20 Departure

The trashed furniture showed to be just that, trashed furniture. However, it was likely to be trashed by humans!

Anyway, the girl was gently shaking the burlap clothed human. After some time, the human in question seemed to wake. "Uncle!" The girl exclaimed, relieved that there was no major damage done.

This uncle sat up and asked worriedly: "Are you alright, child?" To which the girl gave a happy "Yup!". The uncle then asked: "What happened?"

The girl rushed to the other burlap clothed human on the floor while answering: "The bad guys came in. After knocking you out, they were waiting for brother to arrive. But this other brother here arrived with him, and chased them away!"

While her shaking of the other person gave response. Luckily the thugs did not take things further. The killing of a wizard's relatives, although the wizard was just an apprentice, was not anything to scoff at. And murder inside the city was a huge risk. The thugs had relied on that apprentice wizard was known to be meek and weak. They just wanted to fool them into thinking that they were prepared to do harm, and if they were fooled, they only had themselves to blame. The wizard community would not hunt them for that, unless the apprentice wizard in question was a genius.

When checking that the aunt also was alright, the girl then went to her depressed brother. "Hey! Brother! Are we leaving now?" She asked. The brother turned around, and noticed the two persons in burlap clothing now standing up. "Uncle! Aunt! Are you alright?" He jumped up and went to check.

After reassuring him that they were fine, the uncle then insisted: "You should go now. Hurry back to the academy!" But the brother was worried: "But what if they come back?"

The uncle just chuckled and answered: "If they failed now, they would not come back to make trouble. Unless you stay, that is. Anyone knows that it is a bad idea to mess with a wizard's relatives. However, messing with an apprentice would go unnoticed, unless the apprentice had potential, or was permanently injured."

After some more rounds of reassurance, and some final goodbyes, the trio finally went outside. There the brother had prepared a simple fabric covered wagon, drawn by a single horse.

Confused, Foo asked: "We are going there by wagon?" Was it not inside this city? Was there any need to take a wagon?

Equally confused, the brother answered: "Yes? Traveling there by wagon will take a week, let alone walking! My sister should not be forced to walk such a distance, and to sleep in the wild." While doing the last checks on the wagon and the luggage, he continued: "We are joining a group with a warrior who will take his apprentices to the academy as well. Although the road should be somewhat safe, one can never be sure there won't be some bandits or other dangers popping up."

Signaling for the sister and Foo to jump up into the wagon, he further explained: "It seems that you do not know about the academy at all? It is famous for producing `Magic warriors`. Basically trying to teach both warriors and wizards, and even trying to combine the teachings. However, there have not been a single `Magic warrior` in many years. The wizard and warrior sections of the school have been having conflicts, slowly separating them. Now they can hardly cooperate at all, and thus there is basically no hope to produce `Magic warriors`." He lamented.

After sighing at the tragic events, he continued to explain: "The wizards usually have people stationed to bring in newly found apprentices, although it is really rare in the wild. Usually you have to study to gain that class. As such, there are not many wizards that can travel to the academy in groups. Thus, we intend to join a group of warrior apprentices that are going to the academy. We had timed my arrival with their departure, so that we can travel safely."

Further elaborating on the situation, he explains: "Experienced warriors usually travel out to cities to take some students that have potential. The warrior then train the students to become warrior apprentices, before they go to the academy for proper education. The wizards can unfortunately not do the same, as the training usually requires expensive resources and a safe environment. They usually look for children with high magic potential and take them directly to the academy."

He then looked affectionately at his sister, and says: "We were lucky that I was able to send home some materials, so that my sister could learn the wizard apprentice class."

After making the last preparations, the brother jumped up in the driving seat and drove off to outside the city.

Well outside the city walls, the trio met another group in a more luxurious wagon. Inside the wagon was four young men, and on the driving seat was a muscular seasoned warrior. When they approached, the warrior disdainfully asked: "You are the wizard apprentices, right?" The oppressive aura caused the brother to only be able to meekly give an affirmative response.

Foo then realized that the discord between wizards and warriors might have been a bit understated. Lamenting in the fact that it seemed that the travel would be a depressive one, Foo wondered why they could not just take the teleportation circles. However, he did not want to look like some idiot that does not know anything, so he decided to not ask. There surely must be a good reason, like the academy being protected from teleportation or gaining some outdoor experience.

He had a stray thought that there might be due to a lack of money, but it cannot cost that much, right? He saw what could only be described as some low level merchants and adventurers using it, so it could hardly cost more than a fraction of what he had on him right now.

Sighing one more time over how bad the trip would be, he could only blame the system in his heart. It must somehow be its fault. Nothing good came from the system.

With such depressing thoughts, they set off into the distance.