“This is way more than I expected…” Clarisse sighed, looking down at everything they had bought for her by the end of the evening. Besides her new attire, they had stopped by a blacksmith shop and a pharmacy to get her a long dagger which hung on the strap sheathed behind her waist, some healing supplies, rations and a pair of blankets for travel, most of which was now stocked in a knapsack slung from her shoulder.

  “How do you fit all that in such a small backpack?” she asked, peeking at Nikolas’s bag which looked mostly empty from the outside.

  “I don’t have most of the stuff we bought for you,” Nikolas said, although leaving his elaboration on the same for a later time. “Once you get a groove of things you’ll know what you want to keep with you and what you can get from nearby shops everywhere.”

  “Well, I’m feeling very hungry after all that,” Clarisse grumbled, looking around. “Do you want to go get some food? If you’re free of course- ” she asked, seeing as the sun’s vague illumination had subsided and the streets were lit with lamps at regular intervals.

  “You can go ahead,” Nikolas shrugged, before tilting his head. “I don’t have an appetite for some reason. Although I’d suggest grabbing whatever you want and heading home - it’s pretty late.”

  “You’re right… actually, I know a place near my apartment,” hummed the redhead, smiling as she led the way. “It sells the best curry in this part of the city!”

  Nikolas nodded, following her without much dialog. His focus was instead on the nearby buildings, glancing from structure to structure and analyzing them as they walked past. It wasn’t long before they got to the place Clarisse had mentioned, and she brought his attention back to her by tugging on his sleeve.

  She had stopped by a small shop where there was a desk right next to the store and the chef stood on the other side, serving dishes in small packages for everyone to go. “Are you sure you don’t want anything right now? Let me treat you as thanks for helping me today!”

  “Uhhh… alright,” Nikolas shook his head at first, but then shrugged and walked up to the shop. “I’ll have whatever you usually have then.”

  “Brought a friend this time? Thanks for the patronage!” The chef grinned from the other side of the counter, spinning his ladle around in his hand as he prepped some water.

  Clarisse smiled, waving to the chef who seemed to recognize her. “Yeah! We’ll take a pair of your signature curries, please Mr. Shirev,” She placed her order after placing a few copper coins on the table, watching the chef begin to work his magic and smell the aroma of good cooking float their way. “I was wondering, how long have you been adventuring, Nikolas?”

  “. . .” Nikolas paused, thinking about his answer. “About eight months now. It hasn’t been too long, but I started as a bronze rank here in Junnhaven.”

  “That’s impressive, the guild tested me but I only ended up becoming a copper… You get to go on the big quests and do all sorts of cool things, I bet.”

  “A little. It’s usually busy enough around here for me to not think about it…”

  “What did you do before that?” the redhead prodded further with her questioning. “Were you always in Junnhaven?”

  “N-not really much,” Nikolas seemed to be caught off-guard by that question. “I came from a small town far to the north.”

  “Really!? Me too! I’m from Areane-!” Clarisse responded excitedly at the prospect that they might be from the same or nearby towns. “Which one did you live in?”

  A shiver crawled up his spine as he realized his blunder. “Uhh- it’s way farther north than Areane. Think, close to the north coast of Ignisvell.” Nikolas made up an answer. “It’s way too small to be on a map, really.”

  “You’re just being humble, aren’t you…” the redhead giggled. “Anyway where do you live? I tried asking Rika but she doesn’t know either.”

  The fox-eared boy was much more deliberate with his answer this time. “I try to sleep outside the city while on quests,” which was technically the truth. “It saves a lot on rent.”

  Clarisse seemed miffed by his answer. “So that’s why you were out in the fields?”

  “Pretty much. I live from quest to quest. It saves a lot of money,” he shrugged.

  “That sounds like it could get really boring quickly. What are you planning to do tonight?” she asked in a worried tone.

  “I know a place,” he replied, trying to reassure her. “Always having a backup plan is rule number one of being an adventurer.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The chef interrupted them at this point, placing 2 carryout bags with curry and rice in them. “You two should get home - it’s too dark to be outside. And please come again!”

  “Thank you Mr. Shirev.” Clarisse replied, picking up her bag and adding it to the others she already had. “I’ll see you later!”

  “Likewise.” Nikolas added on as both of them began walking down the road to her apartment.

  It wasn’t long before they got to the building she was staying at, a multi-story structure. “This is my stop,” Clarisse said, pausing in front of the building and turning towards Nikolas. “Thanks for helping me out today… think we can work on training with my new stuff tomorrow?”

  “Let’s meet at the guild hall in the morning.” Nikolas replied with a nod, waiting for her to head into the building before quickly disappearing into the shadows of Junnhaven’s streets.

  Nikolas decided to spend the night on one of the rooftops he had spotted while on the way back with Clarisse, discreetly scaling the side of the building and setting up camp on top. Sitting atop the tapered, brick-tiled roof with a carryout bag in his hands and his backpack placed beside him under the open night sky, it was a modest camp to be a part of.

  “You’re actually going to eat?” Sera’s familiar voice broke the silent stream of the adventurer’s thoughts as he contemplated what to do with the dish in his hands. She flipped his backpack open and flew out, floating down to his shoulder. “That does smell good, actually,” she admitted.

  “In any other case, I wouldn’t even bother,” Nikolas whispered, raising a hand to his mask and pressing on its lower half to detach it, revealing his mouth curved in a sly smile. On his right cheek, what seemed to be a tattoo peeked out, though it would be hard to make out what it even portrayed. “But then how would I be able to talk about it tomorrow? I can’t be too careful around her.”

  “Good,” the doll spoke with a tinge of satisfaction, pleased with his forethought. “I hope you haven’t lost your sense of taste over the last few years.”

  “No, unfortunately not.” The half-masked fox sighed, before picking up the thin metal spoon provided with the meal and digging into it. “Although sometimes I wish that they took more from me.”

  Sera didn’t respond, simply floating a few feet upwards and scanning the area around them, as she was prone to do. She looked down at her companion and let out a melancholy sigh by the end of her surveillance. His approach into the paired dish of rice and curry was slow, but quickly picked up pace as he acquired a taste for it.

  “Nightlife is afoot,” Sera announced before returning to his bag and using it like a blanket, poking her head out of it. “Do you want to pursue someone tonight?”

  Nikolas shook his head, wolfing down the carryout meal in silence. It wasn’t until he was done with it about ten minutes later that he finally spoke.

  “Can’t afford to get caught up with random stuff tonight,” he shrugged, turning to shove the empty carryout box into one side of his backpack – much to the annoyance of Sera – and leaning back against the slanted tiles.

  “As if you’re going to actually train in magic just because someone else wants to learn.” Sera huffed, crossing her arms and gazing up at the night sky.

  “Right on,” Nikolas replied, smiling sarcastically. “I’m not. Not in the way you want. You can help her with that,” he laid back on the tiles, reattaching the bottom half of his mask and pulling his hood up.

  “Fine, fine!” Sera rolled her eyes at him and sighed. “It’s rare to see you eager to interact with someone else though,” she added after some silence, narrowing her eyes at the resting fox.

  Nikolas glanced over at her gradually, steeling his gaze as they met her eyes. “How well do you know me?”

  “I like to think I know my-” Sera began boasting, but was cut off by the masked fox again.

  “Let me rephrase,” Nikolas adjusted his question. “How well do you know this person?” he asked, tapping the edge of his mask twice.

  “Right… that’s valid.” Sera nodded her head, smiling as she left his question partially unanswered. “Sorry for assuming… you’re just about the only person I get to talk to like this.”

  “… Things have been getting busy lately?” asked Nikolas, inferring from the tone of her voice.

  “They have,” Sera sighed. “Many things are in motion. I might not be able to visit you for a while if they get worse.”

  “It’s alright,” Nikolas replied nonchalantly. “I keep hearing whispers - rumors being passed around. Ideas of a hero from another world assembling his party.”

  “Then you know how bad it’s going to get,” Sera said, looking down. “Whatever you do – stay away from all of it. You aren’t - ” she advised him, but was interrupted halfway.

  “I know. I’m not going to rush in like a blind fool,” Nikolas commented, raising a hand to signal her to stop. “This isn’t my war.”

  Both of them silently watched clouds pass by in the night sky until Sera decided to pull over the top of his backpack and retreat into it, leaving Nikolas to ponder through the night.

  In the dimly lit comfort of her room, Clarisse was scribbling her thoughts into a hard-bound notebook, sitting next to the window in a rocking chair.

  It was part of her daily rituals – and one which she had to catch up on from missing it the other night in the forest – to simply jot a summary of what happened on a given day and how she felt about it. She had been writing for a few minutes by now, filling up the top half of a page and paused to think, re-reading the last paragraph she had written.

  Nickolas is a pretty weird guy. Kind of a shady character, but he helped me so I can’t complain. No clue why he’s always wearing that mask, but it sounds like his friend Seraphim could help me with magic training!! I can’t wait to begin training tomorrow!

  She slowly shut the diary close, getting up to place it back on the shelf. As she turned around, a thought occurred to her and she picked it up again, slipping it into her knapsack to take with her the next day.

  “Cerdiwen, please help me learn quickly…” She muttered a short prayer before lying down onto the modest bed her room could afford to fit, staring at the ceiling blankly. It was a while before exhaustion eventually kicked in and she let her eyes flutter close.

  Thank you for reading!

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