Can't Feel the Wind

“Don’t you think it’s about time we present your findings to the king?” Clauffer asked.

“Don’t you think it’s still a little early for that?” I responded with a question of my own.

“Of course not. You’ve already tested it and it works.”

“Yes, but still.”

“You even tested it on yourself and it worked.”

“But it left me really exhausted.”

“I heard that as of late it’s been getting better.”

Looking over at Requa, I saw she had closed her eyes at the statement. I guess she must have told him that then. While he was correct, it was still not quite perfect. The general blood loss was the main issue. To remedy this, I used electric magic to try and stimulate blood cell growth, but the effects were minimal.

“While it is slightly better, it’s not quite where I want it to be.” I replied, trying not to give too much detail.

“That’s fine. We’re only going to show him a proof of concept.” He quelled my concerns.

With the smile plastered across his face, it was pretty obvious he wanted to hurry this along so he could get praise from the king. I didn’t really have much room to disagree with this anyways. After all, I couldn’t deny him since he had been the whole reason this research got this far in the first place. Still, him making decisions like this really annoyed me.

While I wasn’t the most enthusiastic to revisit the Capital after what had happened last time, at least there was the chance I could meet Hibiki again if I got the time. It also gave me a nice break so that I could continue working on my book. It was finally nearing its completion.

However, there was one more reason I was slightly interested in going to the Capital. If I was able to, I'd like to find this ‘demon’ that one man had mentioned. He apparently had a ring which roughly matched the description of the one which belongs to me. A wave of heat came to my face. If it was Fae’s ring, I wanted to end him quickly and reclaim my property from his clutches. I wouldn’t want Fae’s legacy to go against the very thing she wanted to protect.

I guess the point still stands even if it wasn’t my ring though. I’d still need to kill him if he posed a threat to the kingdom. But if he was using Fae for villainy, then I would definitely be able to take my time ending his pitiful life.

“Alright, fine. When do we leave then?” I wondered.

“In one hour!” He proclaimed.

“What?”

“I said, ‘in one hour!’”

“You should really tell me these things at least two days in advance.”

“The sooner we go, the better.”

“Ugh. Who’s going with me?”

“My guards, Requa and I.”

“That’s quite a lot of people.”

“Of course. I need to encourage you.” He responded.

Of course, when he said he would encourage me, what he actually meant was that he needed to make sure he could take credit. It was annoying that his intentions were so clearly shown on his face. He could have at least tried to hide it a little. At least Requa would be with me, so the trip wouldn’t be a completely dull experience.

“We will go by the finest carriage I own.” He declared.

“Does that mean it will still take the usual three days?” I questioned.

“Well of course. There’s no other route we could take.” He replied matter of factly.

Flying over would take far less time. Not to mention it would allow us to take the shortest route possible. But with as many people as he’s proposing to bring, I’m not even sure if I can carry that many. If only Requa and I were the only ones going. That way it would be far easier.

I guess I could also clear a different path to the Capital using wind magic, but I’d also like to avoid showing Clauffer too much of my power. It seems the more I show him, the more his face begins to scheme. It was obvious with this deal as well. The only gain he was supposed to get from our deal was having his captured spies healed, but now he’s also going to try and use me to quarry favour from the king as well.

Seriously, after all this it may be best to begin parting ways with Clauffer. The only experiments I’m really carrying out nowadays are just the self healing ones. I don’t need his resources for all that. But the comforts of this life were also starting to build on me as it was becoming harder and harder to imagine sleeping on the ground now.

“Well I guess I’m going to go ahead and get prepared to leave then.” I relented.

“Perfect, try to be here on time. I guess Requa would also keep track of the time anyways.” He spoke.

“Yes Sir!” She saluted.

I walked away from Clauffer with Requa following behind me. I was still a little heated at Requa for telling Clauffer. Hopefully she didn’t tell him about the book. I’d have to interrogate her just to be sure.

“Shut the door.” I told Requa as we entered my room.

“Yes, Celestia.” She replied with grace.

“Hey Requa.”

“Yes?”

“Why did you tell Clauffer about how far along my self healing magic was?”

“Uh, well… It's my job to do so. I only did it because I was supposed to.”

“Did you tell him about the book?”

“No Celestia. You made me swear to you not to, so I did not.”

“So I should've made you swear for the other thing then?”

“Umm, well, I guess.” She was dumbfounded at my conclusion.

Well at least the book stayed secret like I wanted to. This satchel should be good for carrying my book and comfortable pajamas. If only I could take the soft bed with me as well. However, it wasn’t much of an option due to the large size and weight of it.

It’s times like these I wished I learned shadow magic, but the books and teachers for them were so difficult to find. At this rate, shadow magic may as well become extinct seeing how rare any information for it was. I understand that it’s not the most useful for combat or aesthetically appealing, but the ability to transport things with ease would be so convenient.

Lamenting the accursed system, I could only give up on bringing my bed with me and instead settled for feeling the sheets once more. As I touched the sheets, their softness began drawing me in once again, stopping me from leaving. I really don’t want to leave these behind.

“Requa.” I spoke in a serious tone.

“Uh, ah, um, yes?” She was caught off guard.

“Do we have any shadow crystals?”

“Celestia, you know how rare those are right?”

“Yes.”

“You know how getting those crystals in particular is far more difficult than normal right?” She questioned.

I did know it was harder. With most types of magics there were two ways to acquire the crystals for them. The first was to find them in the depths of deep caves growing near areas where the elements allowed for it. For instance, you can find a wind crystal in a breezier section of a cave as opposed to fire crystals which you could find near lava.

The other way however, was transferring the users life energy to create a number of crystals of their most proficient magic. Sometimes they would create just one, but the highest recorded amount was ten. It would kill the magic user, but it would also produce the necessary crystals.

This system was the worse one of the two for acquiring the crystals, but sometimes it was used since mages who were old were most of the times weaker. Most older mages don’t do it, but when they commit a crime they are sometimes forced to go through the process. But for certain types of magics, this was the only way to get crystals for them.

These magics included holy, shadow, healing, demon, and amplifying. The last one of course was the one Fae had chosen to give her life for. The memory of learning it still caused me to quiver. She had only made one, but its strength was comparable to ten since she chose to concentrate her energy into only one.

“Yes, I do.” I responded with a little bit of my cheer diminished.

“Well, I’m sorry Celestia, but we don’t have one.” She explained, noticing my lost cheer.

“I see.”

“Sir Clauffer has been looking for one for the longest time, but he just couldn’t find one.”

“Thanks for letting me know Requa.” I tried to ease her worries about me just a bit.

Well it looked like I wouldn’t be able to bring the bed. I could only wave at it sadly as we left the room to go meet Clauffer at the carriage. After all this time I still didn’t quite know how to leave through the proper exit. Most of the time I left on my own, I would do so through the courtyard.

The other times I would leave was with Requa who guided me through different pathways each time to get to the entrance. The first time I saw her leading me through unfamiliar corridors I got worried that even she had gotten lost. But without fail, she also managed to get me to the entrance of the estate.

Even today, after I thought we had walked through every possible path, she managed to find a completely different one. This estate was far too big for any practical use. But I guess it does work pretty well for keeping intruders out.

During my stay here I had heard there were a few intruders, but I had never even gotten a chance to see them as they got lost in the house and were found before they could even attempt to steal anything. In some cases, I heard no one was ever able to find the intruders. Some of the guards are still concerned that there may be people still lost in the estate.

Finally reaching outside, we saw Clauffer with seven carriages. Only one of the carriages had an enclosed room however, and its interior was fitted in pure velvet. It’s exterior also seemed to be plated in silver and gold. Even the stallion at the helm was fitted with silver armour. The wheels seemed even more refined with the cart, looking study enough to withstand even explosions.

“Are you ready to go?” Clauffer asked as he gestured for me to enter the enclosed carriage.

“Y-yeah.” I stuttered a bit, still being slightly amazed by the sight.

As I entered the carriage, Requa followed behind me. Clauffer was not getting in just yet. It seemed he had to go tell his men something ahead of time. It seemed I was only allowed to enter this carriage as Clauffer couldn’t risk losing me before our meeting with the king.

The sense of being treated with such importance had caused me to puff out my chest with pride and smirk. Requa had obviously seen this but chose not to comment on it. She was quite sure she didn’t want to know why I was being so weird. I decided while I waited I might as well take a look out of the window to see why there had been so many carriages.

Looking around, I saw far more of Clauffer’s guards than I had ever seen before the entire time I was at the estate. It seemed he was bringing an entire army with him, but I guess he was making sure both he and I would be protected. Well, more so himself than me.

Maybe the other reason I was actually sitting with him was to serve as a better protector than them. After all, I could quite easily dispose of most threats. Maybe something like a dragon could be a bit of an issue, but those had been missing for so long I wasn’t even sure if they had even existed.

Thinking about it, it also did make sense as to why he was bringing this much protection with him to the Capital. I had heard that the rebel forces were making far larger movements in the Capital. There was a possibility they would attempt something soon.

If Clauffer was the high profile noble he talked himself up to be, then it would only make sense that he was a target for them. Not to mention he didn’t have the greatest of reputations out there. It’s known all over about how terrible he is. Even I could see it and he had been very weary of me the entire time.

Finally it seemed he finished up speaking to his men and had entered the carriage with us. In his hands he was holding some piece of clothing. Could it have been for him? Its design looked very nice and its deep blue colour made it seem as though it was created from the depths of the ocean itself.

“Here, take this.” He handed me the cloth.

“W-what is it?” I wondered.

“It’s an overcoat.”

“But why are you giving it to me?”

“It’ll make you look better in front of The King and Queen. I can’t have someone who's not dressed the part accompanying me.”

“I see.”

Accepting his words, I took the piece of clothing and wrapped it around me. He shut the door behind and made himself comfortable in the seats. While the seats were very comfortable, it seemed like Clauffer did not quite find them to his liking as he kept moving around in his seat.

“Are you ready?” He asked both of us as he finally settled for his current sitting position.

“Yes.” We both responded in unison.

Hitting the side of the cart with his fist as hard as he could, I could feel the cart moving along. While this experience was enjoyable thanks to the comforts provided, I still think I would have preferred being in an open carriage. I couldn’t feel the wind while being trapped in here.