"Aaaahhhh!!!" Spes screamed as he held on tight to Decus's back. It was his first time ever flying on a griffin. He did not expect both the speed and the height they were going at.
"Close your eyes and imagine you're flying!" Decus shouted with an amused look on his face.
Spes followed his advice and closed his eyes.
"Do you know that after a Mage ranks up and becomes a Grand Mage, they'll be able to fly?" an old warm voice spoke to Spes.
"Really? When will you be able to fly, Gramps?!" a young Spes excitedly asked the old man in front of him.
"Hehe, I don't think I have the talent nor time to reach such heights…" the old man sighed as he looked at his hands, slowly showing signs of aging.
"If you can't fly, then I'll do it and bring you up to the skies with me!!" Spes patted the old man, seeing that he was a bit down.
"You think you can make me fly? I'll show you what's flying!!" the old man roared as he picked up Spes and tossed him into the sky as high as he could.
Spes could clearly remember that feeling. It felt just like what he was feeling right now. The strong wind that reminded him of times without any problems. The warm kiss of the sun that told him his grandpa taught him to enjoy life, as every new day was a blessing.
Spes opened his eyes, and his heart slowed down seeing the scenery in front of him. The sky looked like raging calm flames. The sun, slowly setting away on the horizon. It was simply beautiful.
Spes couldn't enjoy the scenery for long as their group slowly landed. One by one, the griffins finally touched the ground after several hours of flying nonstop.
"How far are we from Port Ortus?" Spes asked Decus as they got off the griffin.
"Normally, we would take about five days for such a trip, but… we were given specific orders to get to the port as fast as possible. So we'll get there in three days…" Decus patted the griffin next to him with a slight sadness in his eyes.
Spes wanted to ask him what was wrong, but Decus was immediately summoned by his Captain, Crystal, just as he was about to.
"Don't wander too far from the camp the group is setting up, Spes," Decus gave a word of advice before rushing off to the Omega squad.
Since Spes had nothing else to do, he decided to examine the contents of his spatial rings. He had two on him currently: the blue one commissioned by the King, and the black one from the Archmage.
Spes did as Vota had instructed him on how to examine the rings and could mentally visualize their contents. He started with the blue one from the King. Inside were basic necessities: food, clothing, various survival tools, medicine, potions... basically everything an adventurer would need on a long quest.
Spes decided to divert his focus to the other ring, as nothing of interest was in the blue one. Inside the black ring was far more entertaining than the previous one. Not only were there countless magic tomes and alchemy formulas, but also various alchemy ingredients arranged neatly.
Spes decided to disregard the items that were still out of his reach as an apprentice mage and only found two formulas and three magic tomes that were of his level.
The formulas were:– Low-Grade Magic Amplifying Circle– Low-Grade Mana Potion
Spes, being the apprentice he was, already knew and had assisted in the making of both. The Magic Amplifying Circle was, as its name implied, a magic circle that amplifies magic. It's usually enchanted on gloves or clothing, but some mages prefer to directly enchant it on their skin.
As for the low-grade mana potion, it's one of the most critical items a mage should always have. In a battlefield where fights are extended, if a mage's mana were to get used up, it would take them hours before they could be operational again. But with a mana potion, these hours could turn into minutes, as they would receive a slight fill in their mana along with a massive mana regeneration buff.
The other magic tomes in the ring were:– Lesser Fireball– Tome of the Magician– Magic Shield
Spes had seen his master cast Fireball once during a training session. His master had told him that Fireball is both the most deadly and underestimated spell ever. And the completely obliterated training dummy laying on the ground proved his words right.
The Lesser Fireball is the same magic but downgraded to be more mana-effective, meaning it's smaller and deals less damage at the cost of less mana.
Spes decided to only take out the Tome of the Magician for now, as it was what he needed the most. He was just an apprentice mage. His training up until now had only consisted of basic alchemy along with small mana manipulations. With what he had, he was doomed to be useless for the entire quest. He had to do something about that.
With the Tome of the Magician in hand, Spes only then realized it was already dark. The group had already set up camp, and dozens of tents were erected. The sound of burning torches and men patrolling the area was the only thing he could hear during this silent night.
"What are you doing just standing there?"
The so-called silence Spes was starting to enjoy was interrupted by a lazy voice. It was, of course, the big Vota.
"Just checking my rings," Spes answered as he raised his hand, showing both rings.
"Yeah, cool. So how about a small drink? I'm starting to get bored here." Vota slightly grinned while taking out a jug of wine from his spatial ring.
Vota uncorked the jug and took a big whiff of the wine. An expression of both satisfaction and pleasure soon flooded his fat face.
"Wine is one of the best things in the world," he said with his eyes closed, still enjoying the lingering smell in his nostrils.
"Too bad it's only one of the best when drunk with a companion." Vota opened his eyes and looked at Spes as he emphasized the word companion.
After such a speech from Vota, there was no way that Spes would be able to refuse him. He could only unwillingly nod at his request.
"I knew you weren't that boring!" Vota laughed as he dragged Spes to his tent.
As there were no tables nor chairs, they were sitting on the ground while sipping wine. Of course, it was only Vota doing the drinking. Spes just sat down with an untouched cup of wine in hand.
"So tell me about yourself, Spes. Who is this 'saviour' of ours?" Vota broke the silence as he, for the first time, looked seriously at Spes.
"..."
Vota was met with silence. He didn't seem to mind, as he calmly kept drinking his wine directly from the jug.
"I'm no saviour… I'm just a commoner that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time…" Spes finally spoke, instantly gulping his cup in one go after doing so.
"Yet here you are, on a quest to save the kingdom, acting like a saviour." Vota laughed and took a big gulp too, matching Spes's drinking.
"I am not here because I want to," Spes said with a slight frown on his face.
"Now, that's something we both have in common."
Spes didn't expect that response from Vota at all. After all, he was the reason everyone was there on the quest. And here he was, stating that neither of them wanted to be there.
The two young men stared at each other in silence before erupting in laughter. They laughed so loudly that even the people outside their tent stopped in their duties to check what the hell was going on.
As the ice between Vota and Spes broke, they finally started truly talking with each other.
"I actually don't know where I'm truly from… A mage found me in the ruins of a battlefield and took me in as his grandson."
"He could've taken me as a son, but he thought himself too old for me to call him 'father,'" Spes slightly smiled, recalling the old man fuming whenever he accidentally called him 'dad.'
Spes realized it was mostly him talking, so he decided to be the one to start inquiring.
"What about you? Who is this almighty Royal Advisor who would cause the probable doom of the Kingdom?" he asked in a slightly dramatic fashion.
"Heh, this is a Kingdom-level secret, so you better keep it to yourself. I'm only telling this to you because I like you."
"I've had my fair share of Kingdom-level secrets too," Spes laughed as he gulped down another cup of wine.
He recalled the exaggerated way the Archmage Vis would storytell the Kingdom-level secret about who the Heroes truly were.
"You're funny. You better act like this even without wine or I'll give you a beating."
"So the thing is, I'm the bastard son of the King's brother. For almost all my life, I lived as a commoner." Vota took another big gulp of wine as his face slowly turned somber.
"Funny thing is, he knew of my existence. He only reached out when his other son died on the battlefield. It was such a strange situation… I could barely make ends meet, and suddenly I'm the King's nephew." Vota looked at Spes's face to see if he could truly imagine how ridiculous it sounded.
Spes nodded intently, totally focused on Vota's story.
"And when my father died, the King gave me the position as his Advisor. And you know the rest."
Vota and Spes would continue exchanging stories of both their apprentice experiences and Royal Advisor tales until they got so drunk they fell asleep without even realizing it.