Now that I have made u my mind, I have to say that I am getting interested in seeing what the Imperial City looks like. Since it is the capital of the entire kingdom, then I'm guessing it has to be quite prosperous?
「Okay, then I wish you a safe trip, master. I will be awaiting your return right here.」
Oh? So Roxanne is not going together with me? Well, I can see where that idea is coming from. Since those two are offering to take people to the Imperial City through the portal that they have made, it would be reasonable to expect that they will want some kind of travel fee, in which case the most cost-efficient option would be to go to the Imperial City with just me alone this once to cut costs, and once I have visited both of those places I will then come back there with Roxanne, especially after I'll obtain Field Walker for myself at some point… or not, since I don't have to wait for that with all the Bonus Spells at my disposal, and Warp is that much better than Field Walker because it can take me not only to "normal" places in the world, but also to the Labyrinth itself at a relatively low MP cost.
「Alright then, I guess I'll be heading off. Hold down the fort for me while I'm gone, okay?」
「Of course. Have a safe trip, master!」
And so I walked towards the pair of Adventurers near the wall on the other side of the room. To be honest, the thought that Roxanne might run off somewhere while my eyes are not on her at all times makes me a little bit anxious, but I probably shouldn't worry about such things. After all, I am her master and she is my slave, but even more importantly than that, we both trust each other. I think. No no no no, I am absolutely sure of that. If she ever wanted to run away from me, then she could have done so numerous times while I was asleep instead of waiting for a moment where I would be away that might have never come.
It's fine. It will all be fine. Seriously, stop worrying about it! I want to believe that she's still going to be here when I get back. I have to believe it!
While having such conflicting thoughts roam the inside of my poor mind, I approached the pair of Adventurers and asked about the price of the fare, after enabling my 30% Price Discount of course.
「How much for the trip?」
I asked the female elven Adventurer in a friendliest tone I could muster. She was quite beautiful, I'll give her that, but not as beautiful as Roxanne is. I wonder if the Imperial City will have many beautiful girls and women, or are they all going to be inferior to her? The male one looked like he was in his fourties, but since he had pointed ears, which indicated that he must have been an elf, then he might actually be way older than my estimation. The woman was 20 years old, according to my appraisal with Identify.
「We usually charge 2 silver coins for a back and forth trip, but since this is a one way trip we're willing to drop it down to 1 silver coin.」
「Okay.」
My discount didn't seem to work. At this point I cannot even say that I am surprised about that, because from my observations so far it seems that the discounts only work if the one you want to use them on possesses the Calculate Skill associate with the Job of a Merchant. In other words: this female Adventurer does not have that Skill. Well, not that it changes anything here since this price is pretty small in and out of itself so that 30% discount wouldn't even do anything.
In order to pay that one silver coin I summoned my Item Box and got the required amount out of it, but since I was in front of others I had to summon it with normal incantation, since I didn't want them to get suspicious of me for not using proper spells and still getting the desired results.
「Respond to your friend's trust and provide proper service. Party Formation!」
When I handed the money to them, the elf Adventurer began casting the Party Formation spell. Whoa, that's right, I completely forgot about that! If I wanted t travel with those two and the portal they have created with their magic, I had to form a Party with them first, so I quickly looked back at Roxanne, with whom I was still in a Party and hurriedly disbanded it so that no one would get suspicious that a lovely girl like her was standing all alone without the Party Leader around. Once that was done, a system message asking me to confirm my new Party appeared in front of my eyes with the two options available for selection: Yes and No. I pressed Yes without even thinking about it. I see, so that is how joining someone else's Party actually looks like, huh? This is my first time ever doing something like that, because all those times before I was always the Party Leader adding Roxanne to my own Party. I looked around to see if anyone was gawking at us, but strangely enough, nobody seemed to care about what we were doing, not that there was that many people around in the Guild building to begin with. Was this that common of an occurance to disband your own Party just so you could travel somewhere with other people? Because it certainly felt strange to me.
Well, whatever the case with it may be, I didn't have any time to actually worry about it, because the elf Adventurer already chanted Field Walker and opened the portal leading to the Imperial City o the wall. The elven guy came through it first, and the lady Adventurer went inside next. Not wanting to be left behind, I swiftly followed after them.
When I went through the portal myself, I found myself in a large room. Its basic structure was pretty much the same as the one of the Veil's Adventurer's Guild, so this must be its branch in the Imperial City. The first thing that was obvious from the get go was how much bigger it was: about four to five times larger, or at least that was my initial estimation, and instead of just a single reception counter in the middle of the room, there are actually ten rows of them at the walls.
「...… Party Formation!」
I heard the male elf Adventurer chanting the Party Formation spell, meaning that our Party made for the purpose of getting here has been officially disbanded.
「Thank you for your patronage. Now, is there anyone here who wants to go to Veil?!」
The two Adventurers big me farewell with small nods and then immediately proceeded to fishing out those who wanted to travel from Imperial City to Veil, and they actually managed to get themselves five of them, an entire Party by the looks of it. Just like they did that with me, when each and every one of them finished giving them the payment for the fare, they chanted the Party Formation Spell to for one Party, and then the male one used Field Walker on the wall again to create a black portal leading all the way back to Veil and went through it with the others while leaving his female companion behind. Hmm, perhaps that guy was the member of that Party who never been to Veil, so he tagged along with that girl who had been there before take him there so that he could travel there with Field Walker himself with the rest of his buddies, similarly to how I wanted to do with the journey to Quratar now? And while we are on that particular subject
「Excuse me, but if possible, could I ask you to take me to Quratar? One way is fine with me.」
I asked the female Adventurer. If she is free right ow then maybe she will be able and willing to take me to my destination? Asking does not cost anything and I won't lose anything, so might as well give it a shot.
「Quratar, huh? Sure, that will be two silver coins.」
Yes, so they actually can take me straight to Quratar from here! Lucky me! I gladly handed the 2 silver coins to the female elf Adventurer and waited for her to add me to her Party and cast Field Walker again. And then, after another short walk through the portal…
「Here we are: Quratar's Adventurer's Guild.」
「Thank you, and sorry for the trouble.」