"Was that a spell?" What is this man saying?
"Does it matter? Let's go hunt a whale!" I answer while pushing him out the room. He doesn't budge at first but lets out a snort and a 'fine' before he starts moving.
For some reason, all of the captains seem willing to hunt the whale. Is it a culture thing?
The galley-like ships go ahead and start the hunt before the three other ships can catch up. As we arrive the whale is already on death's door.
The whale was steadily dismantled and i ate whale meat that day, it's a little too gamey for my tastes.
Overall, the hunt was quite underwhelming. So i went back to casting detection spells to relieve my boredom.
After a while, i detect something big in the distance. I try to get a more precise reading, but it's moving a little too fast, so i just shout out what i know. "Something big is coming from the east!" I use magic so that even the other ships hear me.
The galleys in a couple moments let go of the whale carcass they were still dismantling and the ships start moving in formation away from it.
Soon, a shadow of more than thirty meters approached from the depths and lunged at the carcass with a speed that overshadows its size. In the few moments it stayed near the surface, i recognized it. "A megalodon!" Are we going to hunt it too? I've no recollections of any mentions about its meat.
But sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The megalodon only grabbed the carcass and swam away, the coward.
"Dad, did you ever eat megalodon meat?" I ask.
Dad looks at me with some sorrow, pats my head, and walks away while mumbling something about "Like mother, like son". What's that supposed to mean?
I look at mom. She's salivating while looking in the direction the megalodon swam to. So is Athena.
Okay, i get what he meant, but i wasn't hungry. Only curious.