As the carriage pulled up to the front gate, the skies still overcast but the wind dying down, the guards had ferocious expressions, suspicious of the incoming carriage. With the grass that lined the drying muddy roads swaying in the gentle breeze, and the chatter of people waiting in line to enter the city being carried in the wind, a peaceful atmosphere was present in the area. 

However, one person not experiencing peace was Kaitlyn, recognizing the guards by the city, Kaitlyn sighed, as she watched their stern expressions break down into cheery smiles. 

“Yo! It’s Kaitlyn everyone!” 

“Hey, dude! I know you’re busy at the main gate but guess who’s back! It’s Kaitlyn!”

Climbing out from the inside of the carriage to poke her head out in between Oliver and Kaitlyn, Rachel asked, “Do you know them, Kaitlyn?”

“Do I know Kaitlyn?” One of the guards laughed, overhearing her question, “Of course I do! Kaitlyn here is a very prolific adventurer you know? How was it, Kaitlyn? I hope you remembered to exterminate that bandit group while finding this group of friends!”

Punching the guard on the shoulder with a smile, the other guard rebuked, “Don’t doubt her, I’m sure she exterminated that group of bandits!”

“Anyway...” Kaitlyn sighed, interrupting the antics of the two guards, “I have my pass here, you need to check it, right?”

“Pfffttt, as if, as if,” The first guard laughed, waving off Kaitlyn’s offer, “No need, no need. Come on in! This group are your friends, right? If they are, we can let them in with you!”

Pausing for a second and freezing, Kaitlyn hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Y-Yeah... I’d say they’re my friends.”

With a full smile and a hearty laugh, the guard looked towards the rest of the party reassuring, “That’s about as good as it gets with this lady! She’s never really had any friends you see! We’re probably the closest she’s got to any! Come on in, welcome to the capital! Hope you enjoy yourselves!”

Watching some other guards open the special gate they had lined up at, Damien turned towards one of the guards, asking while keeping a lower volume to not get the attention of the rest of the party, “What is Kaitlyn’s identity anyway? She’s kind of avoided telling us, but no normal person would be able to just fight bandits alone and then have priority entry into the city...”

Chuckling, the guard crossed his arms with a grin, turning and beginning to walk away, assuring, “Don’t worry about it, you’ll probably find out soon anyway! She won’t do anything to you, so you all better not do anything to her, the young miss hasn’t had many friends before, so I don’t betray her trust.”

“Her identity is such a mystery, I just want to know,” Damien sighed, watching the guard wave with a teasing smile as the carriage began to roll into the city.

“So what’s the plan everyone?” Josephine asked while lying on the floor of the carriage, “Do we go to the adventurer’s guild first? Or do we go find an inn to stay at beforehand?”

Rolling over on the floor of the carriage and propping her chin up with her hands, Josephine looked up at Kaitlyn who was looking outside of the carriage with a wistful expression, asking, “You coming with us? You can stay in the same inn as us if you want...”

“Erm, actually,” Kaitlyn coughed, patting her swords, “I actually have a home in the noble district, but how about we meet later at the adventurer’s guild?”

Hearing the voices of agreement, Kaitlyn hopped off the carriage, waving as it rolled away, having agreed to meet them later. 

Turning away, Kaitlyn jogged towards the noble district, deciding not to cause a commotion by running at breakneck speeds, musing to herself, “Literally the only two good things about that Countess title being bestowed on me is the mansion and the ability to go to the royal parties...”

Showing her pass and entering the noble district, Kaitlyn meandered her way to her mansion, opening the gate to reveal a mansion, the one she called home. Looking up, she saw her mansion, a familiar sight, a house built with some darker woods and the front large windows stretching up and down the mansion. 

Walking in the front door, Kaitlyn ran past the sparse interior making up the rest of the house to her bedroom, the only well decorated and lived-in room of the mansion. Taking a moment to put her swords aside, Kaitlyn leapt onto her bed while sighing, “So comfortable, I hate sleeping outside...”

Turning over in bed, Kaitlyn lamented while finding everything she had prepared for the trip, being on the ground by her bed, “...Of all places to forget it, how did I forget it there.”

“Anyway,” Kaitlyn muttered to herself, pushing herself out of bed, “I need to change and wash myself before I go to the adventurer’s guild to meet them...”

Looking like she had eaten something sour, Kaitlyn mused, “Do I go see the old geezer? He should be there, I haven’t seen him in a while...”

-----------

Meanwhile, as Kaitlyn took some time to laze around in bed and then wash up, a certain group of adventurer’s were having a meeting in an inn room. 

In an inn room that was quite well-furnished, one with comfortable beds and windows that allowed light to enter the room, four university friends were sitting in a circle, planning their future- a very non-university student thing to do- now that they had arrived at the capital.

“So we’re going to be adventurers?”

“Yep”

“Sounds like a plan to me boss man Oliver”

“What else would we do?”

As the replies of affirmation sounded throughout the room, an awkward silence descended on the group, having completed their meeting agenda much faster than they had planned.

“What else?” Oliver asked the group while drumming his fingers against the ground, “Any ideas on what else we should do? This isn’t much of a plan...”

Looking around the room as she sorted through her ideas, Rachel pondered, “What about training? We mentioned to Kaitlyn we were going to do that...”

“Training?!” Damien scoffed, raising his arms up to pose, “Why would I need to train when I have the spell ‘Shadow’s Cloak’ already? I’m already unbeatable! With my unspeakable powers!!”

Facepalming, Oliver muttered while letting out a sigh that seemed to carry his spirit with him, “I thought your chunni was gone... you didn’t do anything like this while we were in the carriage...”

“Gone?! You thought wrong!” Damien laughed with a grin plastered on his face, “My hidden shadow dragon side merely hides itself around people I’m not friends with yet!”

“...Anyway, hey Josephine you got anything to contribute...” Rachel asked, trailing off as she turned to see Josephine asleep on the ground, “Dammit you two, can’t you just focus...”

Esiyx

Thanks so much for reading~!!
... pls leave a commenttt, I would really appreciate it!

Another chapter tomorrow! We'll see about after that though... writing is hard in online classes...

I was going to end with something... but kinda got distracting writing Damien's chunni side... sry about that- you'll see it at the beginning of the next chapter!

I mean... it was character development, totally intentional yeah-
I know what I'm doing...