The man’s booming voice carrying a wave of suspicion was followed up anticlimactically by a dramatically loud yawn from his companion. Ada saw that he looked very tired with a sagged expression. The gorilla man turned his head 90 degrees towards the left and frowned at his companion. He said something in the local tongue which Ada guessed to mean “stop ruining my dramatic moment!”. The thin guy simply rolled his eyes and grunted. Seeing the nonchalant response, the gorilla immediately thumped his companion’s head which caused the thin man to drop the monocular.

Wow, he even acts and sounds like a gorilla. Maybe I’ll keep calling him that in my head even after I get his name. Ada thought as she grinned.

The other man looked strange as well. Neither of them fit her preconceived notion of what a mage should look like. She would have thought one was a wrestler and the other was one of those unfortunate unusually shaped human that you would see at a freak show a century ago.

The beanstalk dropped his nonchalant attitude with a growl. He didn’t bother to bend down and retrieve the device. Instead, in one smooth motion, he leapt to the right side away from the balcony and then with a slight turn jabbed his long left leg towards the gorilla’s right shin. The gorilla displayed no indication of any pain but instead reached out his left arm in an attempt to grab at beanstalk.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Ruciella squeezed in some words of advice and caution. “Those two can be dangerous but they're also quite unbelievably stupid.”

Ada turned to Ruciella. She grinned. “Uh, totally believable to me.”

“I’ll concur there. What’s also good to note is that they’ve just started their shift which means that they haven’t noticed us arriving in our very strange fashion.”

“Well, that is clearly to our advantage. Seeing three women descend from a massive cloud was hard to explain to your teacher,” Ada replied. Ada knew that was the gaping hole in her concocted story which none of them could explain away.

“The other part to avoid would be to pretend to be an Academy mage. They may ask you to show your Compass and demonstrate a spell or two,” Leanne jumped in with her helpful tidbit.

Ruciella concurred. “Yeah, the last debacle really shows how being ignorant about Academies and magic in general would make that disguise a very poor choice.”

“In my defense, I didn’t realize that we left them behind. Besides, I felt pressured at the moment to just say anything when you two were replying on me to come up everything,” Ada snapped. It was perhaps a little too snarky in response for her follower for she saw them both visibly flinch back.

Ada continued more softly. “Sorry, that was rude of me. How about we just sneak past them while they’re involved in their little spat?”

“I doubt that would work since --” Ruciella was cut off by a loud booming voice in the Divine Tongue.

“Are you two done with your little huddling session?”

Ada looked back and saw that the two men had finished their spontaneous spar. The beanstalk had a black eye and stood rubbing his stomach. The gorilla looked completely intact. In this case, physical strength and toughness trumped speed or any martial arts technique. Ada imagined a LitRPG with blue boxes where the gorilla’s Strength and Endurance were both absurdly high.

“We are.”

“I apologize for my companion’s rude behavior. Thin here doesn’t always see the gravity of some situations.”

His name is Thin? How apt. Ada wanted to ask the gorilla how his fellow mage acquired such a name but decided there were more important fish to fry. “That’s alright. I had to deal with my fair share of fishbrains.”

As if reading her mind, the gorilla answered the question for her with a chuckle. “This ostrich brain chose the name Thin when he finally passed his Divine Tongue Competency after failing twice. I would say it’s appropriate since he had a rather slim chance of passing even the third time.”

From the glare that Thin gave the gorilla, she was hesitant to join in with a chuckle. The gorilla stared at her as if she was daft. “Get it? Slim and thin?”

“I got the joke. I just wasn’t sure if Thin would have liked it for me to jump in.”

Gorilla waved his meaty right hand dismissively. “Pssh, who cares what he thinks.”

He continued. “It’s strange that you are choosing to speak the Divine Tongue so well.”

“Didn’t you yell at us in the Divine Tongue?”

“I did but I said that in the hope that you won’t understand everything I was saying and would be saying. I have a rather large vocabulary in the Divine Tongue.”

“And…?” Ada was curious where this conversation was going to go. Already, it was a little strange.

“And such proficiency is rare beyond the walls of the Academy or the Galacia Club. Even within the Academy, you have guys like Thin where foreign languages just don’t seem to stick to them. I myself am bilingual – Exicozan and the Divine Tongue.”

“Well, some of the wealthier citizens from the cities can be quite adept in this tongue.”

“You’re talking about some of those sneaky merchants in the coastal cities who think they’re so smart? Members of the Galactic Club or something. Yeah, they probably know more of the Divine Tongue than little sugarcane here.”

Taking advantage of the opening that the man gave her, Ada followed. “It’s called the Galacia Club of which I am a member.”

“You don’t look like you’re from around here. Southern Isles perhaps? You look like one from the picture books I have seen.”

Wow, he’s really giving me everything I ought to say. “Yes, exactly. You’re quite intelligent.”

“Thank you. Not everyone sees it and I appreciate those who do. Now where were we?”

“You wanted to ask me who I am and what I’m doing here.”

“That’s right. Summarize what we were just saying.” The gorilla gestured for her to continue.

“I’m Ada Newth and I come from the Southern Isles as you rightfully suggested. I am a merchant by trade and I came here at the request of Master Arbon on a matter of a few items of interest to him which are only found where I’m from.”

“Hmm, and what are those items?”

“That is between Master Arbon and I. Private matters of the Galacia Club.”

The gorilla paused and nodded. “Yes, the elder Masters always have one thing or another happening with their personal research projects. And none of them deigns to enlighten anyone except their favored students of their activities.”

“Does Aurian know of the items you speak of?”

“Yes, she does.”

The gorilla nodded again. “Well, of course she does. She’s one of those favored students of Master Arbon. Not sure what the old man sees in her to be honest. A small puny little teenager who I’ve heard of is quite the brat.”

This guy is quite the uncouth creature. I wonder if he has any friends besides his fists. He continued with another inquiry. “What about your companion over there? She doesn’t like she’s from where you’re from.”

“She’s from Tesia. She came here since she’s also a member of the Galacia Club and she decided to accompany me on for she has other matters to discuss with Master Arbon.”

“What other matters?”

Ada wasn’t sure how she was going to answer this one. She hoped Leanne had a believable story. “I’ll let her speak on that.”

Leanne nodded and slightly bowed. “Honorable mage, may I have your name first?”

The man answered gruffly. “In Exicozan, my name is Fischrrijakuz and in the Divine Tongue it is simply Fish. Fish since it’s close to the first syllable of my actual name.”

Ada was surprised that his name wasn’t Gorilla but his explanation of Fish was uncreatively sensible. She decided to continue to call him Gorilla in her head. The name was so much more apt for him in Ada’s view.

Leanne nodded. “My name is Leanne Shani and I am mage as well as occasional traveling merchant from the city of Pire in Tesia. In the Divine Tongue, following the customs of most Tesians who know the language, my name is exactly the same.”

“Well, that makes things easy for others to remember. Tell me, did you make that floating cloud carrying the unfortunate Grath and those junior mages?”

“Yes, it’s from a spell called Cloud which is only passed down among certain families in Tesia. We use it to transport heavy goods pulled by oxen though Ada here can fulfill the role at a moment’s notice.”

Ada definitely preferred this light jab to the overly deferential approach that her follower initially regarded her with. More importantly, she sincerely hoped that Leanne’s bluff would work. It did. The gorilla nodded. “I would love to learn that spell but I understand. I’ve no doubt your ancestors are proud that you have maintained and kept these within the family.”

Now he’s surprising me again. A respect for boundaries? Maybe I shouldn’t judge him too soon. Ada thought as Leanne continued her story. “I came here to meet with Master Arbon on matters of trade with Pire. We ate a very nice late lunch after which we parted ways. I left to pay a visit to a friend of mine from the local Ayulan temple. There I witnessed an event of immense urgency. The news may have spread by now but I wished to tell him personally. Aurian and Ada decided to accompany me since it is dangerous on the road for a lone traveler. They also informed me that they needed come here as well. Aurian since she’s obviously a student here and Ada due to the items Master Arbon has requested.”

“You are telling me that you have walked here all night to discuss some event? What event could be of such importance?”

Leanne answered for her. “It is on the matter of the recent engagement of conflict between two gods. Several men have died and more have been severely injured.”

The man looked stunned. “Another war of the gods so close to us? Who are these gods? This I have not heard of.”

Leanne nodded. “Yes, it just happened barely six hours ago. Several Ayulan temple priests were killed by the city guards under contract of the God Yuano. Master Arbon had earlier specifically warned us of this possibility and were asked to inform him as soon as possible on any developments.”

Ruciella emphasized cheekily. “And this definitely sounds like a development.”

The gorilla whistled. “This definitely doesn’t sound good. I won’t delay you any further but I do have a final question and it’s probably something I should have started with.”

“What’s that?” Ada asked.

“What caused Grath and his men to attack you? If you told his group what you just told me, I can’t imagine even a hothead like him would have done this.”

Ruciella answered for her. “That’s because Grath wanted nothing to do with the gods and adamantly refused Leanne entry here. When we insisted, he decided to attack instead of discussing any further.”

The man sighed. “That I can see.”

“You can?” Ruciella sounded surprised.

“You may not know this but his grandparents were killed in the last war by disciples of Yuano. Murdered I should say since they were especially targeted for attempting to document the war. I heard that they observed things which the gods did not want to be disclosed.”

“Wouldn’t that make him want to seek revenge and let us through?” Ruciella asked.

“That would be the way you and I would see it but from what I can tell, he clearly doesn’t react the same way. He prefers to be an ostrich burying his head in the sand as long as possible. He probably thought that you bringing the message to Master Arbon would drag us all into another unnecessary war.”

“I see.” Ada and Ruciella said at the same time.

He shook his head sadly. “Though I’m sure if another full blown war is to happen, there’ll be nothing any of us can do to not be dragged into it. Very well, you may proceed. Just leave them next to the base of the tower. We’ll come down and get it in a bit after Thin here recovers a little more from his recently acquired injuries.”

Leanne bowed. “Thank you, Honored Mages.”

Ada was a little late but seeing that her Seer was bowing, she followed suite. The gorilla named Fish and the beanstalk named Thin reciprocated the farewell with a bow. Ruciella didn’t bother with the courtesy. Perhaps it wasn’t required between Academy mages, Ada thought.

“Get ready to pretend to do some magic for removing the chains while I actually do it.” Ada whispered to Leanne as she pulled the Cloud towards the base of the tower.

Leanne nodded. “You have read my mind.”

Once they reached the tower base, Leanne waved both of her arms in circles three times while muttering a few things. It sounded Tesian but it was obviously not a real spell. In the meantime, Ada called up systemhelper and quickly changed the Divine Chains back to gold coins which clinked in her pockets. After the chains disappeared and the men carefully placed on the ground, Leanne waved her arms again and said a few other words in Tesian. Concurrently, Ada called up the system commands and changed the Divine Cloud to more gold in her pocket. Now she felt like a true merchant again with the heavy purse under her garments.

As they started to walked away, the gorilla yelled down from the tower. Ada only understood one word which was Aurian. Aurian’s eyes grew large and she bowed deeply. Ada and Leanne waited for the girl to rejoin them.

After they were away from earshot, Ada asked. “What did he say?”

Ruciella exclaimed. “I can’t believe the guy actually told me that he’ll explain the whole scenario to the Magister and the Academy Board! And it doesn’t matter whatever Grath or his companions say. His biases against gods really goes against him here. I won’t be expelled!”

“That’s great news!” Ada exclaimed as well.

Then her face darkened at another thought. “But what if they catch our lie? I really hope that your Academy mages can’t track our Compasses that’s still up there on the Palace.”

“I doubt it. Neither of yours are registered. They were tracking mine earlier when we were flying up there but I have mine with me here.” Ruciella patted her right pocket.

Ada sighed with relief.

“Don’t worry! Master Arbon will back up everything we have to say and he has way more clout than Grath or any junior mage.” Ruciella reaffirmed. She added. “And great job, Leanne, for coming up with that on the spot.”

“Thank you. I had some time to think while Ada was talking with Fish. I am just glad for you here.”

Ruciella grinned. “Wasn’t I right in saying that those two can be quite stupid?”

The mood was much lighter now that they have not only avoided another incident but also resolved the previous one. They chatted more on plans of what to do once they reach the Academy campus. After several minutes, Ada finally asked Leanne what was on her mind. “What were you muttering when you were casting your ‘spells’?”

“Oh, just a few choice words in Tesian towards certain people we had to deal with in this eventful night.”

Ada chuckled. “You’ll have to teach me some of those Tesian swear words in the future.”

Leanne grinned. “Sure, once we have some time in between my classes, you can take one called Swearing in Tesian.”

Ruciella grinned as well. “If you’re interested, you can also take the equivalent class of Swearing in Exicozan 101.”