68 Chapter 16: Xoleria

"You think so?" Eleanor asked

"Yep, I know you will" I replied

"Thank you... Even if it's hard, i'll do my best. I can't fail..." Eleanor muttered with a smile

"Yeah, just have faith in yourself."

That's enough questions for now, I'll find out the rest later. The main thing i'm curious about is what the rankings are, Are they numbers? Letters?

She said something about the Area she's going for... So i'm guessing it's like university? You choose if you want to study more on Fire element or whatever element you have aptitude in. So you can't just enter any class you want, you have to apply for an element...

Which element should i apply for? I don't even know which aptitudes i have when it comes to chanting, maybe i'll be able to use all of them since i can use the chantless version of them? I don't know.

Now we'll just keep watch and wait until we finally reach the kingdom...

I'm excited to see what it looks like...

***

"John, i forgot to tell you this but elves can't really feel emotions. We can sense negativity or evil but not emotions, I just said it to get you to open up"

"Ah, thanks for telling me this"

No, Seriously, It's a bit embarrassing when a person you're always with, can feel everything you're feeling.

"You're not mad?"

I'm sort of annoyed that i was fooled that easily, but my feeling of relief far surpasses it.

"John! The kingdom's coming into view!" Said Ariel as she turned to me and pointed at what was at the far end of our path

Her eyes seemed to light up as she looked over at the kingdom.

"Where?!" I said as I hastily looked over

She was right, we could see the kingdom from here...

"Woah! There's so much magic coming from there! And it's design is entirely different to all the other kingdoms we've been to so far!" I said as i stared at it

"Isn't it?" Said Ariel with a happy expression

Finally! travelling was getting boring, but it was worth the wait. I'm so excited I can't stop grinning

Serena looked over at me and just quietly stared at my face

"Serena? Is there something on my face?" I asked

"I was just surprised by the fact that you could make expressions which were appropriate for your age" She said

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked

"It means, that look on your face suits you" she replied with a smug expression

"I wonder what civilization and culture is like there if everyone can use magic, then i'm guessing some people use it for their daily needs, I'm right, aren't i?" I asked as i looked towards eleanor with a curious and excited expression

"Eh?" Said Eleanor

"don't ignore me!" said Serena with an embarrassed expression

"You're right, I should act more childish"

"It's too late," said Serena as she went back to focusing on the road

"..."

She's sulking, is this girl really 15?

"Um, regarding your question from earlier, I don't know, I've never actually been here before." Eleanor said as she made a perplexed expression

"Wait, what?" I said as i made a confused expression

Ah, that's right, the things she knew were things she overheard or just common knowledge.

"Yep, this is my first time in Xoleria, My dad is the one whose lived here"

"So it's a first time experience for you too, Even better, it's more fun when you don't know what to expect, isn't it?"

After i said that, Eleanor looked at with a surprised expression and chuckled as she said "I've never thought about it like that... But you're right, it will be more fun experiencing it with you three"

"Yeah, We should be arriving there in..."

The human eye can see up to 3 miles, if you enhance it with magic it can go over that. I'm guessing 3 miles is the distance from here to there. We're travelling at 15 miles per hour if you divide that by 4 you get over 3 miles which is 15 minutes.

"Less than 10 minutes"

"You can tell?" Eleanor asked

I'm glad I didn't hate maths

"Yeah, it comes from experience."

We should have no problems getting in, our adventure card doesn't say where we're from and it works like an ID card or permit.

"Serena, are you still mad?" I asked

"..."

Well, i tried.

***

Without any issues, we reached the entrance to the kingdom, There was a small line of other people and carriages, the line was over relatively quickly though. The reason why we didn't encounter them on our path was probably due to how dangerous the path we took was

Apparently, due to how close it was to the forest, getting attacked would be quite common. Even still they took this path, it's the fastest but why risk it? What is eleanor in such a hurry for? Could it have something to do with the entrance exams..? When are they?

"How many?" asked one of the gatekeepers as he looked around the carriage

"5, one is unconscious." I replied

"Identification?"

Me, Serena and Ariel pulled out our Adventurer cards while serena pulled out two permits. One was for her and the other was for Alfred

The guard confirmed it and nodded at the man behind the gates, he opened the gates and we entered with the carriage

"Must be hard being adventurers at your age" Said the gatekeeper

"We manage" I replied with a grin

After we entered the Three of us looked around and were speechless.

The streets were lively, there were many food stalls around, the building designs looked similar to Atlas and you could easily tell what was what from the signs, what stood out the most at first was how they were cooking the food in the stalls

"They're using magic!" Said Ariel with a surprised expression

"Come get your fresh grilled meat, Nice and cheap!" Advertised one of the girls who were selling whenever a person would pass by

Some were chanting flame spells to grill what they were selling, otherwise were using they're own element in their own way to help with what they were selling

"Look, that man is doing his laundry with magic!" I said as i pointed at the man who was using some sort of bubble water spell to clean his clothes near one of the alleys

We've been heading in a straight line, following the road, there were many other directions we could take but we've just been moving forward

So they have good roads which allows carriages to move around freely, and there is barely any traffic.

Even Serena had stopped sulking and looked amazed.

"It's different from Atlas, isn't it?" I asked

"Yeah, it's lively and everyone's using magic"

"Ah!" I said as i made a surprised expression

"What?" Serena asked

"You're not sulking anymore" I replied

"What are you talking about? I was never sulking" Said Serena as she looked away

"Sure"

"Why'd you say it with that tone?" Asked Serena

"What are you talking about?"

"Fair," Serena replied

That's what you get for teasing me all of those times, I'm learning.

"Ariel, you seem like you're really enjoying this"

"Yeah, it's completely different from halfaust" Ariel replied

there isn't a wall which separates the nobles from the commoners in this kingdom, Nobles have their own territory but it's not segregated like Halfaust. Another good thing i noticed.

"After we're done with our request, the three of us should explore around"

"We should!" replied ariel while her eyes sparkled as she looked around

Ariel's sight locked on one store which had the drawing of a cake on its sign. She stared closely at it with an interested expression

"What's that?" Ariel asked

"That is a bakery, They sell cake and sweets"

"Ah! uncle would buy me them on my birthdays, they were so good" Said Ariel while she made a happy expression as she recalled memories of her birthday

In atlas we didn't see any cake shops and spent most of our time in a dungeon so I can see why she'd be excited. Honestly, i am too, i haven't had a cake in ages.

"We'll come back later to get some cake, You like cake too, don't you, Serena?" I asked

"W-Well, I guess" She replied

"Then it's settled, To celebrate making it here safely, we'll have cake!"

When i said that, for a split moment, Serena made a relieved and happy expression, but she hid it rather quickly.

Serena who noticed that i noticed, tried acting like nothing happen, and i didn't question it.

Ariel also looked very excited herself, she would swing her head from left to write as she occasionally muttered "cake~". Just watching it soothes my soul, This is too precious.

The quietest one out of the 4 of us was Eleanor, she seemed worried about something

"Eleanor, What's wrong?" I asked

"Well... It's my first time here so, i have no clue where my dad is, the one who knows is Alfred but he's still asleep" She replied

Of course, How could i forget... And why do people always sleep for so long? I know that the antidote was effective, and it's been 2 days already!

I wonder what her dad does for a living, maybe she's a noble?

"I'm very sorry! I promised to give you a reward and yet i..."

"Hm? It's fine, It's not your fault, and you don't have to rush it, for now focus on having fun, then later we can worry about the reward" I replied

"John... Thank you!" Said Eleanor with a bright smile