66 The Spirit Race Part 1
Two weeks later, the carriage that I was in stopped off on a side road. Well, calling it a road might be stretching it, but because it was more of a path cut through the thick forest. To be honest, I thought that riding in a carriage for two weeks would be uncomfortable, but I guess royalty really knows how to ride in style.
For one thing, I never would have thought that there was a thing called dimensional magic. It was a type of magic that could create a whole different space. From what Adel told me, this magic requires ten people to cast, and each one needs to be linked up because the spell itself is crazy long. Probably something I could not even cast in my current state. But I still wished to see the magic equation for it. It was different from spatial magic because dimensional magic was a place living beings could enter and had to be stationary, whereas spatial magic could be accessed from anywhere. Now, if you put such a thing on a carriage, it can then move around, but it has to be moved manually. And the carriage we were in had a small compartment that could be entered that was big enough for a small bed and a bathroom.
It felt kind of strange entering the door in the back of the carriage to find a small bedroom that was just as big or even bigger than the carriage itself. And by small bed, I mean a bed big enough for two people. If it was a single sized bed, there would be room for more things in the room. But just to make something this size took a long time to do. The equation always has to be adjusted for what you were trying to create.
Adel told me that there were places called small worlds that were created in ancient times that are not even close to being fully explored that the magic academy has access to. There were dungeons and all kinds of things inside to explore. And every year, the students would enter them to try their luck. If you brought something back, the academy would reward you with extra merits.
Sadly some of these small worlds had multiple entrances, so other kingdoms would also use them. But there seemed to be some kind of fundamental law that every kingdom would only allow those under the age of eighteen in. This has been some kind of strict rule that, if broken, would result in every kingdom attacking the one who broke it.
Adel also told me that the dangers inside were not only students from other kingdoms but also the rare and ancient monsters living inside. It truly amazed me that the more I learned about this world, the more exciting it seemed. Such a large vast world that seemed to have no end to it was waiting to be explored. As I am supposedly going to be long lived, I had plenty of time to explore it all. I wonder what else I will find in the future. Maybe some underground civilization with high technology? Or some ancient alien technology not of this world?
My imagination couldn’t help but run wild, but it was because of this that I so wished to explore things in the future. But getting back to the carriage, it was a rather smooth ride. Especially since we had the small space to sleep in.
During these two weeks, I have learned a lot about Adel. Like she is pretty much able to do anything. She is well suited for living outside the castle with her survival abilities. She knows which plants in the forest are editable or which plants can help heal wounds. Even the plants that are rare that could be taken back to be sold for a fair amount of gold. I, of course, did not let them pass by me, so I picked them up and stored them away.
Because we have gotten closer, I told her about my ‘spatial magic’. I didn’t tell her about the system itself, but I did let her know about my ability to store things. She pouted for a few hours but soon got over it soon after. I guess she was happy that she could give me nice clothes. While it was nice of her, I felt like it was taking advantage of her. Which was not good. Friendship was not something you could buy! And I think this was why she was always trying to buy me many new things.
Like we stopped in one city, yes, an actual city. And when I say city, I mean something along the lines of the size of like Connecticut in the United States back on Earth, but the entire thing as one city. She dragged me to these high end shops and was buying me all kinds of dresses that fit demi humans, which were more expensive than a regular dress. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
To be honest, I kind of felt weird wearing a dress. Between the people who were glaring at me hatefully and my own self conscious with wearing a dress, I just felt out of place. I did find out, however, that while the city I was in, which was called Dagnar, allowed demi humans to live there, it was just that the quality of life was not very good for them. So me being a demi human in a fancy store made me the center of attention, and I am sure if it was not for Sir Randford and the other knights surrounding me and Adel, we would have been tossed out.
Another thing I had noticed was that no one even knew who Adel was. But I guess this was normal as there was no real communication between the cities besides inspections that happened twice a year. So no one even knew what their king looked like.
This has also bothered me a great deal as it must be hard to understand how your citizens are living if you are only reading reports from each city, town, and village. Those who do the inspection might be even taking a kick back on top of it to leave out anything that is unfavorable to the noble who is in charge of that city, town, or village.
As such, there is no telling how much money is actually being embezzled, or whether it is actually being used appropriately. Like funds to aid the poor and farmers that are under a nobles rule. When I asked Adel about this, she could only give me a bitter smile and tell me that because the kingdom was so big, it was indeed hard to keep track of it all, even with a team of people working on it.
The filing system they used, used magic for indexing things and keeping things on file, which was pretty interesting, but it was not foolproof. Many mistakes can be made, and everything is only registered based on what is reported by the investigators.
At any rate, you can say I now have a few fancy dresses. I did plan to buy some at some point because I heard there would be dancing in the academy that required formal wear, so now I guess I would be all set.
After all, I was not going to the academy to become a prim and proper young lady. I was going there to learn military tactics and become a good commander. A life filled with battle is the life I planned to lead. I would be one of those old army veterans who tells war stories to their grandkids. Although I think I would only be telling them to the new slimes that I replicate.
Adel fell in love with Mr. Blobs when I resummoned him during our trip. He was now treated as the king of the carriage. She would feed him all kinds of things, which sadly did not raise his level at all. Adel’s face blanched when she saw me throw a random monster corpse to him that was twenty times his size. She even yelled at me and told me he was going to get fat and lazy.
I had to explain everything to her about how slimes worked before she finally understood. Only then did she let Mr. Blobs eat the monster corpse. But that brought on all kinds of new problems because the corpse disappeared as soon as Mr. Blobs touched it. I really had no way of explaining it, so I lied and said that Mr. Blobs was a rare kind of slime and that I had no idea what breed he was.
With so many things happening, you can say that the past two weeks have been fun and fulfilling. Which brings us to the path we were about to set out on. I still have no idea where we are going, and Adel refuses to tell me. But I was very curious as to how Adel knows about anything out this far from the capital. I mean, she told me herself that she rarely leaves the capital for anything and even if she does, it is only a few miles away from the capital itself. Not that it really matters. If she wishes to tell me, she will.