A young man got out of the carriage and gave a small bow to us.
"Thank you for your help. My name is Ronald Douglas. If there is something I can help you with, please let us know. My family are merchants, and you helped save us some money since we haven't been robbed, so thank you."
Lila replied with a smile, "No problem; they were just our target practice."
When he straightened his back, he looked at me, then Lila. When he saw her, I thought I saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes, but then he shook his head.
"Are you on your way to Flamehaven?" I asked.
"Yes, is that your destination also? If so, would you like to accompany us? I'd be happy to pay you as guards for your services if you'd like."
That sounded like a good deal to me, faster travel and getting paid for it. It also benefits him too; having mages as guards would increase security, and if we were already going there, he wouldn't have to offer as much.
I looked at Lila. "Sounds good to me, you?"
She nodded.
"Alright, great! Come inside and sit down. What circle mages are you?" He motioned for us to follow him into the carriage.
"4th," I replied.
There was a pause in his movement, and he made a small choking sound, "I'm sorry, but I can't pay the normal fee for a 4th circle mage; my father would kill me."
I sat down on the seat, and Lila sat next to me, leaning against my side. "Don't worry about it; whatever you want is fine."
Truthfully, I don't even know what the fee for each circle would be, and besides, we're getting a faster ride.
"Alright, it should take us 2 days to reach the city; I can only give 4 silvers each."
I nodded, "Alright, sounds fine to me."
After that, he looked out the window, and I started cultivating. I'm thankful the seats in this carriage have thick cushions and absorb most of the bumps; the ones in the last world were enough to give me nightmares for life. Lila also started cultivating since there was nothing better to do while we traveled.
The carriage didn't stop till nightfall when the 3 guards set up camp. They each thanked us for the help earlier. They entered a tent, and Ronald slept in the carriage. They offered us a tent, but I declined, and we went to sleep on the blanket as usual.
When we reached Flamehaven, Ronald paid us, and we parted ways before entering the city. He said to come visit at the market his family ran if we needed anything. Lila and I waved goodbye.
There were guards at the gate checking identity papers. I once again had Kitty make some for me, but this time Lila as well. For some reason, Lila told me not to use her real last name but make it something else, so I chose "Lila Adney." By this time, I trusted Kitty enough that I wasn't nervous that they wouldn't work. After all, they were just some paper, and I don't even know what the point of checking was since it seemed so easy to forge.
As we walked through the gate, it revealed a medieval-looking town, but instead of filth everywhere, the streets were clean. Probably due to magic being present making it easier to clean up.
We walked farther into town side by side, looking around. There were many shops selling everything you could dream of and more. The street side was lined with stalls for vendors selling yet more things.
When we passed a bakery, I could smell the scent of fresh-baked goods. Even though I don't have to eat, that doesn't mean I won't if I find something good enough. This scent, it qualifies.
I took Lila's hand and pulled her into the bakery. Inside there were about 5 tables with chairs surrounding them. I went up to the glass display cases and started looking while waiting for someone to come over.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for a friendly young man to come over.
"Welcome, what can I get for you?"
"One of each," I started pointing out several things.
I looked at Lila, "Want anything else?"
She shook her head, "No, I'll just try some of those then maybe get some."
I handed the guy 1 silver and got my change of 93 coppers then took the tray with the goods over to a table near the window. After sitting down I started trying the different things; Lila sat opposite me and took a bite of a miniature waffle-looking thing.
She let out a little delighted sound as she chewed, and I could see stars in her eyes. She started eating faster, not trying to savor the taste, just eating everything.
In the end, I only got a single bite of each and looked at her a little resentfully.
"I never knew bread could be so good!" she exclaimed with a dreamy look. Seeing this, I felt a little better.
We left the bakery and wandered around for a bit before we ended up at the adventurers' guild. We decided to register to be adventurers since it would be a good source of income no matter which city we were staying in as long as there was a branch there.
The building was quite large and made of stone, with a wooden signboard that had crossing swords burned into it. The entrance was a large oak double door.
I pushed open one of the doors and let Lila in; the inside looked like a mix of a restaurant and a bar. Half the people inside were eating, and the other half were drinking. Most of the people were beastmen with a few of the other races scattered throughout. Everyone seemed to have weapons around them and were wearing armor, making us seem a little out of place.
We walked up to the desk, and I spoke. "Hello, we would like to register."
She looked at Lila and asked, "Both of you?"
"Yes," Lila nodded and replied.
"You have to be at least 16."
I can see where the confusion could come from; Lila looks young in some ways and in some places not so young.
Lila took out her papers where it was written that she was 18. She wasn't quite 18, but that was only a few days away, so I just made the identity papers say she was 18 already.
The receptionist looked at the papers and nodded while moving a ball in front of us as well as 2 forms.
"Place your hand on the ball, and it will scan your attributes, then fill out these forms, and I will make your identification card."
I placed my hand on the ball, and it lit up with a large 4 along with some other numbers. Lila did the same and got mostly the same result. The receptionist looked surprised and happy.
"It's not every day we get two 4th circle mages; we are happy to have you."
We filled out the forms and were given a bronze card about the size of a credit card.
The receptionist explained what they were, "These are your guild ID cards. They will work at any guild branch and cannot be faked. Just put in a little mana, and it will show if it belongs to you and that it's real. Currently, you are at F rank since you haven't completed any missions. You can take any missions up to one rank above yours."
We thanked her and headed to the mission board on the other side that was full of posters. We looked at them for a bit then found one to exterminate goblins in a cave to the north of the city that pays 1 silver. We decided to take that one since it was E rank and paid better as well as wasn't so boring like herb picking.
After accepting the mission, we decided to do it tomorrow since we had 48 hours to complete it, and it was getting late today. We found a nearby inn to sleep for the night. Lila was excited since it had a proper bed rather than blankets, and she wanted to try it out. As soon as we entered the room, she took a flying leap onto the bed and buried her face in the mattress, laughing.
The corners of my lips came up in a small smile as I watched. After a few minutes, she stopped, and I sat down on the floor to cultivate while she lay on the bed with a happy face.
A few seconds after I sat down, I heard her ask "Do you have anyone you love?"
I knew what she was getting at and I turned to face her. "Yes, 4 people. My family of my mother, my sister, my wife Luna, and you. I know what you want to know, so now you'll have to decide if you're willing to share."
She sat up and her feet hit the floor and felt her arms wrap around me as she dragged me onto the mattress, laying partly on top of me. I could have resisted since I was stronger but chose not to.
"I'll answer now." Her voice was soft and happy.
She looked at me with expectant eyes as the end of her tail worked its way under my shirt. I felt a little conflicted but ultimately she lost as I remembered she was only a few days till her birthday. I wondered if this meant I wasn't qualified to be a man, but realized self-control is a virtue so I decided not to think about it that way and think of it as an exercise in self-control.
"Wait 3 days," I said and closed my eyes to start cultivating. I heard a little sigh before she laid her head down and fell asleep after a while.
The next morning I felt her wake up, and I stopped cultivating. After some breakfast, I bought a sword made from basic mana crystals for each of us, and we left the room.
When we exited the inn, I could see wanted posters plastered on every door as far as I could see. What caught my eye was the 1,000 gold reward. Seeing a reward that big, I stopped to read the poster, if for nothing else than to know what dangerous criminal has a reward of 1,000 gold, enough to live happily for a long long time.
When reading the description, I immediately felt a chill and dragged Lila back into the room. The poster described Lila almost perfectly aside from it saying her mana core was broken, which would be true except I'd fixed it.