Earth's Greatest Magus Chapter 45: Golden City

45 Golden City

When the bunch of little potions were passed onto Ery's hands, he hadn't expected he would get nine of them. He could rember Master Grom saying 'we'll give you a potion in return for each of you who will return with the plant we require'. Ery had assud they'd only get one per acolyte but did this dwarf change his rules at the last minute to at least make them feel better?

Ery turned around and saw how the others appeared confused. He wanted to know why they looked like that when Master Grom decided to walk away. Silva then appeared from the masses and stopped the dwarf.

"Master Grom, please wait! You didn't announce the winner of this challenge!" Silva exclaid.

Grom stopped on his tracks and seed a bit embarrassed. "Oh dear , that totally slipped my mind. I appreciate you reminding , dear."

Silva turned to Ery and said, "You, where were you?"

"I had a prior plan this morning, so I had to do that first," Ery replied.

Silva muttered sothing under her breath, but Ery didn't hear a word she had just said. "Anyway, the most a student had submitted was five while I exchanged two. Not even a total of twenty moon clovers had been found, so your submission of nine makes up to half of the rest."

Ery was astounded. "What?"

Silva nodded, looking proud, and said, "Yes, you are supposed to be the winner."

Master Grom faced the crowd and looked thoughtful. "I, indeed, had promised that whoever exchanged the most number of moon clovers shall have a spot within our ranks. However, with the amount I have just received, this is the least I have collected in a century. Therefore I am unable to accept any apprentice this ti"

The acolytes nearby grumbled. Ery could vaguely hear the words they used to describe the dwarf: nasty, hypocrite, opportunist, etc. Grom still paid no attention to it and turned away once more but when he was about to leave, he almost bumped into a woman whom Ery recognized.

"Magus Minerva," said Ery.

Minerva returned him a glance before bending forward, face almost touching with the dwarf's, and began to play with his beard. She said, "Master Grom, you are not thinking of going back on your words for my student now, are you?"

Master Grom seed to puff smoke from his ears. He tittered as he said, "Ehem, is he really your student Magus Minerva?"

She nodded in response and said, "Of course, Master Grom. In fact, he almost died trying to find those plants. Surely Master Grom is not that cruel, right?"

Minerva stroked the dwarf's beard again and a big smile filled his face. "Ehem. Alright. Alright. Boy, you co with now."

Magus Minerva winked at Ery before leaving herself.

"Boy, what's your na," Master Grom asked, his voice sounding indifferent.

"Ery, Master Grom," replied Ery as he walked behind the dwarf.

"Ery, is it? Hmm. What's your connection with M-Magus M-Minerva?" Master Grom said.

Ery paused for a mont, he thought he had heard Master Grom sounding a bit excited for a mont before placing it on the back of his mind. He answered, "She... she's my class instructor,"

Master Grom looked thoughtful for a mont and said, "Then why did she take special attention to you boy? Who are you actually?"

"I..." Ery had no idea how to answer the dwarf. It never had occurred in his mind he was special or what.

Seeing how he had hesitated to answer, Master Grom's voice suddenly raised with his nostrils seemingly flaring. "Whatever it is—rember—always talk good things about to her okay! Okay!"

Ery was taken aback and responded without thinking, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Master Grom!"

Master Grom tried to regain his composure with a cough and then said, "Excellent, boy."

They then took the return portal from the Elder's Respite to the plaza, then to another portal. As soon as Ery stepped out, he was visibly shocked once more to see the location they had just arrived at. The place was full of tall, straight structures with transparent windows on its surface, flying boats, moving carriages on the ground without being drawn by any animals, sprawling crowds, straight roads that had trees on the side. This place was certainly much bigger compared to the combat institution.

"Welco to Golden City, boy," Master Grom exclaid. Ery, still wide-eyed, looked over for as far as the eye could see the whole place was filled with bustling people and buildings.

"Co on now, we don't have all day, do we?" Master Grom urged as he walked ahead of Ery, who was still gawking at such an unbelievable place.

They walked for a good five minutes or so, when Master Grom stopped on his tracks and invited Ery inside another towering building that had flying objects inside like giant boats with wings made of wood or iron entering and exiting. After going inside, Ery couldn't help notice the large greyish-black staircase with yellow lines on the side that seed to move on its own leading upstairs. Master Grom called out to him with an irritated voice.

"What are you doing, boy? This way!"

They entered a small room that seed to only fit four to six people. Master Grom pressed a button on the side and the door hissed closed. Ery wanted to voice out his thoughts why were they inside such a cramped space when the room trembled and Ery experienced a tingling, weird sensation in his head, making him dazedly look in front of him. There, he saw through the slits of the door, they seed to be moving upwards since the light outside descended.

The door hissed opened this ti and Master Grom exited the small room with Ery following closely. Ery glanced back at the door and it closed on its own without any other person in the room. Not long after they walked out, Master Grom led Ery to a place where there were a lot of the sa flying boats. They stopped in front of a wooden boat-bird.

Master Grom looked at him and said, "Oh boy, don't tell you co from a lower world, do you?"

"I...umm... That's what they say."

Master Grom let out a big sigh and said, "You'll have a tough ti ahead of you then, boy. It seems your beautiful instructor isn't doing you a favor and is wanting to make suffer at the sa ti."

The dwarf entered the boat-bird object and beckoned Ery to sit on the back. Ery hesitated for a mont before steeling himself and trusting this small, old man with an overgrown beard.

As soon as Ery had taken a comfortable position and strapped on the safety leash Master Grom had asked him to wear, the boat-bird began to shake and then sped off over the city, and the wave of fresh air rushed into Ery's face, making him feel unsure whether to focus on the refreshing air or the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach at the thought they were hovering a hundred feet off the ground with nothing solid below them except for the cold, hard ground. It was a world of imagination that never existed in his mind.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination and the boat-bird to go inside a much larger building than the one they had co from.

Master Grom looked back at him with a wide grin and said, "We have arrived at the Apothecary Institute."

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Author announcent

Dear Earth's Greatest Magus Readers,

First, let introduce myself. I am a father of two young daughters and I own and run my own small business. With these in mind, I must tell you that I do not have as much ti to write as unlike other full-ti authors.

Nevertheless, I love to create stories. If you checked my profile, you will see that I have also written another book for more than a year. So, I could confidently say that I do not abandon a story.

This book won first place in the WPC event and winning it ant the novel received a contracted deal. Like all the other contracted novels, this novel must go to premium.

I hope you are all enjoying this novel so far and are trusting as the author to do my best to give the best experience in the world of magi.

Wishing for your continuous support.

Sincerely, Avans.