” Mmhm... ” I protested. Something was poking my side. ” No. Stop it, please... ”

” Lizza, the merchant is already awake. He's looking strangely at you. ” Fiona said something but I didn't quite comprehend at the moment.

” Hmm... Merchant? What merchant, Fio? ” 

” Eh, Lizza... He is looking really weird at you... Oh, he left. ”

’What are you talking about... I'm sleepy since last night... Oh? Oh, shit...’ I opened my eyes and saw that the red moon was about to fade away. Judging by that, there wouldn't be much until the sun would appear. 

” Lizza... ” Fiona whispered to me and slowly moved her hand through my hair. 

” Huh? ” I let out an incorrigible sound due to the strange situation. This was the first time she was the one doing that to me. 

Now I understood why she looked so happy when I did that to her. It was so nice that I almost closed my eyes to enjoy the moment but she did mention about a certain merchant looking strangely at me...

I moved my line of sight toward the carriage and saw that Albert already started to prepare the horses for departure. 

” Uugghhhh... No other choice. ” I reluctantly stod up and started to prepare what little luggage we had.

.

.

.

” We are ready, Albert. ” I said while approaching the carriage. 

” Right on time, Miss Elizabeth. You can get up if all is ready. We have to leave right now if we want to be there today. ” 

” Alright. ” I said and signaled for Fiona to came up as well. As we finished the preparations for a comfortable journey, which was top priority after how much my butt had to endure last time, the merchant finished as well and we started to move again.

The journey went smoothly from that point. In the end, even the merchant seemed to get tired of peeking at me and Fiona and started to ignore us after some time.

Having enough time to thoroughly digest the events of the previous day, it didn't take long to realize that he might have had a point for all that gawking and exaggerated reactions. I wasn't sure to what extent, but judging by the information I had at hand, being an elf was akin to being some kind of celebrity. Seeing two ordinary girls acting friendly with one another was a thing, but seeing a celebrity doing that... I could see why that would attract a bit of attention.

Even so, after further consideration, I decided to say fuck you to the whole matter. I was already forced to live pretending to be someone I wasn't. Life was tough. Sometimes, shit way out of your league would be thrown at you, so you had to deal with it. 

But that was one thing, and limiting myself further just for the sake of not appearing a bit weird in front of a random merchant dude who had no say in the matter was another thing. I had to draw the line somewhere after all. Playing my elven role in from of a king was reasonable. Forcing it upon myself all the time was retarded.

And just like that, I decided to show the metaphorical middle finger to Albert and his elven preconceptions and be myself. Not to mention that doing so was a good experiment. I could see in advance what the inhabitants of this world would think about my relationship with Fiona.

I closed my eyes and decided to take a short nap. I had to deal with a certain fluff in distress last night so I didn't catch much sleep. It was reasonable for her to take care of me this time. Her playing with my hair was kind of nice too. 

.

.

.

 Time slowly passed. As the sun was about to go down, Albert turned around to look at us.

” The city came in sight, Miss Elizabeth. You can come and take a look if you want. ” he said with enthusiasm. 

He probably saw that sight several times already but I assumed that showing off your homeland good points was universal in any world. Not that I had anything to complain about. More like, I was happy to oblige.

” Do you want to see it? ” I whispered in the ear of a certain sleeping wolf girl who had her head on my lap. 

” Mm. ” she somehow managed to answer after a bit of consideration. I got the impression that she wasn't too eager to see it. Well, for her was just another city.

” Then hurry up and wake up already. We will have enough time for this later. Oh, that reminds me... ” I said with a grin.

I moved quickly and managed to pull her off from my lap with a surprise attack. She had a betrayed expression on her face due to my cowardly move but I had no choice. She was too strong physically for me to fight her fair. 

Sneak attack for the win. 

” I'll come to take a look right now, Albert. ” I said, letting behind a thoroughly betrayed Fiona. 

 ” Ohohooo... ” I couldn't help but let out a surprised sound looking at the sight. 

I prepared myself for it. From the moment we decided to find a city, I prepared myself but when the actual thing was in front of you... 

’Indeed, the real thing is something else...’ 

I had real troubles trying to suppress the stupid smile who bloomed on my face. I probably was looking like a genuine country-bumpkin who saw for the first time a city. 

The irony was that the truth wasn't too far off. It was the first one I saw from the moment I arrived in this world. 

’Walls... Big walls. A freaking city almost completely surrounded by freaking big walls.’ 

I said almost completely since I could see some buildings outside of the walls enclosure. Outside of that, a certain distance further could be seen plots of farmland with roads connecting to the main one leading to the city. 

A big city needed food to survive, and without industrialization to take care of that, self-sufficiency was a requirement. I was also sure that they shipped food from the surrounding villages as well.

I wasn't able to see beyond the city walls but the houses outside of them were quite small and crowded. For a big city, having something akin to some kind of slums was to be expected. 

I also noticed that encountering monsters or wildlife became a rarity the more we approached the city. It shouldn't be that bad living outside of the city walls even in this pseudo-medieval fantasy world. 

The city was also crossed by a river, but again, I wasn't able to see much since big walls. 

” Lizza. ” Fiona called to me and tapped lightly on my shoulder.

” Oh, Fio... You came to see it after all. ” I smiled at her. She was looking like she wasn't upset anymore.

” Mm. ” 

Her lack of interest was as visible as the daylight though. Even Albert seemed to notice that, but he just ignored it.

That won't do.

” Come on, Fio. We'll have to stay here for a while. If you are looking like that even before we got inside...  Just look at that river crossing through it and—

My speech was suddenly interrupted because I saw something unbelievable. A boat was moving toward the city on the same river I was speaking about.

” Mm. If Lizza says so, I'll try. ” she replied. If there wasn't a freaking boat going up the river towards the city, I would have noticed that her words didn't match her impassive expression. 

And before being accused that it was just a boat, it wasn't just a boat. It wasn't the type of vessel you could see just by visiting a port city. It was the type you saw in movies. A freaking 18th-century ship with no engine, all wooden, with three masts, and all the cool stuff.

 I shoved my previous concerns in a corner and looked at Albert, demanding an explanation. 

” Quite impressive, don't you think? The river is connected to the sea and not too far away from the Port City Ilassa. Since it is safer and faster to transport things on water, Arian City became quite prosperous because of it. ” 

 ’So, that means that the sea isn't that far from here. Not that I care too much right now but it's good to know.’

” Anyway, we should hurry up and enter the city when there's still daytime. It’ll be harder for you to find a place for the night if we don't do it. ” Albert said and increased our pace. 

’Huh? For the night... hmm... Oh, yeah. We need a place to stay after all. That would be quite hard to find in the middle of the night.’

The merchant seemed to guess my thoughts and started to laugh at my troubled expression. 

” Don't worry, Miss Elizabeth. I can recommend some good places. Takin in account of your identity, I assume that you wouldn't like to stay at a regular inn. ”

” A good place? ” I prompted him for a more detailed explanation. 

” Yes. Safer, quieter, cleaner. And not too high priced either. It happens for me to know a very suitable place for you two to stay. ”

” Oh, that sounds quite nice. And I guess that we don't have a better choice anyway. We will take your offer, Albert. ” I thanked him.

’Hell yeah. This is the power of connections. Finally, after all that shit luck...’

” Oh... But that reminds me... How should we find you afterward? I think that we have to split at some point... ”

” Don't worry about it. That place isn't too far from my place. I don't want to lose a precious business partner after all. ” he said and started laughing again. He seemed to be in a good mood every time the business subject was brought into the discussion.

The time slowly passed and our carriage came closer to the main gate. We put on our hoods since I didn't want unnecessary attention. We already passed beside some other travelers on foot and I didn't want anyone to notice my or Fiona’s inhuman features.

All of them were humans so far. A bit disappointing, since I was more eager to see other races. I was aware that the majority of the population in this country was represented by humans, but Fiona said that other races should be present as well.

We didn't have to wait too much at the gate either. The people on foot were waiting in a separate line and there was just one carriage in front of us.

As our turn came, I adjusted my hood in a way that would let my face to be easily seen. It would be bad if they would say something about taking off the hood. I didn't care if they saw my face or not. All I wanted was to not reveal my peculiar parts... 

Fiona followed my example and fixed her own as to not reveal her ears or more important, her collar. 

This time, the guards looked more like guards. Not like the ones I saw in that village... All of them had a complete and standardized set of armor and a sword at their belt.

Even though I was all tense and impatient, the result couldn't be described better than anticlimactic. 

I had a lot of possible scenarios prepared in my head for the countless things that might get wrong. I thought of some fake identities and situations to fit whatever they might ask us but the reality stuck me hard this time.

The guards just spared a glance at us, took a superficial look at the cargo and collected the entrance fee before letting us enter the city. Not that I wasn't relieved with the outcome, but it took some time before it really clicked to me.

They must have had to deal with hundreds of people daily. Unless we looked like a mass-murderer or extremely suspicious, they would just collect the payment and proceed to the next one. 

In their eyes, we were just two young girls from a nearby village accompanying a merchant. Thinking about it, Albert had some kind of proof to attest his membership with the merchant’s association and that he was running a business in this city. But that was for lowering the entrance payment, not a necessity to enter the city.

As the carriage got through the gate, the sun started to fade away so I let these useless thoughts to fade away with it.

 ’A thing less to worry about. At least we got a good start. Let's see how things will evolve from now on.’