The sun already was on top of our heads. On the trip, I noticed a road sign, where there was a small town nearby. When I realized the name of the town, I remembered it in my book. Immediately I told Adel by the gap of holes between the passenger and the coachman. on the coachman side, to go to the town…First, Adel was refused my order.

“We just rode for 6 hours, and my lady wanted to stop by in this small town…I am sorry but we need to continue the trip..”

“NO!!! Go to that small town quickly…we don’t stay at night there, just a small stop by.”

“My lady, again…the trip is 5 days…It is better to not waste any time, especially since it is a royal decree for us to go there as quickly as possible.”

“I know about that, but just this time…you need to cooperate with me…”

I showed my pitiful face to Adel, to convince her..

“*sigh* huhhh okay then…but just a small stop by..”

“I know…now let’s go there..”

..

A few minutes later, there was a crossroad, and we turned to the small town…

I said to Adel “Can you find the tavern in this town? And stop in front of it.”

“A tavern? What business do you want to go there, my lady?”

“Just do it…you will see after we are inside there.”

The carriage went to the town slowly, Adel took a look around to find a tavern symbol. A moment later, she found it, immediately went there..It stopped in front of it..Adel opened the door of the carriage for me, and I went off from the carriage.

“Now, let’s go inside the tavern..”

Adel whispered to me “Be careful, there my lady..”

“Well, you are staying beside me, of course, there is nothing I am afraid of.”

“It’s not about th–”

“Cut the talk, we go inside.”

I walked toward the door, I opened the door…Immediately people inside of the tavern looked at us..I kept walking toward the counter of the tavern and Adel was behind me..Step by step, people kept staring at us..

In front of the counter, I took a seat, and it seemed the master of the tavern took a stand in front of me.

“What you want, little lady?” He said.

“Little lady?? It’s that for me..”

“Who else?”

“I will take that as a compliment…”

“So what you want?”

“Nothing, I just want to wait here for a few minutes..”

“Any drink? Or else?”

“Ahhh…hmmmmmm…” I turned to Adel behind me, and said “What tavern always has?”

Adel answered “Usually they have for drinks; Wine, and beers, and for foods; Stew, bread, cheese, or anything that tavern has, tavern usually serves as they have as their ingredients.”

“Hmmmm, it’s better to ask him, then..” I turned to him “So what you got, old man?”

“First of all, I want to ask you something, little girl, it seems you are noble, and you are with your maid, which family are you from?”

Adel quickly whispered to me “Don’t tell anyone, about your real name, or the family name, my lady!”

I nodded at Adel, turned my head to him “Just ordinary family, old man…what business do you want to know about me? Now just tell me! what you have?”

“Like your little maid said, we have beer, and wine for drinks, Stew, cheese, bread for food..”

“Then I order stew, and is there anything besides beer or wine for drinking?”

“Milk, we have that for little girl like you..”

“Great then, I'll take that..”

The man got out of my sight, and went back…

I kept looking around, and all the people were still staring at us.

I said to Adel “These people kept staring at us, from when we entered the tavern until now, what is going on?”

“I think they are mercenaries…”

“So why do they keep staring at us?”

“Maybe we are the easy target for them..”

“Hehhhhhhh…and you, Adel, what about you take a seat, than standing in there.”

“I can’t do that…”

“Yes, you can…and maybe this stop by can be longer than I expect..”

“And why did my lady want to go here for the first time?”

“You will know later..”

Moments later, the man brought the stew and a glass of milk to my table, before I took a spoon of the stew, Adel stopped my hand…She took the stew, she examined it and for some reason, she smelled it first, after that she put back the stew. She whispered to me.

“Don’t eat that!!”

I whispered back “Why? Is there any poison?”

We exchanged some whispers.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“The poison is not that harmful to the body, but it can make you asleep in an instant.”

“What about the milk?”

“There is nothing in there..”

I took a sip of the milk…and left out the stew..Now we waited..

…

..

.

An hour later, we were still waiting inside the tavern, and Adel kept standing..

Adel asked me “How long, we need to be here?”

“I don’t know..”

“But my lady…we will be out of the plan if we stay here..”

“It’s okay..”

A few seconds later, I heard someone, and I recognized the name.

Someone shouted “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO, CASSIUS? WE DON’T HAVE ANYTHING LEFT.”

I immediately took a glance at the voice, there I found it..

“There, Adel…our purpose..” I said to Adel.

I stood up from my seat, and walked toward the voice’s table. On the table, there were two people in there, a woman and a man. The woman had a short sword on her hips, and the man had a greatsword on his back.They seemed to be in their 25s, they wore a small leather armor on their shoulders, and plain white clothes, they both had black hair. When I was in front of them, the woman asked.

“WHO ARE YOU? AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

“I just saw what was going on with the loud shout.” I said.

“Just cut the chase, your attire is a noble, there is no such thing, noble, disturb someone just a merely nothing.”

“I just thought, you two are in trouble..So I may offer you something..”

The man said “Offer us? You just need something from us, just tell us!!”

“It seems you two are impatient people, so I will tell you…I am still on the trip to the capital city, so I heard you guys are still in distress or trouble, I offer you some sums of coins as my escorts to the capital..”

Adel quickly grabbed my shoulder and said “My lady, are you insane?”

I ignored Adel for a moment, and asked them “So what is your price for my escorts to the capital?”

The man said “That's a 5 day ride from here…” suddenly he showed a smirk smile “What about 3 gold coins?”

“Just that! I can do that…so do we have a deal?”

The man looked at the woman, they exchanged looking at each other, and nodded at each other. The man said “Sure, we have a deal..”

I offered him the handshake, when he wanted to handshake me, Adel quickly grabbed my hand, and said “NO!! We don’t need them..”

I said to her “We need them, Adel..”

“No, I don’t approve of it..”

The woman said “You are just a servant, let your master decide it…”

Adel took a heavy glance at her, saying “I can accept it, if you two can prove it..”

“Wohohoho a servant just said like that..” The woman said “Surely, we can use the backyard of the tavern to test our strength..”

They stood up, they walked toward the back of the tavern, and we were following them, but Adel took a stop on the counter, the man of the tavern gave her a small knife. We arrived at the back of the tavern..The woman went first, they walked toward the center of the yard…

The woman used her short sword from her hip, and Adel used the kitchen knife from the tavern…The woman first mocked her for using the kitchen knife..The woman who dashed out first to Adel, she swung her sword to Adel’s right side..Adel used her knife not to block, but to bend the attack..The woman with fast countered it after got bend to the right side, she swung with fast to Adel. Adel immediately lowered her body to dodge the swing, and did a high kick to her hand, making the woman lose the grip of the sword, the sword thrown away.

I saw their faces surprised, but the woman walked to the sword, and took the sword back. Suddenly her right hand became red, with her sword turned red, I saw it, immediately remembered the spar between Lady Octavi and Adel, their hand became black, with their weapons.. I asked the man.

“Why her hand become red with her weapon?”

“Do you not know about that?”

I nodded..

“It’s Transmutation, it makes the grip of the hand more proficient, and more agile. there are five levels of transmutation, it could be told by the color of the transmutation…First level is Green, Second level is yellow, Third level is orange, Fourth level is red, and fifth level is blue…”

“So that’s cheating…if she is against someone who doesn't use that..” I turned to Adel, and shouted “Use it, Adel!”

“That will not be necessary, my lady..”

“Just use it!! So it's a fair fight..”

“Bu–”

“JUST USE IT!!”

“*sigh* Huh..okay then…”

Adel’s hand that held the knife slowly turned black, with a glyph rune…When I looked Adel’s hand and looked at the woman, In the woman’s hand, there was no glyph rune. I looked at their faces, their faces were so shocked, immediately the woman said..

“I YIELD, I YIELD, I YIELD” She put her sword to the ground, and turned the hand back to normal.

The man turned his face to me and said “Who the hell are you?”

“Someone from an ordinary family??”

“You said that from an ordinary family?” He pointed at the hand of Adel.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“You don’t know it? I can't even believe what I just saw. When I said there are five levels of transmutation, there are still two other transmutations, but these two are so rare, they are black transmutation and white transmutation..And now, I see her use the black transmutation, there is no way, you are from ordinary family.”

“Ahhhh…about that…how do I tell you…just forget about me…do we have a deal??”

“I think you don’t need us to escort you, your servant is just enough to escort you…”

“No..no…I need you guys..” I looked at Adel, and said “So, Adel! What do you think about them, now?”

“Disappoint, my lady..”

“Don’t talk like that!!” I turned my head back to him “Just don’t listen to her words, so can we have the deal? I can make 5 gold coins, if you want....”

The man walked toward the woman, it seemed they whispered at each other…In a second, the man came back to me, and said, “We agree, but we just need a gold coin..”

“Huh?? Why do you lower it??

“After saw, your servant, I think our escort will be worthless, so we lower it..”

“I will give you the three gold coins like you said before..”

“But–”

“No but…” I offered a handshake.

“Whatever…you get us..” He took the handshake.

“Great…” I turned to Adel, and said “Let’s go back to the carriage, we're done here…and can you pay everything? Give these people three gold coins, and whatever in the tavern…wait..” I looked back to him, “We still don’t know each other's names.” Except I knew you from the beginning, but for formality..

He said, “My name is Cassius, and her name is Valerie.”

“My name is…wait a moment..” I looked at Adel, and said “Can I use my name with them?”

“Just do whatever you want, my lady..”

“Okay then..” I turned back to him, and said, “My name is Aurelia…Aurelius…and she is Adeline, you can call her Adel.”

Again their faces were shocked, Cassius said “YOU…from the Aurelius family??”

“Yes I am…”

“So that’s why you have her as your servant.”

“Now let’s get out of here, and back to my carriage…”

I walked back inside the tavern, Adel followed behind me with Cassius, and Valerie..

Adel whispered to me, “Why you need those two?”

“I need them on my side..for some reason...You don’t need to know it..”

“Alright then, but I will keep my eyes on them..”

“Sure, whatever you want, Adel..”

Before we left the tavern, Adel had some talk with the master of the tavern, it seemed Adel paid just for the milk, not with the stew.. But he refused it, Adel kept insisting to pay just for milk, and said he put some sleep poison on the stew..He couldn’t say anything about it, and accepted the payment.

We left the tavern, Cassius and Valerie surprised, because it was only me and Adel in the carriage on the trip to the capital without any guard.…They sat on the coachman side with Adel, and I came back inside to the carriage..We continued the trip to the capital…I had two keys people from 12 keys right now…surely it would be an advantage for me.