12. Visiting Zetsuya

A fine day with clear skies, a bustling place on the frontier is called Zetsuya a city placed the furthest among other human cities.

On the front gates a carriage is being inspected, it has three occupants and the carriage is being pulled by a single horse with a white fur and good form.

" Halt! We're gonna do an inspection if you don't mind." said the guard as he frowns looking at the cargo and asks, " Is that fruit?"

And Tomoe taking the role as an escort said, " That it is, is there a problem?" as she place one hand on her hips.

" Oh, sorry, I was just surprised since people only come here for resources or to train, so this sort of cargo is rare." and the guard let them through.

Going back the time for a bit.

[flashback]

Ema entered along with a dwarven craftsman at Ei's command.

" I have brought the craftsman you need Shogun-sama."

Ei nodded and said, " Good work Ema, you may go back with your usual duties."

" Yes Shogun-sama, I shall do so." Ema bowed and left to continue her logistics work.

" Greetings Shogun-sama, may I ask what I can do for you?" The dwarf with a monocle on his right eye asked politely, curious what Ei's request was.

" I require your abilities craftsman, a cloak that will conceal me yet will not look out of place and a mask to hide my face and also able to distort my voice a bit. Can you accomplish this?" asks Ei to the dwarven craftsman.

With a confident nod and a fist on his chest, the dwarf said " Yes Shogun-sama, I shall make the items per your requirements."

" Umu, thank you. You may go back now craftsman, take your time making my requested items."

A few days later and the dwarven craftsman showed his creations to Ei, a cloak with enchantments for blending in and a mask that covers the whole face with no holes since it is enchanted for the wearer to see anyways and enchanted to distort the voice so that no one can tell if the voice is male or female.

The cloak is dyed with colors that doesn't stand out otherwise the enchantments will only be half effective, Tomoe told Ei to have this two items due to Ei's beauty and even though the Hyumans are all naturally beautiful Ei with combined physical beauty and her temperament makes her at the upper half in the top most beautiful list.

So both Tomoe and Mio tried to make up of a background for Ei as to why she wears a cloak and a mask, in the end they settle in on a background story about being a daughter of a merchant and her beauty was envied by a daughter of a powerful family and she caused Ei to be 'cursed' and the merchant father used his money to make a special cloak and mask for his 'cursed' daughter so that she can still interact with people and he hired a bodyguard for protection and an assistant to care for his daughter's everyday needs.

Ei understands Tomoe's concern and accepted the fake background knowing that it will limit her actions though in public and it doesn't mean she will pretend as a weak lady, and Tomoe agrees to Ei's arrangement that in public Ei is a proficient and powerful archer so that Ei could still practice her archery.

[back to the present]

" So Master what's the plan?" asks Tomoe who's posing as a Samurai bodyguard to deter any people with bad intentions to their group.

" Mio and I will take a survey to the prices on the market to make sure we won't sell this fruits too high or too low, you on the other hand will continue to be a bodyguard. After that we will go to the Adventurer's Guild." Ei states in a distorted voice.

" Going to each stall? That sounds tiresome." Tomoe complains and Ei replied, " You made this background of mine so you have to deal with it." as Ei laugh a bit and Tomoe sags a bit.

On an alley a little girl wearing a cloak with some dirt on her face could be seen crying while thinking, '... big sis you idiot, you knew it would turn out like this one day...'

Suddenly, a hand landed on the little girl's shoulder startling her and the owner of that hand said, " There's nowhere for a kid to run away out here." then the girl turned to the owner of the hand and she glares at him.

" No need to glare at me like that. Relax, you're a clever kid, just put in an effort and you'll be fine." The guy tries to convince and finally tells her, " Don't you want to save your sister? What happens to your sister is up to you, so do you wanna hear my offer?"