Arsheiz

Not long after, Leaf's parents got home, their hands full of bags.

"What's up, Leaf, why are you-"

When his mother saw the brown-haired beauty standing in their living room, she dropped the bags she was holding. However, before they could hit the floor, they stopped falling, and gently floated towards their table, where they settled.

Isabel thought that she might have an easier time if they knew she was a mage from early on.

"Wa-wha-what's going on?" Leaf's mother, Selena, almost yelled.

"What's going on, honey? Oh- OH..." His father, Diego, caught a glimpse of the floating bags. "Is that...?"

"Mom, dad, Miss Isabel came to invite me to the National Academy of Magic." Leaf decided to just drop the bombshell.

"It's Lady Isabel, for you." Isabel admonished.

Leaf hurriedly apologized, but soon turned his attention to his shocked parents.

...

Leaf took a long time to explain to his parents what was had transpired since last year, and once he told them that they had to go to Arsheiz with him, they accepted in a heartbeat.

"As long as the government can cover our moving expenses, I see no problem, especially since it's not forever, right?" Selena said.

Their home city of Fiore was where the whole family had grown up in. Moving would be especially hard for Selena and Diego. 

"That's right. You can move back as soon as he graduates and reaches the rank of an official mage. Additionally, I think the government will provide a few months of your current salaries until you can find jobs in Arsheiz, so that you don't have to reduce your living standards. You can rest assured." Isabel explained. She found Leaf's parents somewhat agreeable people.

Diego nodded and Selena beamed. They were both elated for their son. 

"Aish, I'm so proud of you, son!" Selena grabbed Leaf and kissed all over him, as he tried to disentangle from his grabby mother.

Only after Isabel's next words did she release him.

"Since you are all already aligned, let's get going. My car is just down the block."

"Hold on! At least let us pack some things!"

"There's no need, they will be by your temporary housing by tomorrow."

'I guess we can thank the country's efficient logistical system for that...' Leaf thought.

...

Isabel's car was extremely luxurious: a pitch-black SUV with a civilian plate on the outside, beige leather seats on the inside. It was so spacious they felt they could throw a party in there.

"Oh! That's an XR..." It was not Leaf, but his father, who commented. "DT-motor, ionic turbo, 496 horsepower, newest gen ERS..." He just kept going for a whole minute. "This is are limited edition." He concluded.

"Right, only 5 of these were made. I'm surprised you know so much." Isabel said.

"Haha. I'm the best mechanic in town, Milady." He said. "Hang on, you said only 5 of these were made?"

She turned her head to him as she entered in the passanger seat. Her eyes glimmered, as if daring him of something.

"Only 5."

Diego had a feeling... that it was better to not say anything on that subject anymore.

Once they were inside, Isabel turned it on with a flick of her wrist, and soon they were speeding off. When she flicked her hand again, all the windows and walls of the car turned into screens that displayed a cozy cabin. Every sound from the exterior was shut off, and they couldn't even feel any bumps as the AI drove.

The Westernham family was impressed by the technology, even Diego had rarely seen it before.

Isabel made another motion, and her seat inclined a little, and she closed her eyes. 'She returned to her training, or meditation, or whatever that is', Leaf concluded. 

"I'm surprised you travel aroud by car, though. Kinda expected us to fly with magic all the way there." He commented.

Isabel opened her eyes reluctantly and raised a brow.

"Are you crazy? Do you know how much work it would take for a journey like this?"

"I thought Arsheiz was not too far away, though. Isn't it like, 4 hours away?"

"We will make it in about 4 hours, but it's still about 500km in a straight line. You should weight about 70kg, so if I wanted to take you there in 5 hours you would need to be accelerated to 100km/h, or about 28m/s, and the air drag coefficient... Ahem, jumping to the conclusion, that would mean about 150 newtons times 500km, so 75 million joules." Isabel calculated for him.

"Uh... I don't know, is that a lot?"

"...About 20,000kWh. Actually, it isn't that much. A household would use that much in less than a day. Did I make a mistake somewhere?"

Isabel frowned and raised her index finger to her mouth unconsciously. She lightly bit on its lateral surface, deep in thought.

"..."

"That's right! The motion would involve a vertical vector as well, not only an horizontal one, due to gravitational potential energy... But that would entail no work being done, as there is no movement on the same force vector... why hasn't my teacher mentioned this?"

"..."

Leaf looked over to his mother with a raised brow, who shrugged in response. His father was starting to snore, lost in a deep slumber.

"Maybe I should just consider the potential energy as the- Wait, that depends on the method of levitation. If I integrate the contact density function..."

Isabel mumbled to herself for another hour before resuming her meditation.

...

A lunch stop delayed their trip for an hour, and Leaf took the chance to call his girlfriend and closest friends about his disappearance. He said they were moving fue to family matters, and made sure not to worry them before turning off. They made it to Arsheiz in not much more than five hours after they left.

The Westernham family had previously visited the verdant city on vacation. It was a famous tourist city in their country due to the great greenery and technological advances, and had the second highest population. Only the capital was more densely populated, with about 10 million residents. In contrast, Arsheiz had almost 8 million.

Isabela was now manually driving, so the car was back to normal, and the family was appreciating the view outside. The afternoon sun shone against the blades of grass and on the leaves of tall trees adorning the street.

Leaf's father saw a particular sign and suddenly grabbed his son's arm:

"Hey, we're gonna be able to go watch races in the Arsheiz International Autodrome anytime we want!"

"Yeah! There's the Formula Cup coming up as well!" Leaf nodded.

"Now that we won't have Leaf's tuition to pay, and he will be getting a scholarship, I'll even be able to quit working without any financial strain. I'm just afraid it won't be enough to pay for Formula races..." Leaf's mother teased.

Diego coughed in surprise.

"Ahem, honey, we should discuss a bit more about this in private, later."

Even Isabel had no choice but to smile at their interaction. It was just a pity that no one could see it.

"I'll take you all to the campus first. You can contact the staff once you get there to help with your temporary housing and other information."