SAW 18 - Towards the Empire

Monday arrived, and it's time for us to depart to the Empire.

For the past few days, both me and Kim Jaesuk trained like crazy with Ars.

Kim Jaesuk already mastered covering his sword with mana, while I'm able to do it although barely.

Adrian spent the last few days at the pharmacy making potions for us to bring on our journey.

Waking up early in the morning, we did our daily task as it's our last day here.

After washing up, we gathered in front of the house together and walked to the village entrance.

Grandpa, grandma, captain Morris, and the other such as Ars and Sutra are already waiting there.

"Here comes the boys..."

Captain Morris greet us with a smile.

"Good morning..."

We greeted back.

Each of us bring a backpack each, with bunch of stuff inside such as supplies, potions, money, etc.

"Be careful out there..."

Grandpa said. He wants to continue talking but grandma suddenly started tearing up and held my hand.

"Take care of yourself kids... don't be bothered of what people are saying out there... be yourself no matter what happen..."

"Grandma..."

"We'll always be praying for you both no matter what, you all are like my own kids after all..."

She said while wiping her tears.

"She's right... stay healthy..."

Grandpa said to us as well.

"Humph... don't die before we meet again"

"Good luck out there..."

Ars said, while Sutra just gave us a slight smile as usual.

"Don't forget what you learnt here... utilise it properly and you'll survive out there"

Captain Morris said.

"Yes, sir!"

"Thank you for everything until today!"

We then gave grandma and grandpa a hug each before walking away.

Looking back, I waved my hands at them before turning my head away, not wanting to be emotional.

And just like that, we disappeared from their view, and we can't see them anymore as well.

Our journey to the Empire begin.

---

"They're gone..."

"Yeah they are"

My wife said as she wiped her tears.

"Hahaha young people should be like them, full of curiosity towards the world"

Morris said while laughing, before asking my wife

"Don't you think it's time to cancel your spell, Melissa?"

Nodding her head, my wife then chanted something and the village behind us disappear, along with the people living on it including Ars and Sutra.

Leaving behind bunch of ruins and the three of them.

"As usual, your illusion magic is a sight to behold... Everything looks real as heck"

Morris said.

I then replied,

"It took a lot of mana to maintain it though, I had to supply her every night"

"For sure, it even covered the whole lands"

My wife, Melissa then said

"They're... from Earth right?"

"..."

We all turned quiet, before Morris said in serious tone

"Judging from their attire when they first arrived, it seems like they are indeed from Earth. What do you think Charles?"

"I think so too. And the way they don't have any clue about anything of this world, they're from Earth for sure"

Morris then nodded before continue saying

"Do you remember when you told me to go inside the forest and check if there's any suspicious movement?"

"What of it?"

"There's nothing around anymore"

"What?!"

Charles exclaimed in surprised.

"There's no monster that usually should be around there, only a few packs of low grade wolves"

"How is that possible..."

"Which led me to this conclusion, someone purposely eliminated all those monsters before sending Alex and friends there"

"..."

"Nevermind... let's just hope nothing bad happens..."

Charles said.

Morris then suddenly asked

"You're aware of Alex's dark energy aren't you?"

"Yeah, Melissa sealed it up, so it won't come out unless something triggered it"

"Thats good... it'll be bad for him if it got exposed"

"Yeah, I think it's time for us to come out into the world soon as well... We've been gone for too long"

"Yeah... You're not rusty yet are you?"

Charles chuckled after hearing Morris' question

"You wanna find out? Let's spar"

"Come then!"

Looking at two grown man bickering among themselves, Melissa then sighed and stared towards the horizon.

'I wish you guys the best of luck'.

---

Walking towards the empire, nothing really interesting happened at all.

We just walked for probably an hour or two without seeing other people and by the time we realised, we're already in front of a gigantic entrance, with a lot of queue in front of it.

There's guards checking people's belonging at the entrance, and we had to be patient as to not make a ruckus.

"Whoa, even the entrance is very tall"

"You're right..."

Clearly amazed, Adrian started speaking.

"How many entrances do they have though, there's no way it's only one with a city this big..."

"They probably have like north entrance, south entrance, or something like that"

"Yeah..."

We talked among ourselves and very soon, it's our turn to be checked.

"Aight, give us your bag to check for a minute..."

Handing our bags to the guards, he checked it for a while before returning it to us.

"Okay all good. Go walk through. NEXT!"

After that, we walked into the city and got amazed by the view.

"Who- whoahhh..."

"It's like we're in the medieval era, with these kinds of building..."

Busting scenery, old looking house, street market, there's even street performances.

It looks like classic from some medieval era movies back on earth.

As our goal is to enter the academy, we asked around for direction because we're not sure where the academy is.

After asking around, we figured that the academy is on the Northside of the Empire, whereas we entered through the Eastern Entrance, which means we have to walk around quite a bit.

But before that, we decided to get something to eat at a nearby restaurant with the money given by grandpa.

Opening up the pouch, we counted around 50 gold coins there, which is roughly 5000 silver or 500000 bronze coins.

As we're not sure what's the average price food, we went inside a restaurant with a boar tusk sigh on top of the door.

"Welcome! three people?"

"Ah, yes"

"Right away!"

The waitress then led us to a table near the window, which can fit exactly three people.

Looking through the menu, we ordered some food.

As the sign on the door is a boar, we figured the specialty will be boar meat, which I've never tried before.

When the food arrived, we took a bite and were amazed by the taste.

It tastes just like a curry with a chewy texture.

Finishing our meal, we then proceed to pay at the counter.

We were honestly surprised when the bill showed us only 1 silver and 15 bronze for three people's meal.

I handed the waitress 1 gold coins and she looks surprised, so are everyone around us.

'It's a noble...'

'Whoa, a real gold coins...'

Based on those whispers, it seems like gold coins is very unusual to be used around this area, and only nobles used it.

I then keep in mind not to reveal it carelessly that I have 50 gold coins on my pouch right now.

Straight after that, we started walking towards the academy.

After walking for roughly about 20 minutes, we reached a giant gate which is guarded by two guards.

There's a symbol on top of the building as well, which is two swords positioned behind a shield in a crossing motion.

"Stop!"

Just after we walked in front of the gate, one of the guards shouted at us.

"Show us your identification before going in"

Kim Jaesuk then walked forward to talk to the guards.

"We don't have any identification, but we have a reference letter from someone. He told us to give it to the principal..."

"Hmm? The principal? Hand over the letter and I'll bring it inside"

Handing the letter over, he scanned it with his aura for a bit before nodding his head.

"Okay, you guys wait here for confirmation"

He then leave us here with the other guard.

"Where did you guys came from?"

He suddenly asked us a question.

Kim Jaesuk then answered

"Um, from a village on the east... it's called retirement village"

"Hehh... never heard of it. You guys are probably commoner then?"

"Pardon? Yes we are..."

"Be careful inside there, be wary of the nobles and try to avoid them if possible"

He gave us a warning before the other guards came back, telling us to go in

"Follow me, I'll bring you guys to the head master"

'Hmm? Looks like I'm forgetting something important that we need to do'

I thought.

Just like that, we stepped inside the academy for the first time.