Chapter 29: The beginning of the journey
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***
Commentary on Chapter 27. The beginning of the journey.
Enjoy your reading!
Two months have passed since Gildarts and Eros returned to the guild. In that time, Gildarts has paid off the fine in full and now lives a quiet life, spending as much time as possible with his daughter. Eros was not neglected either, and in two months he had learnt even better how to use destruction magic and had even created his own spell.
His spell, Eros called Sphere of Destruction, is not an attacking magic, but a defensive one. With the power of destruction, he created a barrier around his body that would not allow any spell to pass through. Although Gildarts could easily break this barrier without any effort, but if the titan concentrates all the magic power in defence, even a senior mage would have to try at least hard to break through it. And A-rang mages will not be able to do anything with this barrier at all, they just won't be strong enough to break through it.
Now Eros had at least two defence spells, which was a relief.
Eros had not progressed much in runes, but he was still trying to advance to master level as quickly as possible.
As for the items that Eros had "taken" from the demon, there was no advancement. He hadn't figured out how to remove the binding, and he couldn't turn to the people dealing with it for one reason: because the only master in this case worked for the council, and if he asked him to do so, the authorities would find out about it, and they would immediately start interrogating him to find out how such a pretty boy got a not weak artefact... And there would be a merry-go-round, which Eros didn't want to experience. And if the binding was removed by force, the artefact would lose at least 20% of its power, so Eros decided to deal with it himself and remove the binding with minimal losses.
The book didn't work, no matter what Eros did, it didn't react, but he didn't give up, because his dignity was hurt and he wanted to deal with the problem himself.
During this time, Rick had also managed to advance and officially become an A-rang mage. He was even offered a place among the Runic Knights with promotion to officer after two years, but he refused.
Lily, on the other hand, had taken an apprenticeship with Polushka. Eros begged the old woman to take her on as an apprentice for almost a month, but she flatly refused, so the titan came to her almost every day and pestered her with this request and she agreed. And in a month, the girl progressed very far, although she returned a little nervous and constantly flinched when she heard about Polushka.
Rani did not increase in strength, but the skill of cooking has become just incredible level. Everyone in the guild idolises him and even the master is not left out.
***
The day came when Eros and company left the guild. Almost the whole guild, led by Makarov, came out to see them off. It was still sad to leave a place that had become like home over the year.
- Eros, I won't try to stop you, as I know it's useless, - Makarov said in a firm voice, - But know that you can come back at any time, you make the old man sad.
- Thank you, - during this year, Eros has become very attached to everyone, and the old man replaced the grandfather he never had, so he was very touched by Makarov's words.
- Take care of yourselves children! And come back soon! - Makarov said, looking proudly at Rick and Rani.
- Eros, remember what we talked about last night, - said Gildarts, with a smile, holding the hand of sobbing Kana.
- 'I remember Master, I will only use this 'magic' as a last resort.
- Good.
- Brother, why don't you stay? - Looking into the girl's pitiful eyes that could easily give a Shrek cat a head start, Eros found it hard to say no.
- Kana, - he sat down on one knee and stroked her head, - I'll be gone for 5-6 years at the most, it's not long enough for you to notice, - the titan smiled softly and said, - So stop being sad.
On the other hand, a large crowd surrounded poor Rani.
- Mr Rani, please stay!
- How will we live without your food!
- Don't leave us!
Rani himself was very embarrassed by this absurd situation. After all, he never thought that he, a former dark magician, would be seen off like this. But the mage was very happy, because everyone recognised his talent.
A little to the right of Roni was Rick. Among those who saw him off, most of them were female, which made Lily very angry, and her murderous look made the poor boy shiver.
When the crowd finally let them go, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
- Master, we'll be off then.
- Thank you for everything! - the four replied in unison, bowing to Makarov.
- Eh, spaniels! - tearfully said the old man, - Go already.
Smiling, they walked towards the exit from Magnolia.
- GOOD LUCK TO YOU!
- WE'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!
- COME BACK SOON!
***
Leaving the city of Magnolia, they headed north.
- You never told us about your plan.
- I forgot," Eros said with a sly smile, "So listen up. I plan to spend five to seven years travelling. In the next two years, we're going to go around the entire Kingdom of Fior, while growing stronger and looking for future guild members." "And also make money, not too honestly, by robbing and destroying gangs..."- And after two years, we'll split up, you'll stay in Fiora, continuing to look for potential guild members, and I'm going to visit other countries.
- Hmm... Maybe we should go to other countries together then? It'll be much safer if we're together.
- I agree with Rick," Rani nodded.
- No, I can protect myself, - he realised he had said something stupid and continued, - And I don't think you're weak, but if I'm alone, I won't have to worry about anyone and if I have to run away, it will be much easier to do it alone. I'm not the strongest magician.
- Since you say so... Okay.
- Which countries are you going to visit?
- Stella, Seven and Bosco, and if I have time, Joya.
- I think I understand why you chose those countries, - Lily said thoughtfully, - I read somewhere that Bosco has the best artifact masters, Seven has the Lilac Flame guild that deals with runes, but why go to Stella and Joya?
- You're right about those two, about Stella, it's only because it's on the way, but about Joya, I'll keep quiet, I don't think you'll be interested.
Eros learnt from one of the traders that there is a civil war in Joya. No, the titan is not going to take part in it, but he can make a little profit from it, for example, by selling his services. He might even take part in it, it would be nice to get a good gratitude from the winner. But Eros hasn't decided what to do yet, whose side to take. So, if he has time to visit Joya, he will try to get to know the situation better.
- You will stay in Fiore, continuing to look for mages who want to join our guild.
- All right," Rick said languidly.
- There's nothing to be offended about, you can visit other countries in the future, for example, by doing S-rank missions, because quite often, they come from other countries too.
- I'm not offended! - replied the boy with a pout.
- If that's the case, let's go, our next stop is the city of Hargeon.
- Eros, why didn't we rent a manokat? - Roni asked in bewilderment, "It would have been quicker to get to Hargeon.
- Eh... You don't understand the romance of the forest, it's much more interesting to walk, to see the beauty of nature, to watch the sunset, to sit by the fire telling scary stories, to see animals up close....
- I've got it, I've got it! - Rani exclaimed, "Don't go on.
Rick and Lily laughed when they saw the cook's frown.
- Well, let's get going!
***
It took them a week to reach the town. The pace they walked at was slow, and the frequent breaks slowed them down, but no one said anything against it, because what was the hurry? During these days, they were also attacked twice, but mostly it was ordinary people, not mages, who thought that they were easy prey, and then the robbers regretted it very much.
In that week, they got almost half a million precious ones. Robbing the looters and turning them in to the authorities. When Eros' three companions saw how much they had earned, their eyes lit up. Eros himself was not very surprised, because they were lucky, because one of the groups that attacked them had not yet spent all the looted money, which was almost two hundred and fifty thousand, and by surrendering that group they got another two hundred thousand. After all, there was an order for it from some nobleman. Eros realised that it was this group that had killed the customer's brother, but he couldn't catch them, so he gave the order to catch them.
When they arrived in the city of Hargeon, they immediately rented two rooms for three days, as long as they planned to stay in the city. The four split up, travelling in different directions. Eros immediately targeted the town library and for a fee, got access to it for three days. Rick and Lily went for a walk around the city. Rani left as soon as they arrived to go to the wharf to buy fresher fish and promised a delicious dinner.