The following day, in the Lucera House.

"What do you mean he's gone!" Lilliana shouted.

"M-my deepest apologies, b-but when we went to check up on him, he suddenly disappeared," explained Viola with her head down.

"We?" repeated Lilliana.

"Ah, no! I mean, it was just me!"

"Tell me the truth, or else I will confiscate those pictures of boys hidden in your left breast pocket."

"Eeek! How do you know about that!"

"I once saw you with those when I was younger, so I decided to hold this knowledge for a situation like this."

"My lady, you're scaring me, but please anything but those pictures."

"Well then, tell me what happened now, and I will not confiscate those pictures for now."

"For now?"

"Speak!"

"We might have tried sneaking into his room through the window."

"What? Why would you do that? I told you to treat it like you would treat me!"

"But when I asked if that meant his every need, you agreed."

Lilliana slumped back onto her bed with a major headache. Now that Masato suddenly disappeared, she has missed the chance of trying to make him part of the kingdom.

"Please tell me this is a dream," said the exasperated Lilliana.

♦  ♦  ♦

Masato's perspective

I woke uncomfortably in the middle of the forest. Yesterday's event was still fresh in my mind, and every time I thought of it, I would feel shivers down my spine. Next to me was Kumo, who had also just woken up.

Where am I, you ask? Well, during the attack yesterday, I teleported back to the forest, where Kumo was. I decided that it might be unsafe for me to teleport back, so I stayed the night in the woods.

Kumo showed off her web-spinning skills and made a web dome enough for the both of us to stay in. The dome was able to protect us from the night winds as well as bugs and predators. I bought a futon for me to sleep in whilst Kumo snuggled beside me.

For breakfast, Kumo had some meat from wolves that she had hunted when I was being sieged by those crazy women. I bought a portable gas burner and made myself a good cup of coffee to get rid of yesterdays fright.

After that, I packed my things and went back into the capital by the from this time. I waited in the commoner line, which was pretty long despite being in the morning. Finally, it was my turn.

"I need to see some identification, please."

"Ah, I come from a small village from afar, so I have no identifications."

"Fine, put your hand on this orb for me."

"Sure, what is this?"

"This orb detects if you have a criminal history, but normally it should react quite quickly?"

[Magic scan attempt has been intercepted, would you like to allow it to continue?]

"Yes, let it, though!"

The orb suddenly glows blue.

"Ah, there we go, sure no criminal history. But it's one silver for a day pass, is that okay?"

"Umm, about that, I don't have any money, but is it okay if I paid by exchanging it with something equivalent?"

"As long as it's not illegal or stolen."

I took out the part Mythril sword from my storage and handed it to the guard.

"T-this..from where?"

"It's a sword that is made of 15% Mythril; it should be worth enough, right?"

"Umm, unfortunate, I will have to check with my superior with this," he says as he hands me back the sword and runs off.

Minutes later, the guard comes back with another man behind him.

"So you're the one with that Mythril sword? Give it here. Let me see it."

I handed over the sword casually; even if he ran off with it, it's not like he can stop me from taking it back.

"Yes, this indeed does have some Mythril, but why are you trading this to enter? Why not sell it? I'll buy this off you for 20 silver."

"Sure, that's okay with me."

He quickly rushes back to the office and brings back a small pouch which he hands over to me. I quickly counted it and handed over one silver for the fee to get in.

"Thank you very much; I was on the market for a good sword, and the timing couldn't be better."

"Sure, no problem."

As soon as I was let through, I was amazed by the busy crowds of people. All sorts of vendors were set up, selling food, handmade jewellery, etc.

I remembered that I should get registered at the mercenary Guild, so I looked around the city. An hour passed, and I still couldn't find it.

"Oi, weren't you the one who sold that precious sword to that guard captain."

I turned around to see a somewhat middle-aged muscle man.

"Yeah, that's me; what do you want."

"Nothing, it's just that you look lost. So I wanted to see if you wanted any help."

"Yes, I'm trying to find the Mercenary Guild. Would you be able to show me where that is?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm heading there anyways wanna come with me?"

"Thank you very much. My name is Masato; please to meet you."

"The name's Clint; let's go quickly. The Guild gets busy closer to evening time."

I followed Clint through the busy streets. Until he abruptly stops.

"There," he points to a small alleyway, "That's a secret shortcut that only some people know about, so let's go."

We stepped into the small alleyway, but then we were stopped at a dead end.

[Warning Hostiles detected.]

"Clint, watch out." I turned around to try and warm him; however, I saw him standing with two other people armed with short swords.

"Haha, you stupid idiot, hand over all your valuables unless you want to die," Clint said with a grin.

Ah, I forgot. I should never follow any strangers, especially into dark alleyways. Childhood rule number one failed.