Alex, Wesley, and the runner, who was a young teenager, clapped their hands and were impressed by Gust’s claims. After all, he wasn’t so much older than them, but he had experienced so much!
Kyle and Jen could only glance at each other in exasperation. Had they also been that gullible at that age?
Chapter 8
Over the course of the next few weeks, Wesley and Gust slowly integrated themselves into the caravan’s daily life. Gust entertained the guards and other passengers on a regular basis in return for his and Wesley’s daily meals, while Wesley was a source of entertainment himself.
Each night, when the caravan had come to a stop, Wesley would practice his magic on the outer edges of the encampment while others watched.
Although everyone was born with the capability to develop mana channels and mana pool, only some would develop a mana pool large enough and mana channels strong enough to use magic. Furthermore, only the higher echelons of society had the resources to learn how to use magic.
Hence, most in the caravan had never come into such close contact with magic before. Of course, they’d been aware that magic was being used around them during the battle with the bandits, but none of them had had time to closely observe.
But now they could - each time Wesley casted a spell, a flurry of claps and compliments could be heard from the side.
...
That night.
“Psst, hey Gust.”
“Yeah Wesley? What’s going on?”
“Can you bring me outside of the encampment? I need to be able to practice some of my magic in private.”
“Hmm.” Gust thought about it. “Do I get to watch?”
“...Yeah, sure.”
Gust took Wesley’s hand into his own, and the two walked towards the encampment opening, where they were addressed by one of the guards.
Seeing that it was Gust and Wesley, the guard grinned and addressed them. “Hey Gust, where you going?”
“Hey, just taking the kid for a late night stroll. We’ve been cooped up in the wagons all day, gotta stretch for a bit, you know?”
“Ha, alright. Well, the boss won’t be happy, but it should be fine. Just don’t attract any unwanted attention, got it? Don’t want another one of them bandit attacks, or heck, a monster attack.”
“Mhmm, thanks.”
Gust gave the guard a jaunty salute and led Wesley out of the camp. “See kid, you gotta communicate more with the people in power. Let’s you get away with stuff, and oftentimes, gets you that money.”
“Uh huh.”
“... Goddamn kids.”
After they’d reached a distance of a few hundred meters from the campsite, Gust stopped and looked back. Not a single hint of the campsite could be seen through the dense forest.
“Hey kid, we should be far enough now. Have fun - we have to go back to the campsite within the hour or they’ll get suspicious.”
Gust pulled a knife out of his bag and cut a notch on a tree facing the way of the campsite, then sat down and watched Wesley.
Wesley stood still and concentrated. He pushed raised his right hand and pushed. Over the last few weeks, he’d practiced the skill of creating a plane of condensed air to write his spells on.
But tonight, he wanted to attempt the next level of casting spells - drawing.
Although he’d never learned any seals, he had some practice material to start with. He’d spent his time while the caravan was moving meditating, examining the “dead” seal that hovered above his mana pool. What he had observed was that the seal was infinitely complex, and was actually created from hundreds or thousands of individual seals.
While nearly all of the seals were too complex for him to memorize, there was one that was relatively simple, and he’d spent the last week trying to commit it to memory.
It was this spell that he wanted to try now.
He raised his hand and began to draw the seal, then swiped his finger across it to cast it.
Nothing.
If this had been a month ago, Wesley would just have given up and forgotten about it, but this time, he raised his hand and immediately tried again. And again. And again.
Gust had initially been paying close attention to Wesley’s actions, but after nothing had happened for half an hour, he lost interest and began humming to himself. Eventually, an hour had passed, and Gust stood up and stretched his limbs.
“Hey kid, it’s time to go back.”
“Okay.”
Gust grabbed Wesley’s hand and began to lead him back to the campsite. “So what were you trying to do anyway?”
“Trying to draw seals… I guess it’s too complicated for me. I don’t think people usually learn how to draw seals until they’ve at least qualified as an Intermediate Mage.”
“Didn’t you say you’re like a Rank 1 Elementary Mage to me the other day? You’re the bottom of the barrel?”
“Mhmm.”
Gust didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Wesley. “You shouldn’t rush the process, you know. Just take stuff step by step and I’m sure you’ll be a great mage.”
Wesley paused, then looked up at Gust and smiled. “Thanks, Gust.”
…
The next day, the caravan woke again to Mark’s booming voice.
“Alright lads, we should be able to see Fort Rosenthal sometime this afternoon, so let’s quicken our pace! If we’re lucky, we might get there just in time for supper. We’ll sleep in warm beds tonight!”
Cheers spread throughout the campsite, and everyone quickly prepared to leave with a bounce in their step.
A short while later, the caravan set out at a brisk pace. Mark, in the first wagon, looked around him before pulling a scroll out of his pocket. He stared at it, then sighed and muttered to himself, “I sure hope this works out.”
Last night, he’d checked the boxes he’d hidden the chaos gems in, and all of them were still there, unharmed. Despite that, he felt a mental itch that just wouldn’t leave.
Meanwhile, in the last wagon, Wesley was fast asleep - after his failed training session last night, he’d spent the entire night trying to memorize the seal he’d been trying to cast. The result, was that when Mark had announced that the caravan was about to leave, Wesley had tried to climb out of the wagon, but had face-planted on the ground instead.
Jen had spun around and picked Wesley up. The result was the current situation - Wesley was wrapped up in a blanket between Jen and Kyle. The former stared at Wesley with an unusual look in her eyes, then looked up and addressed her husband.
“Honey, I want a kid.”
A single drop of sweat made its way down Kyle’s temple, as Alex suddenly experience a coughing fit.
“Hmm? Kyle, are you okay? Do you not want a kid?” Gust prodded Kyle with a smirk.
Kyle glared at Gust, then quickly turned toward his wife and smiled. “Of course, darling! But, uh, let’s wait until we’ve settled down with our own house and stuff, okay?...yeah?”
“Nooo, I want one now!”
Another drop of sweat trickled down.
…
A few hours later, they could see Fort Rosenthal on the horizon, and just as the sun was about to disappear for the night, they’d arrived at the fort’s gates.
As the caravan slowed to a halt in front of the gates, a sentry atop the fort’s walls leaned outward and shouted towards Mark, who still sat at the front of the first wagon.
“State your name, association, and purpose!”
“Hello sir, this is Mark Shylock, of the Shylock Trading Company. I’m bringing some goods to the Kenta Kingdom for trading purposes.”
The sentry moved back, presumably relay this information to an officer behind him.
However, after a few minutes of waiting, the sentry had not yet returned, and the gate was still closed.
Then, with a loud metallic groan, the gates opened.
“Bout damn time,” muttered Mark, before a look of panic crossed his face.
As soon as the gate opened, hundreds of heavily armored, spear wielding soldiers poured out from the fort, surrounding the caravan. With their spears lowered, they formed a menacing, impenetrable palisade.
“Lay down your weapons, or die!”
Chapter 9
The caravan’s guards promptly dropped their weapons - this was a job, not a cause to die for. Seeing this, those travelling with the caravan, including Kyle, Alex, and Gust, threw their weapons to the ground as well.
Seeing that the caravan had no intentions of fighting, the surrounding soldiers raised their spears and stood at attention.
A knight in heavy armor, flanked with several mages wearing traditional robes, walked out of the fort, and examined his prisoners. After casting his eye briefly on each of the wagons, he walked up to Mark, who was now sweating bullets.
“You are Mark Shylock, of the Shylock Trading Company?”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
“Hello Mark. I am Sir Rosenthal, the commanding officer of this fort. Unfortunately, I must inform you that we have it on good word that you are transporting illegal goods to the Kenta Kingdom. Will you confirm or deny this claim?”
“Ahem, of course I deny these claims, good sir.”
The knight smiled. “Then, you won’t have any complaints if we look through your cargo?”
At this, Mark’s smile faltered for a second. “Um, of course!”
He stepped to the side, and motioned toward the wagons. “After you, sir.”
The last wagon was too far from the front to hear this discussion. However, shout earlier for the caravan’s fighters to drop their weapons had woken Wesley up.
“Hey Gust, what’s going on?”
“We’re at the gates of a fort, but for some reason they’ve surrounded us with soldiers. I think Mark is talking to some pretentious looking bloke up ahead.”
Actually, Gust was rather curious. Was all of this happening because of the chaos gems he’d discovered?
Then, the soldiers who had been standing at attention suddenly began to move toward the wagons.
Alex shouted, “Hey, what are you doing?”
One of the soldiers looked up and addressed Alex. “Don’t be rash. We’re just inspecting your cargo.”
Having walked up to the front of the wagon, he pointed his spear toward Alex. “Don’t try anything funny.”
Then, he examined the interior of the weapon, his eyes briefly glancing over the other passengers. “Everyone, get up and get off the wagon. If there’s nothing wrong, you’ll be free to go.”
A collective sigh ran through the wagon, and they slowly climbed out of the wagon, only to see that a similar situation was happening with the other wagons.
After leaving the wagon, Gust grabbed Wesley and headed toward a group from another wagon.
“Hey.” Gust waved to grab their attention. “Do you guys know what's going on?”
An older man waved back. “Hello there, Gust. The guards wouldn't tell me much, but this is definitely out of the ordinary. I’ve travelled between the Conarite and Kenta Kingdoms hundreds of times in my life, and I’ve never seen a single group of travellers surrounded by so many soldiers.”
“Furthermore, Mark has been travelling this route for the last few decades, and as far as I know, he has a good reputation. Well, not much we can do right now. If we run, who knows if they’ll pursue us.”
Meanwhile, the soldiers at the first wagon had broken open and rummaged through the boxes already, but hadn’t found anything other than ceramics, textiles, and some jewelry.
Likewise, the soldiers at the wagons climbed out of the wagons, and informed their superiors of the same - nothing out of the ordinary.
The knight looked on with a frown. Just a week prior, he had received an emergency message from his teacher, who happened to be the King’s Chief Military Advisor. The message shouldn’t have been wrong…
Furthermore, Mark had truly been nervous when he’d demanded to check the man’s cargo. Were his instincts failing him? Regardless, his soldiers had checked all of the wagons, with no result. He looked back at the mages behind him.
One of them shrugged, then began drawing a seal.
Seeing this, the knight turned back to Mark. “Your wagons look clear, but as a precaution, this esteemed mage,” He motioned toward the mage drawing the seal, “is going to cast a quick detection spell. If nothing shows up, you’re free to enter my fort.”
Mark was as confused, if not more, than the knight. He could’ve sworn that he had been transporting gems for the Kenta Kingdom. Had he imagined it all? He subtly tapped his right pant pocket.
Yes, the scroll was still there, solid proof that he wasn’t going crazy. But then, where had the gems gone?
After a brief moment, the seal had been drawn and activated. The mage briefly closed his eyes and concentrated. Then, he opened his eyes, and pointed toward a young man standing on the side.
“Check his pockets!”
Afraid for their lives, those in the area the mage had just pointed at quickly retreated, and the young man found himself all alone.
Two soldiers swiftly marched up and grabbed the man by his shoulders, while a third rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out a green gem.
As soon as the surrounding soldiers saw the gem, they went on high alert, spears pointed toward those from the caravan.
Sir Rosenthal’s eyes narrowed as he stepped toward the young man. “Boy, where’d you find this?”
Jason’s body trembled as he answered. “Uh, I found it in one of the wagons, sir.”
Sir Rosenthal took the chaos gem from Jason’s hand, examined it, then turned toward Mark.
“Now, Mark, why would he have found a chaos gem on one of your wagons. I'm sure you know that these are classified as highly destructive military supplies, yes?”
“Uh, I know that they are military supplies, but I have no idea how one got into one of my wagons, sir. I swear of it!” Mark was more confident now, hopeful that there wasn’t any evidence against him.
“Well, let’s come to a compromise. You, everyone, and everything with you, will be escorted into the fort. However, you will park your wagons in an area we will designate to you, and we will be guarding this area. Furthermore, none of you will be allowed to leave the area until we have searched through every single person’s belongings and clothes. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well then.” Sir Rosenthal motioned toward his soldiers, who motioned for the travellers to head back into the wagons. A few minutes later, the caravan passed through the gate into the fort.
However, nobody was thinking about dinner.
After the wagons had been parked, the soldiers lined the travellers up, single file, and patted them down.
Sir Rosenthal was watching from the side, still flanked by the mages.. “So, what are we looking for?”
One of the mages responded. “We’re looking for anything that could be used as a Holding item. For example, you may have heard of Rings of Holding - these are the most common Holding item, as they can be worn easily and are small.
“But really, the ring part is useless - the important part is the gem. Space-based magic seals are carved into the gem, which results in a safe space to store non-living things. So really, we’re just looking for jewels.Unfortunately, Holding items are undetectable with magic unless you’re directly touching it, or we’d have found it already. ”
The entire caravan had less than a hundred people, so despite the mage’s grumbles, the search progressed quickly. However, only a few people in the caravan possessed jewelry of any kind, and the mages were able to quickly verify that none of them were magically enhanced.
Wesley and Gust were near the of the line. However, as the line moved forward, Wesley received a few clear indicators that Gust was nervous.
For one, the hand that was holding his was now clenched very tightly.
“Gust, you’re hurting my hand.”
Gust
blinked, then looked own. “Oh hey, sorry little man. My bad.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Pshhhhhh. Me, nervous? Why would I be nervous?”
“You have the stuff they’re looking for, don’t you.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think they’ll find it. At least, I hope not.”
At this point, Wesley and Gust had reached the front of the line. Gust still had his bag on his back, while Wesley didn’t have anything on him.
Memory Seal- Volume 1 Page 8
