After buying the coat I stopped at a café for a light meal and doubled back to magic shop Luca. Arma and her sister were gone.
I browsed and picked up a book on Null spells that caught my eye. For the six elements, you bought a grimoire from a magic shop, learned the incantation, practiced, and made it your own. For Null spells, since they’re personal, there were no proper grimoires.
But there were “curio” books that catalogued unusual spells from history — and naturally most of those were Null. For me, gold mine.
Cheap, too. Of course: not meant to teach the spell. Just entertainment.
I also bought a cookie sampler as a souvenir for Mika, and headed for the rendezvous. Sunset coming.
“Oh — finally! Slow!”
“Huh? You guys are early — not even meeting time yet.”
The three of them stood in front of the inn-carriage with a substantial haul on the cart. How much did you all buy.
“Oho — what’s this, Touya, a coat?”
Elze sized me up teasingly.
“It’s enchanted. Reduces all-element attack magic. Plus blade-resistance, heat-resistance, cold-resistance, impact-resistance.”
“All elements — wow. How much?”
“Eight gold.”
“Expensive! — but actually, for those effects… maybe not?”
Elze’s money-sense is sliding off too.
All present, we boarded the cart and prepared to depart. Yae took the reins; the back was packed with the women’s haul, so I sat next to her on the driver’s bench.
Could Gate straight to Reflet from here, but that would draw attention. Decided to leave the capital first.
Exiting the capital didn’t even require the medal. Light passage. We rode out until the capital was small in the distance, then had Yae stop the carriage.
“Why are we stopping here?”
Yae, unaware of Gate, looked puzzled.
“Better to come out on the road before the town than in the town itself, no?”
“Yeah, that’s better.”
I gathered magic, holding the image of the emerging spot.
“Gate.”
A gate of light opened in front of us. I scaled it to fit the carriage.
“Wh — what is this!?”
“Move, move.”
I pushed the bewildered Yae forward. The carriage passed through the light gate, and on the other side a large sunset was just setting behind the western mountains of Reflet.
“Yeah. Convenient. This spell.”
“A five-day carriage trip in one instant.”
“Catch is you have to have been there first, but yeah.”
“WHAT IS HAPPENING.”
Yae still wasn’t tracking. We were too busy enjoying the relief of being home.
Since it was getting dark, the report-to-Zanac was pushed to tomorrow.
We pulled up in front of Silver Moon and went in to let Mika know we were back. Nothing about Silver Moon had changed — of course not, six days. But there was something different.
“Welcome. Staying tonight?”
A red-bearded, broad-built man greeted us from behind the counter.
…Who?
”…Uh — we’re staying here — just got back from work…”
“Ah, current guests! Sorry, hadn’t seen you before.”
“Where’s Mika?”
“Oh? You’re back? That was fast.”
Mika came out of the kitchen still in her apron.
“Mika, who’s this?”
“Didn’t I introduce you? My dad. Got back from a long supply trip while you were gone.”
“Doran. Pleasure.”
“Right, right…”
I shook his offered hand reflexively. The hair color matched. Personality probably too. Both look like “don’t sweat the small stuff” types. Glad faces didn’t match too.
Doran-san had been south buying spices. Salt and pepper weren’t local, so he made bulk runs covering several neighboring shops.
“Mr. Doran — could you set up a room for this girl?”
“On it.”
I prodded Yae toward the counter. While she handled it, we hauled gear upstairs. Elze went off to return the carriage.
“Oh — Mika, here. Souvenir.”
“Aw, thanks. How was the capital?”
“Big. And crowded.”
I handed over the cookies and answered briefly with a smile.
Honestly, we’d come back fast. Hadn’t even been there a full day. With Gate I could go anytime — next time, I’d sightsee.
Mika treated us to dinner to celebrate our safe return. I, Linze, Elze all ate well — Yae ate several times more than the rest of us combined. Bad fuel efficiency, that child. Mika and Doran were both watching, agape.
After that incident, Yae’s meal expenses were specifically added onto her lodging bill. Fair enough.