Me and my parents have said our goodbyes as we hug for the last time for a while and they drop me off, I wave goodbye once more as I walk on my way
I find and board the carriage after paying the travel fee, aboard besides me is another boy who looks around the same age, a hooded figure around our size, and a larger hooded figure next to them
'Probably some rich person and their bodyguard'
The carriage driver gets his horses moving
___
A cheerful voice rings out
"Hello, Im Arath!"
I look at the boy, wide hazel eyes, dirty blonde hair, and light skin
I reach my hand out and grasp his
"Im Viek, what business do you have in Boruun?"
He gets a smug look on his face before answering
"Im going to the Academy"
'What are the chances?'
At his answer the small robed figure seems to jolt slightly
"Oh wow! Im also going to the Academy tryouts"
The robed figure jolts slightly again
'Yep they're definitely headed there too'
Arath's face lights up
"Wow really!? Thats great! I heard they teach all kinds of spells there! And as long as you have the ability you can learn as many as you want!"
'Ah.'
My face couldnt force itself to share the same excitement but instead I bitterly smiled at his words
"Well, that sounds great, do you know any magic yourself?"
As if waiting for someone to ask him this question he holds his hands close together centering on his chest and takes a slow inhale through his noise and exhales sharply through his mouth
*Huuu-*
An orb of light is summoned in between his hands, a small trail is seemingly left and carried by the wind as we move with the carriage
It lasts about 10 seconds before disappearing
"Phew"
He slumps down in his seat
"Wow, that.."
I think about that light
"THAT WAS AWESOME!!"
His tired face immediately transforms into a toothy grin
I hear the carriage driver chuckle
Arath then smugly says
"Heheh thats nothing, if we werent moving on this bumpy carriage I could make it last thirty seconds"
'IM JEALOUS'
"What is that spell called?"
I ask inquisitively
"Candlelight"
___
The carriage ride lasts two weeks, In that time I learn a few things
Firstly the carriage drivers name is Oren, a pudgy guy with a bald head, a cap, and a white beard
Arath is from the closest town away from mine, he knows a total of three spells which are candlelight, flame, and fireball
And that unfortunately his flame and fireball only have a flame the size of a lighters fire but its still very cool nonetheless
On more than a few occasions he rambled on trying to teach me how to use and grow my mana, though I didnt attempt to in fear of overheating, I didnt tell him that though and only listened intently
No point in airing out my business or making the atmosphere awkward
Speaking of which, the most awkward parts of the trip were probably the bathroom breaks where we had to go away from the carriage and do our business on the ground
Also, throughout all of the two weeks I never learned the robed peoples names, didnt try to either just in case, you never know what kind of headspace people are in
Finally we were at the Boruun city gates
The robed figures went in first as if in a rush while I hung back with Arath as he took a bit getting his stuff together, we said goodbye to Oren who apparently wasnt stopping in the city and was also apparently in a rush
___
Arath looked at me with giddyness in his eyes
"This is so exciting! Scary, but exciting!"
I chuckled as I looked up at the gate
"I couldnt agree with you more, lets go!"
The guards at the gate stopped us and we showed the Academy tryout medallions,
Most people have medallions that show their affiliation, some for their businesses some for their kingdom, for us this is all we need for identification at the moment though
The guard looked at me before speaking
"Valls son?"
"Yeah! Im Viek! Howd you know?"
The guard chuckled
"He told me he'd send his prodigy son up here soon, me and your father go way back, plus youre almost a spitting image of Meredith, I'll let you on your way but I just want you to know if anything goes wrong come to the guards and ask for Irkos, Ill help you out"
He smiled and let me and Arath pass
'This is a good day'
As we entered the town I was overwhelmed
'so many people!'
The noises the faces everything, wow!
Arath grabbed my hand and started pulling me
"Come on lets go get signed up for the tryouts!"
'Oh thank God'
I had no clue where they were off of just seeing the town and I was glad I was with someone who did
___
The town was HUGE, even from the Kingdom gates the castle itself was incredibly far, I cant even imagine how many people must live here
We finally got to a building and walked inside
Arath explained to me what my father did before I left home
"This is called the adventurers guild! Its just one of their many buildings, they're affiliated with the Academy so we sign up through here!"
It kind of reminded me of the check in at the hospital, it was even run similarly, we walked in got our numbers and sat down to wait for them to call us up
While we were there me and Arath talked about what we heard about the Academy, from the teachers to the food, well, If I was beinfg honest Arath did almost all the talking while I just listened
___
Finally, they called me up!
It wasnt a very exciting process but my nerves were wracked, they asked me my name, age, and which town I came from and after that they asked for the medallion then after checking it out they gave it back and told me to bring it to the tryouts and that was it
Arath did the same thing and we went outside the door
I posed a question
"So, where are you planning on staying? We have a few days before tryouts."
He didnt take much time to shrug and say
"No clue. How about you?"
"My dad told me theres an inn near the adventurers guild building called the Horseshoe and I should stay there while I wait, wanna stay with me?"
"Sounds like a plan!"
As we walked around the cobble paths I made sure to tell him hes paying half the cost, though my parents gave me enough for food and housing and then some that doesnt mean Im gonna spend it just because I can.
We paid for a room and as soon as we felt the softness of the beds we almost immediately conked out
If there was one thing I didnt want a redo of from that carriage ride it was sleeping while those shabby wheels hit pebbles