Jio sigh after he learns that no one wants to talk about Maleficia until he notices a middle-aged man approaching them with a big smile. He knows this person might know something but for a price or will try to trick him since he desperately needs to know Maleficia's whereabouts.

"Hello, my friend! I'm Roy, and I might be a help to you! I heard you were looking for Maleficia's whereabouts, but this information is not free per se," the merchant said.

*Not surprised* Jio thought.

"Sounds fair to me! I'm pleased to see someone's willing to share information about Maleficia," Jio expresses and continues, "So... How much?"

"I don't really need money at the moment. I only need someone to escort me to the next city," Roy happily responds.

"I see... Are you moving the whole shop? Your shop?" Jio randomly asks.

"What are you talking about? I'm just a man fearing for my life," Roy said in his defense, "I'm hiring you to guarantee my well-being. Have you heard about the wandering beasts and roaming bandits? Some may call me a coward, but that's better than being a dead man."

"Hmm... From the size of your backpack alone, you probably own multiple universal bags inside since we can not put another universal bag inside a universal bag. It's cheaper and will not attract bandits," Jio looks Roy straight in the eye, revealing his secret.

"You... You can say that, but you have no proof. Anyways, I don't know how strong you are, but I just need your company," Roy let out as he tightly holds his backpack.

"Maybe... Maybe so," Jio smiles.

"So... Do you accept my offer?" Roy asks.

"Yes, but if you're lying..." Jio looks at Roy with hostility.

"No worries! We can go whenever you're ready!" Roy enthusiastically let out.

"Tomorrow. You can call me Jio; this is Lala; she's coming with us," Jio states.

"But she's just a kid," Roy protests.

"Trust me as I trust you; we'll be at the main gate in the morning," Jio states.

Jio plans to walk around the city and enjoy their time sightseeing. One famous site is the statue of Jude stepping on Hahehees and a luxurious mall.

After the two had fun, Jio booked a place for them to stay for the night and went out again after Lala went to sleep. Jio wants to check the market for something useful and gather information about the continent.

Health vials, herbs used for alchemy, various soul weapons, armors, and tamed creatures can be seen everywhere as Jio walks the street. What caught Jio's attention is a white and round bunny-like creature without any magic or energy around it as he curiously investigates the little creature.

"Excuse me, sir. What's that?" Jio asks the merchant as he points at the fluffy creature.

"I'll be honest, I don't know, but I know it's really rare, and it's only for 1000 Units," the merchant let out.

"Too expensive! As a matter of fact, I don't even know if it's safe or not," Jio protests and take a picture out, "Look at this little angel!"

"Oi! Oi, oi... I'm doing business here. Leave! If you don't have money," the merchant angrily let out.

"It's my little sister's birthday tomorrow... I just want to surprise her cause our parents won't make it this year..." Jio looks down, and his voice starts to waver with every word he speaks.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Okay, pal. It didn't hurt or bite anyone, so it should be safe," the merchant states and looks at the little creature.

Jio moves closer to the merchant with Lala's picture and obnoxiously lets out, "Do you want my little sister to cry on her birthday tomorrow? Our late parents could think of something for her!"

"Okay, okay... I can sell it for 750 Units, and sorry for your loss," the merchant immediately offers as he looks around to see if this affects his business.

Jio takes the money out of his pocket, only to realize he only has 729 Units and looks at the merchant's eyes. He can't persuade people with his looks, but with his lies and the public eyes being focused on the merchant, Jio can get whatever he wants from the merchant.

"Alright, I can sell it to you for 729 units..." The merchant signs.

"Thank you so much! My little sister will love her new pet!" Jio happily expressed as he hugged the merchant.

Jio grins after walking away from the merchant's stall, knowing he can buy the merchant's business but never forget his father's teaching.

When Jio looks inside the little's cage, he notices the little magic or energy in the air getting sucked by the creature.

*Oh! This should be interesting!* Jio thought and smiled.

Walking and blending into the crowd with a Rank C sword and the cheapest-looking armor he obtained from the war, Jio tries his best to get back to the hotel but loses his way again. Luckily, someone helped him find his way, and he went straight to the bed.

In the morning, Jio notices Lala sleeping beside him and slowly gets up, trying not to wake her. He walks to the other room to check the creature's condition.

"Good morning, little one," Jio let out as soon as he opened the cage and took a strawberry from the storage ring, "Don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. As a matter of fact, I have this strawberry just for you."

Unable to hold its hunger, the little creature slowly creeps out of the cage after it smells the sweet fragrance of the strawberry on Jio's hand. It quickly grabs and runs back inside to hide while making cheerful sounds and immediately stops after it senses the firestone that Jio takes out.

"It looks like you can sense the magic from this stone," Jio let out and watched the little creature move slowly, revealing its cute little eyes.

Jio tosses the Fire Stone into the air, and the little creature surprisingly jumps and catches it with its mouth.

*It looks like it can use magic!* Jio thought as he watched the little creature sucks the stone dry.

The little creature burped black smoke like a baby dragon, and its whole body flickered on fire as it flew around the room like a little fireball. While the little creature celebrates freedom, Jio immediately takes another Fire Stone and wants to know what would happen if he keeps feeding the little creature.

"Good morning, Geo," Lala let out as she walked toward Jio and frightened the little creature as it hid behind Jio's back.

Jio looks at the creature and notices that the creature can control the magic inside its body as it extinguishes the fire around its body.

"Good morning, Lala," Jio happily let out, but Lala's attention is focused on the moving fluff ball of cuteness behind Jio's back.

Jio grabs the little creature that is not so little anymore after excessively feeding it with Magic Stone and showing it to Lala. With Lala having someone to play with, she won't be bothering Jio for the time being.

Jio smiles and finally introduces the creature to the impatient Lala. The creature stares and is blown away by Lala's beauty like it just saw a Goddess and would serve her forever as it jumps straight to Lala's embrace.

"Gio, What's his name?" Lala curiously asks.

"I don't know, but you can name it," Jio answers as he pets the creature.

"Ummm... It's a boy so... Weko! Weko is the name!" Lala declares, and Reko agrees by jumping and engulfing his body with fire.

Flying around the room, Jio warns Reko not to burn the place, hoping he understands his words, while Lala tries to catch Reko in the air. He takes a Wind Stone, and Reko immediately flies in front of him, wanting to devour the power inside the stone like an absolute glutton.

Instead of using just fire or wind magic from the stones, Reko combines the two and flies around the room faster like a shooting star while Lala cheers, motivating Reko to show off by burning even fiercely.

Jio is not impressed and tells Lala to get ready to leave in an hour, but she won't listen and continues to play with Reko.

Alone in the other room, Jio notices his clothing changed. When he tries to remember what he wore yesterday, it turns back and realizes how his previous enemy successfully infiltrated the rank during the war.

*Not bad* Jio thought and let his Soul Armor/Weapon devour the clothing artifact.

The jet-black color of Jio's Soul Armor/Weapon starts to change and slowly turns to look like an actual formal attire.

*This is amazing! It feels and moves like regular fabric. Its durability, properties, and weight stay the same* Jio happily thought as he conducted experiments on the Soul Armor.

Heading out, Jio leads the way as if he had lived in the city his whole life.

*Hahaha, I lost my way yesterday, and now I know where to go...* Jio thought as he scratched his head.

"Good morning, you two!" Roy greets and continues, "I thought you abandoned me."

"Funny, I do need the information about that person. Working with you give me a little hint, hope per se," Jio states and takes the map from Roy, giving them good information about the road they're taking.

By the route Roy marked on the map, which is the safest road to take, Jio disagrees since he gathered information and learned that bandits already know his plan and will rob them. Instead, Jio takes a pen out and marks the alternate route he wants them to take.

"ARE YOU CRAZY! There's no bandit on that route, but beast or monster kind would be waiting for us," Roy immediately protested.

"The faster we get to the next city, the better!" Jio confidently declares and takes out a six-inch fang, "With this, no beast or monster kind would dare to come near us."

Jio control magic around the fang that makes it looks like or feel like warding evil.

Roy believes every lie that comes out of Jio's mouth.

Roy bought a magical vehicle that requires a fair amount of firestone to operate, and everyone can see how happy Jio looks since he had never driven one before. Jio sits on the driver's seat while Lala follows and sits beside him, with Reko sleeping on Lala's lap.

After a few hours, Lala started throwing a tantrum and wanted to drive, and Jio wouldn't mind, but Roy didn't want her to drive because the road was unsafe. Jio talked to Roy and eventually agreed only for a few minutes to an hour.

Jio teaches Lala the basics of operating the vehicle as he hands the steering wheel to her. This makes Lala happy and smiles that warm everyone in the cart.

They don't know what they have done.

The cart speeds up as soon as Lala has control of the magic going through the vehicle, and Roy looks for something to hold his life on. The unpaved surface makes the cart shake uncontrollably as it jumps up and down the road, wobbles left and right, and makes sounds like it's about to give up as it leaves a large trail of dust.

To be continued,