St Chaos Healer

Ch 20 - The Itinerary

We've been instructed to wait inside our rooms until we get our bracelets. Until then no one is permitted to roam outside their rooms. People found roaming in the carriage without their bracelets will force the rail guards to take strict action.

Hence, we have been holed up in our room for half a day now.

My father fell asleep like a log on the sofa chair. Being in the Ceremony Express didn't affect his sleep, whatsoever.

Meanwhile, my mother took a shower and got changed into a new set of clothes. After that, she even gave me another quick set of instructions on what happens in the Ceremony train. Followed by a long lecture on how to behave and mannerisms about how to interact with other kids.

After the lecture was over she also went on to take a little nap. I tucked the blanket over my parents to not let them catch a cold.

I had nothing to do so I just started exploring every nook and corner of our room. Looking if there was any secret spying artifact hidden in our room by the authorities of the railways to spy on us. The train is well guarded so they may have taken such drastic steps, who knows.

I searched for half an hour but didn't find anything, thankfully.

I was starting to get bored as hell.
I wasn't feeling sleepy, unlike my parents. There were books that mother brought along to pass the time, but I had already read all those like a gazillion times.

Meanwhile, the scenery outside the windows has since changed from plains into a land filled with trees. Currently, we are passing through some dense forest and it's been an hour since I can only see trees and more trees. I thought maybe some stray mana beast from the forest might launch an attack on our train forcing the Ceremony train to take action. I wanna see the train's defense in action.

But to my disappointment, the forest was deadly silent. I didn't even see a bird flying over this forest. All I saw was trees spread like a big blanket over these lands.

Hence I was getting so bored that I was really itching to go outside my room and explore this carriage to uncover its secrets.

But we still haven't been given our bracelets. If I was found loitering around without my bracelet, the rail guards would take strict action against me and they might even punish my parents.

'Strict action' for all we know the rail guards will just dispose of us.
All the rail guards I've seen are just looking to squash us like bugs. They are just waiting for the signal. The only rail guard that looked a little friendly was our wagon manager but I still find him quite fishy. For all we know, it's just his facade to let passengers drop their guard. Nowadays, it's not easy to trust people at face value.

My parents had already informed me about the events held on the Ceremony train. Although they had traveled on this train a long time ago, they still tried to retell me a little something they could remember.

According to them, the Ceremony train authorities hold a test within the train itself to see if the children have developed a mana core. The child who develops a mana core will be able to participate in the main ceremony. Meanwhile, kids who fail to manifest one cannot participate in the main ceremony but they can still participate in the smaller ceremony held for such kids. There are more events held on the Ceremony train to entertain as well as inform kids about the kingdom and the ways of the mage.

The big ceremony held in the major cities is actually a tribute to Goddess Revia, the goddess of children. According to the local citizens, it's said that their goddess Revia actually determines which kids can manifest mana core and which cannot. So basically she's revered as a mother of all mages in the mortal realm.