As the time for departure came, I started preparing myself. I was notified that a carriage was prepared beforehand with all the necessary items and things required for journey lasting 5 days through county of Oakridge reaching the town of Wilburhein. I am looking forward for this journey as I will get to see the life of a normal person and city in general.
A knock was heard across the room, I allowed the permission. There she said, “Lord Wilbur, the preparations for journey are complete”. I left the room. Outside the palace, it was surrounded by the knights, maids, officials, and duke family. I greeted the duke as usual feeling a bit awkward.
“I have made some changes to your mount for the journey”, the duke said with a smile in his face. After he clapped, around 4 giant griffons came with a carriage. William Junior had arrived a bit early and was in awe seeing the griffons being our mount for journey. I wonder if griffons were to act as our mount, won’t journey be reduced to 1 to 2 days instead of 7 days.
“Thanks to His grace for being generous to us”, I said while our head administrator is still in awe.
There was a giant carriage was prepared with 100 gold coins that I got from the duke, bushels of wheat barley rice and cereals enough to last one year for us, weaponry such as swords, armor, plate and etc. for 3 people. It seems that I can keep the manor safe with 3 guards.
I, William Junior, Benedict, two maids and two knights seated in carriage. One knight was griffon rider who will be riding the griffons for the journey. At last, I said goodbye to all the people in family and duchy. I also come to know that duke had a spouse, mother of this body, died around 2 years ago, a daughter studying in some academy.
In the carriage, I was seated beside William Jr. He was as usual reading the books about different topics. I only need to ask and answer will be ready. Benedict with his usual sober attire ready to serve me at a moment notice. It seems that I must have done quite a good karma in previous lives to deserve such servant devoted to my needs.
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Seeing the griffons, I had an unusual but curious need to ask about magic. Will the magic even be present in the world? I prepared myself, waving my hand at head administrator signaling him about future conversation. He puts down the book in his lap, start moving his head towards me.
“Is magic practiced by people in our duchy?”, I asked.
He was a bit shocked yet he answered in good manner. “My Lord, magic is present all over the world but the people who practice are rarely appeared. Magic practioner needs to sense mana which is hard to come by for human. To speak of rarely, in our duchy there are 6 people currently able to cast magic using mana. They are protected by his grace duke using personal guards of duchy.”
“Is there any mage guild or mage tower?”, I asked.
“In our kingdom, there is only one mage town standing in capital of kingdom”, He said. It seems that mana sensibility is rare among people so coming across even one whose natural talent lies in mana sensibility will be considered a huge deal in itself.
“Also, the knowledge regarding magic is strictly confidential and property of sole mage tower. Any one violating the rule are punished by capital punishment.”
If the talent for magic is rare, who would want to commit such crime to receive knowledge which they are not able to use properly. I would really like to get my hands on such people if there ever comes such a chance in this life. For that I may need to travel to Capital City of Kingdom, I will not able to see the magic talent in this backwater.
The entire night was spent riding the griffon, the gust of wind rushed over to us like a fly humming over the course of journey. Early morning we see a settlement from our carriage still above in the sky. The settlement was kept poorly in all aspects, even the road leading to the settlement kept poorly. The ground uneven, a bit barren, hard to move and difficult to travel by foot or carriage. It seems that the road does not have any regular traffic of peddlers and travelers. Well, If the griffons were common mount for the journey, they would not need to keep the road in good condition. Seeing the reaction of our head administrator over to griffons, it seems they are not. They are considered sacred guardian for duchy, its symbol on chest plate seems to suggest that.
As a human being from modern Earth, it still feels like a dream traveling via griffons as they are fantasy creatures from olden times. The journey which should have taken us around 7 days was completed in just half a day. If the creatures were back in earth, we would not have even needed to invent airplane and all.