NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26 – Otherworldly City
An escort of 4 knights and 2 wizards appeared. All wore fancy-looking equipment under some simple garments; if someone looked closely, they would notice the high-quality armours beneath. That was shown on purpose to make any pickpockets or petty criminals stay away.
Since we weren't needing any stealth then there was no need to keep ourselves or our power hidden, this was the best way to keep out of trouble without sticking out too much in public. Mr.Apicius, Joan's father, appeared and asked me why I suddenly asked to go to the slums, in response I decided to be more honest.
"I was told by Great Cassandra that she wanted me to help one of her devotees. A prayer from someone who needed help in the smithing area of the slums and it was a call for help. As her Champion, it's only right that I do something if I can." Mr.Apicius' eye's widened in shock before he nodded, telling me to be on my way.
"To think she could hear the voice of The Lady Of The Night Sky so easily. Just how close is her soul to her patron deity..." I couldn't hear anything else he mumbled as walked away in a daze, I felt like groaning in frustration when I realised that hearing your deity's voice isn't a normal occurrence.
'I should make it look like this was a rare thing and it won't happen again. I can't have them noticing that I'm different in some way. If people realise it has something to do with the Mission Board skill in the future, it could get troublesome. Right now, I'm the only one with this skill but in the future, others will have it and perhaps they'll guess that I'm the first user if they hear about me talking to my deity on a daily basis.' I hesitated before deciding to leave my spear behind, it would be ridiculous if it was stolen because of my lack of levels and skill before I could even use it.
I instead took a simple dagger and my space ring with my gold and silver kept inside, I needed to find out how much each piece was worth since the coins looked like they were far more intricately carved than the ones used in this city. There's also the fact that while the patterns on the coins were identical, there are minute differences so I think they were all carved by hand. I decided to keep the elven coin because the magic in it would make hiding it outside the space ring impossible.
A carriage was prepared for us and in less than half an hour; we were on our way to the slum's Swallow Inn. One of the knights, a typical handsome blonde who appeared next to the carriage on horseback told me, "We will use the carriage up until the Master's Inn which is some distance away passed the Centre Square. We will have to travel around an hour and a half, the Nobles District doesn't have much traffic or it would take double that time. Once we pass the Academic District, it will get busier near the Housing and Smithing Districts so please be patient even if we start to slow down Milady."
More than the information he gave, I was more distraught over the fact that I was already accepting the address of 'milady'... 'These people do realise mine is probably bigger than theirs right?'
As I'd spoken of this once in my maid's presence, the consternation I was expressing just made them giggle. In the end, it was Clarise who said, "Even if they know, they can't help it since mistress is so pretty! Even we prefer to call you mistress."
I sighed and said, "I can't do anything about it anyway, I just hope I don't have to deal with flirts because I'll beat any man up if he tries that... should I cut my hair short and wear men's clothes? If my manhood shows then that's even better since nobody would assume I'm female."
All the maids were startled while Sophia shook her head with an amused smile, "While mistress is still young, your budding chest can only be hidden for now. In a year or two, if they keep growing at this rate, they'll be impossible to hide." There was even a touch of envy on the faces of the younger two.
My shoulders slumped and gave up, I was just too feminine to cross-dress which was ironic if you consider how I was starting to get hard. Female clothing was just too silky and stimulating due to the carriage vibrating.
'Now that I look around, some of the women have so really skimpy clothing... I could wear nothing but gloves and still be normal. All of those who aren't dressed conservatively either have transparent wings or are tanned with toned bodies and carry heavy weapons. Are they part of some tribes in particular?' As the girls kept themselves entertained by looking at a half-mast erection, I looked outside to see just what kind of place this city was.
The cobbles with their light colours of green and red gave a different feeling to hustle and bustle outside. It was lively and interesting, the way buildings were connected with magic, some were separated and there was one that I saw that floated above another building. A fortune-teller with black, beautiful eyes that seemed to sparkle was looking at me with shock. She then lowered her head and bowed my way, I nodded back and looked away because it was best to pretend I never saw anything.
The main road was the only place made with the colourful cobbles, the smaller streets were full of other stones that looked far more ordinary, and some were just dirt roads. Soon, what caught my eye more than anything else was a large monolith-like building in the distance. We were approaching it and the closer we got, the busier the streets became.
It was no longer just stores in the buildings on the sides of the road; stalls appeared, open carriages showing wares and one or two performers were showing up on the streets. According to the girls, this was proof that we were nearing the city plaza.
Once we arrived, the lively and colourful surroundings didn't enter my sights at all. At the centre of the huge plaza was a great, glowing spire that made my mind buzz from all the magic it was filled with. I pulled away my senses immediately after my probing almost made me pass out, the magic within allowed several pillars to float around the spire along with a large bell.
The bell floated a meter or two above the spire, at least I think so; it was hard to measure the height when the spire was at least a couple hundred meters tall. The bell looked like it was made of brass, touches of rust showed its age while the engravings of strange sigils and images that pulsed with magic indicated its extraordinary origins.
'Ah, that's right. This is a whole other world, a world of magic and myths... I'm not on earth.' It really hit home just how far away I was from mine.