I mulled over it for a few seconds. I heard the heathen list was shared among all Churches, but would they put a bounty there too? And If they did, would they even be able to check my identity?

“Why did you choose the Duchy?” I asked, curious.

“They’re enemies with the kingdom. So I thought that was the best place,” she said, timidly.

Indeed. The Almar Kingdom is out, but there’s hardly anyone crossing borders with the Duchy. It would be the best place. It was also the kingdom of the old man, and I always wanted to visit. I liked this option.

Crossing borders would be a pain, but maybe I could go through the mountains instead of going through a road.

It wasn’t a bad idea at all.

There needs be praise for this!

“Is this the famous ‘the enemy of an enemy is a friend’? You’re already applying advanced warfare tactics!” I exclaimed.

All that meditation must have unlocked the inner sage.

“I knew you were a genius,” I said, moved.

She rolled her eyes, blushing slightly.

Oh! She rolled her eyes at me! The praising is working.

I already felt better.

I knew that keeping her around was a good idea.

“Well, getting back to serious matters, I like what you said, but for now we don’t need to turn to that. We’ll keep it as a last resort.”

She nodded.

“Good. We need to find you another room, though,” I told her.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Separate rooms. One for me, one for you,” I explained.

She froze with a look of incomprehension on her face, so I continued explaining.

“It’s been a while since I thought about it, but you’re already thirteen; old enough. And I know that things could get annoying if we keep sharing a room,” I told her.

I could see the corners of her mouth going down as I talked.

“I don’t care what others say,” she stated firmly.

… Is she throwing a tantrum? I thought surprised.

I looked outside.

Clear starry sky, no clouds nor dragons. The city was safe.

I looked back at her and scratched my head. I did want her to be more selfish, but this was causing problems.

“It’s nice that you’re finally saying what you want, but you can’t keep staying with me,” I told her.

“Why?” she asked, still upset.

“Well… you might not care, but I do.”

Though, it was less for what people would say and more for practical reasons.

What if she found a boy? Or I find a girl to bring back? Things weren’t the best at the moment, so that wouldn’t happen any time soon, but eventually, we’d need our space. We couldn’t keep living in the same room forever.

She looked hurt, and it was the most emotional I saw her, lately, but I didn’t want to be soft there. She was already too dependent on me, and I didn’t want to keep this trend.

“I’m not going to babysit you forever. I understand you’re not too comfortable around people, but I’m trying to teach you how to be strong, and that includes not relying on others for every little thing. Besides, it’s nothing hard. You’ll not even have to speak much, just ask for a room for a week, ask for dinner like you did here, and sleep in your room,” I continued.

It was really nothing much.

I knew it would be hard for her, and I wanted to wait until she was more used to life outside. I also held back since it was a waste of money, and it wasn’t a pressing need.

Things had changed now, though.

“It wasn’t too urgent before, so I kept things as they were for practical reasons, but now that I know I’m a wanted man it’s all the more important that we stay in separate places. If things go to shit, I’ll not be able to take care of you, so it’s better if you’re not around when they come to kill me,” I explained.

It’d be a miracle if I escaped alive, no way I’d be able to protect her.

“You get ‘why’ now?” I asked her.

She nodded, still visibly upset, and asked, “What if you escape?”

“Ah! It would be fun to see those bastards’ faces if I can get away. It’d be hard, though,” I said.

If I could find out before they came to catch me, maybe I could escape, but if they took me by surprise I wasn’t sure if I’d manage to get out.

If they come prepared, they’ll bring one or two people above Level 40.

That would depend on whether they investigated me before coming. It wasn’t impossible that they’d just rush here without thinking. Maybe it could be just a few low-level bounty hunters, who knew?

“If I escape, though, you’ll have two choices. Keep living here, or come out to find me. In the first case, it could be possible if they don’t come after you. I’ll understand, if you decide to stay, and, of course, our contract ends there,” I said, while I thought about the possible cases. “With the second option, we’ll have to decide where to meet, but I’ll have to find out the right place first.”

I’ll have to think and ask around for towns, villages, or places around here. Maybe there was something useful in that book on the history of this kingdom.

I should have read that before the one on Ademil. Still, what was done, was done, and since I was at it, I could find a more specific book.

“What’s left is to find another inn for the both of us. This place is nice, but it’s better if we get to one where they don’t know we’re together… maybe in different buildings. And In the same road, so if there’s commotion in my inn you’ll know.”

I tried to think if there was something else we could do.

“Oh, and I’ll also leave the money in your room. Consider it yours if I die, or if you don’t want to follow me after I run.”

I couldn’t always keep it on me, and there was no way I’d leave it to the bastards of the church. She’d also need them and, since I trusted her not to swindle me, it was the perfect solution.

I didn’t think there was much to add right now. I could slowly think about it and perfect the plan later.

We should also move out next morning. Luckily I’d still been booking by the week, or I’d have lost a lot of money.

I needed to think about long-term rents, though, after I confirmed that nothing was going awry with the Merchant. I was planning for the worst case eventualities, but if everything went well we'd have to stay here for a long time, so getting a monthly rent was better for my wallet.

Freya, in the meantime, was still in a bad mood in her seat.

“Oh, come on, why so grumpy? I’ll still train you every day. I’ll even raise the difficulty now, so you’ll get sick of seeing my face pretty soon,” I told her.

The plan was to take it easy with her training in the beginning, and only train her physique and some coordination through barehanded techniques, but now I had to up the intensity. I’ll have to include training with the sword and spear and start with sparring and fights as soon as possible.

Short term it may not make a difference but, given my shitty luck, sooner or later some disaster will strike, and if it came later at least she’d be prepared.

She didn’t respond, only glancing at me briefly before looking down.

Well, she’ll get back to normal soon, I thought, staring out of the window and letting my thoughts wander to the incumbent tasks.

It was also a priority to find out what caused my Level to go up. I didn’t have any luck until now, but I was almost sure it wasn’t strength training that caused it.

I’ll need to stay away from the guild as much as possible anyway, so it’s hard to even continue. Too many people knew me and Freya there. Luckily, Larin’s party was going to leave for a quest, and most of the others would probably forget me soon.

Buying weapons and armor for me and Freya was also something I couldn’t postpone anymore.

There were a lot of things I had to move up the list. The life I thought was going to settle for a while had been turned upside down.

All because of that fucking church. Always because of them.