Early in the morning, a horse-drawn carriage departed from Mamy Restaurant and traveled toward the northern part of the city.

  Amy held Ugly Duckling in her arms with an excited look on her face. She turned to Mag, and asked, “Father, are we really going to Rodu today? Teacher Luna told me that it’s a city with only humans living in it, and that there’s a lot of super tasty food there.”


  Mag nodded with a smile, and replied, “That’s right, it’s a large city, and it’s predominantly inhabited by humans. However, when it comes to tasty food, I can cook whatever you want to eat, and I guarantee you that it’ll be better than anything that anyone else makes.”


  A conflicted look appeared on Amy’s face as she proposed, “But I want to eat lots and lots of super tasty food; will you be able to cook all of it for me, Father? How about I take you out to eat in Rodu and when we find something delicious, you can make it for me.”


  “Do you still have a secret stash of money, Amy?” Mag turned to Amy with a smile. Hadn’t she given all of her money to Luna a few days ago?

  “Yes, I still have a copper coin. I picked it up on the way home with Master Krassu yesterday. I offered him half, but he didn’t take it, so it’s all mine now.” Amy opened her little hand to reveal a shiny copper coin sitting on her palm.

  “Meow~”


  Ugly Duckling sidled over to Amy and licked her little hand while looking up at her with a fawning expression.

  “Don’t even think about it, Ugly Duckling. You’re not allowed to eat anything at night from now on, and you’re not allowed to have meat, either. If you keep getting fatter like this, the entire carriage is going to get crushed by you.” Amy looked down at Ugly Duckling with a firm expression

  “Meow~”


  Ugly Duckling lowered its head in a pitiable manner.

  “Did Master Krassu say anything during your lessons yesterday?” Mag asked with a smile.

  “He praised me; he told me that I’m comparable to him when he was my age.” Amy nodded, and hesitated momentarily before continuing, “But I feel like he was belittling me by saying that.”


  “You didn’t tell Master Krassu that, did you?” Mag asked with an amused expression.

  “I didn’t say it to him.” Amy shook her head before murmuring, “But as I was saying it to myself, he overheard me, and he coughed up some blood from one of his old injuries.”


  “You’re lucky that’s all that happened to him.” Mag shook his head with a smile. Anyone who wanted to teach his daughter had to have a high tolerance threshold.

  Amy’s eyes suddenly lit up as she said, “Oh, right, Master Krassu also said that he’ll be going to Rodu tomorrow as well. He asked me to come with him, but I refused.”


  “Krassu is also going to Rodu?” Mag was rather surprised to hear this.

  “That’s right. Master Krassu must be worried that I’ll fall behind with my lessons, so he’s coming to Rodu with me. Master Urien is much better; he never even gives me any homework.”


  “Come to think of it, the lessons in the next few days are all with Master Krassu. It seems that our breaks always coincide with his lessons. His luck always seems to be worse than Urien’s.” Mag shook his head with a smile. If Krassu was also going to Rodu, then this trip would be made a lot safer. There was no way that Krassu would allow any harm to come to Amy, so Mag wouldn’t have to worry about Amy, and could focus on doing his own things.

  The horse-drawn carriage traveled for almost an hour before stopping at the city gates.

  Mag got off the carriage while carrying Amy in his arms, and the coach driver began to unload their luggage.

  “Wow, look, Father! There’s a really big bird over there!”


  Before Mag even had a chance to look for Cayrols, Amy was already pointing to her left with an excited expression on her face.

  Mag turned toward that direction, and discovered a black bird with a wingspan of over 30 meters lying on the empty plot of land beside the city wall. Even in that position, it was still around three to four meters tall, making it appear as if it were a parked plane.

  The bird resembled a falcon, but it wasn’t as sharp and wild. The top of its massive head was completely flat as if it had been chopped into a level surface by a colossal cleaver.

  Its blue eyes appeared to be quite gentle, and its head was lowered as it dined on a type of fist-sized beans.

  This was a common type of flying steed on the Norland Continent, the Flathead Falcon. It wasn’t extremely fast, but it was quite gentle and docile, and could carry an immense amount of weight during flight. It was the number one transportation steed for wealthy individuals.

  Mag wasn’t unfamiliar with this type of massive bird, but he was still slightly stunned upon seeing one in person.

  There were many seats and luggage crates fixed on the bird’s back and wings, and a ladder had been slanted onto its body, being used by the manual laborers down below to carry luggage onto the bird’s back.

  Cayrols stood beside the large bird, wearing a smile on his face as he conversed with what appeared to be two officials from the city lord’s castle. Upon catching sight of Mag and Amy, he waved a hand to acknowledge them before returning to his conversation.

  Beside him was his son, Ryan, who wore a dejected look on his face. He faltered slightly upon seeing Mag, and an enraged look appeared on his face as he clenched his fists.

  Mag could naturally see what Ryan was doing. He had no recollection of the ambassador’ son, nor was he aware why this Ryan seemed to resent him so intensely. He made a mental note to himself to be wary of this man, but he didn’t really pay him much heed. He had seen many snobbish young masters like him in his past life, and all of them enjoyed bullying the weak, but cowered in the face of confrontation.

  Mag was about to carry Amy over to the massive bird when a horse-drawn carriage stopped near him. The curtain on the carriage was drawn open, and a woman in a gray cotton dress emerged from within.

  “Ms. Luna?”


  “Teacher Luna!”


  “Mr. Mag, Amy!”


  The three of them exclaimed almost in unison.

  Mag was looking at Luna with a hint of surprise on his face, while Amy wore an elated expression.

  Luna disembarked from the horse-drawn carriage, and explained, “Mr. Mag, I heard that you’re going with Ambassador Cayrols to Rodu, so I requested a flying steed to travel to Rodu with you. The debate about the decimal system has reached a crucial juncture, so please make the time to see my grandfather when you get to Rodu.”


  Mag looked into Luna’s genuine eyes, and nodded with a smile as he said, “I’ll have to trouble you to introduce me to your grandfather, Ms. Luna.”


  “Thank you.” A smile appeared on Luna’s face.

  “Yay! Teacher Luna is also coming with us to Rodu!” Amy jumped down from Mag’s arms with a joyful smile, and she held onto Luna’s hand with one hand while holding onto Ugly Duckling with the other.

  Cayrols’ conversation with the two officials of the city lord’s castle drew to a conclusion, and the officials began to make their way over to the city gates before stopping beside Mag. One of them was Dicus, and he smiled as he extended a hand toward Mag. “Mr. Mag, I wish you a safe and enjoyable journey.”


  “Thank you.” Luna shook Dicus’ hand with a smile on his face.

  “Mr. Mag, Ms. Luna.” Cayrols nodded at Mag and Luna before turning to Mag with a smile as he said, “You really are a hot commodity, Mr. Mag; even City Lord Michael told me that I have to bring you back to Chaos City in five days.”


  “I’m flattered that the city lord thinks so much of me.” Mag smiled, but didn’t offer an explanation.

  Cayrols didn’t pry into the issue any further, either. He glanced down at his watch before nodding as he said, “It’s about time for us to set off now.”


  “Alright.”


  Mag carried Amy and climbed up the ladder with Luna onto the bird’s back. All three of them were led to front-row seats that were close to the bird’s head.

  “Ugly Duckling, we aren’t even flying yet, why are you trembling?” Amy sat beside Mag with a disdainful expression as she looked at Ugly Duckling that had buried its head into her arms and was trembling uncontrollably. “You’ll never become a white swan like this!”


  “Come on, Ryan, let’s go. The Moreton Family hasn’t given us a definite rejection, so I’ll contact them again once we get back to Rodu. As a man, you have to realize that patience is crucial when trying to accomplish something important.” Cayrols patted Ryan’s shoulder before boarding the massive bird.

  Ryan’s eyes lit up, and he also climbed onto the bird’s back.

  After all of the passengers and luggage were securely in place, Cayrols announced, “Take-off! Target: Rodu!”


  The massive bird spread open its wings and rose directly into the air!