⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

Do you know the feeling of viewing a picture vs. witnessing a beautiful scenery? If you do, then you know that there's no comparing something on paper to experiencing it for yourself.

That's exactly how I felt as I watched Sylvia change from her spirit form to her weapon form as she disappeared into a pink burst of light. Luca stretched out his right hand, a long wooden vine wrapped itself around his arm. On his middle finger appeared a ring with a blue gem similar to the colour of Sylvia's eyes.

"Come forth and show your power, my divine spirit," he muttered softly.

"ARGHHHH! W—WHAT IS THIS?"

It happened so fast. The branches around the room had grown longer and crept stealthily closer towards the three men. Latching onto their ankles, they were lifted up as if they didn't weigh any heavier than a bag of feathers.

"Something grabbed me! Cut it off, fools!" the leader shouted in a frenzy.

"I—I can't, boss! I don't know what's holding us but, I can't seem to cut it!" the praying mantis guy had taken out the sword from his waist and started flailing his arms around. The blade managed to hit the surface of the vines, but as soon as it made contact with it, it broke cleanly into two.

SHING! The broken blade fell onto the floor.

"N—no way!"

The vines shook slightly, and with an easy flick, threw them out of the shop.

"I KNEW IT WAS HAUNTED!"

"RUN, RUN!"

"I—Idiots! Don't leave me!"

A few onlookers who heard their crazed screaming gave them a strange expression as they scrambled to their feet and ran away.

I gaped at what just happened, surprised at the strength displayed by Luca. The vines he had produced were not normal vines—they were hard enough to withstand the blow from a steel blade, and also easily incapacitated three men in less than 5 minutes. I'm sure he must have trained really hard in controlling his mana to get to this point.

It made me even more curious as to why he retired from being a mage despite being this talented.

"Haah... Sylvia, look! They dropped their bottle! Now this place smells like booze," Luca frowned. He rubbed the back of his head with frustration.

Oh! I didn't even notice that Sylvia had changed back into her spirit/human form.

"Then clean it up, stupid!" she kicked him. I was starting to feel pity for him. Are all divine spirits this mean to their contract owners? I gave him a look of sympathy, understanding the pain in dealing with difficult divine spirits, though he just responded with a confused smile.

"Anyways, that was incred—"

"AMAZING! SUPER AMAZING!" Marise chattered excitedly, not even realizing that she had cut off my sentence. Even Sir Klein had a little twinkle of admiration in his eyes... just a little though.

We chatted a bit about what had happened until I felt my bag stirring slightly. Oops! I'd almost forgotten that we were in town to buy Nova's bamboo seeds (again!). Signaling to Marise and Sir Klein that Nova was going to wake up from his nap soon, I quickly wrapped up our conversation.

"Come back again sometime! We hardly ever have customers so, it'll be nice if you guys could visit us, even if it's not to buy anything," Sylvia blushed, waving her hands from behind the counter. Luca nodded in agreement and echoed the same words.

"I will," I promised them. I truly meant that.

The rest of the day passed by quickly. We found the import store and bought Nova's bird feed, much to his delight. He even dramatically cried as he greedily gorged on them inside my bag. Honestly, you'd think he hasn't eaten in forev— er, well I guess, technically he hasn't eaten in 20 years. Nova quickly fell into another bout of deep sleep, this time a food-induced one.

As I sat on the fountain in the middle of the square, I took off my shoes and massaged my heels. The import store was a lot further than I thought and because of this body's low stamina, I was already tired by the time we reached the store. On the way back to our carriage, I couldn't help but complain that I couldn't take it any longer. Thus, I sent Sir Klein to bring the carriage around, while Marise went to the apothecary nearby to buy a salve for my swollen feet.

I know that it's probably less than 10 minutes away until we reach the carriage but really, I can't keep walking anymore! I also refused when Sir Klein offered to carry me since it's much too embarrassing to do so in public.

"My lady, it's much too dangerous...."

"Nonsense! The main square has practically zero to little crime rate, other than petty ones such as pickpocketing.  Not to mention, if someone sees you carrying me, then we'll attract even more attention to ourselves. Isn't that much more dangerous?"

In return, I had to swear to the both of them that I wouldn't move from my position, though I don't think I would even want to move even if I could. Sir Klein even insisted that I take his spare dagger in case any unsavoury characters approach me, which I did of course.

Honestly, being a noble is so annoying.

I still had my hood up which covered most of my features, so I doubt anyone would be able to recognise me as a duke's daughter. In fact, I even wore a commoner's dress today, much to Marise's dismay, to blend in with the crowd. Besides, the fountain square was a public area where there were knights patrolling around in regular intervals and not to mention, it was also a popular spot for commoners to come and relax. In a nutshell, it wasn't a dangerous area to stay in for a mere 10 minutes.

I took a look around my surroundings, taking in the sights before me. It was a very peaceful scene, one filled with happy families and lovey-dovey couples walking about. And exactly on cue, a few knights passed by as they made their rounds, the sound of horses neighing as they left. I even spotted a mage dressed in his white uniform, as he ran across the street to get to his destination.

Looking at the view before me, it dawned to me that this wasn't just a passing description in a novel, it was no longer something that belonged on paper. These people, this kingdom and this world were all as real as I am. They're living, breathing humans, trying desperately to survive in this life we share together in this current moment.

Suddenly, the responsibilities on my shoulders weighed heavier than a building.

All these lives depended on whether or not I can stop Elijah from his plans—if I can't, they'll all die. I could feel my anxiety rise up once again. I really hope that I could somehow dissuade Malakai in the future so that we'll be on the same side.

"No! Now is not the time to be shaken up—AH!," I slammed my left fist onto my thigh, only to come into contact with something sharp underneath my blue dress. It couldn't have been my dagger since I was holding on to it with my right hand.

"Oh, I forgot about you!"

I took out the object. It was the sparkly thing that I had found next to my bracelet earlier. When Luca popped out all of a sudden, I panicked and quickly shoved both the items into my dress pocket. I managed to retie my cloth bracelet from under my cloak but I had completely forgot about the other item.

It's already quite late, so it's likely that Luca had already closed up his shop. Aside from pubs and restaurants, most shops in this kingdom would close in the evening.

Ah! I hope they don't think I stole it. Though, it didn't seem like they were actively looking for this anyways, so maybe it wasn't all that important?

"I'll send someone to give it back tomorrow"

Maybe Marise or Sir Klein, since both of them were able to get past the barrier. I'm pretty sure they'll complain though; one will say that she doesn't want to be too far from her lady and the other saying that he's too important to be sent on a simple errand. I sighed, realising I had two really stubborn servants by my side.

"That being said, you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" I held the object up. It was a pendant with a red stone attached to it. The stone had a mixture of golden and black hues, and as the evening sunlight pierced through, a dazzling myriad of colours reflected on its surface.

I admired the pendant a little bit more, wondering whether it belonged to either Luca or Sylvia. Sylvia was already wearing a necklace so, I don't really think it belongs to her. And as for Luca, I'm not sure if he's the type to wear something like this.

I was in such deep thought that I didn't realise that someone was rapidly approaching me from a distance. It was only when my left wrist was grabbed that I heard a deep baritone voice speaking to me in a low growl.

"You—! Where did you get this?"

I lifted my head to face whoever just rudely touch a lady in public, ready to yell for the knights to come save me, but my voice was caught in my throat. Simultaneously, my right hand, which was grabbing onto the dagger hidden underneath my cloak, had loosened its grip.

A pair of sapphire orbs, resembling the colour of the roaring oceans, and midnight dark hair that serves as a perfect contrast to the colour of his eyes. His face was only a few inches from mine, so near that I could smell a strange flowery scent coming from his neck. Both his ungodly good looks and the scent he emitted was overpowering my senses.

This person is—!

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙