Who knew that GrayHill Forest would look so cool at night, huh? The forest seemed to illuminate from the mana around us. Since mana is in everything, the way plants and trees would Intake mana was similar to photosynthesis. How does it work? Honestly, no clue. But the way trees and plants would slowly light up with a rainbow shimmer looked fucking cool.
I woke up still in Lilith's lap. she was asleep, but it seemed like she fell asleep while rubbing my head. her silver hair covering one of her eyes as she slowly leaned left.
What a sweet girl.
The night was bright, but that was just due to the magic…photosynthesis that was happening. Looking out from the hole in the carriage showed that the moon was shining bright. Besides the moon there were stars that illuminated the sky as well.
Damn, this looked beautiful. In my old life, I used to hang out in the forest near my house with some friends and usually there would be fireflies that'll come and go in that area..
I remember holding one in a jar that my mom gave me. Ah, the memories of the old world.
Derrick and Edward were still awake, albeit Edward was on the verge of sleeping. He kept swaying left and right before shaking himself to energize. Derrick on the other hand was doing fine, it seemed like he was thinking to himself. He kept talking to himself, hyping himself up. Not that I didn't mind it, it was funny watching him do it.
"You got it, Derrick. Yeah, you do. You're right, me!" He says, giving himself a thumbs up.
I gave my left arm a poke to make sure it was still there. I pressed against the new scar that I had and gave a sigh of relief. Just had to make sure there wasn't a hole still there.
Looking up, I saw Lilith's sleeping face but decided to not bother her. I'm just going to bother Derrick and Edward.
I got out of Lilith's lap and walked to the front bench so I could talk to those two. They must've heard me as Edward gave a glance back and gave a sleepy smile.
"Kota is up." He sheepishly said.
"Oh, the lover boy is up. How are you liking the night? We couldn't make time for making a camp, so we decided to trod through the night. We'll make it to Prusha in the morning." Derrick also gave a smile when he said that.
"Yeah, I never seen the plants and trees do this in Shanford, it's really beautiful!" I exclaimed. Edward hushed me, signaling that he was still keeping watch.
"Glad you love it boy, haha." Derrick chugged a flask that he had beside him.
"Kota, how are you enjoying the trip…" Edward then looked at the hole in my arm. "…Nevermind, forget I asked."
"Oy, Edward? What kind of a question was that? It's been two days for these two kids and they've been through hell." Derrick hassled him.
"Though, I might ask…are you alright?" Derrick peered at me.
It's another boy's night, huh? It's midnight, you are up with your friends and now one of you will bring up a deep conversation.
"I'm fine, just not mentally well after.." I trailed off. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I've killed someone. I didn't really register it earlier because I was just drained mentally at that point.
"Hm, I see. It seems like Lilith is well prepared to kill for you. That girl…is weird, in a good way." Derrick scratched his chin as he said that.
"I don't think she's that weird? She's just trying to protect her only friend." I immediately responded to that.
"Hah, "Friend". Ok, Lota. Look somewhere down that line you'll understand what I mean." Derrick snorted.
Ah, about how Lilith feels about me. I feel like I had that talk before.
Oh yeah, Gerald! Thinking of it, I looked back at Lilith and nodded.
Yeah, I'll still wait till she confesses to me. I'm still not on board with that whole thing yet until we get older.
"Heh, I think I do know what you're saying. Father talked to me about it." I responded back.
Derrick tilted his head, an eyebrow raised. "Oh, Gerald, talk about this? That playboy."
"A Womanizer. Yes." Edward nodded in agreement.
"Tryna keep that Detrut bloodline going, always rambling about that. Hehe, that man…" Derrick let a chuckle out before going into deep thought.
"Off having another kid…Gerald wants more kids." Edward added.
Another kid? Oh yeah, Arael talked about that. Shit, they're looking at me. I gotta look like I'm surprised.
"B-beg pardon?" I asked.
"Haha, they didn't tell you, huh? Probably once you're older, you'll be a brother to a baby." Derrick answered, it seems like Gerald probably made plans after I left to go crazy on Synthia.
Man.
"An opportunity that has no negatives"
"Mmhmm. Correct, Edward."
That mother- Ok he had like three plans in his head when i brought up about going to Pusha. I knew Arael said I'd have a sister, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon.
"Say, Kota. What fo you plan on doing After graduating From Prusha's university of magic? Are you going back home?" Derrick asked.
What will I do? I actually didn't really know. Maybe once I somehow graduate and meet that boy in my vision, Arael will give me a new task?
No. In fact, doing this one damn task has managed to cause me more mental pain than expected. This task she has for me better be worth it or something. But I intend to not do another task from her, no matter what she said before. Fuck her.
Maybe I'll just follow Lilith? I'll be her assistant in her journey for revenge. That somehow sounds more better than being a service boy for a goddess.
Yeah, that sounds like something I can do afterwards.
"I think I'll help Lilith with her problems after graduation. I made a promise to her." When I gave my answer to Derrick, he grinned and lowered his sunglasses. I saw his eye and his hole for his other eye.
What the hell was he doing?
"You can't tell, but I'm supposed to be winking if you're wondering." He said.
Well shit, he can read minds? No, he's just assuming since that would be a weird thing to do.
"What are you guys going to do once you escort us to Prusha?" I asked.
"Head back to Shanford, tell your parents that you guys are in Prusha. Then after that…" Derrick scratched his chin, Edward scratched his head.
"We have no idea."
"Oh…" I sighed. It seemed like these guys didn't have a clue at all afterwards. Maybe they didn't like doing mercenary jobs?
"Fret not, Kota. We'll find a way to entertain ourselves at that time. Maybe we'll hang out with Gerald, talk about our old journeys." Derrick seemed to be quite alright with not knowing. That "go with whatever" attitude was strong with him.
" Do you know what Prusha is Like, Derrick or Edward?" Both of them groaned when I asked.
"Horrid, Magic is all over that place. Racism and whatnot. You might enjoy it, Kota. The amount of Influence this Kingdom had with the Production of magic spells and items is off the charts from what the other kingdoms have done." Derrick gave his piece to the question.
"I haven't really gone in and explored…but their red light district and the Market area is very nice." Edward gave a weird response. What was he doing in these areas?
Actually I don't wanna know, I feel I actually know, but refuse to acknowledge it.
"Edward, the boy is still a child. Do not speak of the red light district…But you're right about it though, HAHA" Derrick laughed. "Ok, Kota. Enough of the chitchat, Why don't you go back and relax on Lilith lap again? I'm sure once you wake up in the morning, you'll see what the Kingdom is like." He then gave me a smile and waved with one hand to signal me to go away.
I like these random conversations that we have. It's like talking with the boys! Except here it's two older men who kill and I'm an eighteen year old who's technically eleven in this world!
God, this world is weird!
I walked to the back bench where Lilith was, enjoying the view of the forest from the opened back of the carriage. The rainbow shimmer of the mana that was being taken illuminated the forest. The trees seemed to brighten up and slowly dim as they too also shimmered a rainbow look. I wonder if this is how magic items are made? Just from using these magically infused wood or anything that has magic. Now I'm curious about that. I'm hoping that the university will have some sort of f class on crafting or infusing things with magic.
Holy shit, I'm actually excited to be at school. My last year in school in the old world really fucked me up. The constant bullying and harassment to me really fucked me mentally.
Wait, what if that happens at this school? The same old issue pops up and I end up back at square one?
No! Don't think like that, Travis! You can learn from your old mistake, just don't talk with anyone who seems like they want to be friends!
Wait, That might cause even more issues! We need to find some people in Prusha who can guide us, me and Lilith can't rely on Derrick and Edward for too long. I'm sure as soon as we enter Prusha, they'll leave back to Shanford.
"Kota, are you ok?" I looked up and saw that Lilith was awake now, giving me a worried face.
"Oh, uh. Sorry…I was just overthinking." I sat down next to her while scratching the back of my head.
"Overthinking? " she tilted her head. "About what?"
"Just about Prusha, what we're gonna do."
"Oh, well we'll just find where we need to go and then figure it out on the way."
She makes it sound so simple, then again I'm talking to a eleven year old who actually has the right mental age for one.
"Ah, I guess so. I'll be going back to sleep." I then laid my head down on her lap again.
Lilith didn't seem to mind that I was using her lap again, she looked behind us to see the scenery. And she started humming.
I'm not sure what that song she was humming, maybe her mother hummed it for her and she memorized it. It had a really nice rhythm to it. It reminded me of a song I heard in my old world.
Actually, I'm starting to think this is a lullaby cause I can feel my eyes slowly closing as she hummed.
And in about forty seconds, I was out.
****
A loud noise woke me up. A particular noise.
The sound of men grunting and lifting something.
What the hell was that?
I found myself lying on the bench without Lilith, where did she go? Wait, where is Derrick and Edward? Where the fuck did everyone go?
I scratched my head in confusion as I looked out the ripped hole in our carriage. It was morning, in fact it was sunny so the hole shed some light inside. Seemed like everyone left their baggage inside the carriage.
The noises from outside continued, but when I listened more. I heard more people. Actually I heard a lot of people. The sound of footsteps and movement came from around the carriage.
Out of curiosity and maybe just out of nowhere using my common sense. I turned around.
Carriages, horses and people were surrounding us as I saw people walking or getting out of their carriage. I saw a man and a kid get off their horse and noticed that both of them were carrying large backpacks on their backs. There were many different looking people here walking too. I saw a Cat...person? A horse looking fellow and a…
Shit, I should've read that race and creatures book more. Wait, don't focus on that right now, I gotta find Everyone!
I grabbed my staff and opened the carriage door and… Everyone was just outside the door… Derrick, Edward and Lilith were looking around before they turned around to face me.
"Well, if it isn't Kota. Late again!" Derrick roared, Edward gave a wave as Lilith smiled.
"What? Late? Why didn't anyone wake me?" I asked.
"Can't wake up sleeping beauty.." Edward responded, which prompted Derrick to laugh.
"HAHA, Don't worry Kota. We aren't going anywhere. Besides, We're here."
I gazed at the scenery behind them. An immaculate wall of stone stood before us. There was a white pristine color to them as I looked up even more. A castle, Not just any fucking castle though.
This thing had a huge magic crystal sitting on top of it, Floating. A blue glow basking it. It seemed to be hovering above the main center as the Four towers around the castle seemed to connect to it. What I think I saw were lines drawn to it. Perhaps that's the reason why this crystal was floating? Each tower was painted white as well, with a brown roof to them. Looking back at the wall, I noticed that this wall stretched a long way. Extremely Long. I could see fumes coming from the other side of the left wall. Possibly chimneys? The right side of the wall had no fumes, But i noticed that there was another large building over there. It looked like a large Church, but it too had a magic crystal on what seemed to be it's bell tower.
Looking back down and looking around us, I saw that we were in some sort of camp. People were walking around. The noises heard of men grunting seemed to have come from a group of men that were lifting a monster off their carriage; it looked like a gigantic Bear that had a leopard's pattern to it. To the front of us, there was the Front gate. Guards were there. You know…Guarding.
Then Lilith ran up to me and grabbed my shoulders, which took me out of my observation.
'Kota! We're Here! We're in Prusha!" She yelled.
Prusha? This is Prusha?
I looked around and noticed a Sign on one of the Camps that were here. It said:
"Welcome To Prusha, The Kingdom of Magic"