Era of Adventure

Chapter 4: The Explorer's Arrive!(2)

          After hearing their king utter these words everyone raised their heads and went into an uproar due to their excitement.

          "Yeah!! Let's celebrate, drinks on me at the Soaring Inn!"

          "Long live the King and the explorer's that have brought us to a new era!"

          "They are so brave we must honor them!"

          "That older looking man... isn't that... It's High Mage Merlin!"

          "High Mage Merlin is back! Now the Magic Tower can finally go back to running at full steam!

          The crowd was cheering and excited for the explorer's and especially so after they noticed the man in his late 50's. This man was Merlin, the number one mage in the kingdom, having managed to reach the realm of 7th rank High Mage.

          He was the head of the Ivory Tower, the official magic tower of the Sora kingdom, it was where anyone would head if they wanted to learn about magic. They had mages teaching magic basics and a gigantic library which contained numerous books both from the ancient times and from recent years written by the newer mages.

          At this moment the crowd was interrupted by Merlin.

          "Excuse me ladies and gentleman if I could have your attention, I would like to use this opportunity of everyone being gathered here including our great King.

          "I have made some breakthroughs during the voyage over these few years and have managed to reach the Archmage realm! I also bring extensive knowledge to nurture any aspiring mages and to help our existing mage force!" Merlin said confidently as he released some mana fluctuations that could be felt by everyone, even the most common of citizens.

          "Hahaha Merlin you have my congratulations, you never fail to amaze me" the King said with a smile.

          The crowd who got slightly scared by the power of the Archmage, recovered their fervent cheering and even resumed with greater excitement. These were great news for everyone as most people asked mages for their aid in troublesome situations they faced daily, but this was even better for those who wanted to become mages and explore the new world.

          If they got lucky, they might even learn from Archmage Merlin himself!

          But while everyone else was getting excited and celebrating, Jack headed off to his family, Marianne and Lipes were by the tower. Marianne was crying with joy as she didn't know what to say and Lipes was hiding behind her as to him his dad was sort of a stranger.

          Jack looked at Lipes and he was startled and took a step back, but Jack smiled and crouched down, putting down his journey bag on the ground at his side as he said.

          "Hey there little guy! Aren't you going to give your old man a hug?" Jack smiled warmly.

          Lipes hesitated for a second but then rushed to him shouting.

          "Dad!!" Lipes hugged his dad tightly and smiled. He felt a sort of fulfillment as he had been wanting to meet his dad for his entire life. His mom was always telling him stories of what he did in life and how he and her met so Lipes had always been very excited to the day he would meet his dad and now it finally happened!

          Lipes then let go of his dad as he got up and looked at Marianne.

          "Sorry for making you wa-" he got interrupted by Marianne as she kissed him and embraced him a hug harboring nearly 10 years of worry. Jack passionately kissed her and hugged her more tightly and slightly lift her off her feet as they both smiled and looked each other in the eyes as Marianne said with a tender tone:

          "Welcome home."