The carriage trotted along towards the military outpost. Instead of stopping for lunch this time, the party ate some snacks they had packed or stored. Occasionally someone would hop out of the carriage and jog alongside it to stretch out their legs. Whenever they did this, Dresil swung Cain out like a door as she did yesterday.

Jared and Veronica were the only ones who did this though. Victoria couldn’t as she could not complete the initial sprint after landing to catch up with the carriage and still continue for a jog. Jacob was too big and would make the carriage bounce too much, potentially causing damage to it, and Catherine had heels on.

They arrived at the military outpost roughly an hour before sunset. Cain sat up as the support that Dresil made inched its way closer to the bench he was sitting on. A servant hopped up to the coach driver bench, accepting the reins from Jared. Everyone exited the carriage with Cain blindly following them, unsure as to what was happening.

The party walked up to the gate after they left the carriage. Jared handed the guard stationed there the quest papers and other identification while Cain kept track of the carriage using his Mana Zone.

He was able to sense the servant backing the carriage up next to many others outside the gate. The servant then clasped a copper tag with tally marks scratched into it on each of the horse's reins and led them away after releasing them from the carriage.

“Why don’t we just bring the carriage in?” Cain asked as he followed the party towards a food stall. Dresil modified his “socks” so the outside would be akin to boots while the inside were still the comfy socks Cain was used to. The ground they walked on was no longer paved, and it’d appear they’d be lucky to find some gravel patches amongst the dirt streets.

“There’s not enough room in the outpost so someone usually parks the carriage outside then brings the horses to the stables.” Victoria explained. The party sat around a table outside; Jared hollered everyone’s orders to food stall cook nearby. “You sure that’s all you want, Cain?” Jared asked him after Cain instructed him to only get a few orders of meat.

“Yeah, I’d rather not get banned from here as I assume we’re coming back.” Victoria and Jacob nodded their heads to confirm Cain’s assumption. “Rather, is it ok to just order like that? Aren’t there waiters or something?” Cain continued, slightly worried the cook may have not heard their order.

“Nah, the cooks are the only employees of their stalls. There’s not enough people to have waiters.” Jared explained then took the mugs that were already on the table and filled them up with water from a nearby tap. Cain thoroughly disinfected every cup, and the table while he was at it, when Jared walked to the tap.

Jared distributed the mugs to everyone at the table, then took his seat. He looked around while tapping his mug twice, then continued to observe his surroundings. ...why does he act like someone trying to get drugs? Cain thought to himself while asking everyone, “Anyone else want soda?”

Everyone but Catherine nodded; she stared at Cain questionably as he isolated the water in a mana net, disinfected the mugs again, then converted the water into soda. It should be fine since it appears to be similar to converting the water into mana then soda, but more efficient. “...what’s that?” Catherine dubiously asked when she saw everyone’s drink turn from water into a brown liquid.

“It’s soda, a drink from where Cain is from. Although this one seems a bit different…” Victoria answered, somewhat smug with her tone. “Yep. You guys have been drinking too much of the other one, so this one is less sugary. It’s called Root Beer, although contrary to its name, it’s not beer.” Cain explained while chugging his. Although I’m pretty sure I’m not one to tell them this… I used to drink a 12 pack of mtn dew a day for a month once.

“Can… Can I have some too?” Catherine’s request brought him out of his thoughts. He gave a small nod then converted her drink into root beer while following the same disinfection process as he did with the party. “Huh… this tastes pretty good. Although I’m not feeling that rush of energy as usual…” Jared commented on the side, somewhat dejected while chugging his soda.

And he’s already a caffeine addict… Cain sighed as he thought to himself. The cook came by to distribute their orders then quickly left to fulfill the order of a recent customer. “So what’s the plan for today?” Cain asked Jacob while digging into his portion. “After we eat, we’re going to go rent a few rooms at an inn, then prepare our weapons for the ruins and rest early.” Jacob explained; the mention of weapons quickly reminded Cain of Athena.

—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (8ms)

Cain: You got Athena, right?

Dresil: Yep. While the party was packing up, you dispersed the mana models and I had Bob store her…

Dresil: You really need to fix your short term memory…

Cain: Right? It’s getting annoying. :Pain:

--------------------------

“Sweet. What time are we leaving tomorrow?” I’ll just eat more food then I guess. Cain scheduled his feast while eating food. “About an hour after sunrise. That should give everyone plenty of time to rest.” Victoria replied to which everyone nodded.

The party silently and quickly ate their dinner then paid in cash and left for a nearby inn. “Why didn’t you guys use credit back there? It should’ve been faster.” Cain asked while they walked towards the inn. “Do you normally have this many questions?” Jared asked curiously; Cain has been asking a lot recently.

“Nah… Usually it’s a lot more.” Cain replied then waited for an answer to his previous question. The party didn’t know whether to be happy or distraught due to Cain’s answer. “The outposts usually don’t have the credit system implemented. The amount of time it takes to send and receive necessary credit reports and the like make it easy for corruption to seep through, so the guild decided to make it optional.

“Although every adventurer knows not to trust the credit system out in the Forest since there’s a good chance you’ll get scammed.” Victoria explained to Cain as they walked through the entrance to the inn.

Does the guild allow adventurers in debt to withdraw a certain amount of cash then? Weird… I guess this is one of the inconsistencies left by trying to modernize the capitol quickly? Cain was once more lost in his thoughts as Jacob paid for 4 rooms; 1 for Victoria and Veronica, 1 for him and Jared, 1 for Cain, and 1 for Catherine. Catherine paid for her own room then upgraded it to the best one they had.

The party split into separate directions and entered their room. Once Cain detected everyone had entered their room, he used their tags to disperse mana if they were outside the Mana Zone, then the tags were used as the center for a quick deploy of Insect Eraser in a 5 meter radius using the mana within dispersed zone or the Mana Zone to perform its task.

Jacob cleaned his armor and inspected it for dents while Jared looked at the new dagger he bought a few days ago. He played around with it to get used to its weight and handle, then cleaned and maintained his old set. Veronica double checked her supply of arrowheads, fletchlings, and arrows, then maintained her hunting knife, dagger, and bow. Victoria sent some of her mana through her staff, ensuring there would be no difficulties, then continued on with her nightly prayers.

Catherine cleaned her room, using the tools and materials she brought in her storage ring and replaced the sheets, mattress, and just about everything down to the bed frame with her own items. And Cain… was being Cain.

Dresil formed a chair for Cain to sit on and deposited the necessary snacks on a table that was created next to it. She reformatted the blankets and laid the memory foam mattress on the bed; this had become part of the nightly routine since it was created, and in the morning it would be stored in the dimension to prevent it being discovered. Cain created his alien water washing pod using the mana within and had Rex boil it then bring it down to the proper temp.

He then proceeded with his night routine after his meal and went to sleep.