Geotopia!

After leaving the cafe, the two of them managed to find a light magician that could heal Alenia's wounds, before buying a pair of horses. Even though Alenia wanted to look around town a little more, they left shortly after they bought the horses. Letting the horses run swiftly down the road until they grew tired, Alenia and Thufrat traveled at a very fast pace. Only stopping to eat, let the horses rest and sleep, the two kept traveling.

Like this, 15 days quickly passed. On the road, as usual, both Alenia and Thufrat were bored out of their minds. During the past 15 days, the only entertainment they had was each other, and as a result, they grew closer to each other. The road they traveled on was still the same old road made out of dirt, but with each day that passed, it seemed to get bigger and more crowded. Though the word crowded was a little misleading considering that they only met people with more than half an hour in-between.

It was already noon, and the biting cold wind was burrowing into their very souls as they traveled at fast speeds atop their horses. Even though they had bought warmer clothes in a town on the way, when they traveled at such speeds, the cold was close to unbearable. Alenia had it easier than Thufrat, considering how she was adept in the use of wind magic, but she was still cold nonetheless.

As they traveled, they could see the vague outline of something massive on the horizon. Thufrat was immediately excited when he saw this, he knew exactly what this signified. They had finally arrived at the border of Geotopia! After 15 whole days of travel, they had finally made it here! Thufrat was a little astonished at how fast it took for him to get here, but considering that his originaly estimate was made with normal horses in mind, it made sense.

He couldn't help but think about the red eyes of the majestic wolf he called his friend just a while back, and his desire to help his friend burned stronger than ever. He had no idea how he was supposed to get such a favor from The Heavenly Beast Master, but there had to be a way, and he would figure it out later.

As they drew closer, the outline turned out to be a massive wall. This wall stretched as far as Thufrat's eyes could see, and it was simply massive. Built out of stone and towering in height, Thufrat felt insignificant in front of it. More and more people appeared on the road, eager to cross the border to Geotopia. Even though it was dubbed the 6th strongest kingdom, that was only in size and military strength, the living conditions in Geotopia was a lot better compared to most countries. This was mostly because their economy was flourishing, and with large amounts of money flowing through the country, its rapid development and good living conditions were attractive to a lot of commoners and nobles alike.

Now, where did all this money come from you ask? Simple, alchemy. Geotopia was renowned for its top-class alchemists, and alchemy was a very lucrative field since a life-saving potion would be essential if you wanted to be an adventurer, at least for most people. Alchemy wasn't an easy job though, and achieving high attainments in alchemy wasn't just some random walk in the park, it took incredible amounts of dedication and perseverance, and in most cases, money.

Getting across the border was different from getting into a city, and it took almost half an hour for Thufrat and Alenia to go from the back of the line and into geotopia. After entering Geotopia, Thufrat and Alenia didn't stick around for long before they kept traveling, with the capital in their sights. Alenia was actually quite nervous about this whole ordeal. Telling one of her mom's friends about her death wasn't going to be easy.

In the beginning, they noticed nothing special about Geotopia compared to all of the kingdoms they had passed through on the way here, but after a while, their views were starting to change. The natural lush green forests and vibrant wildlife was something of the likes Thufrat and Alenia had never seen before. Almost all of the villagers and people they passed by seemed pretty content with their lives. The jovial atmosphere and beautiful landscape were very refreshing, and the feeling it generated was very hard to describe.

Unfortunately for them, the capital was pretty far away from the border, and there was no way they were going to arrive today. They still traveled with regular breaks and arrived in a very small city as night decided to cast its shade. After checking into an inn, they ate some food in the biggest restaurant in the small city and called it a day. Throughout their journey across multiple countries, Alenia and Thufrat had stumbled upon both misfortune and fortune.

Battling magical beasts and bandits alike, they had both earned quite a large sum of money, as well as valuable combat and life experiences. Trust was something that you didn't give many people in this world. It was just a cold harsh truth that you were going to get used and abused if you didn't look out for yourself and trusted the wrong people. Although that was true, it just made the value of true trust in this world shoot through the roof, something Alenia and Thufrat had slowly built up over time.

Along with this trust, Thufrat had noticed that his feelings had built up considerably as well. Even though that was the case, he had no intention of confessing these feelings or letting them out. He was determined to keep them to himself. He had been hurt by such feelings before, and he didn't feel like getting hurt again. The only thing that he told himself was "One day" and nothing more.

After getting back to the inn, they both went into their separate rooms, and quickly fell asleep, or at least Thufrat did. The inn was one of the finest establishments of the small city and was also one of the tallest buildings. Alenia had snuck up onto the roof of the building and was gazing at the stars. Although the night sky was incredibly breathtaking, all Alenia could feel was pain. Looking at such a sight, she wished her mom could see it with her. Tears ran down her cheeks incessantly. She tried to be strong, she really did, but she just couldn't...