-=Plush POV=-

Not a lot happened during the trip to Logholm, we met a few more monsters that Ronnie killed in order to both train a bit and to finish some quests she had accepted in Uphalla. these monsters included some giant poisonous snakes, luckily enough their venom could be cured by just standard antidote jellies,, some giant mantises which ambushed us from the treetops and…

Uhm…

And...

‘I swear there was something else…’

Answered Cy from within the book, however…

‘I’m sorry? Did you say something?’

I couldn’t hear what she said.

‘I still can’t hear you, I think something must be wrong with the book.’

I was starting to get a bit worried, it would be horrible if the book broke.

‘Oh, okay then?’

Right now we were all standing in a long queue outside Logholm waiting to get inside.

Around us were tons of people, adventurers and travellers alike.

I think I even saw the red and yellow carriages owned by the Eastern lake city nobles that I had delivered to way back when.

“This is taking so long…” Complained Shiona.

“Usually it take even longer than this to get as far in the line as we have master. It be great if it keeps going this fast but expect it to slow down.”

“Oh come on! Why!?”

“You see the gaudy people a few paces ahead of us?” Asks Ronnie and points towards a group of people wearing shiny red robes with black on white leopard patterned fur hems.

“Nobles?” Asked Shiona.

“Yeah, some of the worst ones as well. They’re a greedy bunch infamous for acting like they can’t afford to spend a single copper, if anyone tells them they need to pay for something they’ll do their utmost to come up with excuses or threaten the other party.”

“Oh for fucks sake… And you’re sure we can’t just jump and fly over the wall?”

“They have court magicians working on guard duty who have great marksmanship, I wouldn’t recommend it master.”

“Ughhh.”

And so we stood there waiting, impatiently might I add, for the queue to advance, and just Ronnie had expected once the red robed nobles got to the front of the queue we had to stand still for at least an entire hour before they finally paid fifteen copper with both reluctant and disgusted looks on their faces while talking about how it was a great honor for the guard to personally hold the nobles’ money in his hand.

About ten minutes later it was finally our turn, Lizz had already gone inside the book so we entered for free since we all had adventurer licenses, even if one of them was just a preliminary registration.

Also it seems the red robed nobles were actually blessing in disguise since due to them both the guards and everyone in the queue were to fatigued to pay any attention to me and freak out.

‘I have to think of some way to get people to stop flipping out whenever they see me, maybe the other fleecy something that could help? We’re going to meet the elves here in a few days and they’d take us to their village where the fleecy lived so I’ll ask then.’

“This place is really big.” I say.

“It’s even bigger than Easter lake city.” Added Shiona.

“Yeah, that’s the Engdom capital for you.” Responded Ronnie.

The town was shaped like a layered wedding cake, the town seen from above was shaped like a circle and the houses which were closer to the center were taller than those near the edge, and then finally in the middle there was a castle surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge.

“Do we go to the adventurer guild or the inn first?’

“Let’s take the guild first to get it over with, maybe pick up a map as well if they have any.”

We agreed with Shiona’s plan, and since Logholm seemed to agree that the adventurer guild was important for the country the guild was placed in an easy to see and reach area, we didn’t even have to go through any side alleys to get there.

‘Unlike a certain other castle town…’ I thought begrudgingly.

-=Inside the guild, still Plush POV=-

“Hello.” I said to the receptionist who was sorting papers on a counter.

Ronnie had gone to a different counter to hand in her subjugation quests while Shiona had gone to scour the quest boards.

“Good eveni…”

The receptionist pauses and starts inspecting me with her eyes.

*sigh*

I hand her my adventurer license.

“I’m not a blessed or cursed doll see?”

“Ah, but of course… *cough* Then what will it be?”

“Delivery of guild reports from Krull.” I say and take the tied up parchments and the quest note out of the storage and put them on the desk.

The receptionist blinks a few times before staring blankly at the parchments.

‘Oh no, don’t tell me Ronnie was wrong when she said storage magic was common…’

“is… Is something wrong miss?”

“N-no, it’s just, just the other day we had a meeting where we were discussing what could have happened to Krull for their reports to be so late… You’ve saved us a lot of trouble.”

“Alright. Also those two-” I point at Shiona and Ronnie “-are a part of my group, we did this quest together.”

“Very well, I will count it as a completed quest for all of you however the monetary reward will have to be split amongst you.”

“That’s fine.”

The receptionist asks Shiona and Ronnie to come over and asks them to show their adventurer licenses and whether they really are a part of my group, she then write some things down, puts away the parchments and hands us a bag of money.

A bag of money which I immediately pour the contents of into the storage before handing back the bag and getting another fifty silver.

“Now then, I couldn’t help but notice you said they were a part of your group rather than party, could it be that it’s not an official party?” Asks the receptionist.

“... Would it be illegal if we weren’t?” I ask, worried we might have accidentally broken some guild rule.

“Heavens no! I was just wondering if you wanted to make it and official party since having a party of two soon-to-be shiny gold adventurers and a shiny copper one would make it more likely to get people asking for you guys specifically rather than if you just appeared on our papers as three separate groups with only one adventurer each.”

“Oh, well then sure.”

“Very well, however there is a five silver fee and another five if you want to make a name for your party.”

“We’ll think of a name later.” I say and hand her five silver coins.

“Then it will become official as soon as today’s paperwork is finished, however since you brought the reports from Krul it might take another day before we get to your party request.”

“That’s fine. And one last thing, both me and her-” I point to Shiona who’s by the quest board “-work at the Eastern lake city branch of the guild and would like to update our location so they know where we are.”

“Alright, however like with your party request it might take a day or two for them to get that info. Is that all?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Have a good day.”

I leave the receptionist’s desk and walk towards Shiona.

“Did you find anything interesting?”

“Not yet… Also I’m wondering if maybe it’d be best if we wait with looking at quests until we finish everything else we need to do, like check out the local cuisine, browse street stalls, shops and auctions, see the sights, buy the souvenirs for the people back home… I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to take up a bunch more things we need to do when we don’t even know if we’ll be able to do all this before the elves get here. When were they getting here again?”

“Well I met the mage elf in Straitley and that was… three days ago, so counting today it’s in four days.”

“Well then we’ll probably have enough time, but rather safe than sorry right?”

“Hey guys.” Says Ronnie who appeared behind us.

We explain how we don’t want to take any quests until we finish everything else and leave the guild.

On the way out we also took a simple map which they were giving out for free.

“So where to now master?”

“Well, I was thinking we’d go check in at an inn before we do anything else, while we’re there we might as well also eat some food.”

“Yeah, and after that we can look around the shops if there’s still time.”

“Well it depends on how long the stores are open, got any ideas about that Ronnie?”

“I’d imagine they close at sundown, and since winter should be coming around any day now it won’t be that long until it gets dark.”

Turns out that the early winter in Easter lake city was caused entirely by the necromancer and so when defeated him it disappeared. This time however it will be our first real winter in the new world.

‘Speaking of the necromancer, wonder how it’s going with the new magic staff research over at the elf village.’

Following the map we come across an inn which was only a few blocks away from the guild, someone had apparently cashed in at the chance of having an extra cheap inn specifically for adventurers.

“I’m sorry but we’re full right now. We do however have open seats in the dining area if you’d like somethin to eat.”

We asked for their recommended meal and went to wait, soon came a waiter with plates with some extra easy to make food.

it’s base was a round piece of bread which was then cut in two and filled with various food scraps.

It was kind of like a hamburger mixed with a taco in the way that there were hamburger buns filled with taco toppings.

In the end we left the adventurer inn with satisfied stomachs,and since I’ve always had a fascination with these kinds of… This may sound a bit rude but, poor man’s meals? You know the ones where you just take whatever scraps or leftovers that you have lying around and put them all together, like stir fry, pizza, tacos, and now this too.

‘Though admittedly they’re all pretty much just stir fry on different kinds of bread...’

Since we didn’t find any residence at this inn we carried on and walked to the next one-

“Sorry.”

-where we were also turned down.

Like before we still had another light meal before leaving to look for another one.

“No vacancies.”

“...” x3

This kept going until late into the evening, it even reached the point where we couldn’t eat anymore and focused solely on looking for a place to sleep.

In the end when we finally did find an inn with vacant rooms it was a very expensive one in the nobles district of the town, in other words very close to the castle in the center.

“Good evening.” Said the receptionist.

“Good evening.” I answered, surprising the receptionist as she no doubt didn’t expect me to speak and was rather waiting for Shiona or Ronnie to answer.

“Hu-hum! Are you waiting for someone?”

“No, actually we-”

“Then I take it you’re some low life criminals who think they can rob our wealthy guests?”

“What!? No! How did it become that!?”

“People either come here to rent a room, meet our guests, or to try and steal our or our guests’ wealth. You said you weren’t here to meet the guests, and you quite obviously don’t have enough-”

The receptionist closed her eyes and went on and on like she thought of herself as some master detective who just cracked a case before it even happened but soon shut up when she opened her eyes and saw me holding a bag of gold coins.

“How much for three nights?”

“T-three gold per room per night, meals included…”

“Can we extend our stay at a later date for the same price?”

“Y-yes.”

“Then here, a room for three nights, we might extend it to a fourth later.”

Since we didn’t know whether the elves thought that us meeting in a week meant we’d meet on the seventh day or after seven days had already passed we didn’t know whether we’d stay three or four days.

“Uh, Plush? Could I possibly get to stay in my own room…?” Asks Ronnie sheepishly.

“Sure, but why?”

“...It just feels really awkward sleeping in the same room as a married couple…”

“...Ah.”

Both Shiona and I start blushing as we’d completely forgotten we were claiming to be married in this world.

‘Wonder how marriage differs in this world from ours?’

“Then sure, did you mean just for today or for our entire stay Ronnie?”

“For the entire stay if possible..:”

“Alright.” I say and hand the receptionist another nine gold.

“Very well, here are your keys.” Says the receptionist and hands us two keys and we walk to the stairs.

“Well our rooms are next to each other so that’s good at least.”

“See you tomorrow Ronnie.”

“Good night Plush, master.”

“Good night.”

After saying goodnight to each other we walk into our respective rooms and we all immediately head to sleep.

“What an absolute cunt that guy was.” Said Shiona before we both laid down in bed andwent to sleep.

-=Ronnie POV=-

*knock knock knock*

*groan*

I get out of my bed, open the window and let Lizz fly inside.

“Thanks.” She says.

“Don’t- *yawn* don’t worry about it…” I respond groggily while rubbing my eyes before sitting back down on the bed.

“If you’re too tired we can wait until tomorrow, there’s only one demon and we’ll be staying here for at least another two nights.”

“No, I’ll- *yawn* I’ll be fine as soon as I get some fresh air.” I say and take the anti-magic cloak out of the cuff of my-

‘I think master called it a gi right?’

I take the cloak out of the cuff of my gi and start unfolding it.

Unfolding.

And unfolding.

And unfolding.

And-

“Okay, what the fuck is this!”

Before I had folded up the cloak yesterday it was just my size but now the giant piece of cloth was at least four times as large!

Too tired to try and deal with this magic bullshit I unfold the cloth a few more times before simply wrapping it around my body and covering myself almost like a mummy rather than try and find out how this thing works.

“Let’s just go.” I say irritatedly to Lizz who’s off in a corner chuckling to herself.

Lizz transforms inside the room and casts an invisibility spell-

"Hey Lizz."

"Yes?"

"How does this here invisibility spell work despite me wearing the demon guy's cloak?"

"That's because this spell doesn't target you, rather it targets the area around you. This of it like a barrier that has an effect on thepeople outside rather thanthose inside."

"Really? But doesnt that making it a blinding spell rather than an invisibility?"

In response Lizz just shruggs her shoulders before jumping ou the window.

* * * *

“This is the place.” Says Lizz and hands me the magic crayon.

“For real this time?”

“Yes.”

“I really hope you understand that if you’re just messing around I won’t trust you again.” I say, clench my fist around the magic crayon and wind up my punch.

I look at Lizz one last time and she nods, so I take a deep breath and punch the wall.

*SHATTER*

“Oh thank fucking god!” I exclaim and breath out a big sigh of relief.

“See?”

I say nothing and instead just grumble incoherently as I walk into the brick tunnel that appeared from within the wall.

“And we still have no idea what the demon will be like until we get there?”

“Nope.”

*sigh* “Well, let’s just go and get this over with then.”

Following that we’re washed over by another white light before finding ourselves underground again.

“... Is that the demon?”

“Yup.”

In front of us, right in the middle of the room, stood a very large silhouette of a full body plate armor which stood upright while resting its hands on an equally oversized sword.

Well, the armor was tall compared to most people, but compared to me it actually stood as an equal.

The helmet of the armor had a T-shaped hole with two red glowing lights inside, and on the helmet there were two curved horns sticking upwards.

The armor grabbed its greatsword with one hand and took a stance towards us.

“We’ve been getting pretty unlucky.” Says Lizz.

“How’s that? Wait, don’t tell me something with that armor makes it so you can’t use those freaky flames on it?”

“That’s exactly right, only works on skin contact.”

I held back my ‘How the hell have you been fighting these things so long then!?’ retort and took a stance towards the armored demon.