Colth and Marquis Corin

Colth was a major city that was known for its large farming fields that grew a good chunk of the entire food production in the Kingdom, but most importantly, it was the closest major city to the Ite frontier.

What constituted a major city in the Iron Wolf Kingdom?

Many things, but mainly being able to afford and sustain a working teleportation hall which, through the use of many expensive materials and the services of an Array Master from the Array Guild, allowed travel between the major cities.

Raz didn't completely understand the concept of how this unique building worked but knew that every notable power on the continent used the technology.

Which was something that he had never seen as a cultivator where the ability to teleport was this widespread, albeit with limitations.

Dozens of miles before the group even saw Colth; the path started to travel between large patches of farmland filled with farmhands and workers who tended to the fields.

After an hour or so of traveling, the group finally saw on the horizon the beginning of the city. Unlike Leshe, there were actually no real walls as it appeared the city constantly expanded to have an actual large wall built and instead opted for fences or just trenches.

After all, Colth was situated in a rather safe spot as they weren't close to the frontier yet were south enough that they weren't affected by political issues.

This made the city a haven for farmers and normal folk who wanted a rather peaceful life.

As the group finally neared the city, Raz could see many different checkpoints situated on the dozen or so roads that led in and out of the city.

Approaching the first checkpoint, a guard wearing half-plate armor stopped the carriage and asked a few required questions before William handed a letter that seemed to have been written in advance with a wax seal.

After opening the letter, the guard looked it over but shouted at one of his subordinates and gave the knight a white flag.

The group was told to follow the guard, who had now gotten on his own horse, before going along a preset path while holding the flag in the air.

The group followed the guard acting as a guide as they made a series of turns through a few checkpoints without even stopping until they soon reached what appeared to be the biggest and main road that led straight through the city center.

Once the group made it past what seemed like the final guard station along the main road, the guard acting as the guide finally stopped his horse and explained, "If you follow this road in a straight line toward the center of the city, the teleportation hall should be the big building on your left, just before the Lord's castle. Have a good day, and may your travels be fruitful."

As the man finished giving out his instructions, he turned his horse around and started to gallop out of the city back towards his guard station, Raz presumed.

Soon the sun started to set to signal the beginning of the night.

The group eventually arrived in front of a large white building made with high-quality brick and steel, which stood out even among the important buildings situated at the center of Colth.

As the group descended, a woman with a plain white uniform except for the large embroidered letters IWKTD greeted the group before taking the carriage alongside the horses away from the building.

No one else seemed to mind as it seemed like they had already experienced this numerous times, but Raz asked his father to satiate his curiosity, "Where'd that lady take our carriage?"

William talked as he slowly led the group into the building, "That lady was from the Iron Wolf Kingdom Teleportation Department that works at these various teleportation halls around the Kingdom.

"She took our carriage through another entrance to be stored for when we come back or be sent back to our house if we don't."

As they entered through the doors of the white building, Raz was met with a large expanse of marble that seemed to soothe the eyes with a majestic sight. Inside, a long hall greeted those who stepped through the front doors.

The hall itself was quite barren, without any real decorations, which completely subverted Raz's presumptions.

The only thing to note was a couple of desks and people wearing a familiar white uniform working in the front part of the building before a long hall with a series of numbered of doors started.

Sat in front of all of the workers was a huge three-sided desk with a variety of objects ranging from books to a large chalkboard.

A short old man with a bulbous nose and a scraggly beard sat at the desk, reading before he looked up.

Before he could say anything, William's jaw dropped as he exclaimed, "Marquis Corin?!? I thought your son guarded the teleportation hall?"

Raz instantly exclaimed in his mind a little, 'Marquis! That's the same level as Grandfather. A middle stage Magus!'

Meanwhile, Athena, who had been mainly silent, finally spoke up in Raz's mind.

[Alert: A large amount of mana detected on this 'Marquis Corin'! Alert…]

As his father and Marquis Corin began to talk, Raz tried to get Athena to calculate and make an educated guess about the amount of mana Marquis Corin held.

Meanwhile, Marquis Corin responded, "Ah, Viscount Alden, or should I say little William! It's been a while, lad, but yes, I now spend my days doing my things while I guard this teleportation hall to save would-be expenses towards security. While I'm still Marquis and Lord in name, my daughter manages city affairs now."

"I'm too old and senile to attend to such stressful and time-consuming tasks. Though I guess your old man is still at it even at his age, haha," Marquis Corin laughed.

William, who had finally recovered his shock, also chuckled as he remarked, "Good on you, Marquis. I don't think my old man will give up his position as Lord until his final breath leaves his body!"

"He was always as stubborn as a bull!" Marquis Corin roared with a hearty laugh.

While the two talked, Athena had been attempting to fulfill Raz's request to no avail.

[Making estimate.]

[Calculating.]

[Error: Deviation likelihood high.]

[Reconfiguring mathematical model.]

Similar messages kept appearing one after another as Athena simply had too little to go off of and had never attempted to do such a task before, which was to be expected.

After a few more minutes of conversing, Marquis Corin finally got up from his chair and motioned for the group to follow, "Come on now. As much as I'd love for you to entertain this old man for longer, you should really be on your way."

Guiding the group, Marquis Corin walked down the well-lit hallway with many numbered doors. After a minute of walking, Marquis Corin finally reached the door numbered 12 and exclaimed, "Ah, here we are! The teleportation array to Tessar."

Grabbing a key from the pockets of his robe, Marquis Corin opened the door and revealed a large room made of black stone with a large circular array of intricate lines of runes etched into the floor with various materials.

"Alright, stand in the circle with your arms and feet not jutting out from the border, and about the mana shards needed to teleport, let's take a look," Marquis Corin began as he took out a clipboard and flipped through a few papers.

After a minute or so, Marquis Corin finally noted, "For a jump from Colth to Tessar, it's about 20 mana shards, but…ah, it seems the fee has already been paid by your father for a round trip."

Hearing the prices, Raz was dumbfounded as he remembered mana shards being expensive, but from what he knew, a journey from Colth to Tessar by carriage would be more than a week or two.

With a sigh, Raz thought, 'I guess it is true what they say. Time is money.'

More importantly, he was looking forward to visiting Tessar for his grandfather, of course, but also for inquiring about Thasium as he had already let Athena absorb both the other two materials needed.

As the runes and array on the ground started to light up a deep blue as Marquis Corin had inserted another key into a hole in the wall that seemed to feed mana into the array.

Something else that puzzled Raz was where Athena was located. He had always been scanned by various Magi like his father or his grandfather, yet they never mentioned seeing a foreign object that could be Athena.

Meanwhile, Raz, who knew his own body incredibly well, could also scan within his body using his small minute amount of qi. He would ask Athena in private.

Soon the array had started to shine so bright that almost everyone squinted their eyes until they blinked.

The shining light disappeared, and they appeared in an almost identical room, except Marquis Corin was no longer in sight.

Instead, Raymond Alden and an unfamiliar woman with glasses stood in front of the newly transported group.

Raymond heartily chuckled, "Welcome to Tessar!"