"Did I do good? Are you proud of me?" Sophie asked as she excitedly squeezed one of Lone's fluffy tails. The group of six, Kyuubi included, were walking through the hallways of Everlast, heading back to their inn, the Glowing Goblet.
"Of course I'm proud," Lone replied with a beaming smile. "When did you get so strong? Maybe you can beat me in a one v one even if we used skills and magic?"
"Hum hum, of course I could," Sophie happily replied with confidence even if she knew it wasn't true. "Did you forget that I can beat you seven out of ten times whenever we fight without using magic and skills?" Sophie stuck her tongue out at Lone while another fluffy tail found it's way into her grasp.
"I guess you're right," Lone agreed with his gleeful lover. 'It's quite rare for her to be so emotional, huh? I'm happy. Weren't they the first people Sophie had ever killed? Well, there was God, but he doesn't really count, does he?'
Lone's group, The Wanderers, passed quite a few other groups of Adventurers and various other types of Demihumans on their way back to the Inn, and every time, they would stare at Sophie with a hateful look until they saw her dark-steel plate, and then their expressions noticeably loosened.
"Being an Adventurer has many uses-ss," Swind commented as he noticed that despite his exceedingly rare race and missing limbs, everyone was showing him at least some level of respect due to him travelling with Lone, a gold-silver plate.
"You're right. I thought Sophie would have to stay in Master's summoning room all the way up until we left the Demihuman countries," Breena replied with an uncommonly happy expression on her face.
Normally, Breena didn't express any emotions except fear on the odd occasion, but even then, she managed to bottle it up in her skill that she had eventually managed to self-create in the Dungeon.
A lot had changed for everyone after entering and leaving Clicker's Dungeon, of that, everyone present could agree. The Wanderers safely returned to the Glowing Goblet and relaxed or trained for the rest of the day.
The Wanderers then went on to spend the next few days in peace. Lone had spent his time in Everlast's biggest library with Swind and Sophie. He was always eager to get more knowledge and Swind wanted to learn as much as he could about the overworld since he had spent his entire life in Clicker's Dungeon.
Sophie split her time between being with Lone and training intensely in his summoning room. Although she knew that she was no longer the helpless girl that she once was, Sophie wanted to get stronger and stronger. She wanted to get to the point where she could fight alongside Lone as his equal.
Meanwhile, Breena, Kyuubi and Eolande had been busy exploring Everlast and Eolande had been using her illusion magic to trick several people into playing games and betting away a few trinkets or metals of value which Lone hadn't seen before, so he was happy to study them and learn how to create them.
The six had met up for breakfast in the Glowing Goblet as usual when Pate, the Captain of the scouting party, entered the inn and approached them.
"It's time." His words were short, but everyone present knew what he meant.
"So the trade ships are ready?" Lone asked as he stood up.
Pate's eyes were glued to Sophie and he simply nodded. 'So, to think that this cute and harmless looking Human girl would be the rumoured 'Disk Ice Queen'? Adventurers and their stupid nicknames.'
"Well, we're ready to leave now if that's okay with you. All of our belongings are in our spatial pouches," Lone said. 'Everything's in my dimension and Eolande's Glade if I'm being honest,' he added in thought.
"Good. Follow me," Pate ordered before he turned around and left the inn with Lone's group following behind him. They left via the door they originally came through instead of the one that led further into the city.
Lone covered his eyes from the sudden light and grimaced. "It's so annoying how bright the sun is. Maybe I should create a third lens for my glasses? What the hell are sunglasses made from? Mm, do I need to start researching glass now?"
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After roughly ten minutes of walking, Lone's group and Pate were at Everlast's famous port. Lone was taken aback at the sight. It was full of people of all races, Human Adventurers included. There was probably at least two-thousand people and a few hundred ships of varying designs and sizes.
"This is... incredible..." Lone couldn't help but exclaim.
Pate looked at him with a proud smile. "You didn't come to the docks in the past few days?"
"Nope. I spent all of my time in the library," Lone replied. He was actually rather enjoying the lively atmosphere here. Plenty of people were throwing him curious glances due to his fur colour and his Adventurer plate, which Lone liked.
Something that Lone hadn't expected as well, was that quite a lot of the Deerkin they saw saluted or thanked Pate when they saw him. 'I guess he really is very respected by his people, huh? How strong was Pate again? C-rank, or B-rank? He feels like a B-ranker,' Lone wondered while he took a quick second to inspect him.
Pate ?????'s Status Name: Pate ????? Sex: Male Age: 72 Level: 403 Race: Deerkin HP: 10,030/10,030 SP: 15,567/16,010 MP: 0/0 Description ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? A renowned scouting Captain of the trading port city, Everlast. ?????????????????????????????????????????? Basic Stats Strength: 3,054 Vigour: 1,003 Dexterity: 600 Agility: 1,002 Vitality: 1,601 Luck: 190
'Heh... he's barely a B-ranker, but wow. This is the first person I've inspected that's purely a physical fighter. No mana whatsoever. Guess he hasn't awakened all of his mana organs. I wonder if I could beat him in a fight without using my healing or Mental Destruction?' Lone pondered while he and his group continued following Pate through the dock.
They stopped in front of a ship that had a design Lone recognised. 'This, what is it, a Galleon? This Galleon is definitely Elven,' he thought as he gazed at the ginormous wooden vessel that was anchored before him.
"This is as far as I go, Lone," Pate said to the still stunned Lone.
"Sure. Thanks for helping me thus far," Lone replied with and then shook Pate's hand.
"I wasn't able to guarantee you passage since I'm only a scouting Captain, but I'm sure you'll be able to convince the ship's Captain to let you on seeing as how two of you are Foxkin. Well, best of luck and I wish you success on your travels," Pate nodded with a smile.
"You too," Lone replied, returning the Deerkin's smile with a grin of his own.
Pate then left, so Lone tried to board the ship and was obviously stopped and asked for identification to prove that he was a passenger.
"Well, I'm not actually scheduled to be on this ship, but I heard it was going to the Crimson Foxkin clan and I happen to have business there, so it it's possible, would you let me talk to your Captain?" Lone asked the Deerkin blocking his path. 'I'll just buy my way on, I suppose. Gold isn't an issue, after all.'
"I'm sorry, buddy. But only authorized personnel or prebooked passengers are allowed on board. I can't let you on, even just to talk to the Captain. The Captain is a busy woman so I'm going to have to ask you to le-"
"Let them on!" a high-pitched and loud voice ordered the man from the ship's deck.
Lone and the Deerkin looked up to see a woman with small and fuzzy yellow cat ears on top of her head, which was barely poking over the railing. 'A Catkin? Who is this person? someone's child?' Lone thought as he stared at the tiny woman who had a round and adorable face.
Suddenly, the Deerkin standing in front of Lone saluted and shouted, "Yes, Captain!"
All of The Wanderers' members were confused. That tiny girl was the Captain of the ship? Sophie started mumbling under her breath. "Is Lone a loli magnet? Is she another person I have to fight off? Mumumumumu... ..."