We have arrived at our next destination, the Vermine kingdom. We were only on the outskirts of the location but we can already see how huge of a kingdom it is. The Witch's Isle can't even compare to it.

From far away, you can see that the kingdom was surrounded by tall walls. We couldn't see the inside but you can tell that it’s pretty civilized just by looking at the quality of the walls.

We arrived at the gate and saw a lot of people in armor guarding the place and one of them stopped us from entering.

“Excuse me travelers but we do not allow people to enter without a permit, show yours first before we allow you.”

“Oh no, we didn't know a permit is needed. What do we do?” I thought to myself while trying to come up with an excuse.

“Eh? We've been traveling for so long just to get here. Can't you just allow us this one time, pretty please?” Rein begged.

“No can do little miss, rules are rules. If you don't have a permit then please go back now,” the guard answered.

Fae and Rein were trying everything just to make the guard sympathize and allow us to pass through but the guard is like an immovable boulder.

“Let's just force our way in!” Komraad suggested.

“Why do you always resort to brute force!?!” I bluntly asked him.

We were running out of ideas when another traveler arrived to enter. It’s the rude noble and his spoiled brat we encountered on the Witch's Isle before. Didn't know he was from here.

“Oh no, it's them again. What would it be this time?” I asked myself.

“If it isn't Fae. Darling, what a small world it is,” the old man greeted Fae as if they were friends. His spoiled brat also greeted her.

“Oh, hi Mr. Amor, Hi Aria. It’s been a while! How are you both doing?” Fae greeted back.

“We’re fine. Thanks to you treating Aria during the crisis back in the Witch’s Isle, she's now doing well,” the old man answered.

“That's good, always happy to help,” Fae replied.

“Also, I'm sorry for treating all of you poorly before,” the old man added.

I approached Fae and whispered in her ear.

“Hey Fae, what happened? What did I miss? Why are they acting friendly to us now?”

“Back in the Witch's Isle when you were fighting the head witch, Aria got injured and I helped treat her wounds and after that, I became friends with them.”

“I-I see.”

“May I know why your group is here in this kingdom?” The old man asked.

“We’re looking for something and it's inside this kingdom, but the guards aren't allowing us to enter because we don't have a permit,” I told him the truth hoping he'd help us.

“Don't worry darling, I got this,” the old man approached the guard that stopped us from entering and said something to him.

“Sir Amor, you're back.” The guard bowed to the old man.

“Didn't know his status was this high because of his arrogant personality before, but I guess I totally misjudged him.”

“Allow these people to enter, they're with me.”

“Yes, sir Amor.” The guard responded and started opening the gate.

“That's it? Aah, the power of nobility, am I right?” And just like that, we were able to enter the kingdom.

Stolen novel; please report.

As soon as we entered the premise, we were mesmerized by how stunningly amazing and beautiful the place is.

“I can't believe inside this kingdom would look this gorgeous. It’s beautiful but kinda intimidating for us. It's like only the nobility is allowed to live here. Oh well, I shouldn't let that bother me. I'm here on a quest and I'm also here to let everyone enjoy themselves.”

“I have to attend a meeting as soon as possible. I’ll be going now, enjoy your stay here.” The old man said as he left to attend to his agenda.

We also continued exploring the kingdom. Before we find a clairvoyant, we must first find a place to stay in and food to eat.

“Wait, we could've asked the old man to let us stay in his house, that totally slipped out of my mind! What a wasted opportunity.”

We looked and asked people around for an Inn. Some helped but most of them ignored us and looked down on us. We visited some of the Inns people mentioned but none of them is affordable. We've been looking for hours now. It was already noon and we were starving but we still couldn’t find an affordable place.

“I'm hungry!” Komraad said while pampering.

I also heard Fae and Rein's belly growling.

“Aah, let's forget about finding a place for now. Let's go find something to eat,” I said to lift everyone's spirit up and also to fill everyone's belly

We saw a lot of restaurants but all of them looks fancy. Thankfully, we saw a public market,

we might be able to find food there. We looked around the market for food but most of the things we saw are accessories and clothes for nobles. Luckily enough, we saw a fruit stall, but even those are pretty expensive.

“Let's settle for fruits, for now.”

Fae and Rein agreed while Komraad was disappointed because he wanted to eat meat.

We were purchasing some fruits when a woman near us got her purse and the fruits she brought snatched by a thief hidden in cloak.

Komraad was actually itching for fun. He chased the thief not to retrieve the stolen goods but to play catch.

“Rein, please stay with Fae here. I’ll try to follow them.”

“Don't worry Ms. Ina, We'll be fine here. Do what you must,” she replied.

I was worried Komraad's gonna mess up so I followed him.

Komraad and the thief were so fast. Thankfully, I can fly so I managed to catch up. The chase scene was like an action movie. The thief was so slippery, it was like she knows every corner of the street. Komraad was about to catch the thief but due to his clumsiness, he ended up crashing into some crates. I left him there and continued the chasing. The thief was fast but she couldn’t shake me off because of my ability to fly. After minutes of running, the thief was finally cornered. She doesn't have any route to go, she was closed off between me and a wall.

“I got you now! You have nowhere to go!” I said to the thief.

“A talking cat huh, what a surprise. I wanna know more about you but I gotta get going,” the thief answered calmly.

The thief talked! I was shocked by what I heard, it was a voice of a little girl. I was gonna close the gap between us when she suddenly took out a sword that she was hiding behind her back.

I was wary so I stepped back a little.

I thought she was gonna attack but I was more surprised by what she did. The sword she was holding extended, lifting her all the way up to the top of the wall.

“See you later talking cat,” she yelled at the top of the wall before descending on the other side.

Just like that, the thief was able to run away. I gave up on chasing any further because the guards are starting to notice what was happening. I came back to the fruit stall where Fae, Rein and the woman who got robbed were waiting. Komraad was also back.

“I wasn't able to recover anything,” I said to Komraad.

“Don't worry, I was able to recover the purse from the thief,” Komraad flexed.

I'm not sure if I should be happy or annoyed but I'm glad that our efforts didn't go to waste.

Komraad gave the purse back.

“Thank you for recovering my purse, is there anything I can do to pay you back?” The woman asked.

“This is now our chance!”

I placed myself on Komraad's shoulder and whispered at him.

“Hey, ask her if she can let us stay at her house.”

“Sure!” Komraad answered.

“Hey, lady! We're looking for a place to stay, could you lend us your home? And also, can you give us some food?”

“That's not how you ask someone who just got robbed, you dumb dog!”

“Oh, you guys are travelers. Yes, you can stay at my place. We have an extra room you can use,” she replied.

“Thank you so much, miss,” I said politely.

“Oh, a talking cat, how nice. You can just call me Amalia.”

“Thank you, Amalia. You can call me Ina. This guy here is Komraad and those two girls are Fae and Rein.”

“Nice meeting all of you, and thank you for your help. Come with me and I’ll treat you all to a meal, I’ll also show you my place.”

We helped the woman buy another set of food. We also gave her a lift in our carriage so we could travel faster. It took us minutes but we finally arrived at her house.

“Welcome to our home, it's not much but I hope it'll do just fine.”

The house was big not because its a house of a noble, but because it was an orphanage.

“We have a lot of kids here so I'm sorry in advance.”

“Don’t be sorry, the fact that you're letting us stay for free is too much already. Thank you,” I said politely.

We were about to enter her house when a big man who was carrying a bulk of wood greeted us.

“Oh, we have some visitors. Welcome to our home! Ha-Ha!”

“Thank you for having us,” We said in unison.

“It’s nothing! A friend of my wife is a friend of mine.”

“Honey, I’m back.” Amalia kissed the man on his cheek.

“Welcome back honey.” The big man kissed her back.

After greeting each other, we entered their house and saw a lot of orphaned kids of different races in front of us waiting.

“Welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Alcantara.” The orphans greeted them in unison.

“We’re back kids.” The couple greeted them back.

“Honey, can you help our visitors settle in? I’m gonna cook a meal so we can all eat together.”

“Sure, honey.”

Amalia’s husband put the wood he was carrying back in the kitchen and helped Komraad carry our baggage into our room while Fae and Rein played with the orphaned kids.

“All your belongings are already in your room, rest or walk around, do whatever you want. If you need anything just call me by my name, it’s Miguel by the way.”

“Thank you for the hospitality Miguel, you can call me Ina and this guy here is Komraad.”

“Nice meeting you both, I’ll be leaving now.”

Miguel left to continue chopping wood while Komraad and I stayed in the room to rest and talk.

“Thank God we found a place or we’ll be sleeping in our carriage. I kinda feel bad staying here without providing anything though. They’re already feeding lots of mouths. I feel guilty that they have to feed four more,” I said to Komraad.

“Don’t be, it’s their way of saying thank you, so it's rude to say no to their kindness,” he answered.

“You’re right. For now, let’s rest and eat. After that, let’s focus on our goal, finding a clairvoyant.”