Chapter XCIV - The Kingdom of Magic (part 1)

Thank god, it's autumn... 

 

If not, I would probably be burned dry.

 

As we are moving, the sun is shining mercilessly. It was very hot inside the carriage, even though there's windows. The driver doesn't seem to be annoyed by the heat, but I can tell it is even hotter for him.

 

But… he just casually chugs down the infinite bottles of alcohol as we drive.

 

What the hell man… Give me your endurance strength towards heat! I want it!

 

At the very least, I know Xyphon won't be this hot. Xyphon was known to be the coldest kingdom among the human kingdoms. It is located on the north, while Veldonia is on the south. That's why Veldon is very hot, because it's in the south and it is right next to the ocean. Xyphon, however, is right at the bottom of a large mountainous area on the north, the coldest kingdom on the continent.

 

The path to the capital will take less time than from Mazino to Veldon. It's because the path towards Xyphon is a single straight line, while the path to Veldon is mostly turns and twists.

 

So, I predicted around… ten hours of carriage trip, judging from the map I had bought.

 

The village that I visited for the yellow ranked dungeon is nowhere near Xyphon, even though they are both in the north. Xyphon is more of a north-west from Mazino and it's ten hours away, while the village is merely three hours from the northern gate.

 

On the road, we didn't encounter a single problem. 

 

Except... for the potholes.

 

GURDD!!

 

And there it is again, another pothole. The driver is moving the carriage very fast, like we are on a rush. It's probably because he is drunk, or because he just wants to get there faster.

 

I wanted to lean forward and tell him to make it a little smoother, but something tells me that talking to him won't do any good. He will just shoo me away after I tell him.

 

So, I decided not to ask him, and endure the god damn potholes.

 

The ten hours trip did not take a single stop, since I'm the only passenger. And luckily, I had brought me some light meals that I bought before going to the carriage, right after I left the inn. Now, I don't feel hungry at all.

 

"Miss! We can see it from here!!"

 

It was on the evening, and I somehow fell asleep during the trip. I had grown accustomed to the potholes, and was able to fall asleep.

 

After he called me, I slowly woke up. I lifted my upper body and glanced outside the window using my sleepy eyes. 

 

It was at that moment that I am sure I'm still dreaming.

 

"Welcome to the city of magic, Xyphon city."

 

The driver said with a cool tone. He is no longer drunk, thankfully, but he still sounds ridiculous.

 

But… that ridicule is nothing compared to the view.

 

Right now, we are still tens of kilometers away from it, and yet we were already able to see it.

 

It's… the city of magic.

 

The gigantic and colorful castle walls, with four super large and colorful floating towers above them. Not enough, there is also a single floating island far above the kingdom that reaches the clouds. The top of the island was unclear, since it was covered by the clouds, but I can tell that's probably where the important people stayed.

 

I stared at the gigantic floating boulder, right on top of the city. The floating island floats at the same level of the clouds, so I can't really see what's up there exactly. From the boulder, a waterfall flows down, but it doesn't flow straight down. Instead, the waterfall made a few turns and twists until it finally landed on the ground inside the city.

 

Aside from the floating island on top of the city, right above the gigantic castle walls, there are also the four floating metallic towers, all glowing different colors. The northern tower, the blue tower. The eastern tower, the green tower. The southern tower, the red tower. And, the western tower, the yellow tower.

 

The four towers float on top of the castle walls that are shining bright thanks to the giant super bright light crystals that were placed inside the hollow tower. And thanks to the darkness of the night, the towers are now shining brightly.

 

"Behold! Xyphon city! The four guardian towers and the castle above the clouds."

 

The driver said from his seat, beholding. 

 

So that floating island is... a castle?

 

After finally seeing the city from afar, we arrived two hours later on one of the main gates. 

 

This kingdom is really like Candyland. The castle gate is red colored, similar to the color of the tower that looms on top of the gate a little far on the left. The knight's armor is also colored blue. No, multicolored.

 

Some of their armor is blue, some is red. Some only had the helmet red. Those color mixes probably mean something, like their ranks.

 

By the time we arrived, a blue armored knight approached the driver.

 

"Business?"

 

"Here to deliver this package."

 

The driver said as he pointed at the carriage behind him. The knight moved to the back and saw me inside. He then turned and went back to the driver with a confused face.

 

"What is this... 'Package' about?"

 

"Well, she is the student of the academy."

 

"R-Really?!"

 

The knight returned to me, and I showed him the letter of recommendation sent by the Office. The knight quickly turned around and ran towards the small office at the side of the gate.

 

He then came back with another blue armored guy, and the two apologized.

 

"I'm sorry. You may enter."

 

The knights opened the gate and let the carriage enter. It seems like the students of the academy are really looked highly here.

 

After entering the gate, the driver said he can only drive until here, which means I have to walk to the academy by myself. So, I headed out of the carriage and immediately saw the scene in front of me.

 

Yep. This is a god damn Candyland.

 

The skies are dark blue thanks to the night, decorated with the flows of the water coming from the middle floating island that is extremely far high up. I can see a little bit of sparkles shining from the water and illuminating the sky.

 

The buildings all looked very colorful, and the road looked pure white. It's like no horse poo is staining the ground at all, in fact, everything is just clean. The people's clothes are also colorful. Back in Mazino, the clothes are mostly black and brown. But here, people wear mostly red and blue like it's a trend.

 

I started walking forward as the carriage behind me turned around and left through the gate. As I walk, I can feel it. Even the air felt really light. 

 

Everything is just... filled with magic energy.

 

The road goes all the way to the middle, which means I can see the floating island's bottom from here. The bottom consists of rocks and a bunch of gigantic crystals, stacking underneath it. Most likely, those crystals are the one causing the island to float.

I was too taken by the magical Candyland in front of me that I didn't realize what I'm supposed to be doing. I need to find where the academy is located and quickly sign in.

 

So, I started looking for answers.