Chapter 26

The main school building looked more like a fortress than a place of learning. The walls were made up of heavy granite blocks, it had minimal windows, and the top actually had crenellations. It was giving me the feeling that this wasn't always a peaceful town.

However intimidating the main building looked, most of that effect was ruined by the odd buildings and towers that were around it, as if the castle was just too troublesome to move, so people built around it. Thinking about it, Lelei's sister throwing around magic like that made me wonder just how often, and how, bits of the city needed rebuilding...

"Oh. Who are they?" Maki asked, pointing to a pair of statues.

Both of them looked androgynous in their scholar's robes, but they had the exact same build. Facing each other, they seemed to be debating, with one of them 'hand talking' while the other had one of their hands under their hood holding their chin. They weren't very tall, maybe three metres, but they stood out since they were made of a blueish stone that was polished smooth.

"Those are the twin Gods, La and Elange. Brother and sister, they were the only apostles to reject the stagnation of research, and founded this city three hundred years ago." Lelei explained as we paused in front of the statues. Now close enough, I could see that under their hoods they did indeed look male and female.

"Say... I think I've caught on to something." Aisha started, "That middle name you have, its her, isn't it?"

"Very astute. Yes. The middle 'name' isn't ours, but the God we pay homage to. Nearly everyone in this city is either La, or El."

"And those lady knights? Co?" Maki nodded, putting together the pieces as well, "And Yao is 'Ro' right?"

Lelei sighed, "She is unofficially the first follower of Rory, who wants to become a Goddess of Love."

Lelei then had to explain to her sister why these three strange people started laughing hard enough to make our sides hurt.

"Now that you've recovered?" Lelei asked patiently, "Much longer and we risk having to wait until tomorrow."

"Heh... sorry." I sighed, letting out a final giggle, "Why's this building built like a prison?"

"Research into new magic can be... explosive." Lelei said as we all started inside.

Her sister said something, and Lelei handed her the scale she had enchanted. For a moment or two, Arpeggio poked, prodded, looked REALLY close, and even nibbled the scale, before going 'Aha!' and letting it go. It then hovered in the air in front of her, staying a very precise distance from her even as she walked forward. Lelei then poked the scale, and it resisted her efforts to push it towards her sister. But then she just plucked it out of the air and put it back in her pocket.

"She's kind of excitable." Maki stage whispered to me, "Kind of like Welf every time you show him something new."

"Some expressions are the same, no matter what world you go to." Aisha laughed.

Arpeggio turned back to us, then to Lelei and said something I could just tell was 'they're teasing me aren't they?'

Lelei nodded, but still gave her sister a headpat. Then said something else. Before Arpeggio could turn her sparkle back up to maximum in my direction, I said, "I'll show you later."

We walked into the building, and yes, it was just as sturdy inside as out, with thick stone everywhere, including the floors. There were almost no decorations either, and even the front desk was made of neat blocks of stone, polished smooth and looking like it had been used more than once to take cover with.

And yes, there was indeed a lady behind that desk, who spotted Lelei and Arpeggio. By the look of things, she had no end to the paperwork on her desk, but whatever bad mood that kind of work put on her was washed away by the two of them.

They had a brief conversation, our names were mentioned, and then Lelei turned to me and said, "Show her."

So, I took the scale out of my pouch, put it on the smooth desk, and gave it a hint of my mana to turn it on. With a little wobble, it started to float, and with a little push, it glided smoothly over the desk to the lady. Lelei said something, and the lady put the cork in her ink pot, and placed it on the scale. A moment to two was taken to balance it, but she then sent it back to me with a little push.

Behind me, I heard Aisha mumble, "She reminds me of Eina. Very professional."

"She hasn't done the thing yet." Maki mumbled back, "But yeah."

I took the ink pot off the scale, then pulled my mana out of it, letting it clatter to the desk. Lelei then spoke a little more, and so did Arpeggio, and they both glanced back at me. Then the lady asked a question.

Lelei turned to me, "She's asking if you really are a mage."

I nodded, then held out my hands, a collection of foxfire 'fwuffing' into existence.

"And if you can replicate this?" She picked up the scale.

I nodded, expelled my foxfire, then said, "We have a heap of scales too, and can get started right away. But no, we can't enrol here. We will need a modest funding for materials." I then put a hand on Arpeggio's shoulder, "We can help her too."

More words, and the lady's eyes went wide. Lelei put a finger to her lips in a 'shh' motion, and the lady behind the desk took a blank sheet of paper from someplace out of sight, wrote a few things on it, then asked Arpeggio something. There was an excited nod, and another note was made.

Lelei then said thank you (at least, it sounded like it) and turned to us, "She'll send someone with a little funding soon, to my sister's lab."

"Explains why she's so happy." Maki laughed.

"You know, I'm starting to see the charm of learning languages." Aisha said, "It reminds me of my older sisters telling me 'you'll understand when you're older' before continuing the conversation without me."

Lelei nodded, asked Arpeggio something, got a reply, then said, "She has a primer in her lab, someplace. If she can find it, she'll give it to you." She gave her sister a little glare, "She still hasn't bothered to use it after all..."

"Neat."

Arpeggio's lab was one part workspace, one part dorm room, and one part clutter. After taking one look inside after she said something that was obviously, 'sorry about the mess', I decided to gather up my tails and hug them close, just to keep them from accidentally knocking things over. It reminded me of how Odds (the genius Palum inventor) had her workshop when I first met her. A narrow walkway led to the various places Arpeggio would frequent, like the bed, the work tables, and a single shelf. Everything else was books, paper, a few rocks with interesting crystal formations in them...

But, I was pleased to note, while it was cluttered, cramped, and almost impossible to fit all five of us into the narrow walkways she'd worn into the stacks of stuff, it wasn't dirty. No bad smells, no dirt, grim or excessive dust.

"Just stay there a moment." Lelei said, before her and Arpeggio started just... moving things around. It wasn't much improvement, but after a moment they had the front edge of the work tables clear. These, by far, dominated the room's real estate, but unlike the floor, everything on it seemed to have its own zone.

"Wow." Maki said, "I mean, it's clear she's not organized at all, but she at least has an idea about keeping things apart properly."

I nodded, and moved back a little as Arpeggio handed a book to Aisha. Unlike all the other books here, this one had the 'mass produced' look, with a hardened cardboard cover.

Of course... "Ah damnit... Of course it's in Eastern." She said after a couple of page flips, squinting at the pages, "Let's see... umm..." She flipped a bunch of pages, back and forth for a moment while we all waited. Then, she mumbled to herself, as if tasting the words, then looked to Arpeggio and said something.

Poor Arpeggio looked like she'd been kicked, while Lelei did a quiet 'fu-fu', then said something to her sister, a very clear 'I told you so'.

"It's not too bad. Easier than speaking Eastern, that's for sure." Aisha nodded, flipping a page or two again, and saying something else. Probably 'there there' to our poor host.

While that had been going on, I was looking over the equipment. It wasn't too far off from my alchemy lab. Glass, beakers, tubes, trays for samples... Oh, and a magic stone the size of my head under a glass bell jar. "That was from one of the big ones, wasn't it?" I asked Lelei, pointing at it.

"Yes. Rory managed to cut its head off, and it dissolved into black ash while leaving that behind. Since it was magical, I was entrusted with it." Lelei said, "With what you have here, do you have a way to show us what it does?"

"Oh boy..." I mumbled, "Well, if you have a chisel and hammer?"

For the next half hour, I went about trying to educate these two about the magic stone. But to do anything with it, I needed it smaller. I mean, sure, I could have just put the thing into a bucket, but that would be... less useful, and her alchemy equipment wasn't meant for that kind of volume.

It was simple stuff that reminded me of my first lessons with Nazza, and I repeated all of her warnings, cautions, and do not under any circumstance, instructions. All that was done while I very very very very carefully chipped bits of the magic stone away. If I screwed up with something this size, well... it might have put the thick stone walls of the room to the test.

But I had just finished getting that done when there was a firm knock on the door. Aisha and Maki, who had sat down on the (unmade but clean) bed, looked over to us, and Arpeggio nodded. So, Aisha stood up and opened the door.

There was a quiet noise of surprise, then a quick word and a ruffle of paper. Aisha said something in the new language and closed to door. "Fancy scroll for someone." She said, carefully making her way over.

She handed it to Lelei, who glanced at it and handed it to Arpeggio. She popped an honest to Hestia wax seal off the paper, put the wax in a little jar (that had other little blobs of wax in it), unrolled it and started scanning the page rapidly.

Then she fainted. Tipping backwards lifelessly and making a small 'flomph' of paper fly into the air where she had landed. Lelei, instead of saving her sister, instead plucked the paper from her hands on Arpeggio's way down, and read bits of it out loud.

"After the brief demonstration given to... mumble mumble... Shows promise... mumble mumble... We hereby grant Arpeggio La Lelena the school's medium grant." Lelei looked at me, her eyes showing clear surprise, "This alone would likely pay for the materials we need for moving the Gate in your world."

"But?" Aisha said.

"It is a grant, and thus something has to be shown for the money provided."

"Or?" Maki asked.

"Or my sister would be responsible for paying it back." Lelei shook her head, "I know your quest is urgent, but please don't do that to her?"

The three of us started laughing quietly, "We're adventurers." I said, a look of worry crossing Lelei's face, "We've just been paid to do a job, so, now we have to do the job." I gave Lelei's shoulder a squeeze, "But... I think, just because I don't like how things are in this world, I'm going to go the extra distance. Let's wake her up, get this put away, and I'll teach her what I taught you, the foundation for all my enchantment."

"Basic Eter transfer?"

"And since she's into minerals, I think she might do even better than you." I grinned, "But don't hold it against her if she does."

"I'll go get some water." Maki chuckled.

There wasn't enough time in the day to really go past the very basics. Once Arpeggio was given a few little pokes and a sprinkle of water to wake up, we got her back on her feet, insisted she wasn't dreaming, and got down to business.

Of course, the first thing I showed her was the same thing I showed Lelei. I took her hands, and pushed a little of my own mana into her body. Just enough to feel, since I didn't want to, I dunno, make her explode. I mean, I'd almost killed her once already today, and Lelei would be sad if I actually did, so I made sure to keep things simple, and safe.

It was already pretty clear to me that this World had a different flow of magic. Oddly enough, Adventurers were almost all limited to three spells. There were a few exceptions, and some people got around this limit with a little hacking of the system. But Falna would only ever give you three spells.

One of the ways, was 'ritual casting'. This allowed a 'citizen' to cast magic, but it was generally less powerful, and MUCH slower to use. It also involved a lot of magic circles, ritual, sometimes a group of people... But it still worked. This was also one of the ways for an adventurer to have more than three spells, since it would be using magic that wasn't printed on their back.

Another way, was to take a spell, and shorten it. The strongest (maybe second strongest) caster in all of Orario, Riveria, had three spells, but depending on how long she made her incantation, could cast them at three different power levels.

The third way, which by the way is where I fell, was to have some kind of racial ability. Bete for example, could change shape into a wolf man. I'd seen him do a partial change once, and it was pretty scary. Spirits could do this as well. Yes, I had 'spells' but honestly, they were just energy manipulation from my Kitsune heritage.

This world seemed to be kind of a mix of all three, but without any Falna. I'd seen Lelei use magic circles, chant a 'spell' and layer the spell she used to kill that wyvern. This indicated that this world was very much in an 'unstable' magic age. Certainly explained the explosion resistant buildings.

So, with that said, I decided to teach Arpeggio a 'foundation'. A starting point for everything she would learn from me. It also happened to be VERY simple to do, and teach, once you figured it out.

"Now you're getting it." I encouraged as Arpeggio fed mana back to me. She was a little behind Lelei in terms of 'how fast' she picked it up, but that might have been because Lelei was here and watching and making her nervous.

Arpeggio said something, and Lelei translated, "This is how you do everything where you are from?"

"No. This is how I work all my enchantments. By feeding a constant supply of energy into something, you get more stable results. But first you need control. Too little, and nothing happens, too much, and it breaks." I let her hands go, and handed her the scale I'd enchanted. She'd already gotten Lelei's to work, but that might have been because they were familiar with each other's skill and technique.

And, with a timid little poke, and a wobble, the scale lifted off the table. We three adventurers clapped quietly, while Lelei gave her sister a headpat. Lelei then said a few things, and then she motioned to the scale again. Arpeggio then poked the scale with her other hand, and it clattered to the table, lifeless.

"Seems she's a quick study." Maki nodded.

"Good." I said, "But, it's getting close to bed time, and we still haven't figured out lodgings."

"I already have a place in mind, and they owe me a favour." Lelei said, "Arppegio? Something something."

Arpeggio nodded, giving Lelei a proud thumb's up, then me as well. "Make sure to get a good sleep. Do you know where our workshop is?"

After a translation, and a couple added words, Arpeggio nodded to me, gave her sister a HUGE hug (with Lelei's expression reminding me of Koneko when she got a hug from her sister Kuroka), and waved as we saw ourselves out.

As we walked towards our next destination, the streets slowly becoming quieter as the night went on, Maki spoke up suddenly, "You know, Arpeggio is a lucky girl."

The three of use looked at her, "How do you figure?" Aisha asked.

"Think about it. We need materials, right?" We nodded, "So, with us backing her, she got a grant from the school. This can buy our materials."

"Yeah."

"I'm guessing, that you plan to have Ryuu and the JSDF diplomat guy source the gold we need from the nobles, right?"

"Yup." I nodded.

"But we unless we don't bother picking it back up, we will still have those materials when we do what ever it is we need to on the other side of the Gate."

"Yes. Provided there is no catastrophic failure, the gold and gems needed can simply be picked back up again." Lelei affirmed.

"Exceeeeeeept." Maki grinned, "Those materials, technically, belong to Arpeggio, since it's her grant money that's buying it."

We all stopped walking for a second. "Wow. Yeah." Aisha chuckled, "I mean, unless you wanted to keep it for something Fox?"

"Maybe a little, but certainly not all of it. We'll probably lose a little in recovery, since gold is really soft, and we'll probably have to do some fighting while we're setting up." I shrugged.

"Ah. Maybe keep this news to yourself." Lelei said, "My sister is... unlucky when it comes to money, and her field of study is very demanding and asset reliant. She may have a heart attack if she found herself getting what amounts to double value from your business with her."

"She's weird like that." Maki said, "I mean, I tried to kill her once, almost got her killed, got rescued, and now she's adopted me and I'm living the good life."

Aisha and I chuckled, and I gave my little sister's nearest ear a scroofle, "So, this place we're going?"

"Ah, it's not much farther."

"And are we going to tell Rory where we're going?" Aisha asked, "I mean, she can probably take care of herself, but even I'm getting tired of her voice."

"She's likely there already, since they owe her as well."

"Ah well." I sighed.

'The place' we were going to was a mix of 'Western' and 'Roman' styles. The building itself was that nice squared off, angular Roman style, but all the windows and the door, had an old style Saloon theme. It was kind of weird, but reminded me of Orario, where you could have a Victorian Manse next to a Japanese Pagoda with a Gothic cathedral across the street.

And yes... Rory was there already. Mostly passed out, top half flopped over a nice wooden table, she managed a bleary eyed look and a weak wave to us as we entered, tipping the mug in her hand a little to try and focus on what ever might still be in there.

"something, Lelei!" Someone called from across the room, drawing my attention away from Rory.

It was another Pooka. Except this one was tall (taller Aisha even!), had dark red skin, neat black hair and a goatee, and two small horns on his head. While he looked a little like Okakai before he'd received Takemikazuchi's Falna, he wasn't nearly as muscular. And while he was quite large, his outfit and manner of speech made me think 'merchant' and 'butler', instead of 'pro wrestler' like his size might suggest.

"This is Hamar." Lelei said to us before turning to Hamar and saying something, then including our names.

Then in Japanese (though he was butchering some of the harder to say syllables), "Welcome, friends of Master Lelei. Me and my staff are at your service."

Lelei then said to us, "The JSDF stay here when they visit, as part of his favour to me."

So, we three adventurers gave Hamar a shallow bow, and I said, "We will be in your care."

"Master Lelei. How long will you be staying?"

"Tonight, maybe tomorrow. A common room will do." Lelei replied.

Hamar looked a little distressed at her request, but I think it was more of her asking for a 'common' room, and not what it might cost. But he didn't argue, and clapped his huge hands, "Guide!"

From what I thought was an unlit wall lantern, a very tiny person emerged. Maybe as tall as my hand, with little wings and wearing a cute blue poofy shirt and shorts, she was another race I hadn't seen. Or rather, hadn't seen here. It was Fairy.

"Ooo, she's kinda adorable." Maki said as this fairy sparkled over to us, then pointed towards a T shaped stair that wasn't immediately visible from the door.

"She is a Fairy. They are generally shy, reclusive, and are never violent. But when they take a liking to a place, they handle small tasks quite easily." Lelei explained.

"What about Rory?" Aisha asked, looking over to the still mostly unmoving Rory as her one open eye tracked our movement.

"She will join us, or not. I am not her keeper." Lelei said, just a little angry sounding, which probably meant she was really angry.

We followed the fairy up the steps, took a left, and she hovered in the air in front of a door, doing a 'Here is your prize' motion with her hands. "I thought you two were friends?" I said.

"An Apostle has a thousand years of life. Yet she is wasting it on such frivolous things." Lelei said, opening the door and walking in.

The room itself was pretty simple. Four big beds, all with four posts and clean undyed linen. There were two big double door wardrobe closets along the wall opposite the beds, a pair of windows, and night stands beside each of the beds. Lastly, there was a single wash basin stand with a mirror by the door, which the Fairy did a little dance around, motioning to the actual faucet tap. (No hot or cold, just 'water' from this one, but still the most 'advanced' plumbing I'd seen outside of the Alnus base.)

"A thousand years?" Maki asked, looking around the room and picking a bed.

"Yes. When a person becomes an Apostle, they are granted a thousand years of immorality. They do not age, need neither food or drink, and will heal from any wound. They are also granted other abilities, such as strength beyond mortal means." Lelei set her staff on the bed she chose, and opened one of the wardrobes and started taking off a few layers of her robe/outfit. "Yet, she is wasting it."

While Lelei's back was turned, I gave Aisha and Maki a single eyebrow waggle. Either Lelei didn't care that she'd just given us a HUGE amount of information on Rory and her abilities, or she was really that angry and didn't notice she was doing it. But now we had actual reports about an Apostle's abilities, and not just second hand reports from Akeno.

"Hm." Aisha said, looking at the room, "I see four beds, but if Rory does manage to drag herself up here, we're five people."

Lelei paused in mid motion, then finished hanging up her robe, "Ah, I assumed you and Kodori..."

Aisha laughed, "Wow... she can really blush."

"Now now, don't tease. She might set you on fire." I said, "But yes, we are. Is that a problem?"

"It may be strange to some, frowned upon in places, or outright illegal in others. But as you said, you aren't from here." Lelei said, going over to the basin, "Ah, pardon. You've done well." She then handed a copper coin to the Fairy, who accepted it, had to beat her wings faster to accommodate the extra weight, zipped up to Lelei's forehead, gave her the smallest of kisses, then darted out of the room, hugging the coin to her chest.

"Quite generous." Maki said, closing the door, "I'll bet she can buy a month's worth of bread, then live in the bread crust for that much money."

Lelei gave Maki a curious look, then realized what she meant, "Ah... I hadn't thought of that. But that is no reason to pay her less." She then scrubbed some water over her face.

We all had our turn at the basin, then took off what ever we were going to take off and got into bed. I got to enjoy the rare treat of being 'big spoon' to Aisha, since my tails wouldn't really lend themselves to me taking that roll. She grr'ed at me playfully when I gave her nice girly abs a little attention, but then wiggled her rear and held my arm tight to get me to stop.

We also left the bed nearest the door empty, just in case Rory figured out how to stand up again before someone just put a blanket over her and the table she was at. I also, before closing my eyes and getting some sleep, checked in with my guard foxes at the rented workshop. There had been no change save for one of the scales on the work bench having fallen to the floor, but that was probably because one of my guards was using it as a pillow for their chin.

I woke only once that night, Aisha coming to full alert with me, but not moving or even changing her breathing. There had been motion just outside the door, but instead of the knob turning, or someone kicking the door in, there was the sound of someone sliding to the floor. A moment of listening later, and I could hear the sound of snoring.

Aisha and I both sighed quietly, gave the other a hug/arm squeeze, and settled to sleep again.

"how do you stay such a morning person?" Aisha mumbled as I went about my usual morning stretching. "don't even have the music this time, and you're still up."

I paused in mid toe touch (my rear facing her) and winked at her. The I went back to stretching.

"Ryuu is my idol." I said after standing straight and lifting one leg so I could point my heel to the ceiling, "Speaking of, I have to contact her." I did a little toe wiggling, then lowered my leg.

"good idea..." Aisha yawned then raised herself to a sitting position, "Wonder how her first day with the 'nobles' went."

"She probably hasn't killed any of them? You know, I have no idea how she'd do as a diplomat. But she didn't say no to the task."

"I think it's Hagane you have to worry about." Aisha chuckled, standing and picking up her overall. "You know. I'm not near that Itami guy. Fox? Could you? At least until we get to that wyvern hide."

I looked back at her, walked over and put my hand over her heart, "Like... so?" And with a little 'fwish' of expended mana and some thoughts on an outfit, my Amazon was now covered in what amounted to an absolute black one piece swim suit. I didn't make it a bikini though, and went for short-shorts. Only when I was satisfied at the work did I take my hand away.

She looked down at herself, "Not bad." She grinned, "Now lemme at that basin... wish I brought a toothbrush... oh, thanks." She accepted my 'mana toothbrush' and went about washing up.

The motion and quiet conversation in the room had woken Maki and Lelei, and as they got ready I pulled out my Tarot of Ryuu. The conversation was short, but for her there wasn't much to report. As expected, she and Hagane had gone to Italica, and met up with Sugawara. From there, she was introduced to a few of the local nobility. Nothing fancy, just a 'toe in the water' kind of thing.

It was subtly hinted at (not quite outright telling them) that Ryuu and her friends (us) had rid the area of the giant mosquitoes, and were hoping for a little extra effort from those who benefited (them). Not what, or how much effort, just a 'we did something nice, so please think of us as friends'.

She was quite pleased at our half of the report. From the wyverns to almost 100 percent getting the money needed. She even approved of our little side quest in making sure that money was in fact 'earned' and not just 'borrowed'.

That meant she could negotiate with it as if it were already in her hand, but would have to be clear it wasn't actually in her hand, just that she had access to it.

So, with the promise to get in touch for sure tomorrow, or earlier if something happened, we wished each other luck and went about our day.

A day that started with Rory already down in the Inn's common area, drinking water and poking at what smelled like this world's equivalent of bacon and eggs. Lelei looked at us, got a nod, caught the eye of Hamar, and held up four fingers. He nodded and said something through a small window in the wall, much like a modern day Diner.

Rory didn't offer much conversation, but I could tell she was listening to us make plans. In a way, I was thankful. I had gotten really close to just tossing her off that mountain, and I was sure she was about to take a swing at me. But at least for this morning, she was keeping her mouth shut.

"Will there be anything you need for my sister? Or the work we are planning to do?" Lelei asked between almost passionless bites of food.

"Actually... How difficult is it to get metal around here? Iron, copper, silver, gold?" I asked, then added, "Just a little of the other three."

"Sadly, Rondel is not very heavy with industry. We do mine the nearby mountain, but it is mostly iron. How much do you need exactly?"

I opened up my coin pouch and fished around for a moment, "Maybe... this much volume for each." And I stacked two silver coins atop one another, since they were the thickest coins. "As for iron, a couple of discount swords will do. Copper and bronze are common for decoration too."

"And this will accomplish?"

"Oh, I know this one." Maki spoke up, her plate empty because she'd kept silent, "Different metals let energy pass through at different speeds. And she uses iron for almost all her normal work."

Lelei nodded, "I'll need a little coin up front." Then after I just handed her my entire pouch, she made eye contact with one of the staff.

It was another Pooka, though he was just barely tall enough to see over the table. Lelei then spoke to him, got a few nods, and handed him a sum of coin. He then repeated most of what she'd said, she nodded, and he was off running.

"It will be sent to the workshop as soon as its found." She said, returning to her food after pushing my much lighter coin pouch back to me.

"Speaking of..." I turned my head as if listening to something, "Someone is there."

Aisha and Maki looked at me, both of them putting their hands on the table to get to their feet, "Problem?" Aisha asked.

"I see... their shadow pacing back and forth under the door. Wide profile, long robes maybe? And a staff. Or a peg leg." I described what my fox was seeing through the gap under the workshop door.

Plate now empty, Lelei spoke, "I think I know who it is. We should leave before he tries the door."

"I could take a peek, if you wanted?" I offered after a quick mouthful.

"No. It might give him a heart attack." Lelei shook her head.

We all stood, then looked at Rory, "Going to sulk here then?" I asked.

She gave me a dagger filled glare, but said, "No. I have duties of my own today."

"You know where we'll be." I said, turning and catching up with the others.

We strode through the early morning crowds of Rondel with purpose, though I will admit I was still doing a bit of sightseeing. Discarding the fact this was another world, it still had quite a few similarities to Earth and Orario. Architecture was one, the biggest one actually. Three different worlds who came up with almost exactly the same design with the materials available. There were little differences sure, but that sort of parallel design was interesting.

Clothing was another. Like the armour designs between Rakia, Rome, and now this Empire.

Behind me, I heard Maki said, "She's thinking again."

"How can you tell?" Lelei asked.

Aisha, who was walking beside me and had all my tails perch on her while I was thinking, said, "It's not difficult to tell."

We rounded the last corner to the workshop, and we spotted the one pacing in front of the door. About my height, with shoulder length straight grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard, I almost wanted to call him Gandalf. He wore a blue frock and pants, and had a white with orange trimmed cape over his shoulders. The staff however, was the most interesting. A single length of spiral grained hardwood, with a rough cut, unpolished orange crystal on top that was almost as large as a person's head.

"Ah Lelei!" He said, followed by a few other words, then a single step forward.

Lelei replied, walked forward, and got a friendly pat on the shoulder from him. "These are... other visitors." She motioned to us, "From the failed connection."

His eyes went wide, and he stepped forward. He caught on to the use of Japanese as well, and spoke to us, "I am Sage Cato El Altestan, Lelei's first magic instructor." He did a very short bow in the Japanese style, "I had heard Lelei was in the city with strange people... And an Amazon?!" He made to take another step forward.

But Lelei tapped him on the back of the head with her staff, "She's taken."

Rubbing the back of his head, he pouted, yes, pouted at her. But then looked at us again, "What brings you to Rondel, the city of learning?" A pause, "And... what magic do you have inside that shop?"

"Let's get inside first." I said, "I'm Kodori, this is my little sister Maki, and my partner Aisha."

Lelei opened the door, and took a half step back as she caught one of my foxes, getting a few ghostly cold nose nudges before it vanished.

For the next ten minutes or so, we gave him the cliff notes version of the what, why and how of what we were doing here. He listened and watched carefully, not interrupting or interfering. At some point he took out a nice looking pipe, and I lit it for him with a puff of foxfire before asking him to stay by the door.

"So, you are helping little Arpeggio, and using the grant money to buy the materials you need to move the Gate in your world someplace less dangerous. And while you are here, you have your two friends working with the nobility to actually get the materials." He brushed a hand over his beard (in true wise man fashion), "I like these people, Lelei. They don't waste time." He nodded approval.

"Speaking of Arpeggio, where is she?" Maki asked.

Something thumped against the heavy door of the workshop, and while we all looked that way, there was a pause, then a polite knock. "Lelei?"

Opening the door revealed Arpeggio, who totally didn't look like she'd woken up late, run all the way here and just tripped on her cape just before she got to the door. "Great timing." Aisha said, ignoring how out of breath she looked while a red lump formed on her forehead. "We were just talking about you." She was then helped inside, and Cato closed the door.

"We'd just finished explaining to Sage Cato what we're up to." I said, "And now that you're he-"

Another knock on the door, this time much lower, but also more 'authoritative'. Cato opened the door again, revealing the Pooka that Lelei had sent off. Lelei spoke a couple of words, accepted a small pouch, a couple of old battered short swords, then a couple of coins. One of the coins was handed back (along with a headpat) and he darted off again.

"Here, we can get started. Unless you forgot?" I looked Arpeggio.

"Nope!" She smiled, holding up a pouch, "Got them right here. I was a little nervous actually..."

"Oh! That's those magic crystals, aren't they?" Cato perked up, tapping out his pipe and putting it away, "You know what they are used for?" He looked to us.

"We call them Magic Stones." I said, "And of course we do." I looked into the pouch Lelei handed me, put what was inside on the table, then took up one of the swords and started to dismantle the hilt. "But if you can hold your questions for just a little while, we are on a bit of a time table, and the class is now in session."

NOTES!

And this is how Kodori and her party got the three most brilliant mages in the world (more or less) in the same room, and started a revolution. Find out what she teaches them, a few new innovations with new materials, and just how Ryuu and Hagane are actually doing, in the next Episode of Foxgate, and the JSDF got headpats.

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