After a day’s journey, Rorschach arrived at Pema City, the capital of the Futengburg Duchy and the largest city closest to the Black Forest.
The standard for what constituted a large city was simple: whether or not it had a Magic Guild branch. If it did, it was a large city.
The Guild in Pema City was also quite large. In fact, the entire city was rather prosperous: it was the economic hub of the Empire’s Southwestern Region, also produced horses, and served as a collection point for the abundant resources from the Black Forest.
Rorschach went to the mail transport room in the Guild’s basent again. There were two Teleportation Arrays here.
"Send this docunt to the Tower of Forest. Hmm, there’s no specific recipient; it’s official business." Rorschach took out the organized materials and the letter of introduction, including the map with Old lson’s intelligence added. "Send this one to the Tower of Stars, addressed to Great Mage Lionel Kano."
The staff mber glanced at the docunts and said, "I’m sorry, this one is overweight. We’ll have to charge you double." She was referring to the one for the Tower of Forest.
"Also," the woman said apologetically, pulling out a docunt for Rorschach, "this is an international letter, so you’ll need to fill out a form. We need to record the ti and purpose of your mailing for our records."
Before Rorschach could say anything, the staff mber quickly explained, "Look, we’re just doing this to comply with the new legislation. You only need to fill it out casually—just don’t get the date wrong."
’Is the Guild really complying with the Empire’s new legislation?’ This attitude took Rorschach by surprise, but his understanding of the Magic Guild in the Empire was less than his knowledge of the branches in the Kingdom, so he couldn’t investigate the reasons behind it.
"Excuse , do you have any portable Teleportation Scrolls? The kind that can send mail at any ti."
"We do, but the other end of a portable scroll’s connection is fixed, and it requires a continuous, stable power supply. You can choose to bind it to our Guild’s Teleportation Array to guarantee successful sending and receiving."
Teleportation required energy and Spiritual Materials. A portable scroll was only effective if bound to a "high-power host," and it was impossible to send ssages between two portable scrolls.
"In that case, please allow to add another letter to the docunts for the Tower of Stars."
Rorschach decided to send the letter to Kano first, guessing that the Tower of Stars probably had its own teleportation address and wouldn’t need to be relayed through the Magic Guild.
The replies from both parties arrived the next day. Upon learning that Rorschach was waiting in the city for a response, a Guild employee gave Rorschach a small token—powered by a Secret Contract, it would vibrate whenever there was a ssage for him to receive.
Master Kano’s reply ca on a large sheet of parchnt, but it contained only a single sentence: purchase blank Communication Scrolls and fill in the Inner Ring yourself using undiluted, standard-concentration Thoth Alchemy Ink.
So Rorschach bought three of them at once. The things were very expensive. Although they weren’t single-use items, once the Inner Ring was constructed, the permanent Magic Array it was bound to could not be changed.
’They must have paid for more than two shipnts, right?’ The reply from the Tower of Forest also contained a large batch of materials and had arrived in two separate transmissions.
Back in his room, Rorschach first used [Magic Detection] to check his surroundings. After confirming there were no magical reactions, he examined Master Kano’s reply scroll again. Sure enough, a large, hazy Magic Aura emanated from the blank space, but he couldn’t make out the contents.
Rorschach inspected the parchnt again and found a line of small text on the back: "If you can’t use [Reading Magic], just tap your Tower of Stars ID card on it, kid!"
’He predicted this, too?’ Rorschach took out the card he hadn’t used in a long ti, and sure enough, it reacted the mont he placed it on the parchnt. The content concealed by the magic was revealed: it was the core of a Teleportation Array, presumably pointing to the Tower of Stars or Master Kano himself.
To ensure the drawing was reproducible, the pattern for the Magic Array’s core used standard drafting thods: blue ink for the construction lines, red ink to mark the length of each straight line, the radius of curvature for each curve, and every angle and arc. Finally, thick, solid black lines indicated the core that Rorschach was to trace with Alchemy Ink.
’The awful mories from my past life are coming back to haunt !’ Rorschach was reminded of the all-nighters he used to pull to finish his engineering drafting howork. He was actually starting to miss CAD. ’At least I didn’t have to draw by hand with that, right?’
The reply from the Tower of Forest was more substantial, listing the mbers of the dispatched investigation team:
Alexander von Humboldt, the Tier Eight Great Mage leading the team; Peterson, a Tier Two Mage; and three Apprentices.
’They’re sending a Great Mage right away?’ Rorschach imdiately understood. After all, the matter concerned a lost god, so dispatching a high-level combatant was the prudent thing to do. ’Hmph. Far more reliable than a certain Holy Kingdom’s Magic Tower,’ he thought.
Rorschach examined the large package from the Tower of Forest, which contained extrely detailed information: maps of the forest’s vegetation distribution, rainfall distribution, water systems, and topography. Despite the abundance of labeled data, there were still vast blank areas.
Observing the map of the entire forest, human settlents and strongholds beca more nurous further west, while recorded data grew scarcer east of the mountain range. The vegetation was densest in the north, dominated by pine, fir, and cypress. The Central Region was predominantly oak, while the south was a mix of forest and adow, serving as the Futengburg Duchy’s pastoral and horse-breeding lands.
Comparing it with Old lson’s route map, the original expedition must have passed right through a gap in the mountains and ventured deep into the east-central heart of the forest. Along this route, Rorschach noticed the Tower of Forest’s map had a mark for a small, crossed-out cabin—a forr Elf settlent.
The next docunt was a long checklist detailing the personal supplies Rorschach needed to prepare before entering the forest.
"Sleeping bag, oilcloth tarp, Mountain-Cutting Knife, compass... bandages, sugar, and high-nutrient foods like dry biscuits. Please be sure to prepare adequate warm clothing and leg wraps."
A final line was specially added at the end: Rorschach Mage, please trust us at the Tower of Forest—you will not need to prepare any insect-repellent herbs!
et in the main hall of the Pema Castle Magic Guild at nine a.m. in two days. We look forward to eting you!
’How thoughtful. And they even showed a little pride at the end.’ Rorschach smiled knowingly. In addition to these items, he also needed to purchase drafting rulers, a compass, and more Alchemy Ink.
...
At nine o’clock in the main hall, Rorschach imdiately spotted a group of people dressed predominantly in green.
The middle-aged man in the lead had more decorative elents on his clothing and carried himself with a dignified air. Following him was a young man with a high hairline and round glasses. Behind them were two more n and a woman, with the n carrying the largest and heaviest backpacks.
’That must be the team from the Tower of Forest,’ Rorschach concluded.
The group from the Tower of Forest wore no flowing, floor-length Mage Robes or Apprentice Robes. Instead, they had on leg wraps and jackets that were as form-fitting as possible, complete with many external pockets. Compared to the Druids of legend, they looked every bit the part of explorers. Each person held an Oak Staff half a man’s height, but they resembled hiking poles more than Magic Staves.
"A pleasure, a pleasure!" The team leader, Humboldt Great Mage, was bursting with energy. His face was full, his gaze firm. He grasped Rorschach’s hand; his own was strong and sturdy, with a calloused palm that felt like a farr’s. "We’ve heard all about your exciting adventure in the Sub-plane. I didn’t expect you to be so young."
’No, I was forced into that adventure,’ Rorschach thought, ’just as my hand is now being forced to flail about in your iron grip.’
Rorschach felt Mr. Humboldt’s handshake was far too vigorous and was about to pull his hand away before it got dislocated. Just then, the main doors of the Magic Guild swung open again, revealing a tall, imposing figure silhouetted against the light.
No, on closer look, it was a young man carrying a pack that towered two heads above his own. He yelled to Rorschach:
"Ror—schach—Mage! I’m Cavendish, a third-year Apprentice from the Tower of Stars! Master Kano sent to go with you!"
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