Chapter 65 The Unexpected Trip

As the tree spirit said ten minutes later, the three women emerged from their root cocoons to find themselves a dozen kilometers north of Venduva.

After getting her bearings, Meira floated both Maylin and her unconscious kitten into the air and flew south. To avoid attention, she flew low, weaving through trees as she skirted around Venduva. Once past Venduva, she picked up the pace, streaking just over the treetops as fast as possible, wanting to return home as soon as possible.

In record time, as the sun set, her territory came into view. A minute later, Meira touched down in her backyard, allowing her unconscious kitten to float into her arms. Without wasting time, she dashes into her house, followed by a depressed Maylin, looking lost.

Meira first entered Evernya’s bathroom to clean her dirty kitten thoroughly before lovingly tucking her into her bed. Satisfied, Meira left the room, turning the lights off as she walked out the door to give her kitten quiet to sleep.

With her kitten taken care of, Meira returned to her living room to find Maylin sitting on the couch, staring vacantly off into space. She sat down next to the lost elf, drawing her attention.

“So, what are your plans now?” Meira asked to break the ice.

After a few seconds of silence, Maylin responded in a voice lacking any emotion. “I don’t know. Everyone’s gone. I should have followed them. They probably think I abandoned the clan.”

“To be honest, I think you are better off. Despite your actions, you are still family. You can stay here as long as you want.” Meira offered.

Maylin’s eyes immediately teared up in response. “Really? But I kidnapped you.”

“Not really, I was in control from the beginning, and besides, you returned my bloodline to me.” Meira brushed off Maylin’s worries before suddenly turning serious. “If you plan to stay here, I will beat that racism out of you. Evernya showed remarkable restraint. If I were in her shoes, I would have done much worse.” Meira threatened, causing Maylin to pale in fear.

As always, the tree spirit’s prediction was spot on. Two days later, Evernya’s eyes fluttered open to find herself snuggly tucked in her bed. When did I get home? Was everything a dream? Evernya thought in confusion.

She sat up, finding familiar tree print pajamas adorning her body. Before she could investigate further, the door to her bedroom swung open as an ecstatic elf rushed in. Still sluggish from sleep, Evernya was slow to react as Meira engulfed her in a crushing hug.

After several minutes, Meira disengaged herself to inspect her kitten thoroughly. “How do you feel?”

It must not have been a dream, but how did I end up here? The last thing I remember is feeling numb. Evernya thought, still confused.

As if reading her mind, Meira explained. “The Great Tree Spirit saved you and transported us away. You’ve been sleeping for over two days.”

With her questions answered, Evernya regained her bearings and answered Meira’s question. “I feel fine. If anything I feel better than ever.”

At her kitten’s response, a smile bloomed on Meira’s face, replaced a moment later with guilt and tears. “I’m so sorry! I failed you! I should have protected you! I assumed you could handle the wolves with your limited experience.”

Evernya interrupted Meira’s half-apology, half self-criticism with a powerful hug. While hugging Meira into silence, Evernya assured. “It is not your fault I’m the one who stupidly chased you into the wilds when I wasn’t ready. I shouldn’t have let the wolves get close. That’s on me.”

After getting her word in, Evernya released Meira from her firm grasp. Silence followed for several minutes before Evernya broke the silence with a question. “Why were their bites so powerful? A wolf from my previous encounter bit me on the arm, and I healed it nearly instantly.”

With a thoughtful expression, Meira replied., “the wolf from your first encounter probably intended to weaken you for its pack to engage. The wolves who nearly killed you were going in for the kill. With how much ice magic they injected into your body, I doubt they would have survived. When I ripped the wolves off of you, they felt devoid of mana, so they must have released everything they had into you. A full-powered ice wolf’s bite can take down a human a full stage above them.”

One thing for sure, I’ll never let one of those damn wolves near me again! Evernya vowed to herself.

After several minutes of silence, Meira threw a stack of clothes at Evernya. “Now that you are awake, we can go shopping. Fortunately, the summer solstice festival is happening today in Minea.”

Surprised by the sudden shift, Evernya took a few seconds to respond. “Isn’t it a little too soon? I just woke up. Also, what about Maylin? I smell her scent nearby so I am assuming she came back with us.”

Meira bounced in excitement, visioning all the shopping, washing away her previously depressed mood. Fueled by her excitement, Meira rambled, “The sooner you have a dependable weapon, the sooner we can start your combat training. Nothing in my current stock is suitable for my precious kitten, so we have to go shopping, and the festival provides the perfect opportunity. Even better tonight, there is an auction that I have a VIP suite for because I sell some of my leftover enchanted items with them. Between the festival where tens of thousands of people set up stalls to show off their creations and the auction, I’m sure we can find a suitable weapon for you. As for Maylin, she will be plenty busy here with the enchanting homework I left her, and I set some ground rules via bloodline hierarchy so don’t worry.”

“Another problem isn’t Minea a tier 2 city?” Evernya questioned, hands unconsciously rising to her black band encircling her neck.

Unaware of Evernya’s worries, Meira replied. “Yes, luckily, you woke up early, or we wouldn’t have time to get you collared before the festival.”

“Why can’t we just shop locally? I hate the idea of being collared like some animal.” Evernya suggested, staring into Meira’s eyes with hope.

Unfortunately, Meira denied her suggestion. “Well, we could, but the quality and selection will be much better there. As an enchanter, I’m limited by the quality of the item, and I want your first weapon to be of outstanding quality. Maybe we will find the perfect item for your storage device as well. Besides, you can’t avoid getting a collar forever. At some point, you’ll have to visit at least a tier 2 city. Plus, an added advantage of wearing a collar is it will cover your slave band so you will look like any other shifter. As you have noticed, people may treat you differently if they see your slave band, but if you are wearing a collar, they won’t treat you any differently than any other shifter.”

“Fine, I’ll get a stupid collar, stupid humans and their stupid laws,” Evernya grumbled, no longer looking forward to going shopping.

A giant smile bloomed from her successful persuasion as she announced, “We better hurry then. There will be a long line at the portal, and it may take a while to get the collar.”

Meira handed Evernya a smoothie before leaving the room to give her some privacy to change. After chugging her breakfast smoothie, Evernya slipped on the provided underwear, black tank top, and short shorts. Before leaving, she spotted her ID lying on her nightstand and grabbed it, sliding it into the tiny front pocket of her shorts.

I may look hot in these clothes, but the tiny pockets suck. I never liked how short these things were as a human, so I rarely wore them. Oh well, if I can’t fit things in these tiny pockets, I’ll just have Meira store them in her ring. Evernya commented mentally as she trotted out of her bedroom, following Meira’s scent.

Meira’s scent led her out of the front door towards the detached garage. For the first time, she paid attention to the front of Meira’s house, finding it similar to the back. She probably cut all the trees for her log mansion herself. Evernya thought, looking up at the large two-story log house.

Done with her observations, Evernya continued on to the matching log multi-car garage. She walked through the open garage door to find Meira leaning against the tailgate of her truck, waiting. As she entered, something catches her eye on the left side of the garage.

“Cool motorcycle, I never pictured you owning a sportbike or a truck for that matter,” Evernya commented, admiring the bright red sportbike.

Upon following her kitten’s gaze, Meira replied. “I use it if I need to travel to another city, since it fits in my storage ring. Unless you have special permission, you can’t drive a vehicle through the portal. Public transportation is good in bigger cities, but I prefer to use my own form of transport.”

Meira trotted over to her motorcycle, storing it in her storage ring, before returning to the truck. “Thanks for reminding me I nearly forgot it. We will need it a lot today.”

“That is so convenient. I owned a sportbike in my old life. I loved it, but it just wasn’t usable a lot of the year.” Evernya commented after joining Meira in the truck.

“Why not get something that does better off roads?” Evernya asked while Meira backed out of her garage, closing the garage door behind her.

“I only use it for transport around a city, plus I enchanted the tires for increased traction. Though that doesn’t do much for the bumpy ride off the road. Usually, I do little off the road driving away from home and if I do, I’ll just rent something or go on foot or air.” Meira replied as she drove down her driveway.

“Makes sense, so I’ll get to ride it today?” Evernya inquired with a hint of excitement.

“Minea is huge, and I refuse to take public transportation. Everywhere I go, I become a spectacle because of my elfness.” Meira replied.

“Yeah, I don’t like public transportation either,” Evernya commented as they pulled out onto the dirt road leading toward Druth.

Ten minutes later, Evernya felt a weird, tingly sensation for a second. “What was that?”

“That was the outer barrier that surrounds Druth. How didn’t you notice it before even Venduva has one?” Meira questioned curiously.

After a few seconds of thinking back, Evernya replied. “I don’t know. I guess I had other things on my mind at those times. What does the barrier do? Isn’t there already a barrier surrounding Druth itself?”

“The outer barrier is a sort of first line of defense several kilometers away from the city. It’s much weaker than the barrier at the city walls. All it does is make mana beasts uncomfortable but doesn’t outright bar their entry. Another advantage is it provides safer travel near a city and a place for undesirables to live.” Meira explained.

“Yeah, you said before about slums existing outside of city barriers,” Evernya commented.

“Unfortunately, yes, many reasons force people to live out here, usually because of a criminal record. One of the most common punishments is an exile from cities since they don’t have room to imprison them long term. Instead of giving them a prison sentence, they exile them for a certain amount of years. For some criminals who commit a crime that isn’t quite bad enough to warrant death, they have two options, mana core destruction or permanent exile. Most obviously choose exile, which leads to a lot of dangerous criminals wandering around these areas. Of course, many just can’t afford to live in the cities, so not all slum dwellers are criminals. Either way, I would advise staying away from the slums. It is a lawless and dangerous place. In some ways, the slums can be more dangerous than the wilds.” Meira explained, pointing out distant buildings on the right side of the road as Druth’s walls came into view.

“Makes sense to just kick them out instead of wasting precious city space for a prison.” Evernya agreed.

“Yeah, in theory, it is a good practice because it gives the criminal a chance and saves space, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always work quite right. Since overcrowding can be a major issue in most cities, the line between a fine or some other more minor punishment and exile has been becoming thinner. Luckily, those punished are actually guilty of the crime they committed because of truth compulsion, which every defendant must undergo. I am guessing Arthur tried to do the same to you.” Meira elaborated.

“Yeah, he did, but I resisted it,” Evernya replied, thinking back to the magic Arthur tried on her.

Meira winced at Evernya’s action. “That probably only fueled his need to find the truth. Very few can resist a truth compulsion, especially from someone as powerful as him. In the future, it’s best to resist truth compulsion partially. Partial resistance is when you resist just enough to change a few things to protect yourself. If you know they won’t try to pry anything harmful, you should just let the truth compulsion take hold to avoid suspicion.” Meira advised.

“I don’t think he would have taken anything less than full truth compulsion, and what he was asking was very invasive.” Evernya defended.

“Sounds like Arthur, even if something is the truth, if he thinks it’s false, he will just continue to push,” Meira commented.

A few minutes later. A couple of kilometers outside Druth’s entrance, Meira spotted a truck following her. Less than a kilometer away from the barrier, another truck suddenly pulled out in front of her, causing Meira to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid a collision. She gunned the engine to get past but slowed to a stop when she found more trucks blocking the road just out of sight of the barrier.

“Is that who I think it is?” Evernya asked with a frown.

“Unfortunately, yes, I thought he was going to leave us alone for a while,” Meira grumbled.