“Wow… the roads here are really nice. I haven’t felt a bump yet! I think the horse just slipped because it was too smooth! They have got to be using magic for this!” The Young Master exclaimed to the cramped smiles of two knights and the usual impassivity of Marigold. The trip was delayed by two days due to an actual emergency along the Royal Road from Vanguard to the capital. The Wardens had all but abandoned their forts as they scrambled in mass to eradicate anything within the eastern eighth of the Kingdom. This was normally a job reserved for the Knight divisions, accomplished over the course of a few weeks. Lady Forrester declared that the Wardens would purge her territories of malcontent before her son left the estate… so they tried to. Since the trip was too soon, however, the knights stepped in to convince an unaware Young Master to delay a bit so he could make certain there weren’t any other bits or bobs that he wished to take with him.

Nothing worked. He didn’t seem particularly attached to anything except a few hand carved tokens and several notebooks. He was informed that he couldn’t take any books out of the Forrester library, but there weren’t any tomes that he referenced for his work that he wouldn’t easily be able to find a copy of at the Academy. Namely, he just wanted to bring the monster bestiaries, but as they are actually of critical importance to the Wardens, he opted to leave them. He was ready to go and the knights were being perhaps too subtle in hinting he needed to delay his journey.

Until he was chatting with a maid while she dusted the taxidermies, he hadn’t realized he had no money. Any hobbies he might want to indulge in at the Academy would require real life funds from a real life bank; not just his face and telling a nearby knight to make sure whatever craftsman is paid for whatever nonsense he decides to pay for. Sure, he had a bit of spare change here and there, but not enough to pay craftsman to carve tiny figurines or however many sets of dice he decided to use. What if he decided to leave the Academy and eat at a local restaurant? He couldn’t just waltz in the door and claim to the stunned staff, “No worries everyone! There will be no need for me to pay tonight… I’m important!”

He waffled over the idea of asking his mother for a bit of pocket money, but he was a little worried she’d go overboard with the amount or just burst into tears again. She was not quite the dignified lady he originally thought she was any longer. A day passed, and he still hadn’t asked, despite having lunch and dinner with her. Finally, he took the coward’s route and asked the butler what to do. The butler procured an enchanted coin pouch and a slip giving authorization to utilize Syron’s own account. Apparently his mother never bothered to give him money because he already had it… though it was a bit of a slip on her part for assuming her presumed amnesiac son would remember his bank account and routing numbers. Syron himself just assumed he wouldn’t have a bank account because he was twelve and never thought anything of it again.

Five days into the trip and Syron was reminded of how wonderful modern amenities and modes of transportation really were in his previous life. Riding in a carriage with a well bred duo of horses on a ridiculously flat and smooth road they were covering around… forty kilometers a day? Based on this metric, Syron guessed the capital to be somewhere around two hundred and fifty kilometers from Vanguard, taking a week to travel. On the other hand, a high-speed train could do that in an hour including boarding and disembarking. A car could do it in a few hours, cd player and air conditioner included. A plane… well, the train would probably be faster for a consumer since the distance is so short, but they cruise at like nine hundred kilometers an hour? That’s almost enough to make two round trips in an hour. The end result is… Syron spent too much time reading about travel speeds of trains and airplanes on the internet. He lamented over the time he wasted in his previous life to stave off the boredom of travel when he wasn’t working on scenarios or campaigns.

Each night while travelling, he contacted his mother via the ruby like gem and marveled at how awesome magic could be. Sure, cellphones were easier, more convenient, didn’t require super special maids to utilize, and you could play snake on them… but the red gems worked using magic. That makes them cooler. That was an example of a modern amenity he was willing to be fine without, since he didn’t have a choice. Travelling for a week to go somewhere he could casually drive a car to in a few hours definitely hurt though.

Patricia didn’t have anything to say really, she just wanted to check up on him and make sure he hadn’t been murdered by bandits or eaten by wild prairie cats… whatever those were. Realizing he knew next to nothing about the indigenous wildlife, he wasted her time asking all kinds of questions about animals that he had never heard of before. Since he had ‘woken up’, he’d focused solely on monsters, so dangerous animals were a pretty big blind spot. However, this also meant he could use regular animals from his previous life and pass them off as exotic creations in his games. Never heard of a giraffe before?

“Well, they are yellow and brown spotted goat-horses with two meter long necks and legs! They fight each other in the most ridiculous way possible too! You’re going to love them!”

He started using his mother as a sounding board for his game, but she usually kept him away from those topics with her own questions about his wellbeing or facts about real, actual things, before he’d run out of magic.

“Bummer! I wasn’t able to ask what she thought about elephants again! I really need to work on my magic, eh Mari?”

“Young Master, your quantity of magic is already quite astounding for your age. Traditionally, people with the Communicator aptitudes only speak in short bursts of words to preserve magic. While the initial connection is the most magic intensive, maintaining the connection as long as you do is abnormal. The Lady is an exception, of course, but you yourself use far more magic than most would consider typical.”

“I know exactly what you mean, Mari. My illusions are the same way. Creating them is the heavy lifting, while maintaining is just plain easier. If there was a way I could just bring out and manipulate or maintain premade illusions, I’d be able to do loads more in my games. Well… perhaps not loads more, but I’d be able to have more units working in tandem without setting my brain on fire and passing out from the strain. Anyway Mari, I’m tired and my head is throbbing. Will you get my attention when we have nearly arrived? I’m going to try to rest my eyes, but I also don’t want to miss seeing the city from far away.”

* * * *

Magister Friksul was feeling rather irritated. Rare enough to even see the bogeymen of the Eastern forest, he had two platoons of the Wardens sitting in his parlour demanding to urgently speak to him. Him! As if he had anything to do with monsters swarming from the woods! He had not even studied the phenomenon beyond basic education. However, basic education would also teach that the Wardens of the Woods had precisely one interest. The thrice damned Woods! The more he pondered over it, the more livid he became! He was not a man whom entertained the rabble too lowborn to become a knight! He was a Marquis’ brother and a celebrated scholar! Only his research was important to him, and these dirty ruffians were not within his scope of studies.

“Send them away. I simply have no interest in speaking to any of them. Tell them… tell them I am already at the Academy today, and will be busy for the rest of the week. Whatever they have to ask of me is unimportant anyway. If they can’t even handle a few goblinoids stepping out from some trees, they are too worthless to help anyway.” Magister Friksul said haughtily to his attendant. The attendant shook his head with a worried frown.

“I am sorry sir, but they refuse to leave even after I told them as such earlier. No excuse is good enough for them. I am afraid we may have an incident on our hands if we are forced to call the knights to have them removed from the property.” The attendant left the remainder of his words unsaid, though there was a pleading in his eyes for the Magister to just deal with them before it became a political scandal. Yes, the Wardens were acting socially unacceptably… but they were lowborn commoners and could not reasonably be held to the same standards as a member of high society. Furthermore, due to their status as both a respected and integral organization, and as a powerful fighting force, they could not be treated with a heavy hand. Rather, it would be unwise to engage the Wardens in combat without an equivalent number of Knights and combat Magisters.

“Ugh, very well you simpleton. Get back to work!” Friksul stomped from the room and did not see the rolling of his attendant’s eyes. It would not have helped his mood if he had noticed anyway. Friksul made his way to the parlor and thrust the doors open aggressively, attempting to startle the eight men and women within. Six completely ignored him while two looked first at Friksul and then at each other. Nodding, one of them stood and stepped forward and gave a proper bow.

“Warden Vangrief, Magister. I have a delivery from our Lady Forrester.” The Warden received a small wooden box from one of his subordinates behind him and placed it gently on the table in front of the Magister. The Magister grew slightly more frustrated since he could not fault the spokesman for any rude behavior. In fact, he was moving and gesturing precisely as a noble should in such a situation.

“Oh? What could the Warden of the Woods possibly have for me?” Magister Friksul grew curious, but also leery as he stared at the box. Even through the wood he could feel the palpitations of magic emanating out. He picked the box up gingerly and examined it from side to side, attempting to discern anything about the container. It seemed to be a plain, unadorned box with a slat top and latch instead of hinges. He scowled at the cheapness of the box and opened it, his eyes going wide at the sight of the red gemstone within.

“One of the Warden’s here is a trained and certified Enchanter if you are unable to provide your own. My Lady is awaiting your contact.” Friksul’s face went slightly pale at the words bouncing off his shut down brain.

The Grand Duchess… is…?

For nearly a minute the room sat in awkward silence. Eventually, Friksul managed to wake up and looked at the Wardens for a desperate clue. Sure, insulting Wardens for being lowborn plebians was one thing… insulting the Grand Duchess of the Forrester House and The Warden was quite another. It had not occurred to Friksul that she would be related to this simply because Friksul wasn’t important enough to be at her attention. In public, he was a Magister if he wanted proper respect. In highborn society, nearly everyone was a Magister of some sort, so he relied on his title of Headmaster instead.

He took the gem from the box and looked expectantly at the Warden in charge. He turned and looked at another man dressed in the same dark green cloak with black accents. The man stood up and took the stone without a word, activating his magic. Once the gem was primed, the Magister took the gem and began focusing his power into it. Once its color changed he hurriedly spoke.

“Magister Friksul greets the Grand Duchess!”

The room was suddenly filled with warmth and happy thoughts from an aura pulsing from the gemstone.

“Headmaster, I shall get right to my selfish request. My son will be arriving in a few days to attend your Academy. Treat him well and ensure his safety.” The Lady’s voice was sweet and eloquent. The Magister could not help but blush, though perhaps that could also be the effect of the positive aura somehow being transmitted through the device designed to only transfer sounds. Then the aura changed and Magister Friksul fell to his knees alongside the Wardens.

“Keep the communicator gem on you at all times. We shall be in touch again soon.” The Lady ended her connection and the dread aura faded with the light from the gem.