Chapter 5

Chapter 5. Trip.

It's a dangerous business to hit the road. When you leave the threshold, you never know where your feet will lead you.

Bilbo Baggins. A great specialist in the field of hiking.

Sephiroth.

I had no desire to go light. Why, having lost the lion's share of abilities, I noticed a downright manic tendency to minimize risk, and how it is combined in turn with the body's need for adrenaline. Can you imagine tearing your nerves and making your heart beat faster calculation of a drawing or plan? (No, not an hour before the deadline, when half has not yet been done, but in normal life) So I had no idea, and therefore I was constantly drawn to feats, but I tried to prepare for feats with all possible thoroughness. The planned move to Magnolia was no exception. There was already enough money for my own house, though not for a mansion, but still. So no problems are expected from this direction. But how best to get there - by train? On magokat? Or maybe on foot or with a caravan? Hmm, it takes only a couple of days to cut from Onibas to Magnolia, an hour or two by train, but from Hargeon, a port city where Natsu and Lucy will soon be annealed for two weeks on foot or a day by train.

Plus a couple of days for the mess itself. Total - three days in the worst case. I do not think that this couple will be dragged on foot, although, if in the anime they did not exaggerate the 'love' of the fire dragonsler for transport ... no, we will proceed from the worst case. So, why should I even contact the pink-haired and blonde (although I would not refuse to contact her, hehe)? It's very simple - Lucy got into the guild without any problems, questions or interviews, just slipping away with Natsu, so why don't I join the guild in a similar way? It is unlikely that it will be possible to intercept them in the port - I can just miss them, but in Magnolia it is much more likely to cross. The main thing is not to miss the right moment. This means that I have three days to prepare. Let's get started.

The first thing I did was turn to the blacksmith and ordered a box of ordinary throwing knives from him, or rather like, I ordered it, just bought it - the peasant had a lot of such good not very high quality. Their value as a weapon was very dubious, but training to quickly 'shoot' all sorts of unpleasant things out of your pocket is the very thing, and you can slowly start summoning several things at the same time, in general, there will be a use for them. The next point of the route was a pharmacy, where I stocked up with some types of herbs and extracts from animal organs. Thanks to an unknown mentor for making me learn chemistry. Although there are no ready-made reagents and synthetic reagents, not to mention normal catalysts (or rather, they certainly are here, but such a laboratory and ingredients cost more than I can pay for it, even after strangling Toad). In any case, what is already there will be enough for the preparation of the simplest medicines and poultices. They may be relatively weak, but they will still be. In extreme cases, it can be used to heal possible allies of the symbiont, and then blame it on 'a wonderful elixir, obtained completely by chance and not the fact that there is an opportunity to repeat it'. Taking into account the recklessness of local magicians - the explanation is more than true. I don't think that many in this world write down their research, and whoever writes it down can then understand what he wrote. Okay, that's it. What's next? Then there was a grocery store where I stocked up on travel food - jerky, crackers and some herbal infusion, somewhat reminiscent of tea with mint and sold immediately in flasks. After all, the person who came up with the Rearmament was a genius - how many useful things can be carried in a spatial pocket, just a fairy tale. And the food in it deteriorates much more slowly than in the normal world - a piece of raw meat remained fresh even after four days, then, however, it still began to rot, but still not bad. In general, I stocked up with food for a month in advance and at the rate of a whole platoon (in other words, I filled an almost full cart), but what? Both benefit and exercise. He spent almost four hundred thousand precious ones on everything, as a result of which he underwent an act of asphyxiation by an amphibian. Hmmm, some kind of me became stingy, why would it, like this had not happened before - another psychological trauma due to loss of abilities? Everything may be, again, there is not enough knowledge. So, I will deal with this later. Now - run to the rented house and get to work! Oh hell, I still have to buy tools!

I had to run through the shops with an exciting quest - collect the alchemist's laboratory from scrap materials. I found the serpentine at the blacksmith's (and what did he do there?), All sorts of jars - bottles at the glassblower, and the burner - in the shop selling items for the house. Eh, I would still get a refrigerator and a centrifuge, but what is not there, or rather, there is a refrigerator, but it is built using lacrima, it costs a lot of money and will definitely not fit into a spatial pocket, but carry a fool with you one and a half meters by half a meter ( , width, depth) I definitely will not. In a few hours, having collected something that at a stretch can be called a chemical laboratory, I proceeded to the sacred rite. And that, with a sickly addition to the laboratory in the form of a symbiont, getting the same penicillin from mold did not make any special problems, I did not find an analogue of this most useful thing in pharmacies, and epidemics happen here, as I know, which means that it is not at all effective antiviral, no antibiotics here.

Now will be. Although not at all. Also, the locals did not know drinks, stronger than 20 degrees, you mean, they had nothing stronger than fortified wine. And this despite the fact that the process of sublimation was familiar to them, but only all sorts of alchemists used it for their needs and potions. Nobody guessed to stuff a simple mash into a distillation cube. No, I was not going to solder anyone (except for Kanu, but only with good intentions, and I don't need to hint here where the road is lined with them), but spirit is useful for disinfecting wounds - treating sepsis and gangrene is a tedious thing, and even in this liquid can help warm mountains. I had to recall the mystery of home brewing and product filtration. The liquid obtained at the outlet contained 60-70 degrees and burned properly. Excellent, it remains to mix a couple of ointments and, perhaps, that's enough, although no, as long as there is time and opportunity, I will still organize a couple of liters of herbal tincture, it will fit the farms. And connoisseurs can be given a try. I wonder if there is a 'horrible swill of northern barbarians' here? I'll have to ask Gray somehow, he seems to be just from that place. (The terrible swill of the northern barbarians is a thing that turns their world into the world, eternal and indestructible. Any DND in his playing career, at least once, but met him, is the law of the universe, however * author's note).

Now that's all for sure. Now it's up to a little - to stuff all your property into a spatial pocket. Oh, it seems, I overdid it - there were really a lot of jars, bottles, so where do I go? Okay, if anything, I'll sell it to Magnolia's shops, although no, it's better to get involved with Polyushka through these potions - she is an experienced magician, she should know a lot, and she often treated gouges from the current composition, which means that she can tell a lot about magical injuries and effects. And if she also has a library ... so, set aside to share the skin of a living dragon, first you need to join the guild, and then we'll have a look. The last bottles I stuffed into my pocket through I can't - the place ran out. The sensations were indescribable. Try to simultaneously pull out a tooth and poke it in the stomach with a knife, you can understand the whole indescribable spectrum of impressions. Eh. Well, I, as normal people, cannot increase my volume for months and years, increasing it by a grain of sand. I don't have so much time and nerves, I have to mock my body. An ordinary person would have died, well, or passed out from pain for sure, but I am a little more tenacious creature, and therefore, clenching my teeth and remembering with kind words magic and the universe as a whole, I endured and stuffed the bottles into my pocket.

Having finished with the favorite work of Severus Snape (shamanizing over the cauldrons with an ominous look) and just a masochist (I think, is it clear what I mean?), I went to the cafe - how to have a snack on the path and admire the views of the city when I now see him in next time? It was a pity to leave Onibas - here I already had a good place to live (and quite inexpensively), I got some kind of reputation, albeit somewhat eerie, but generally positive. And he just got used to it. But it's time to move on - sitting still, you don't get into adventures, and they are vital to me. It only remained to resolve the issue with the khaki lynx. Over the past months, I somehow became attached to the animal, but it will not be very good to drag it to the big city - after all, the cat remained a wild predator. But what happens if the control suddenly goes off? It seems to be not supposed to, but you never know ... I don't want to train in Absorption on it either. There is only one thing left - to let go to free bread. Having brought the animal to the forest, I took off control, the mutant lynx looked at me, purred goodbye and retired to where it should be - into the forest thicket, disappearing from the field of view already behind the second tree. Now that's all for sure.

The last time I go into the rented house, I collect things that did not fit into the spatial pocket (knives, several vials with tincture, and, of course, a magic guitar, where without it). I close the house, take the key to the magistrate - I rented housing through it. There I was met by an already familiar official.

- Are you leaving?

-Yes, I decided to travel a little, and now you can join some guild, C rank is already something.

- Reasonably, it is in the guilds that magicians develop the fastest, - the clerk nodded, - already have any ideas on joining? If anything, we can offer you several options for the light guilds, where you will undoubtedly be welcome.

- Oh, and what are they? - the proposal interested me, no, I will join the Fairies in any case, but I wonder where from the light guilds they would take me ... taking into account some specifics of my work and methods.

-I think Four Cerberus would suit you, but if you were of rank B, you could try to turn to the Nose of a Titan or Phantom Lord.

-What about Fairy Tail? - oh, how he shuddered at this name.

-Uh ... this is a very worthy guild, yes, of course, - it seems that he tried to convince himself of this, and not very successfully - but they are quite ... mmm ... addicted magicians, yes ... to besides, no one knows by what criterion they select candidates. It seems that you need to go through an interview with their Master ... or be completely bruised on your head by a thug, - the official quietly muttered, but I still heard, - in general, I would advise you to contact the Cerberus all the same.

- Clearly, thanks for the advice, but let me take my leave - the train won't wait.

-Good luck, - said goodbye to the assistant to the local head of administration, whose name I never bothered to find out for all those few months of our communication, but oh well. Of the missed opportunities, I only regret the unsuccessful trip to the local theater. Not that I would have been an avid theater-goer in the past, but it would still be interesting to look at the art of another world. Well, nothing, maybe I'll also visit a local attraction (preferably in the company of a companion, or better not alone), now let's go to the platform.

The local train station was impressive. Especially for a small town. There is no comparison with Kursk or Yaroslavl from my old world, but all the same, the area near the building was rather large, three times overlapping the necessary for such a city. But there were no eternal crowds and bustle, which could not but rejoice. Having bought a train ticket to Magnolia, I went to the platform. What can you say about the Fiora trains? Yes, nothing special - there is a minimum of our differences, it moves only not due to electricity, but on magic. Otherwise, everything is just like ours, including peddlers offering their simple goods to passengers. Even the assortment was similar - soft (and not only) drinks, all sorts of magazines for killing time and lanterns-lighters of unknown origin, advertised as not being killed, in practice, they live no more than a week. In general, I felt a surge of nostalgia.

Magnolia greeted me with bright sunlight (uuuu, yellow muzzle, golum, golum), crowds of people on the platform and the noise of the big city. The boys with newspapers were advertising their wares with might and main, reading some articles. So I learned that a certain Fairy Tail Salamander caused a small tsunami in a coastal city, destroyed four districts and simultaneously neutralized a gang of slavers, after which he disappeared in an unknown direction (the 'grateful' residents could not catch up with him). Looked at the schedule and map. So, if I was not mistaken, then the aforementioned pair of magicians can arrive either in a couple of hours on the next train, or in the late afternoon. If not, you will have to apply to the guild on a general basis. Well, you can wait in the station cafe, since the arrival of trains is announced through loudspeakers.

I was lucky, I was not mistaken in the calculations - the sought-after couple really arrived on the evening train. I sat on a bench nearby and looked at my possible guildmates. Lucy ... um, the anime didn't lie, though. Slender legs, voluminous chest, but not excessively large, the place where the legs were attached to the body also looked very appetizing, wheat-colored hair and brown eyes on a pretty face with aristocratic features completed the picture. Having admired the girl, I did not immediately pay attention to her companion. However, this is not surprising. Pink-haired something with a green face - a combination of the category of 'pluck out your eyes', this thing wore a vest over a naked body and pants made of an unknown material, with a very interesting scaly scarf, at the look at which I drool. Natsu, and it was he, was in the state of a vegetable man - he lay without signs of consciousness on his face and did not want to move. In the role of a black raven flying over the body of the fallen hero, was a rich blue cat with wings. Eh, and I was hoping that this dream of a grasshopper is a purely Mangakov's feature and in reality there are no flying talking cats of strange colors, and even with magic. It turns out that it happens. The girl was clearly in a difficult situation - she was not able to lift and convey at least to the bench of an obviously difficult guy, but leaving him lying on the platform was somehow not very good either (why did not the cat intervene, seemingly capable of carrying Natsu on his magic - I have no idea, most likely, he was stupidly lazy). Then the girl noticed my interested look and resolutely walked towards me.

-Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, but can I ask you a favor? - brown eyes look somewhere on the floor, hands are folded in front of an unobtrusively protruding chest (damn, I never thought that you can push out a hating breast, but look you can) and the voice of a good-girl. As Comrade Stanislavsky used to say, I believe! However, I remember that if Lucy needs something badly, then she can charm almost anyone. Well, the girl realizes that she is beautiful and knows how to use it without going beyond certain limits, which indicates good brains ... well, or a good teacher, at least.

-Yes, how can I help, beauty? - yeah, we are embarrassed, well, you dig the floor with your foot.

-You see, my companion does not tolerate transport well and cannot come to his senses in any way, could you help drag him to the bench - I myself am afraid I will not be able to cope.

I still look around at no 'companion'.

-Mmm, maybe it's better to see a doctor or home? - the girl beamed.

-You will help? Then, of course, it's better to go home, there he will definitely come to himself - she immediately began to harness me Lucy ... smartly, by the way, my name is Lucy Heartfilia, this is Natsu Dragneel ..

-And I'm Happy - the cat climbed in.

-Hmm, I think my head is a bit baked.

- Are you feeling bad? - the girl worried - she obviously did not want to be at the station with two bodies.

-Yes, I see talking flying cats of strange colors, probably hallucinations.

-I'm not a hallucination, I am Happy! And I am a cat, not a cat! - offended the flyer. The girl, on the other hand, clearly sighed with relief.

- No, no, it's okay, it's really a flying cat.

-And, well, then everything is fine, so we have a collective hallucination, it's interesting ... - I thoughtfully stared at the indignantly opened mouth of the cat, starting to look at him with an expression of detached interest on his face.

- I'm not a hallucination! - finally the cat was indignant.

-As you say. - all with the same expression on my face, I nod and looked at Lucy. - By the way, my name is Sephiroth, just Sephiroth, and come on 'you', otherwise it's somehow sad to play with a beautiful girl, - I load a weakly moving dragon-leopard on my shoulders and jump slightly, making my load more comfortable. Nosha groans indignantly - well and where to carry the victim?

-Em ... let's go, it should be close, - and the girl, smiling a little shyly, went forward, showing me the way and her butt. So, watch the road ... the road, I said!