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372. Whip You Into Shape
🕑 Added 2025-04-24 14:00:37 +0000 UTCScar led them down the hallway. Ike followed, with Wisp close at heel and Mag trailing behind, taking all the shiny things in with big eyes. Both Ike and Wisp had tattered clothes, a stark contrast to Scar’s complete and neat outfit. But then, we’ve been wandering around outside. All we need is a change of clothes and we’re good to go, right? What more can there be? Ike wondered silently. Scar had sure acted like there was a lot to it, but how much could there really be to attending a ball? Dancing, he supposed. But surely Rank 3 mages like himself and the others would have no problem with a little dancing. Teach him the steps, and he’d be able to instantly replicate them with verve and grace unlike any mortal. He really doubted that mage balls involved dances so complicated that mages couldn’t handle them; his impression of mage balls and banquets, admittedly gained mostly at a distance, was that they weren’t that different from mortal balls and banquets. He’d even been to a few banquets, to include at Clarina’s village and during the King’s trial, and his experience had been mostly that he ate a meal, but in a fancy manner. Maybe he hadn’t been the ideal banquet participant, but it wasn’t like he’d done anything insane, or anyone else had done anything insane.
So what on earth is Scar on about?
They walked past a window, and Ike peeked out. To his surprise, they had a grand view of the city from wherever that mysterious door had taken them. The twisting streets laid out below them, the jumbled streets of the city and clustered rooves like a colorful, overgrown garden from on high. He glanced at Scar. “That door-teleport technique is a neat trick. Can I learn that skill? Fight a teleporting monster for it, maybe?”
“Huh? Oh… sorry. It’s a variant of Wizard’s Tower, sometimes called the Wizard’s Moving Tower or the Roaming Castle. We can only use it because one of our supporters is ingrained in this city,” Scar explained.
“Oh… wait, this is a Wizard’s Tower?” Ike asked, shocked. He knew mages could use Wizard’s Tower to change the settings around them; Shopkeep had used it often enough to change the walls of his castle around in an attempt to trap them. Or, well, Lord Nors did… same difference. “How much of the city do they control?”
Scar chuckled. “She only controls the properties she owns. It’s a surprising chunk of the city, but nowhere near the true expanses a Wizard’s Tower can control.”
“Got it.”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “Where did you encounter a Wizard’s Tower? It’s a rare spell, and only known by the more reclusive mages, usually. I thought you were wandering the wilds.”
“I was. I ran into a mage who used Wizard’s Tower on his entire city,” Ike explained.
“Oh… anyone I would know?”
“Lord Nors?” Ike asked.
Scar’s brows furrowed. “Lord Nors has a Wizard’s Tower? He never struck me as the type. Usually people with Wizard’s Tower spend all their time inside, so that they have nothing better to do than invest their mana into their homes. Lord Nors was a pretty outgoing guy, deeply invested in his community. He rarely spent any time indoors, let alone long enough to forge a Wizard’s Tower… or at least, he was the last time I passed by his city.”
“It’s complicated. And also, he goes by Shopkeep now.”
“Shopkeep…? Did he keep a shop?” she muttered, half to herself.
“Like I said. Complicated.”
They reached the end of the long hallway, and Scar opened the door to yet another new mansion. White walls, carved with a profusion of wildflowers and roses, opened to huge arched windows that sunlight streamed through. White marble floors shone in the golden sunlight. Outside the windows, an expansive garden filled a courtyard so wide it could have held most of Ike’s uncle’s sprawling house within it. It was summer, but spring flowers abounded in the garden, swaying on a wind Ike hadn’t felt the last time he’d been outside.
“She’s just up ahead. It’ll be tough, but please follow everything she asks of you. It’s the only way you’ll be able to blend in to high society,” Scar plead with them.
“We came all the way here. We’ll do our best,” Ike said.
“Yeah. We can handle it,” Wisp said.
Mag bounced over. “What are we doing? I’ll beat all of you at it, whatever it is.”
On Ike’s shoulder, Shawn blinked awake for the first time in a long time. “You’re trying to teach these idiots high society?”
“We have to,” Scar said seriously.
Shawn snorted. “Good luck.” He turned to Ike. “What are we doing here?”
“A lot has happened, but ultimately, we’re worried Brightbriar is brewing some kind of super giga ultimate mage in Rosamund, his daughter, via the prince,” Ike explained.
Shawn thought for a second. He raised his brows. “Huh. We should probably stop that.”
“Yeah, that’s what we said,” Ike agreed.
“Good. Wake me up for the circus. I wanna see you feral animals get trained.” Shawn settled back down to sleep.
“Hey, now. Don’t be discriminatory because we’re not mountains,” Ike complained.
Shawn shook his head, eyes already closed.
“Oh, is that kid a mountain?” Scar asked, startled. “I’ve never met a mountain spirit before.”
Ike raised his brows. Shawn perked up a bit. Wisp glanced over, making aggressive eye contact with Ike. Mag bobbled along, eyes big, head banging as he walked, totally oblivious to the world.
“Hey, Scar. How’s Vi doing since the trial? I remember you two became close friends in the trial, didn’t you?” Ike asked casually.
“Huh? Oh, she’s doing fine.”
“Oh yeah?” Ike asked. He drew his sword. Beside him, Wisp faded back, retreating to the side. Mag looked up, confused and slightly startled, but nonetheless ready to fight as aether flared around his hands.
Scar whirled. “What? Is there an enemy?”
“Yep,” Ike said, and charged at her.
