Exhibition

For a so-called magic exhibition, not many spectators arrived. The garden apparently adjoined the castle grounds, only separated from them by an admittedly tall stone wall. The garden itself was full of verdant grass and species of flowers I’d never seen before. Not that I had any interest.

It might be possible to mount an assault on the castle from here, seeing how close it was—but any consideration of such a strategy would have to wait for another time.

For now we just joined the crowds, a few dozen people, who clustered around a surprisingly barren area of the garden.

The sun was already halfway across the sky by now. We were probably going to face some difficulties in finding a place to stay the night, but we delayed the quest for now, too.

If only I could take off this icky dress and that itchy wig already…

I had a lot of questions, but talking out loud would be too risky. If I had to guess, Saga wouldn’t be interested enough to find the answers for them on her own, which was a bother.

For example, why were so few people here? Maybe the citizens were already so used to these sorts of shows? Or else scared?

Also, what was that shaded pavilion on one side on the open space? I could see that people were seated inside, but no more than that; it was completely surrounded by guards.

If my guess was right—that could be important.

Presently, a lone, caped woman came to the center of the stage and gave a wave of her hand. When she spoke next, her voice boomed all over the garden especially loud.

“Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the biannual exhibition of the Magic Guild!”

I smiled at this—not because of her words by themselves, but because this was yet another spell for my arsenal. Voice manipulation… I was already thinking of ways to use it.

Perhaps it could do more than just control the volume? Like, say, make my voice sound like someone else’s? That would be a very useful thing to have.

Presently, there was some small applause before the woman on the stage continued talking.

“And today in attendance with us is none other than His Highness, the Emperor!”

I knew it!

Everything connected now—I could finally confirm who was sitting at the pavilion over there surrounded by guards.

“Don’t make any rash moves…” Judging from this whisper by my side, Kai seemed to have realized the same, because he grabbed Saga by the sleeve.

Her eyes turned noticeably sharper—a spark lit within them. I knew how she felt, but it really wasn’t the right time to strike, even if it was an incredible opportunity. “Keep an eye on him,” I told them in a similar whisper. “We might get some chance later as everyone’s leaving or something.”

This honestly wasn’t part of the plan, but probably too good of a chance to pass up.

For now, I decided to focus on learning as much magic as I could.

“So without further ado, let us begin!” the woman called and there was some more applause.

Several other women and a single man came next and started moving their hands in what would look like some lame dance if not for the fact they activated pieces of magic with each wave.

Fire, water and vortexes of air rose into the sky, combining into a multicolored show that honestly bordered on the dangerous; some fiery sparks landed close to the crowd, I noticed.

That being said, it was nice. Lights, colors and even sounds formed unique fireworks that became visible in the skies.

Maybe not a lot of people came here because it could be viewed from the city as well? Perhaps not so much in daylight, but still.

Unfortunately, I did not end up learning too much. When they said an “exhibition”, I actually hoped for something like some sort of mock battle. I couldn’t really complain about the free stuff I was getting, though.

Next, I realized why this area of the garden was kept barren. Under the magician’s command the empty ground swelled, burst and assumed all sorts of shapes, starting from humans to strange animals (one looked suspiciously like Squeaky) and even buildings. This one I watched eagerly, thinking it could be mighty useful for our purposes.

After a whispered strategy session, we also decided to move slowly but surely in the direction of the Emperor’s pavilion during the show.

If nothing else, I wanted to at least catch a glimpse of Three’s face… I was very curious to meet him after One and Two. Probably was just an ugly bastard, though.

Eventually the show started winding out. A grim-looking man told the crowd: “Thank you. We are always recruiting new members. If you believe you have the potential for magic, come join our guild.”

There was no applause this time. Was this exhibition just a ploy to get new members? And when they were so rude to me, too.

There were signs of people starting to leave, so my eyes naturally turned to the pavilion. Saga looked like she was ready to just rush over there at a moment’s notice.

“I think this is a bad idea,” whispered Kai. “It might be a surprise attack, but we’re not really in a state to fight…”

“Hah, you mean you’re not,” stated Saga.

I smiled. It wasn’t unusual for Saga to be so disparaging, but it was more often directed at me than him. She was right—currently, Kai was the only one among us without access to his fighting style.

Serves you right.

He frowned under his hat. “That’s not the point, you guys. Really, why are both of you so—”

“They’re moving,” Saga interjected, her eyes turning colder and sharper than steel. “This is our chance.”

Kai groaned very quietly but moved along with us as we tried not looking too conspicuous while the figures rose from the pavilion. I still couldn’t see Three, as he was surrounded by guards.

Unfortunately, our focus on the Emperor’s pavilion meant we actually hadn’t noticed people sneaking behind us.

“I suggest you don’t try anything funny,” said a voice behind us that I recognized as belonging to the Guild Matron we’d met before. “All of you are under arrest on suspicion of conspiring against the Emperor.”