Machinist of Mana

The hospital really did not want to let me go, but they had fairly limited choices on the matter. Fairly limited in this particularly case meant none at all, and while I was sure to hear about it later my escort just pushed us past.

“So... where to now?” I asked. “We could go look for clues or try to track down their movements...”

“Hm? Oh no I know where they are,” the grandmotherly figure answered. “I came to see you to see what we would be getting into, not to find them. I did that basically instantly.”

I gave her a long hard look... “So, why all the interviewing?”

“They're not trying to escape right now and I wanted to know who, how, and what I was dealing with. I can track the things for a good long ways, so there's no real need for me to rush.”

“You LoJacked them?” I asked.

She looked at me long and hard, squinting as if she were searching through her memories. “Pfft, how old were you?”

“That's a rich question coming from you, great-great-great-grandma,” I retorted, not liking how she'd questioned my age. I hadn't been that old.

“Sonny boy I've got descendants with at least five greats in there I'll have you know, you should respect your elders.”

Some of the people in the halls we were going down were looking at us weird as we were clearly not speaking in the local dialect, add to that that I was also engaged with banter with one of the most powerful people in the kingdom and, well, we got attention. Most of them were moving quickly out of the way, but a few moved to lean in, to hear what we were saying. Neither of us cared much, since nobody here should speak English. Then again I might end up surprised.

“Figures, so, we're going to retrieve the gate then?” I asked.

“That or destroy it, I'm honestly fine with either.”

“I know for a fact that magic items take a lot of effort to make,” I pointed out.

“True, but the duke here has shown that he can't handle another one of these and if I get it back I have to figure out how to deal with it. That's going to be a headache, not much of one, but so long as our enemies dong get the gate in the end I'm satisfied.” She was just so, unconcerned, like it didn't matter, like the items didn't matter.

“Alright, where to?” I asked as we left the front door.

“Spells first there Percival, just sit back. Have you flown before?” She started to sing before I could answer and I felt magic flow over me.

First I began to fade from view, my body getting almost instantly opaque, then completely invisible. Even with my enhanced sight I couldn't see any part of my hand in front of my face. I didn't know too much about magic, but this seemed advanced. The shield around our school was supposed to be invisible, but we could see it, not this though.

While I was still processing that I felt myself get lighter and lighter, as if gravity was losing its hold on me. I tried to be careful, one jump could have sent me soaring, yet soon enough I began to float, hovering there in there air. Moments later we began to soar off, not like a plane, but easily as fast as any bird.

“This is so cool,” I whispered, loving the feeling even if I had no control at all.

“You can speak normally, nobody should hear us,” the archmage responded as we began our way across the city.

“This is amazing, shame I can't learn it,” I said.

“Didn't know that I ever would. My daughter taught me after she learned. Before that I never really cared about flying. Don't feel down though, you can probably still make a balloon or something.”

“I've been working on planes with my grandfather,” I informed her.

“Really? They're interesting, but with the portals I never felt the need. Also don't know the in's and out's of how exactly they work. Something to do with the wings right?”

“Yeah, the shape. For the best results they have to be really specific, but even those that aren't perfectly optimized still work, just not nearly as well. We won't be building passenger jets anytime soon, but I think we'll have something akin to an old prop plane by the the time I'm old.”

She laughed at me. “Don't underestimate people. Once they have the basics of something they'll advance far, far faster than you'd expect. Science here is also a lot better than it was on Earth at a similar time period. Heck, trains developed in decades, not centuries. Though I may have encouraged that one a little bit. Blame me if you like, but I like leading people towards some of the more modern conveniences.”

“Did you have something to do with the maid outfits too?” I inquired, it seemed odd that they were just exactly the same.

“Some of those were already here when I got here, though I do think they're quite cute, don't you?”

“How many of us have there been?” I asked.

“No idea, but certainly a few. It seems the time between arrivals is shortening too, though I don't know why. Perhaps I'm good, but the magic involved goes completely over my head. In other news, we're here.”

We landed on a small rooftop in the lower-end residential part of the city. Personally I'd expected them to try and get a boat or something to get their ill-gotten gains out of Exion, but it seemed not. Instead they looked to be hiding, waiting, that was odd.

“That one... oh, sorry, forgot you can't see me pointing. The larger one below us, the one that looks like it used to be an inn or something. The one with the red sign out front. They're in there.”

“So what's the plan? Call for backup and level the place? We're always being told how we should use overwhelming power for missions at the school.”

“We have overwhelming power, I'm here,” she chided.

“If something goes wrong...”

There was a long silence, then a sigh.

“In the past I'd have agreed with you, I'd have brought more people. Now though, I can't stand the idea of any of them getting hurt, and my life isn't nearly worth what it used to be.” Now it was my turn to be quiet and wait. “They can find the location in case we fail, we won't, but just in case.”

“What do you mean, your life isn't worth what it used to be?” I asked.

“I told you I wasn't immortal Percival.”

“You're dying, how long?”

“Depends on a number of things, but maybe a decade, two at most. My organs are shutting down, and even with my expertise in anti-aging magic I can't quite get them to stop that. Even the priests I've consulted have told me there's not much they can do. All the spells holding them together are fraying at the edges, and nobody believes that I have to live forever, so the priests can't fix it.”

“So you're just throwing your life to the wind?” I asked aghast.

“No, I'm doing all I can to keep my students safe. My affairs are mostly in order, and if I'm being honest I don't really want to have to suffer as my body shuts down bit by bit. If I die, I die, though there's one or two things I'd like to do before that.”

“Well I don't want to take the risk, so...”

“Percival, you're not going in. I just brought you along to keep you from pitching a fit, and to get your measure. I always need more people to act as advisors to my however-many greats nephew, and once I'm done training you I think you'll fit the bill.”

“I am absolutely going in, you can't do this on your own,” I hissed.

“First lesson, when someone you're not very sure of casts spells on you, resist them.” In the second it took me to process her words my body froze, leaving me unable to move once more. “Now stay here, I'll be right back.”