Ah. I was finally able to relax on a bed finally. When we found an inn I had forgotten that this country would have different currency but that didn’t matter much as I just looked at a few of the nearby shops and street vendors until someone took out a silver coin that I could copy. Normally whoever was looking would have only been able to see one side but my vision was different.
As for why I was relaxing on a bed even though I shouldn’t feel fatigue. It’s comfortable. It just is. Don’t get me wrong. I still don’t feel any fatigue but just relaxing in a nice bed once in a while is… nice… not necessary… but nice. Like how I didn’t need to eat but I didn’t mind enjoying the taste of food once in a while.
Lily and Cel were also relaxing in their own room after taking a bath. They might even be asleep. A long journey like the one we had can be exhausting. Not on the body as they got to rest every night. But on the mind. Most humans just prefer to set up a comfortable home at a specific location and live there. Same goes for vampires. Speaking of vampires I wonder what that one I pointed in this direction was currently doing. I was positive that he wasn’t here yet. We were travelling at a speed that a normal ship could never travel at the entire time. Day and night. Yet it still took us over two weeks to get here. There was no way they would have been able to catch up. They also needed to find a boat to get them here unless they wanted to cross the Beastlands and that should have been a challenge in and of itself… Yeah… they might catch up eventually. Once we settle down somewhere. They’ll have difficulty though if we keep travelling.
I wanted to decide where we would head next together but in reality there’s only one place we COULD head to. The capital. I don’t actually know its name but that’s where we should be heading probably. Honestly I barely know anything about the elven country other than the geography. Interestingly whoever made the map in the Karpas library that Kenos found brilliantly made the geography of the whole continent but the cities were only inserted for the human portion of the map. I can only think that someone else inserted them afterwards and that someone didn’t know the positions and names of the elven ones.
Regardless. The capital of a country is always as good a place to start as it is a good place to end. The reason being of course that there is a lot to do in the capital of a country. The royal family usually lives there, there’s usually a lot of shops and merchandise from all over the place and it’s a good a place to search for Kate as any. If possible I would like to acquire the assistance of someone with significant influence for that as well. Or maybe I could gain influence myself… In either case I needed to get to the capital to do it.
In the end I enjoyed myself by rolling around in the bed until the morning. Someone might think that staying put for so long might drive someone insane. But that someone must not have spent two weeks travelling on a boat. Not a ship. A boat. Right after a week of travel on foot. A bed is just… nice to have once in a while. I also didn’t have much to do during the night. I could have experimented with magic but honestly I believe I’ve hit the bottleneck without further knowledge or some instruction. On the other hand the only types of magic I currently can’t do are the very technical ones. The ones which aren’t simply about casting a spell from the elements but things like advanced barrier magic or ritual magic which I’d only read a slight bit about. Enchanting was another thing that I haven’t mastered though by this world’s standards maybe I have…
Seeing as it was morning I got up from my bed and left my room. The girls had already left their room earlier so I just went downstairs into the dining room and greeted them with a good morning before sitting down.
“It’s quite unusual for you to get out of bed after us.” (Lily)
Cel also nodded to that, probably agreeing that it was unusual for me.
“Even I want to spend some time rolling around on a bed from time to time. I also had thinking to do.”
“About our next course of action?” (Lily)
I nod. We were speaking in elven by the way. It would be weird if we spoke human here. Or rather than elven… I guess naming the language after the country was more appropriate as everyone here spoke it. Not just elves. So since the name of the country is Helia. I guess saying that the language is helian would be more correct?
“We’re going to be heading to the capital right? I mean I can’t think of any better place to go.”
I nod once again. She also seemed to have the same thoughts as myself.
“We’re looking for that Kate girl though correct? How will we find her?” (Cel)
“… That’s the hard part isn’t it? For now we’ll just go to the capital. There are going to be more opportunities for us there than in this harbor town for sure. If push comes to shove then… I’ll just do something more drastic about it. Until then there’s no point in worrying.”
Both Cel and Lily nod. There was also the problem with accommodations but I feel like I can solve that with a few gold coins. Judging from how silver and copper coins were the same in this country and just made of different metals I figured that gold cons too would be like that so I didn’t worry too much about money.
“So how do we get there?” (Lily)
“Asking for directions?” (Cel)
I nodded at Cel.
“No better way to go about it really. I’m going to need you two to do it for me though. Since I only look like a blind elf most would think it weird that I’m even asking for the way to the capital.”
They nodded once more before we were done with the conversation and started eating instead. Even the food was better here. I felt like that if she had the ingredients from this country then the innkeeper from Karpas would be able to make some really magnificent dishes. She was a fine cook after all.
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After breakfast we decided to split up again. I gave them a lot of silvers and only a few gold coins and told them not to use the gold unless necessary. If it turns out to be different from this country’s normal gold coins then they would just apologize saying that they must’ve been lied to as they’re new to the country and were given fake coins. Just in case the gold coins differed in design from the silver and copper ones.
Before they left I also gave each of them a present. I created two rings each with a ruby embedded into the top and on the ruby… though it was incredibly hard to do as it was small I wrote “Large” “Storage” “Stasis”. Just like on my own. But for theirs I added “Bind” “Through” “Blood” in a circle around it.
I explained to them that they would need to put a drop of their blood on the gems so nobody else would be able to use them so they did before we split up. Of course… this was done in my room and not in a public place. I am not an idiot. I also added the binding feature to my own. I didn’t think anybody would be able to steal it from me but I might as well. It might be useful to make fun of some people.
As I walked around town I could truly appreciate that we were in a better place than the human frontier countries. According to what I read the human countries aren’t all bad. But the three countries which border the Beastlands are not places you would ever want to be. Other countries which are further south are better places from what I heard. It’s not like they’re heaven on earth but neither is this one. Every country has its own problems and though humans are not commonly mistreated here they still have less privileges than elves. A random one that I know is that only elves can join the royal guard. Though other races can join the army they are not allowed to protect the royal family directly.
There’s also still some elves that dislike humans and treat them as something lower than themselves too so it really isn’t that great a place. It just beats living in a frontier country so bad that people are actually willing to cross the Beastlands to get here.
As I was walking a single building happened to catch my attention with the sign on it being a sword crossed with a staff and a shield behind them… An adventurer’s guild? Here as well? Well if I’m gonna get information… No… I already decided that I would leave that to Cel and Lily. A blind elf asking for directions would just be weird.
I walked past the adventurer’s guild as if I never saw it in the first place. I didn’t stop staring at the sign either as that would look weird with how I’m not supposed to be able to see. There wasn’t anything interesting with me walking around town other than something I overheard a few people speaking about. Apparently there would be some sort of test for both swordmen and mages in the capital. Something about a tutor for a member of the royal family. Sounded like a good way to get close to them. Though it might include a background check or it could be that I won’t be allowed to participate at all. If that is the case then… well… I’ll just have to find another way.
Nothing else caught my attention as I reunited with Lily and Cel in front of the inn we stayed at in two hours. Both of them had a sack of ingredients with them as I instructed them not to use the rings in front of other people. Cel somehow managed to get a lot more information than Lily though. She even tested the gold coins on purpose. Lily smiled a bit stiffly when she learned how much Cel had been doing. They did share a sort of sister relationship so she might have been ashamed at how she let her do all the work. The gold coins themselves were not regarded as fake.
So with that… We left the harbor and headed for our next destination. The capital of the elven country of Helia. From what Cel and Lily gathered the place itself was around a week and a half away. The elven country was relatively small. Not as a country. But as the only country of its race. Most human kingdoms are technically smaller with the exception of one or two of them but this one country was the only country the elves had so it was natural that it would be big compared to the humans who had twelve. Even if half the population of this country consisted of races other than elves.
They also apparently gathered information on the tutor thing. Apparently the royal family were looking for a tutor for their youngest son. They were looking for strong individuals though they didn’t manage to learn anything about the participation requirements. Maybe there’ll be more information in the capital where it would be held.
The trip itself was uneventful. We didn’t even encounter any bandits. The most we did encounter were a few merchants and other travelers along the way. Learning from my past mistakes this time we actually did pass through the villages on the way to rest in the inns there before proceeding. I didn’t want to torture the girls or anything after all.
After a little bit over a week the tall walls of the Helian capital, Seloran, came into view. We had reached our destination. You could even say that this marked our real “arrival” in the country. The walls were tall. I mean the walls of the harbor town were also pretty tall but these were enormous. It made me question whether they were built to defend from human attackers or titans. Well, no matter. We were finally here. From here we would finally be able to rest up a bit while I work on setting up a search for Kate. It wouldn’t be practical for me to search the whole country by myself after all.