After having a good night's sleep, he woke up on a sunny morning. He went to the counter to get his refund as he paid three days in advance. He also bought some food and water so that he won't starve during the journey.
"What's the best way to get to the Horn City?" He asked the innkeeper. The distance between the village and the city is around 120 km. Walking that distance will be very tiring and will take three days or so. Not to mention the dangers of hiking alone on the mountain. For someone like him, that doesn't have the resilient body of a knight, it would be a death wish.
"The best way would be to use the teleportation circle. But it is the most expensive. Usage requires 2 Gold just to teleport to Horn City." The innkeeper responded as if reading a script. He's been asked a similar question countless times. He can even bet that he knows the follow-up question.
Prince HS grimaced. He only has 18 Silver left.
"What are the other options aside from using the teleportation circle?" He asked. He is hoping there's an option that he can afford.
Seeing that the man in front of him is asking for the other options, the innkeeper surmised that this man probably doesn't have that much money left. He bellowed in response, "Please go now! You can just walk if you can't afford it!" He doesn't want to waste his time on this poor man. Customers are coming in and he doesn't want to get hogged down for nothing.
Prince HS noticed the change in tone and have a guess as to why. He swiftly thanked the innkeeper as a courtesy and went out of the inn.
"Heh, I can always ask someone else." Placing what happened inside the inn on the back of his mind, he goes around and asked a number of people. As this is just a small village, it didn't take long before he compiled the information that he needs.
"So, aside from teleportation, the other options are Flower Rail for 1 Silver per person and Flying Squirrel Carriage for 1 Gold per person. Obviously, I'll go with the Flower Rail which is not that bad. It would be fascinating the ride a train in this world." He silently muttered to himself. And he proceeded to walk towards where the Flower Rail station is.
The Flower Rail is essentially the train in this world. Several magical massive flowers are connected to each other that generally runs along a gigantic vein track. There are eight petals and each corresponds to a seat. This village's Flower Rail only has a total of ten flowers so its total capacity is eighty people. It is usually jam-packed with people as it is affordable and safer than walking and hiking on the mountain.
Flying Squirrel Carriage is more for personal transport. A live flying squirrel pulls the carriage. It can accommodate four people. The carriage actually floats by an inch to the ground using gravity magic so it is not much a strain for the squirrel. Don't underestimate a flying squirrel, in this world, they can actually fly and not just glide. This is because they have evolved magical wings.
After walking for a while, he found the Flower Rail station. The place is quite busy. He saw that there are like ten seats left so he hurriedly went to pay for a seat. An attendant took his fare and stamped him with a seal on the back of his left hand. The seal looked like a flower and it emits a faint glow of bluish hue. Then the attendant gave him a quick instruction on how to activate it.
Another attendant assisted him to the last flower. As he neared the flower, he felt the repulsing power of a barrier. He activated the seal on his left hand as per the instruction and he felt the barrier easing. He easily gets inside and sat down where he can see the front of the Flower Rail. He felt more comfortable if he can see what's ahead.
It didn't take long before the Flower Rail went full. After the attendant outside confirmed that everything is good, it sent a telepathic message to the driver. The driver on the front swiftly activated several crystals in a certain order. The Flower Rail started moving and after five seconds, it began to accelerate. It only took another ten seconds and it reached its normal speed of 240 km/hr. Meaning, it will only take thirty minutes to reach its destination.
Prince HS has a look of excitement on his face as he said to himself, "We are moving really fast and yet there's no inertia. It feels like the flower is still and it is the world that moves." He can't stop marveling at this new experience. It really feels different from what he used to.
After traveling for around twenty minutes, he noticed a gigantic horn from the distance. It feels massive even though he knows it is so far away and yet he can see it with bare eyes.
At this moment though, there's suddenly a quake. Normally, they shouldn't feel much any vibration while traveling but this one is.
He frowned when he felt the vibration. If it can be felt inside, that means the quake is very very strong. Even the other passengers have a look of worry on their faces. They were looking left and right for the source of the intense vibration.
Their wish was granted not long after as they saw that the massive trees beside the rail opened up and a giant centipede that is as wide as the Flower Rail appeared.
Most of the passengers screamed. Massive beasts attacking the Flower Rail is unprecedented. This is the first time it happened in all of the known histories. So, most of them were unprepared. Those who didn't panic were the magicians. Magicians have a strong mind. They have worries written on their faces but for them, there's no need to scream.
The centipede seems to be in distraught. It is trying to run and it encountered the Flower Rail. In its mind, changing directions is slow, much faster to just push forward. So, it did.
Deep horror can be seen written on the face of the majority of the passengers. They can see that the beast will ram itself on the Flower Rail. The magicians inside started to cast some spells. Some cast a barrier on itself while some cast a barrier to protect the flower where they were seated. Nobody cast an offensive spell because they know it will be useless. The strongest of them are only a half-Official magician. Most Official Magicians usually use the teleportation circle so it is not unexpected not to find one on this transport flower.
Prince HS's eyes flashed with extreme concentration. What can he do? He only knows two spells and they are both Basic spells.
Having no choice and knowing there's no time to waste, he focused on the flower in front of the beast and recited the Basic Breeze spell on his mind. A strong wind suddenly manifested and it blew the flower. The centipede missed as the Flower Rail bent itself.
The Flower Rail quickly recovered and the bent section went back to the vein track on the ground and it continued on its travel as if nothing happened. The centipede momentarily stopped as it was stunned with the sudden change of events. You can see a big question mark on top of its head.
But the beast only cares about running so it only took a moment and it swiftly disappeared to the other side of the vein. It doesn't really care about the Flower Rail, it's life was more important.
Back to the Flower Rail.
Everybody was stunned especially the magicians. They haven't thought about directing wind to the Flower Rail itself to dodge the beast. Another thing that stunned them is that the spell unleashed was very strong. Almost to the level of an Official Magician. They've started to look to the other flowers to see who's the magician that saved them but they've noticed that the other magicians are looking as well.
The rest of the passengers all sighed with deep relief. They are thankful that they get out of that perilous situation alive.
While the magicians are stunned and the other passengers are celebrating, Prince HS was shocked.
"What the hell! I've just recited the spell fifty times and the effect was that strong?"