Physics The Greatest Magic
Chapter 68 - 16: Xoleria

"You think so?" Eleanor asked.

"Yep, I know you will." John replied.

"Thank you... Even if it's hard, I'll do my best. I can't fail..." Eleanor muttered with a smile.

"Yeah, just have faith in yourself."

'That's enough questions for now, I'll replace out the rest later. The main thing I'm curious about is what the rankings are, are they numbers? Letters?' John wondered.

'She said something about the Area she's going for... So I'm guessing it's like university? You choose if you want to study more on Fire element or whatever element you have aptitude in. So you can't just enter any class you want, you have to apply for an element…' He pondered.

'Which element should I apply for? I don't even know which aptitudes I have when it comes to chanting, maybe I'll be able to use all of them since I can use the chantless version of them? I don't know.' John thought.

For now, they will just keep watch and wait until they finally reach the kingdom.

John was excited to see what it looked like.

***

"John, I forgot to tell you this, but elves can't really feel emotions. We can sense negativity or evil but not emotions, I just said it to get you to open up," Serena spoke.

"Ah, thanks for telling me this." John spoke.

'No, seriously, it's a bit embarrassing when a person you're always with, can feel everything you're feeling.' John thought.

"You're not mad?" She asked.

He sort of annoyed that he was fooled that easily, but his feeling of relief far surpassed it.

"John! The kingdom's coming into view!" Said Ariel as she turned to John and pointed at what was at the far end of their path.

Her eyes seemed to light up as she looked over at the kingdom.

"Where?!" John said as he hastily looked over.

She was right, they could see the kingdom from there.

"Woah! There's so much magic coming from there! And its design is entirely different to all the other kingdoms we've been to so far!" John said as he stared at it.

"Isn't it?" Said Ariel with a happy expression.

'Finally! Travelling was getting boring, but it was worth the wait. I'm so excited I can't stop grinning.' John thought.

Serena looked over at him and just quietly stared at his face.

"Serena? Is there something on my face?" John asked.

"I was just surprised by the fact that you could make expressions which were appropriate for your age," She said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" John asked.

"It means, that look on your face suits you," she replied with a smug expression.

"I wonder what civilization and culture is like there if everyone can use magic, then I'm guessing some people use it for their daily needs, I'm right, aren't I?" John asked as he looked towards Eleanor with a curious and excited expression.

"Eh?" Said Eleanor.

"Don't ignore me!" said Serena with an embarrassed expression.

"You're right, I should act more childish." John replied.

"It's too late," said Serena as she went back to focusing on the road.

"Hey, Serena"

"..."

'She's sulking. Is this girl really 15?' John wondered.

"Um, regarding your question from earlier, I don't know, I've never actually been here before." Eleanor said as she made a perplexed expression.

"Wait, what?" John said as he made a confused expression.

The things she knew were things she overheard or just common knowledge.

"Yep, this is my first time in Xoleria, My dad is the one who's lived here." She spoke.

"So it's a first time experience for you too, Even better, it's more fun when you don't know what to expect, isn't it?" John replied.

After he said that, Eleanor looked at him with a surprised expression and chuckled as she said "I've never thought about it like that... But you're right, it will be more fun experiencing it with you three."

"Yeah, we should be arriving there in..."

The human eye can see up to 3 miles, if you enhance it with magic it can go over that. They were travelling at 15 miles per hour if you divide that by 4 you get over 3 miles, which is 15 minutes.

"Less than 10 minutes"

"You can tell?" Eleanor asked.

'I'm glad I didn't hate maths.' John thought.

"Yeah, it comes from experience."

They should have no problems getting in, their adventure card didn't say where they were from and it works like an ID card or permit.

"Serena, are you still mad?" John asked.

"..."

'Well, I tried.' He thought.

***

Without any issues, they reached the entrance to the kingdom. There was a small line of other people and carriages, the line was over relatively quickly though. The reason why they didn't encounter them on their path was probably due to how dangerous the path they took was.

'Apparently, due to how close it was to the forest, getting attacked would be quite common. Even still, they took this path, it's the fastest but why risk it? What is Eleanor in such a hurry for? Could it have something to do with the entrance exams..? When are they?' John wondered.

"How many?" asked one of the gatekeepers as he looked around the carriage.

"5, one is unconscious." John replied.

"Identification?"

John, Serena and Ariel pulled out their Adventurer cards while Eleanor pulled out two permits. One was for her and the other was for Alfred.

The guard confirmed it and nodded at the man behind the gates. He opened the gates, and they entered with the carriage.

"Must be hard being adventurers at your age," Said the gatekeeper.

"We manage," John replied with a grin.

After they entered the three of them looked around and were speechless.

The streets were lively, there were many food stalls around, the building designs looked similar to Atlas and you could easily tell what was what from the signs, what stood out the most at first was how they were cooking the food in the stalls.

"They're using magic!" Said Ariel with a surprised expression.

"Come get your fresh grilled meat, Nice and cheap!" Advertised one of the girls who were selling whenever a person would pass by.

Some were chanting flame spells to grill what they were selling, otherwise were using their own element in their own way to help with what they were selling.

"Look, that man is doing his laundry with magic!" John said as he pointed at the man who was using some sort of bubble water spell to clean his clothes near one of the alleys.

They had been heading in a straight line, following the road, there were many other directions they could take but they had just been moving forward.

They had good roads which allowed carriages to move around freely, and there was barely any traffic.

Even Serena had stopped sulking and looked amazed.

"It's different from Atlas, isn't it?" John asked.

"Yeah, it's lively and everyone's using magic"

"Ah!" John said as he made a surprised expression.

"What?" Serena asked.

"You're not sulking anymore," He replied.

"What are you talking about? I was never sulking," Said Serena as she looked away

"Sure"

"Why'd you say it with that tone?" Asked Serena.

"What are you talking about?" John asked.

"Fair," Serena replied.

'That's what you get for teasing me all of those times, I'm learning.' John thought.

"Ariel, you seem like you're really enjoying this." He spoke.

"Yeah, it's completely different from Halfaust," Ariel replied.

There wasn't a wall that separated the nobles from the commoners in this kingdom, nobles have their own territory but it's not segregated like Halfaust. Another good thing, John noticed.

"After we're done with our request, the three of us should explore around," he suggested.

"We should!" replied Ariel while her eyes sparkled as she looked around.

Ariel's sight locked on one store, which had the drawing of a cake on its sign. She stared closely at it with an interested expression.

"What's that?" Ariel asked.

"That is a bakery, they sell cake and sweets." John answered.

"Ah! Uncle would buy me them on my birthdays, they were so good" Said Ariel while she made a happy expression as she recalled memories of her birthday.

In atlas they didn't see any cake shops and spent most of their time in a dungeon so he could see why she was so excited. Honestly, John too, hadn't had a cake in ages.

"We'll come back later to get some cake, you like cake too, don't you, Serena?" John asked.

"W-Well, I guess," She replied.

"Then it's settled, to celebrate making it here safely, we'll have cake!" John spoke.

When he said that, for a split moment, Serena made a relieved and happy expression, but she hid it rather quickly.

Serena who noticed that John noticed, tried acting like nothing happened, and he didn't question it.

Ariel also looked very excited herself. She would swing her head from left to right as she occasionally muttered "cake~". Just watching it soothed John's soul. This was too precious.

The quietest one out of the 4 of them was Eleanor. She seemed worried about something.

"Eleanor, what's wrong?" John asked.

"Well... It's my first time here, so I have no clue where my dad is, the one who knows is Alfred, but he's still asleep," She replied.

'Of course, how could I forget... And why do people always sleep for so long? I know that the antidote was effective, and it's been 2 days already!' John thought.

John wondered what her dad did for a living. 'Maybe she's a noble?'

"I'm very sorry! I promised to give you a reward and yet I..." She spoke.

"Hm? It's fine, It's not your fault, and you don't have to rush it, for now focus on having fun, then later we can worry about the reward," John replied.

"John.... Thank you!" Said Eleanor with a bright smile.