The Town Guard watches the Southern Gate as they open the gate to open the city in the morning. One of the guards spots Reynes.
"Hey, look!"
"It's him! He's brought Empress Lucentyr to the town!"
The town guard was surprised when Reynes mounted on Mophire's back. Furthermore, he comes in the morning.
"A-Alert the Mayor!"
"At ease. I come here only to enjoy the festival before I depart."
"Errr… It would be a week for the festival. The festival is about to start, and…. It would be an honor for you to participate."
"Alright. I'll take that offer, then."
The guard lets them through, and Mophire looks at the town that has gone lively from the morning. Luckily, they've already assembled at the town square, waiting for the Mayor to give a speech.
Mayor Hodges' residence
"M-Mayor!! I have urgent news!!"
A Guard runs to him, but the Mayor's soldier stops him.
"Hey, you! Stop! You can't disturb the Mayor at the moment!"
"Let me through! It's important!"
"I'll say it to the Mayor once he's ready."
"No! This is more than that. The Lucentyr Empress…. Is coming to the festival!"
"WHAT!?"
A secretary rushed to the Town Guard as the soldiers were surprised about the news, asking for verification.
"Is it true that the Lucentyr Empress is coming to this city?"
"Yes! I've seen her with my own eyes!"
"Alert the mayor at once!"
As Mayor's soldiers rush to the town square, they find Reynes is with Lucentyr Empress. Minutes later, Mayor Hodges arrives at the Town Square, watching as the children play with the Empress.
"E-Empress…."
He, his soldiers, and the town guards were kneeling before her. But, she only yawns as Reynes also helps her in taking care of the children.
"It took you long enough. I thought the host would be late for the opening speech itself."
"F-Forgive my lateness…."
"Hmph. As a mayor, don't forget you have the promise to keep for this town."
"Y-yes…. By the way, would you like to give the honor of giving an opening speech?"
Mophire nodded as she went to the stage, and people began to gather as she was about to deliver her speech.
"People of Lucentyr! Today I'm taking the honor of giving a speech at the opening of this festival! Know that through our blood, tears, and sweat, we develop Lucentyr Town to become what we see today.
We bear no hostility against the Arminia Kingdom and will protect this town until we can leave a legacy for people to remember in the future! Those who cherish this town, protect it as you cherish every moment you spend when staying in this town! I shall not tolerate those who dare to disturb the peace of this town, including those who dare to disturb our forest.
I shall return this offering to all of you, as everyone can worship the Lucentyrs through the development of Lucentyr Town. It can be anything as long as it can bring change to Lucentyr for a better future.
Through my howl, I hereby declare the opening of the Lucentyr festival!"
As Mophire howls loudly, the Lucentyrs in the forest also howl, signaling the opening of the festival.
As the festival begins, Reynes and Mophire walk around the town, as some stalls are giving them food and condiments for free.
"Here, this is for you."
"Oh. You must be her rider. Please take this."
Reynes got nothing but trouble when he got food, drinks, and souvenirs from the shop since he was the rider for Mophire. She can only giggle as she remains in her Lucentyr form.
"Fu fu…. Give it up, Reynes."
"You're too big, Mophire. Can you shrink your size?"
"Hmph…. Fair enough."
Mophire shrinks her size to a size of an adult horse. Yet, to his chagrin, people keep giving him condiments to enjoy.
The festival continues, and on the night of the festival's first day, Reynes decides to camp outside the city.
"Aren't you going to sleep in an inn, sir? We have plenty of inns to accommodate both of you and the Lucentyr."
"No. I'll sleep outside the town. Don't worry; I will return in the morning."
As they arrive at the plain near the river, Reynes sets up the camp. When Mophire enters the tent, she transforms into a human and relaxes on the sofa.
"Your interior is interesting. Who would've thought that you could use [Space Time] Magic for this."
"It's my first product after tons of experiments."
"Hmm… These clothes are also convenient. It has temperature regulation, so my body always maintains good condition."
She stares at her clothes and rips them for a bit but later regenerates back. Mophire can't hide her amusement when she does this multiple times.
"I sense some of my magic power was sucked when the clothes repaired itself."
"You can stop the regeneration if you stop flowing your magic power to the clothes."
"True, but I feel like my energy is being sapped the moment I stop my magic flow to regenerate these clothes."
"I did once manage to slow the regeneration down, but that happens only when we're out of energy and stamina. It will be a disadvantage if we're in a pinch."
"Hmm…. [Magic Perception]."
Mophire looked at the magic particles around her were slowly being sucked by her clothes.
"I would say these clothes suck natural magic particles around. If we happen to stand at the magic vein, I think the regeneration can happen faster."
Mophire started to spread some of the magic particles to test a magic theory. She closes her eyes and triggers one of her skills, [Magic Absorption]. As she cast it, magic particles slowly sucked into her damaged clothes, and the fixing rate was based on how fast she absorbed the magic particles. The Lucentyr Blue Sapphire absorbs surrounding particles and collects them into her clothes.
"If you can report this to Madam Prophet. She would be very delightful."
"What did you find?"
"If you want to use stamina and magic, not from the wearer, you can use [Magic Absorption] to absorb magic particles in our surroundings."
"What's your classification for [Magic Control]?"
"At least on Advanced rating."
"I'll note that. If I remember correctly, I absorb some of the furs you shed for me a month ago."
"On the other hand, can you get luxury lodging for both of us?"
"How long?"
"Three weeks, at least."
"Hm? Ah. You want me to do some quests around the town, do you?"
"You should do it if you want to leave the town with a good impression. Furthermore, I may also have to open up to them to show the people of Lucentyr that I do not need to be worshipped at all times. Through maintaining the life and public order of Lucentyr that I shall consider them as worshipping Lucentyrs."
"No wonder you say that at the opening speech."
"Heh…. You can't just go after bringing me to the town and negotiate with the Mayor."
"Fine. Fine. I'll take some requests later."
Reynes frowns as Mophire pesters him to take the quests on Lucentyr. But it's part of the journey, after all.
Next Day
"Welcome to the Adventurers Guild."
A receptionist is expecting his arrival.
"Hello. I'm Marle. How may I help you?"
"I would like a quest. Any quest would do."
"I don't think we have a suitable request for you. But…."
Marle took some of the quests that went unfinished for months.
"There were some quests that remain unfinished after months—assisting in construction, cleaning the latrine pit, wall expansion, and…."
"I'll take care of that."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I'll also make sure that the people of Lucentyr enjoy the festival."
"Oh. That'll be great! Thank you so much, and…. Who's this lady behind you?"
Looking at a girl behind Reynes, her first stare is at the bosom, which surpasses her own. She felt somewhat jealous of her.
"This is Mophire, currently in a human form."
"A WHAT!?"
Some adventurers spill drinks, cough, and even choke when they try to gulp food. Their attention turns to a woman clad in blue sapphire armor, where most of her armor is covered in Lucentyr's fur. She has a blue sapphire spear on her back.
"Hey. If she does a Lucentyr, I don't think she's good enough at fighting."
As one of the adventurers mocks Mophire, she transforms into Lucentyr Empress and growls at him. He fell and wet himself as the Lucentyr Empress stood before them.
"I-I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!"
Transforming back to a human form, Mophire looks at the Marle.
"Now you're convinced?"
Marle nodded as she trembled. She calls another receptionist.
"S-someone, please help me register the Lucentyr Empress!"
As the receptionist panicked, another receptionist, a cat beastwoman, welcomed Reynes.
"Ara, nya. I didn't expect for you to have Lucentyr Empress as your mount."
"Hello, Felis. I want to register her, please."
"She would be at A Ranked effective immediately. Considering she's a Lucentyr Empress, and her fighting prowess is already proven. She doesn't need to take a test."
The Guildmaster, an elf, looks at Mophire. As soon as she receives a receptionist's report about Lucentyr Empress wanting to join Adventurers Guild, she goes to the receptionist's table.
"Welcome. Lucentyr Empress. I'm Alisha. Unfortunately, because of my authority is limited, the eligibility to enter an S Rank must require a recommendation from other guilds and Nobles with a minimum of Marquis or above. I can only enlist you on A Ranked Adventurer. Is that fine with you?"
"Yes. I'm fine with that."
"Reynes. Please give me your card. We have a new update for the entire guild."
"What kind of update?"
"Rating and its proficiency."
"Oh, alright."
Reynes hand his card, and the Guild Staff updates it. As soon as the Guild Card finished updating to the recent day, Alisha looked at Reynes.
"You and Lucentyr Empress. To my office, now." She whispers to the receptionist. "Don't ever talk about it here. Also, bring Lucentyr's card to me immediately once done."
The beastwoman nodded, and as Reynes and Mophire entered the office, she gave him his Guild Card.
"Your status is absurd, Reynes." Alisha looks at Reynes with a concerned face. "Almost all of your capabilities were minimum of Expert rating. You can see it by yourself."
When Reynes looks at his display status, somehow, he already knows it:
Name: Reynes Lexington
Title: Baronet, Master Valedictorian, Apostle of Sevis, Meteor of Arminia, Owner of Lucentyr Empress
Occupation: Guardian Soldier
Affiliation: House of Lexington
Skills:
Master Proficiency (25+)
Expert Proficiency (8)
Advanced Proficiency (6)
Reynes only stares at it as he puts the card into his pocket. His training since childhood does display on the card. One title comes to his mind, Apostle of Sevis. Sevis is a Supreme God of the Yggdrasil World, and the Lexington Family worships her.
"You got plenty of Master Rating, Reynes. I would not doubt that you're one of the Arminia—no, Arteria Continent's Strongest Adventurer. With your reputation as one of the Trio Meteor Child, I don't doubt the other two also earn the same thing."
"So, what would you want me to do?"
Alisha can only give a suggestion.
"Conceal your skills. That goes to your mount as well. What's your name?"
"Mophire."
"Okay. You two have to conceal your skills. I don't want you to grab too much attention here. Having a lot of skills with a Master's rating would definitely grab a lot of attention from nobles and sovereigns. You have [Appraisal Inhibition], right?"
"Yes, I do have it."
"Then use it."
After concealing most of his skills, Reynes leaves the guild, and he takes the request as he asked earlier.
For three weeks in Lucentyr Town, Reynes and Mophire conducted a series of assignments. Extending town walls, assisting in construction, finding materials, working with a blacksmith, and many more.
By the time the festival ends, people begin to adore Reynes and Mophire. Nonetheless, they have to leave the town and set out to the next destination for the journey.
End of Act II: Departure