Pushing the limit of my flight speed, or rather the flight speed of the little spirits who were following close behind me, we managed to get within line of sight of the next settlement by the time the light of the sun started to wipe out the comforting darkness of the night sky.
Not wanting to deal with a sudden onset of intense pain, which would really do a number on my ability to fly coherently, I opted to land away from anyone. That said, there really weren't many people on this road. Maybe it was because it never split to other directions, but I hadn't seen another person since that original group I helped out.
Touching down and retracting my wings, I looked up.
Ahead of me was a clear, well maintained wall that fully encircled the city ahead of me. Unlike the one surrounding the village before, this one had lots of little lights both around the large, visible gate as well as on it's battlements, with little dots of guards slowly patrolling it's length.
While I had no real basis to estimate it's prosperity, it was certainly doing much better than the Edgeworth village.
From where I was, it was probably only an hour's walk, and the sun would still take longer than that to fully crest the horizon.
The opportunity was perfect, so I went and did what my heart told me, and I built a little stone hut around me using magic, fully furnished as a miniature bath house, with some small magical flames in the corners to light up the interior in the place of any windows. I filled up the large tub with hot water and stripped down, putting my clothes into a stone basin which I also filled with water.
The fluffballs danced around, examining all the strange thing I had made.
I quickly pulled out some soap from my bag to scrub my clothes clean, but as I motioned to do so, my hands passed right through them and the basin they were in.
Once again, I forgot I had left [Spirit Form] on. Without someone to be a constant reminder, it had gotten difficult to remember that I had it on.
The sensation of my hands passing right through the hot water and cloths was unpleasant, like something was trying to invade inside my body. No wonder the little fluffballs didn't like passing through things.
Deactivating the skill, I went back to scrubbing all the accumulated dirt from my clothes. Fortunately, since I spent most of the time flying, not a whole lot had built up, but I wasn't about to use that as an excuse. Rather, I didn't want to put on dirty clothes after cleaning myself, so there was no way I wouldn't wash my clothes as well.
With a quick scrub and some rinsing, I left my articles to hang off of a pole suspended from the ceiling, then splashed some water from the tub on to my body.
Starting from the head, I slowly filled my long hair with milk and honey scented soap lather, all the way from the top of my head down to the tips as they hung a bit above my knees. I ran my fingers through their whole length, making sure that I got every strand before using a stone basin to rinse off all the suds. All the dirty water flowing across the slightly sloped stone floor and through a small hole in the wall.
Once again I lathered up my hands and rubbed them across my body, once again careful to not miss any spots. My face, my neck, my chest, my back, my belly, my arms, my hips, my legs, my feet. And again I used the basin to rinse it all, including any hair that got covered in lather again.
Like I often did, I couldn't help but think that washing my body didn't take long, but also like usual, I dismissed that thought by reminding myself that using how long I took to wash my hair would skew any estimate.
Confirming I was as clean as I was going to get, I eased myself into the bath tub, letting the hot water embrace me as I closed my eyes.
After a few minutes of pure relaxation, I retrieved my brush from my bag and started to pass it through my hair, removing any loose strands and smoothing the rest.
To be honest, if the whole process wasn't so zen inducing, I'd have long cut this hair. Having to lather, rinse, and even brush it in parts because it was too long to do it in one go. But then there was the softness of it every time I touched it, as well as the scent once I've oiled it were like rewards on to itself, on top of how enjoyable it was to take care of it.
I couldn't help but think that maybe I was a bit weird for investing so much time on something so mundane, but in the end, I enjoyed it. Even if people thought I was weird for it, I didn't care. I just continued to brush my hair until I was satisfied.
When I finally was, I rubbed in my favourite hair oil, the lavender and lemon scented one. I loved the gentle, yet refreshing nature of it. I was down to only a single bottle of it, as I hadn't made any since Alicia's illness took a turn for the worse. It was fortunate I had some supply of the ingredients left, but that would only last a few weeks at most. If I couldn't get more soon, I'd have to come up with a new mix.
Once my hair was fully coated, I rubbed a sheet of soft leather through it to remove any excess before going through it once more with my brush.
Lastly, I rubbed on a layer of milk and honey lotion on to my skin, ensuring that it's softness nor glossiness wouldn't lose out to my hair's.
With one more quick hand stroke across my body in the bath's hot water, rubbing off the excess, I got out.
Gently squeezing the water from my hair, I wrapped myself in a gentle, but warm breeze, lifting off the water from my hair and skin slowly. It turned out this was a much better way to get dry than simply using evaporation magic, as the latter would excessively dry out my skin and damage my hair. Taking things slow and easy was best, and I wasn't lacking in time in the slightest.
I forced out most of the humid air through the small ventilation holes near the ceiling, letting in fresh, drier air from outside.
Unlike my own body, I had no qualms with using evaporation magic on my clothes, and water vapour quickly rose from the silk and leather, only to be pushed outside with the circulating breeze.
One by one, I grabbed each article and put them on, finally at the end, gathering my hair over my left shoulder and tightly tying the pink ribbon into a big bow just above my hips, just like how Alicia always did it.
I double checked myself, making sure I didn't forget anything.
gurgle
But as if as a reminder that I had indeed forgotten something, my stomach rumbled. It was true I went the day before without a bite to eat, and once I entered the city, it might be difficult to find a private place to indulge.
I retrieved a clay jar from my white bunny bag, then removing the lid, I brought it to my lips, tipping the contents into my open mouth. The cold blood flowed down my throat as I swallowed. This one was probably that goat monster. Unlike as a human, the cold drink wasn't very refreshing, but despite the lack in satisfaction, it did do a good job of at least filling me up.
The empty jar went back into my bag, which was quickly looped around my shoulders.
Flipping my hood down, I opened a hole in the side of the impromptu bathhouse before heading off towards the city.
The glowing fluffballs gathered around. It looked like they started to wander as they got bored with how long I took to bathe. Rather, the sun was clearly visible above the horizon, so it must have taken more than an hour.
Confirming that none of the coloured spirits were unaccounted for, I dismissed the bathhouse, returning it into the dirt it originally was.
With a bit of a pep in my step now that I was clean and fuelled up, we made our way on foot towards Linsington City. Or rather, I made my way on foot. The others just floated like usual.
"Hold up"
An armoured guard raised his hand as I approached the city. His partner casually watched me as he leaned next to the wall. Beside him, beyond the open portcullis was a large, closed gate.
"Please show your ID and state your business inside the city"
As firm as his words were, the guard's tone and actions were lazy. If what I saw on the road was any indication, people probably didn't visit this gate much. If it wasn't the main access point for the village I just passed, I'd have wondered why there was even a gate here.
Actually, that wasn't really enough of a reason. The city was probably made first, along with this gate. The most likely reason was that this gate was made for easy access to gather resources from the wild. From what I saw from above, it was the closest side to the woodlands.
"Here. I came to do work for the adventurer's guild here"
I pulled out my guild card and handed it to the bored guard.
The man took out something from his waist pouch and touched my bronze guild ID with it. The small, stone slate-like object made my ID card glow blue for a second before settling. Confirming the light, the guard leaned over and glanced into my hood.
I had to stop myself from pulling my hood down immediately as his glazed eyes sharpened, but couldn't stop from turning away after he continued to stare for a few seconds.
"Is, is there a problem?"
"Uh, ah, no, here you go. It's ten copper coins for the entry tax"
I hand over my last silver coin, and recieved nine copper plates as change.
"Don't cause trouble, and welcome to Linsington City"
The guard stuttered a bit and his face was red, but stepped back and gave a nod to the other guard who opened the heavy gate he was beside, enough to let me through.
The city beyond the gate was claustrophobic, with large buildings on either side of the main road as they both towered above and arched over the streets, encroaching on the limited view of the sky.
This...really wasn't what I expected. It was a bit of a surprise seeing buildings more than two stories high, yet every one I could see were more like four or five. It certainly wasn't the sort of thing I expected from this technology level. The buildings were clearly made from wood frames and the walls from what looked a lot like plaster.
A bunch had stone walls for the first floor, but they weren't even bricks, just squared off stones with mortar filling in the gaps.
It didn't feel like the buildings could safely support it's own weight with the technology level I was looking at, but maybe it was because they didn't need to follow modern safety standards?
That said, the city didn't stink to high heaven like I expected. It wasn't like it didn't stink, but it wasn't like the inside of a porta potty. It was on the level that I could consider bearable. It really betrayed my image of medieval cities. Not like I was going to complain, at least not much. It still stank, but holding my breath wasn't a viable option.
Putting my initial shock aside, my mind wandered back to what happened with the guard just outside. His expression changed quite a bit when he looked closely at my face. The very fact made me nervous. I hoped this wouldn't become a trend, though a few people tried looking at my face pretty closely already.
I shook my head. It probably wasn't very important. The guard probably didn't expect my skin to be so pale or something. He didn't say anything about it, so it probably wasn't a real issue. What was more important was to find the adventurer's guild so I could decide what to do next. I was sorely lacking on a direction, and maybe I could find one once I went through the guild's examination.
Putting one foot in front of the other, I walked down the street, hopefully in the right direction.
After asking a few people on the way, I found my way to the guild building.
It was one of the biggest I've seen in the city. While it was only was three floors high, it was very wide, taking up triple the width of the surrounding buildings.
There were people entering and exiting as well. Most wore armour and weapons on them, along with a large bag on their backs. A few wore robes, and many of those carried a large staff like a walking stick. Almost all were in groups of three to five, though some seemed to be solo.
I felt a strange sense of camaraderie looking at them. It was like the robes I used to cover myself from the sun wasn't so weird and suspicious after all.
Mustering up my courage, I opened the door and strode in boldly.
The inside of the building wasn't too well lit, with things that looked a bit like lanterns hanging on the walls. Looking directly at the lights hurt my eyes, but otherwise weren't too bright. Not only that, but my exposed skin felt a bit warm as well. Most likely, they were magical items that emitted [Light Magic] to brighten up the interior.
I was thankful that it wasn't harmful enough to make me to hide from even that. As long as I didn't look directly at the lamps, I could safely ignore them.
In front of me, the overall layout was similar to the guild in Edgeworth Village, just much bigger and there were actually people here beyond the branch guild master.
A third of the tables on my left were occupied by various groups discussing things, or just relaxing with a drink and some food. A waitress was leaning against a bar counter talking to the bartender near the tables. There were a couple of people on my right browsing through the requests posted on the wall. Unlike the village's guild, there were actually a decent number of wooden planks posted.
In front of me, there were several people standing in front of multiple clerks sitting across a wide counter with signs above stating what each clerk was in charge of.
All the people lined up were under the three clerks under a sign that read [Requests and Information], with the other clerk was looking bored doing some sort of paperwork. It looked like a single man was operating all the other counters, but despite that, he looked bored as nobody stood at any of his counters.
I made my way to the line for [Requests and Information].
"Welcome, how may I help you"
The receptionist gave me her route welcome when I reached the front of her line. She had bright orange hair with darker stripes with small, triangular ears sticking out on top. The loose blue and black guild uniform did a poor job of fitting her lithe figure. Thinking back, the old man at the Edgeworth Village's guild was wearing the same outfit, but his was much more faded and worn out to the point that it wasn't immediately obvious.
"Hi, I'd like to take a rank examination?"
I presented my guild card and the letter, prepared beforehand while I waited.
"Hmm...I see, please give me a moment"
The staff member retrieved them both and pressed my card against a crystal orb with a stone base. The card glowed blue for a second, then some light appeared inside the crystal orb.
"Miss Scarlet? You registered just yesterday at Edgeworth Village?"
"Does my card say that?"
It was a surprise that she found that out. The card only really had my name and rank etched into it. Maybe there was more info encoded on it? The card seeped with mana after all.
"No, the guild has magical communication equipment to send that sort of information across branches on regular intervals. When I checked your card, this ID reader simply showed me the information that we had stored"
"Oh? What sort of stuff do you record?"
It was interesting that they had the ability to transmit information like that. The world's technology must be better than it looked in weird places like this.
"Mostly just your professional records and any notes left by guild staff"
"I see"
Pretty standard fare I guess.
"If that is all, please wait a moment as I take your request upstairs"
"Oh, alright"
Kinda figured that she'd need to talk to whoever was responsible for the examination.
The clerk got up from the counter and went through a door in the back. Her presence rose up to the second floor and met with another for a minute before they both went further up, quite a bit up.
Rather than continue spying on the staff members, I turned to have a look at the little fluffballs in the room from the corner of my eye as I waited. Once again, they were zipping around, checking out whatever strange thing that piqued their curiosity. Some were bouncing around groups of adventurers, others were checking out the magical lamps on the walls. Some further were already bored with the stuff the guild had to offer and were flying orbits chasing each other while trying to avoid bumping anything.
No matter what they did, the spirits always brought a smile to my lips.
Oops. There was a person sitting at one table with the look of shock on his face. It kinda looked like his gaze was following some of the little spirits, but not quite. He had long ears sticking out from the side of his head, like mine. Probably an elf. Alicia said that most elves can sense spirits, but maybe this is the level that the typical elf was at?
It looked like it was important that I didn't attract attention to the fact that I can see them completely.
"Miss Scarlet, we are ready for you"
Turning back, the staff member had returned.
"This way please"
I followed her motion and made my way around the counter and through a door off to the side after her, different from the one behind the counter she took earlier. The door lead into a short hall that branched off to the side. We followed the branch and down two sets of stairs ending in a door on the far wall. Opening that door, I followed the receptionist into a large room, about the size of a basketball court. The floor, walls, and arched ceiling were made of stone though, and were suffused with lots of mana.
Waiting for us was a giant of a man, easily twice as tall as me, and maybe four times as wide. It wasn't like he was fat though, it was all muscle. I felt a tinge of envy, but rational thought reminded me that with my current body, hulking muscles wouldn't look good at all. Besides, thanks to my level, I had more than enough strength despite how thin my limbs were.
That thought was further blasted away when I saw the long, soft-looking ears on top of his head. They were grey like the rest of his mop, but didn't fit him in any other way.
(Alex Armstrong meets Roger Rabbit?!)
I had to work hard to avoid bursting into laughter at the thought that he might have a fluffy little pom of a tail sticking out from his butt.
"Hrmph. You're the one who wanted to take the advancement examination? ...is something the matter?"
"N, no. It's nothing"
(Just don't look at his ears, pretend he's just a macho man)
Then again, even that was a weird gut punch for me. For some reason, the man in front of me was only wearing a few leather straps in place of a shirt.
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