Walking out of the doors I still had to admit that the view was beautiful. The mix of modern and rustic textures was perfect for the countryside-like surroundings followed by the white cliff and mountain behind me it was perfect. It was such a shame that it was tainted by a monarch's ego and gaudy castle.
Setting off we started walking to the common districts. The outside looked good but if you peeled back the layer hiding the truth you could see poverty and suffering. The streets were clean because they were cleaned of the less fortunate by the knights. As much as I hate humans even I felt disgust at how they were treated. It didn't help that I was being glared at. Haah I guess news of someone attacking a king spreads fast but it's not like much has changed. From when I entered everyone looked at us with spite and disgust like what did we do to earn their ire?
"Don't worry about it. We will be fine as long as we are together." A sincere smile came to her lips.
"We should find a place to de-stress maybe back at our home we can read a book together and spend some time away from these humans. We can even hunt some beasts in the labyrinth I know you like the adrenaline of battle."
"Yeah I think I would like that."
She always knew what to say to calm me and keep me together. After all she knew me best.
Like a switch her personality changed in a more shy manner.
"T-thank you. F-for getting angry over my well being and for being so kind to me."
A long moment of silence prolonged before she finally caught onto what I was doing. Pouting, she looked cute.
"Stop embarrassing me! Say something!"
Hiding her head she stormed slightly ahead. I just followed behind with a slight smile.
Turning from our antics I looked back into the city. The shops were nothing special even in the noble districts that we had already passed so we decided to just leave and take a leisurely walk back to the barony instead of teleportation which would have been faster. I had almost finished the miniaturisation of the magic circle and I would be able to implant it into the rings so we could teleport from wherever we were but we would need teleportation circles for a return trip to a set destination.
An anchor of sorts for a return destination. Thus we would travel over the known world and place circles close to each capital and mark them with a unique rune for the area that it can correspond to but before we could start traveling some information was required. Going to a library in the capital would be all but useless as it would be filled with misinformation and lies about the other continents and even when I studied in the royal library I didn't see much about other continents otherwise it would have been the first book I picked.
Walking towards the exit gate I noticed that there was a lack of guards on duty. Just two standing there like statues near the gate. The others must be on cleanup and protection duty. Walking past they didn't even acknowledge us like they were baked out of their mind on some drug.
Feeling a weight off my chest I breathed in my first step into a new life of travelling the world with the person I care about. Walking to the barons territory would take some time since we decided to travel by foot instead of flight. I had inscribed a magic circle into the wall of the library just in case I needed to travel back to gather information or supplies that could only be found in the empire or if I needed to steal from the castle.
After a short walk more people started to appear whether it be pilgrims or merchants it seemed like there was a large migration of people coming to the capital. Most of the merchants had guards but they seemed pretty weak so it was surprising that they had even made it to the capital I'm sure that there would have been bandits since this is a main road.
Our first location would be to The town with the guild in and that shit brick house of a guild master. Hopefully it was empty of soldiers unlike last time. I had already threatened a king about his kingdom and tearing down a town close to the city may complicate things more than they already were.
I needed to revise our adventuring gear strengthening them as far as I can without breaking them and maybe slightly change the style maybe change to a battle coat for added maneuverability as the coattails get in the way as it's split in the middle. Lilly's attire was good as it was but I may have to change the legs for if we go traveling into a jungle.
As we walked and the people dispersed lilly saddled up to me. Taking her hand in hers I felt happy to have a peaceful moment along with her. All I had been doing was dragging her around for my own selfish desires. She was the only person I could be 'me' around especially after I fell into the abyss. I have changed so much after meeting her. I would have killed everyone I saw and probably turned batshit crazy or something.
It had been an hour and as we were arriving at the town we were bet by heavy fortifications. It would seem that it would be best to skip it for now and just head to the barony.
"It seems that they planned on us coming this way. Information spreads fast. And it's probably best to bypass this place." Lilly seemed annoyed at them more than anything.
Looking at the faces of the soldiers and scrutinizing them I recognized them from the castle. It seemed that the king had placed some people in our way, I could even see some of the heroes mixed in although they were wearing soldiers garbs to blend in.
Seems so I guess they have enough brains to think that we would walk to the closest settlement. But still you are right lilly
Giving a slight nod we headed for the barony.