While Xiao was getting pulled around to places by an exciting Lily, they came across people from different races, and Xiao took this chance to ask her about the races in this world, to which she gladly answered all of Xiao's questions.
According to Lily, they are now in the Julian Empire, also known as the biggest country and having the most population and it was the country for the Human race. Speaking of races, there were 4 major races in the world of Aora, the highest population is the human race, followed by Half Beast race, Dwarf and finally High Elf as the lowest population among the 4 major races.
Xiao was surprised that the uniqueness of each race was similar to any MMORPG he had played before, the Human was good at adapting to any environment, most of the Human is good at business trading. The Half Beast is a hybrid race coming from two minor races, which is the Norn race and the Beast race, they are the second-best in terms of population. The Half Beast race is not only physically slightly different from the Human race as they have animal ears and tails, but they are also stronger and agile than the Human race, their adventures and wild nature has made them an excellent choice to be either mercenary or adventurer. Although the people of Half Beast race are all around the places because most of them love to travel, their home country, Trots, is the furthest away from here, compared with the other 2 races.
The Dwarf race is what Xiao has expected, short and bulky build people with bushy mustaches and beards, they are the masters of crafting and harvesting, thanks to their natural affinity with the element of earth. Most of them have a jolly yet stubborn nature, they can either be an excellent drinking partner or a terrible opponent to argue with. Lily added that the home country of the Dwarf is called Wenda Valley, it was located at the south from here, where rocky mountains and valleys are everywhere around there.
And finally, the High Elf race, also known as the oldest race among the other races. The people of the High Elf are regarded as an elegant, beautiful, wise, noble, selfish and prideful bunch of people. Their most distinguished facial features is their long ear, which is considered a charm point for most people from other races. The High Elf is the best among the races to attune with the mana in the air, their proficient level in magic skills is often the best in the world. On the other hand, because of how they usually pride themselves as the best and the wisest among all races and even their own, they usually have a hard time finding an excellent mate to settle down and build a family, and this result in them having the lowest population rate compare to the other races.
Xiao was learning a lot from Lily as she happily explained any question that Xiao asked her, he was grateful to her for Lily was the one that acts like a guide to Xiao in this world by teaching and helping him, while Lars was constantly fooling around and not explaining things clearly, leaving Xiao to figure everything by himself.
When Xiao accidentally asked Lily about her occupation as a merchant, like what kind wares she sells and where is she living now, Lily will tense up and take a long time to think before giving Xiao an awkward answer, which obviously, sounds like a makeup story to him.
Yet Xiao did not say anything about it and changed the topic to the people or the hawker stands around them as he doesn't want to make Lily feel difficult, and Lily would always change her mood from anxious to exciting and smiling happily like a child while talking about other stuff to Xiao.
(Guess there's no point of putting my guard around her, seeing that she can smile so innocently when talking about trivial stuff and genuinely having fun strolling the market street.)
Xiao and Lily stopped at a hawker stand that sells a pink color beverage, Lily explained to Xiao that this beverage is called the Lalka flower juice, it was a famous beverage produced by the High Elf race as the Lalka flower can only be found in the forest of High Elf.
Now is the time for Xiao to test out the effect of the magic that has been cast by Lily, he will need to buy two drinks from the hawker stand without the help of Lily.
"Alright, Xiao, do as I told you and you should be perfectly fine. Good luck! I will be here cheering for you!"
Lily sent Xiao over to the hawker stand while she was holding her hands together, praying for Xiao to success in his task.
"It's just buying some drinks, right? It's funny how she's making a big deal out of it."
Xiao walks towards the hawker stand while looking back at Lily, chuckling lightly on how Lily was making a big fuss about something trivial like this.
When Xiao reached in front of the hawker stand, he saw a High Elf race woman was tending it, she was taller than Xiao, has a long blonde hair that ties into a ponytail and a near-perfect facial feature, if Xiao haven't meet Lily before, she would be the most beautiful woman that he has ever meet in his life. The only difference between her and Lily is that she is emitting this classy and elegant aura, while Lily is more towards innocent and pure looking feeling.
(Alright, time to take Lily's magic into a test run.)
With that in mind, Xiao called out the High Elf woman with a friendly tone.
"Hi there, two Lalka flower juice please."
"Alright, please give me a moment."
The High Elf woman replied to Xiao with a beautiful smile and proceeded to prepare the drinks.
(Hmm, looks like everything is working perfectly, this magic of Lily is REALLY convenient.)
Xiao turns his face to Lily and makes a thumbs up to her as to indicate everything was going smoothly, which Lily returns Xiao's response with a relieved smile from her lips, as she was covered by her hoody.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"Okay, two Lalka flower juice, that would be 1 silver please."
The High Elf woman handed over the two Lalka flower juice that was contained in a big wrapped leaf to Xiao, and Xiao handed over a piece of silver before receiving the drinks.
"Thank you, enjoy the drink!"
"You're welcome."
When Xiao acquired the drinks, he proudly walks back to Lily, who's exciting for his return and happy for his success.
"Alright, here you go."
Xiao hand over one of the drinks to Lily, which Lily accepted while also expressing her happiness for Xiao's success.
"You did it! You did it! Congratulations! Hehehe!"
Lily was holding Xiao's hand, celebrating his success while giggling happily like a child.
"Haha, stop it, you're making me feel embarrassed."
Xiao was once again blushing intensely by the act of Lily holding his hand in the sudden and getting closer to him.
"Oh yeah, how much was it?"
Lily suddenly stopped jumping and took out her purse, but she was stopped by Xiao.
"What are you doing? It's my treat for you, without your magic, I couldn't even buy something so simple such of this, so it's supposed to be the opposite way around, I'm supposed to say thank you to you."
Although that's what Xiao said, Lily was still troubled by it and say:
"But, are you sure? You had already treated me for the Starberry bun, and this Lalka flower juice It's quite expensive, right?"
"You can always earn back the money, so it's nothing."
Xiao tried to convince Lily that it was fine for him to treat her, seeing how her magic has greatly help him in many ways, but still, Lily felt bad for letting Xiao to treat her twice.
"Besides, that's what friends do, right? Sharing good food."
Hearing from Xiao that this is what friends usually do, her mood immediately brightens up as she starts to smile again.
"Yeah, Yes! You're right! Hehehe!"
A coincidence from God's plan, a strong wind blows through Xiao and Lily without warning, which blows off the hoodie covering Lily's head, revealing her hair and face.
Again, an innocent radiant smile from Lily towards Xiao, plus her beautiful eyes, silky scarlet hair and a perfect look, was a deadly combination to Xiao's heart.
(Any more of her smile will get me diabetes.)
Xiao was mesmerized by Lily's smile, but quickly realized that her hoody is off, so he helps her to wear back her hoody to cover her face and hair in a hurry, while Lily was stunned at first but slowly blushed by Xiao's action.
After wearing back her hoody, Lily held Xiao's hand and pulled him to a place.
"Come on, let's sit there and enjoy the drinks."
After Xiao and Lily finished their drinks, they toured more stalls around the area while talking happily, Lily was talking and going around the stalls excitedly while Xiao's followed behind restlessly to try and keep up with Lily's energetic paces.
Time flies faster than Lily thought as it was approaching sunset soon. Lily was still full of energy while Xiao has already gasping for air.
"The sun is setting soon..."
Lily sounds lonely while looking at the orange sky.
"Yeah, and I'm supposed to meet up with someone later, even though I hate it, Haha."
Xiao chuckles lightly as he remembers the meetup with Lars, and the image of Lars' disgusting grinning face appears in his mind, which makes him let out a sigh.
"Me too, I.....need to go back now."
Lily was sighing too at the thought of going back, in her mind, she hoped that today would never come to an end because it was the happiest day in her life.
"Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye."
Xiao was scratching his head as Lily was looking down at the ground without saying anything while Xiao was thinking on how to part ways from her in a "not sorrowful" way.
"XIAO!"
Lily calls out Xiao's name without warning, which startled Xiao a bit before he reacted with a worried expression.
"...yes?"
"Even after today, we're still friends, right?"
"Ye...yeah, we're still friends, what's the matter?"
Xiao was confused as he looked at Lily, who's holding in her emotion for not to burst out a cry of joy, she was holding Xiao's hand tightly while shaking in excitement.
"Nothing, just....I'm so happy! It's been so long since I have so much fun! Thank you, Xiao! Thank you for agreeing to be my friend!"
Through this answer, Xiao finally understands the motive of Lily asking this question in a sudden, he also kind of figures out what sort of lifestyle Lily has been living so far through his observation on Lily's personality, attitude and action so far. So Xiao makes a confident and friendly smile to Lily and says:
"Yup, my pleasure!"
Both of them were smiling at each other for quite some time, as to enjoy the last few moments before they part ways.
"Well then, bye-bye."
Finally, Lily was the first one who said goodbye, took a bow to Xiao to thank him for spending such a fun time with her, and slowly walked away while turning back occasionally to wave goodbye to Xiao.
"Bye, Lily, take care."
"Thank you! Xiao, I had so much fun today, see you again!"
Xiao continues to stand there waving his hand to Lily. Lily does the same until they are too further apart, Xiao was unexpectedly feeling lonely while watching Lily's back until she has completely gone from his sight.
"And....she's gone, never thought she would brighten my day so much and make me feel lonely once she left, such a strange girl, but how long has it been since I'm having this much fun? All I have are bad memories ever since that damn monster appeared."
(So I thank you, Lily, I don't know where do you come from and why are you hiding your true identity, but you are the first one who taught me so many things about this world and also took me to enjoy my time at here, I truly hope we can meet again in the future.)
Seeing as there's no point staying here any longer, Xiao took a deep breath to wake him up from his fantasy with Lily and remember his next objective, which is to regroup with Lars.
"Well, time to regroup with that bastard, Lars, damn it, just thinking of his face makes me want to puke."
Looking at the sky that slowly turns to light orange as the sun starts to set, Xiao unwillingly walks back to the rendezvous point while starting to miss the time when he was strolling around the market with Lily, his first friend in the world of Aora.