RE:WRITE

46.0 Candela_Chapter 11: Intermezzo

The blockage came into view several hours later. A single, giant rock lay on the road, crushing some of the trees of the forest and stretching into the purple mists on the other side.

There were several tents in front of the rock. People bustled about, talking, drinking and, in some cases, sparring with one another. The most prominent tents belonged to a group of people wearing black robes with a white swan emblazoned on their backs. They didn't mingle with the other groups, preferring to talk to each other instead.

As we approached the site, a few gazes turned towards us but they didn't linger for long. We weren't suspicious in any way. Just another group of travelers waiting for the road to be cleared.

However, we quickly became the center of attention as, instead of setting up a tent, we walked up to the rock and started conversing in hushed tones.

"We sure about this?" asked Lily.

I scratched my head. "It's the best choice we have, I'm afraid. And my Ability's telling me that this is what we should do so..."

"But you don't seem too sure," she said.

"No, I'm not. It'll attract a lot of attention and one of us will be severely restricted from now on. Which reminds me," I said, turning to face Kai and Amy. "Who wants to do it?"

"Can't be me," said Amy. The rest of us nodded.

"I don't want to," said Lily.

"And I can't afford to," I said, eyeing Zoe who stared at me blankly before suddenly nodding.

"Well, I do everything around here anyway," said Kai as he walked up to the rock and put his hands on it.

People started muttering but Kai ignored it. Someone walked out of the group of black robed people.

"Are you also an Earth mage? We have a couple of Earth mages too. We are working out a schedule for clearing up the road. If you like, you can join us in our tent and we can go over the details together," said the black haired young woman who approached us.

"No, it's okay. Just let me enjoy my few fleeting moments of fame," said Kai as he waved his hands.

A huge hole appeared in the center of the rock as it crumbled. Kai waved his hands a few more times and the hole became deeper and deeper until it became a tunnel. He kept walking while waving his hands, causing the rock to crumble and cave-in in front of him but no debris fell on him at all.

Even if he hadn't volunteered, I would have asked him to do it anyways. Since no one except for the Demon Lord and the Hero were supposed to be able to use all kinds of magic, anyone who used Earth magic in front of a crowd like this wouldn't be able to use any other type of magic during our stay at the Academy.

And I needed to be able to use Dark magic at the Academy. Although people from all over the Alliance were accepted there, the administration heavily favored students from the Dark kingdom. If I wanted to make the most of my time there, I needed to be able to establish myself as a talented young Dark mage.

Amy was a Fire mage and using Fire magic in public would associate her with the Fire kingdom and, hence, the Holy Union. As such, she would attract way too much attention. We'd already decided that she wouldn't reveal her magic at the Academy and would either go for the purely academic courses or not join any courses at all.

Zoe was also an Earth mage and we could have asked her to help out but her mana pool was too small for a task this size. We also didn't want her to have to go through a mechanical process like this again, after all she'd been through in the factories.