Zara goes a little pale, while the kids just seem confused.
"Y-You'll really be able to sense our village from that far away, just by practicing on one of us?" (Zara)
I nod at her patiently. After a moment, she speaks up.
"What do you need us to do for that?" (Zara)
"Basically, I just need one of you to volunteer to let me hold your hand for a minute and test you with my magic. It doesn't matter who, and it won't hurt or anything, you'll just awkwardly hold my hand for a bit." (Mizuki)
Zara raises her eyebrows and holds out her own hand. There's an assent of groans from the kids – I guess they wanted to be the test subjects?
I nod my thanks at her and grab her hand, then focus on the familiar practice of tuning my magic sense to her. After a minute, it feels like it's done.
I let her go and test it out in the immediate area. Yup, four signatures. Then, I focus my magic sense in a narrow web as far to the north as I can.
I'm shocked by how few clusters of wolf-kin there are within my range, and there is one clear mega-cluster of them around 800 km away. That must be the main village – we're good to go.
I smile at all of them.
"Alright, it worked! I found your village. I'll know for sure how long it will take once we get started, but I'd guess 2-3 hours. So, is everyone ready to fly?" (Mizuki)
Zara nods, and there's a round of cheers from the kids. I glance at Alto and she's practically buzzing. I stifle a laugh at the sight.
I have the kids line up in two rows, with Zara and I in the front, facing north in our 'surfer' stances. Alto is in my row to my left, and the other wolf-kin fill out the rest of the ranks.
I want everyone to be able to grab one another for stabilization if they start to twist in the altered gravity. I let them know what to expect in this regard.
I can rebalance myself with gravity spells, but it'd be harder to do it for them when I'm already altering their local gravity to keep them moving with me. I also must make a bigger wind shield and heat the inside of it.
After I have logistics straight in my head and we're facing north, I focus on lifting us all slowly. The magic consumption isn't really the bad part, it's focusing on so many bodies and spells. It's manageable, but I think this is about my limit for flight right now.
We lift off the ground and there's a round of screams from the kids, and I feel Alto grab me to balance herself. However, I'm sure at this point that I can manage it, it'll just be tiring. I glance at the elves gawking on the ground, and I chuckle.
Once we get to a decent height above the tree line, I activate the invisibility, wind shield, and heating spells for flight, then begin to accelerate us north. I accelerate much more slowly than usual to avoid stressing the others. While we're getting up to speed, I use a quick magic sense to orient towards the village.
After a while, the pacing feels like it's as much as I can comfortably handle for a long flight, and a quick magic sense lets me estimate that we should get there in a couple hours.
The passengers are thoroughly enjoying the view at this point. Glancing at Alto, her mouth is wide open and she's staring at the landscape sprawled out in front of her as it whizzes by. We're already out of the forest at this point, and she's seeing a mix of plains and lakes blur together. I decide that now is a good time to chat.
"So, Alto, it seems like a good time for me to ask, are you still dead set on joining Nina and I on our adventures after this?" (Mizuki)
Alto manages to peel her gaze from the scenery to give me a warm smile, and she nods calmly.
"Yes, Mizuki, I remain certain that I've made the right decision. If any doubts lingered, they were extinguished when I saw you interact with the kids, and especially when we began flying. I'm very much looking forward to my time with your group." (Alto)
It makes me happy to hear that, and I give her an appreciative smile in return.
"In that case, you should know that Nina and I will demand that you're treated as a full member of our group. We insist that you let us get you clothes, equipment, weapons, and pay for your necessities while you're with us. We'll also need to assess where your skills are at, and depending on what they are, I think that I might be able to train you with new techniques that you'll appreciate." (Mizuki)
I hear her chuckle beside me with her typical amusement.
"I can't promise that I'm comfortable with being spoiled, but I'll at least tolerate it if you insist. I'll look at it as you two appreciating and accepting me. As for my skills, I'm an elemental class with every standard subtype affinity, and my magic power level is also just over a three. I've had extensive magic training." (Alto)
I direct a surprised look at her, and she smirks with total confidence. Rightfully so – she could become an S-ranked adventurer if she isn't already at that level.
She probably doesn't think I can teach her anything, based on that last comment. I can be smug, too, though.