Lionade (part 1)

Ch. XIX - Lionade (Elice)

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It was around the beginning of noon. The sun is already rising quite high, but it's not above our heads just yet.

Our carriage finally stopped at a large human city. It was indeed large, but it's not as big as the capital. One can easily tell the difference between this city and the capital.

The buildings here are rather simple. The design, the material, they looked much simpler than the ones at the capital. The sizes are also not that large. There's not that many two story buildings, so the things surrounding the road were mostly just short houses turned shops.

As we walk in this town, I've been keeping an eye out. I don't always stand out like this when I am hiding by myself, and Rake probably doesn't know that. But having him here protecting me can also mean that nobody will be able to hurt me at all.

Of course, only idiots would assume that. Even Rake himself is looking out while being under his hood.

"We need to be more hidden."

I said to him slightly whispering, but he shook his head.

"Not yet. We need to make our presence slightly known."

"And what? Get the knights to hunt us down?"

Rake didn't answer that one, and he suddenly began walking further. I followed behind him with this nasty feeling on me.

What if this is his destination? What if he wants to take me to this place? To give me to someone who wants me?

"What is this place anyway…?"

I finally gathered enough courage to ask him about it, and to my surprise, he answered.

"Lionade. A city far on the northside of Ardjestyn."

N-North of Ardjestyn…?

I am so far away from home…

"Why are we in the north?"

"Because there are less knights here that are looking for ethelens."

Oh… right. The hunt is still going.

Even now, two days after that night, the knights of Ardjestyn are probably still hunting any leftover ethelens that survived. To find and kill them, of course.

They will focus on the southern cities more, because Velborn is located in the south. So it's very stupid if we go towards the south again, because there will be more knights there than here.

This is good. There will be no one suspecting an ethelen to be here. That was probably his reason for coming here.

But then, why is he making our presence slightly known? We're purposely walking in the middle of the street right now, it's like we're asking to be stopped by a guard for being suspicious.

I was about to ask again, but then Rake suddenly stopped. I nearly bumped into him, and I barked slightly angrily.

"Hey, why did you--"

I followed his gaze, which is towards a nearby shop stall that sells masks.

Masks…? Was it for me?

"We could use some masks."

Rake said with a slight grin on his face, and I can't help but feel wild from it. It's something about his silent behavior and his handsome face, and then suddenly smiling like that, it's just weirding me out.

Not that I hate it, but it's still weird.

"Don't smile like that."

"… Huh?"

Of course he is confused, why did I even bother?

Rake ignored me and began walking towards the mask shop owner. The owner gave a really high price, and Rake even took his time to bargain.

He purposely made himself slightly known, which was probably his goal the entire time.

Why is he making our presence known…?

After buying the masks, he wore one and gave one to me.

"I can't wear this… my horn."

I said while touching my forehead, where my horns are. It's going to bump with the mask, and I won't be able to wear it.

He saw the short horn on top of my head underneath the hood, and he placed his hand on his chin.

"In that case…"

Rake then forcibly placed the mask on my face. I was quite startled by that, so I tried pushing him away.

"What's your problem!?"

"H-Hey, stay still."

Why is he forcing it without saying a word…?

But then I saw his other hand that is not holding the mask, and I can see his fingers glowing.

Was he trying to… cut the mask?

"I need to know where I have to make the hole. So stay still…"

He is so bad at telling stuff, holy mother.

He placed the mask again in my face, and this time I didn't fight it. He began carving a hole on the mask, allowing my horn to pop out from that hole.

"Don't cut my horn."

"I won't."

I trusted him, so I won't budge. He continued with the work, and after a while, he did it. Two small round pieces of the mask have been carved out, allowing my horn to pop out from it.

I tried touching the horn, and it seems that the horn has successfully fit on the hole. I can wear the mask normally.

Rake seemed to be studying my horns that is popping out from my mask, and I knew he was going to make a stupid comment.

"Your small horn makes it cuter."

"Say something like that again--"

"I'm kidding."

He definitely bought a cute cat mask just so he can mess with me, while he bought himself a sick skeleton mask.

I hate him. 

I hate him. I hate him.

"Let's keep on moving."

I said to change the topic, and we began walking again. Rake as always is leading the move, and we kept on stopping at places to buy some things for me.

The first thing I needed was a new set of clothes. I will need a lot of them, since the ones back at the castle are probably in ruins due to the attack. So Rake bought so many sets for me, while I'm the one choosing it because I can't trust an antisocial person like him, who I bet has never dated a girl before, to pick girl clothes.

The second thing was weapons. Rake thought I would need something to protect myself, so we stopped by at a weapons store and bought me some weaponry. I asked whether or not I needed any armor, and Rake said I don't since he will probably be with me most of the time. But he bought a set for me just in case, alongside other adventuring materials.

I kept them within my own magic storage ring that somehow survived. The ring is capable of storing items inside it due to the storage magic that is placed on it. Everyone has an item like this since they are rather common and cheap.

The bad news is, my ring can only store so many items. It will get full very quickly with all these new items that we just bought.

So we stopped by at a magic tools shop, and he got me a storage bracelet. The difference between a storage ring and bracelet is that a bracelet is obviously much larger in size than a ring. No matter how high the quality of the ring is, a bracelet will always be larger.

Now I can keep anything I want inside this. I can even keep a house in it.

Exaggeration, no way a house can fit.

Also this is a magic tools shop. And since I am a geek for magic, obviously my eyes turned green at everything. But Rake has red eyes, so obviously he will try to stop me.

And so… the argument began.