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The trip this time would take three nights and four days, a considerably long duration for children our age. That said, what would have normally taken a month on foot one way, was reduced to a mere few days of a round trip, which showed just how useful the teleportation magic was.

I could understand why every kingdom was so sensitive when it came to this magic.

For students other than me it was nothing more than a sightseeing trip, so everyone at the academy looked excited. For the same reason, Letina dragged me out today to buy clothes for the trip.

“Why clothes?”
“We are heading to that kingdom for the first time, right? We have to choose proper clothes so that no one looks down on us.”
“We are going to be wearing our uniforms during the sightseeing, and sleeping with the gym ones, you know?”
“But we can wear personal clothes during free hours, right?”
“I plan to just wear my uniform during that time too…”
“Neither teacher Cortina nor I will allow that!”

Due to that, I was made to accompany her on the shopping and had to run around downtown. As always, Letina’s mother, Eliza, wasn’t with us. I suppose that showed how much she trusted me.

“Ms. Eliza is staying home today as well?”
“Mother has been invited to the Duke Ainy’s tea party.
“Lord Duke, huh…”

In Raum, Duke was the title given to someone related to the royal family. In other words, they were Maxwell’s blood relatives and also the leaders of the kingdom. When someone like that invited you, you couldn’t refuse unless you had some emergency.

“Ah, these shoes are so cute!”

Letina didn’t pay attention to my wonder and was busy admiring some shoes. Was she planning to take shoes too…?

“Do you plan to switch your shoes too over there? Your luggage is growing too big, you know?”
“T-This much should be alright!”
“I can see your cold sweat”

Imagining how massive her luggage was going to be, Letina broke into a cold sweat. The clothes she wanted to bring on a three-day trip required more than three cases.

“Even Maxwell will get angry, you know?”
“…I will wear them on another occasion.”

Being a huge fan of the Six Heroes, that one sentence was enough to make her give up. I was part of those Heroes too, so I felt quite conflicted about her reaction.

The time passed like that and the day of departure arrived. During that period, Maxwell desperately tried to dodge Cortina’s investigation. But it was quite weird for him to suddenly teleport away the moment he saw Cortina.

Even Cortina was unable to chase after him when he suddenly teleported away.

And now, the day of departure. Around 300 students were gathered in the schoolyard in the early morning, waiting to depart. This time, our destinations were different, so we couldn’t use the teleportation circle of the Adventurer’s Guild.

For that reason, Maxwell was going to be the one to cast it.

He was apparently planning to extend the scope of the “Portal Gate” and transfer a hundred students in one go to their destination. Frankly put, to magnify the range of what was by default a high-rank spell, was a waste of magic power you’d normally never even consider.

But Maxwell’s magic power was worthy of its name, as he was able to repeat that process three times.

“I’m so excited! I have never been to the Alecmarle Sword Kingdom.”
“It’s in the south, so the difference in climates is quite big.”
“Oh, have you been there before, Nicole?”
“Agh, I mean… I’ve simply heard that to be the case.”
“Ahh, Lord Lyell and Lady Maria must have visited it before.”
“Let’s leave it like that.”

In truth, we were rounded up for subjugating the Evil Dragon in the north, so we’ve never visited the Alecmarle Sword Kingdom of the south. It was just that I was raised there.

Cortina and I who conducted activities in that area were one thing, but I wasn’t sure if Maria, who has been born in the central Holy Tree Kingdom of Forneus, had ever visited it. Lyell was also southern-born, but his kingdom was a bit more south-west and was separated from the Sword Kingdom. I didn’t think he ever visited it either.

However, Maxwell who could use teleportation magic should have visited it before. Because, one of the conditions of teleportation magic was to “have visited the destination before”.

Letina was acting more gung-ho than usual, but looking closely, it seemed that she had put a flower-shaped brooch on her beret. Looks like she wanted to be dressed as stylishly as possible.

I on the other hand was in my usual uniform, with my usual sturdy boots. Kabby got on top of my beret that was part of the uniform.

I kept my luggage to a minimum so it stood out how little I had on me compared to the surrounding students.

“Okay, fourth years next. I will be following you to Alecmarle too.”
“Huuuuuuh!?”

Maxwell dropped the bomb right before the departure. I knew it beforehand so I wasn’t surprised. There was a reason for this.

We were planning to lodge in the capital of Alecmarle, Maleva. To fix my gauntlets, I was supposed to visit the blacksmith that lived in hiding in the mountains a few hours away from the capital.

However, I had some doubts about whether my stamina would last through solo mountain climbing. If Maxwell, who could teleport, accompanied me, my fears would go away.

“Wait a minute, Maxwell. Why haven’t I heard of this?”
“Because I kept it a secret. Is it not obvious?”
“Kept it a secret? You just kept running away! Besides, have you at least considered your lodging?”
“I can just return to Raum when I need it.”
“…Ah, right.”

Since he could use teleportation, he could just return to Raum to rest. There was no need for him to go out of his way and stay in Maleva.

“This is why teleportation users keep popping in and out wherever they please.”
“Even I wish to take a breather once in a while. My old bones are at their limit.”
“Well, that’s what you get for training Nicole on top of your director work. Lately, the public order has been quite hectic too, so I get that you are fatigued. But still, wouldn’t this just make the students needlessly nervous?”
“The pot calling the kettle black. You are also one of the Six Heroes, are you not?”
“There are no problems with me. The students are already used to seeing me.”

Indeed, since they saw Cortina on daily basis, their respect towards her as one of the Six Heroes was somewhat damped. They were, of course, respecting her, but they still treated her as they would any other teacher.

“At any rate, do not worry about me and just have fun.”
“Oh, come on!”

It was unreasonable to tell them not to be nervous when their director, who was also one of the Six Heroes, was accompanying them. Looking around, both the students and the teachers were looking tense. Then, I noticed something.

“Huh, where’s teacher Elliot?”

Elliot wasn’t among the teachers. And neither was Priscilla.

“Ah, he cannot accompany us today. Don’t you remember what happened recently? It would not be good for him to step foot where his guards won’t be able to follow.”
“I see…”

There were guards other than Priscilla in this city. But those guards would not be able to follow us to Alecmarle. Because of that, he had to withhold from accompanying us this time. This was a lucky outcome for me, too.

There was a possibility of him following me around and ruining my chance of getting my gauntlets repaired, after all.

“Well, I do feel bad for him… But can’t be helped.”

Elliot came to Raum through forceful means. Joining us on a sudden trip would be far too unreasonable.

And so, through Maxwell’s spell, we departed on our trip towards the Sword Kingdom of Alecmarle.