It took the better of a whole day after the Atritus Kingdom had come into their view to reach it, and nearly an hour and a half later for the line of the new immigrants that were waiting patiently to become citizens of Artitus thin enough so that Elkend and his mother could both reach the humongous gate of the Atritus. After that, it took an hour to sign legal documents, apply for a citizenship card, etc. to finally become a legal citizen of Atritus!

Anyway, once they were finally past that clusterfuck of legalization and have successfully passed the main gate, Elkend wasted no time peeking out the wooden caravan from the backside and admiring the interior of the ancient Kingdom with an eager grin as he took in the unique atmosphere of a medieval-and-definitely-magical Kingdom.

The average houses were twice as big as the village houses from where he used to live, and the stone roads and streets were laden thick with newly immigrated citizens and merchants from different countries all over the world looking to sell their goods and products.

And Elkend was pretty sure that the store to the left of that bakery they had just passed by was a magic store that sells magical equipment.

Well, that was judging by the unique assortment of objects that were thrown upon shelves and shelves inside the store from what he could make out of a single glanced as they passed by the store. Other than that, he had no fuckin' clue what the store was.

Making a mental note to investigate that store with a tense expression, Elkend shrugged those thoughts off and continued admiring Artitus with childish excitement.

As he was admiring the place and glancing at nearly everything like a crazed maniac, something captured his attention as he impulsively jerked his head to the side, and guessing from how his neck hurt, he probably gave himself whiplash. Ouch.

There, on the left side of the road, probably trying to look stealthy and failing really hard, was a group of excited looking teenagers—likely between the ages of 16 and 18—wearing white fancy–looking–suits with a unique purple ensemble on where their heart was located, with a leather belt on their hips carrying (from what Elkend could reduce) a book.

He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what these teenagers were, or rather what they wanted to be.

Just to be in the clear, Elkend swiftly turned to his mother inside the caravan and excitedly gestured in the vague direction of the quickly disappearing teenagers. "Mom! Are these people adventurers!?"

His mother chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Technically, yeah they are, why? Do you want to become one yourself? You know, I wouldn't say n—"

Elkend interrupted, eager grin still on his face. "Nope! Just asking if they were really adventurers. I've never really seen one of them since I've been living in the village since I was born, y'know?"

With that, Elkend turned his back to his mother and returned to admiring the part of the Kingdom they were in with a flourish, not having lost his excitement one bit.

He either didn't notice or had decided not to mention the frown on his mother's face.

[x]

Once the excitement at the idea of experiencing a living and definitely-real-version of a medieval-and-definitely-magical Kingdom had died down, Elkend yawned and stretched his arms; although he couldn't do so comfortably because of the cramped space he was In.

Suddenly, the caravan abruptly rocked forward and stopped, and Elkend bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from cursing out all ancestors and generations of Botolph as his head hit the wall of the caravan. Hard.

Elkend looked at the small door of the caravan while nursing the back of his head, staring expectantly with an annoyed expression as he heard the steps of Botolph reaching their door.

Jerking the small door open, Botolph peeked inside, looked at Veanda, and nodded with a smile. "We've arrived at the inn you requested, Veanda."

(A/N: An inn is a glorified medieval version of a hotel and you can't change my mind. Hmph!)

Veanda smiled and nodded in affirmative as she quickly got out of the caravan while stretching, Elkend in tow right after her.

"Thank you, Botolph! I appreciate your help, but can you do me a favor and watch the caravan while I go inside and rent me and Elkend a room? Oh, and you're staying here Elkend." Veanda added once she saw Elkend getting ready to follow her.

Botolph nodded with a rueful smile. "Of course, I can't leave Elkend alone here unsupervised, who knows what might happen."

Flashing a grateful grin at Botolph, Veanda stepped inside the huge building, a money pouch filled with gold hooked at the side of her belt.

[x]

Veanda came out of the building twenty-five minutes later playing with the keys to what Elkend suspected was their new room, "I got us a deal for a room! Hopefully, It'll be enough for me and Elkend once I get a stable enough job to start saving for a house!" she informed them as she quickly reached Elkend who was still nursing the bruise on his head with an annoyed expression and an oblivious Botolph.

Botolph smiled. "Good", he then paused for a second, "And by the way, I assume you'll need help unpacking your stuff?", he placed his left hand on his chest as he smiled again. "Please, allow me to help you!"

Veanda shrugged. "Sure, I don't see why not."

With that, they had finally started to transport the wooden boxes of clothing and food to their new medieval version of an apartment after having a full-blown fucking conversation at the side of the road in the scorching sun, much to Elkend's growing irritation and annoyance as he helped them their stuff.

[x]

It took them nearly half an hour, but they had eventually finished with Botolph out of breath and sweating, while to Elkend, it only added to his growing exhaustion.

He vehemently stated to himself in his mind that if it wasn't for his already existing exhaustion due to the trip, he wouldn't have broken a sweat doing this exercise, but what peeved him more, was the fact that his mother had not even broke a single drop of sweat during all of that.

Elkend rounder on to his mother incredulously as they finished waving Botolph goodbye as he disappeared out of sight. "How are you not tired!?"

His mother laughed as she trotted to the inside of the inn while playing with the keys to their new medieval-style-hotel-room.

"Trust me Elkend, you get used to it after getting chased by a horde of B-Class monsters!"

Elkend blinked incredulously as he made a mental note to ask about that story later when he eventually has the time before shouting to his mother to wait for him as he started jogging to match her pace. "Oi, wait for me!"