Arriving in Lofinium

After receiving the token that is supposed to serve as our proof of completion from the unwilling merchant, Lia and I head towards the Guild. Julius and his party follow behind us as they are heading to the Guild with the same goal in mind. Seems like Marcus still can't see as he nearly trips over himself a couple of times, serves him right for what he tried doing. I can't really wrap my head around the idea of not just killing him, but Lia says I should try not to be harsh. I don't completely agree with it but so I won't openly kill him in front of the rest of his party, but if I happen to catch him alone in an alley or backstreet then I can't be blamed if an accident happens.

It only took about ten minutes before our two groups arrive at the Lofinium Guild Branch. As we approach the counter, the quest is processed without any problems, but as Lia goes off to find a quest we can use to explore the area, I hang around a nearby table with a few questions in my head.

The technology level is identifiably lower than on Earth, yet in some areas, it is just as good or better. The way information is carried between the Guild Branches feels similar to somehow it was done on Earth, but with the lack of things like phones and computers, I'm not sure how they send information between the different branches. I can only assume it's because of magic or something similar.

{You would be right to assume that.} I hear Lia say in my head.

{Do you know how it works? And if the Guild can send information like this, then why doesn't everyone use it?}

{The reason is pretty simple, not everyone has access to it. Much like the Elemental Roots that you covet so much, the Adventurers Guild also has a Root, but not an Elemental one. They have what is called an Arcane Root. I've never seen the original thing but from what I heard it is essentially a large sphere surrounded by a shell and has a nearly endless supply of mana. Breaking off small parts of the shell and engraving runes into them the can give each part a different purpose, and over time the shell regenerates albeit slowly. Some of the things the torn off parts can do are stuff like scanning your status when you first joined the Guild or sharing information between the branches. As far as I am aware, there are only three groups that have possession of an Arcane Root, the obvious one is the Guild, then there's our current location the Lausiel Empire, and lastly, there is the Arcane Federation.}

{I wonder what would happen if I ate an Arcane Root? Would I unlock something new again?}

{Why is it that after I explain all that to you, the first thing you think of is eating an Arcane Root? Anyway, I found a few decent quests to take. It will take us around the city, so it is a good choice for exploring the city and its surrounding area. We'll mostly just be running some errands for some of the townsfolk.}

{I've been wondering for a few minutes now, but why do we even have to take quests to look around and explore anyways? Wouldn't it be faster for us to just to split up and look around without doing any quests?}

{Yeah, it would be faster. However, getting the job done quicker means we have to return to Mount Dragsprear sooner and less time I get to spend alone with you.}

{Well, I don't dislike nor mind spending time with you. So I guess we can take some use a bit more time to get the job done.}

On the contrary, I enjoy getting to spend more time with you.

{Mhm, I knew it would go like this, so Let's head up to the counter to accept these quests.}

Taking a closer look at the quest we accepted as we leave the Guild, I find it difficult to call them anything other than running simple errands. A blacksmith needs someone to pick up the ore he ordered, finding some noble's pet cat, and all sorts of other miscellaneous chores.

The quest we took can be divided into two groups, those that take place within the city and those that involve us leaving the city. To start with, we work on the quest that can be done without us having to leave the city as they are both closer to us and simpler to do.

Although I said the quests within the city were closer, that's only relative to the ones that take us to the area outside of the city. Lia seemed to have chosen specifically chosen quests that had a long walk between locations. I'm starting to get a better grasp on the hows and whys of what she does... and I am by no means dissatisfied with it. All this slow walking around is a little cumbersome when I could just run around and get things done much faster and have more time to sleep, but this is fine too. Thanks to this slow pace, we take almost eight hours to get all but one of the quests done. Having arrived in the city at an hour past the sunrise, it is now almost time for dinner as we walk towards the hillside manor of the noble whose cat went missing.

Having been allowed through the gate after showing the quest papers we begin walking towards the front door of the manor as Lia rubs her back, complaining about how it hurts after walking around for so long.

"Maybe if you didn't have those big mounds then your back wouldn't hurt so much."

"I get the feeling those words have no positive feelings behind them. Say, if you're so concerned about your bust size, why don't you change it? Isn't that skill you have called a shapeshift?"

"You think I haven't tried that already? No matter what I do, I can't change the size of my chest. Although the System says shapeshift, it is more in like a transformation. I don't really have much say in the way I look."

Feeling a little dejected over the topic, I just heave out a sigh as we arrive at the door of the manor and an old butler guides us in. From the outside, the manor looked quite nice, and the inside looks just as I would expect it to. Fancy paintings hanged on a few of the walls, some nice looking pottery standing on display in other areas, and a well carpeted floor.

The old butler eventually leads us to a spacious room with lavish decorations lining the walls. In the room's centre is a long table with an expensive looking sofa on both sides of the table. Having us take a seat on one of the sofas, an aged man who I presume to be the one who put the quest up walks in with a child right behind him.

Following Lia's lead, we stand and introduce ourselves to the noble duo.

The two take a seat opposite of us, as the aged man introduces himself, "I am Valerius Laevinus, Dux of the Laevinus province. This here is my grandson, Tiberius. As I am sure you've guessed, it was I who put up the quest for the missing cat, but it was on the behalf of my grandson. The cat's name is Felis, we bought her as a kitten to serve as a playmate for Tiberius and the two have never been separated until now. When we were travelling back here from a visit to the Capital, we were attacked by bandits as we neared home and in the confusion, Felis, who had helped fend off the bandits, went missing. Tiberius has been saddened ever since she went missing, so I hope you two can find her."

Getting a playmate for a young child, understandable, assisting in fighting off bandits, now that is questionable.

"Can we have some more information on what your cat looks like and how old she is?" I ask

"Of course. Felis is almost two years old now. She is only a little smaller than you are Miss Cordelia and--"

"I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude and interrupt you, Sir, but what kind of cat is this we're talking about? Being two year old yet also being close to Cory's height, who is tall even for Dragonoids, is a little concerning." Lia asks.

"Oh yes, I did forget to mention this, didn't I? Felis is a Sabre-toothed Lynx. She has grey and white fur and blue eyes."

Even I'm not sure if something that big and dangerous should be kept around small children, and that's saying something.

The old man rambles on for a bit until we found a good chance to end the conversation, having already received the information we needed a while ago. Seeing how late it was, we decide to head over to the Guild and turn in all the other quests we complete before heading to an inn to call it a day.

In a strange burst of speed, Lia managed to run past me and pays off a room before I can even enter the inn. Entering the room Lia got, I quickly find out why she ran ahead as she did. The room only has a single large bed. Despite how tired she claimed to have been, she still managed to pull off a stunt like this. But as I am both unwilling to fight over it and kind of maybe not totally dissatisfied with sharing a bed with her, I get in. As usual, Lia makes sure to get close to me as we rest up for the night, so we're ready to go looking for this giant cat tomorrow.