Hm.

Berg's fallen asleep in the back there.

I wonder how, with all the noise and movement the MagiBot makes...

I'll have to ask when he wakes up.

His clothin' doesn't look like anythin' I've ever seen... Anywhere, really.

I bet those fancy clothiers would have a mighty fine time askin' him about it.

Well, whatever questions I've got for him, I'll ask at Posha.

Hmm, so there's a new set o' recruits comin' in to the royal defender squad, huh?

Ah, good times.

...

...

And thus, they kept walking.

Berg dreamt about something, while Jag made sure nothing happened and reminisced about his past.

With that, they soon arrived at Posha's gates.

...

...

"Hey, Berg, we're here."

A voice brings me back to reality.

Who's...?

...Oh, yeah, Jag.

...Oh, yeah, MagiBots!

...Oh, yeah, dead… Maybe.

Ugh. Whatever, focus on the better things and you'll be fine! Yeah.

I get up and put my glasses on, then put my jacket on.

The hole I used to climb into Krueger is open, letting orange light stream through.

Orange light?

I climb out and down the rope ladder, watching as the ladder recedes back into the MagiBot.

"Hah, we made it just before sundown! I really hate travelin' in the dark, so it's a real miracle we made it!"

The enthusiastic voice of Jag really wakes me up, seeing as we are in front of a large wall with a gate in it. There are two half-sized MagiBots standing guard on the sides of the gate.

"This way, Berg. I gotta get all signed in with the defender squad, then I'll show y' to the recruitin’ station. And, if y' ain't got any plans after, I'll treat y' to my wife's fine cooking!" Jag says, a grin on his face.

"Ah! Yes! Absolutely! I accept your offer!"

There is no reason to disagree with this!

Besides, Jag is a friendly person. Why wouldn't I accept his kindness and hospitality?

"Alright then! Let's go!" Jag pulls a card out of his pocket and holds it up to one of the guard-bots, and it momentarily lights up blue.

Handing the card back to Jag, he then pulls out an object from his pocket and clicks it.

His MagiBot turns really bright!

I can't see it, not with the light coming out of it, at least.

Oh? What's this? It transformed into a car-sized blue ball? What the heck is up with that???

"Amazed, huh?" Either Jag is awfully good at reading expressions, or I'm just really expressive...

"Yeah, what just happened?" I still want to know, though.

"Simple! It's Krueger, but in Transport Mode! Makes it easier for the porters to roll it back to base. Also, only non-combat MagiBots are allowed in the city... Except for those guard-bots, but that's it except for emergencies."

"Cool, but where did all the parts go?" I need to know this, because it would mean that...

"All the parts get shrunk down into the core with some fancy magic or whatever. 'Bots ARE 'Bots 'cause o' their name!"

Robots. Futuristic technology.

And now magic, apparently.

I'm not unhappy about that.

My eyes must be sparkling right now, because Jag just starts laughing.

With that, the gates open and two half-sized MagiBots walk through the gates.

They've got some wide, curved, and cloth-covered hands, presumably to roll the MagiBot cores to the defender base... Wherever that is.

They roll the shiny ball through the gate and down a side road seemingly made for this sort of thing.

"Ay, let's get goin', squad's gonna need a report on what I was doin'. Ah, he's with me, by the way." Jag says that to the guards who are now facing me.

They turn away and we go through the gates and into Posha.

What greets me are large two-story stone buildings down a central road. The setting sun's light paints everything in a vibrant orange color... All the windows reflecting light blind me for a moment.

The people walking have just seen this gate open and the roller-bots with a core.

...And now they see Jag and I.

Maybe they're used to the sight of pilots returning from a mission because they don't bat an eye at the sight of us.

I follow Jag as he walks down the street, pointing out buildings and areas of historical significance every here and there.

It really reminds me of a smaller version of New York, but without all the metal and waaay more stone.

Upstate New York, perhaps?

"Here we are! The MagiBot Station! It's also the recruitment center during those events," Jag says.

We arrive at an incredibly large building with a tube sticking out of the top.

There's a huge garage-door-looking-thing taking up the front of the building.

The sound of machinery coming from inside makes me wonder what kind of MagiBots they're working on in there.

"Whoa... It's big. What's that on top?" Seriously, what is that? It caught my eyes as it looks like one of the telescopes on an observatory, but why would a repair station need one?

Some sort of moon-based magic? I doubt it, but you never know!

"That's the launcher. It shoots out cores to wherever the missions are, which’s where us defenders work!" says Jag.

"Shoots?" The surprise in my voice is very evident. "What do you mean, shoots?"

"Well, y' see, more fancy magic is used to send the 'Bot cores flyin' through the tube, landin' wherever the mission is."

"Huh," is all I have to say to that.

If it works, don't fix it?

"Wait, how do you land safely?"

"Magic landin’ system."

Magic, an answer to all the problems that can't be solved with science and technology.

I'm going to need to learn it at some point if I want my own MagiBot.

We walk through the garage door and into the station.

“The recruitin’ starts over there, so I’ll get my report done while you do that, ‘aight?” With Jag’s directions (and a sign pointing to it) I walk over to a folding table with two people sitting at it.

“Hello!” I was greeted enthusiastically by one of the two people, a young woman. “This is the recruitment station for becoming an official MagiBot pilot recruit! If you are here to sign up, please fill out these forms.”

I hadn’t mentioned it before, but after Jag had pointed out the famous buildings on the way here, I started keeping track of the “letters” that made up each word on the plaques and signs next to them.

What this means is that I know the alphabet that makes up these words now. Maybe it’s memorization, maybe it’s magic? Either way I know it now, and that’s what matters.

So: I understood that the forms were the standard contract and waiver and “if anything bad happens it’s not our fault” things. They also pledged my allegiance to the kingdom of Shulkelvain, which I assume to be where I am right now.

There’s also a mention of pay, where I’ll start with no pay, then half pay if I become an elite recruit, then full pay if I become a full fledged pilot. The money is called a “shukel” and is in denominations of copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Along with that, 100 copper is 1 silver, 100 silver is 1 gold, and 100 gold is 1 platinum.

That’s easy to remember.

I took the forms and clipboard and signed them, the handed them back to the woman, who then gave it a strange look after seeing my English signature.

“At least it’s unique?” She murmured questioningly.

She then looked at the rest of the papers.

In the forms, there was a part where I was supposed to fill out name, place of birth, date of birth, age…

For reasons, I only filled out my name and age.

“Erm… I hope it won’t be a problem that there are parts I didn’t fill out,” I say to prepare the receptionist.

“Mmh. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. If you get into the academy, I’ll just have you finish the forms then,” she replies. “Although…” she continues, grabbing a small microphone-looking-object from somewhere, “Are you from Kharten, Wivset, or the Republic of Khoial?” She asks me.

“No.”

Not seeing a reaction from the microphone, she puts it away with a shrug.

“Okay, please follow me to the testing area.”

I was led by her to an area labeled ‘Training Room’ where there were multiple capsule-like stations. I assume they’ll open up and I’ll go inside it for the test.

Indeed, one of the capsules splits down the middle and the two resulting doors open, revealing a chair with a dome hanging off the headrest, electric chair style.

I don’t know how this works, but I can make an educated guess...

The receptionist noted that I would feel my body going numb for this, as the test would stimulate my muscles and that I didn’t want to feel that.

I sit back in the chair and put the dome over my head when the receptionist says, “Say ‘Enter’ and the test will begin.”

With nothing left to lose and a good deal of nervousness, I say, “Enter.”