Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 45

It took sixteen days to reach Ashtown from Lígoton. The trip was not a straight path. First they had to travel to Axium, then hop on another train that would take them to Ashtown. From Axium to Ashtown, it was a five day trip on its own. Of course, there was another reason they took so long aside from the tip not being a straight path.

Elincia.

Caspian and Elincia were learning more about her summoning than they ever believed possible. When Elincia first began summoning, she would keep the spirits on this plain with her own power. This meant that while a spirit could remain here, it used her mana to fuel itself. When the spirit used an attack, it was using her mana, which meant the drain was substantial.

However, several of the spirits now had formalized their bonds with her. This meant that Elincia only needed to open a gate to keep them their, allowing a spirit to use all of their power without expending hers. That said, keeping a gate open still drained her mana.

One of the things that came from Elincia discovered about her summoning was that the gate closed when she fell asleep. Since she was no longer channeling her mana to keep it open, that was understandable. However, this presented a problem.

Elincia needed to sleep.

If Elincia fell asleep in the middle of the train, the illusions changing everyone's appearance would vanish. That would cause a huge problem. Even if no one discovered who they were, just having an elf suddenly appear on the train would create chaos.

Rather than taking a straight shot to each destination, their group was forced to stop at various cities, spend the time, and move on the next day, which increased the amount of time it took for them to arrive.

While the travel was considerably slowed down, Caspian did not mind. He and Elincia spent much of their time together or with Cassidy and Christo. Erica also made it a point to constantly tease everyone and get under Sylvia's skin. The woman's claws seemed to be permanently out as of late, or had her antagonism toward the Sorceress Council leader always been that bad? Caspian didn't know.

At the moment, Caspian was staring out the window as he and Elincia sat together, their hands entwined as Elincia rested her head on his shoulders. His sorceress was currently conversing with Loki, who she could talk to right now because the gate was open so he could cast his illusion around them.

Caspian was privy to their conversation.

"So you can change my arrows into any shape I please?"

"Indeed," said a male voice that sounded young and mischievous. "My two greatest abilities are shapeshifting and illusions. Of course, shapeshifting is just a branch of transfiguring, which is the true specialty of a shapeshifter. Let us say that you wish to transform your arrow into something deadlier. You could ask me to transform it into a drill or something with the capability of piercing through armor. I can even turn your arrows into powerful relics, though a change of that magnitude would require you to open a larger gate for my mana to slip through."

"If you can transform my arrows like that, could you also transform a person?"

"I could. However, that would require a lot more mana than transforming a simple arrow."

"How much more mana."

"About half the amount it would take to simply summon me to your world."

"Transforming your arrows into something else is generally not something you should do unless you want to either play a practical joke, like transforming a fired arrow into flowers, or if you want to kill something with a lot of defensive power. You're better of using illusions with your arrows."