Two weeks after the decision was made, we finally left the Village. It was a clear morning when we packed our few belongings into a small wooden cart.
This was the first time I had ever been more than a few miles from the farm. My world had been limited to fields, cows, and a secret training spot in the woods.
Now, I was sitting on top of a scratchy wool blanket in the back of a cart, heading toward a real city.
I tried to act calm. I sat with my hands in my lap and watched the scenery. Inside, I was vibrating with excitement. I have seen countless fantasy cities in movies and games, but seeing one in real life was different.
This was not a digital world. This was a place with real history and real danger. I watched our small house disappear behind a hill. Part of me was sad to leave, but the part of me that was still a 32 year old corporate slave was shouting for joy. I was finally moving up in the world.
The journey to Grandell City was supposed to take three days. Our cart was pulled by an old, slow horse that seemed to have the same lazy attitude I did. Gareth walked beside the horse, leading it by the reins, while Elara sat in the front of the cart. I had the back all to myself.
As we traveled, I got my first real look at Aethermoor. The road was not paved. It was just a strip of packed dirt that wound through rolling hills and thick forests.
We passed several merchant caravans heading in the opposite direction. They were much larger than our little cart. Some of them had dozens of wagons guarded by men with swords and spears.
These were adventurers. I watched them closely. They wore mismatched armor and carried dented shields. They looked tough and tired.
I also saw the darker side of this world. Every few miles, we would see a warning sign posted on a tree. Sometimes we passed the remains of a wagon that had been burned to the ground.
There were claw marks on the wood and bloodstains on the stones. It was a sobering sight. Back in Tokyo, the biggest danger was being late for a meeting or getting a bad seat on the train.
Here, the danger had teeth and claws. It made my plans for a lazy life feel much more urgent. I needed to get strong enough to be left alone.
To pass the time, Gareth told stories. He spoke about his younger days when he was a C rank adventurer. He told me about the time he met my mother. He gave me a very clean, child friendly version of the story.
He said there was a village being attacked by a group of goblins. He had been part of the subjugation quest. Elara had been one of the villagers defending her home with nothing but a pitchfork and some basic fire magic.
"She was the bravest person I had ever seen," Gareth said. He looked over his shoulder at Elara and smiled.
Elara blushed and swatted at his arm. "I was just terrified and had nowhere to run," she said.
I watched my father's face as he talked. Whenever he mentioned his old missions, a look of nostalgia crossed his features. But it was always followed by a brief flash of sadness.
I noticed him rub his leg where the old injury was. He missed his old life. He was proud to be a farmer and a father, but he still mourned the warrior he used to be.
It made me realize that injuries in this world were permanent. Even with healing magic, some things just never went back to the way they were.
We camped by the side of the road on the first night. Gareth built a small fire and we ate some dried meat and hard bread. When it was time to sleep, I volunteered to take the first watch with my mother.
"I am too excited to sleep, Mama," I said.
It was partially true. The stars were beautiful and the two moons provided a strange, silver light. But the main reason I wanted to stay awake was to practice. I sat on a log next to Elara and closed my eyes. I was working on a new idea. If I could use a mana thread to move a leaf, maybe I could use mana to sense things.
I pushed a tiny amount of mana out of my body. I didn't let it form a shape. Instead, I let it spread out in a thin, invisible cloud around the camp. I used my resonance techniques to keep the mana vibrating at a high frequency. I wanted it to act like a web. If anything moved through the cloud, I would feel the disruption.
It was much harder than the thread. The mana wanted to dissipate into the air. I had to work constantly to keep it contained. After an hour of concentration, I felt a sudden jolt in my mind. Something had stepped into my mana cloud about thirty feet away. It was large and moving toward us.
"Mama," I whispered. I felt a surge of panic. "Something is coming."
Elara stopped her knitting and looked at me. She didn't see anything. But she saw the look on my face. She reached over and shook Gareth awake.
"Gareth, get up," she said. "Cid says something is out there."
Gareth was on his feet in a second. He didn't ask questions. He grabbed his sword and stood in front of the fire, shielding us. He peered into the darkness, his body tense and ready for a fight.
A moment later, a large deer stepped into the light of the fire. It looked at us with big, curious eyes, twitched its ears, and then bounded back into the trees.
Gareth let out a long breath and sheathed his sword. He sat back down and looked at me. I felt my face turn bright red. I was embarrassed. I had caused a scene over a deer.
"I am sorry," I mumbled. "I thought it was a monster."
Gareth didn't laugh. He reached out and ruffled my hair. "Don't be sorry, Cid. You were alert. In the woods, it is better to wake up for a deer than to sleep through a wolf. You have good instincts."
I felt a strange mix of embarrassment and pride. My detection spell had worked. It was messy and it used too much mana, but it had worked.
On the second day, the road became more crowded. We were getting closer to the city. Around noon, we heard the sound of shouting and clashing metal from around a bend. Gareth stopped the cart immediately. He told Elara and me to hide behind a large rock.
"Stay here," he ordered.
I watched from behind the rock as Gareth ran forward. A small merchant wagon was being harassed by three bandits. They had blocked the road with a fallen log. The merchant was cowering under his wagon while the bandits tried to break into his crates.
I watched my father fight for the first time. He didn't look like a retired farmer anymore. He moved with a grace and speed that I didn't think was possible for him.
He used Enhancement magic. I could see a faint, white glow around his arms and legs. His movements were precise. He didn't waste any energy. He parried a bandit's sword and delivered a kick that sent the man flying.
In less than two minutes, the bandits realized they had picked the wrong target. Two of them ran into the woods, while the third lay groaning on the ground. Gareth didn't chase them. He checked on the merchant and then signaled for us to come out.
The merchant was a short, round man who was shaking with gratitude. He thanked Gareth a dozen times and offered us a ride in his cart for the rest of the journey. His wagon was much nicer than ours and was protected by thick wooden planks.
"It is the least I can do," the merchant said. "The roads are getting worse every day."
As we traveled together, the merchant shared some news about Grandell City. He said the Mage Guild was recruiting heavily because of tensions between the noble houses.
There were rumors that the King was weak and that the Great Houses were preparing for a power struggle. He also mentioned that monster activity was increasing in the Crimson Wastes to the east.
"It is a strange time," the merchant said. "The guilds are looking for anyone with talent. They don't care about bloodlines as much as they used to. They just want results."
This was good news for me. If the guild was desperate, they might be more willing to overlook a small mana pool if I showed them my efficiency.
As the sun began to set on the third day, we crested a high hill. I looked ahead and my jaw dropped.
Grandell City sat in the middle of a wide valley. It was surrounded by massive stone walls that looked like they had been built by giants. Inside the walls, I could see thousands of stone buildings with red tiled roofs.
Several tall, slender towers rose above the city, glowing with magical light in the twilight. It was much smaller than Tokyo, of course. There were no skyscrapers or neon signs. But compared to our village, it was a massive metropolis.
It was beautiful. It was a city of stone and magic, shining under the light of two moons.
My internal monologue shifted from cynical commentary to genuine wonder. I realized that my life was really starting now. This was not a dream. This was my reality.
Okay, I thought. This is actually pretty cool. I am really in a fantasy world. I am standing in front of a magical city. Time to start my legend. Or at least time to get some proper magic training and find a way to make a lot of money without doing any work.
I looked at my tiny hands and smiled. The city was waiting.