Carrier

In a few seconds, Leo's breathing became shallower. Afterwards, he started bending over and placed his hands on the edge of the conjured board.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked the woman, a little startled by the behavior of the young man before her.

At this moment, Leo's body was sweating furiously like a fountain.

"It's-- just-- a little hot," he pushed those words out after wiping away the perspiration that was getting into his eyes.

"You-- you seem like you're about to faint."

"I'm telling you-- huff, huff-- it's nothing."

During this short exchange, the old man that was lying down suddenly woke up with a start. Feeling more refreshed than he had ever been, he slowly sat back up and began examining himself spiritedly.

"Whoa! I feel so much colder! Did I get younger by any chance?"

Witnessing these new events unfold, the woman, along with the bystanders nearby, shared bemused glances with each other. To them, it seemed as if this young man that was helping them earlier, and the old person who fell from the heat, swapped their conditions.

Realizing that the heat was too much for him to bear, Leo decided to activate a spell. Opening his palm towards his face, and releasing a lower output of mana, he condensed a portion of surrounding air.

[Freeze]!

'Ahhhh, that's much better,' Leo internally sighed in relief as he felt a cool breeze flowing around him.

Still sitting on the board, the elderly man picked up the phoenix feather which he found lying on his chest.

"Eh, what is this?"

"Ah!" The woman quickly explained to him, "That young gentleman over there said it is able to help you with your heat stroke."

"Is that so?" the old man looked relieved. Turning towards Leo, he gave his gratitude. "Thank you for your generous assistance."

"Happy to help," Leo replied kindly after cooling himself off for a bit. "I am gonna need it back, I'm afraid. But for now, I can lend it to you until you're fully recovered."

"Ah, that will be unnecessary," the old man said, carefully placing the feather in his hand. "This is already more than enough. Besides, I have to get back home soon or my wife will get mad at me."

Leo slowly nodded in understanding, but then an idea suddenly occurred to him.

'Oh yeah, wait. I can make some ice for this guy.'

Using the same spell earlier, he tried freezing the surrounding air to provide the old man with a departing gift that can help resist the heat stroke. But not a moment later, Leo surprisingly encountered some resistance from the heat flowing throughout the area; it stubbornly forced the air to remain in gaseous form. In the end, he had to apply a much greater output of mana than he initially expected.

'Strange... Is there something magic related about this temperature?'

Putting this thought to the back of his mind, Leo finally managed to create a solid block of ice in his hands. Its surface was mostly smooth, with two deep indentations at the sides that allowed a person to firmly grasp it.

Careful not to drop the ice, Leo gifted it with both hands to the old man as he eventually took back his phoenix feather.

"Oohhh, this is nice," the elder sighed in contentment as he rubbed his forehead onto the cool exterior.

Seeing that there was nothing further they needed to do, the few other individuals who tagged along eventually left to go about their own businesses.

"Mister, the ice will probably melt quickly in this heat," the woman added. "Would it be okay for me to help escort you back to your wife?"

"No, it's alright," the old man reassured her as he got up to stand alone. He partially rolled up the ice in the hem of his shirt before bringing it up to his face again. "It's actually not that far away from here."

Bidding farewell to both of them, the elder, who appeared to be in his eighties, headed back to where he lived. With everything seemingly settled, the woman gave Leo a nod of appreciation and left to go her own way.

"Whew... It really is unusually hot right now," Leo commented after wiping some sweat off with his sleeve.

'For the rest of the city's sake, this temperature better not last for long.'

----------

In a cloudy sky, the new month of August finally arrived in Bavalon. During the handful of days prior, both the capital and the city of guilds experienced some erratic weather phenomenon. Previously, there was scorching heat that viciously came out of nowhere, exhausting the citizens' of their stamina. But thankfully, there were decent periods of rain that accompanied it afterwards, bringing salvation to those who were struggling outside.

Strangely enough, there was a rumor going around that the Mage Alliance was responsible for providing these periods of relief for the population. Some said that the King himself decreed this to be done, but others insisted that the mages did it out of good will. The latter theory unfortunately received few supporters, as the members of this established guild had a reputation for being quite solitary. Whatever the reasons, the citizens were nevertheless thankful for their magically produced rain.

And on the topic of rain, the next quest that Leo and his friends were about to undertake was going to include a significant amount of this particular weather.

Standing at the entrance of their guild with luggage in hand, Alex, Judy, and Sarah were patiently waiting for Leo to arrive. Earlier, their teammate said that he had something interesting he wanted to show them.

"So, what do you think it will be?" Sarah asked, a few minutes after Leo left the group.

Instead of standing around in silence, she wanted to try playing a guessing game with her two friends to pass the time.

"Maybe they'll be weapons for each of us to use," Judy suggested. She looked keenly at the wand in her hand. "Or perhaps some equipment specially suited to provide protection?"

"Those do seem plausible," Sarah commented. "Hmm, he is an enchanter but none of us really know what all his abilities actually are."

Alex leisurely stared around as he watched passersby going about their daily routine.

"Either way," he joined in, "I hope the surprise he'll bring won't take up too much space. We're gonna be taking a long trip to get to that city."

The current mission that they accepted involved gathering at a somewhat distant location in Bavalon. Long ago, it was dubbed the title 'Everrain', and was nicknamed by travelers as the 'City of Water'.

The quest giver was a mage who was conducting research there. He had handed out a subscription to the guild but was unable to provide any funds for transportation; this was often the standard for most requests the guild received. Unless the person who issued the notice was someone rich like Chieftain Namur, most of the time the adventurers would have to take care of their own transportation fees.

Due to this, depending on the travel distance, some adventurers would calculate the costs required to hire a carriage or cart in comparison to the amount of reward they could obtain if they managed to complete the request. Thus, if the location was too far, or the reward was too little, most individuals would disregard accepting the quest if they felt there weren't enough merits. Only exceptions like Alex's team could afford to go thanks to the amount of money and time on their hands.

As of now, the group needed to hurry as they did not want to miss an opportunity to hire a decent mode of transportation. It's not like there weren't any other teams who took similar jobs to them from other guilds. This was an experience in knowledge that Leo had yet to personally witness.

Just then, people who were moving through the street suddenly had their attention captured by a peculiar looking vehicle. Its design and coloring wasn't something that they would usually come across during their day-by-day routine throughout the city.

Nearby, Alex's sharp senses acutely noticed this vehicle getting closer to their guild. When he directed his gaze towards it, he found that it was headed straight for them.

Before he could warn his teammates, he spotted Leo's figure sitting near the front of the strange vehicle. The latter was casually waving his hands at them, forming a large grin on his face.

Eventually, Judy and Sarah also spotted their friend, and their expressions gradually grew dumbfounded.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late!" Leo called out in apology. "I had to make some last minute adjustments."

"Leo?" Judy stared at the unique object he was riding on. Looking uncertain on what reaction she should have, she instead asked her teammate, "What is that thing?"

"Oh!" Sarah clasped her hands together. "Is it perhaps the surprise you wanted to show us?"

"That's right!" Leo was happy that they caught on. "I made this new invention to help us get to Everrain without having to pay a carriage driver."