The massive man leaned close to Mel's ear and whispered a flurry of words, speaking in a voice so low that no one but the two of them could hear what was said.
Mel thought for a moment, then nodded his head up and down. Seeing this, Big Joe raised his voice and called for his assistant.
"Take my nephews and escort them all the way to the Academy!"
"But, boss, I am—"
When Big Joe's assistant tried to mumble a protest, five thick, dumpling-like fingers cracked against his bald head.
"This is top priority, hurry up and disappear!"
The assistant, whose scalp had turned bright red, did not dare waste a single second; pulling back the curtain behind the desk in a rush, he vanished from sight. Before five minutes had passed, he came back—dressed for travel and wearing a ring on his finger that hadn't been there a moment ago.
The young boys walked out of the shop, dragging their new guide behind them, and moved with heavy speed; their target was the hill where the Spirit Boats took off.
"Mel, I don't get it; how did Big Joe lease this boat to us without taking a single coin? Even if we somehow talked him into it, he should have asked for hundreds of gold pieces!"
Mel kept walking without saying a word, which completely annoyed the bald man trailing behind them.
"Slow down a bit! My lungs are about to jump out of my throat!"
The man—whose bald head glowed with a red shine—let his tongue hang out, struggling to force his words through shallow, broken breaths.
"We are in a hurry, crimson-pated uncle. You can rest all you want on the way back!"
The man did not argue against being called "crimson-pated uncle," acting like he had learned his lesson from the beating he took earlier. Truth be told, the fear a man puts in you is nothing like the fear a beast brings.
Luckily, where they were heading was not far; the moment they arrived, the assistant dropped to his knees and started coughing violently. As for the kids waiting for Mel and Nalt, they quickly circled them and fired off a storm of questions.
"What happened?"
"Where did you run off to, Mel?"
"Nalt, did you find a way?"
While voices burst from every mouth, Mel cleared his throat with a rough sound, shutting down the whispers right away.
"Friends, a merchant agreed to help us! Uncle Big Joe sent his assistant to take us all the way to the Academy!"
Following this, a wave of clapping, tears, and joy mixed together as they hugged one another. At the same time, when the assistant pulled a Spirit Boat out of his storage ring, the cheers grew even louder.
Pushing and shoving each other as if afraid the ship might somehow disappear, the kids climbed onto the deck. While the ship—which had enough room to comfortably fit ten more groups their size—slowly rose into the sky, the ground below echoed with loud cheers once more.
When the Spirit Boat settled into its smooth climb and vanished into the dark clouds, all eleven kids walked to the railings to take in the view. Mel could see the Outer Forest from a bird's-eye view.
"Thank you, Spirit of the Forest! I will never forget the order you gave me!"
As his whispers blended into the clean air, he started studying the view. The Green Shadow Academy truly lived up to its name.
Everywhere he looked, different shades of green met his eyes; emerald lakes resting in the dark shadows of thick, weaving trees, and small plants drowning in the bright colors of fruit trees—everything was soaked in green.
Mel watched the creatures roaming the lands below, glancing at Nalt every now and then. Though he had no great talent as a Botanical Master, he stood out among his peers with his deep well of knowledge. The smile on Mel's face showed he was truly glad fate had crossed their paths.
The man whose bald head glowed red refused to step away from the front of the Spirit Boat for even a second. Mel was starting to understand exactly why Big Joe insisted on sending this specific man.
At steady times, the man dropped a beast core onto an altar-like stone resting at the front of the ship. If Big Joe had just handed the ship over to them, handling the crushing cost of this fuel would have been impossible for them.
While the Spirit Boat kept flying on, two men stood face-to-face at a place not too far away, looking ready to rip each other's throats out.
"What kind of disrespect is this—saying you forgot to tell us? How in the hell did this ship get here without picking up the rest of the kids?"
Finishing his roar, Cantankerous Hanry smashed his right hand hard against the side of the ship next to him. Since it was completely empty inside, the Spirit Boat shattered from front to back under the crushing blow.
"Calm yourself, Master Hanry; how was I supposed to know they couldn't afford a lease on a ship? Is there anyone alive who doesn't know that disciples of the Botanical Division have to pay for their own ships?"
The angrier Cantankerous Hanry got, the more Young Master Louise sank into an act of careless calm; they were fighting openly in front of the commanders of the other divisions and the new students.
Naturally, the Head of the Botanical Division did not ignore the scene; he grabbed Cantankerous Hanry by the arm and dragged him to the side.
"Calm yourself, Hanry!"
His voice carried a tone that acted as a sharp warning and a soothing calm at the same time, but the fire burning inside his commander was blazing hot.
"How am I supposed to calm myself? If I leave to go get them now, they will miss the welcoming ceremony, which means they are thrown out of the Academy for good. I am begging you, talk to the Second Elder and buy me some time!"
Even though his words ended like a polite request, Cantankerous Hanry was basically barking an order.
"I cannot do that, Hanry!"
"Why not?"
The Division Head had no desire to squeeze the powder keg right before it exploded.
"Louise explained the situation while we were on the ship, and I already talked with the Second Elder!"
Cantankerous Hanry's brows knitted in deep anger; the old man looked exactly like someone who smelled a coming storm.
"What did he say back to you?"
"The Academy has no room for people who cannot control their own fate. Especially in the Botanical Division!"
Hanry walked away from his spot; striding to the very edge of the rocky cliff where the Spirit Boats were tied, he locked his eyes on the far horizon. Behind him, whispers buzzing like a swarm of mosquitoes grew louder.
"Brother, is Mel really not going to make it here today?"
While the young kids getting off the ships gathered in a crowd, Marvina walked up to her older brother Edgan to talk about the disaster.
"Maybe the people standing here don't know Mel's rank, but you know very well that if he wanted to, he has enough wealth to buy a whole fleet of Spirit Boats!"
Edgan spoke the absolute truth, but what he didn't know was that Mel hadn't paid a single copper coin for the ship that was going to appear on the horizon any minute now.
"They are coming, they are coming!"
The one shouting wasn't Cantankerous Hanry. One of the noble kids had spotted the people huddled inside the barely visible ship. The old Master laughed with pure joy, while the face of Louise Gloove, standing in the back, looked like a mountain crashing down on itself.