Chapter 13

"Once again, thank you very much for letting us stay," I heartily said.

"No, we should be the one thanking you!"

"Thank you for showing us magic, miss elf!"

"We hope you have a safe trip!"

Early in the morning, we went to say our goodbyes to the chief and some of the people we got acquainted with in the village. They all sent us off with smiles on their faces, probably because we acted friendly and even paid them for letting us stay. Well, I'm sure their opinion on nobles have probably went up as well after meeting Fin. Fin wasn't exactly too friendly, but he was not hostile to them either. They most likely took his neutral attitude towards them as a welcome thing.

Then, once again, we continued on our path towards the next town.

Fin was acting a bit strange because of what happened yesterday, but I'm sure he'll be able to get over it soon. Still, it felt uncomfortable that he wasn't saying anything and bothering me like he always does. It came out forced, but I decided to up start a conversation...

"By the way, are you planning on becoming an adventurer in the future? Or do you want to work as a mage for the royal army?"

"After I graduate from the academy, I'm thinking of getting some experience as an adventurer. However, my goal in the future is to become one of the royal army mages, and if I'm capable, I would like to compete for the rank of court mage."

"I see... In a decade or two, you could possibly do it..."

"Do you really think so, Eria-sama?"

"If you keep on training, you definitely can."

"I heard that the current court mage can cast advance-level magic. Given that I want to take his position in the future, I need to be capable of such a feat too..."

"Goodluck, Fin! I'm sure you can do it!" I gave him a thumbs up, reassuring him.

"Eria-sama...!" as always, Fin calls out my name when I touch his heartstrings.

"Fufufu! If you become a court mage, the king will let you marry a princess. The first princess is only reserved for heroes, but I'm sure it's still a good deal! I heard the princesses here are a busty bunch!"

"That's not exactly what I'm aiming for..."

"Hmm? Isn't it every man's goal to marry a princess?" I snickered at him.

"That might be true, but I can't say I'm the same..."

"Ah! I know! You must be one of those people who don't care about those kind of things and only wants to be recognized by the kingdom and be written in history books or something? I won't insult your intentions, but... Pfft! Lame..." I silently sneaked in the last part, making sure he wouldn't hear.

"Eria-sama..." Fin stared at me with disgust.

"Cough, cough...! It's a nice goal, a very nice goal to have, indeed," I fixed my words, thinking he might've heard what I said. "Let's get a move on now, shall we?"

Without interruptions, we continued on.

Along the way, we encountered a battalion of soldiers marching on the road. They have a few wagons with them, but most of them were walking on foot. I wanted to ask what they were up to, but it looked as though they were busy with something, so I did not intrude on their way.

Since we're going on the same direction, we were able to keep up with them. I thought we should slow down, since I felt awkward moving ahead in front of an army of soldiers. However, Fin won't have that, so we kept our pace just the same.

"Excuse me, our commander wanted to ask the two of you a few questions."

Just as I feared, us walking ahead of them caused a small issue. The entire battalion of them halted, and a soldier riding a horse came up to us and asked us to come with him to his leader.

"I'm sorry, but we're busy," Fin answered, without a bit of fear or nervousness in his voice.

"What!? How insolent of you! To refuse... I-I see, I'm sorry, noble-sama, but it would trouble me if you were to refuse..." realizing that Fin was a noble, the soldier instantly changed his tone and starts to speak nervously, "Our commander only wishes to ask a few questions for you and this young lady here. I guarantee, it won't take too long of your time."

"What do you think, Eria-sama?"

"I think it wouldn't hurt if they only want to ask us a few questions."

"If you say so," Fin accepts, "Then, go on," he confirms to the knight.

"Yes! Please follow me!"