บท 29: Behind the Walls of Wiskoschia
"So you decided to be a mage after all, huh?" said Nila and tilted her head to the side, her eyes sparked with interest, while Zanuff whistled at my words. I nodded slowly and added, "That's right, I feel like magic has tons of uses, and it will really help me in survival in the Dlayla region… once we part our ways."
Nila squinted her eyes and dragged her legs back to embrace her knees. She contemplated for a moment, before speaking in a stern voice, "Survival, huh?"
My eyes shifted at Zanuff who was curiously observing us both. I understood her well, she doubted my words due to the crimes that I committed while being drunk from Solitaire's powers. It was reasonable to not trust someone like me, but I also could not say out straight that I would not do anything like that ever again. In the end, Zanuff was still clueless about my name being Dusk, but it did not stop the old man from intervening into the conversation.
"Part your ways? I thought you two were travelling together?"
"Only until Dlayla region, afterwards, we will part our ways." bluntly said Nila, I remained silent, thus Zanuff continued, "Is that so? I thought you two made quite a team."
My eyes shifted at the bottom of the wagon as something ached in my chest. I was well aware of this fact, even more, so I was the one who initiated this agreement. However, now, upon every fleeting thought of our parting I felt disgusting, as if food poisoning crawled up my guts. It was probably because Nila was a helpful tool on my way to the impossible task to slay God, but I somehow felt like… there was another reason I did not want to let her go, but alas, I was not in the position to dictate her wants. All I could do is to prepare for a farewell once we crossed the monster realm.
While I was observing the wooden planks that were shaking slightly from the bumpy road, I heard an overexaggerated sigh coming from Nila. She crossed her hands and shifted her gaze to the side before speaking, "I suppose there is no harm in teaching you the basics of magic. After all, we already agreed that we will talk about it on our way to Wiskoschia. Moreover, I doubt you would be able to protect yourself otherwise, especially with that flimsy knife."
Her eyes glanced over my pocket, to which I hummed in annoyance and took out her camping knife. Once I extended it, she shook her head and rejected its return with her hand. Why the hell would she mention it if she did not accept it anyway? In spite of her contradictory behaviour, I was still somewhat relieved that she accepted my plea.
I could already envision being myself, an exceptional mage with an extraordinary staff and a cloak that would enhance the mysterious winds around me. But before I could think of my possible future titles, Nila sat beside my and took out yet another book from her suitcase. I froze in place, seeing its green cover that contained unfamiliar symbols as well as the stars.
Once Nila opened the book at the very first page, she began explaining, "This is a condensed guide to Sage Clementine's manual, the founder of human magic."
"Sage Clementine?"
This name was unique enough to remember, the one who told me about this person was the daughter of the Crawley family. Even though she told me all sorts of stories about him, I did not pay any attention at the time. It was truly a blunder, since I could have learnt about magic way sooner this way.
"Was Clementine a woman then?"
Zanuff coughed while Nila tilted her head, "Wait, you have not heard about Clementine? Although his name is rather feminine, the great sage was man through and through… Have you really not heard about him?"
"Nila, I already told you that I am illiterate!"
"Oh, right." she sighed and closed the book, then put it back into her suitcase and instead took out her notebook. Along with it, she held a pencil between her slender fingers.
"Then there is no point in teaching you until you learn how to read."
"Are you for real!?"
"Human magic is simple to use in normal circumstances, but if you can't read, then you would not be able to learn new spells."
"Then teach me natural magic!" I exclaimed to which Nila narrowed her brows, "Human lifespans are not vast enough to simply teach it to you from square zero."
I was at a loss for words when she opened the notebook and began scribbling the letters. It seemed like there was not an easy way out of this dilemma, not only was I not able to advance further without learning to write that was foreign to me, but for more convenient magic… I apparently lacked predetermined years to learn it to the fullest potential. I wanted to learn more about the reasons for why it required so much time, but could not find an opportunity between Nila's blabbering about grammar and vowels along with Zanuff's comments and advices regarding the topic.
As the view of great plains was obstructed by the city walls that span beyond quite far to the left and right, I realised that my struggles were finally over. Even though my eyelids were heavy, and my head hurt from the amount of new information it absorbed, I could clearly witness the grand opening of the gates along with the views inside the city of Wiskoschia that followed. It was a rather poor sight, there was a lot of rubbish thrown out along the road, countless number of people sat by the curbs and under awnings to protect their skin from the scorching sun that was slowly approaching the horizon.
Here and there guards were hurrying to every narrow pathway, a man was preaching nonsense to the small crowd that gathered around him. I could quite hear what he was talking about, only a few words reached my ears such as "order", "money" and "trade". And finally, Zanuff's products were thoroughly inspected by several guards, who took an entire stack of wheat as payment.
"What the hell is going on here?" I whispered under my nose, which was caught by Zanuff, who laughed and glanced at me, "First time in Wiskoschia, huh? I guess, you were born in the Schöltum region, after all."
"I forgot how dreadful it is here." added Nila and Zanuff continued, "Oh, you do not say. I don't really like to trade here, but it is possible to find some great products from other regions, since it was the safest passageway in and out of the Schöltum region."
"Wülgenville sure is heaven compared to this place."
Zanuff shrugged at my comment and murmured, "This is the dark side of the region with no currency. It is the very first step you should overcome in order to find peace in this region, but the ones who failed to get past these walls, or were simply unable to adapt… got stranded here."
For some reason, the miserable state of this city brought nothing but a smile to my face. In the end, there were problems within this system, in the system that happened to be my anathema.
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