Teleportation

"Boss, I heard you're using the Magic Tower's Teleportation Array to send a letter. Where are you sending it? That's really expensive!" Alice's thoughts always jumped around. She had just congratulated Edward on advancing, and before they could exchange more than a few pleasantries, she had already gotten down to business.

"Ailande Third Magic Tower." Edward handed over the form the maid had provided earlier, along with his sealed letter.

"Is it for your lover? Why such a rush? Ordinary mail would get there in ten days at most." Alice teased him. The Knight Princess, who had been pretending to read the notice board nearby, turned around at those words, then forcibly turned back again.

"Ah, you jest. I didn't get to know many people while I was at the Magic Academy. People from the New Continent are heavily discriminated against there." Edward scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"This letter is for my Mentor. First, to congratulate him on joining the Royal Alchemist Committee, and second, to ask him for help obtaining the next Meditation Method."

"Then we're schoolmates! What year did you graduate?" Alice asked with a smile.

"I graduated this year."

"Then you're two years below me! You should call me Senior, little Junior Brother."

Alice stood on tiptoe and patted Edward on the shoulder, putting on the air of a boss who would look after him from now on. She completely failed to notice the maid and princess beside her covering their mouths and snickering. She checked the thickness of Edward's Envelope, then pulled down a retractable scroll from the wall and began searching through it.

The scroll contained a stepped table, much like the intercity mileage charts at bus stations in Edward's Previous Life. This table listed every Magic Tower the Magic Guild could contact. The numbers on it were the mailing fees.

"Ailande Third... Third... Ah, found it." Alice released the sheet, and it rolled back into the scroll. "That'll be 15 Gold Coins!"

"Fi... fifteen Gold Coins?" Edward's heart ached in waves. He wondered whether it was more worthwhile to send it by ordinary mail and wait several days for the Meditation Method, or to let his assets instantly shrink by one and a half percent.

"What, too expensive?" Alice saw through Edward's stinginess at a glance and generously said, "It's fine. Since I'm your Senior, you can provide the Magic Power to activate the Teleportation Array yourself. I'll only charge you one Gold Coin for depreciation on the array."

"Really? Thank you so much, Senior." Edward immediately seized the opportunity. He had no trouble at all calling a sixteen-year-old girl Senior.

"However..." Alice deliberately dragged it out.

"However what?" Edward promptly played along.

"However, the Teleportation Array needs two formal Casters injecting Magic Power at the same time." Alice wore an expression that said, Beg me.

"What does Senior want?" Edward immediately understood.

"Do you still have those cookies from last time? And do you have any other tasty food?" The Magic Girl finally revealed her true purpose, her eyes filled with expectant little Stars.

"Uh, I didn't bring any snacks this time." Edward looked somewhat embarrassed. "But I can make quite a few kinds of snacks. How about you tell me what you want to eat, Senior? I'll make it when I get home and bring it over."

"Sigh... Then what can you make?"

"Let me think... Cream Cake, Doughnuts, Caramel Pudding, Ice Cream, Sandwich Cookies, Sandwiches, Hamburgers, fries, Fried Chicken Nuggets..." Edward listed several Western dishes and desserts he knew how to make in his Previous Life. He would have liked to rattle off an entire menu, but unfortunately, he did not have that kind of skill. Alice, listening beside him, was already wiping away drool.

"Oh, I can't wait! Hurry upstairs with me. Once we send the letter, we'll go to your house to eat." Alice lifted the counter's partition and beckoned Edward behind the counter. They passed through the Secret Door and went upstairs via the Spiral Staircase at the back.

Hearing the words "go to your house to eat," the maid Jessica remembered the guild president's instruction before leaving: keep an eye on Alice and do not let her run around. Just as she was about to call out, Andrea, walking at the rear, quietly tugged at her hem. The young maid turned around and saw the Knight Princess with long golden hair draped over her shoulders, holding her slender index finger to her lips in a silent shushing gesture. Her beautiful green eyes gleamed with amusement.

The maid immediately understood and, wearing a helpless smile, invited Princess Andrea to proceed first.

As Edward passed through the Secret Door, he saw that aside from the winding staircase leading upward, there was also a small door leading into the Duke's Mansion. He secretly glanced through it, but aside from a Stone Wall glaring in the sunlight, he could not see anywhere else. Security here is way too lax.

Edward followed Alice upstairs all the way to the Tower Top. It was a spacious circular hall that gave him a suddenly open, refreshing feeling. Windows stood open in all four directions, offering an unobstructed view of the surrounding scenery. From here, they could overlook the entirety of White Eagle City. White Eagle City was built in an oval valley, with city walls and gates to the east and west, and steep cliffs to the north and south. Other than the area by the Coastline, the southern mountains were relatively low and did not obstruct the city's sunlight. At the highest point of the northern mountain stood a fort. From here, they could also see the lighthouse built against the northern cliff by the coast.

Edward thought the city was truly easy to defend and hard to attack. Looking further into the city, aside from the more imposing buildings of the Duke's Mansion, most of the rest were low, single-story houses, with only a few taller buildings. Those were presumably places such as City Hall, the council, and the Adventurer's Guild. Because it was a newly built city, its streets were laid out very neatly. There were faint signs of prosperity, but compared with Edward's memories of cities from his Previous Life, it was far inferior.

Shaking off his thoughts, Edward looked toward the center of the hall. There, embedded in the stone floor, was a Magic Array. Rings upon rings of densely packed patterns made even Edward, who did not have trypophobia, feel dizzy.

At the very center stood a Stone Platform that rose like a fountain. A watermelon-sized Crystal Ball was embedded in one of the petal-shaped protrusions of the platform. Dense array lines connected through the Stone Platform to the Crystal Ball, which occasionally glowed purple.

Alice placed one hand on the Crystal Ball and was already growing impatient from waiting. She called Edward over.

"Yes, stand opposite me. Right, put your hand on it too. In a moment, I'll be responsible for locking onto the Magic Tower in Ailande. You just need to keep feeding in Magic Power."

Then she called to the Knight Princess, "Andrea, come here too."

Princess Andrea curiously pointed at her own nose, asking if there was something for her to do as well.

"Yes, I need your help. And don't bring your sword in here—leave it by the window." Alice ordered her female cousin around with the air of a professional. Andrea handed the tightly rolled Letter, now like a thin stick, to Alice.

"When the Crystal Ball lights up, a small Hole Entrance will appear on your side. Just put the Letter into it. Remember, don't put your fingers in too." Alice gave every instruction in painstaking detail like an old woman.

"Now, I'll count to three, and we'll inject Magic Power at the same time. One, two, three, begin!"

Edward felt a pulling force from the Crystal Ball, and his Magic Power was involuntarily sucked into it. The pull did not weaken until his Mana Spring was nearly dry.

"Andrea! Now!" The Beautiful Girl Mage turned and shouted at her female cousin. By then, the surrounding Magic Array had already lit up, and the Crystal Ball radiated purple fluorescence. Even her wine-red hair danced without wind.

On Princess Andrea's side, a pitch-black Hole Entrance ringed with Gold Ring opened on the surface of the Crystal Ball, no thicker than a wrist. With nimble movements, the Knight Princess stuffed the Letter into the hole. It happened in only an instant—the thin rolled Letter was sucked away the moment it went in.

Seeing that it was done, Alice signaled Edward to withdraw his hand at the same time. The black hole ringed with Gold Ring vanished instantly.

"Done! Mission accomplished!" Alice shouted, clapping her hands. "Now let's go eat some snacks!"