The guards don’t stop us. My hair and eyes are back to what they looked like when I was a dragon because I just don’t care anymore meaning that they are white and black. The guards don’t stop us though. They seem too afraid to as I look like someone they don’t want to mess with. And they would be correct.

The first thing we do as we get in the city is find an inn. The town was pretty big by medieval standards but we were lucky to find an inn pretty quickly. I got a room and also ordered a bath for Lily as I learned they were available. Lily didn’t seem bothered by the fact that we would be sharing a room but was quite embarrassed when the innkeeper looked at us suggestively..

I didn’t wait for her to finish her bath but instead left the inn and looked at some stores. Lily’s clothes were dirty and even torn in some places so I bought her some new ones as well as a cloak. I could make them with void but I don’t think it would feel comfortable for her to wear something I could undo with a single thought.

I didn’t slack though. I bought her a shirt that was a pair with a skirt which reached, some shorts to wear under the skirt instead of the uncomfortable-looking underwear and a black scarf as it would soon be winter and it might get cold. I thought about using my knowledge of the modern world to make more comfortable underwear… I’ll think about it.

Having done some shopping I returned to the inn and threw the clothes inside the room without actually looking so as to keep Lily’s privacy. I didn’t really need to even open the door if I needed to look inside. The shadows could be my eyes. Of course I didn’t do so.

A few moments later she left the room in the clothes.

“What’s with the… shorts?” (Lily)

“They looked more comfortable than that horrific underwear.” (Kenos)

“Well… I mean they ARE but…” (Lily)

She seemed conflicted about something but she looked like she didn’t dislike the clothes I picked so I was satisfied.

“Come on. We still have more shopping to do. Mostly for you.” (Kenos)

So we left the inn and walked around town. The first place we visited was a blacksmith. From there we bought some light leather armor for Lily and a steel shortsword which was light enough for her to use. She told me she was still a novice at swords but I was surprised she even knew anything at all.

“Don’t worry I’ll help you with that. But infusing mana into your body you might have to figure out yourself as I cannot do that.” (Kenos)

Rather than surprised she looked like she finally remembered that I know swordsmanship. Maybe Brul talked about me to her? Probably. He was drunk when I left him in the guild too.

We also went ahead and bought some spices which were surprisingly expensive. I thought about visiting an enchanter but I couldn’t find one.

“Hey Lily are enchanters rare around here?” (Kenos)

“Rare? You could probably count the number of enchanters in this country other than the royal ones on one hand.” (Lily)

That was surprising. I could guess enchanters wouldn’t be common or anything but I didn’t think they were that rare.

“But wasn’t there an enchanter in Acton?” (Kenos)

“Oh him… He’s a bit weird. He isn’t getting almost any business in Acton but he refuses to leave there. If he opened a shop in the capital he would have had a lot more customers.” (Lily)

Well he must have some reason I guess.

As a last place to visit I head to the bookstore. I had already asked the location of it at the inn. The variety was better than in Acton but there wasn’t anything useful. Well there was nothing useful to me but I eyed one book in particular which would be useful for Lily: “The way to imbuing”. Cheesy title but it might have some value since I can’t help Lily with that part.

After we were done shopping it was almost dark. We had actually walked around the town for hours and Lily would often stop to look at different stuff like jewelry or clothes. Well… she is a girl I guess. She didn’t ask me to buy her anything though.

I would’ve bought her something if she had just asked. Well maybe I could get her something later as a surprise or something. Not like I need this much money anyway. The entire day I had wasted a total of six and a half gold coins. And that was only because of the spices and the book which together cost five. The clothes were high quality so they cost eighty and the sword together with the armor cost sixty.

Going back to the inn we were greeted by a friendly woman in her forties at the door.

“Oh. Are you just coming back? We were about to serve dinner. Would you like to join?” (Innkeeper)

We looked at each other before looking back at the innkeeper and nodding in sync to which she just laughed and went back to her duties. While we were eating I took the chance to look at Lily again. Even though we didn’t know much about each other we had actually gotten quite close… maybe a little too close.

As I was thinking a large man together with two henchmen-looking guys came towards our table. The large guy had an arrogant and lecherous smile on his face as he looked at Lily and didn’t even spare me the glance while his henchmen followed his example. He violently put his hand down on the table and started speaking.

“Hey who-“ (Deadman #1)

Before he could finish the second quite vulgar word a shadow wrapped around him dragging him to the floor and restricting his whole body. It even wrapped around his head in a way that would not let the mouth open. His two henchmen suffered the same fate.

“The soup’s pretty good but I think you could still do better.” (Lily)

“Why are you so sure? I haven’t even made soup for you before. How are you so confident in my cooking skills? Is the meat I feed you really that good?” (Kenos)

Though I was eating now as it would be suspicious not to do so. I hadn’t tried the meat I cooked for her. I tried the smoke meat but not the one cooked directly with a fire.

*Crack*

*Muffled scream*

“Shut up! Can’t you see people are trying to have dinner here?” (Kenos)

The people on the ground were noisy so I had the shadows around their arms and legs squeeze harder until their bones broke. Lily didn’t seem to mind their noisiness but I didn’t want to ruin the other customers’ meals.

But even then they didn’t stop screaming so I clicked my tongue leaving my bowl half-empty I grabbed all three of them and dragged them to the entrance of the inn before throwing them out. I wouldn’t have been able to throw them with only physical strength as the large guy was pretty heavy but I used the shadows to do it.

Turning around I saw the innkeeper looking at me. I was expecting her to be angry but I was instead thanked. Apparently the guys had been causing trouble for the inn for a while now and she was wondering what to do with them. Though I was told that I could have handled it better.

Going back to the restaurant part of the inn where we had been eating the other people looked at me a bit bewildered but seeing that I just sat back down to finish my soup they didn’t really say anything to me.

Some even laughed about the guys that got beaten and thrown out and I heard some comments saying that that’s what happens when you flirt with someone who’s already taken. Lily seemed to have heard those too as she blushed heavily and seemed quite flustered while I finished up my meal.

After dinner we walked upstairs to our room and Lily plopped down on the bed to sleep while I sat in a corner of the room.

“What are you doing?” (Lily)

“Can’t you see? I’m making myself comfortable for the night.” (Kenos)

She just looked at me judgingly. As if it was obvious that wasn’t what I should be doing. And so today again I just sighed in defeat making my cloak disappear and lying down on the bed embracing her to which she looked like she was in heaven. No… nothing sexual is going to happen.

You see this all started the night after we visited Burl’s grave. She had trouble falling asleep by herself for some reason so I gave her another lap pillow which she thoroughly seemed to enjoy and fell asleep comfortably. And with time… three days that evolved into… this. She got completely addicted to me sleeping next to her.

When I asked her if it really felt that great to sleep with me she blushingly said that I simply gave off a feeling of calm and serenity which she really liked. Now at this point she couldn’t sleep without me being next to her.

And she’s already asleep. Wow… didn’t even take half a minute this time. I swear it gets faster every time. Or was it because she was sleeping on a proper bed this time? Well time to get down to business.

Leaving my body there I split my conscience and created another which rose from the shadows. I could control both of them at once. I was able to do it during the day as well but I just didn’t see a use for it. My body’s weak anyway so what’s the point in having two of them in combat?

Leaving my other body snuggling with Lily in her sleep… that sounded slightly wrong… my second body merged with the shadows and reemerged in front of the inn. I walked off into the night. I would be searching for information.

During the day I already found out where the lord’s mansion was through casual conversation with the shopkeepers we visited. I also learned that the lord and his three sons were currently not here either. Well one of them I knew but I didn’t know the other three were out as well.

I stood watching the lord’s mansion from an alleyway and merged with the shadows once more emerging in the bushes of the courtyard. I didn’t want to go inside the mansion yet as I wanted to map out the whole thing.

I went through the shadows from bush to bush. Mapping out the courtyard. There was a simple separate shabby building from the mansion and I confirmed that it’s the servant… or maybe slave house. I would assume that among the servants are both normal hired individuals and slaves but who knows at this point.

Having finished with the courtyard I went into a bush with a view of the backdoor. There were guards placed there but I simply merged and went under the door slightly sticking my head from the shadows I confirmed there was no one around and completely went out. I was currently in my void form anyway so I would be harder to notice than normal but I didn’t take chances and transformed into a completely black cat. I couldn’t quite completely transform into one so I simply took the form of one. It had no features and no eyes but I could still see of course.

I checked one room after the other. I found out that there exists a separate servants’ area than the shabby building outside which pretty much confirmed my suspicions that the building was the slave area.

The other places I searched through. The kitchen. The different bedrooms, guestrooms. The dining room. They had nothing unusual in them other than a few sleeping people which… wasn’t really unusual per se but I found two rooms that made me want to spill the soup I had eaten for dinner back out from disgust. Not disgust at gore or something like that but sheer disgust at the actions of someone who dares call himself a noble.

The first was a simple torture room. It had a dozen different torture devices. Some designed to inflict unimaginable pain. Others designed to force screams out of the victim before their death. The other though… It had a few women locked in cages. All of them seemed malnourished and their eyes were dead. They seemed like they were begging for someone to end them…

That was the last straw. If I currently had teeth to clench I swear there would be bleeding in my mouth. I had thought that killing the lord and his family would be enough but it is no longer the case. If someone like me would kill them they could even brag that they were killed by me. But they didn’t deserve that.

Having seen enough my second body disappeared and returned to the shadows while my original one had a resolute look on his face as he was hugging Lily. The lord’s family will have a fall which only the lowest of existences deserve. And I would not be the one to deliver it. I would just be the one to take out the stone which will cause an avalanche.