Even though I needed to wait another two years to attend the school, Mother had decided I was old enough to follow her on a trip to the mainland to explore. Which means Mother was taking me to the Lehcarouc Kingdom itself for our shopping trip.

It was my first time flying over a long distance and Mother made it look easy.

Like, I knew about migratory birds and all so I figured that there was a lot of gliding involved. Yet knowing and doing it were two very different things.

We started out before the sun had even appeared and we only saw land when the sun was rising to its highest point in the sky. Mother even had to carry me along to speed up the journey when I was tired and when she sped up, she really sped up.

I have a feeling that a normal ten year old Meslatar isn't supposed to be able to fly such long distances on their own…

Regardless, I can see land! And there's a city too!

I angled myself to glied to Mother's side, "Mommy, is that Crown Capital City?"

My words carried over to her without problems thanks to the Aeromancy spell she was casting to prevent the wind from buffeting us.

She shook her head, "Ufufufu~ That is not the capital city my little one. That's Dragon View Trade City, the largest port city of the Lehcarouc Kingdom!"

"Eh? Why aren't we going to the capital city, Mommy?"

"Ufufufu~ While the capital city is the best place for local goods, the trade city is where you want to go to find wares from all over the World! It's the next best place to do your shopping!"

"And the best place is?"

"Ara ara? That will be Latipac City, my little one. It is Lehcarouc Kingdom's centre of trade after all~ But to get there will require more than a day of travel, so we'll go there another time~"

Well, not like I have any special reason to go there specifically anyway, I'm just happy that I'm finally going out there to explore the rest of the World!

Looking down at the city from above, it has a large harbour that stretches out into the open seas connected to a huge area that consists of warehouses and several towers that look like cranes.

Several slopes connected the docks to the rest of the city where its stone and brick buildings stood tall and proud. Off to one side at the edge of the city was a castle complete with its own set of walls, probably the residence of the lord of this city.

It was easy to see that the city was separated into rectangular districts with how different the buildings in each one looked and how they were arranged as well.

The market district was the most prominent since it featured a circular bazaar in the centre with four lanes stretching out in each direction, most likely to separate which kind of specialty stores are on each street.

Mother guided both of us towards the harbour, flaring her wings to land on the stone ground easily.

I landed beside her, finding no difficulty in the manoeuvre despite the clothes I was wearing as well.

Due to Mother's insistence, I was wearing the long sleeved dress that she had bought for me while Mother herself was also wearing a form fitting black dress that showed off her shoulders. In contrast, mine featured a wide skirt that stretched to my shins, hiding the upper part of my legs from view.

"Is it fine for us to just walk in like this?"

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"Ufufu~ The harbour also serves as an entry point to the city my dear~ There are visitors who arrive by sea after all~"

True enough, no one even batted an eye at our appearance, which gave me the time to marvel at the people present around here.

Naturally, most of the people around here were Mahuns and they all look like the typical humans you might find in my previous World. But amongst them, there were also other races mixed in too which really drove home the fact that this was a completely new World.

There were elves, dwarves, lizardkin, beastkin and even other Meslatars all moving around the port, each of them going about their day like normal.

It was definitely a fantastical sight to behold.

Mother brought me through the wharf towards what looks like an administration building where most of the people around here were also moving towards or coming out from. I guess that must be the port customs?

Walking into the building confirmed it as people queued up in front of official looking clerks sitting behind desks to allow them entry into the city.

I thought we would need to queue up as well but Mother brought us towards one of the empty counters instead.

The young man behind the counter looked up, "Identification and purpose of visit?"

Mother tilted her head at him, "Are you new here?"

"Umm… Just started this week actually… I'm guessing I did something wrong?"

"At least you're aware. I reside on the Southeastern tip of Dragon Sanctuary with my child and we're here to do some shopping, does that answer your question?"

His eyes widened and he quickly ushered us in, "I am very sorry madam! Please go right in!"

Yep, Mother is definitely someone important even before she had me, this pretty much confirms it.

Mother turned back and gave me a cheeky smile, knowing full well that the conversation with that man earlier had given me an idea of who she really was, though it was still not enough to confirm anything.

Is she hiding this so that I don't grow up like a spoiled noble child?

The two of us made our way into the city, walking past the various groups of people that crowded the streets.

Even though this wasn't the main market district, there were various street stalls set up by the locals selling wares of different kinds, each of them unique in their own way and catering to new visitors.

We moved past them without slowing down, Mother not even giving the people around us a second glance even as they tried calling out to her to sell her things.

I only stopped when I spotted a large building with a crest that I remembered seeing before on Ardi's Mercenary card.

As it was much bigger than on the card, I could now clearly see that the crest featured a weighing scale, a sword, a compass and a shield mixed together, definitely a symbol of The Guild.

At that time, what looked like a party of Mercenaries with their armour and weapons was also walking out of the building. The party itself consisting of a pair of Mahuns, an elf and a dog-eared beastkin.

If I remember correctly, the elves here are known as Trasifs while the dog-eared beastkin are called Inugami, their feline counterparts being called Nekomata.

Both the Inugami and Nekomata still look like Mahuns except for their ears and the tail that sprouts out from their behinds, so no, they are not full-on furries.

Mother noticed my gaze, "Ara, ara? Is my little one interested in checking out The Guild?"

I turned back to her, "Can I, Mommy?"

"Ufufufu~ Mama did say you can sign up as one if you wanted to already didn't I? Shall we take this chance to get you registered?"

"I will need to pass a test right? Could I do it now?"

"Of course! There's no way my little one could fail~ My child is the best in the World after all!"

"Unnn… What happens if I fail?"

Mother giggled, "While that is impossible for my little one, even if one fails the test the first time, they can always try again as long as they pay the sign up fee of two small silver coins."

Woah, seriously? The sign up fee is two hundred Creas? That's quite expensive isn't it?

As though reading my thoughts, Mother continued, "Yes, the fee does look quite exorbitant but it is a lifetime membership that grants you access to The Guild's facilities and resources as well as providing you with a means of making more money. The initial fee serves as a motivation for its members to earn that fee back. It also helps protect their name of course."

Hmm… I understand. If everyone were able to join freely, then The Guild's worth would also decrease since everyone can be a member.

They're also using this to weed out people who wouldn't bring The Guild any benefits too, which is probably why they have that test even after making people pass the monetary hurdle.

"Does Mommy think I should sign up now?"

"Ufufufu~ Why not, my little one? There's no harm in joining The Guild early after all~ In fact, you could even use that to pass these two years and make a name for yourself first!"

Yeah! I can also make use of this to earn the funds I need to set out on my own in the future! Right now I only have the money I looted off that trashy asshole's corpse and that only amounted to about a thousand or so Creas, not that much to be honest.

And this might also help me gain a bit of name so even if I were to stand out in school, the students there might be interested in talking to me so I wouldn't end up as an outsider again!

That's why… Let's just join The Guild first!