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[West of Tozan Hoshi]

"Carter, your guide is here!" a voice called out.

"Hold up, sis. Tell her that I'll be there as soon as I finish getting this closed," I said as I pushed down on my bag.

"Honestly, Carter. This is why I told you to prepare ahead of time," my sister said as she opened the door.

I smiled as I finally zipped it "Got it! Ready to go!"

My sister chuckled. "Barely. Now, get going." Her laugh was just like our late mother's. Hearing it always brought a smile to my face. But it also made me a little sad sometimes.

The kitty in the middle of my bed yawned. Seemed even all of my struggling with the bag couldn't shake her awake. I chuckled and stroke her back. "Take care of my room for me, okay, Lee?"

She purred and nudged my hand with her nose.

"I'll miss you too, Lee," I said, getting a bit misty eyed. I turned toward my sister and gave her a big hug. "Bye, sis. I'll call you as soon as I can."

Sis stroked the back of my head. "I'll miss you, Cart. Be a good boy and try your best. I know that you'll pass."

I broke away from her and grinned. "Yeah, I've been training extra hard for it!"

"Don't get cocky now," my brother-in-law said as my niece helped roll his wheelchair into my room. "Remember what I taught you. Take all of your opponents seriously. Even if you don't know them."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Would be easier if I knew what kind of strength the others taking the test have."

"Cart," my sister said with a raised voice. "You have been studying for more than just the strength exam, right?"

I scratched the side of my face and laughed weakly. "No, but I figured that I would study for the written part on the way."

"Uncle's a dummy," my five-year-old niece said, leering at me with her orange eyes. They were just like her mother's.

"I'm not a dummy. I am just procrastinating. There's a difference!"

"Delaying things won't do you any good. Now, get going, or you might not make it in time. The trip's a long one," Sis said, nudging me toward the door.

"Alright. Bye, you three."

My niece ran over and hugged me. "I'll miss you, Cart!"

"Aww, I'll miss you too, La," I said, snuggling her.

"Be sure to keep that charm I gave you, okay?" La looked up at me with teary eyes.

"Sure I will. It's my good luck charm!" Even though I don't think I'll need to rely on luck.

She let go of me slowly and ran over to her mommy.

Akio smiled at me and held out his hand. "Make it big out there, my pupil."

I shook his hand and grinned. "I will, Master! I'll make you the proudest man that ever lived!"

He laughed. "Sounds excessive. Besides, you've already made me proud. You might procrastinate on most things, but the one thing you don't is your training. Remember to keep up with your routine. Increase it, but don't overdo it either." He stared at his legs. "The body is an important instrument, but it can also be incredibly fragile."

"I know," I said, squeezing his hand. "I promise that I'll watch over my health. I don't want you three to worry while I'm abroad."

He patted my arm and smiled. "Get going now, kid."

I let go of his hand and ran out of the room. I stopped and looked back at my family as they followed behind.

I was lucky to have them.

I walked into the courtyard of our little place. A white-haired woman was talking to a blue-haired boy around my age. A red-haired boy who looked a year younger than me was also with them.

"Oh, you're finally here," the guide said, turning to look at us. She chuckled as I froze at the sight of her golden eyes. "Uh, is something wrong?"

I'd had heard that my guide was a woman, but I didn't expect her to be so pretty.

"N-nothing! I... I-is it me, or is it hot out here?" I said, laughing. I grabbed my coat and used it to fan myself. Oh Nagi, why couldn't I usually speak around pretty women!

"Think it's just you as for me it's chilly," the boy said, rubbing his shoulders.

I laughed dryly "I-it's is?"

The other boy nodded. "Yeah. It actually feels like late winter here, unlike back home."

I lowered my head. Why did he have to answer that so seriously?

The blue-haired boy walked over and whispered into my ear, "She already has her eyes set on someone else. Plus, I got a brother who is into her."

"W-why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Just a warning," he said, patting my shoulder as he flashed me a friendly smile.

Was he threatening me to not mess with his brother's girl, or was he genuinely trying to spare my feelings?

"Cart, are you feeling well? Your face looks paler than usual," Sis said, walking over to me.

I gasped and smiled. "Yeah. I am. I'll be going now. Bye!" I said, waving.

She chuckled and waved goodbye alongside Master Akio and my niece. My dog meanwhile barked her head off as my niece held her back. Poor girl, if only I could've brought her with me.

"Have a safe journey! Write home when you can, okay?" Sis yelled.

"Okay!" Though, I wasn't very good at writing... Putting thoughts down on paper was hard for me. It never came out sounding like I wanted it to.

"Was that your mom?" the blue-haired boy asked as we headed toward the gate.

I shook my head. "No. She's my sis. My mom died when I was around my niece's age."

He lowered his head and patted my shoulder. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

My gaze went up to the sky. "I know."

He opened his mouth but quickly closed it. It seemed as if he wanted to ask me something else.

"If you're wondering about my old man, he's still alive," I said, walking on ahead. It would've been better if he and Mom could've switched places.

He overtook me as the gate slowly opened. "Uh, how about we introduce ourselves? I'm Nate Makkuroyama!" the boy said, trying to change the subject. He must've been pretty attuned with other people's emotions. Or maybe the anger was just that visible on my face.

I smiled. "I'm Carter Cai. Say, where are you from, Nate? I'm surprised that there was someone else picked up before me."

Nate averted his gaze. "I, uh. I'm from far away."

I crossed my arms as we walked through a dirt road. My family lived in a tiny village on the outskirts of the capital. "Far away? How far?"

He scratched his face. "I'm not sure if anyone's even able to quantify it."

"Quantify? Someone has to do math to figure out how far it is?" I asked.

Nate laughed. "Uh, I'm pretty sure that's how all calculations of distance have been achieved."

"Wasn't really counting rulers and such as math."

"There are points where those tools are impossible. Instead, survey gear is used," our guide said. "I'm pretty sure you've seen some of it around these parts."

"Y-yeah! On the m-mountains!" Carter, why are you still stuttering? Can't you try to be a little cooler?

"You're sure shy around pretty girls, huh?" Nate whispered.

I bit my lip. Was it that obvious? Who was I kidding? Of course it was!

"A little," I mumbled.

Nate snickered. "My older brother also stuttered a bit."

"The one who likes our guide?"

"Yeah. Though I don't think it was as bad as yours."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he trying to help me feel better or the opposite?

Nate tilted his head and chuckled.

My eyes shifted to the new boy. He sure was awfully quiet. "What's your name?"

He averted his gaze. "I'm Houyin from Sera."

I gasped. Did he say Sera? I heard that country mentioned on the news. If I wasn't mistaken, there was a big war going on right now. If he failed the test, would he have to go back to that war-torn nation?

"I see. You must be a water mage then!"

He gulped. "Actually, I haven't awakened my magic yet. I hope to be able to discover what it is on the way."

Wait, he couldn't be serious, right? Did he seriously think that he could get into Nine Petal without magic? Even if he were to awaken it, he would be newbie.

"You're smart, right?"

"Uh, I'm told that, yeah."

I smiled and patted him on the back. "Then you have a chance!" Sis told me that there was a paper exam on the test. One that I probably should've studied for... Well, I still had time!

The boy fell on the ground and glared at me. "Hey, watch it!"

"S-sorry." I stared at my hand. I didn't think that I'd hit him that hard. Guess that I still had to work on controlling my strength.

He dusted himself off. "Just don't do that again and you're forgiven."

"So, where are we heading?" I asked, not turning to look at our guide.

"Next stop is Hoin, but we'll first need to transverse Tora and Azie," our guide said.

"We're going to Tora?" I asked, trying not to jump from excitement. Tora was said to be filled with strong mages. It was the strongest nation on the continent of Tozan Hoshi. Likely why they named the land after the clan that founded Tora.

"Yeah, didn't you hear?" Nate said with a playful smile.

I grumbled. "It was rhetorical."

"I know. I was being snarky."

I rolled my eyes.

"You remind me of my sister," Huoyin said, sighing.

"Sister? I-is she cute?"

Huo laughed and shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Come on, I met her. She's not ugly. In fact, I would say she's cute," Nate said, smiling.

Huoyin sighed. "I was talking about personality."

Our guide giggled. "Yes, we're going to Tora, but we'll be taking a train to cross it. Traversing it by car would take too long, so we'll have to leave it at the station."

"W-we're taking a car?"

"Yeah." She stopped and took out a set of keys. With one press of a button, a vehicle suddenly appeared in front of us.

I stumbled back. "Woah! It was invisible?"

"Yeah, I imbued it with my illusion magic." She opened the door of the red convertible and jumped in. "Get in boys, we're hitting the road!"

Nate ran toward the front passenger seat, but I jumped into it first by launching myself into the air.

"Woah, you got some awesome acrobatics," Nate said, whistling.

I chuckled. "Thanks." Though, that was nothing compared to when mixing it with my magic.

He opened the door on the back and sat in the middle rear seat. "Let's go meet the others!" he said, pointing forward.

Huoyin rubbed his ears. "Why did everyone have to be so loud?" he mumbled to himself.

"Sorry," Nate said, bowing his head.

Huoyin looked away. "You're forgiven."

Our guide put on a pair of glasses and hit the gas.

I covered my mouth. It was a good thing that I hadn't eaten breakfast, else it would've splatted the edge of the vehicle.

"Ugh, not again," Huoyin said, curling up.

"Can you slow down, please?" I asked.

"Carsick?" Nate said, chuckling.

I shook my head. "No, well, yes." It wasn't being in a vehicle that made me sick, but the rate she was driving at. How could Nate react so nonchalantly? Was he used to crazy driving like this?

"Sorry, Carter, but we need to cover as much ground as possible," our guide said as she kept her eyes ahead. "One good thing about these country roads is that the speed limit tends to be high."

"Hmm, we're finally moving again?" a voice called out from behind. I turned around and saw a dark-skinned boy dressed in some kind of animal skin.

"Yeah," Nate said.

"There was someone else here all this time?" I asked, eyes wide.

"Oh, hello there," the boy said, waving. "I'm Aurelius."

"Normally, Aurelius would be one of the last few we pick up since his country is close to our destination. But since we were vacationing near him, we decided to have him join us for the long haul."

Aurelius sat up and smiled. "I wanted to see the world outside of the savannah as soon as possible."

Savannah? The only savannah I knew about was the one in Tora. He didn't come from western Tora, did he? Wait, that wouldn't make sense as the savannah was said to only cover the eastern half.

"Are you a Toran?" I asked anyway.

He shook his head. "No. I'm not even from Tozan Hoshi."

"Eh? You come from a different continent?"

"Yeah, from beyond the strait."

I scratched my head. "Which one?"

"The one that divides Mina in half."

"Ohh." I blinked. "Wait, Mina's land is divided between two continents?"

"You didn't know that?" Nate asked, looking at me like my niece did when I said that I hadn't studied. "I'm not from this world, and even I know that."

Not from this world? Is he from another planet? He said it was far, so he's probably not even from this solar system.

"How sad," Huoyin said, shaking his head at me. What was his deal? Couldn't he try to be a little nicer?

I laughed. "Geography isn't really my strong suit. I do know the neighborhood around here. Beyond the Grand Crest Mountains lays Tora."

"Correct," our guide said. "That said, I can't blame you for not knowing that fact. Even those of us who border Mina forget about it. After all, that strait is extremely difficult to cross. Only the toughest ships can pass it."

"Woah. I want to see it!" I said, grinning.

"Maybe we'll get a chance to stop by Mina's northernmost Tozan Hoshi port," our guide said, pushing her fluttering white hair away from her glasses

Aurelius smiled upon hearing that. "If we do, then I'll show you the strait. On a clear day, one can see the other side."

"Cool! I would love that!" I said, grinning.

"Hopefully, it's clear. Most of the days we were there, it was only clear once or twice," Nate said.

"Why were you vacationing together?" I asked.

"Nate's brother invited me. He's... a friend of mine," our guide said.

"I-I see." Why do I get the impression that there's more to it than that?

"Look, we're almost to Tozan Hoshi!" Aurelius said, pointing to the mountains.

"Yeah, and one step closer to my dream of being Magus Maximus," I muttered.

Our guide chuckled. "You want to become Magus Maximus?"

I stared directly at her. "Yes. I wish to stand on top of this society dominated by powerful mages."

She adjusted her sunglasses. "That's quite the ambitious dream, but you're not the first person I've heard that from. Doubt that you'll be the last."

Huoyin nodded. "Princess Sarah knows someone like that."

"I'll surpass him and the the others!"

Our guide smirked. "Wonder if you will still say that once you have met him."

My ears twitched. This person must've been strong or incredibly smart based on how she spoke of them. Maybe both. Nonetheless, I would crush them too! No was going to stand in my way of being the next Magus Maximus!

**Solar Note: Thoughts on the new cast (well, sort of new as the guide is an old face as many of you likely figured out xD. While Nate's from another series of mine)? Hopefully they proved enjoyable. This chapter is dedicated to Meredian_. He helped me with the crafting of Carter.**