The convoy finally left Camelot castle. Among those who departed were Emery, Morgana, Arthur, Sir Gawain and Gaious, the old magician, accompanied by a dozen other knights.
Previously, the king had prepared over a hundred knights, including a dozen belonging to the gold and silver tiers, to come along for the journey. But of course, Arthur dismissed the idea. Over a hundred men crossing the Logress border and entering the Forbidden Forest could be interpreted as an act of aggression, not just from the Fey people, but also the Lioness.
To ensure there wouldn't be any trouble, Arthur sent a bird messenger to the Lioness King with a letter regarding his visit.
When Emery went with the princess, the passage between both kingdoms took four days. Without the carriage and less rest, however, they could arrive at Venta Town in two.
He silently wished he could simply utilize his [Spatial Gate] spell to instantly return to Lioness. With the added pressure of unfinished business with Gwen, he wanted things settled as soon as possible.
Despite his restlessness to complete this mission, he thought back to all the misfortune that had occurred when he left Morgana before. He couldn't help but feel protective towards her, especially concerning this matter. Hopefully he could stop worrying about her after she was safely delivered back home.
One less girl to worry about. That just left one more for him to take care of.
It had been over a week since he was transported to Luna Quintis by the princess. She should have long returned to the palace by now, frantically busying herself in the aftermath of the Cantiaci attack.
Emery breathed in a long, exasperated sigh. He wondered what she thought about the current state of things — now that she knew his true identity, what would she ultimately decide?
If his identity was revealed to the Lioness king and Fantumar, he would only have more trouble on his plate.
But more than that, what he really worried about was what she thought of him. What her perception of him was and whether or not it had changed, now that she knew he was still alive.
Once again, Emery drew in a deep sigh. He really had to stop worrying about these matters and shift his focus to training.
"Young wizard, you seem to be facing a lot of trouble," uttered an aged, croaking voice beside him. It couldn't be anyone else than the old magician, Gaious, who happened to ride next to him.
"You can just call me Merlin." Emery silently thanked him for the distraction from his whirling thoughts.
"Great! And you can call me Gaious. Or "old man" like you did before is also fine," he chuckled, a friendly glint twinkling in his eye.
Emery slipped out a slight laugh. "Alright, Gaious. I also like to apologize for my previous behavior."
"What behavior? Ah, forgive me, this old man has really got some memory problems. hahaha."
There was an ease to Emery and Gaious' conversation. The cordial warmth that was so natural to the old man's character invited others to befriend him.
Emery used this as an opportunity to ask the old man about magic, how he came to learn it and information on all the other wizards he knew.
In Gaious' case, apparently, his abilities had stemmed from pure talent. Coming from a well-educated background, he was heavily involved in the apothecary association before discovering his magical abilities at the age of 35.
With his newfound gifts, he poured himself into an extensive amount of practice and experimentation, in line with his thorough, bookish nature. It took him years before he was able to cast even the most basic plant and fire magic spells.
Emery found it amazing the aging magician was self-taught. He curiously ruminated on the magician's aptitude in the two elements of his specialty.
Gaious also told him he knew about a dozen wizards, as well as others who possessed magical abilities.
Including Emery and him, Briton now had 5 known wizards. The other three included the court magicians of Norgales, Iceni and Demetae. They would sometimes meet one another every few years.
"All of them are old men like me, Emery… the youngest is Frayne from Iceni, who is in his mid-40s."
"What about the others? You said you knew a dozen?"
Gaious explained that the island across Briton had shamans and there were others he met during his travels to Rome. They held different titles, but they all knew and understood the secrets of spirit energy.
Hearing this, Emery felt an ache bloom inside his chest. He missed his four friends. He wondered how they were doing, as the group rushed past the countryside.
After two days of continuous travel, they finally set foot in Venta Town. News of their arrival spread quickly, the townspeople began to chatter endlessly about the newcomers. Soon enough the cobbled streets were filled with whispers about the royal party. All the citizens of Venta emerged from their houses, craning their necks out of their windows just to catch a glimpse of the golden prince of Logress.
It was late by the time they reached their destination, so Emery decided to bring them to the Quintin's estate to retire for the night. When they arrived, a group was already assembled in front of the gate, as if standing in wait. A few familiar faces emerged, Luna and Kastan were among them. He was surprised to see a few Lioness knights propped readily beside them.
"Probably a party sent by the king to welcome this Logress envoy," he thought.
But he quickly realized he recognized all of them. They were the few that came with him to Logress for the tournament. To his shock, he saw Golden Knight Yvain in the midst of the crowd.
Luna cautiously approached him, her brows furrowed in clear confusion. Leaning into his ear, she began to whisper.
"Merlin, how come you came with them?"
"Luna, what do you mean?"
Luna looked at him, her expression twisting into a puzzled incredulity. She began to stammer out, "We... we were still waiting for your news… It's been 7 days, Merlin. We even thought you were dead."
"We... Who's we?"
From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of golden hair — his heart immediately started to thump faster in his chest, as a beautiful girl walked through the door of the estate. It was Princess Gwenneth of the Lioness.
Their eyes locked, hundreds of questions rushing through both their minds.