"Sorry to keep you waiting." I broke into a light jog and said to my fiancée, Katarina who was decked out in a comfy looking adventurer's gear.
She cut her hair in preparation for our journey and combined with her new clothes and expression, it was kind of hard to tell she was a princess.
The standard adventurer's gear consisted of a light but tough dark green material that was very resistant to hear and cold and was often recommended to adventuring newbies.
Katarina wore her own in a short sleeved shirt and shorts which was a surprisingly childish choice of hers.
"Can you stop dissing me in your head the first time we meet in three years." At this point , I was convinced everyone had mind reading magic cause, what is with everyone knowing exactly what I'm thinking?
"Level with me Kat, you can read my mind."
After talking through each other a lot mostly through communication magic which was like a video call from my past life, we were familiar to call each other by nicknames.
"Don't call me that. Ever." Or maybe not.
"Just answer the question."
"A ruler needs to be able to know what her subjects are thinking." Katarina replied casually.
"If you can rationalize everything like that, then anything would be possible."
While she had a calculating character and could be cold at times, Katarina was what many might call a good person though she often gets sidetracked and sees others as numbers.
"You know what they say; it's all dependent on your worldview."
"That seems a little too easy."
The two of us began walking side-by-side and evened our pace.
Our first destination was the city of magic, Auretia.
"I wonder what kind of people we will meet there."
In this world overflowing with magic, for a single city to claim independence and from all the nations and proclaim itself the best city to study magic was no small feat.
Military prowess, economic ability, management skills. I was sure that that city would have it all.
"And from what I heard, they have a platform that allows people to fight without worry about death." Katarina some and I wondered what kind of mechanism it operated by.
"Do you think you can teleport us there?"
"No. The city is too far away and there are many barriers in place that prevent long distance teleportation without permission."
"In that case..." I stepped forward and squatted a little.
Katarina frozen at the sight but smiled as she remembered what happened years ago and climbed on.
Except, this wasn't going to be like before.
"How do you do with heights?" I asked my passenger.
"I'm okay with them I guess."
"Nice to hear that."
I concentrated all my power into my feet and leaped off against the ground launching the two of use I to the air.
The wind whistles by as we shot forward only beginning to slow down after reaching several dozens of meters Into the air.
And then began to fall.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" I thought I heard Katarina screaming but it was most likely my imagination and focused power again into my feet and this time, kicked off against the air.
"Lifebound arts, Pseudo flight."
And rinse and repeat, I think we covered about a hundred kilometre or so in an hour.
...
"Never do that again."
"Sorry."
Katarina was currently puking after we came to a sudden stop when a dragon sped by and knocked us to the ground.
We descended into a forest and I laid down as I watched my fiancée bend over with a dark glee in my heart.
She was currently heaving and throwing up liquified food into a pit.
"You should really be a little more considerate of how you look in front of others." I couldn't help but point out as she washed her mouth with a bottle of water.
One good thing about loving in a world of magic is the fact that you never run out of water so long as you can use water magic.
"You're quite convenient to have."
"Don't call your fiancée convenient."
"And don't try to brainwash your fiancé."
"That was years ago. Girls don't like guys that hold grudges."
"Wanting other girls to like your fiance is quite odd."
"Don't talk to me about odd, you perverted healer."
"Hey!"
Just to be clear, we aren't in love with each other or anything. But, when you have a friend that knows all your secrets and someone you can relax your back against without worrying about anything, it can be quite reliving.
"I'm glad I met you." I only realized I was the one who said those words after seconds passed and turned to see Katarina who was making a weird face.
"Laugh if you want." That just made her hold it even more and small bits of laughter stared leaking from her mouth.
I decided to get it over with and poked her sides and she dissolved into a mess of laughter and tears.
"Quite the cocky attitude from someone who was puking not long ago." I muttered as my face turned hot and wondered what in the world possessed me to say those words.
"Don't go falling for me now." Katarina said... Or attempted saying in a cool manner but couldn't hold it and burst into round two of her laughter.
I was about o leave in embarrassment when I suddenly sensed numerous presences closing in on us.
Behind me, Katarina stopped laughing and got into a combat position as numerous barriers appeared around her entire body and a sleek, black metal staff appeared in her hands.
Seconds later, numerous black clothes people appeared in the treetops and one of them, presumably the leader since he spoke up first, pointed a sword at us.
"Hey you brats! Leave behind any valuables you have and scram!" He barked and I turned to Katarina in excitement and met a similar one.
"It's that, isn't it?"
"There's no other thing it can be, right?"
"I can't believe we encountered it just hours after leaving on our journey!"
"This is so exciting! What do we do?"
"Hey! What are you guys whispering about? If you don't do as we say, we're gonna make you wish you were dead." I guess I'll call him Leader, said and the enemy Mages began casting magic and soon, we were surrounded by magic circles brimming with power.
"What should we do? Should we let them take us hostage?"
But that still didn't stop our excitement and in fact, increased it and our taking became more animated.
"Tsk, those brats. You guys, fire!"