With a cold glint in her eyes, Rita brushed past Talos.
Turning her head halfway, she spoke to the speechless Mage Tower Master.
“By the authority of a supreme-rank great mage, I’ll represent the Mage Tower and head out. Master, you should prepare to leave the camp and fight.”
Leaving the flustered Talos behind, Rita exited the tent.
***
Blena paced restlessly, tapping her foot.
She had followed Rita early in the morning but couldn’t bring herself to enter the tent.
For the same reason, Seth and Alois, waiting outside, glanced at the tent’s entrance with eyes full of anxiety and curiosity.
“She’s coming out,” Alois announced.
Before he could say more, Blena and Seth rushed forward.
“Rita! How’d it go? All done? Why’d you go in there?”
Blena bombarded her with questions, and Seth looked on with equal curiosity.
After a moment of silence under their gazes, Rita spoke.
“I’m heading to Zarka right now.”
“What? Zarka? That backwater down south? Why there all of a sudden?”
Seth furrowed his brow.
“Hey, isn’t Zarka where Karina, the Free Mages’ representative, is? Don’t tell me…”
“Yes, you’re correct. I need to meet her.”
“Wait, Rita! You’re not going alone, are you?”
At Blena’s question, Rita’s golden eyes flickered slightly.
She’d prefer to go alone if it weren’t a big deal, but the current mood suggested otherwise.
So, out of courtesy, she asked, “Are you coming along?”
“Of course!”
Blena replied enthusiastically, pushing Seth and Alois forward.
At their collective agreement to join, Rita rubbed her forehead.
“But what about that guy?”
Blena suddenly looked around Rita.
“You know, the Kuyan kid you picked up.”
“Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him today. Yesterday he was following you like a puppy wagging its tail,”
Seth muttered gruffly, clearly not fond of Yan’s first impression.
“I left him with Eimen this morning,” Rita replied.
“Good call. Dragging him around could stir up weird rumors and make things messy for you,” Seth said.
Rita nodded silently.
Seth’s comment implied that such rumors were already circulating subtly.
“He seems a bit naive, but his vibe’s off. Plus, he’s got a pretty face like Mikael, and you saved him, Rita. He follows you too closely. It’s the perfect setup for gossip no matter what,”
Blena analyzed, with Alois nodding repeatedly in agreement.
Rita accepted their shared sentiment, thinking she’d done well to leave Yan behind.
“We’ll head to the major city of Arjer first, then travel by land. I don’t know if Zarka has a teleportation circle or if it’s connected anywhere. On the way back, though, I’ll use a teleportation stone. If I ask Shariel…”
“Um, Rita…”
Alois cautiously raised his hand.
Rita paused, slightly uncomfortable with his formal tone.
Of course, his usual casual chatter wasn’t exactly pleasant either.
Scratching her cheek, she asked, “What is it?”
“I… I can get us to Zarka with teleportation magic in one go…!”
At his shy confession, Rita, Blena, and Seth’s eyes widened in shock.
***
For young mages, teleportation magic is a relic of the past.
With teleportation stones and teleportation circles aided by mana stones now commonplace, there’s little need to learn the complex calculations of such spells.
Thus, teleportation magic is favored by older, more traditional mages who see it as a testament to a mage’s skill, relying solely on the caster’s mana and calculations.
Younger generations, however, prefer convenience, so mages under thirty rarely use teleportation magic, regardless of their talent.
“Teleportation magic…”
Rita was no different.
Why waste time on spell calculations when an expensive teleportation stone would suffice?
She’d thought running errands for Talos was a better use of her time than attending spell calculation classes.
“Of course, I regret it now,” she thought bitterly.
So, for Alois, barely in his twenties and a noble with no financial worries, to know teleportation magic—and to sound confident about it—was astonishing.
His usual passivity made his bold claim even more surprising.
His shy smile left Rita momentarily stunned.
“Can you… really calculate the coordinates? Or at least, have you been there before?”
Failing a spell doesn’t mean death—just ending up somewhere unintended. Still, Rita interrogated Alois skeptically.
“Well… my family has a villa near Zarka, on a hill. I lived there until last year,” Alois replied bashfully.
Rita let out a hollow laugh, while Blena lit up.
“Wow! A villa? Like the one in Gaia Plains?”
“Yes…”
Seth frowned at the embarrassed Alois.
“How’d a young master like you learn teleportation magic? And why?”
Seth was so excited he didn’t notice his informal tone, but Alois responded cheerfully, unbothered.
“Well… I’ve admired Talos since I was a kid. I wanted to be like him, so I learned all the spells he specializes in, including teleportation magic.”
“Why bother? You could’ve learned something else instead…”
Seth echoed Rita’s thoughts exactly.
As Rita nodded to herself, Alois continued his confession.
“Talos said a true mage must master all magic. That’s what makes a real mage. I was so inspired by that…”
Rita scoffed.
It was just a sly way for Talos to boast about his skill in teleportation magic.
“So, what’s your success rate?”
Blena, more interested in results, pushed Seth aside to ask.
Alois fidgeted with his fingers, smiling.
“Well… there was one time I failed because the terrain at my destination had collapsed…”
He counted on his fingers under his bowed pink-haired head.
Lifting his head, he scratched the back of it.
“Out of eight tries, I succeeded seven times.”
Rita couldn’t help but be impressed.
Regardless of her feelings, this was worth acknowledging.
Teleportation magic was so difficult that even confident young mages at the Mage Tower would toss aside the spell calculation book after one glance.
‘So that’s why, in my past life, Talos chose Alois to draw the great teleportation circle. Did Talos keep him close because he knew his usefulness?’
Rita’s expression grew serious as she recalled her past life.
Regardless, thanks to Alois, they had a way back without relying on Shariel’s expensive teleportation stone.
“That was a subtle worry, but it’s solved now,” Rita thought, smiling with satisfaction at Alois’ usefulness.
“Then let’s move,” Alois said.
***
As Alois’ pink head slumped to the ground, a faint golden ripple shifted the scenery.
A humid breeze and salty scent enveloped the group.
Blinking once, they saw a vast ocean under a clear, cloudless sky.
The noisy cries of seabirds overhead and the warm sunlight made the northern camp they’d just left feel like a lie.
“Wow… it’s completely different from the North Sea.”
Blena said, her mouth agape at her first summer ocean.
The coastal city’s unfamiliar scenery kept her craning her neck.
Then she shouted, “Look at that!”
They were on an unnamed hill in a peaceful southern coastal city.
At the end of a narrow flower-lined path stood a grand mansion, a stark contrast to the modest buildings below.
“Anyone can tell that’s a noble’s mansion,” Seth said, his gaze turning to Alois.
Blena, already thrilled by the Gradius villa in Gaia Plains, looked expectant.
Alois couldn’t hide his flustered expression, but Rita cut in with a firm look.
“We’re here for business and leaving right after.”
“Tch…”
“But how does the Gradius Ducal Family have a villa here?”
“Well… I really admire Karina too. I thought staying here might let me meet her someday, so I asked my father to build this villa,” Alois replied.
His wealth was impressive, but his admiration for Karina was even more surprising.
“How do you know Karina? You wouldn’t have any connection to her,” Seth asked.
A gentle smile spread across Alois’ face.
“When I was young, the person who looked after me was a mage. Well… they were barely a third-class mage and too poor to attend the Academy, so they weren’t exactly a mage, but…”
“A tutor, then,” Seth said.
“Yes. Anyway, I became a mage because of them. They often told me stories about Talos and Karina’s adventurous youth.”
The trio nodded in understanding.
“Now that you mention it, it did seem odd. Even for self-study, it’s hard to believe a noble family that despises mages would let a direct heir learn magic alone,” Seth said bluntly.
Blena shot him a look, but Alois didn’t mind.
“Yes. I learned the basics and beginner spells from them, and later, through my father…”
Alois trailed off, suddenly stopping and cautiously glancing at Rita.
But Rita, already guessing the rest, reacted indifferently.
‘So he’s been in contact with Talos since then. That means Talos has been looking after Alois for much longer than I thought.’
She mused, shaking her head in disgust at the growing suspicions.
Still, it was natural for a mage who witnessed Talos and Karina’s exploits to admire them.
While many of Talos’ heroic tales from his prime were exaggerated or embellished, one true story stood out in history.
“Thirty years ago, a mad mage went berserk and nearly destroyed the capital.”
That incident fueled nobles’ disdain for mages, and it was Talos and Karina who stopped it.
Both in their thirties and at their peak, they fought the mad mage for two days and won, their heroic tale spreading across the kingdom.
The person Rita was now seeking was that very Karina.
Once a key figure in the Mage Tower, she now lived freely as a mercenary in the countryside.
“The only rival Talos ever had,” Rita thought.
Like Rita and Seth in the Mage Tower, Talos and Karina were fierce rivals who clashed constantly.
Unlike friends, their rivalry was brutal, and after their forties, they parted ways, viewing each other as enemies.
“The next Mage Tower Master will be Karina.”
Their relationship hit rock bottom when Dryden, the Mage Tower Master at the time, named Karina as his successor.
Unlike the calm, well-connected Talos, Karina was stubborn and hot-tempered, failing to win the mages’ support.
Still, she was like a daughter to Dryden and followed his will without question.
Naturally, Talos and his faction resented Karina and sought every chance to oust her.
“We cannot follow Karina.”
Their relationship deteriorated irreparably, culminating in a duel.
Talos won.
Karina raged that the duel was unfair, but no one believed her.
The current elders even accused her of fabricating excuses out of dissatisfaction.
Karina was utterly disgraced and left the Mage Tower for good.
“Thinking about it now, Talos’s cheating is obvious. Most of the elders back then were on his side.”
Rita reflected, swallowing a bitter pang as she empathized with Karina’s frustration.
“So, how are you going to find her? I heard she’s like the wind,” Blena asked, tilting her head.
Rita shrugged casually.
“I heard she’s out on a job with mercenaries. She’ll return to their base eventually, so I’ll wait in front of the mercenary guild.”
“That makes sense… but did you contact her? Is it okay to show up unannounced?”
“It’ll be fine. I heard Karina isn’t exactly punctual either,” Alois replied.
“Really? You sure know a lot, young master,” Blena said to Alois.
“Just some info I picked up while staying at the villa…”
Since the teleportation magic incident, Alois had been smiling more.
Though still shy, he looked far more at ease than before.
Rita, watching Alois and Blena converse naturally, couldn’t help but chuckle.
Seeing someone she used to dislike smiling beside her was unimaginable.
But…
‘Not bad.’ Rita thought, slowly warming to Alois.