Author's Note: As I said in the last chapter, which was released earlier today, this chapter will be about Alex exploring the new city he has come across by almost complete accident as the adventurers there were the ones who told him of it's existence. The next chapters will be released on Monday so, until then, bye! Enjoy!
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I was able to find a new place to stay while I waited for Calido to come back. It was a small hole in the wall, not exactly big enough to be called a cave. It is more like a giant indent in the wall. When I look at it, it almost seems like something big in the past smashed into this wall and created this indent.
At the very least, it doesn't look like it was made by natural means. So, moving on, I just stayed in that small indent in the wall until Calido came back. My only fear was that he was somehow found by the adventurers who came here earlier but, I have faith that he was able to masterfully evade them, just like me.
And, while I was waiting for him to return, I started thinking about my next course of action. I was already able to decide that I would go to the nearby city or village the adventurers from before came from but, what then?
If I did go there, I should at least disguise myself as well as I can. I already have a good enough disguise as my jacket has already auto-fitted to a dummy and I can use my shadows to fill in the gaps. But, I think I can only hold that form for around 10 minutes, at the very maximum.
So, I'll enter the city or village with my normal appearance but, with of course, a small layer of shadows to separate my jacket from my skin. I will, at the very least, look only like a small child with overgrown clothes on my person. Then, after doing that, I will just look for places of interest that could be useful. Ultimately though, the best place that would hold important information would be the Adventurer's Guild or the National Library, if they have one.
(Hah, I finally got back.)
I heard the voice of Calido in my head that announced his arrival back.
(So, how were you able to find me?)
I am definitely curious as to know how he found me after I shifted into the shadow of a random object in a random location.
(I already told you that we share a connection due to my soul having a huge percentage of it being made from your own.)
(I know that already. I'm just asking what specific process do you use to find me. Do you have some sort of internal compass that guides you towards me or do you instead have a vague sense of where I am. Like, you start feeling larger connection with me the closer you get.)
(That is kind of hard to answer. Well, it is more like I instantly know where you are. Any time and anywhere. Maybe it is because my soul considers itself to mostly be you, meaning that it mostly shares your sense of location. Meaning, since that I am basically a clone of you, I always know where the original is.)
...
Oh.
Damn.
That sounded... a bit more depressing than I thought. It is almost like some sort of existential crisis for him. He knows and acknowledges that he is kind of like a clone of me and seems sad about it. I can't see him look sad and, I'm pretty sure that his current body can't express emotions on his face as well as a human.
But, I could guess so by his voice. Maybe he isn't as childish as I thought. He still has remnants of his intelligence from before his regression. I think I should shift the conversation into a different topic before something bad happens.
(Anyway, where will you be when I head towards the city tomorrow? Are you going to be staying outside again while I'm in?)
(Well, I don't have any other choice, aside from staying outside.)
Hmm...
I think I just got an amazing idea.
(Hey, Calido, do you remember that time when we first met Glaive?)
(Of course I do. That was when we met the Champion of Space, one of the strongest fighters among the human race. What about it?)
(When he first saw you, he tried to attack you, right?)
(Yes, he did. Your point is?)
(Well, I was able to divert his suspicion of you by saying that my ability allows me to tame both beasts and monsters. If I say that again, they will most likely believe me as Glaive did. That is, if they don't have an Analysis Stone. But, even then, I'm pretty sure that they don't show any information about the target's ability.)
(So, you're saying that-)
(Yeah, you are welcome to come with me inside of the city. This will be the first time you went inside one casually as every other time was pretty much only because I was in trouble.)
(Then, I look forward to it.)
And so, I was able to treat Calido to a little bit of fun for the event that will be happening tomorrow in the nearby city or village. After thinking that, I felt a bit happier at the thought of Calido being happy. He certainly has grown on me for the past few years. I'm actually excited to get another Divine Beast soon.
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(The next day, in the morning)
Ah!
I stretch my arms into the air and stand up. After standing up and doing a few stretches, I spread my tendrils to try to find Calido. After looking for a few seconds, I find that he has curled up in a spot not too far away from my own place.
I guess he is a bit more comfortable with his sleeping position as he is technically a lizard now. Lizards will be better at sleeping on the cold, hard ground much easier than an average human like me.
These stretches are necessary as they loosen up my limbs after sleeping on something hard for so long. The flexibility of these limbs will be important as they could possibly become the deciding factor in a battle with some other creature or person.
I sit down at the place where I assume to be the front of Calido and look down, trying to make sure that I am actually facing in the correct direction. After waiting for a couple of minutes, I decide to wake him up.
(Hey, Calido. It's city time.)
After saying those few words, Calido jolts upwards, nearly hitting my chin. I quickly jump up and step back a few steps to make sure that he doesn't accidentally injure me.
(Ah, a nice morning indeed. As you said earlier, Alex, it definitely is city time.)
Hey, he heard all of that?
Oh well.
Once I told him everything we will do in the city, we set off. I made sure to don my usual clothes, with the extra shadow layer to make sure that I don't accidentally make the clothes auto-fit onto me. After everything was set in order, we set off in a random direction.
Just kidding.
Of course, since I shifted into a random place, the first thing I will have to do is confirm my location so that I can head off to the correct destination. We made sure to try to find the river where the goblin nest was and followed it upstream. I knew we were going upstream because I felt the water going the opposite direction so, we traveled along it.
We walked together in silence for a long time. I think we walked for at least 30 minutes before we started hearing something. In the distance, I was able to hear people talking. I stopped and sent tendrils that way to confirm it.
After they traveled a certain distance, I instantly knew I was correct. The people who were talking were probably merchants and they were on a path that felt different from the rest of the ground in the forest. It felt like it was a place where many carriages or people went through.
I avoided the merchants, just in case, and went along the path. That was when I finally arrived at what I assumed to be the city gates. I was able to get through the line without attracting too much attention to myself.
Once I reached the beginning of the line, I made sure to hide in someone else's shadow before coming in. It is technically illegal entry but, I can never be too careful. When the owner of the shadow I was currently in passed security, I heard these words from the guard.
"Welcome to the City of Adventurer's, Audaceus!"
'What a fitting name for a city filled with adventurers', I thought to myself.