Chapter 60: The Deal

Once the group took everything, Rein walked up to the fireplace and bend down. The others were somewhat confused at his action until they heard a creak.

When Villin looked in his direction he saw Rein open a circular hatch, then he looked in, his face paled, and he closed it again.

This reaction confused Villin a bit, what would make him pale like that just by looking at it? Corpses?

He walked over and looked at the floor but he didn't say anything, he reached down to look for the handle and did find it then, it seemed to be hidden by some sort of illusion yet Rein still spotted it somehow. It made Villin think back to the arena where Rein could see the spectators while they couldn't.

When he pulled the hatch open, Villin immediately realized why Rein had gotten so pale. There was another tube that went straight down. Kayley who walked up with him also immediately paled, Amelia, on the other hand, gave them some information.

"These things should be called hyperloops. They were the best mode of transportation before long-distance teleportation was a thing. They are simply enchanted tunnels which makes their magical signature tiny. Should be safe though, they are said to be able to last a thousand years."

With that bit of extra information, Villin decided to speak up himself "This place isn't safe, we don't know what happened at The Academy but it is very possible that Decorus took over the first grade. We should go through and find a way to contact The Academy again." he was mainly trying to convince Kayley and Rein since he was pretty sure Amelia also intended to go through.

Surprisingly the no pale-faced Rein walked up to the hole in the floor. He looked at the people around him and jumped in while screaming.

Amelia and Villin were surprised, they thought he would need the most convincing but he went in almost immediately. They then both looked at Kayley "I am really NOT okay with this."

With those words, she also jumped in before starting her screams. Villin and Amelia looked at each other for a moment with a smile before they both jumped in as well. This time around Villin found it a lot nicer. Rather than constantly falling, potentially to your death, he tried thinking of it as a rollercoaster.

This time they were in the hyperloop for about ten minutes. In these ten minutes, they had changed directions many times, this time the exit was at the end of a flat bit. The four of them prepared to fall off a cliff as they once more took positions that would help them hit water without breaking too many bones.

Surprisingly they didn't get thrown off a cliff, instead, they got thrown flat across water like a skipping stone. All of them bounced multiple times off of the water, something that gave them pretty bad burn wounds, before they went under.

Since they weren't thrown downward into the water Rein managed to stay above the water for a bit by splashing his arms around randomly. Villin and Amelia then quickly went up to help him stay afloat.

When they looked around they were surprised. They once again came from a rock formation that came over the water, even though they couldn't see a hole in it, it was probably hidden by an illusion. Then about a hundred meters further toward the side they were thrown at there was a beach. It was getting pretty late but they all noticed there still seemed to be people walking around the beach. Villin even saw a couple of dogs being walked.

And so, they made their way toward the beach. Kayley was having some trouble swimming the final part but just about managed. When they walked onto the beach they immediately got some strange looks. This was to be expected, they were all wearing robes, and these robes also had tears in them.

Just past the beach, they all saw big buildings of up to twelve stories. Even though Villin and Amelia didn't react much to it, Kayley and Rein were stunned. They had never been to the mortal world and all the houses of magus' were either underground or inconspicuous, not like these massive buildings before them.

Villin was about to say they should go get some mortal clothes and get changed in a hotel when he realized something, they didn't have any money. Or well, nothing in the currency of people here.

"Alright, let's get off of the beach and into the city, we're going to have to rob a couple of mortals. Villin you have a spell that causes people to fall asleep right? If you just use that one there shouldn't be too much trouble.

Everyone nodded at that plan. Kayley and Rein didn't care much about mortals and Villin saw the necessity. And so the group quickly made their way into the city while receiving a whole bunch of weird looks. There were some cars driving around on the city road, another thing that made Rein and Kayley look really surprised.

After a while, they arrived in an abandoned alleyway, just the kind where you would expect getting robbed, and they decided to just wait there for a bit, if anyone came into an alleyway like this they could only blame themselves if they got robbed so Villin's last bit of guilt he felt since he was going to rob someone disappeared with this thought.

Surprisingly, they didn't have to wait long. Everyone in the group except for Rein had a hiding spell of some sort, luckily Amelia had a spell that could hide multiple people so when they grouped up they were ready. They did have to make sure the mortal wouldn't see them use any magic so they would have to wait until they passed them before casting a spell at them.

Yet, just before he went past all of them, the young man who seemed to be around thirty stopped. He was holding a briefcase and seemed to be waiting for something.

From the other end of the alleyway someone that looked like a businesswoman entered. She had blonde hair and was also holding a briefcase, she looked rather nervous.

Villin now expected a drug deal to take place, perhaps some bribery, but what the group saw next shocked all of them.

When they stood about three meters away from each other they looked around once more to make sure nobody saw them. Then they both put their briefcases in front of their feet and opened them, revealing the contents to the other party.

In the businesswoman's briefcase were a bunch of bills in what Villin assumed was this country's currency. In the man's briefcase, on the other hand, was only a single vial with something purple in it. The woman looked at it and looked around again to make sure nobody was listening.

"So, if I take this, my daughter will be a- a-"

"A magus, indeed. Thus far we have sold two-dozen vials and eighty percent of the kids were soon after approached by who we assume work for the magical society."

The woman nodded and closed her briefcase again, the man followed suit. Then they each walked towards the other's briefcase. Grabbed it. And kept walking to the other side.

As soon as they both passed them, Villin and Kayley both stepped up. Villin cast Drowse at the man while Kayley did the same to the woman and they both dropped.

They seemed to have stumbled onto something extraordinary, and, to Villin, it seemed a little too much of a coincidence.