Chapter Forty-Nine: Crisis

When Andy returned to his lodgings, he told Jera about the three letters of recommendation that Captain Barton had given them. Jera listened and immediately sensed something was amiss.

It made sense for Andy and Bill to receive letters, as they were both apprentice wizards, but Jera herself had long ago been tested and found to have no aptitude for mental force. How could she possibly have gotten a recommendation as well?

When did letters of recommendation become so cheap?

Andy agreed with her reasoning and opened one of the letters. Inside, the tone was not that of Marshal Vaughan, but rather Barton’s own. The letter was addressed to a steward named Spick, requesting him to look after several young people who would be attending Grim Academy.

Though Andy felt Barton had been rather sly in claiming the letter was from Marshal Vaughan, the contents were full of glowing praise for himself and his companions. Some of the compliments made Andy’s cheeks flush.

After confirming that it was indeed a recommendation for the royal capital’s Grim Academy, Andy felt reassured. He began to discuss with Jera when they should set out.

Jera said she had nothing left to do in Dallas City, except she wished to pay respects to her parents before leaving.

Mentioning the Phillips couple, Andy fell silent. After a long pause, he agreed to accompany Jera when the time came.

Andy was also thinking that before leaving, he should pay his respects to Mentor Stein and old Brown.

They decided to wait for Bill to return so they could talk to him about the matter—surely he wouldn’t give up the chance to further his wizardry studies.

Back in his room, Catherine, upon hearing they were going somewhere new, was visibly excited. She pestered Andy with questions, but Andy had no concept of the royal capital. He could only invent answers, imagining Dallas City enlarged many times over.

When it came to the academy, however, Andy drew on all the academy novels he’d read in his previous life, explaining things so convincingly that Catherine’s anticipation for Grim Academy only grew.

Bill returned, and Andy and Jera told him about the letters. Bill merely replied absentmindedly, then dove into his room to busy himself with something unknown.

Andy was used to Bill’s eccentric ways. Since Bill had agreed, Andy decided that tomorrow they would pay their respects to their elders, and the day after they would set out for the royal capital.

Jera, though, eyed Bill’s closed door with a sense of foreboding.

Andy had never traveled far in this world, but he had researched books in the wizard’s tower. The wilderness here was synonymous with danger.

Anywhere humans did not congregate, wild beasts and even magical creatures wandered. Andy’s current strength let him ignore most beasts, but even one bronze-level magical creature would require caution.

Magical creatures, unlike wizards, possessed all sorts of abilities: some were astonishingly fast, others wielded immense strength, some bore deadly poison, others were masters of concealment, and a few could even fly.

Not only did magical creatures present varied threats, but the natural environment could be perilous as well—miasmas and swamps had to be avoided.

Survival required knowledge of how to find water and food. Thankfully, Andy had stocked his spatial bag well, so this was less of a concern for them.

None of them had much experience surviving in the wild, so Andy could easily picture the hardships ahead. Fortunately, a road had long ago been built between Dallas City and neighboring Finland City. By following the main road, they’d be safe until they reached Finland City.

Andy’s physical strength was already at the level of a Grand Knight; if only he’d learned Grand Knight battle skills, he could advance fully. Unfortunately, his family swordsmanship only reached the peak of the knight rank, without techniques for Grand Knights. Andy resolved to find good sword skills and secret breathing techniques once he reached the capital.

While staying at Bill’s house, Andy hadn’t been idle. With the status of the Divine Wind Knights still unclear, he focused on improving his strength. With Catherine’s help, he learned a second-level spell.

Andy studied the second-level spell “Swift as the Wind,” which, as its name suggested, was another acceleration spell.

He wished for a defensive spell, but having not yet advanced to a full wizard, there were no shield spells below third-level in Stein’s notes.

Supposedly, once one became a full wizard, they could create a protective force field around their body, greatly increasing survival. The so-called Bronze, Silver, and Gold Wizards referred to the color of their force fields.

Bronze Wizards' force fields glowed yellow-green, Silver Wizards' shone silvery white, and Gold Wizards' blazed with dazzling gold.

Among knights, only Grand Knights could generate silver-white battle energy—thus becoming Silver Knights. A further advancement gave rise to golden battle energy, making one a Gold Knight. Grand Knights themselves had no battle energy and so were not called Bronze Knights but simply Grand Knights.

In the battles since Andy’s arrival in this world, he noticed most opponents didn’t adopt the “never back down, just fight” mentality, but rather the “when things look bad, run for it” approach. Thus, Andy never gave up studying acceleration spells, which gave him a crucial advantage whether chasing enemies or escaping.

After mastering “Swift as the Wind,” Andy practiced it constantly—while eating, drinking, even visiting the privy, he would cast it on himself.

The next day, Andy took Catherine and Jera to pay their respects to several elders. Bill was absent, busy with something unknown, which annoyed Andy.

Originally, seeing Bill’s interest in Jera and finding he wasn’t entirely useless, Andy had even considered matchmaking them. But seeing Bill’s attitude now, Andy thought that even if Jera liked him, for her sake, he would try to break it up.

When they returned, Bill came out to greet them, urging them to change clothes, as he’d prepared a “feast of fish” to celebrate their departure.

Upon hearing “feast of fish,” Catherine leapt from Andy’s arms and dashed toward the dining room. Andy laughed and cursed, then went to his room to change out of his formal wear.

Before entering, he habitually cast “Swift as the Wind” on himself.

Returning to his room and about to remove his formal clothes, Andy suddenly heard a faint sound—a beeping noise. He listened carefully; the sound came from beneath the bed.

Andy used a fire spell to illuminate under the bed and bent down to look. There sat a square black box, flashing with red light.

With each flash, the box emitted a beep.

The beeps grew faster and faster.

Beep, beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep beep beep beep beep beep...

Andy was suddenly chilled to the bone.