After dealing with the aftermath of that clash, they slowly started moving toward the town of Koria. The way the group looked at Veles was filled with reverence and traces of fear. He knew that showing his Spatial skills would bring unwanted attention. But it looked like he underestimated just how much trouble it would bring him.

Alas, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Spatial knowledge comes with his constitution, and sooner or later, he would have to display his abilities—this particular affinity was his all-time first choice due to its versatility.

For now, he would strive to keep this persona of mysterious expect. Hopefully, no one would find out about this bluff…

“So, Fagor. Tell me more about this town of Koria?” Asked Veles while taking steady steps through the tall grass.

“Yes, Great Sorcerer. Koria used to be a small town at the edge of the Bistaiya Kingdom, mainly focused on trading agricultural items made in villages surrounding it.”

“Used to?” Veles tried his hardest not to show his annoyance with the title they gave him. He also tried to ignore the urge to smack Davis. Brat dared to call him the same as they did—despite clearly noticing his displeasure. And that smug look... He knew Veles couldn’t do anything at the moment, so he used this chance to the maximum. Where did that guy suddenly grow galls to do that, Veles had no idea.

“Ever since Border Formation surrounding Forest of the Forgotten was removed, most of the villages got evacuated. Beast attacks became frequent, and our first mission when we came here was to help with moving inhabitants of those villages to a safer area.” Fagor dutifully replied. Others in his group were quiet. Even Valyo didn’t say a word for the last couple of hours, as for Zunna, she was even more fearful than the time she heard they came from the south. Ulhe—their archer—was the same as ever, staying quietly in the back. He wasn’t the talkative guy to begin with.

But the Border Formation? So that was what they used to keep everyone from entering the forest? Interesting…

“Then I guess Koria is turned into a temporary fortress?” Veles guessed. It was an obvious move and a smart one.

“That’s right. The town is now a gathering spot for mercenaries and other people looking for profit. It’s a great opportunity to explore the unknown. The chances of being lucky and finding something valuable are very high. There is no way sell-swords like us will miss this chance…” He tried to hide it, but there was bitterness in Fagor’s voice which Veles easily noticed.

But the opportunity to explore the unknown? Heh, those in Osvalen thought the same… These people would quickly learn that the Forest of the Forgotten wasn’t a place they could easily exploit.

There was also another point Veles noticed in what Fagor had said. And he decided to address it. “What about the Kingdom’s soldiers, aren’t they supposed to help with moving civilians? Why have mercenaries do it?”

This raised bitterness in Fagor’s voice to another level. “Yes, they are supposed to do it! But they have their orders to ‘stand ground’. Assholes are waiting for their own opportunity. They don’t have time to care about the lives of peasants. Only the mayor of Koria sent his private soldiers, but they aren’t proving much help, their numbers are all-time low...”

It looked like Fagor knew about this topic a lot more than Veles had expected, which probably had to do with the reason why his mood was suddenly down.

“I see…” Replied Veles, not wanting to press further. He already had enough information to match a few pieces of the puzzle.

And as he’d expected, they first intended to send mercenaries to tackle the forest and get information on dangers lurking inside—this just proved that he was right when he’d talked about this with the Squirrel. The other important part was general information about this place. This kingdom followed the classic noble system, where those holding titles had the right to have their own personal soldiers. At least, that was what Veles got so far…

It wasn’t even five minutes later that the group saw stone walls appearing in the distance, showcasing that their destination was near. True to his deduction, a short walk later, they neared those walls that reach almost a story high.

Everyone on their first look could deduce that those walls were built recently. There wasn’t any sign of dirt between the blocks. They were clean and fresh, untouched by the grime and stains. Bellow them were precisely placed pitfalls, some hidden while others were clearly on display, probably the way to confuse beasts.

They neared the gate, Fagor taking the lead, he was already familiar with the procedure. He took out a piece of paper and presented it to the guards. With just one glance at the paper, one of the guards signaled with his hand to enter the already-opened gate.

“Is security always this lax, or does Fagor have some connection?” Veles addressed Zunna, who was the nearest.

Caught by surprise, Zunna adjusted her round glasses and replied with a stutter. “W-Well, not really. Fagor does come from these lands. But, ever since Koria experienced an influx of mercenaries, security on the streets has been very high. Gates doesn’t need to be strict since it was impossible to commit the crime inside and avoid punishment.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” Veles nodded in understanding. “You don’t have to be nervous around me. I can see my presence makes you rather uncomfortable.” He added, sounding apologetic.

Zunna furiously shook her head. “No! It is just my teacher said that…” She trailed, not sure if she should continue.

Smiling gently, Veles tried to ease her worries, which seemed to work.

“…that Sorcerers can be quite arrogant and unpleasant to work with.” She seems to finally understand that she’d said something wrong, her eyes looking left and right, trying to find a way to escape.

But Veles laughed. “Do I look that way to you?”

He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that they nailed him being a Sorcerer. If the rule about who was considered a Sorcerer was the same as he knew during his old days, then maybe getting his head around this whole ‘classes’ thing would be easily dealt with.

“No.” She meekly replied.

“Then there is no reason to worry. There can always be exceptions, right?” Zunna nodded, her glasses almost falling down, which she skillfully grabbed and placed back in place, but this seemed to fuel her embarrassment. Forcing her to face the ground…

“Haha.” Veles let out a small laugh, making it even worse for her. However, he decided to give her some advice. “I might be an exception, but that doesn’t mean you should trust others. Being wary of individuals renowned for their nasty behavior isn’t wrong. If you ask me, that is way better than falling prey to some arrogant prick. Understand?”

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She only nodded, her head still down.

“And I still have to share my knowledge about mana undulations, right? I always make sure to fulfill my promises. So, you will be stuck with me,” Veles added.

“Okay,” replied Zunna. The topic of magic seemed to have lifted her spirit up.

Her behavior reminded Veles of an overly enthusiastic nerd, finally finding a soul capable of understanding their weird interests. In fact, Veles could tell that everyone in this group except Fagor was a youngster barely reaching twenty years of age. Valyo—despite being a mountain of a man—proved to be the youngest of them, while Fagor served as their mentor or protector in the field.

Having finished his talk with the guards, Fagor returned to the group and immediately addressed Veles. “Sir Sorcerer, we must return back to the Mercenary Guild and give our report. What should we say about Marguse’s group?”

Veles didn’t expect this. “You would report whatever I tell you to?”

Fagor shrugged his shoulders like the answer to his question was clear. “You saved our lives and even allowed us to keep the loot. This is the least we can do. If you wish, we can even come up with some story if you want to keep your identity hidden. However, I doubt that will work since those idiots will complain and blabber about encountering a Sorcerer.”

“That’s nice of you. However, there is no need to put yourself into more trouble. Just report everything as it occurred.” After weighing the pros and cons, Veles concluded the best way to forward. He might get entangled with troublesome individuals, and the rumors about him would spread. But there wasn’t much they could change by making up some ridiculous story about him. This could also help him reinforce the mysterious persona play he wanted to keep going.

“Are you sure?” Fagor asked sincerely.

“Absolutely, just do your job. The two of us would like to stroll through the town before we find the place to rest.”

“Do you need a guide? I can show you some places before we go to the guild.” Fagor offered.

“There is no need for that. It will be more interesting to find it on our own.”

“Very well, Sir Sorcerer. I’m sure we will see each other again.”

Afterward, they bid their goodbyes. The Nimble Fang mercenary group went their own way toward the guild while Veles and Davis took the main street.

“Where now, o great Sorcerer?” Davis asked with a slight grin.

Alas, unfortunately for him. Veles wouldn’t let it slide this time.

Gabbing firmly Davis’s shoulder, Veles too grinned. Blackish fog from his black core rushes forward, assaulting Davis’s body instantly, making his smile instantaneously vanish, only to be replaced by dread.

Like a snake amidst the grass, fog crawled on top of Davis’s body. It reached slowly towards his ear, where it plunged inside his head, making Davis stiffen.

Being a good forgiving soul, Veles stopped playing with him and retracted his mana.

“Okey. Won’t do it again!” Davis surrendered.

Veles tapped his shoulder in a friendly manner. “Good that you understand.”

“Let’s just explore for now.” They continued farther down the main road, watching medieval-type buildings tightly built near each other. And by the content visible from the outside, it looked like this street was reserved for merchants to open their stores. Not every building was occupied, but every single one that was, had various goods on display, varying all the way from weapons to casual clothing.

As for the people, streets were filled with various beastfolk races minding their own business. The most prominent ones were the catkin, even they could be further categorized as different varieties, such as tigers, panthers, or others possessing different catlike features. Strangely though, there were almost no humans. The only ones Veles saw were a few merchants tending to their shops.

He was also sure those human merchants wouldn’t stick for long. The gazes of beastfolk coming his way weren’t all that pleasant. Many of them hid traces of hostility beneath their casual glances. There was interesting history to be learned behind all this. While those hostile gazes were faint, there was no intermixed hatred, suggesting that whatever made them wary of humans happened a long time ago…

But that was of little to no interest to Veles. He hadn’t planned to stick to this place long anyway. His purpose for walking around was to check the atmosphere of the town and try to understand the social structure of the place.

And the simple walk was indeed worthwhile. The first and most important detail was that every single person here had access to mana. There were no ‘normals’ like in the Osvalen.

However, the problem with this was obvious.

Despite many having and utilizing mana, a great majority of them were pitifully weak. Whether they were at the Third or First stage, all of them lacked any battle readiness or any outward display of strength, in short, ninety percent they encountered during this short walk were civilians.

Now the second thing Veles noticed were gadgets far advanced for this medieval surrounding. For example, the lamps on the side of the street with few runes attached to them shone even in the middle of the day, or the better example was a normal guy wearing a backpack filled with beast’s bones that couldn’t be easily carried, but he was taking his steps casually like there wasn’t any weight pushing him down.

Another detail caught his attention. Davis also gave him the non-verbal confirmation that he’d noticed the same issue. However, both suppressed their comments. This topic shouldn’t be discussed outside…

They reached a decently big clearing near the middle of the town. An open market of sorts—with stands mainly focused on selling food and clothes. Veles decided it was pointless to loiter around anymore. He looked for someone who could point him in a specific direction.

Spotting the particular stand selling fruits, he walked forward. This one offered nothing except three types of apples and a few peaches. However, Veles chose this for a very specific reason.

He looked at the person who was supposed to tend this stand and raised one eyebrow. Facing him with her back was definitely a woman with long blonde hair leaning more towards yellow. On top of her head rested two big rabbit ears, lazily bent forward.

Veles tapped the wooden part of the stand and politely said. “Excuse me, miss.”

Unexpectedly, the girl let out a short “Hiii” scream and ducked down, leaving just two of her ears protruding behind the stand, straight as an arrow.

Genuinely surprised by her behavior, Veles asked. “Are you alright?”

Hearing his voice, a small head poked out, yellow eyes jumping between him and Davis. After a few more scans, the girl just stood up and awkwardly coughed.

“I apologize. I thought I saw something scary and got spooked. It tends to happen to me sometimes…” Her voice was cheerful and friendly. Carrying no traces of her previous blunder.

“There is nothing to apologize for. You were focused on working, and I surprised you. If anyone is in the wrong, that would be me…” Veles pretended to be as nice as possible while deeply scanning her yellow eyes. He could tell this girl wasn’t as simple as it seemed—the detail he’d already noticed, thus decided to approach her in the first place.

She accepted his reasoning and nodded. “If you say so, Sir.” She then gestured toward her fruits. “What can I get you?”

“If it isn’t a problem, I would like to ask you for directions. You see, I currently have no currency on myself, so even if I wanted to buy something, I can’t.” Veles showed his empty palms and made an obviously fake sad expression.

But the rabbit girl just crossed her arms and pouted. “Hmpf, your clothes say otherwise.” Indeed, it was a dead giveaway. He still wore his martial robes, which were still pristine without a scratch or a spec of dirt on them.

“Like I said, I have no coin on myself. That’s the reason why I came to ask for directions. I’m looking for a place to sell some herbs we gathered.”

But then Veles’s eyebrow twitched.

The rabbit girl before him just looked at her nails with a raised chin. Her fingers suddenly became her main attraction. “Hmm, I’m not sure if I ever heard of a place willing to buy herbs…”

“Okay, I see. How about the promise that I will buy something from you later?” Veles said in defeat.

Her smile bloomed—funny how she took Veles’s words for granted. Not wasting a breath, she started explaining. “Follow the main street and take the third corner right. A five-minute walk, and you will reach Alchemist Branch. They are the ones responsible for buying herbs.”

“I see. It was quite easy to jog your memory, huh?”

“Yup! I know how to recognize a bag of coins when I see one.” She shamelessly admitted.

“Well, good for you then. Anyway, thanks for the information. I owe you one.”

“You sure do!” She cheerfully replied, then picked up two apples from the crate and tossed them toward him and Davis.

Veles caught it easily and snorted. Crafty girl, she sure played this very well.

Turning around, he started walking while Davis took a bite of an apple that had previously hit him in the head before landing perfectly into his palm. The guy was preoccupied with looking at some cat ladies to the side, making him miss almost the whole interaction…

“We going to get some money?” Asked Davis.

“Yes, we can’t really get anything with empty pockets.”