I was not granted a carriage, much less a horse but instead something much better. One of the privileges of being Lady Silvia's disciple let's say. The tower master was after all, a space element magi. Well, a dragon. But still. She had long mastered the art of long distance teleportation and offered her services as long as one was willing to pay and that the area they wanted to go to was within the borders of The Empire.
There were a few reasons why it wasn't widely used:
1. It was expensive. A single person would have to pay over a year's worth of a normal peasant's salary, around 1 gold, in order to travel by themselves. And the price rose exponentially depending on how much goods or luggage they had.
This was slightly due to the fact that bigger and heavier objects required more mana from Lady Silvia's part but mainly because she had monopolized this business and could control the cost however she wished to do so.
2. One could only travel from the central tower and not vise versa. This was a one way ticket after all and for some people traveling to the Central Magus Tower was a longer journey than the location they wished to go to.
3. It wasn't 100% reliable. There had been cases where the person being teleported had been sent to a completely different location, sometimes even beyond the borders or in the middle of the sea as well as cases where their luggage or goods were simply lost during the passage.
The Capital was only 2-3 days by a carriage or a horse, around 8 days or so on foot, but Lady Silvia just simply decided to speed up my journey and reduce the potential... Dangers along the way.
I gathered my belongings that I thought I would need and then headed up to Lady Silvia's floor after requesting entry and being granted. Oh, and the artifact Scamander had given me of course, just in case.
I had packed spare magi robe alongside the one I was wearing and the other one I received, a few books to study upon and an allowance of 5 gold's worth by Lady Silvia. 'Business funds' she called it. Three gold coins, ten silver and 100 copper coins in total.
The letter and the badge had been already placed in the inside pocket of my robe already.
"Ready?" Lady Silvia stood before me as I stood upon a purple glowing circle of various symbols and runes. "Don't worry about the thing below you, it's just an amplified version of the 'elevator' within our tower."
"Oh...Okay. Ready. I think." I gulped as sweat trickled behind my back, hoping that I would not land in some mysterious land.
Or in the middle of the sea.
"Have fun" Lady Silvia giggled. "Make sure to say the location of where you wish to go to after the second spell.
"Ianuae Magicae". Lady Silvia started as a door condensed out from the surrounding space itself before it appeared before me.
"Locus" The second spell was cast as the cracks upon the door started to shine.
"The Capital of The Empire!" I spoke out in haste as if the spell would run out before I could say it all out loud.
"Iungo." And as the third spell was cast, the door started to open as a strange force propelled me forwards.
As I passed through the light door, I was welcomed into the sunshine of the outside world. I walked into a grassy patch near the main road that led up to the Capital. The various civilians walking saw a shining door appearing out of nowhere, which was now dissipating, and a man walking out from it.
Like magic. Well, because it was. Kind of?
[This 'teleportation' seems to be a form of a wormhole, folding space itself so that point a and b are connected at a single point and sending something, in this case you, through it. More research and analysis is required.]
'Well, until I master the space element I doubt we can learn more about it.' The chances of Lady Silvia letting a mere apprentice study her and her magic was an absurd idea. Yes, it would hurt to ask so I won't. As friendly and gentle Lady Silvia was to me, I had seen how ferocious and scary she could be to others.
Anyways.
One of the guards standing by the main gate saw the commotion I had created and walked up to greet me.
"Hello! You must be from the Central tower yes? Welcome, I am the guard captain in charge of the East Gate. How may we help you Magus?" He seemed to have noticed the robe I was wearing and called me appropriately.
The surrounding civilians, though still bewildered, continued to walk their way. Though something such as teleportation was no common feat, there was knowledge regarding magic and some even knew about Lady Silvia, the tower master of the Central Magus Tower after all.
"Hello... I am Deus, a disciple of Lady Silvia. I am here to meet the emperor on her behalf to hand over a letter." I pulled out a badge and showed it to the guard captain.
"Woah woah, no need to show me all that. I don't have the authority to grant you a meeting with the emperor. You need to go seek the imperial guards by the entrance to the palace. I'm just here to let you into the city" The guard captain hurriedly shook his hands in an exaggerated manner as he lead me towards the gate.
"The palace is at the center of the city, you won't be able to miss it. Go over there and show them the bad and the letter and the badge." The guard captain let me through the gate as he pointed towards a direction.
"Thank you..." I started to walk towards the location he had pointed, mesmerized by the sight around me.
It was packed.
There seemed to be at least a few hundred people within my vision only and I had barely taken a step into the city.
There were stores lined up on each sides of the road selling various things. Everything from food, armor, weapons, pets, pottery, cutlery and even a store that sold um... Adult toys. Yeah those.
[According to one of the maps that shows the layout of the capital, the capital is divided into 5 sections.
The east side, the section we are on right now, is the commercial district. It housed the various stores, the market and various amenities for visitors.
The southern side, the largest of them all, is the general living district. This is where over 80% of the population of the capital lived.
The west side holds the schools, colleges, libraries, tax office, court and other important facilities.
The north side is the living area of royalty and the rich. The higher your royalty, the closer your residence would be to the palace. Of course the rich also lived here but along the most outside locations.
And the central area is the palace, though it is the smallest of them all it is the most armed and guarded area.]
A 3d holographic image appeared before my eyes that only I could see, showing me the visual layout of the capital.
'Hmm, alright. Check in on a hotel first, shopping afterwards and then food. We can visit the palace tomorrow, all of this is getting me excited.'
[Please do bear in mind your actions are inefficient.]
'Shush, you don't know the pleasantries of the human life.'
[Please also bear in mind you are not a living human being anymore, you are like me. A collection of data.]
'Ugh.'
I ignored A.I as I checked into a nearby hotel for 2 weeks. Seeing as it was merely 5 coppers per night for a suite, I was gladly paid the price and walked up to a lavishly furnished room.
'Was it expensive? Hmm, I don't quite have a sense of price for goods in this world yet. It'll be a good experience to learn.'
So with the remaining 3 golds, 10 silvers and 40 coppers safely in the pocket of my bosom, I walked out into the commercial district again.
Alright, time to go shopping!