7 Chapter 7: The North

Alice and Braydon chose an escort quest which starts the next morning. While they were still in town, Alice and Braydon visited the tailor again.

"Welcome back, I visited the guild, and let me tell ya, quite the view." The tailor said.

"That was the goal." Braydon said.

"Yeah. Anyway, what are you two here for, more naughty outfits?" He asked.

"Not this time, she wants to try on some dresses to see how she would look in them." Braydon said.

"Usually there would be a fee for such a thing, but given by your 'community services,' I'm willing to let her try on some things for free." The tailor said.

"What do you think will look good?" Alice asked.

"I just make the clothes, not much for the what looks good on who portion of things." He responded.

"I see. Braydon?" Alice asked as she turned to face Braydon.

"Light colors, ice blues, pinks, things of that sort. Black and dark red would also be good." Braydon said as he approached a dress. The dress is white and has a light blue apron attached to the waist area.

The dress has long sleeves. "This one would probably look good. I'll grab a few and you can bring them back for you to change." Braydon said. Alice nodded and waited for him to grab a few outfits.

He moved the white and blue dress onto the counter, then went to choose another. After a few moments, he found a black dress with a dark red pattern. It has strings around the chest area that are dark grey.

The third dress he found is light blue with a mint green secondary color. The fourth, and final, dress he chose is red with black secondary colors which make a floral pattern with the red.

"Alright, those should look good. It's also all I could find in your size." Braydon said as he patted the small pile of dresses. Alice nodded and brought them to the changing room.

She changed into the first one. "What do you think? Cutest thing you've ever seen?" Alice said jokingly. Braydon chuckled.

"It definitely suits you." He said.

"I thought so as well. I do think if the blue was slightly lighter or the green slightly darker it would look better, but overall, pretty good." Alice said. She then went back in and changed into the next outfit

"This feels gothic." Alice said as she came out of the dressing room. "It's just missing the umbrella at this point. I mean, it's not like I'm visually far from a vampire..." Alice said.

"Still, it looks good." Braydon said.

"Agreed. Just not particularly my style. Though I have to say, adding a black cowl may make this a bit better." Alice said as she turned her body a bit and looked at the dress's back.

She changed into the third dress. The light colors meet her skin tone nicely, mixing well, though drawing clear borders between her and the dress. "Hmm, something just seems off about this one." Alice said.

"I agree, maybe it's just missing a bit of decoration?" Braydon said. Alice nodded.

"I think so. A bow with a sash that goes around the waist would look good. Maybe adding a pattern to the dress as well." Alice thought aloud. Braydon nodded in agreement.

"I didn't realize you had a sense of fashion." He said without thinking.

"Well, I don't." She said as she walked over to Braydon. "I just enjoy dressing my characters in whatever is cutest." She whispered into Braydon's ear which caused him to chuckle a bit.

She went and changed into the last dress. "Another semi-gothic dress. It looks good but still is a bit dark for my brand." Alice said.

"I actually like this one a lot more than the rest." Braydon said.

"I can see why. It has a nice pattern and the colors match my features well, it's just not my style." Alice said. Braydon nodded to show his understanding. She went back and changed into her clothes.

"At the end of the day, this is also the most comfortable." Alice said as she closed her eyes a bit as if she were a bit sleepy. "Also, I'm sleepy now." Alice said.

"Alright, let's head back to the inn." Braydon said.

"Carry me, please." Alice said. Braydon sighed and gave Alice a piggyback ride.

"You know you're going to have to walk yourself at some point, right?" He asked. Alice rubbed her face on his back a bit as if to realign her posture in a more comfortable position.

"Never~." She said drowsily. Braydon entered the inn and put Alice in her bed.

"I'll be looking around town for necessities." Braydon said. Alice groaned slightly in response. 'Already asleep, jeez.' He thought.

In the morning, Braydon picked up Alice after making sure he had gathered all of their necessities, then left for the escort mission. Once at the town's edge, he met with the other adventurers that would be on the mission.

"You gonna be okay with the girl on your back?" A tall man asked. Braydon turned to speak to him.

"She'll only be asleep for a bit longer." He said.

"Still, it seems inconvenient." He responded.

"It'll be fine, I just wanted her to get some extra sleep since we'll be traveling." Braydon said.

"I mean, I get it, but isn't she also taking this quest?" He asked. Braydon nodded. "So shouldn't she get used to taking things more seriously?" He asked.

"She knows when she needs to take things seriously." Braydon said as he turned to face the caravan they'll be escorting. "Just hope she doesn't have to take anything seriously." He added as he walked to the caravan.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The adventurer mumbled. After finding a place for Alice to rest, Braydon helped the caravan prepare for their journey. Once they had finished their preparations and everyone was ready, they left and Braydon sat next to Alice, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

After a few hours, Alice began to wake up. She opened her eyes slightly as the wagon shook a bit. "Are we already on the road?" She asked drowsily.

"Yeah." Braydon said. Alice stretched in a listless manner as she sat up. She yawned as she relaxed her body a bit.

"Alright, I'll take a walk to wake up a bit." Alice said as she jumped off of the wagon and effortlessly kept up with it.

'Seriously, we are going at least forty-eight kilometers per hour.' Braydon thought as he observed Alice. After a few minutes, Alice jumped back onto the wagon and sat down. "Have a good walk?" Braydon asked.

"Yeah." Alice said. "I'm going to keep an eye on our surroundings." She said. Braydon nodded. Alice spread a thin layer of mana around herself and swiftly realized an issue she hadn't thought about. Constant movement.

'Hmm, how do I solve this issue... It's not as simple as having the mana follow me, mana itself still takes time to move and gather, which means I need to create some sort of gravitational center, similar to how galaxies work.' Alice thought as she manipulated her mana to form a circle of mana spread thinly that is spinning like a hypnotic spiral, using herself as the center.

She started off small, only encompassing an area of three feet as a test. On the small scale, it worked, so she began to spread her influence, however, her mana quickly failed to keep up with her and fell behind the group.

'Perhaps I am thinking about it in the wrong way... Instead of gravity, think of it as a disk that requires an anchor of sorts to allow inertia to take effect. If I think of myself as an anchor, I should be able to keep the mana attached to my body.

Once again, she spread her mana around her, however, this time she thought of the mana as a physical object that could only move as much as the center of its mass, which in this case is her.

It seemed to work on the small scale, so she spread her mana a bit more and it continued to work. She spread her mana over an area of a half-mile. (Radius of a circle)

As Alice spread her mana, one of the mages in the group felt a shiver go down her spine as she felt a thin layer of mana envelop the area around her. She quickly looked for the source and her eyes settled on Alice, who is currently focusing on her search magic.

She sped up her horse and went up next to Alice. "Excuse me." She said. Upon hearing these words, Alice's focus broke and her mana field broke. She glared at the mage.

"What?" She asked with an annoyed tone. The mage jumped slightly as Alice's eyes seemed to pierce through her.

"I was just... Wondering if the mana I felt was yours..." She said hesitantly. Alice sighed as she realigned her head's rotation to the front of her body.

"It was. I have been developing a magic to sense things within a certain area." Alice explained.

"I don't think that's possible. To begin with, that would require an immense amount of mana and just isn't practical." The mage said.

"It's only impractical to most people." Alice said as she adjusted her seating position slightly to the left and looked at the mage. "Think of me as an exception. It's practical for me, and likely only a handful of others." Alice said.

"That would imply that the amount of mana you possess surpasses even the current court magician of the king." She responded with disbelief.

"I don't have time for this, I need to focus, go away." Alice said, recognizing that the current topic is not worth the debate.

"Right..." The mage said as she moved back to her original position. Once again, Alice focused and formed the mana layer, ensuring that she can sense the presence of any living being.