Happy he was still engaged with the whole procedure even though his part was over, I took out a ruby from my bag and started to cast the 128-word spell which would make the enchantments permanent.

Name : Mass Resist Time

School of Magic : Enchantment

Verbal Components : 128 words

Somatic Components : Simple

Material Component : 1x Ruby of at least 10 carats

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 1,000/second of each of the target spells’ casting times

Range : 700 inches

Casting Time : 3,600 seconds

Precondition : None.

Description : Renders a collection of spells permanent status.

This spell would gradually consume the ruby and turn it into dust, which would be my cue to stop casting the spell, though I knew this would take approximately an hour. I appointed Kai as my guard for the duration of my casting and got on with it.

The amount of mana I needed to put into just this one spell was worth far more than the ruby but there was no way around it. Making each of the previous spells permanent was not possible since they were cast so closely together both in terms of time and space. I just had to push through it in order to finish the quest Jaha had given us.

***

A little over an hour of chanting later, I felt the ruby in my hands become dust and blow away in the gentle night breeze.

“We’re ready,” I told Kai, who was sitting on the ground, drawing circles with a piece of wood.

I sent the mental command to the scarecrow and it immediately animated. It started walking around the cross placed in the middle of the field, waving the garments that served as its hands. It didn’t look like a human but rather a strange-looking kite. I thought this would probably seen even more frightening to crows.

But night had fallen already and no crows would fly to the field until the next morning, which meant I couldn’t yet test whether my creation would fulfill its purpose. The scarecrow went back to its anchor.

Just as I was about to retire back to the inn and inform Jaha that we would need to check tomorrow, an owl glided silently toward the cross. The scarecrow jumped off of it in the direction of the incoming owl.

The poor bird, which was focused on some kind of prey on the ground, was startled by my creation and changed direction in midair. That was good enough for me, and would have to be for the innkeeper as well.

***

“It doesn’t look great,” I told the big innkeeper during his next break, as he sat on the steps of the inn smoking, “but it will do its job as long as that wooden cross stands there.”

“I don’t care about appearances… Brie was it, ya?” he asked, and I nodded. “As long as you say it will keep those damn birds away, I’ll be happy.”

“This I promise,” I replied. “And now for your part of the deal…”

“I trust you, Brie,” he said and used his little metal box to relight the fire in his pipe.

You have successfully completed “Crows be Scared”. You have been awarded with 2,000 XP.

“Whatever you ate and drank today is on me,” he continued, “You can have a room if you want, but you said you’d rather have some traveling directions and information, ya?”

“Yes,” I answered and started to explain our story. “Like I told you, we are returning to our homeland, Fjalhun. More specifically, we want to go to Snjokomu but we’ve never traveled there alone.”

“Ah, I see,” the big man said. “So you want to know how to get there, ya?”

“Yes please,” I replied, in an almost too innocent tone. “We know there are two ways, but not much more really.”

“Listen up then, ya?” he said, and leaned forward. “Like you said, there are two ways. One is through Fenira by road. It’s easy riding for a horse and the Fenirans are good people. They drink a lot and love their land even more, but good people nonetheless. They might especially love your scarecrow-creating skills.”

“Don’t they have magic of their own?” Kai asked.

“They do believe in their own Goddess called Gaia,” he answered, “but their magic is different. It can’t be used in the same way as the magic of The Divine or of your God of the Forge. Riding through their land will take some additional time though, compared to the other option.”

“What’s the other option?” Kai asked and I thought that at last we would find out what the line of squares on our map was.

“Going through Guldan is much faster because of their trains,” he said, little puffs of smoke coming out of his mouth with every syllable. “People from Guldan have created huge machines that travel the land on long metal bars, without needing magic. Truly remarkable, ya?”

“So that’s what those lines were,” Kai whispered to me.

“Then you’re suggesting we utilize the trains of Guldan?” I asked, still a little confused.

“That’s what I would do, but I do have to warn you about a couple of things,” he continued. “You need to travel to Ferrumheim first and then buy a ticket to ride the train to the Guldanese capital, Tankara. From there, you need another, more expensive ticket, to board their giant ship going directly to Snjokomu.”

“So you mean we need money to buy a ticket?” I asked, not particularly worried about his warning.

“One ticket each actually,” Jaha corrected me. “But it is not my only warning. Most importantly, you should know that people in Guldan hate anything related to magic. The road to the beginning of the railroad in Ferrumheim may be short, but don’t be surprised if, at times, you are unable to use magic, ya? The country is filled with magic-nullifying beacons.”

Hearing this, my mind immediately went back to the mana-nullifying collars the slavers bound around our necks before kidnapping us.

“Most of these beacons are not strong enough to cancel out already cast magic or magical items,” he continued, “but you cannot rely on casting spells there, ya?”

Hearing this fact put my mind at ease. I was beginning to think that going the long way through Fenira would be the logical thing to do if the beacons made our summoned horses disappear and revealed Kai’s golden skin color. Knowing this would not be the case, I was leaning toward an expedited trip through Guldan again.

After all, I didn’t want to go through an incident similar to what had happened with the shamans and their gorillas. If those people perceived Kai as a threat, maybe the disciples of Gaia in Fenira would feel the same way.

“So we travel to Ferrumheim taking the road to the southeast…” I began recapping his instructions, determined this would be the path we’d take. “We buy tickets to use this non-magical device of theirs to go to Tankara and do the same to get to Snjokomu?”

“Exactly,” Jaha replied with a wide smile. “And don’t forget to keep your magic to yourself, ya?”

“Thank you, Mister Jaha,” I told him, and gave a slight bow in appreciation.

“Thank you, Mister, ya?” Kai said, in the same tone as the older man, making him burst into a fit of coughing as he started laughing while inhaling smoke.

“You bugger. Think you’re funny, ya?” he said, once he was able to talk again. “You’re not staying for a final meal, then? The offer on the room is also still open if you’d have it.”

“We’re grateful but we’ll take our leave now,” I said and prompted Kai to come with me. “Thank you once more and goodbye, Mister Jaha.”

“Safe travels to you,” he said, and raised his pipe in salute.

Kai said his goodbye as we put some distance between us and the inn.

We started traveling the road that would eventually lead to Ferrumheim and after some fifteen minutes, we decided to find a well-hidden spot between the trees and bushes on the side of the road to set up and camouflage our chest. Pretty soon, we were changing from our travel robes into our comfy sleeping clothes, ready to rest after a day’s productive work.

It was exactly how we both felt. We made progress today. A lot of progress. By our estimations, we would be reaching Ferrumheim in two days and Tankara the day after that.

From there on, the trip would be another ride on some kind of ship, and even though we didn’t know how long it would last, it would bring us to Snjokomu which was directly north of the monastery that held the book we needed.

Our plan was in motion and, perhaps for the first time since we left Nara, it seemed to be working out.