When they reached downstairs, the bespectacled receptionist Sharon, who seemed to have been waiting for a long time, hurried over and handed the parchment to Aurora.
"Lady Aurora, this is Miss Caila's mercenary qualification certificate. She has already passed this qualification certification."
Passed?
This really surprised Aurora.
"Wow! I pass, nyaa!"
Caila, who was originally standing behind her, excitedly hopped forward and grabbed the parchment in her hand, looking through it carefully. When she saw the bottom column with two big permission stamps, her furry ears twitched and her tail wagged restlessly.
She really looks like a puppy getting a bone... eh no, she is a kitten, not a puppy... well, who cares? She's cute anyway... Sharon and Aurora smiled dotingly as they saw Caila's sparkling eyes.
"Yihaa! Now, I can go on an adventure with Master, nyaa!"
This girl…
Aurora's heart softened when she saw Caila, who was so excited just because she wanted to be together with her even on an arduous and perilous journey.
The memories of her siblings suddenly crawled out of the pile of painful memories she had suppressed in the dark corner of her heart after coming to this world. In a normal family, the youngest child was usually the one who was the most doted on and spoiled, but that didn't seem to be the case for Aurora.
Aurora was born with an appearance far more beautiful than that of her other siblings; so beautiful that she didn't seem to have been born from the same womb. This particularity of her gradually made her estrange from the rest of her siblings. Her sisters were envious and jealous of her natural beauty, while her brothers looked at her with covetous gazes.
Even the young Aurora soon realized that their sibling gave her "special" treatment, but not in a good way, and this made her fearful of communicating with and interacting with anyone in the family, except for her grandmother, the only one who treated her kindly without ulterior motive.
When she fell into a strange disease that gradually ate her body, her siblings gradually stopped paying attention to her, while her parents seemed to avoid her. After her grandmother passed away, she stopped interacting with her family altogether. She was truly alone in this world by that time.
Fortunately, she found a new place where she could belong—online gaming. She quickly became engrossed in many games when she started making contact with others and finally made a lot of friends. Since then, she had basically spent all her time in the virtual world.
In other words, she had never felt any semblance of familial warmth before she was transported to this new world and met with her current companion.
Even strangers treated her as a precious person to them, but why did her own family treat her like a piece of shit? She couldn't help but feel a bit bitter in her heart.
Suddenly, Aurora felt her gaze inadvertently fall into Caila's sweet and adorable face, on which a warm smile directed toward her, and soon her depression blew away like the coldness of winter right in the first day of the spring bloom.
She smiled lightly and stretched out her hands to rub her head, to which Caila narrowed her eyes and slowly wagged her tail.
"Lady Aurora, I'm entrusted with a message from Miss Claudia and Miss Flamme. They told me that they would go back first to purchase the ingredients and then cook a delicious meal to reward Caila."
"I see… but why did you pass the mercenary qualification certification even though Caila passed out on the test just now?" Aurora was still a little curious about this.
"According to the normal process, Miss Caila has indeed failed the mercenary qualification certification this time, but Simi told me later that if Miss Caila was really the enemy, he might have died from the start." Sharon looked at Caila, who was puffing her nonexistent chest proudly with a smug smile on her face, amusingly.
"So, this time is an exception. But I must admit that Miss Caila really surprised me. I rarely hear Simi give such a high evaluation."
"Thank you for the compliment, she has always been my favorite companion." Aurora's eyes were full of pride.
After hearing Aurora's affirmation, Caila was even more happy, and even her ears began to tremble involuntarily.
---
"Master, master… I have something I want to tell Master, nyaa?"
On the way back, Caila was holding the mercenary qualification certificate and followed Aurora, her eyes wandered about the surroundings, looking at everything with a sense of novelty. The look in her eyes reminded Aurora of her first time playing Legend Online, which was full of awe and curiosity.
"What's the matter, Caila?"
"Can I hang out with Master for a while longer! Just a little longer, nyaa!" Caila pleaded to Aurora with her big, round puppy's eyes.
How could she reject after this much cuteness?!
Aurora was defeated in an instant, and Caila felt like a kind of coquettish and cheerful sister to her. How could she refuse the request of the cute sister! This was basically a dream come true for her!
"Of course, it's still early, let's go shopping."
"Yeah! Master is the best, nyaa!" Caila hugged Aurora's arms and smiled.
There were quite a lot of places to visit in Rosewood Town. Although this town was quite far from the Brigitt Duchy's capital, Brigitt City, and it wasn't wrong to even call it a backwater place, due to its thriving agricultural industries, many merchants and travelers were attracted to this city, settling down and opening their businesses here, boosting the town's economy significantly.
That was also the reason why the Mercenary Association opened a branch in this relatively remote town, as the bustling economy always equaled the need for protection, which could be easily sought from mercenaries as long as they had gold in their pockets.
Treading the neatly-pavened street leading to the boulevard, Aurora strolled leisurely while enjoying the scenery around her. Legend Online was a game that was set in a western medieval period-like environment, so most of their buildings were in the style of those times with wooden structures and stone walls. It gave off the impression of being quaint but at the same time mysterious because of its antique charm. It somehow reminded her of Chester City in England, which her grandmother had shown her the picture once but without the perpetual wet and damp weather that seemed typical for that country.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The weather outside seemed just right for such a setting too—neither hot nor cold enough to make people feel uncomfortable walking on streets like these. The hustle and bustle of pedestrians made the town ever so lively.
For Aurora, who was familiar with this place, the most suitable and worth visiting was the food street on the town's boulevard.
Not only were there many kinds of special delicacies, but there were also many bards playing and singing what they had seen and heard on the road and also some ancient folk songs along the way.
The street was filled with the smell of various delicacies, but because there were too many people here, Caila held Aurora's hand tightly and looked at everything here excitedly.
Once in a while, some peddlers, seemingly conquered by Caila's cuteness, generously offered samples of their products. Aurora watched on the side with a warm smile on her face as Caila hopped in joy and beamed a delightful smile whenever she got a gift from those kind-hearted uncles and aunts.
Aurora and Caila stopped in front of the bard together, and Caila happily came to the venue and danced slightly to the beat of their harp. When she was finally tired from playing, they sat together by the fountain in the center and ate the special grilled fish that had just been baked.
"Could it be this is a so-called... date?" Aurora thought to herself while looking at Caila, who was nibbling on the grilled fish with puffed cheeks and looked pretty much like a squirrel.
This kind of experience was also very good; it was much more joyful and warm than being alone before.
"Master! This grilled fish is yummy!" Caila swallowed the fish and grinned at Aurora.
"Eat more if it tastes good, but be careful, there's sauce spilled on your face." Aurora took out a handkerchief from her pockets and gently wiped the sauce from the corner of Caila's mouth.
---
While the two of them were strolling around the food street, in the Glory Mercenary's base, Claudia and Flamme were plopping on the dining table, watching the steaming meals on the table.
"I'm so hungry! When will Captain come back..."
Claudia tilted her head and looked in the direction of the door. She managed to cook a rewarding meal for Caila, but Aurora and the others hadn't come back for so long.
"Growl~"
"Claudia, your stomach is growling," Flamme said bluntly.
"Growl~~"
"Flamme, your stomach is growling too... ah! Captain, come back quickly! We're all starving to death!"
---
"Ah Choo!"
Aurora, who was by the fountain, suddenly had an itchy nose and sneezed.
"Master, what's wrong, nyaa?"
"It's okay, it's just that my nose suddenly feels itchy." Aurora rubbed Caila's head. "How is it? Do you want to go shopping again?"
"Okay!" Caila hurriedly ate the grilled fish in her hand, and looking at the sauce left on her fingertips, she stuck out her tongue and licked it.
"Come and wipe it off, don't lick your fingers like a child."
Aurora stretched her hand and used a handkerchief to carefully wipe the traces of sauce on Caila's fingertips, but she didn't notice that the catgirl's face turned red all of a sudden.
"Master! There is someone painting, nyaa!"
Caila, who turned her head aside, quickly found a painter on a street corner not far away who was painting portraits of passers-by. Caila, who was very interested in this, quickly pulled Aurora's hand and walked towards that place.
"Two ladies, are you interested? One silver coin and one portrait, believe me! I am still very confident in my painting skills."
The painter showed his work to Aurora, and Aurora casually glanced at it for a few minutes and nodded slightly. The artist's words weren't an empty boast, he really did a great job with his painting. The characters on each of his portraits are so lifelike that they seem to be worth the price of a silver coin.
"What do you think, Caila? Do you want to try?"
"Yes, yes! I want to be with Master!" Caila exclaimed excitedly.
"Okay, those two, please come here... This lovely lady, please sit on this chair, and this pretty lady is standing behind her! Yes! Don't be too far away, put on a smile~ you can be a little bit closer!"
The painter adjusted the postures of the two of them step by step, giving Aurora the feeling that she came to a photo studio at the moment, and the photographer in front of her directed her like a professional he was.
"Okay! Just keep it like this for a moment. Don't move!"
Finally, after the two reached the artist's most satisfying posture, he walked to his drawing board, swiped the brush in his hand, and painted wildly on it.
The pedestrians around also stopped at this moment and looked at the two people being painted with interest. The calm and elegant girl with a slight smile and the cute girl with a touch of blush on her cheeks. They were like a pair of siblings that came from heaven.
"It's nice to be young." A middle-aged woman looked at the two people in front of her with a smile on her face.
People around nodded in agreement.
"Hee hee hee~ Master~ so happy nyaa~"
Caila clutched the portrait tightly and closed her eyes, muttering from behind Aurora.
After more than half a day of playing, Caila, who had lost her excitement, went limp and sat on the ground, not even having the strength to stand up.
It couldn't be helped… Aurora could only carry her on her back on the way back to the base.
"Little girl who feels novelty about everything outside..."
Aurora recalled Caila's excitement, as if she had never felt the feeling of these things, like a princess who was locked in a tall tower alone. Aurora could see the shadow of her former self in Caila.
But at the same time, she also felt a sense of incongruity.
Judging from the way she fought, she must have experienced brutal battles, but she still retained the original liveliness and innocence of a young girl.
"What kind of existence was Caila before?"
[Ding! Sword Spirit's memories of the past will be opened when favorability reaches 90]
Just as Aurora was speculating in her mind, the system directly popped up a small prompt.
"90 favorability... so you really mix in the dating sim game's plug-in system!?" Aurora complained inwardly.
But when Aurora looked at the guild options bar again, her eyes almost popped out.
Except for Claudia and Flamme, who still have 70 favorability, Caila's favorability has directly increased from 60 to 80.
Aurora was so immersed that she didn't even notice the flood of the system's notification, prompting that Caila's favorability increased has risen to 80 (dependence)
"So if you want to increase favorability in the future, you just have to bring them out for fun like this?" Aurora suddenly thought of bringing Flamme or other sword spirits out for shopping.
Before leaving the festive boulevard, Aurora turned around and took another glance at this town's peaceful and lively scenery and the smile on the faces of its citizens. "Ignorance is bliss," wise men said. They wouldn't even imagine that this seemingly ordinary city would soon be engulfed in the flames of war, bringing terror upon their peaceful, mundane lives.
Aurora's fist clenched, and her eyes gleamed with determination. She was by no means a saint, nor was she a hero, but Aurora also didn't want to sit still and watch this town that was slowly growing dearly in her heart be torn apart while having the power to prevent that dark and sorrowful future from happening.
*
Aurora quickly returned to the base, carrying Caila on her back. When she opened the door and walked up to the room on the second floor, she saw two resentful eyes staring straight at her.
Flamme and Claudia were sitting in front of the dining table at the moment, their faces pressed against the table and staring at her, a gloomy atmosphere looming around them.
Oops! I actually forgot about these two!
Aurora forced a smile and said, with a guilty conscience, "What're you doing? Eat quickly and don't wait for me, I've been talking with that old man for a long time and I forgot the time."
"And what topic can make you stand a long time chatting with President Henrick for a long time, Captain? Didn't you always find him troublesome?" Claudia casually asked.
"Ah."
'What should I say?' Aurora mused to herself, 'Should I just reveal to them about the plan? But if I'm going to talk about it, I also need to tell them about the whole thing with Republic of Harmonia and it means I also have to talk about the incident in Halberry Prairie that time. It definitely will affect Claudia badly. I don't want to make the atmosphere turn more awkward.'
After pondering for a while, Aurora decide to leave it for later and find more suitable time to speak about it.
"Well, just a little thing about the mission. I'll speak to you girls later, for now I really want to get rest first. Okay?"
After speaking, she threw Caila on the sofa beside her, and went straight into the room.
"Ah, she left without saying anything again." Claudia complained weakly.
Flamme and Claudia noticed the painting tightly gripped in Caila's hand and quickly realized that Aurora must have brought Caila to play outside, and a trace of envy flashed in their eyes. But, when they saw Caila's tired but satisfied sleeping face, their eyes gradually softened.
Claudia stood up from her seat, walked toward Caila, and started caressing her pink hair, which Caila seemed really enjoy even in their sleep, as a purr slip out her lips.
"I sometimes really envy this girl. Captain seems more ease when with her."
"Don't worry, Claudia. Captain trusts us. She is just not used to depending on other people." Flamme, knowing exactly what she thought, replied in a gentle voice that way different than her usual flat tone and somewhat generous amount of words.
"Is that so?" Claudia asked tentatively. Her voice was more relaxed, but still feel unsure.
Flamme only answered with an unwavering nod.
"I hope she can quickly open up to us." Claudia said to herself.
"That day will come," Flamme answered in her heart.