Cities Advancement

"*huff* *huff* Damn it Alicia *huff* why did you have to run like that! We had just finished sparring, I don't have loads of natural stamina like you or long legs like Vera!" Ignis shouts and drops to the floor once again in exhaustion.

"Hahaha don't worry too much Ignis you have come a long way in the last couple of months!" Alicia says grinning, trying to cheer up her demoralised friend/knight.

Alicia then looks over at Vera, who doesn't seem to be struggling to much. She kept up easily in part to her long legs and part to her stamina that she built up hunting as a wolf.

"Hmmmm but you do indeed have really long beautiful legs Vera… Meh I'm not jealous! I am sure I will have super long legs when I grow up as well kukuku…"

"Th-Thank you Lady Alicia…" Vera was caught off guard by her master's sudden praise and looked down while blushing slightly.

"But Alicia, I thought you were already a mature Dragon? So you can't grow much more then you alre…"

"*sniffle*" Just as Ignis was about to finish her sentence, a snivelling noise enters her ears. She looks over to where it was coming from, only to see Alicia staring back at her with teary angry eyes.

Behind her was Vera trying to signal to her not to carry on talking and to amend what she said. If she didn't, they could be in for an angry tantrum from their master.

"… I mean you are right Alicia, give it a few more years and I am sure that you will be just as tall as Vera…" Ignis says with a deadpan face and tone, which really worried Vera because she thought that Alicia would think she was making fun of her but…

"… Hehe you are right Ignis! A few more years and I shall be super tall and elegant just like Mother!"

Vera's fears turned out to be for naught as Alicia did not notice the lack of seriousness in Ignis' voice, or maybe it was better for Alicia to just tell herself that she will get taller…

"Aaaanyway my Lady, we are getting off track again so let us be on our way to the Guild." Vera says trying to steer everyone to the place they were supposed to be going to.

"Hmmm? Ah, you are right, come on Ignis let's get going!" Alicia begins to try and drag Ignis up to get them moving again.

"Uuuuuu just a few more minutes rest, I am only just starting to get my breathing back to normallllll!" Ignis says as she gets dragged along by her collar of her clothing.

Ignis was wearing the new armour that was recently given to her. She had plate armour that protected her chest, shoulders and had plate lined boots on that went up to her knees. Underneath the boots she had thigh high socks on, which exposed a little bit of skin above it before the corset type clothing, that covered the top half of her body, began. Also on her hands were some leather gloves that helped her grip her sword, that was sheathed at her side, and her shield, which was attached to her back.

"*sigh* we are going to get there eventually right?" Vera says to herself as they enter the city and head towards the guild.

Vera herself was wearing some new armour that was made for her. Like Ignis she had metal plates protecting the same places. Though underneath the plates was a black body suit that covered the rest of her, which showed off her healthy body. Over the top of it all, she wore a long sleeveless black overcoat with its collar lined with the fur of a certain now deceased wolf…

"Wooooow, this place sure has gotten more lively in the last couple of months. Mother is going to be super surprised hehe." Alicia says as she goes through the streets towards the Guild which was in the east side of the city.

"Hehe you can't catch me!" (Werewolf Child)

"Quick, get her!" (Kitsune child)

"Na, na, na na, naaaa!" (Werewolf Child)

Children, both Fire Kitsunes and what are now Shadow Werewolves (Formerly the Cursed Wolves), are playing out in the street together. It was a big improvement that happened over the two-month period. Vera was of course a Werewolf now too, though her race title was [Shadow Werewolf Chieftainess].

Now that Georg had died as well as all of his loyal hunters, after a little bit of hesitation, they began to get along rather well. The Kitsunes understood that the wolves that were left did not want to attack them in the first place, but they could not disobey Georg due to his power.

"Hehe it's rather nice isn't it, seeing everyone get along now after originally being quite nervous." Alicia turned and said to her two knights with a happy smile.

"Indeed, I couldn't have even imagined a scenario like this a few months ago. Things have really changed." (Vera)

"Right! When we first met you guys, I never imagined the children from each of our races playing and talking like this." (Ignis)

They both said with warm smiles on there faces, as they watched the children happily playing their game of tag in a carefree manner.

"Hehehe, can't catch meee-Urghh…" (Werewolf Child) "Hahaha right! Let's keep goin-Urgh" (Alicia)

Alicia, caught unaware that the child was barrelling towards her without looking, gets the wind knocked out of her as small she-wolf rams into her back and knocks her over.

The child lands on top of Alicia's back and so her fall is cushioned by Alicia, who is now faced down in the dirt.

"Hmmm? Wat was dat? The small werewolf sits up on top of Alicia's back and looks around confused as to why she fell over, until she looks down and sees the flattened Alicia.

Although the Werewolf was a child, they are normally quite naturally strong from being young, with the exception of Noa of course. So the force of the child running full force into the unprepared and unsuspecting Alicia, easily led to this situation.

"Ahh! I'm swuper sowy miss…" Seeing that she had knocked she jumped off and said her apologies.

Alicia slowly got off the floor, wiped the dirt off her clothes and hair and then turned to the child with a smile.

"Hehe it's okay kid, that's a hell of a tackle! You have potential! I am sure you can become a great warrior, not a lot of creatures can knock over a great being like me hahaha! Come Ignis and Vera we have to leave hahaha!" Alicia shouted and laughed, trying to cover up the fact that she was flattened by a child.

"*sigh* Sorry about that, you okay?" Ignis says to the child before they leave.

The child nods vigorously in response to the question.

"Hehehe she's swuper fwunny!" The child gives a big smile and says.

Ignis and Vera tell her to be careful and look where she is going when running, then the child runs off to go play with her friends again.

"Hmm our Lady handled that quite well…" (Vera)

"I know, Alicia is surprisingly good with kids…" (Ignis)

The two then run to catch up with Alicia who had speedily walked away to hide her embarrassment.

Once they caught up, they decided to have a quick look at a place before they continued on to the Adventurers Guild. The place that Alicia wanted to stop and take a look at was the old forge that was used to make weapons and armours.

Since Aura had moved into the castle, she had spent a lot of time in the library between resting and advising me. What she had found was quite amazing, there was books containing knowledge on just about any subject. More than that, they were magic books that transferred the knowledge on how to read them which allowed just about any intelligent creature to understand the contents.

Some of the Kitsunes and Werewolves, that were interested in crafting, were allowed to enter the library to read some of the books on blacksmithing and other relevant crafting books. Now after a month and a bit of practice, some of the more naturally talented potential smiths had become able to make some usable weapons and use the now rebuilt forge to hone their new craft. The knowledge of understanding the written words in these books were passed around to everyone in the city, so everyone could now understand the written word.

Alicia and co. wanted to pop their heads in the door to see how they were doing but…

*Clang* *Clang*

"You think you can out do me! Not a chance watch this!" (Male Voice)

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

"I don't think I can out do you! I know I can!" (Female voice)

*Clang* *Clang*

A rather heated competition seemed to be going on, so they decided to come by again later when they were not so busy.

They continued to walk through the large streets towards the Guild. Saying hello to people as they passed by and checking how they were doing.

Some of them even gave Alicia some small offerings of food once they recognised her. Which Alicia, of course, accepted and gulped down in no time at all, drawing warm smiles and laughter at her satisfied face once she ate.

Finally though, they arrived at the Guild which was rather busy. There were Kitsunes and Werewolves bringing in fruits and foods that they had gathered from outside the walls. There were also a few young hunters that were bringing in some small creatures that they had hunted, they were not experienced enough to take on bigger and more powerful creatures yet.

We walked through the double doors to go into the Guild. There were a couple of people sat around resting for a little bit before going out to gather or hunt again. But there were also a few who were standing next to a big board with a few pieces of bark, with writing on them, stuck to it.

The writing on them was small requests to gather certain things in the plains or near the edges of the forest. They would then take the request to a receptionist-like person who was stood at the front desk, at the moment the receptionist was a Kitsune gentleman, they would then record who took the request.

Within the library there was also a few books on how the Adventurer Guild in this city worked. This gave Alicia and Terre the idea to try and rebuild that organisation here. The books said the main purpose of the Guild was to help the citizens of the place they are based. This was done by having them give requests to the Guild, with a reward for those who complete it. Members of the Guild, beings called "Adventurers", would then voluntarily accept these requests.

Alicia's territory was not at a stage where they can act exactly like the Guild of old yet. Many creatures in the city could not take on powerful monsters, excluding a few like Alicia.

Alicia, Ignis and Vera then, after checking out the Guild, went up the stairs to Terre's temporary office.

"Hmmmm… so if we prioritise this request then this should…" (Cute voice)

"Indeed, you are learning very quickly…" (Calm Voice)

As they approached the room, they could here the voices of two people that they knew very well by this point. Alicia runs up to the room and swings open the door…

"Terreeee! I have come for our little meeting!" Alicia runs into the room with a big grin on her face, she was planning something.

The Dragon girl looked at the hardworking Terre who was in the middle of teaching a certain Werewolf…

"Ohhhh… was someone not prepared for our meeting… I can't believe it the always ready Terre had completely forgot about our meeting!" Alicia said dramatically, trying to get a rise out of Terre.

"Fufufu not at all my Lady, I have all the preparations for our meeting here…" Terre put down some paper on the table she was using as her desk. She had managed to find some blank magic paper, so she was using it for important writings.

"Urghhh… that's a lot of preparation… I don't have to read it all right?" Alicia's mischievous glint in her eyes turned into one of desperation.

"… As much as I would love to do that, I fear we do not have enough time to try and force you to read something. So not to worry I shall be reading the plans to you." Terre says with a smile on her face, satisfied with her master's reaction.

Vera and Ignis walk past the two and approach the young-looking Werewolf stood slightly behind Terre.

"Heyy Noa, how's the studying under Terre going?" (Ignis)

"It's actually really quite fun, I may actually be able to do something useful to help sis and payback you, Alicia and Terre for saving me. It's a dream really!" Noa says and gives a smile so dazzling it was hard for Ignis and Vera to look at.

"*Whisper* Vera, why is your brother cuter then most girls?*Whisper*" (Ignis)

"*Whisper* He takes after our mother almost completely.*Whisper*" (Vera)

"Right then everybody, shall we begin our meeting for the Lady Petra's return to the city. Noa, we shall continue our lessons next time." Noa nods then begins to move the paper and bark, that they use to write on, to the side. Terre then spreads out some of her written plans on the desk...

"Okay then this is what I was thinking…" Terre then began to explain her idea's.

The time has soon arrived.