“Yes” came the unflinching answer from Elric.

“Very well then, I accept you as my student.” Victor promptly declared.

And thus, Elric became the only student of Victor. This naturally meant that whatever bills he owed to the grocer was written off as a part of Elric’s “dues”. From then on whenever Victor had need for something from the grocer, Elric would be the one to get it. 

Elric’s father had always been deeply confused why Victor wasn’t a merchant rather than a magus. He had the aptitude for being an unscrupulous merchant in any case.

It became Elric’s daily ritual to stop by his master’s place early in the morning to clean up and at night to drag his master back from the tavern. Sometimes, he’d run an errand to the grocer, but those were fortunately just for a few necessities rather than frivolous things. Elric still had plenty of free time to himself.

There were a few times Elric believed that his master was a vampire of some kind. Rather than waking up in the morning like most, Victor would rise from his bed when the sun was setting. Even then, the first thing his master did was set out for Todd’s tavern for a drink. Uncle Todd was the only other person aside from Elric’s father that was willing to sell to Victor in the town. The difference between Todd and the grocer was the fact that Todd had actually liked Victor and never asked for the magus to pay what he owed. In fact, the tavern was quite often the place where Victor would sleep prior to Elric becoming his student. Naturally, Victor had the experience of sleeping on the dusty road as well. 

But now that Elric was his student, Victor had a safe and consistent passage back home to his bed. In the beginning, Elric would hoist his master onto his back to carry. This was an unfortunate decision which usually resulted in him getting puked on. Now, Elric settled with just dragging his master on the road. If he puked, then he puked on himself. 

Elric wasn’t without any magical instructions, but Victor’s teaching style was for the most part just “independent study.” He never taught Elric any aspect of the craft. He mostly just threw book after book at Elric telling him to memorize the invocations and meditate.

Rote memorization was one of Elric’s better talents, and so memorizing the invocations and learning the meditation methods took a very short amount of time for him. He even experimented a few times to see what it was like, but he was never able to cast any spells.

Finally, his master had been sober enough for once when Elric had asked him about a problem with using magic. The answer had been heart-stomping. As it turned out, Elric wasn’t suited to learning magic in the first place. That was because in this world, the majority of the magic used by magi relied upon the magus gathering mana to control and bind elements in a way to cast a spell. The stronger they were and their focus, the faster the elements would bend to their will. Their connection to the elements would be greater and their control over it would be even more accurate. For that reason, there were Acolytes, Neophytes, Journeymen, Adepts, Archmagi, Magisters, and Archmagisters.

Maguscraft is an arcane art, one not every person was capable of learning. People with below-average mana were amongst those unsuitable—the majority of people in the world hadn’t the proper capacity for spellcasting, in fact. Then there were also another group of people incapable of the art. Those without focus or lacked the right mindset to properly cast magic. Elric belonged in this second category.

Elric hadn’t been too discouraged despite knowing the fact. His dream, after all, was to inherit his father’s position and be owner of a grocery store. Maguscraft wasn’t at all a skill necessary for a grocer to know, so lacking the talent for it wasn’t too huge a blow. Still, Elric wasn’t going to tell his father that he still wanted to continue practicing it for the sake of preserving his tranquil lifestyle.

His mentor didn’t rise early often, but there would always be a single day of the month where the older man would freshen himself up, much to Elric’s surprise. The monthly gathering of the Circle of Magi, the day when the man received his monthly stipend. On those days, his mentor would happily step to the second floor of the library where a portal would easily transport him to the closest branch. 

Normally this was an all-day affair. Once the man was gone, Elric wouldn’t expect him back until the sun began to set. But today, the sun wasn’t even at its highest point yet when the elder magus came back.

Why had he come back so soon? The Circle of Magi had yet to even break bread yet! The Kingdom always made sure to prepare a fine banquet for the magi out of respect and gratitude for their work; that was even the primary reason for Victor’s going every month!

“Master, why have you returned so early? Was the banquet canceled?” Elric had asked curiously.

“Quickly now. Clean up and come with me.” His master had given a brief order.

“But….”

“Don’t dawdle. You can ask whatever you want to know on the road later. Hurry up and pack.”

“How many days will we be gone for?”

“Don’t know. Prepare enough for a while. Hurry up now.”

At his master’s urging, Elric ran out the door through the streets to get back home.

Seeing his son come running home in a hurry, Elric’s father had instantly left his customer to greet his son.

“What happened?” His father had asked with worry. Ever since his son had begun to follow that scoundrel of a magus, he had always worried something would happen one day.

“Oh….no, dad… Don’t worry….I’m fine….I’m just here to gather a few things. Master is going to take me somewhere.” Elric hadn’t even waited for his breath to come back before answering so as to ease his father’s concern.

“Where are you going?” His father asked.

“I don’t know. Master didn’t say where or how long. He only told me to prepare adequately.” Elric told his father all that he knew, but he himself didn’t know much in the first place either. After finishing up his words, Elric began to mind his business and started to pack.

Seeing that there was nothing else he could ask, his father could only help his son pack up. It had been fortunate that Savana received many travelers. The grocery had many essentials for traveling and supplies. It didn’t take long before they had gathered all that they needed.

Upon carrying his luggage out, Elric didn’t have much, but it was enough to deal with most common traveling problems such as traveling through the desert or deep in the mountains. Elric had never traveled before, but after helping his father with the store for so long, he had talked with many travelers before. At the very least, he was a specialist in picking out the right supplies for a traveling trip. Elric stood by the doorway to the store and put down his luggage. He turned around to bid his father farewell. Seeing his son leave, Elric’s father suddenly had the feeling that his son would be forever leaving him and the store. The son in front of him had always been a traveler at heart. The scope of a grocery store was simply not enough to hold him down.

Picking up his luggage, Elric ran back to his master’s laboratory. 

“Lock the doors and come up to the second floor.” His master’s voice called out from the floor above.

With an apprehensive heart, Elric walked up to the laboratory on the second floor.

There was a transportation magical array on the second floor with five disks made from bronze in the center.

Master Victor was sitting on one of the disks. Pointing at the one to his side, he waved Elric over. “Come here and sit down.”

Elric sat down like his master. In the instant that he sat down, an otherworldly sensation suddenly arose in him. His surroundings seemed to have gone still for that moment before countless images came flying past him. Oceans, deserts, alpines, forests, cities, and wastelands. Elric seemed like he was flying through all of the many different sceneries, the colors began to blur and the images began to distort. From sunset to sunrise, from icy mountains to glaciers….

Elric didn’t know how much time had passed before the illusions had cleared away from his mind.

“How do you feel now?” His master had been watching him attentively and asked Elric the very moment he saw the younger male wake.