The 1st obstacle was the entrance fee. I had to pay for my 2 “slaves” and because slaves were only for rich people, I had to pay 1 gold for each of them. It was daylight robbery, but luckily, due to my time as an adventurer, 2 gold coins were no problem for me.

There was a lot commotion in the city and I had no idea why. I wanted to ask someone, but everyone was too busy preparing for something. To me it looked like some kind of fest. Sarah and Nala just followed me quietly. They were unfamiliar with the city, so it didn’t surprise me.

“Damn everyone is ignoring me. Perhaps Takeshi knows something.”(Me)

“Who?”(Sarah)

“Never mind, you’ll be meeting him sooner or later. Just follow me to school for now.”(Me)

We went straight to the school. We didn’t stop at any shop, not for clothing, neither for sweets or other food. Probably, mostly because of me, because the 2 of them kept following me with their mouths open and just waited for me to allow them to get something.

“Perhaps next time, but for now I have to know the situation.”(Me)

As if I didn’t know any better, their heads went down.

“I promise that as soon as we finish, we’ll come back and you can buy whatever you want.”(Me)

“Thank you Master.”(Nala)

“Thank you teacher.”(Sarah)

“Sigh.”(Me)

I didn’t know if it was all an act, but in the end they got what they wanted. Shortly after we arrived at the school’s gate. The same guard as always was standing in front of it. Sarah ran ahead of us.

“Hello Mr. Guard.”(Sarah)

“Haha. A hello to you too little lady, but please call me Vincent.”(Vincent)

“Hello Mr. Vincent.”(Sarah)

We caught up to them shortly after.

“Good day Vincent.”(Me)

“Sigh. I see, the little lady is together with you.”(Vincent)

“Is there something wrong with Master?”(Nala)

“Another 1? No certainly not. He’s just… Let’s say he is kind of a troublemaker.”(Vincent)

It hurt me a little that even a guard categorized me as something like a troublemaker.

“So, Hikaru, both listing as slaves again?”(Vincent)

“Huh? Again?”(Sarah)

“Master what’s the meaning of this?”(Nala)

“Both of you shut up, I’ll tell you later.”(Me)

They didn’t want to, but they kept quiet for the rest of my talk with Vincent.

“Yes please. She’s Sarah and he’s Nala.”(Me)

“Noted down. Did you buy them for the upcoming fest?”(Vincent)

“Just to be clear, I didn’t buy any slaves. It’s another connection.”(Me)

“Ahh. I understand you don’t need to tell me more.”(Vincent)

He completely misunderstood it.

“Sigh. Never mind. By the way I just came back from a quest and have no idea what all this fest thing is about.”(Me)

“Hmm. A few days ago, someone became a court magician. Now there are 4 of them. And because the king wanted to celebrate it, he will travel through the land and every city shall prepare a fest for him.”(Vincent)

“Is a court magician that important?”(Me)

“Yes! As I said, there are currently only 4 court magicians. This title indicates that they are the officially strongest mages the whole country has to offer. Their authority only lies beneath the royal family and the 3 heavenly generals. I heard that he is quite young too.”(Vincent)

“3 heavenly generals?”(Me)

“Sigh. They are the top of the army, the heavenly is another title added to their name. What is this academy teaching? Aren’t you even learning basic knowledge and common sense?”(Vincent)

“Thanks for explaining to me. We’ll be going now. Have a nice day.”(Me)

We passed the gate and left Vincent behind. I could only hear him sighing a few more times after that.

“Master!”(Nala)

“Yes?”(Me)

“Tell me now, honestly. What was that bringing another slave about?”(Nala)

“Sigh. Actually you should know that already. Use that brain of yours.”(Me)

“Huh?”(Nala)

“I told you I’m gathering young talents. The last 1 just happened to travel to the Dark Continent from my room.”(Me)

“And why are we all listed as slaves?”(Sarah)

“Only students, teachers and their slaves are allowed in this academy. I don’t want to cause any trouble yet, so bear with it.”(Me)

Both were more or less satisfied with my answers. Before anything else, I guided the 2 of them to my room. It was noon of the 7th day of the week, so all of the other students were probably out in the city. Because of that, I avoided a lot of unnecessary attention.

“Stay here and wait until I’m back. It won’t take that long.”(Me)

“Are you leaving us behind teacher?”(Sarah)

“What should we do in the meantime?”(Nala)

“Hmm.”(Me)

I needed only a few seconds until I came up with a brilliant idea.

“You are not staying here because I leave you behind, but in order to train.”(Me)

I drew weak gravity runes on both of their clothes. Their legs instantly gave in and they fell to the ground.

“Not this again Master.”(Nala)

“Don’t worry, it’s a lot weaker than before. If you are able to stand until I’m back, you succeeded with the 1st step of your training.”(Me)

“Why do we need to do that?”(Sarah)

“Basics are important and the foundation of your magic is your body.”(Me)

I just said what came to my mind. I made up a story to motivate them to do physical training. In fact, my statement wasn’t that far from reality.

I left my room. I went to Takeshi’s room, but he wasn’t there. Next I went to the park. There weren’t many places I know of, but the highest chance to meet Takeshi was by going to the park. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there.

I gave up on the thought of finding him and headed to the guild building first. I planned to finish the quest first and start my information gathering afterwards.

There weren’t many people at the guild building. It felt a lot bigger than last time. I went to the counter and the receptionist welcomed me.

“Welcome student, what can I do for you?”(Receptionist)

“I want to finish this quest.”(Me)

I gave him the quest paper.

“Certainly. Scouting out this dungeon was it, right?”(Receptionist)

“Yes.”(Me)

“And? What did you find?”(Receptionist)

“Ahm.”(Me)

I hadn’t thought of what to say yet. I didn’t plan to tell him that I already cleared it.

“It was already cleared when I arrived there.”(Me)

“Oh my, were you able to entre?”(Receptionist)

“Yes.”(Me)

“Were there any remains of monsters or treasures?”(Receptionist)

“No.”(Me)

“That’s unfortunately. Well nevertheless, you finished the quest. You’ll receive 20 contribution points. Congratulations on succeeding in your 1st quest.”(Receptionist)

“T… Thank you.”(Me)

I was wondering why he believed all of it.

“Yo! It seems like you also just came back.”(Takeshi)

He greeted me from the door.

“How was your quest?”(Takeshi)

“The dungeon was already cleared before I came.”(Me)

“Hahaha. Same as me then.”(Takeshi)

Takeshi handed in his quest, as well as his report.

“Let’s visit the city and talk there. You probably already know about the festival.”(Takeshi)

“Not much, but fine.”(Me)

“I’ll tell you everything I know later. Let’s go visit all the shops 1st.”(Takeshi)

“Alright. No, wait.”(Me)

“What is it?”(Takeshi)

“We need to go to my room 1st.”(Me)

“Why?”(Takeshi)

“You’ll know when we get there.”(Me)