Chương 91: Chapter 90 - School?

Almost no one beyond children bothered to look up, clearly a mundane affair. By the gods, this land has flying ships!? She stood jaw agape, struggling to understand. No one reacted except for a kid, these are completely normal. But wait… She squinted her eyes and brought Precision-Sight into force, examining the ship close up. The ship was narrow and sleek, the fins and sails considerably smaller than her vessel. No thrusters were visible. Does it even have a deck?

This is less than half the size of my ships and I don't see a single spot for a cannon, but it's hard to tell from beneath. Well I'm not impressed. She pouted.

"These are pathetic, the hulls are too narrow for cannons and it doesn't even have thrusters, can you believe it Rowen?" He did not look amused.

"Nythera, other kingdoms have flying ships. You know what that means right?" he hissed.

"The wakepaths can be traversed?!" Shit, Shit shit shit shit. They could easily steer one of those right up to the flux-seas if they found the entrance, which is right next to the city. Where do they even get all this aetherite? How did they figure out how to refine and use it?? This could be a serious threat to Myrraval.

"We need information, follow me and do as I say." Rowen led her down into the most posh of the connecting roads. With one arm Rowen pushed open the door with indifference to the fanciest looking restaurant she had ever seen. The entrance read "ioghsgos oishduiasfausd". I hate being illiterate.

"Greetings Milady, Milord." the waiter bowed to both, Rowen passed three sparks to him.

"Very well, allow me to take you to the VIP seating." What the Hel? Charging us before we have sat down, what a scam! Minutes later they sat in an elaborately decorated wooden booth with lavish cushy benches and the faint smell of fine incense. A set of steaming, thin slabs of meat were set down before them.

"The main course will be ready in thirty minutes, please wait a moment and enjoy these fresh cuts, straight from Tesset's northern heat fields. The waiter and his serving companion departed with haste. No wait was that? Nythera leaned out of the booth to catch sight of the departing pair. One was a person, the other was decidedly not.

"Rowen! I think he had a golem!" She hissed excitedly.

"Yes I noticed, I believe Father calls that Frostcraft, but it is supposed to be only available for the ultra wealthy. To see such a thing waiting tables, it is absurd." Rowen placed the napkin on his lap carefully, then delicately began cutting up the meat into bite-sized chunks. Frostcraft? I wonder how much that thing costs, probably a fortune. Heh, is he twitching? Acting all normal but he's freaking out about the golem!

Nythera shoved piece after piece of steaming red steak into her mouth, only slowing down when Rowen glared.

"Remember, decorum. And try to be quieter." Rowen chided. Now she understood why. Voices came from the booth behind and she tried to chew even quieter.

"Oswald, did you hear the tall tale the commoners are spinning lately?".

"And what would that be? They are always spinning such fantastical tales." Her eyes widened with every word"Apparently, past Eastside, nearly in the next domain, some farmers spotted a flying ship, bigger than any fluxcutter and armed to the teeth with cannons. It came, drifting out of the very fogs of The Edge itself. A ship of ghosts." Nythera's eyes nearly blew out of her head. Rowen appeared to be completely nonchalant. Oh fucking Hel, they saw us? They told people? Do we need to flee the country already?

"Why that's absurd! What buffoon would put cannons on a fluxcutter? Everyone knows they are only big enough for a few mages. How curious." He slapped his leg.

"Well Oswald, that's just the thing, it was no fluxcutter, the tales say it is a ship like one that sails the seas, a proper, decked ship. And it gets even stranger, dear Oswald, much stranger."

"Oh do tell! The way they amuse themselves with such frivolous tales, how curious!" What now? If they spread our appearances or further details we might need Talvik to pick us up immediately, but I have no way to contact him directly. We could get Lance to send a vessel, but that would take at least a day.

"Well the ship was piloted by none other than a great cattle, with ivory wings. It spoke in strange tongues and flew away with the ship when they tried to chase it." Both men broke into great laughter, slamming on the table with their fists.

"Gentlemen, please mind the other guests" The waiter hushed them a moment later.

"Rowen, do we need to escape? They seem to know about the ship" Nythera whispered, glancing around furtively. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Rowen chuckled quietly "Do not worry, no one knows. The tales are of an unbelievable flying ship and a cattle commanding its helm, not us." Is he daft? SHUT UP"Rowen, they will hear us! Keep it down!" He slowly finished chewing another piece of meat before responding with agonizing slowness.

"Most people aren't walking around with translation artifacts. Only the staff would bother. I suspect the waiter slipped a device on right before talking with us when he saw our appearance" Irritation flashed across his eyes "it reminds me of Father, he would always tell me the tale of the flying triabit that eats little boys who don't bow at the correct angle." his next stab came down on the meat with vengeance. This time the voice of several women popped up from the booth across from them.

"Oh, did you hear about the Oracrest Academy Exams?! They are going to start shortly." Exams? Whatever. Nythera began to shovel food into her mouth as if she was a furnace.

"The Tesset's are showing up this time! Again! Can you believe it? Nearly the entire royal family is at school at the same time. I hear Gladius is a powerful mage in the making." Rowen had a strange look in his eye "Nythera, you had no formal schooling at all, correct?" She nodded. Why ask? The door chimed with more guests. The building fell silent.

"Sir Assessors, welcome to Oracrest's finest, Lys Ank. What can I assist you with on this fine day?" The waiter's voice was a quiet murmur, but in the dead silence, everyone could hear it.

"We have business here, we have reason to believe two foreigners claiming to be nobility came in here about thirty minutes ago." A gruff voice responded. Rowen's eyes were wide, Nythera's were wider.

"Nythera, we need to leave, now" He hissed as quietly as he could manage.

"How?"

"Um, that's a good point." Rowen peeked out of the booth in both directions.

"Ok there is no way out without being caught. We have no choice. Pretend you are actually nobility." Rowen wiped his lips with a napkin and sat up straight, resuming his charade of dignity. Has he lost his mind? How am I supposed to trick assessors? Nythera straightened her back and put on her best act of posh eating. The assessors went table to table, in an agonizingly slow fashion. From one table to another, footsteps of doom came.

Nythera's hand slipped and she stabbed her fork through the meat, into the plate, and then into the table. Oh come on! She tried pulling, but it jolted the entire table with the fork. Rowen did not look amused. His foot kicked her ankle. The Assessors, in long cloaks of black, stopped before their table. Two older men.

"You two look like the correct profile. Prepare for an Assessment." The older of the two said, the younger one then stepped forward, looking from Rowen to Nythera, then back.

"Five sir, the girl is nobility."

"Are you certain Six? Let me verify" he pushed Six out of the way. The man bore a strange look of surprise.

"You are nobility, may I inquire as to your family name. I do not recognize that clothing and I cannot seem to find your sigil." he bowed his head slightly. Nythera stood up and matched his eye-level… as best as she could. Ok time to play my strongest card.

"I am Nythera Vel Aurendor of the Far North. You will address me with respect or not at all. Why have you disturbed our meal?" Authority wove through her voice, adding a heavy weight to every word spoken. The air sat still, as if afraid of moving. Their eyes widened in shock.

"We apologize, milady, we were not aware that foreign representatives would visit our humble city of Oracrest, especially not from The Far North. I am very sorry to intrude but I must inquire, are you in possession of a chunk of aetherite" he grimaced as he said the last word, as if asking pained him. Nythera put on her best offended face.

"And if I do? Are you going to rob me like some backwater barbarians?" she scowled. Rowen's hand inched towards his sword. Please work please work please work, just fuck off now. The inquisitors stared at her, the younger one, Six, in shock.

"No, of course not, we just needed to know. You might not be informed you, which is an oversight on our part, but in the South, aetherite is a crown resource in very high demand. Every fluxcutter soaring above us uses it. Forgive our intrusion. We were not aware the Far North also had mining operations." Five bowed his head. As they departed Nythera caught a strange look from Five. She plopped back down in her seat and giggled.

"That was scary, but the assessors let us go without trouble so I guess we should be fine." Nythera pulled hard on the fork, after three jolts it finally came out of the woodwork.

"Keep that aetherite hidden for now. If we come across anyone who actually knows about "The Far North" we will both be revealed. That material is far too valuable to flaunt around." he sighed, staring down at his empty plates with a look of tired resignation.

"Fine fine, but what do we do about the language issue? We can't read anything" Nythera waved her fork around as she spoke. One glare from Rowen stopped it.

"No idea, this isn't an issue I regularly face. I'll see if I can find something, but learning a language requires time." They paid the bill, much to Nythera's disappointment, another five embers each. Rowen had to hold her back from killing the waiter. Rowen set them up at a decent inn for a handful of sparks, out of his own pocket this time. They were set at a decent inn for a few sparks a night, with two separate beds in a third floor room.

She slept and lounged while Rowen prowled the streets, searching for something. Hours later, as the sun crept down The Edge, Rowen burst into the room waving a fistful of fliers.

"I found it! Look!" he shoved one in her face.

"Rowen, I am sorry to tell you, I know your mind is addled with age, but I cannot read this." She looked down on the flier, pretending to find interest in the text.

"It's ok, I spent three hours translating it by listening to nearby people and occasionally asking questions. Ok lets go line by line, I will read it to you, listen carefully." Rowen straightened his back and coughed.

"Royal Oracrest Excellor Academy, Exams for: Battle, Artisanal, Alchemical, and Battle Magic classes. Open on… tomorrow, I don't remember the month, three embers entry fee. Three year program." he puffed up his chest in pride at having completed the translation.

"Do you think they have a magical cannon class? Or something about those flying ships? I'd be interested in that… but really? School?" Nythera sighed.

"This is a good chance to gather information, get stronger, and practice your etiquette. We are both enrolling. Frankly, this is remarkably cheap… almost suspiciously so." Rowen's face contorted in confusion.

"Rowen, did you say it's tomorrow?"

"Yes, the exam is held tomorrow. As long as you are under 22 years old and are at least strata one or an exceptional strata zero, they will take you." Rowen nodded.

"A three year program? That'll keep us away from Myrraval for a while, but I am very concerned about these flying ships. They could pop up behind us at any moment. Fine, let's do it."