Falyn Elway’s P.O.V

“Here is your adventurer's card, sir.”

The woman over the desk handed me a metal card, bronze in color, signifying my rank. The card had my name, kingdom of origin, and tier in rank engraved on it, along with an insignia of authenticity, of course.

I put the card in my spatial ring and headed out of the building.

‘Well, we’re adventurers now, Rye.’

‘Yeah, so what now? I’m feeling food.’

I chuckled, ‘Yeah, maybe if we get some money in our pockets. I'm flat broke.’

Rye sighed, ‘This sucks.’

I couldn’t but agree with Rye’s statement. It did suck. We were in the capital of the kingdom, there wasn't a lot of work here for any strolling adventurers. But of course, I thought about this beforehand and had planned on where to go.

Ara city. It was located right next to the Lunar Mountains and was bustling with work, beasts to hunt, and all other sorts of ways to make money. I had heard the place was filled with adventurers from all over the continent, and that people who weren't adventurers barely visited the place.

The only problem was it was a month's travel by carriage, and most likely two times that by foot. I could take a warp gate, but I didn’t have close to the amount of funds I would need for that.

Going through my thoughts I sat down on a bench on a rather busy sidewalk.

I could no doubt make the trip by foot and most likely find some work on the way to keep my sustained until I made it to Ara. The only problem was that I didn't have any money to get started, and who knew how long out into the trip it would take to find any sort of work. I can’t even feed myself right now, let alone Rye.

But Ara city is a must-go-to place.

My end goal was to visit my parents, and I would never earn enough money in the capital as an adventurer. Traveling was expensive.

I gazed upon the busy road and watched as many walked by.

I put on a smirk as I watched an adventurer walked this way, with a small brown sack hanging by his side.

Sorry, mom, dad, but this is all for the greater good.

I stood up and acted as if I was in a rush. I bumped into the adventurer and he looked down at me with obvious irritation. “Watch where you going, brat.”

I smiled nervously, “Sorry, sir.” I bowed, “Please forgive me.”

He gruffed and pushed past me

‘What was up with that? Why are you in such a hurry?’ Rye asked, confused.

‘I wasn't in a hurry.’ I took out the brown sack I had just swiped from the adventurer and looked through it. To my pleasant surprise, it was filled with iron and copper coins. ‘I was just getting this little road trip of ours started. How does food sound?’

I could feel Rye’s excitement build up, ‘Sounds Great!’

***

“So it’s directly eastward…” I mumbled to myself as I looked at the map I acquired from a fellow citizen.

There were multiple towns and outposts in between Ara and the Capital city, where I would be able to stop and most likely makes some money. The closest one out was about a week's travel if I didn't run into any complications or get lost.

I put the map into my spatial ring for good measure and looked onward. I was on the eastern outskirts of the capital and it was fairly quiet. I could see fields that eventually met with scattered trees, most likely clumping into a forest further on.

Rye and I were now well fed and even brought some extra food and water, so we were ready to set off.

‘Looks like there is nothing left to do here, Rye. Are you ready?’

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‘Always, I’m just curious about what would happen if we ran out of food before we reach the next town.’

I thought about the very likely possibility, ‘If that happens we'll just have to fend for ourselves, which I'm sure you and I can handle.’

‘Hmph!’ He let out, sounding satisfied with my answer.

Before I began my journey I looked back at the capital once more. I wouldn't be back here for about a year and all I could think about is if I’ll improve on this little journey of mine.

Zeph knew of my plans on leaving beforehand and he wholeheartedly agreed with them, saying, “Yes, that would be a good way to learn how to take care of yourself and develop into a man.” He also mentioned he did something similar around my age, but I didn’t like listing to him chat on about his youth.

Turning toward the road, an image of Lina flashed into my mind and I wondered how she was doing in school. I had my communication crystal on me, so I wonder if she’ll contact me.

As I was left wondering, I put the hood of my nox cloak up to hide my face in a veil of shadow and I took my first few steps toward Ara city.

flourish divider line swirl border decoration calligraphy [https://svgsilh.com/svg/31609-9e9e9e.svg]

Selina Stellar’s P.O.V

I backed up to see the view of the painting from afar. Maybe a little higher will do, I thought as I went back to move it upward.

I was currently in my dorm, decorating it to my liking. Since I was a princess I got a dorm all to myself. I was sort of disappointed at the revelation since everyone else looked so happy with their roommates. But I had come to know the consequences of being royalty long ago, so I just had to get over it.

“Perfect,” I mumbled, looking at the painting once more.

I went to sit on my bed and think of the coming school year. Mother made me do lots of studying already so I believed I would do good.

And if I have any trouble I'll just call… I stopped the silly thought as I popped into my mind, and I glanced over at the communication crystal sitting on my nightstand.

I had promised myself I would stop calling Fal over every little thing going on in my life. Over these past four years I would call him with every problem I faced, and every question I couldn't answer myself.

I felt my face turn hot at the thought of him and I had to turn my focus away from the crystal. If I keep doing that he’ll think I'm too overbearing.

I stood on my two feet, then let out a sharp heavy breath. “I here vow that I will not contact Fal until he arrives at the academy in one year!” My words echoed through my lonely dorm.

Mother had always told me, saying goals and dreams out loud would help ones drive to achieve them. Ever since I had started saying little things out loud during my alone time, but this one the biggest goal I had set yet and I felt I was ready to follow through.

I walked to my nightstand and put the communication crystal in a box and hid it under my bed. Now I won’t be tempted.

I let out a breath of relief and plopped on my bed and hugged a pillow. My mind raced to when Fal would arrive at the academy and many fantasy-type scenarios flew through my mind.

Maybe he’ll give me a nice warm hug when he sees me again. Yes, that would be nice.

flourish divider line swirl border decoration calligraphy [https://svgsilh.com/svg/31609-9e9e9e.svg]

Falyn Elway's P.O.V

The journey was tiring, to say the least. Despite it being close to autumn, the sun still beamed in south Lotia. Four days had passed since my departure and I hadn't run into any problem so far, well not until now.

Our travels had led us to a forest. A pretty large forest. Going around it would’ve made the trip longer than it was originally supposed to be, so I ended up going through it. And as expected, we ran into trouble.

Three wolf-like creatures come from behind different trees, incircling me from a distance.

It's not that the wolves were a problem, as a matter of fact, they could be scratched off as a mere annoyance. The problem was that it was only my first day traveling in the forest, which meant I was likely to run into more problems deeper in.

I felt Rye prop up, ready for action.

‘Calm down, buddy. I don’t need your help with these pups.’ I said.

‘That's just too bad, this trip has been boring until now.’

The wolves began to close in, and with every step they took, I could hear their growls become more audible.

I simply released my dark attribute mana and channeled it into a spell. “Shadow Impede,” I mumbled under my breath.

At my words darkness manifested around me and spread to each wolf’s shadow, halting their movements. I then unsheathed my dagger and channeled wind attribute mana into it, sending a wind crescent at each wolf until they were all decapitated.

Disbursing my mana, I let out a sharp breath. The Shadow Impede spell was useful and it sucked it only worked on weak creatures such as these wolves. Any stronger opponent would easily break out of its effects.

I walked to each of the wolves' corpses and put each one of them in my spatial ring, as they wouldn't decay in there.

They might go for a bit of money in the next town. I thought.

Continuing on my course I was lucky enough not to run into any more problems. I had even come across a great place to rest for the night. In the middle of this forest, I somehow managed to come across a lake.

As the setting sun reflected in the water I made myself comfortable high up in one of the many tall trees.

The view was amazing, and I continued looking at the setting sun until the stars decided to show themselves, a new one appearing almost every minute.

Rye had already hopped out of my body and made himself comfortable next to me on the giant tree. He was fast asleep in the first few hours. I was envious of how he could sleep almost anywhere so carefree.

Eventually, after countless minutes of staring out in the pale moonlight, I was able to catch some shut-eye as well.