chapter 30: Sulvalis village

Just as Sylvester planned, we took a train toward Sulvalis. The road was long and monotone, making me sleepy.

During our travel time, we barely talked. Sylvester read his newspaper, making him look more mature than his actual age, and I passed the time by eating and sleeping.

From time to time, I would engage in conversations with him to lighten up the mood. But faced with his expressionless face, I would soon give up.

I didn't want to give myself a stomachache stressing about what to say. It was better to shut up.

But Sylvester didn't seem to notice my sour mood, deeply engrossed in his books.

He balanced between manuscripts, newspapers, books, and learning materials, slowly flipping the page—creating a peaceful rhythm.

After nearly a day of traveling by train, we finally arrived at our destination.

Sulvalis was a little village in the middle of nowhere, barely known by the large public. If anybody knew it existed.

It inhabited wild animals, galloping, hoping, and running freely into the free streets. They were living harmoniously with the villagers, giving a paradise and fairy-like picture to the white, snowy land.

"Wow, it's so… beautiful!" I marveled as I saw the view.

Never in my two lives had I seen something like that.

This was what a lively and light fantasy world should look like for me.

But I wasn't in one. I was in a dark, bloody novel full of schemes and stratagems. Death was an occurrence, and pain was normal. Nobody was really happy, and greed won over peace.

I let go of my luggage, dropping them on the ground, and went running across the natural white carpet, freely laughing like a child.

I felt great.

I took a wet frozen branch that still had some green leaves and made it float into the air, as I used reverse magic—whispering a spell.

Soon, the branch grew and extended in the air, slowly approaching the ground.

Then slowly, from scratch, at naked speed, it became a full-fledged tree.

It took root into the ground and grew bigger and bigger, becoming a Hawthorn tree. The leaves spread out, coloring the uncolored landscape with a small tint of green.

Finally, it grew beautiful whitish pink flowers. 

I looked at the process, in awe at the miracles of magic and nature.  I opened my mouth like a child before the Christmas tree, full of hope and excitement.

That's how I liked to use my magic powers. Not to fight nor to attack or to hurt. Only to heal. 

If I needed it, I preferred to use my bare fists for the dirty work. 

As I continued to stare at the tree, I felt Sylvester coming up to me—settling at my right, close to me.

"I have always admired the wonders of magic…" He began to say, looking at my work.

Then he went closer to the tree and touched it with his fair hands, feeling the rough bark under his soft palm. He rotated his hands around, making small movements.

"I like it."

"What?"

"You... everything you can do." He said, misleading me for the first part.

When he said "you," my heart skipped a bit, somehow lost. But then, I soon heard the rest of his sentence, getting what he meant. I sighed, relieved.

'Ah…'

Thank God it wasn't what I thought. How was I supposed to react to a sudden, unprepared confession, coming from nowhere?

Well, I had no idea and I didn't want to find out.

"You want my powers?" 

"No. Not exactly. Should we go now?" 

"Ah! Yes. We don't have a lot of time, you are right. Sorry." 

"Don't apologize; I liked the view." He said as he looked at me—eye in eye—from his tall stature. His dark globes seemed to tell millions of stories without a word, slowly slipping through my mine.

"If-if you say so...Hahaha" I struggled to say before awkwardly laughing. "Let's go, let's go!" 

I went ahead, rushing in the village, not forgetting to pick my luggage from Sylvester's hands, nearly snatching it. 

I didn't notice the hot and pink blush coloring my sickly pale face, my face rosy. 

"Wait for me!" He said from behind. 

"Ye-yeah." 

I slowed down, calming my heart and rhythming my breath back to normal. My little run had me out of breath. Hahaha...

"Where are you going to stay for the night?" 

"An inn, ten houses further. Don't worry, I already booked everything. You can rest peacefully tonight." 

"Okay, thank you. What did our informant say about that "house"?"

"We don't know much. Just that it was inhabited a year ago by a group of heretics and had been deserted since then. We think that we may find more there." 

"Just because of that? What if it's a false rumor? And aren't there thousands of that sort of case?" 

"Yes, but a man had been kidnapped by that said group, escaping before they could sacrifice him. The man is said to be living in another country now, following his convalescence." 

"And do we know what was done to him? What proof do we have that they are terrorists and not just traffickers?" 

"Well, a report had been filed by that said man indicating what kind of practice they had done. As for the rest, it's confidential; I don't have any more information. If it were a normal case of traffic not involving the academy, the investigation wouldn't have been made by us."

"You mean that the academy doesn't want to let people know that it is being targeted?"

"...Yes."

"Why?"

"I can't say, sorry."

"...I see. Okay." I said, thinking about how shady this case looked, before I continued to ask other questions. "And when are we going to depart tomorrow?"

"At six am probably. Do you wish to go later?"

"No, six is perfect!

"At six then."

After a few minutes of walking through the blocks, we finally arrived before a slightly grand inn, made entirely out of hood. It looked like any average inn, nothing more, nothing less.

At the top, stood a living hull gazing down the house, like it was judging the hosts and clients.

'Oh, tomorrow morning promises to be...great…'