Although he was not in the mood for a drink, he was curious about what was going on there. After all, despite having been in this world for over a month, Isaac didn't have a lot of chances to interact with the locals.
Even less had the opportunity to visit local establishments. Is a tavern really like what the stories tell? A place of drinking and brawling?
"Next time," he thought as he watched two people exit before going to throw up in a small alley next to him. It brought back memories of him when he was still a student.
The group of soldiers and Isaac continued their journey down the main street under the curious and slightly worried gaze of passers-by. After all, it was the first time they had seen an elf.
Many people tried to approach before being repelled by the escort. Isaac appreciated this, since he was not in the mood for social interactions at the moment. He had come to visit the city; he had all the time in the world to interact with people once he was more comfortable.
Despite the late hour, the festivities were in full swing. People were dancing and singing in every corner of the city which warmed Isaac's heart.
It had been a long time since he had taken part in these kinds of festivities, although at present he did not really participate but just observed.
While passing by the stands, he had the opportunity to take a skewer of meat, a kind of sweet lollipop and a relatively exotic red mask of the head of an animal known to bring good luck.
In short, he was a bit like a tourist.
An hour passed quietly, and the small group continued their stroll until they reached the closed gate of a large park. A sign in front of the entrance had the inscription: "Parc Sziecht Klauff."
Isaac watched the entrance and the iron bars carefully as passers-by and the captain watched, before arching an eyebrow slightly.
Seeing Isaac's interest, the captain stepped closer.
- "This is the park named after one of the kingdom's greatest heroes. A legend told to the little ones. Do you want to enter it? We can have it opened if you wish" asked the captain in looking to see if there was a guard nearby to open the door to them.
Isaac just shook his head and pointed to the entrance.
- "There are people inside" he replied, staring at the closed gate.
On the other side, we couldn't see anything. But thanks to his mana vision and improved sight, Isaac could easily discern mana circuits. Three people seemed to be running in pursuit of a fourth, smaller one. A child?
- "Ah… well I'm sure the city guard will have them arrested in no time. I will warn th--" said the captain before seeing Isaac disappear before his eyes in black smoke. "… Excellency?" he exclaimed before heading for the park gates. "KICK THESE GATES DOWN… NOW!"
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In a small, cobbled, tree-lined street in the middle of the night, a little girl carrying a full satchel was running breathlessly. Behind her were men running to catch up with her.
- "Take the way around to block her path!" one of the soldiers yelled.
Immediately, one of the men took another path and disappeared behind trees. But the little girl didn't have time to worry about it, her attackers were catching up to her.
Out of breath and on the verge of fainting, the little one suddenly took a hit in the ribs and was thrown forward.
However, despite the pain that reached her and the cuts on her feet, she swiftly got up to run, much to the surprise of her pursuers.
- "She is tenacious" one of them said.
The little girl looked around quickly, looking for a place where she could lose them. That's when she suddenly took a sharp turn to the left and jumped between two bushes before tripping on a root.
Immediately, desperation seized her, and her body paralyzed, thinking her time had come. She closed her eyes to prepare for the sword to strike, a faint squeal coming out of her mouth as despair took the most of her.
Several seconds passed without anything happening which confused her a little. Hadn't his pursuers seen her jump? After all, it was dark, maybe she succeeded in losing them?
So, she decided to open her eyes before suddenly widening them. Further away, where she previously stood before jumping, was a man in a glowing white rob.
The vision was so unrealistic that she stayed still for a few seconds before pulling herself together. The figure gave her a small wave of his hand to hell her to run which she did without delay.
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Immediately, she slipped between two trees and entered the forest of the park to disappear into the darkness. She didn't know who it was or what it was, all she cared was running for her life.
The men seeing their target escape prepared to pursue her when the man in white raised his arms on both sides of his body to block their way.
- "What ..." said one of the men, stopping.
The light emanating from the rob of the strange figure in front of them was screaming magic at them, so they decided not to do anything to quickly. What's more, with the sudden change in brightness, their eyes had to acclimate which prevented them from seeing clearly who was standing in front of them.
- "May I know who you are and why are you chasing this child?" asked Isaac.
The two men standing in front of him drew their swords from their scabbards and pointed them at him. One of them narrowed his eyes to try to see his opponent without much success.
- "None of your business" he replied, tightening his grip on his sword. "Let us through and we won't do anything to you…" he threatened as he stepped back to prepare for a possible attack.
Isaac sighed slightly before answering.
- "I'm sorry to tell you, but I have decided that you will not touch this child" he said, letting appear a slight pretentious tone in his voice to make his interlocutor understand his position.
Isaac had a little idea of why they were chasing her. He had managed to see the contents of the little girl's bag with his aura and recognized what appeared to be food.
Not just any food, but a fairly high-end dish that was contained in a silver bell: A whole roast chicken. The little girl had probably snuck into a wealthy person's house and stolen it.
However, the reason he wanted to help her was quite simple: why not? The little one was very probably very poor, and in view of the silverware and the meal she had stolen, the employer of the guards was wealthy enough to afford such a loss.
What is more, the means employed by the guards were far too extreme for his liking. But he didn't want to hurt them either, after all they were just guards obeying their master's orders.
His current main objective was to slow them down and give the little one more time to escape. Either way, that was the original plan until something unforeseen happened.
Isaac barely had time to blink, in an instant the cold and tense atmosphere of the narrow path changed dramatically when the two swords pointed at Isaac were cut in half.
"What the…?" Isaac thought as he saw the blades fall to the ground before the figure of a man in golden armor appeared in front of him.
The captain of Isaac's escort appeared out of nowhere and positioned himself between him and the two men. Moments later, the rest of the soldiers appeared similarly.
Immediately, Isaac's curiosity was piqued, and he began to analyze the mana currents around him before his eyes widened.
The armor of the Royal Guards radiated a slight aura of mana that seemed to create a soft fluff around the soldiers.
A rune? Not quite, although inscriptions were indeed present on the surface of the armor, the traces seemed to only serve to transport mana. Unlike the traces of a rune which literally serve to manipulate mana and create effects on the environment.
No, the soldiers' armor did something quite different. It transferred the mana contained in the air and in the metal to inject it into the body of their wearer. As Rebecca does to speed up or heal, the armor seemed to do the same.
It was all so fascinating to Isaac that he almost forgot about the situation. The two surrounded men barely had time to notice their cut blades when they took several steps back.
- "Who are…" he began to stammer when he recognized the soldiers standing in front of him.
"Royal Guards… What are Royal Guards doing here ?!" thought the man, taking a few steps back.
- "I… I…" he tried to say.
- "Let them go" suddenly ordered Isaac.
The man didn't seem to understand for a moment and returned his attention to Isaac before widening his eyes.
Isaac's face appeared clearly in front of him now that his eyes had grown used to the surrounding light.
- "An ... elf ?! V-you are ..."
- "Go back to where you came from, please" Isaac said with a smile on his face.
Seeing that Isaac did not wish to go further, the captain sheathed his sword before being followed by the rest of the guards. Then, after a few seconds, the two men let go of their half of the sword that they still had in hand and ran off to get away as quickly as possible.
The captain seemed to appreciate that there was no more confrontation and turned to Isaac before raising his eyebrows.
In front of Isaac was a small bud floating in the air surrounded by a red ring. The captain was in total awe, it wasn't every day that he could see elven magic.
He didn't ask any questions and waited for Isaac to finish. From what he had heard, doing magic required extreme concentration, so he didn't want to bother him.
On his end, Isaac inhaled lightly before sending a wave of mana towards the bud before smiling.
A few moments later, the bud flew away and entered the forest between two trees in the direction the little girl had taken and disappeared completely.
Once done, Isaac snapped his fingers and carried the entire escort of soldiers through a shadow portal to the park's gates they had come from before freezing.
- "What the hell is that" he said looking in front of him.
The metal gate that previously stood proudly to close the entrance to the park now had a gaping hole inside. The bars seemed to have been literally bent.
- "Did you do that?" he then asked the captain who nodded in response.
"Is it their armor that gives them so much strength or are they all monsters? It's a shame they don't have a stat system, I bet their strength stat must be huge…" Isaac thought to himself while approaching the gates.
The bars although deformed did not appear to have been any apparent cracks or structural damage. Isaac knew of spells that could alter the shape of an object, but the guards hardly had what it took to cast them.
Although their mana circuit was slightly above the average of the people he had saw in the city, it barely gave them the ability to increase their physical performance. Not enough to manipulate metal like that then.
- "How did you manage to open it like that?" he asked out of curiosity, turning back to the captain.
Surprised by the question, the captain took a few seconds before finally responding by showing a crystal on his gauntlet.
- "It is an object enchanted by the Master Mages; they allow daily tasks like lighting a fire but also deforming objects" he replied.
- "Oooh" said Isaac.
This object was intriguing, so he tried not to forget to ask Zachary for details of how it worked later.
For now, Isaac decided to continue his nocturnal visit and walked down a new alleyway without noticing the small pair of eyes peering at him from afar.