Delayed Transfer

Mark and the kids had a fun afternoon. Mark was extremely amused at how the twins kept convincing their new friends to become their crewmates on their spaceship fleet and even though he could see that the town kids didn’t understand, they just agreed with the twins. The boys kept showing them magical things so of course they would follow like ducklings following the mother duck.

Liriel was playing with other children her age that was being looked after by who Mark assumed as their elder siblings but he could see that even the older children were affected by what the twins were saying about the Star Wars films.

Soon, it was time for them to return to the circus since all of the other kids in the town park were being called by their parents.

When they got back to the circus, it was already open so everyone was busy. There was already a long queue in the ticket booth for the films and there was also a long queue on the other acts. Mark saw that the prices of the tickets for the different circus acts were indeed considerably lower compared to the ticket prices back in Narcone to the delight of the customers who Mark saw were mostly travelers from the city.

He then remembered his plan of activating the Warp Gate that he established in Narcone so customers could use it to travel to their circus but of course, since they would be charging mana stones, only the wealthy could afford to do so.

When they got back to the RV, Mark saw that Milena, Lisa, and Norleen were busy with the stall but he still asked Norleen to look after the kids since he wanted to find Hamil to talk about the warp gate.

Mark went to find Hamil but was informed that the circus leader was roaming around using one of the electric carts that he lent the circus leader so he asked the circus people to inform Hamil that he was looking for him then he went back to the RV.

While walking back, he saw the circus kids playing and the twins and Liriel were with them being looked after by Norleen so he went inside his RV to wait for Hamil. He decided to relax by reading a web novel while waiting for the circus leader but after a few minutes, he heard Hamil’s voice so Mark let him in.

Mark served Hamil a can of beer.

“I heard you’re looking for me. What’s up?”

“I established a warp gate in Narcone. At first, I created it so we could escape to the city if we were in dire straits but an idea occurred to me. Since I saw that many idle young rich people took the time to travel and followed us so they could rewatch the movies and wait for the next three sets of Star Wars films, it occurred to me that the Warp Gate could give me a lot of mana stones. My idea is to construct a new Warp Gate at every location we stop and allow people from major cities to access it so they can travel to our circus so they can watch the movies we would show present in our theater. Of course, since the Warp Gate magic is incredibly taxing to my magic, I would need to charge those who want to use it an incredibly high price like for example one mana stone for each customer who wanted to use it and that meant that only the wealthy can use it,” Mark told Hamil.

Hamil, with an open mouth, looked at Mark with horror.

“Did you tell anyone about this magic of yours?”

“I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“The idea is good but have you thought of the repercussion of such magic? I don’t know if the city leaders would allow a portal to be established inside their city since it could be used for many nefarious things.”

Mark was startled.

“Oh. Yeah, I haven’t thought of that. But my gate is small. It’s only as wide as a normal doorway and once it’s activated, it would only last for a few minutes.”

“How does  your warp gate work?” Hamil asked curiously.

“Well, there’s no distance limitation and it has two settings. One, I can assign the gate to open to anyone who wants to activate it but the energy that it would use was my mana so every time someone opened it, it would consume my mana. Two, I can assign specific persons to use the warp gate. Right now with my level, I can only support two warp gates so if establish a gate here that would lead to Narcone and back, I will need to dispel the gate here once we move.”

Hamil paused for a bit and Mark could see that the circus leader was thinking deeply.

“We can do what you suggested but we need to make sure that the leaders in Narcone knew what the gate was capable of not only that, I’m sure that they would need to take a cut from whatever we earn. I will need to think about this more and talk to others first. I’m shocked by your power Mark. Your power alone is enough to establish you as an archmage in any city but I’m still glad that you chose to travel with us. With you as an example, I’m quite terrified at your country’s magical capabilities since you said that you’re nothing special there,” Hamil said while shaking his head then he told Mark to not tell anybody else about his warp gate before exiting the RV.

Mark followed Hamil outside and went to where the young people were queueing to purchase movie tickets. He could see that while the young people from Narcone were tired due to the length of the journey from the city to here, they were still incredibly energetic. He knew since he was one of them that no one should belittle the passion of hardcore fans. He remembered his experience queueing up with his friend Sam to watch some of their awaited films.

Mark approached a group of young men who were loudly debating with each other about the pros and cons of joining the Jedi Order.

“Good evening young sirs, I’m Mark. can I ask you some questions?”

“Hello. Are you part of the circus? We’ll answer your question if you answer ours,” the young man who looked like the group’s leader said after introducing everyone to him.

“Can you tell me what happened to Narcone after our circus left?”

“The nobles and officials who sanctioned the circus that caused you to leave were punished by the council by removing them from their office and fined with an incredible amount of coins. It’s due to a huge outcry that ensued after you left since a lot of traveling entertainers and merchants were afraid that if some official or noble took a fancy to something they owned, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. This caused the fans and patrons of said entertainers to get furious especially those who were fans of the movies. How many movies are in Star Wars films?”

“There are nine movies. Can you tell me the names of those who were removed from office?’

The young man then gave a list of names that Mark didn’t recognize then the young man asked for the titles of all of the movies so Mark gave it to him. After that, he told the young man that he didn’t have any more questions which disappointed the young people since had a lot more questions about Star Wars.