Volume 11: Chapter 9 – Leaving on a Journey
Ke Er Lan Di laughed. “What are you saying? It’s my luck to be able to invite you, a profound mage, to accompany us on this trip. It’s settled then. You just have to wait for me here. I’ll go and pack up now. After a while, I’ll come and get you.” Upon saying that, he downed the rest of his glass and turned around to head out.
It seemed that I didn’t need to depend on my identity to be liked by others. I would just let him gather his troops. This wine was really not bad. Since he wasn’t going to finish it, I thought I should help him. I grabbed onto the bottle and unceremoniously drank from it. Since I wasn’t in a good mood previously, I hadn’t had my fill. The few dishes that Ke Er Lan Di ordered were the most expensive dishes on the menu here. I could just have another meal. Mu Zi and I had stomachs that were bottomless pits so I could continue to eat, these few dishes were nothing to me. I ate the majority of the delicacies on the table like a gale had passed through. That fellow Ke Er Lan Di had left in such a hurry so he didn’t pay the bill yet. Could it be that I would have to pay for it? It seemed that I could only wait for his return. I prayed for his return as I really didn’t bring much money due to leaving in a hurry. The overall cost of all the wine and food shouldn’t be low. The taste of the wine wasn’t bad, but the cup wasn’t ideal. I heard from Teacher Di that when drinking wine, it depends on the cup. Even though it was only jade cups this time, I could accept it.
Fortunately, I clearly heard a horse’s hooves after a short while. It should be a dozen of Ke Er Lan Di’s cavalrymen.”
As expected, my judgement was right. The horse’s hooves stopped at the entrance of the inn. Ke Er Lan Di excitedly came back.
“Brother, we can head out now. Oh! That’s right, I haven’t asked for your name.”
I was stunned as I couldn’t tell him the truth. “My Lord, you don’t need to be so courteous. You can just call me Eighteen, as that’s what my friends call me.” I suddenly reminisced the time I had spent chopping firewood at the Demon Race’s Royal Palace.
Ke Er Lan Di didn’t ask any further. “Brother Eighteen, let’s head out now.”
I looked at the remaining food and empty red bottle of wine on the table. I smiled wryly. “Lord Ke Er, you had said that you’ll be going to treat this meal.” I already couldn’t care about my face at such a moment.
Ke Er Lan Di replied in a daze, stunned, “Yes, that’s right. My apologies that I’ve forgotten about it. Boss, settle the bills.”
After seeing that Ke Er Lan Di paid for the bills, I heaved a sigh of relief. This could be counted that I owed him a favour. I grabbed onto the cloth covered Sukrad’s staff and followed him out the inn. His subordinates were waiting there radiating valiance. There were two riderless horses, one of them should be Ke Er Lan Di’s and the other should be prepared for me.
“Eighteen, please, this is your mount.” Ke Er Lan Di politely pulled a white, tall and large horse in front of me. His subordinates looked at me with curious gazes. The drizzle outside had already stopped, but the sky was still gloomy. It seemed that it had been a long time since I rode a horse. I didn’t know if this horse would treat me well.
Ke Er Lan Di seemed to know what I was thinking about as he smiled and said, “Rest assured, Eighteen. I know that you’re a mage so I picked a relatively good natured horse. Do you need my help to get on the horse?”
I shook my head, when I was at the Kingdom of Xiuda, I had received Teacher Wen’s hellish training. My physique was still alright. I grabbed on the saddle and stirrup to sit on the horse. The horse was good-natured, like Ke Er Lan Di had said. There wasn’t any resistance when I sat on his back. I let out a sigh and began to enjoy the feeling of riding the horse. It really felt as though I was looking down on the land when I sat on the tall horse.
Ke Er Lan Di smiled. “Brother Eighteen, I’ll give you an introduction. These are my brothers. They have a cavalry title at the very least.”
When I surveyed the group of cavalry, there were 18 of them, excluding Ke Er Lan Di. All of them looked cold and collected with a stern expression. Their emotions were hidden. Their cultivation weren’t weak from the aura emitting from their bodies. They were near Sky Knight rank. It seemed that Ke Er Lan Di wasn’t simple since his subordinates were all experts. I nodded towards the crowd. “It’s nice to meet all of you. I’m Eighteen. Please take care of me.”
Ke Er Lan Di said, “Alright, let’s get on our way.” Upon saying that, he turned the horse around to head out of the city. I hastily followed his actions to moving the horse into action. It was a pity that it didn’t really listen to me. It did move, but his speed was very slow. Luckily, Ke Er Kan Di and the rest didn’t move too fast. After adjusting for a while, when we left the city, I was able to put up with it forcefully due to my talent.
Ke Er Lan Di and I were riding at the front of the column. He often told me interesting things that happened in the army. It looked like this fellow was extremely well known in the Kingdom of Dalu. He joined the army when he was fourteen and slowly accumulated his contributions to reach his current position. There wasn’t anything to do with luck in getting his position. He was currently 26, so he was much older than me. But there weren’t any traces of time’s baptism visible on his face.
“Brother Eighteen, I don’t know which magic do you practice.”
I answered, “I learn light magic and studied at the Senke Magic Academy.” Senke Magic Academy was the biggest academy in the Senke City, which was beside my home. It was definitely well known in the Kingdom of Aixia, but it still wasn’t comparable to the Royal Magic Academy.
Ke Er Lan Di didn’t doubt my words. “Can I ask what’s your current level and realm that you have reached in magic?”
I shook my head. “I’m not too sure. It should be at the Magic Scholar’s realm that you said.”
Ke Er Lan Di nodded. “Is light magic hard to learn? I heard that the elemental light magic doesn’t have much offensive power.”
After hearing what he said, I couldn’t help thinking the reason why I chose to learn light magic. The me from before would never expect that I would reach such a progress in magic today. Sigh! Perhaps, it was destined.