Abuse of Magic

Chapter 110: Making Dad Proud

-Knock- -Knock-

Stella opened the door, and a male elf in a dark green robe looked in at them.

"Ooh!" exclaimed Joseph in excitement, setting his spoon down and jumping up from his breakfast. "You have Magery 3 and practice!"

"Yes?" said the elf in confusion, stepping inside. "My name is Virion. I am the head mage for this battalion and will be accompanying you back to the forest."

"Well, it is good to meet you, Sir Virion. I am Joseph Aurum."

"I hear you have a number of other titles."

"Well, yes, but the other elves obviously don't believe me, so repeating them seems silly now."

"They are a little hard to believe. I can't feel the aura of a mage about you at all."

"Oh. Here."

Joseph released the control he kept on his mana, letting it go sloppy for a few seconds before he controlled it properly again. Virion's eyes went wide.

"You are a mage! And you feel as if you are on my level. I haven't felt a human at that level of magery ever."

"Well, only big sis Selena has an aura at my level, but hers is still different."

"There is another human with magic potential as strong as you? Are they here?"

"Yes, but you'll be quite confused when you meet her. She is loved by FIRE."

Joseph used the origin word for FIRE, at least as close as his human throat could pronounce at least. The elf stuttered.

"The commander is an idiot to think I would go back and not stay to see this."

The leader from the night before approached from behind him.

"What was that Virion?" he asked in amusement.

"Commander Elwin." A look of embarrassment flashed over his face, but was quickly replaced with determination

"Ah, so that was his name," muttered Joseph to himself.

"You can't expect me to go back without seeing if this human child can really teleport, can you?"

"I told you, Virion, that I couldn't detect any mage talent from him at all."

"Stella, are you done?" asked Joseph.

"Yes, Master Joseph."

"Let's go to the study so I can research."

"Of course," she replied, taking his hand.

"Distinguished guests, I am very busy learning a new spell at the moment. If you will excuse us?"

TELEPORT

Joseph knew that they were probably too stunned to say anything, and giggled to himself.

"I should finish TELEPORT OTHER tomorrow. Then I can start saving dad's slaves after that. It should only take a couple days."

"Alright," said Stella as he settled in to study. She spent the time practicing her martial arts and fighting styles.

They found out later, that the majority of the elves left that morning. Only about a dozen stayed. The faster he learned, the faster he could save the people, and the faster he could head to the elven lands.

That evening Joseph sat down with his parents for supper. He had finished TELEPORT OTHER and his second mind finished PURIFY EARTH. After discussing with his dad, they decided to leave Stella behind to lessen the mana requirement. As much as he didn't want to leave her, it was agreed that if any trouble popped up, they could teleport away without needing to fight. To make everything easier, Joseph would make a teleport beacon so he could return quicker and easier. They would place guards around it, to keep anything else from using the beacon to teleport in, and Stella would be in charge of those guards.

Stella didn't like being left behind, but she understood the importance of keeping Joseph's mother safe while both he and William were gone.

That next morning, Joseph gave her a hug and began to inscribe the circle.

Tekaun, Derek, Stephan, and the elf Virion, were standing by in case the beings who were after them tried to use the beacon to come there.

"Beautiful!" was the collective gasp as the BEACON was cast. The air softly warped immediately over the runes, causing a spot in reality that was easy for magic users to detect. It called to their magic. If anyone tried to cast a location spell, or area spell, it would want to come here. Joseph was very pleased.

Virion stood there, greedily looking over the magic circles he drew.

It was a special combination of magic geometry, part magical formulas, and various combinations of the runes GATE, EARTH, AIR, and WATER, to lock down this specific place exactly. It wouldn't lower the mana cost more than half, like the normal spell could, but it virtually removed the penalty for aiming for a place so far away. In fact, any casual teleport near this place would probably be redirected to this location, so any hostile forces that tried to teleport near here, would be diverted directly here.

With a deep breath, Joseph took his dad's hand and teleported them to the spot he had saved before. Once they were this close to his people, William was able to pinpoint their location with far more accuracy.

The first pocket had fifteen slaves hiding in an abandoned farm house. William told each of them the password to speak on the other side, as Joseph sent them back. Then they teleported to the next saved spot. It was exhausting and took three days. The smallest group was a mother and her daughter. The largest group was over 400, consisting of all of the slaves that had managed to flee from the palace and the nobles that lived in the capital. Twice they were almost spotted by knights patrolling. But Joseph's reflexes managed to get them out of there both times.

The last night Joseph finally brought the last of his father's missing slaves to the southern camp, he took a quick dinner with his parents and then spent the rest of the evening in discussions with Tekaun, Stephan, and Derek on the next course of training. They were sad to see him go, but were excited by what he would be able to teach them once he returned.

Checking on the small fey child that was similar to Stella, he found him doing well. It still boggled his mind that there had been another like Stella. Joseph wasn't sure if the child was related to her or not, but the chances were pretty strong he was her half-brother.

Stella had used the system to strengthen her blood to almost 80% ancient fey, instead of remaining human. It looked like when he rebuilt his mana circuits and magic pathways after Stella's design, Joseph had remade the baby into about 35% ancient fey.

William came to talk to him later that night, knowing that he was preparing to leave early the next morning.

"Many of my people no longer follow me, Joseph."

"Why not?"

"They follow you now. All of the mages, especially. But also, most of the people you led during those months I was traveling. They have seen you do things that amaze them, and it has broken the hold I had over them. They revere you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I was worried at first, with Stella's charm, that I was losing them because of her. But now I know that I have lost them to you, and that is okay."

"Father, I probably won't be able to return every night as I have before. I will be traveling with the elves." Joseph squirmed a little. His father was acting as if he might never see him again, and he wasn't sure he liked that.

"I understand, and I will let your mother know. Son, you are beginning to get the aura of a king. Sometimes, you don't bring it out, or act goofy, but when you are serious, your true authority comes out. I have seen it during the meetings, and Daniel and the others have told me about it. For as much as you are a great mage, son, you are also a leader loved by your people. I am proud of you."