Chapter 317 Patience Is Key
The mages saw Arthur, but he disappeared in the next instant, making all of them wonder who exactly was he. It was time to leave Wind Lake, and the best way to do so was by getting inside of a carriage and chilling.
"Yes, I can put you in, but seeing how you are not strong to act as a guard, the price will be higher." A merchant said.
It was common for people to get a ride with the merchants, as they usually travelled from city to city, and it was cheaper than getting a carriage for one person only.
"No problem. Where does it lead?"
"We will have a stop of one day through all the cities which are in the way of the Scorching Sun Academy."
"Oh? Scorching Sun? Why are you guys going there?" Arthur asked.
Scorching Sun was the school where Theo was, so that would be an opportunity to see him, as well as look for clues in the cities along the way.
"I have quite a few new students who are going there, and they are paying me good. Anyway, for you it will be 2 gold coins. You can give it to me now and go to that carriage over there." The merchant said, pointing at one carriage from their convoy.
Arthur paid the man and went to his designed place. When he got inside, there were a few people there already, most of them young people.
"I guess these are the students." Arthur thought.
He sat on a space of the carriage, and gazed at all the other students, who were also looking at him. At first they believed he would also be a student of the Scorching Sun school, but all of them had at least the power of a first circle mage, yet Arthur had no mana fluctuation.
They believed he was just an ordinary man, so no one paid much attention to him, except one girl, who kept looking at him non-stop. Arthur returned the gaze, and it was at that moment he realized something familiar with her.
"She\'s someone with a bloodline!"
Arthur was someone with two bloodlines, so he could sense when someone had one, and that was the first time it happened. He was not sure if the bloodline of the girl was a strong one, but what he knew was that it was still dormant, and perhaps she only had a few benefits of it.
"Why are you looking at my sister like that?" A youth said, getting up to confront Arthur.
When he said that, it was obvious one of them was adopted, because only the girl had a bloodline, and the man was a normal first circle mage.
Arthur was not looking for trouble, so he got up, gave a slight bow, and said, "I am sorry."
It was a simple act, yet one that made the youth more relaxed, as he could feel Arthur had not done what he did with the purpose of disrespecting his sister.
"It is okay. I was just being an overprotective brother. Do you want to sit here?"
He saw how Arthur was alone in the carriage\'s corner, and that was why he asked that. The others who were there too disliked such thing.
"Are you really mixing up with normal people? They will never be better than us."
"That is right. He should be in the other carriages with the peasants. I will talk with the merchant after we reach the school."
These were the type of things Arthur had to hear while there. A normal person would be pissed off, but Arthur was so above them he did not care! Sure, he would make them regret saying it in the future, but acting now would spoil all the fun.
"Ignore them. Come, I am Chris, and this is my sister Cheryl."
"I am Arthur. Nice to meet you." Arthur said as he got up from where he was and sat beside Chris.
Although the other students disliked what was happening, they would not openly attack Arthur or Chris, especially inside the carriage of someone else, so they kept quiet.
Arthur chat with both Chris and Cheryl, and discovered they were both from a small village far in the east part of the continent. It was so small it only had around one hundred people living in it, which was absurdly small.
Mages rarely went to such remote places to find mages, as that was not worth their time, but when the war was still happening, they needed all the manpower they could find, as no one knew how long it would take for the war to end.
So, they gave the village a shot and found two potential mages, Chris and Cheryl. The mages from the Scorching Sun were not the first to appear, but both siblings had fire as their key element, so not every school would accept them.
But when the recruiter from the Scorching Sun came, they will accept both siblings. They weren\'t that talented to enter a top 10 school, but they weren\'t bad either, so for the Scorching Sun school, it was a win to have them.
"And you? Are you planning to join any school?"
"Me? Nah, I am just traveling the world. Besides, only talented people go in those places, right?"
"But maybe you have the talent and just don\'t know it!" Cheryl said.
Both siblings were trying to cheer Arthur up after all the bad things the others spoke about him. That proved both were good people, and Arthur helped them before they part ways.
"Really? Haha, then maybe I will see if someone can test me at the Scorching Sun Academy." Arthur said.
The others who were quiet could not hold their tongue after hearing such a thing, and one of them said, "dream on. They will never accept trash."
If Arthur, who was the strongest mage in all central continent was trash, then who was that youth? The greatest of all time?
It took him a lot of patience to not yell at those kids. What saved them was the voice of the merchant who said, "we are getting inside the first city! Everyone will have one day to rest!"
The carriages passed through the city\'s gate, one by one, and then stopped in an area designed for carriages with security 24/7.
Everyone got out from all the carriages of the convoy and went to explore and chill inside the city. The merchant and his team were the only ones who were there to make actual businesses, delivering some crates they brought with them. They would to do that not only in that city but in all the others in the way.
For them, making money was the most important part, so if they had to get some students to the school, then they might as well get even more money along the way, delivering crates filled with goodies people will buy.
As for Arthur, he was ready to leave alone to explore the city, trying to find some clues about Hiley, but Chris and Cheryl came with him.
"Can we walk together?"
Arthur could tell they were both concerned about his safety after what happened inside the carriage, so he said, "that would be lovely!"
The other students were gazing at his back with hateful eyes, thinking of a way to harm him. Arthur could sense all of that, and found it funny.