Under the embrace of the warm sunlight, I squinted my eyes as the scenery before me became fully visible. We were now in the center of what appeared to be a large human city. The ground was littered with small rectangular structures littered in colors of brown and yellow that perfectly paved a path to just about anywhere you wanted to go. The spot we now stood in had the vague shape of a large circle, with a statue of some ornate figure standing proud in the center of it.
While I had no idea who it was, there was a certain degree of reverence being shown by everyone here that just made you wonder.
They had called this place the "Town Square" and off in the distance, I could see something that looked to be a large gate, so that must have been the entrance to Drakonis. All around the circular formation we now stood in was an ornate array of human structures that roughly held the same height. The brick laden paths seamlessly passed through the openings between these structures and formed an intricate network of roads that one could almost call beautiful.
Being so close to them, I now began to take notice of all the intricacies in human craftsmanship. Case in point, there was a large building that towered over the rather moderate ones present here, and on it there was a symbol positioned so brazenly it was basically begging for attention.
We were garnering quite a bit of attention ourselves, despite the crowded streets, the area where we stood was aptly spaced despite the array of onlookers that were now gazing at us.
Perhaps because of the armed men brandishing weapons around our perimeter, none of them ever dared to draw closer. Even though he wasn't being as gaudy about it as the other men gathered here, Michael himself possessed a weapon firmly affixed to his hip. It only went to reinforce my earlier suspicions, these people surrounding me were all of some importance in human society.
And apparently, now so was I. There were numerous people trying to get a glance at me, luckily the intimidating demeanor of the guards surrounding this envoy kept their advances to just that.
Shiina and Cynthia began waving daintily to the onlookers, and Michael gave a distinct bow as we finally departed from the circular formation, armed men still following suit. As we walked through the settlement, I began to notice a curious phenomenon, there weren't only humans here, some of these people resembled a conspicuous mix of both human and beast like races, some held no human features whatsoever, and some were apparently a mix of other races that had nothing to do with humans.
It was truly a curious sight.
"So, where are you headed first?" Changing my orientation, Cynthia asked Shiina as she held me closer in her arms.
"Well let's see, I'd like to get some more utensils - Oh! but Arlen could use some new clothes too, and speaking of clothes there was this one dress that I've been dying to get...." Shiina had immediately gotten lost in her ramblings the moment she got asked that question.
Listening to her ever-growing list, Michael could only put up a brave face to stave off the angst of his upcoming task. With a smug grin, Cynthia gave him a light nudge with her elbow before whispering the words "good luck " to him.
His expression did brighten up only seconds after that simple comment, so it clearly worked.
"Alright Shiina, let's do this!"
"Oh, I see you're fully committed to this....Mom, I'll leave Arlen with you for a bit, I'll be back soon." With those words, they took off, carrying a small portion of the armed forces within them. Although the residents here had been cautious of approaching them too closely, they didn't particularly seem to mind it that much and in no time at all they had disappeared into the influx of parading pedestrians.
After they disappeared, Cynthia turned towards me with an ecstatic expression-
"So, how would you like to spend the day with grandma?"
Without even waiting for an answer, she had already decided to carry me off to some vague location. The armed guards remaining with us immediately made to follow suit, but she swiftly extended a hand towards them and uttered a single word -
"STOP"
She didn't shout, but her tone just now had clearly carried undeniable authority.
Surprised by her sudden gesture, the three men were at a loss for words, yet she continued, nonetheless.
"I don't often get the chance so I'm about to spend the day with my grandson.....alone."
Her tone was even more commanding now.
"B-but madam, we're here to guard you, so I'm afraid we can't-"
"Guard me? If there's anyone here that's able to best me then you'd all just be throwing our lives away. Guard the carriages or something if you must."
"......"
"........As you wish...."
Reluctantly agreeing, they were now effectively pinned to their current position, all on the account of a simple verbal command.
Carrying me off, she seemed determined to visit every location on account of her whimsical mood.
From foods, to beverages, to garments.... Today had been one full of experiences these humans seemed to yearn for, and it felt as if this was just a typical day for Cynthia. The hue of the sky had now shifted from its customary blue color and taken on a red sheen, soon the twinkling lights would begin emerging as if peeking out from their hiding spots. It was a sight I'd grown rather fond of in the time I'd been here.
After completing the day's events, we finally approached the carriages, and I saw the vestiges of Michael and Shiina. The former appeared to be carrying numerous items and his expression was one completely drained of any vigor, but for once, that was a feeling I could sympathize with. The sense of fatigue now coursing through my body had truly felt earned. Shiina on the other hand seemed to be completely satisfied with today's endeavors.
With a clapping motion, she drew everyone's attention and announced-
"Now, let's go home."
"This girl really does dance to her own tune...." Cynthia murmured that in a low tone, her expression right now wasn't perturbed in the least but instead it appeared to be rather kind.
Boarding the mobile vessel, we promptly departed from the area. I would have otherwise considered today a complete waste of time if not for two notable factors. One was a rather simple detail I had confirmed about the use of magic in this world, and it was the fact that just about all of these people held a strange marking somewhere on their body, and that must have been what they referred to as a "crest". For some reason it seemed to be essential for humans to use magic but that's about all the information I had on it for now.
The second thing that made this journey worth it was my firsthand exposure to the magic of this world. I had seen glimpses of it from Shiina and Michael, but I had never been directly exposed to magical essence. Though I could sense its presence in the atmosphere, I couldn't properly temper the energy since I hadn't yet gained full control over this body. But thanks to Cynthia, I could feel the presence of the magical energy around me much more strongly than I ever could have before and now, I was even able to interact with it.
The technique she'd used on me earlier was still a mystery to me at this point, but the key thing about it was the fact that she'd allowed her magical energy to flow into my body, and the sensation of it coursing through my veins had allowed me to further tune my senses to the raw magical energy in the atmosphere.
Now, if I concentrated hard enough on trying to recreate the feeling I experienced back then, I could absorb magical energy from the atmosphere bit by bit, and in doing so I could feel the development of these "mana circuits" that she'd mentioned earlier. While it was a tediously slow process, and absorbing mana was about as much as I could do for now, it was a huge step forward, and I should be able to drastically increase my control over this power within a few years' time.
It seems tempering magical energy in this form will be a lot more tedious than what I'd originally been used to, but that was a problem that could be easily dealt with later.
Hehe.....things just got interesting....just you wait.....
In the midst of my feigned my slumber, I could feel the ambient energy in the atmosphere slowly start to seep into my body, and a devious smile gradually began to stretch across my supposedly unconscious face.
"Oh Arlen just smiled!"