Camilla's Gift
Packing everything I needed took barely an hour.
I had a long road ahead of me, so hauling armfuls of clothes was out of the question. I settled on three sets of practical outfits and underclothes each, then stuffed the bag with only the essentials for travel. When I was done, the result was a single small pack—something I could have slung romantically from a wooden staff over my shoulder and set off like a wandering adventurer. Unfortunately, that particular brand of romance was beyond me.
Why? Because the journey from here to the kingdom alone would take a full two days by carriage. Even if I headed for the nearest city and used the teleport gate from there, reaching that city still meant six hours by coach. Walking on foot simply wasn’t an option.
“Hup.”
So I fastened the bundle securely to the end of my staff, then sat myself down on it. The moment I began circulating my mana, the staff rose slowly into the air. Flight magic—an advanced wind spell, one of the more difficult techniques out there. Being advanced magic, it burned through mana at a considerable rate; my maximum flight time was only about three hours. Still, at a steady twenty kilometers per hour in a straight line toward my destination, three hours was more than enough to reach the city.
As I lifted into the sky, Father waved from below, calling up to me.
“Elia! Always take care of yourself!”
“Yes, Father!”
“Write home at least once a week if every day is too much! And don’t slack on your magic training! If anything happens, call for me or your brother! And another thing—!”
“Darling! That’s enough!”
Father had been fretting nonstop ever since I finished packing and stepped out of the manor. His endless stream of warnings kept me from leaving, until Mother finally lost patience and smacked him across the back. That put an end to the longest parental lecture of the day. At last free to go, I waved down at my family looking up at me and called out,
“I’ll be off then! Stay healthy, all of you!”
“Travel safely!”
“You take care of yourself too, Elia!”
“Have a good trip, Elia!”
“You’d better not come back with a single scratch, you hear me?! Even one bruise and I’ll kill you myself!!”
Father, Mother, Henry, and finally Cheryl—snapping her farewell with that prim little pout of hers—sent me off. My body rose higher still, and once I reached open sky I leaned into the staff and shot forward.
Whooooosh—
The wind sliced past as I flew, winter’s bitter air stinging my ears. At the same time it washed clean through my lungs, crisp and fresh. I drew it in deep and stretched toward the distant speck of the city—toward the friend waiting for me in the royal palace, and toward the gift she had promised to give me.
“Elia!”
“Camilla!”
After flying to the city, riding the teleport gate into the kingdom, and finally taking a carriage to the palace, the long hours ended in the welcome sight of my friend’s face. I ran straight to her and caught her hands. The last time I had seen her—aside from today—had been roughly half a year ago. Camilla looked every bit as delighted as I felt, swinging our joined hands back and forth.
“Ahaha, it’s been far too long! Have you been well?”
“Yeah, I’ve been fine. What about you, Camilla?”
“Now that is an amusing question. If I am not well, how many citizens in this kingdom could possibly be?”
Fortunately she had already cleared the guest parlor of attendants, so I could speak casually with her without worry. Years ago she had told me to drop the formal speech, and the habit of talking to her in plain language had stuck. I had hoped that once I started using casual speech she would loosen her own register in return, but Camilla claimed the courtly phrasing was too deeply ingrained to change. And so our conversations had settled into this familiar, slightly mismatched rhythm.
“Elia, you said you would rest here for the day before leaving, did you not?”
“Yeah. This could turn into a pretty long trip, so heading out the same day feels a little rushed.”
We still hadn’t finished catching up after half a year apart; I could hardly just take the goods and go. No one else was racing after Elemental Stones either, so the journey wasn’t especially urgent. Leaving after only a few hours would have been no way to treat a friend. Once Camilla confirmed I was staying the night, she gave a light laugh.
“Heh. In that case, allow me to show you the things you asked for right away. If we start chatting I may very well forget about them entirely.”
“Oh, you already have everything ready?”
“But of course! Come, this way!”
She took my arm and pulled me over to a table in the parlor, then yanked away the cloth covering it with a flourish.
Flutter—
Beneath the cloth lay the items I had requested—gifts she had promised me—arranged in neat rows. The quality far exceeded anything I had expected, and my mouth fell open of its own accord.
“Uh… are you sure it’s okay to give me things this fine? I was only thinking of ordinary stuff.”
“Haha! How could I possibly send a dear friend off on her first journey with shabby trinkets? I brought these myself from the royal vault under my own name—use them as freely as you like!”
“From the vault?! No, even so—”
I had only wanted things easily bought at any mage’s shop. Hearing they had come from the royal vault made me look at her with open discomfort. Camilla only patted my back and told me not to worry.
“Use them however you please—even break them beyond repair if you must! Should anyone dare complain or make trouble over it, I will personally see that they never complain again!”
“Ah—no need to go as far as killing anyone… but if you’re really okay with it, then thank you, Camilla. I mean it.”
“Aha… between friends there’s no need for such stiff gratitude.”
“Still, saying thanks properly makes me feel better.”
Her insistence blew away the last of my hesitation, and I thanked her from the heart. That only made Camilla grow flustered in turn; she looked away, suddenly shy. I swallowed a small laugh and turned my attention back to the gifts. If she was going to insist that hard, the best way to honor her kindness was simply to accept them and use them well.
I examined the items one by one. The first thing my hand settled on was a violet robe finished in unmistakably luxurious material.
“Ah, that one is a robe woven with powdered Black Dragon scales. It possesses exceptionally high mana repulsion.”
“Black Dragon… the one that attacked the kingdom years ago?”
“Precisely. The current Magic Tower Master and the kingdom’s Sword Master barely managed to bring it down together. Its corpse was put to many uses, but the scales in particular make superb armor—enough for several dozen robes like this one.”
“This’ll be a huge help. Even a stray spell from a blind angle shouldn’t be a big problem.”
A robe made with powdered Black Dragon scales. As if to prove her words, the neutral mana I carefully fed into it sprang back the moment it touched the fabric, like a spring recoiling. Against other mages it would shrug off a great deal of damage from any unexpected spell that came out of nowhere. Of course it wasn’t pure scale plate—only a portion ground to powder and dissolved into the weave—so it didn’t possess a true dragon’s full repulsion. Even so, that level of protection alone made it a treasure rarely found anywhere ordinary.
“Oh, it’s enchanted with resizing magic too?”
When I unfolded the robe and draped it over myself, the hem that had dragged on the floor shrank neatly to fit my frame. The fabric even breathed well; though it covered most of my upper and lower body, a cool breeze still passed through. Growing more pleased by the second, I smoothed the robe once more and turned to the rest of the gifts.
There was a belt perfect for holding various magical tools, a spoon that could detect poison in food, a necklace artifact with automatic temperature regulation attuned to the surrounding air plus a once-a-day protective ward, and even a pair of shoes that let the wearer glide through the air for a short while. I looked over each piece useful for travel and equipped them one after another. When I had finished examining everything, one final item remained alone on the table.
“At last… this.”
The moment I saw it, my hands trembled of their own accord as I carefully traced its body.
Sss—
A clean, elegant shaft of mithril without a single flaw. Where it should have gleamed silver, a heavy, dense layer of jet-black lacquer covered it completely. Only the mouthpiece shone with refined gold, and at its tip was a small opening for packing something in—a pipe.
I lifted it with almost reverent care. Watching me, Camilla let out a short snort of laughter.
“That fond of it, are you? Honestly, Count Edgar would be furious if he saw this. His own daughter secretly acquiring a pipe so she can smoke Mana Herb.”
“Ahaha, that’s exactly why I asked you for it. Father’s just too strict. Smoking Mana Herb may be illegal on paper, but pretty much every mage starts in their teens.”
“Well, you’re not wrong. So? Does the pipe suit your taste? I had a renowned craftsman of our kingdom make it specially.”
“I love it. Really. The absorption rate for Mana Herb feels better than most pipes I’ve seen.”
At that, Camilla drew a bright blue Mana Herb from her sleeve as if inviting me to try it.
“This is a water-element Mana Herb. Why not smoke it yourself?”
“Oh—then I’ll gladly—”
The Mana Herb she handed me was flawless: not a single withered spot, and so saturated with water element that the mana was almost visible. For a first-ever inhalation, it was top-grade without a single complaint. I packed it carefully into the pipe, then coated the herb with a thread of water element shaped from my own mana.
“Sss…”
A light draw on the pipe, and my mana unraveled the perfect natural lattice of elements inside the herb, releasing a soft plume of smoke. Mixed into the breath I pulled in came the fresh water element of the Mana Herb. Unlike ordinary tobacco, nothing entered the lungs except pure natural elements that the body absorbed at once; no cough followed. The water element simply spread through me, gently raising both my mana reserves and my understanding of the water element—the natural result of taking pure elemental essence into oneself.
Camilla watched, then gave me a thumbs-up as though the sight pleased her.
“Have you been practicing in secret? You look completely natural.”
“Ahaha… it’s not that hard to begin with.”
“Still, with all that gear on you finally look like a real mage. Everything’s brand-new, so the seasoned air isn’t quite there yet, but still.”
“Well, I am still a beginner, after all. That experience is something I’ll have to build from here on.”
I nodded in agreement. Until now I had been a flower raised inside a greenhouse—someone who had never truly known the outside world. But I had spent long years growing stronger, and by my own choice I had kicked the greenhouse door open. From this moment forward it was time to gather all the experience I had been missing.
“Finally… tomorrow is the start.”
And tomorrow would come. Tomorrow would be the day that announced the beginning of my new journey—a historic day.