Lulu's tail rapidly wagged with each large step she took, her arms moved fluidly and widely as she made sure to greet everyone she met across the road. With the lack of weight on her back and her past debt about to be paid, there was no gnoll happier than her! The trees fluttered whimsically, the air brushed past her fur carrying the soft aroma of magila, not sickening fungus or pricking mana but natural pure magila.
The nearby houses were mostly built up of wood and stone with some odd variants, some looked tilted, and others looked like a large version of items - there was a house that looked like a giant bottle, Lulu squinted her eyes and she could peer a micefolk taking a bath. She quickly adverted the eyes like everyone else in the street was doing and kept forward trying to wash away the image from her brains.
But thankfully that was something easy to do with that growing noise- Lulu's ears pivoted as the noise of multiple beings became louder and louder, cat siths were known for their curiosity and Lulu was happy to know that her uncle was a cat sith, although adopted... The gnoll followed the noise until it became a thunderous multitude of voices at the central plaza, the many trees and the lonely playground would've drawn Lulu's attention if it wasn't for the makeshift stage in front of her, a human woman stood on top, she wore basic clerk attire but even that could barely conceal her form, skin that was smooth and soft for the eyes, irises blue as the deep ocean and her hair golden as a wheat field, her body moved with confidence and certainty with no space of doubt as her chest took that out of the picture because they were melons.
Lulu looked down at herself, it was average and made to look even smaller due to her light armor squishing them, yet the gnoll found relief in that as unluckily she had seen the result of what a failed backward dodge does to a gifted woman.
"Have you seen today's news, the preposterous assault at a noble head of this city?!" The woman shouted, her voice nearly rivaling that of the agreeing population, "It is horrendous what some can do to good men like Darle!" The crowd agreed once more, "Yet, the thief could rob the noble! Doesn't that say something?!"
"We should search day and night for the culprit!" One shouted.
"Release the hounds!" Another followed.
"Tickle him to death!" Someone else joined in.
"No, no, no! It means that if Lord Kiwi can't even defend himself from thieves, what does that mean to you!" The woman shouted, the crowd immediately died in enthusiasm and sweat beads began to cross the woman, "So if you help me get the Orange noble house-" Everyone immediately turned around and parted ways, the noise dying down so much for the crickets being hearable. "Wait! Where is everyone going?! Come back!"
Lulu bent her spine and slowly walked through the crowd praying to the deities they would spare her of that noble woman- "You there, black gnoll with a pumpkin on the head!" Lulu fixed her back and stared at the skies, the clouds made a smiling face.
At some point the woman had got down from her makeshift stage as her hand pulled Lulu's shoulder, "Don't you think that old man should tie his boots and leave it for us, new and competent nobles?" her eyes bore deep within Lulu bothering her very true self, a look at her sides rewarded a firmer grip on her shoulders, "Right?"
"Oh, haha, yeah, about that... You look a tad bit too young for Pampkin." Lulu said, lifting her hand from her shoulder, "Also Oddtown is Kiwi territory so-"
The woman stomped "So what?!" She waved her hands to a huge building in the distance, "He has no descendants, is about eighty years old, and as far as I'm aware Mantesgals don't live that longer than a hundred!"
By now everyone had already moved on to do their own thing, so Lulu could finally say the finishing words, "Good for you that you think that way, if you work hard you can achieve any goal, buh-bye!" And ran as fast as she could.
"HEY! YOU MANGY MUtt come back..!" Humans could be so cruel with words sometimes, but Lulu got used to it so she could become better friends with them! While Kiwi's health is declining he can still walk around the city and talk to the population, albeit with help, and so far there were no signals of mental sickness.
Either way, this isn't much of Lulu's business, "After Pampkin has enough money Pampkin can create a research party towards a death zone!" That was the plan. After a while Lulu began to slow down to a walk, passing by the commercial district she noticed something interesting appearing at the corner of her eye and as anything interesting quickly captured the gnoll, she fully stopped to take a look at it.
"Weapon Festival Tournament, Hundreth edition!" Those blaring words plus the sad weapon on her hip made Lulu strain her eyes to glance at the small words, "Six months from now, featuring the Sword Saint as guest!" Lulu's tail began wagging and without waiting she ripped the poster from the stall it belonged to, the owner immediately shooed the gnoll off. Lulu didn't care, it had been too long since she could actually swing her sword at another warrior for her to care.
Lulu at some point had considered becoming a mercenary but as much as she enjoyed the fights, the blood, and the clashing of metal it wouldn't do as much good as being an adventurer plus she didn't want to be an assassin for hire or a bounty hunter. Guard was also an option but there was a need to frequent a noble school under the squire section to become one yet she couldn't bear to sit still through lectures, as for all the alchemy and enchanting she learned were through practice and not reading or listening to somebody else.
"Alchemy... Tenpao could use a restoration potion, might even alleviate some stress from his old bones!" Lulu said, stopping in front of the huge house of her party leader that her legs lead to unconsciously. Lulu gently pushed open the gate and looked for a nearby tree, sure enough, a squirrel was staring back at her... At her paw that held the tiny acorn staff. In the blink of an eye, Lulu was surrounded by squirrels and in front of her a squirrel staircase formed where a lone squirrel wearing a tiny golden crow climbed up, once on top Lulu wasted no time to kneel and offer the staff, the squirrel king nodded taking it for himself and in no less than a blink all squirrels dispersed.
"What..." Lulu hurriedly got up as a familiar voice nearly spooked her true self out of her body, it was Jacinto, the famous owner of the most popular and only dairy item on Oddtown. Shaking himself out of his stupor Jacinto quickly said what he was doing here, "Thank the deities you're here, It's happening again!"