Chương 39: The Road to the Capital

Morning arrived beneath a clear sky. The rain from the previous day had washed the village clean, leaving the roads dark and damp while thin streams of water flowed between the stones. The academy's carriages stood ready outside the inn, their magical barriers already activated as the students gathered around them with their luggage. Leo stepped outside shortly after sunrise. He had slept well.

The journey had given him a welcome break from the academy's routine, and although he had no particular attachment to traveling, there was something pleasant about waking in a place he had never seen before and knowing that another unfamiliar road waited ahead. Amon emerged from the inn carrying a piece of bread in one hand.

"I have a serious question." Masha followed him.

"You haven't had breakfast yet."

"That isn't the question."

"It will become one if you keep eating like that." Amon ignored her and looked at Leo.

"How long until we reach the capital?"

"Professor Gareth said three days."

"Three days?" Amon stared at the road.

"That sounds longer than I expected." Alice came out behind them.

"You were the one who wanted to visit the capital."

"I still do."

"Then stop complaining."

"I'm not complaining. I'm preparing emotionally." Masha laughed. Leo walked toward the carriages while the three of them continued arguing behind him. The journey had only begun, and already the usual rhythm had returned. For some reason, he found that reassuring. They traveled for most of the morning without stopping. The road gradually widened as they moved away from the smaller villages and onto one of the kingdom's main trade routes.

Merchants passed them in both directions, accompanied by guards and heavily loaded wagons. From time to time, they encountered patrols of royal knights who inspected the road before allowing the caravans to continue. The farther they traveled, the more populated the region became. By noon, Leo could see stone watchtowers standing along distant hills. By the afternoon, the villages had grown into towns. And by sunset, the road was crowded enough that the academy's convoy had to slow considerably.

Leo watched the landscape through the window. The Royal Capital was not simply a city at the center of the kingdom. It was the center toward which everything seemed to move. Goods. People. Information. Power. He had seen the same pattern in the Murim world. Every kingdom had a place where influence gathered, where ambitious people crossed paths and where a single conversation could change the fate of hundreds. The difference was that this world possessed magic.

That alone made the possibilities far more complicated. Amon suddenly leaned across the carriage.

"Leo."

"What?"

"You're staring at the capital."

"We haven't reached it yet."

"I know."

"Then why did you say that?" The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Amon pointed ahead.

"Because you have been staring in that direction for the last hour." Leo looked back through the window. Amon was right. The distant horizon had begun to change. Something enormous rose beyond the hills. At first, it looked like a mountain. Then the carriage climbed higher. Leo finally saw it. The Royal Capital. Its outer walls stretched across the horizon, enormous towers rising from their surface at regular intervals.

Behind those walls stood countless buildings, some ordinary and others so tall that they seemed to pierce the clouds. At the center of the city stood a massive white tower. It was unlike anything Leo had seen since arriving in this world. Mana flowed through its surface in visible streams of blue light. Even from this distance, he could feel it. Alice leaned closer to the window.

"So that's the Royal Capital." Masha stared in silence. Amon smiled.

"Now that's what I call a city." Leo said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on the tower. There was too much mana concentrated in one place. Not simply within the tower. Throughout the entire capital. The city had been constructed around a massive magical network. Leo couldn't understand its purpose yet. But whoever had built it had understood mana far better than the average mage. That interested him. The convoy reached the outer gates shortly before sunset. Two lines of guards stood on either side of the entrance.

The academy's documents were checked before the gates opened. As the carriages entered, the students became noticeably quieter. The capital was overwhelming. The streets were filled with people from every part of the kingdom. Nobles traveled in decorated carriages while merchants shouted prices from crowded stalls. Adventurers carried weapons openly, and magical devices illuminated shop windows that would have been impossible to find in the villages surrounding the academy. The city never seemed to stop moving.

Leo leaned toward the window. He noticed a group of children gathered around a street performer who was manipulating several small flames with his hands. A few streets later, he saw a blacksmith using a magical furnace. Further ahead, a pair of knights escorted a prisoner whose hands were bound with glowing restraints. Everywhere he looked, magic had become part of ordinary life. Not a weapon. Not a mystery. A tool. That realization interested him more than the city's size.

Amon looked around with obvious excitement.

"I don't even know where to look."

"Try looking forward," Masha said.

"You nearly hit that sign." Amon immediately sat back.

"I saw it."

"You didn't."

"I was testing my reflexes." Leo smiled. Alice noticed.

"You are enjoying this."

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps?" Leo looked outside again.

"I have never seen anything like this." Alice's expression softened.

"Neither have I." The academy delegation was escorted to a large residence prepared for visiting students. It wasn't a hotel. It was a government-owned building reserved for delegations and foreign guests. The rooms were larger than those at the academy, and every corridor contained small magical lamps that remained lit without fuel. After dinner, the students were given the evening to rest. Leo didn't. He left the residence and walked onto the balcony overlooking the city. The capital stretched beneath him.

Thousands of lights illuminated the streets. Some were ordinary flames. Others were magical. He could see movement even in the distant districts. Carriages continued traveling. Shops remained open. Guards patrolled the streets. The city was awake. A voice came from behind him.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Leo turned. Alice stood in the doorway.

"I wasn't trying to sleep." She walked toward the railing. For a while, they simply watched the city. Then Alice asked, "Do you think we'll do well?"

"In the Convergence?" She nodded.

"Yes."

"That's a very confident answer." Leo looked at her.

"You have trained hard."

"So have you."

"I know." Alice smiled.

"You really don't know how to be modest, do you?"

"I was answering honestly." She laughed softly. Then her expression became serious.

"Leo."

"Hm?"

"About the forest…" He waited. Alice looked down at the streets.

"I still think about that night." Leo remained silent.

"The masked man saved us, but I don't understand why."

"Perhaps he had his reasons."

"You always say that."

"Because people usually do." Alice looked at him.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" Leo paused. The question was harmless. His answer was not.

"I don't know." Alice studied his face. Then she nodded.

"Neither do I." Neither of them noticed the shadow moving across the rooftops several streets away. A cloaked figure had stopped beside a chimney and was watching the government residence. The figure remained there for only a few seconds before continuing across the rooftops. No attack. No confrontation. Only observation. Inside the residence, the academy's instructors gathered around a large table. A map of the Royal Capital covered its surface. Professor Gareth placed a finger on the northern district.

"Tomorrow morning, the students will attend the opening ceremony." Commander Roland stood opposite him.

"And after that?"

"The first examination begins the following day." Roland looked at the map.

"Have the other delegations arrived?"

"Most of them."

"And the Royal Academy?"

"They arrived this afternoon." Roland's expression changed slightly.

"Already?" Gareth nodded.

"They requested an early arrival." Roland remained silent for several seconds. Then he asked:"And the nobles?"

"Several families have sent representatives."

"Any particular concerns?" Gareth looked at him.

"None that have reached me." Roland didn't respond. He knew better than to believe that. The capital had been unusually tense for weeks. There were rumors of disappearances in the outer districts. Several shipments of magical materials had vanished from warehouses. And three days earlier, the Royal Guard had intercepted a group attempting to transport forbidden magical substances through the eastern gate. None of it had been officially connected. Not yet.

But Roland had spent enough years in the military to recognize patterns before they became obvious. Something was moving beneath the city's surface. And now sixteen academy students had arrived at exactly the wrong time. Leo remained on the balcony until late at night. Eventually, he returned to his room. He closed the curtains and placed his belongings beside the bed. Before sleeping, he opened the small pouch containing his mana stones. He counted them. Everything was still there.

He closed the pouch and placed it beneath his pillow. Tomorrow would be the opening ceremony. The day after that, the Arcane Convergence would begin. For now, he had no reason to think about anything else. Leo lay down and closed his eyes. Outside, the Royal Capital continued to glow beneath the night sky. Somewhere in the city, a bell rang. Then another answered. And far beneath the streets, behind walls that ordinary citizens would never see, something awakened inside the magical network beneath the capital.

The light lasted only a few seconds. Then disappeared. No one noticed. Not even Leo. End of Chapter 39.