After the soldiers had rested and we had ransa— I mean, resupplied at the Fort, we departed, leaving behind a few 'gifts' for the Empire soldiers. This time, Phildina was the one carrying the tent, soaring through the skies at top speeds toward our next target. At first, she was opposed to the idea.

  "An enemy Sniper or Machinist with a Ballista could shoot me down if they're skilled enough, and the Empire could have other high-level fliers on patrol. It's simply too dangerous!" She protested, but I chose that moment to reveal a key fact that changed her perspective on things,

  "Don't worry. The Wujia will be helping us."

  "The Wujia?! How? When? W-what did you do?" She asked, barely able to contain her surprise.

  "The chieftain hates the Empire, so she proposed an alliance immediately after we conquered Fort Zaraban," I expined while leaving out some important details. "She left an illusion of us behind and shrouded us in mist so we wouldn't be discovered!"

  "How come?" She asked, looking around until... "Oh, I see it now!" She excimed.

  "Yep, it's faint enough to not be noticeable," I expined. She swore we wouldn't be found, but there was no need for that, as I'd already come to trust in her strange abilities. She's clearly among the most powerful individuals in this world, so I'll have to tread carefully with her, I admonished myself. But that was the general gist of what went down.

  Currently, we were in the tent with nothing to do but wait until she arrived at the Imperial Cathedral. Why was I targeting the Cathedral? It was simple. News like this would spread like wildfire and attract even more attention from the Empire, which was our primary goal in all of this. Of course, there were other reasons, but...

  "What are you doing?" I asked Lucia out of the blue. I'd been watching her read the Earth Tome for some time while thinking about the operation ahead of us.

  "I'm memorizing the spells," She expined, seemingly absorbed by the contents of the Tome. Magic is still rgely a mystery to me, so I could kill some time by asking her about it.

  "How does magic work exactly? Would you be able to cast spells without your Tomes?"

  "No," She answered, stopping to look at me this time. "It's complicated, but all that we essentially have is an aptitude for magic, without which becoming Mages or wielding Tomes would be impossible." Interesting...

  "So, the Tomes are what truly contain the magic?"

  "Yes," She answered confidently.

  "What about your magic stat, then? How does that come into py?"

  "Cadenza's Magical Aptitude Theory is the leading theory in the field that best expins the retionship between Mages and the Tomes we wield," She began with beaming eyes, and I immediately regretted asking, as she spent what felt like hours expining abstract magical concepts with incomprehensible jargon. "Essentially, the magic stat is the Mage's magical aptitude or innate potential, in other words," She concluded. You could have just said that! I protested internally.

  "So, Tomes contain the magic and spells, and it's the Mages with greater innate potential that do more damage with them?" I tried to summarize, and she seemed to be happy with my answer,

  "Yes!" Great! I never want to talk about this again! "However, there are some exceptions to this rule." Oh, dear... "Shamans, Druids, and Demons have access to what we call 'Intrinsic Magic.'"

  "Intrinsic Magic?" I asked.

  "Yes, basically, it's magic that does not require the use of Tomes or Staves, but..."

  "It's fine. You don't have to expin any more than that. I get it," I said, not wanting to sit through another lesson.

  "Oh, well..."

  "We've arrived!" Phildina's voice came loud and clear, and it was honestly a bit quicker than I had expected. I knew she was fast, but the Empire was massive, so it was honestly surprising. I stood up to address the Company, cleared my throat, and got the "microphone" ready, thinking, I've got some expining to do. Maybe I killed too much time.