But this was their little secret among the three ladies, and Moli wouldn’t let a fourth person know.
Fisher donned his gentleman’s hat and hand cane, and after Moli had securely stored her textbooks, he called for a carriage at the door and they headed for the city.
Purchasing magic materials, of course, wasn’t going to be funded by Fisher’s own money. The Academic Affairs Office had approved a sum of public funding for Fisher because of this matter, amounting to a few thousand Nali euros, which was more than enough for the materials required for this course.
Seeing that the reimbursement amount was sufficient, Fisher had also planned to go to the magic market in Saint Nali this time to find some treasures that could be used. He hadn’t had the chance to visit due to other matters before and had no time for engraving magic. Recently, after finishing reading the Soul Completion Manual, he felt his magic power had grown substantially and couldn’t wait to try his hand at engraving some new magic.
In the carriage, Fisher and Moli maintained a very polite distance, sitting quietly with closed eyes, perfectly still.
Moli was initially a bit reserved, but seeing that Professor Fisher closed his eyes and paid her no mind, she grew curious and sat next to the window, gazing at the passing landscape outside.
Windmills with large four-leaf fans, tidy and orderly ridges, classical buildings of the church-type, and newly constructed avant-garde structures — these diverse scenes captured her attention, making her want to remember every detail in her mind and share them with her mother later, as surely the sea floor had none of these.
"You rarely leave the school to enter the city?"
Just as she looked at the scenery outside with a smile, Fisher’s voice startled her. Panicking, she lifted her head to look at Fisher, but forgetting she was leaning on the window to look outside, she clumsily bumped her head against the window.
She painfully covered her head, retracting back into the carriage, looking quite pitiful. This series of rather unintelligent actions nearly made Fisher laugh, but he suspected that laughing out loud might embarrass Moli to no end. So, he very gentlemanly held back his laughter and simply watched her quietly, nursing her head to ease the pain.
"Sorry... I really haven’t left school much before, and besides, the school is far from the city, I wouldn’t know how to navigate there."
"So, you’re not from Saint Nali? Which hometown do you hail from?"
Fisher’s expression unchanged, seemed to be making casual conversation, breaking the awkwardness brought about by her clumsy behavior moments earlier.
"Ah, I’m from Celekang Port... I’m not one of the Saint Nali people, just came here to study..."
Celekang Port, the port city closest to Saint Nali, was also where the Royal Fleet docked. There, in addition to generations of fishermen who fished, lay Nali’s largest naval barracks.
If she wasn’t from Saint Nali, it made sense why she, an ocean subhuman, could naturally get admitted into the university. Because at its inception, to attract enough students, Saint Nali University had conducted a special recruitment across the Nali National, where those who performed well in the extremely rigorous examinations in various cities could also gain admission.
Not just Moli, but many impoverished yet exceptional children had also accessed the capital’s educational resources through this examination. In this sense, Ken had indeed kept his promise when he came out of seclusion: to build a relatively equal educational temple. It was also why the academic atmosphere at Saint Nali University was quite good.
Fisher didn’t press further. He guessed that Moli had come ashore at Celekang Port, but Saint Nali itself was a coastal city, yet she did not directly come here, indicating that ocean subhumans’ knowledge of land was not very deep.
He had already gotten a rough idea about this situation from Lingna and was just confirming it here to avoid any misconceptions due to Lingna’s mere age of eight.
"By the way, the magic market we’re going to is very crowded, and many magic materials are naturally grown in the wild or by the sea. Although there are quite a few companies that harvest uniformly, there are also many hunters and fishermen from outside the city. It will be crowded and complicated later, so remember to stay close to me."
Moli bit her lip nervously, as if preparing for battle. Although it wasn’t as terrifying as that, it was fine for her to be cautious.
The carriage passed through many streets and finally stopped at the other end of Snake Head Street, in front of a pedestrian street overflowing with people.
The carriage driver, looking troubled, opened the door and said to Fisher inside,
"Sir, the magic market is very crowded today, and the carriage can’t squeeze through anymore, I can only stop here."
"No problem, we’ll walk there."
Fisher paid him, then stepped out first with his hand cane and hat. Down by the carriage, he looked at Moli, who was observing the surroundings. People of all sorts were coming and going, many wearing ethnic apparel — fishermen and hunters, as well as numerous individuals in black robes of Kado, though it was unclear if they truly came from Kado.
Because Kado was considered the birthplace of magic, in markets related to magic , it wasn’t uncommon to see imposters pretending to be Kado people to sell magic items.
They would use mysterious pitches to boast about their products’ effects, only for the buyer to release them and find out they got nothing but air, feeling completely swindled. By the time they wanted to go back and find them, they were nowhere to be found.
For a moment, Moli was dazzled by the hustle and bustle, a bit overwhelmed by the lively chaos. But beside her, Fisher, having already stepped out of the carriage, was calmly offering her his hand,
"Assistant teacher Moli, come on down."
Moli politely took hold of Fisher’s sleeve and stepped down from the carriage slowly, taking a deep breath to adapt to her new role as a student assistant for the first time.
Come on, Moli! You can do it!
She thought to herself, silently easing the mix of nervousness and excitement bubbling inside her.