With a loud screech, soon the train started and slowly gained speed.
It obviously also worked with mana, but it felt more primitive. The metal cabins moved on the rails with difficulty.
"It's like the manarail's sickly bigger brother. It does its job, I suppose."
"It might be a bit loud and shaky, but this thing uses way less mana, which is perfect for where we are going," Myra explained with a smile.
Soon the train finally left the walls.
For arguably the first time in his life, Cyril saw the outside world.
Beyond the city was a vast grass field with few trees visible. It was a bit barren; anything too close to the city was stripped of its resources a long time ago.
Still, this much greenery was something unusual to Cyril; he couldn't help but admire the vast world.
Even the loud noise of the train didn't seem as annoying now.
Morpho flew closer to the window. She looked eager to explore. Back home, aside from going to a park, one didn't see much grass at all.
Rhamn joined her at the side. She was also fascinated by this.
Myra didn't interrupt Cyril but enjoyed the view with some nostalgia.
Eventually the city disappeared from view, leaving only the Tower visible, but with time, it too couldn't be seen.
It's this easy? For some baffling reason, Cyril thought going away from the city would be harder than this.
...
This was a long ride.
Even though the sights were great, one would still get tired from looking at it.
Cyril was regretting not bringing a book with him to pass the time.
At least Rhamn had something to do. She used this time to do a lesson for poor Morpho.
Cyril wanted to join her, but the sight would probably scare Myra, so he had to bear with just observing them.
At one point an attendant walked in, moving a cart with different packages on it.
It was time for food.
They've skipped lunch, so Cyril was getting quite hungry.
He took the packaged meal and asked for some sugar water.
The dumbfounded attendant denied his request.
Fortunately, Morpho was not a normal butterfly and could consume other things as well.
Cyril bought a meat snack instead.
Under Myra's dumbfounded eyes, he gave the snack to the butterfly, who immediately started taking small bites out of it with no issue.
Soon he too tasted the meal. It wasn't that good, but it did the job.
Morpho also didn't really like it; she preferred sugar water.
With this, they continued waiting.
Along the way, the train stopped numerous times to unload some cargo. Necessary supplies for the people working away from the city.
After a few more hours, the scenery outside the window started to change.
More and more trees appeared, more birds were flying in the air, and the place felt more alive in general.
There was even a mountain visible in the distance.
It wasn't higher than the Tower, but it still was impressive to see a nature's creation reach some heights.
For some time now he has been feeling ever so slightly weaker. Being away from the Tower was taking its toll.
It will take a bit of time for him to get used to the lower amount of mana in the air.
Finally, it was soon their stop.
The train started to slow down and eventually stopped near the end of the rails.
After the train finishes up here. The conductor mage will reverse the spell, and the machine will go in the opposite direction.
Cyril woke up Myra, who had been sleeping on his shoulder, and together they exited the wagon.
All this sitting around was getting tiresome. Cyril was eager to finally move his legs a little.
He looked at the stretching Myra, who had a slightly red face for some reason, to find out their next course of action.
The station they were at was modest in size. He didn't see any other form of transportation nearby.
"The village is regularly transporting goods to this station; since the train is here, our carriage will soon be too," she said while finishing her stretches.
Sure enough, he soon saw several carriages approach the station.
They were filled to the brim with boxes.
He had to cover his nose when they got too close.
Sometimes having enhanced senses wasn't that convenient.
The carriages soon stopped near the stations, and some personnel started transporting the boxes to the train.
Unfortunately, they couldn't use magic to transport them, as any capable mage would refuse to work in here.
While Cyril was trying to fight the smell, Myra abandoned him and approached one of the men unloading the goods.
"Hi, Uncle Otto!" Her voice was less mature than usual.
The middle-aged man turned around with an annoyed expression at first, but when he found out who it was, that quickly changed.
"Myra! I must be dreaming; you decided to visit us," he said in excitement.
At first he wanted to hug her, but then he looked at his dirty hands and decided against it.
"Can you give us a ride to the village?" Myra said with a smile.
"Of course you can! Don't even ask, ha ha!" Otto happily laughed but then asked in confusion, "Us?"
At this moment the recovered Cyril came over to show himself. "Hello." His voice was the same as ever.
"Ho ho, I see. It's about time for that," Otto said while nodding in understanding.
At his words, Myra only smiled and didn't say anything.
"Of course she wouldn't say anything! Cyril, don't let this misunderstanding continue!" Rhamn immediately protested.
Let him misunderstand. It doesn't matter. Unfortunately, Cyril didn't really care.
The two students were greeted enthusiastically by the rest of the workers. It seems Myra knew everyone here.
"Wait a bit until we are done unloading; it won't take long," Otto assured them.
Cyril looked at the amount of work they still needed to do. It was quite a lot.
The boxes were many and men few. Each box required two workers to carry it.
"I'll help." So Cyril proposed to help. He didn't want to waste too much time here, and it will be a good warm-up after sitting still for so long.
Otto looked at Cyril with some helplessness. "No need, really. This will be fast; you'll see!" Judging by his face, he didn't really believe him capable of help.
At least that's the conclusion Cyril came to.
He ignored the worker's words and calmly approached one of the crates.
Otto didn't interrupt him but looked on with curiosity.
With a simple action, like picking up a food tray from the ground, Cyril raised the large crate by himself and effortlessly carried it where needed.
Otto looked at this scene with a dropped jaw. "I-I thought you would use magic... Can magic also do this?" He turned towards Myra.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Some spells can. But Cyril is not using them right now; he is just special like that."
With this, they were done much quicker than anticipated, and the only cost was having Cyril suffer through the smell at a closer distance.
It was difficult, but doable.
Eventually the two students were seated at the freed-up carriage and moved towards the village.
It was slow, but better than walking on foot.
In addition, Morpho really liked this method of transportation; she flew around the whole convoy with curiosity, greeting the workers and inspecting the surroundings.
When the sun almost disappeared from view, they had finally reached the Shamrock village.
The number of houses he could see did not exceed a two-digit number.
But his attention was taken by another thing at the moment.
Blue as far as the eye can see beautiful.
It was the first time for him to see the sea.
The waves hitting the wooden pier in the darkness was a calming sight to be sure. Cyril took his time to view it in silence.
At this moment, one of the workers came close. "What do you think, city boy? Welcome to Shamrock!" Said Otto with a laugh.
"Say hi to Polly for me, Myra!" Otto waved his hand and moved away without awaiting a response.
"Polly is my caretaker. We'll spend the night at her place," said Myra.
Together they passed through the village. On the way, whoever was outside all greeted Myra like one would their own child. "She is quite popular here."
This amount of positivity was somewhat alien to Cyril. Back home, people tended to be less friendly.
Maybe that was just the difference between a big city and a smaller community.
Soon they reached a simple wooden house. In front of the doors stood an elderly woman with grey hair.
"Myra! Welcome home! I didn't think you would visit us so soon!" She said, wearing the most radiant smile on her face.
"We needed to check something close to here, and we had the time," said Myra.
She came close to the woman and gave her a lengthy hug.
After the two separated, Polly looked at Cyril with a frown.
She looked him up and down before saying suddenly, "Myra, I didn't expect you were into bad boys." Her words staggered everyone around.
For one, Cyril would never have expected to hear these words describe him.
While it's true that he doesn't have the most friendly face around, he still looked rather refined. At least that's what Rhamn told him. "That's true!"
Secondly, the people here were really straightforward with these things. Did they not care for Myra's face?
At the moment her face heated up quite a bit. "Grandma! Why would you say something like this? And he is my classmate; we are not dating!" She said while holding back embarrassment.
It seems hearing this from her caretaker was more lethal than from another fellow villager.
"Don't get so worked up; I am just joking," Polly said with a sly smile.
She looked at the still stoic Cyril. "Hello, son. My name is Polly. Please continue looking after my Myra."
"Name's Cyril. I am pleased to meet you," Cyril returned the greeting.
Polly looked at him with a piercing stare for a few more seconds before turning around.
"Let's not stand here at the doorstep. Come in! You can tell me all about what happened in the city recently!" Polly motioned for everyone to follow her inside.
Myra, still with a slightly red face, and Cyril moved into the house.