A Trip That Seems Bound to Go Wrong

Now that he had become a Sorcerer, Annan felt like a young man who had just packed his bags for an adventure. The real world beyond his door, wondrous and dangerous, awaited him.

But before setting out, Annan had plenty to prepare.

For one thing, he needed a Meditation Method to increase his Magic Power.

Magic Power was like gold coins: it would not fall into his pocket on its own.

Mr. Victor had no Summoning Meditation Methods in his underground vault. Lindy said Annan could find one at the Winchester Manor in Breeze City.

"Is there a magic academy in Breeze City?"

When Annan asked, Victor said abruptly, "You'd better go to Breeze City with Lindy yourself."

"Why?"

"There's a saying among mages: 'Legends don't walk out of Mage Towers on their own.'"

It was only a saying, not an absolute truth. But for Annan, it might as well have been. His grasp of common knowledge was appallingly poor.

Victor recalled how, a few days earlier, Annan had read a book and then, when saying goodbye that evening, had raised a loosely clenched right hand to his forehead.

Don't ask Victor how he knew, but that ancient greeting had fallen out of use before the Saint Laurent Calendar even began!

Before Annan went around making a fool of himself with it, Victor had to stuff his head with knowledge. Even if he was a Sorcerer.

Annan could tell Mr. Victor was mocking him, but he did not understand what he had done wrong. Lindy explained that magic academies existed only in the royal capital. A backwater border town like Breeze City did not even have a second Mage Tower.

There was no helping it... Annan's knowledge came entirely from books and stories, leaving him with almost no sense of the bigger picture. If the world was a puzzle, each book and story was just one tiny piece.

Lindy said she could arrange a carriage to Breeze City. They could leave the next morning.

Annan said he would go back and ask, though what he meant was that he would ask Faster.

"Breeze City? You should go. Lady Fine Wine will be glad to see you too."

Looking at the boy who had been a waiter not long ago and was now a Sorcerer, Faster said wistfully, "You don't have to call me 'sir' anymore."

Then he joked, "Spellcasters rank a lot higher than us stinking warriors."

"All right, Faster."

"You little..."

There was still time before the tavern opened, so Annan went down to the cellar to see Tasia.

"I finished it." Tasia handed Annan his book back.

"Then let's get to the Library early tomorrow. I have to go to Breeze City in the morning."

"Breeze City..." A trace of curiosity appeared on quiet Tasia's face. "What's it like there?"

"I don't know yet. I'll tell you when I get back."

When Annan came back upstairs, the bard called out to him. "Faster said you're going to Breeze City? I'd suggest taking a few people with you."

"Why?"

"A spellcaster who can't cast spells and has no professionals to protect him..." The bard sounded more gleeful than concerned. "If the female Ratfolk find out about you, they'll snatch you up and turn you into a breeding machine."

Annan remembered where the joke came from. The bard had once told a story about a "young Sorcerer from the slums kidnapped by female Ratfolk and forced to serve as a breeding machine." Back then, Annan had not understood much of the Common Tongue, but he and the other patrons had listened intently...

Annan wanted to say, Wouldn't that be even better? But "breeding" probably was not as enticing as he imagined.

"I thought there weren't any Ratfolk in Plangraced County?"

Plangraced County lay in the north, while Ratfolk preferred the warm, damp south.

"Uh..."

The bard suddenly had no answer. Faster came to his rescue. "Ratfolk are an extremely adaptable species. They're constantly improving themselves, splitting into countless groups... In the southern marshes, I destroyed a Ratfolk nest whose inhabitants were as feeble as Kobolds. I've also encountered a Ratfolk warrior who wiped out an entire squad of Elite Level professionals."

"Exactly!" The bard picked up the thread. "They're very good at passing themselves off as Elves. They're agile and skilled with bows and rapiers, and the vast Far Ridge Forest lies right outside Breeze City."

If not for their frightening drive to reproduce and their loyalty to their own kind, they would actually make decent substitutes for Elves in the eyes of nobles with unusual tastes...

"I'm a natural Sorcerer, not a Bloodline Sorcerer..."

"If they were picky, they wouldn't be Ratfolk. Scholars, warriors, mages—they're all fair game."

Bloodline Sorcerers, whose powers could be passed down to their offspring, were especially prized.

"And the rainy season is almost here." From a warrior's perspective, Faster gazed north, as though he could see the vast mountain range stretching across the horizon.

As the weather warmed and the snow melted, the northern monster tide could strike Snow Mountain Fortress at any time.

"Then who should I bring?"

Annan decided to take their advice, but no suitable candidate came to mind.

Martin?

"Tasia and I will go with you." With Faster looking pained, Soluman Copperbeard set down the barrel she was carrying with a thud. "That young woman from the Winchester family is going too, right? That'll be enough."

Tasia was not a professional and knew no combat techniques, but her Minotaur blood made her a match for an ordinary combat professional. Soluman Copperbeard herself was a warrior on the verge of advancing to Elite Level.

"I can—"

"Get back to work."

"Oh."

Martin went on wiping the tables.

“I could bring Martin,” Annan said hesitantly.

"That's my good cousin!"

"Get back to work."

"Oh."

With Mr. Fast opposed, Annan did not insist. He looked at Soluman Copperbeard, who seemed to have something she wanted to say.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"About who we are—"

“We'll tell you when you get back.” Faster cut Soluman Copperbeard off again, then handed Annan a slip of paper he had prepared. “If you run into trouble in Breeze City, go to this address. Someone there will help you.”

Why does it feel like something is bound to go wrong on this trip to Breeze City...?

Annan had a vague feeling that Soluman Copperbeard had been about to tell him about “that organization.”

The traveling merchant was in Breeze City too. Annan could ask about the publication of Law Breaks the Sky.

He did no more work that night. Instead, he hurried to the estate where Lindy was staying—the home of Sir Sean, for whom he had once worked part-time as a groom.

“Sorry for the trouble, but please tell Lindy I'll go to Breeze City with her tomorrow morning.”

The butler remembered him well. Surprised and uncertain to learn that Annan knew Lindy, he promised to pass on the message.

Annan returned to Aunt Susan's house and borrowed a battered leather suitcase from Uncle Holin. As he packed his clothes, he told the worried Aunt Susan, “Don't worry, Aunt Susan. I'll come back as soon as I get the Meditation Method.”

After promising Aunt Susan he would be back soon, Annan closed the suitcase.

Following a hearty dinner and a quiet night, Annan, Tasia, and Soluman Copperbeard arrived at Sir Sean's estate the next morning.

"It's so quiet. There's hardly anyone on the streets."

Annan looked along the empty, mist-shrouded street, then climbed into the carriage.

Carrying its unlikely assortment of passengers, the carriage rolled slowly along the cobblestones and out of Pinglin Town.