When the two of us stepped on dry land again, the cat girl did not hesitate to show her displeasure at my prank: she stomped on my left foot. Hard.

"Oww!" I blurted in pain as I hopped around on my uninjured foot. Unlike the poke in my shoulder, this injury really HURT. Cautiously, I checked my notification and the message read, "-10 Health." No wonder it hurt so much!

With a "Hmph!" the evil minx shoved me aside and headed back to the road.

Her shove made me lose my balance and I fervently twisted my hips to compensate. The dice started rattling inside my head and then stopped. "Dexterity saving throw MADE. +50 XP." I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, if I fell at that moment I would have lost even more health. Speaking of health . . . wasn't Kalistra supposed to give me a healing potion? "Master, can I get a healing potion?" I called out.

The still-wet cat girl had her back to me and refused to turn around. Her tail lashed back and forth. "You can use your divine gifts to heal yourself. Hmph!" She started strolling on the road at a leisurely pace, but now her tail was dangling in the air.

My jaws dropped at her rejection of my polite request. Who did Kalistra think she was to decline to give me a potion that I PAID FOR? If I was a stupid person, then she was a CRAZY person. That being said, if I had read her mood accurately, Kalistra was no longer angry at me for the prank. She definitely paid me back with plenty of interest for it. I wasn't a masochist, but it was worth the pain to prank the cat girl like that. Why? Because it showed her and the gods that, even though Kalistra could easily kill me, I wasn't afraid of her and, by extension, the gods themselves. While they were way more powerful than me, they were still bound by the law (Kalistra) and divine rules (gods) which prevented them from killing me outright. With my outright murder taken out of their hands, why should I be afraid of them?

"Kekeke."

I looked up but saw nothing in the brightening sky above me. However, through Bane's brand on my left forearm, I could sense the presence of Lord Bane even if I couldn't see him. He read my thoughts and it probably amused him to hear that I wasn't afraid of the gods. It was an inadvertent reminder that I was essentially playing Jim Carrey's character in "The Truman Show" movie. I looked up at the sky again, where I would imagine the divine audience would be and bowed deeply to my hidden viewers. I was certain that my antics with the fickle cat girl had provided a few laughs at my expense. With proper courtesy paid, I decided to focus on my immediate task: to catch up to Kalistra.

I put my left foot on the ground and tried to walk on it. I winced as pain shot up through the nerves and hit my spine. Okay, there was no way I could walk, much less run, without healing my injury first. In a worst case scenario, I will have to catch up to Kalistra, who was walking further and further away from me, at the next village. I sat cross-legged on the ground, put my right hand on my left foot, and closed my eyes. I held a mental image of Gaea's mark on my right forearm, the symbol of a seed. I silently prayed for Gaea to cure my minor wound. I felt a warm sensation from my right palm transfer to my injured foot. The warmth stayed in my foot for a few seconds and then finally dissipated. "+10 Health."

I was tempted to heal my right shoulder as well because it was injured from the evil minx' constant poke into it to prod me to obey her commands. However, I noted that my blue mana bar had already dropped by a third from one healing. Thus, I decided that it would be more prudent to save my precious mana in case I needed to cast more divine spells in the near future.

I tested my left foot once more, and I was relieved to feel no pain from it. I started running toward Kalistra again.

My master's ears perked up as I approached her position. Her tail whiplashed as if to warn me not to play another prank on her.

Seeing her dangerously heightened state of alertness, I decided that it would be less threatening to Kalistra if I approached her more slowly. The idea of playing another prank on her never crossed my mind. After all, I did not want her to kill me a second time. While under her instructions for my intensive training yesterday, Kalistra hit me for a massive critical hit and killed me. She had to use a special potion to bring me back to life. I didn't wish to tempt fate and prank her again. Once was enough.

Thus, my run turned into a fast but loud walk. Soon, I reached her position. I was mindful of the fact that the cat girl preferred the right side to be free so that she could unsheathe her blade quickly in an emergency. Therefore, I stayed to her left while we passed by the fields of growing crops. I noted that they were still a few weeks away from harvest. But there were plenty of crops and I expect the farmers to be busy with their harvest soon enough. Speaking of farmers, where were they? As we passed by the fields I didn't see a single farmer in the field. I turned my head back and forth constantly but saw no one. However, my concern was alleviated when we finally reached the houses.

Unlike Burnhamm Village, where the houses were stacked together side by side, the houses in Balmore were spread out. I saw farmers busy making repairs to their houses, fixing fences, or sharpening their tools. In other words, they were making use of their valuable time on other tasks while the crops grew.

The farmers saw us walking on the road but kept to themselves and continued working on their tasks. They avoided making eye contact with us. Some even went inside their houses and locked their doors and windows. Not a single person greeted us.

"Why are these farmers so unfriendly?" I asked Kalistra in a low voice. I was really surprised by our treatment at Balmore compared to Tregome or even Burnhamm. The lowborn in Tregome readily engaged with me, particularly for the purchase of goods and services. The commoners in Burnhamm were weary of wolves but welcomed us when we brought proof of killing a wolf pack. I really hoped that these farmers will give us an opportunity to show our peaceful intentions. After all, judging by the position of the sun overhead, it was almost noon; I wanted to eat a nice hot meal at an inn here rather than that squirrel food in my backpack.

"We are strangers and, in their eyes, that makes us dangerous," she replied.

"You mean they harbor a suspicion that I may be a werecreature?" I asked.

The cat girl's whiskers twitched at my question. "Not a werecreature in particular, because they know that the animal people and the were people are hostile to one another. By traveling with me, these farmers already know that you're not a werecreature," she reassured me.

"Then why?" I pressed her.

My master tilted her head as she pondered my question.

SLAM! Another farmer shut her door just as we passed by her house.

"Farmers are a superstitious lot," Kalistra admitted. "You've already seen that the gods themselves walk our lands, and oftentimes they cause trouble for the commoners."

I nodded vigorously in agreement with that statement. Lord Bane, in particular, was a troublemaker. In response, I felt a tingle in my left forearm.

"And then you have the nobility and the clergy; they are both accustomed to demanding service from the lowborn. I'm sure the farmers already read your caption and realize that you're a nobleman. Thus, they are quite afraid of you," she explained.

Ah! That made a lot of sense and explained why the farmers were locking their doors when they saw me. The commoners were scurrying before me like mice fleeing before a cat. "This valley is rather secluded. Nobles don't come here much, do they?" I asked. I had a hunch that the traveling nobles often made a right turn at the guidepost and head toward the gate at Heuwdon instead of coming to this valley. After all, I did see several carriages moving in and out of the checkpoint.

"Correct," my master confirmed.

"Then why are we taking this route to Bristol?" I asked. "Shouldn't we take the road well traveled and go to Heuwdon instead?"

Kalistra suddenly stopped walking and turned around. For the first time since I pulled her into the river, the cat girl looked at me. "To keep you out of trouble," she grinned as her eyes lit up.

"Huh?" I looked at her blankly. "What does that mean?"

My master tugged on my arm. "Let's continue walking. I'll explain the reason behind my decision to take this route."

When she started moving, I retook the position to her left on the road. "Please continue, Master," I requested politely.

"So far, you have dealt with mostly commoners and a handful of clergymen," Kalistra began. "I'm trying to keep you away from the other nobility as much as possible."

"Why?" I asked impatiently. I had no clue why it would be such a bad thing to mingle with my own social class in this world.

Kalistra rolled her eyes at my impatience and sighed at my ignorance. "For one thing, a nobility of higher ranking may demand servitude from you. The more favored a noble family is to the crown, the more privileges those members of the family may exercise," she said.

"You mean it's a question of the nobleman's standing in the eyes of the king?" I interrupted her.

The cat girl hissed at me for the interruption. "We don't have a king right now," she corrected me. "The kingdom is ruled by a Regent until a king is crowned. I don't know what your standing is currently among the nobility. You may very well be at the very bottom and, if so, other nobles may seek to take advantage and make ridiculous demands of you."

"So what happens if I fail to satisfy these demands?" I asked flippantly. Why should I care what my peers thought of me?

"Your standing will drop further and further until the Regent decides to strip you of your status as nobility," she retorted.

"The Regent can do that?" I stopped walking when I saw her nod. I was astonished and then fearful of this possibility. I had seen, firsthand, how poorly the commoners were treated in this world and I did not wish to experience a similar treatment personally. Actually, the treatment would probably be even worse for a former member of the nobility.

Kalistra grinned when she saw that I began to appreciate the danger of the nobility. "You may be asked to prove your devotion to the crown by performing a task, something that could be difficult or even impossible to accomplish," she replied.

"Like what?" I was curious.

"Like slaying a dragon," she answered immediately.

My eyes bulged at the thought of fighting a real dragon. I was nowhere near prepared to face one! "The Regent can make that kind of request of me?"

"Yes," she nodded with satisfaction at seeing my face turn pale.

My head was spinning. I never realized that being a nobleman was so dangerous!

Without warning, Kalistra held out her left paw and placed it on my chest.

Standing in our path was a short person dressed in pure black. A hood covered this newcomer's face. This person pulled back the hood, revealing a beautiful young girl with ebony skin and a shaved head full of indecipherable symbols. It was Alsaj!

The traveling monk of chaos put a right fist against her left palm before her chest and bowed slightly to us.

Kalistra inclined her head just as deeply, while I bowed from my waist.

Alsaj slowly approached us. "Well met, light ones. I'm afraid to inform you that some of the drows that I was chasing managed to escape. They will surely target the nobleman again."

"You chased the drows to this valley?" I asked while trying hard not to shiver at the sight of the deadly monk. I remembered how a mere touch of Alsaj's palm had disintegrated the drow leader when I was being targeted for a suicide attack. Also, there was something oddly familiar about this monk. Despite the fact that she was an avowed follower of the Void, I felt, on an instinctive level, that she could be trusted with my life. After all, she had even saved me once.

Alsaj shook her head. "I lost them when they split up across the bridge and headed for the mountains."

It took a moment for me to remember what bridge she referred to. Ah! It was where we encountered Sene's friends.

"You don't think the drows are nearby?" Kalistra asked.

The monk shook her head again.

The cat girl became curious. "If that's the case, then why are you here in this valley? You're probably scaring these poor farmers with your mere presence." Her tail dangled in the air and wiggled slightly.

Alsaj looked studied the cat girl for a moment and then me. "I will tell you only if you agree to assist me on a quest."