"Big brother, are you a mage? Can you repeat what you just did, I haven't seen it!"
A boy suddenly jumped out of the broken vehicle and began talking to Satoshi. From his appearance, he looked to be around 14 years old, as old as Ashya. The clothes he was wearing looked very expensive and sharp.
"Your son?" Satoshi asked the man.
"Young master, please get inside the vehicle, it is dangerous here." The man ignored Satoshi and went to shoo the boy instead.
"No way! I saw flashes of magic, Inigo, I want to see what's going on!"
"But young master Trudeau, it is really dangerous out here, please don't make it difficult on me." the man pleaded.
Satoshi ignored all of this and continued doing what he was doing. He had made one variation of the coolant and was about to make another. He had studied the leakage and determined there should be three variations of elemental combination for this coolant.
'Hydrogenium, oxygenium, and carbo. Each variation is a combination of these three elements, the difference is in their exact composition. But hydrogenium is the most common of them.
Luckily, they have this alcohol and sugar…that makes it easier!'
A purple light flashed brightly accompanied by a quick gust of wind that gathered toward Satoshi. After the flash of light was gone, Satoshi poured a portion of liquid into the one he had made before. Now there was only a portion left he needed to turn into the last variation.
The last variation was done in a flash, now all that was left to do was to plug the leak on the reservoir and refill the coolant.
"Wow! Wow! WOW! Did you see that Inigo? Did you see it? It was magic!" The young boy excitedly exclaimed.
"Do you have any more magic spells, big brother?"
"I might have some." Satoshi chuckled.
Satoshi squatted down toward the leak on the reservoir and put his hands toward the small leak. This one should require no additional elements as it was basically just plugging a small hole. As his hand hovered over the reservoir, Satoshi could almost feel the different elements that made up the small container.
'Nicolum, Chromium, Ferrum, Cadmium, aluminum. This one should be done really quickly and with explosive but short bursts of energy!'
Very bright flashes of grayish light went off accompanied by a faint tint of orange. This one was much more intense but much quicker than what Satoshi did with the coolant.
"WOW!! It exploded!!" Trudeau shouted with twinkling eyes as Inigo tried and desperately failed to cover the boy's eyes from the flashes of light.
"That's cool, right? I doubt you can do that..." Satoshi suddenly teased the boy.
Trudeau looked at Satoshi and turned hesitant, he was weighing how he should respond.
"I indeed cannot do it, but my cousin absolutely can!" he said while pointing at the vehicle.
"Oh? The one that just passed the Academia Scholastic Trials?"
"Humbhumphhumm humbhhump!" Trudeau tried to talk as Inigo covered his mouth with a hand.
He was trying to keep it a secret from Satoshi and his probing questions, but now it was all for naught!
—
Satoshi stood on the deck of the ferry that would take him to Xinjia-kor. They had just sailed out from the port and the strong wind of the Middle Sea rapidly grew stronger. But Satoshi didn't mind this at all, instead, he felt refreshed. The smell of salty ocean wind reminded him of home.
After he was done with helping the stranded convoy Satoshi rushed at his top speed and was barely able to catch the ferry. After he paid 1 Gaels and 50 Argents, he embarked on the ferry with his vehicle.
Satoshi put his hand over his inner pocket and felt the medallion that Mulah gave him. With this Satoshi should be able to get on the ferry for free, but he would rather keep it a secret. Besides, he was now 25 Gaels richer!
The feeling of 25 Gaels coins in his pocket made Satoshi feel happy. He still couldn't believe he just made that much money over a jug of water and 15 minutes of work.
"Big brother!"
A boyish voice awakened Satoshi from his daydream. It was the boy from before with the butler, Inigo, following close behind. They had also made it onto the ferry much sooner than Satoshi.
"Hey there, I see you are getting on okay," Satoshi said to the boy.
"Yes! We were going so fast, sorry if we left you in our dust!"
"Nah, it's okay. Fortunately, there was someone that could fix the vehicle right?"
Inigo dejectedly looked at Satoshi," I'm still trying to comprehend what kind of man would sell a jug of water for 5 Gaels."
"Hey it's true, that was how much I paid for that jug of water. I'm not taking any profit whatsoever, in fact, I traded that with you at a loss. Now I have no water."
"...Whatever." Inigo said.
"Inigo, we should give big brother some of our water, can't let our benefactor go thirsty!"
"Hahaha! Yes! You are absolutely right, Trudeau!" Satoshi cackled due to the boy's innocence.
The ferry continued with the journey, slowly charting the perilous water of the Middle Sea. Luckily, the current worked in their favor at this time of year. They only needed to follow the sea current and made their way southward to reach Xinjia-kor. Thus, while the wind was strong, the ride was rather smooth.
Satoshi, Inigo, and Trudeau had moved and found a bench where they could sit. They were now chatting with one another. For Trudeau, this was his first time meeting a person of academia in the wild, which he called 'mage', and he was absolutely thrilled. Inigo was also quite interested in Satoshi despite having been robbed, he didn't expect Satoshi to be such a capable young man.
"So, you are not an active academia?" Inigo asked.
"Nah, I figured out some time ago that I don't have the discipline needed to be an academia, so I took off. I like doing what I do now much better."
Inigo looked at Satoshi with a changed look. There was now pity in his gaze.
But Satoshi didn't mind this, since he had a purpose in his lie.
"Well, to each their own…right? Where did you go, anyway? What academy?"
"I went to the Daojia Institute," Satoshi said as he barely knew any other academy.
"What's a Dao-what Institute…is it good?" Trudeau asked.
"It is, well, it had its…reputations," Inigo answered.
"Is it true what they said about the Grand Principal?"
"What is?" Satoshi asked
"Well, you know, the rumor…that he was connected..to a certain crowd.."
Satoshi was not sure what Inigo was talking about, "There are lots and lots of rumors, you need to be specific."
Inigo looked around to make sure there was no one around them that could eavesdrop on their conversation. He then used his hands to cover Trudeau's ears, "The rumor about the power."
Satoshi was startled by Inigo's answer. He didn't expect a conversation about this would suddenly come up out of nowhere. But he wasn't sure if Inigo was really talking about the Power Tribunal or not.
"Is he really connected to those despicable bastards?"
Now Satoshi was sure that Inigo was talking about the Power Tribunal, but was still quite surprised that he would know about them.
"I wonder where you heard that from…"
"Well, it's not actually a secret in certain spheres, you know. Although not entirely common, it is also not exactly a rare topic of court conversation."
"Is it now…"
Satoshi averted his gaze toward the sea and declined to answer. He realized now that while the existence of the Power Tribunal was a secret kept from the general masses, those with a certain degree of status were well aware of them.
The atmosphere between them changed a little bit after the conversation. Inigo noticed that Satoshi seemed unwilling to partake in the conversation, which made him quite suspicious. While Satoshi himself was suspicious of Inigo and would rather not have this conversation with someone he barely knew.
Luckily, a diversion came to rescue them from the awkwardness.
A young man came toward them followed by four adult men that looked like bodyguards. Each one of these men had an impressive build and radiated an intense aura that prevent people from getting close.
The young man was on the lead and was walking with confidence. His dress was exquisite but subdued, giving off an aura of thoughtful elegance. His face was pale and smooth, but one could see an innate arrogance in his eyes.
Inigo noticed the group walking closer and went to welcome them.
"Young master, is there any problem? You should not leave the VIP room, I'll get it for you if you need anything."
"I'm just bored and thought I'd have a walk to freshen up."
"Ah, still…I don't think this is appropriate."
"It's fine. I'm already here anyway. What were you doing?" The young man looked at Trudeau and Satoshi.
While he was excited when he talked about his cousin, now Trudeau seemed tense as he was facing the young man. Satoshi himself gave the young man a close look, he could finally see the mysterious young master.
Inigo took out a handkerchief and put it on the bench where the young man then took a seat.
"Ah, we were just talking, young master. Just making conversation. This is…"
Inigo stopped midway as he was introducing Satoshi.
"Oh my, what a silly thing. I forgot that I have not caught your name, brother. Forgive me."
Satoshi gave a forgiving smile and said toward the young man rather than Inigo.
"My name is Nuno. Pleased to meet you."
______