Planning complete!

Liam felt a sudden brightness flash into his eyes, which caused him to wake up from his slumber. He groaned and turned his body to the opposite side, his back facing the window and his face was away from the light.

"Oh, you're awake!"He heard someone talking to him."I didn't expect a simple trick could wake you up."

Liam turned around to see who he was but when he turned around the sunlight flashed into his eyes, causing him to blink a few times. When he was used to the light, he saw Leo standing by the window, his hands were tying the curtain to the side.

When he was done, he looked back and saw Liam staring at him with his sleepy eyes.

"Good Morning! Earlier than usual I see."He said with his usual friendly smile.

"Good morning..."Liam said, sleepily but soon his eyes shut down again."Good night..."

"Hey! Don't go back to sleep! I'm going to go out now so you get up, tidy yourself, check out then wait for me outside."

"One more minute..."

"Don't sleep any longer!"

"Fine...fine...geez...your annoying..."

Liam sat up from his bed and rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Go tidy yourself up. I'll be leaving now. Bye."Leo said as he walked out the door.

Liam slid off his bed and walked to the bathroom, wobbly. He stood in front of the basin and yawned, tiredly while raising his toothbrush to his mouth. After he had done all the cleaning up, he walked out of the bathroom while feeling wide awake. He stretched his body and headed to work.

He leaned down to grab his bag's strap, pulled it up and swung it up onto his shoulder. His bag was dangling behind him and hanging on its one strap. As he was about to leave the room, he remembered the room key which was at Leo's side.

He walked to Leo's drawer which was beside the bed and saw the silver key laying under the rays of sunlight shining through the window. He approached it and kicked on something hard. He groaned and placed his foot on Leo's previous bed and gently massaged it.

It hurts! What was that? He thought and switched his gaze to the floor.

His eyes landed on an orange backpack, which was Leo's.

Did I kick his backpack? What the hell does he keep in there?

Liam sighed.

It still hurts...

He placed his foot back on the floor and passed by the bag. He took the key and stared at the bag again.

...how am I going to do this?

He decided to grab onto its top handle and pulled. It budged a little.

How is it heavier than last time?!

He pulled it with his body's strength and it moved quite a lot. He dragged it out the door and placed it at the side. He took a little rest by locking the door then continued to pull it along the hallway and down the stairs. Whenever he pulled it down a step, it would land on the stairs with a thud. He would try to make it quieter to not disturb the other guests, which caused him to waste a lot of strength and take breaks from time to time.

When he was finally at the bottom of the stairs, he dragged it to the side and wiped his sweat away with his hem. While wiping his sweat, he saw someone in the corner of his eye, staring at him. He peeked at that unknown person and saw the stunning girl from yesterday.

The girl was looking at him with a gentle smile while her hands were holding a broom, Liam guessed that she was on cleaning duty. Liam approached her and handed her the key. She took it and asked with her gorgeous voice.

"Did you have a good sleep?"

"Yes, yes!"Liam replied while blushing, he had never seen such a beautiful and gentle woman before instead of his mother.

"That's good to hear!"

"Is your inn close now?"

"Oh, no..."She said as she shook her snowy pale hand."Our inn is always open but our place is fully packed at the moment."

Liam looked around the place and saw all the tables were full with drunkard adventurers from yesterday.

"Ah...I see...Guess it's rest time for you."

She chuckled.

"You could say as that. You seem to be alone now, did something happen? I saw your friend walking out of the inn earlier."

"Oh, him. He just went out to buy some stuff, that's all! Nothing too serious."

"Oh, I see. I thought you two had an argument."

"No, no!Nothing like that."

"That's a relief."

As they were awkwardly looking at each other with nothing to say, knocking sounds could be heard from the front door. Both of their attention switched to the door and saw Leo standing by the window, looking in on them. He waved his hand when he saw them.

"Oh! Your friend is here! I guess it is time for your next adventure! I wish you a safe trip."

"Thanks!Bye!"

He walked out of the door and Leo stared at him. He was holding a scroll in his hand.

"I bought it!"He said, smiling while swinging the roll-up map in his hand but soon his smile switched into a smug."What were you talking about? Or were you flirting?"

"No!Hell, No! What made you think like that?!"Liam yelled while his cheeks burning red.

"Well...you don't seem like the one who likes talking to people. I was the one who always does the talking."

"So, what?! That doesn't mean I don't know how to talk to them!"

"True...Where's my bag?"Leo asked, finally realizing his bag was not with Liam.

"In the inn, go take it yourself! Your bag is heavier than last time!"

Leo chuckled as he pushed open the wooden door.

"Wait here."He said as he walked into the inn.

He single-handedly took his bag up and walked out the door. He was waving to the kind girl, Liam knew Leo was bidding farewell to her and maybe thanking her for their stay.

Leo stepped out of the inn, his flaming red hair shone under the sunlight.

"Let's go!"He said as he shut the door behind him.

"You have a place in mind?"Liam asked while following him.

"I heard a place from the merchant when he was talking to another customer. I asked them and they said that a place is holding a competition. They even mark the place for me! See!"

Leo held the scroll up and rolled it down to let Liam see. The map showed all kinds of places that Liam never heard of and there was a black dot at the side of the map.

"See the dot? That's the place we're going next."

"Oh... but have the competition you speak of started yet?"

"From what I heard no. It is still waiting for more contestants."

"Then when will it start?"

"I don't know but I hope is not near since judging from the map...It seems we would take 3 to 4 days to reach there...."

"You got to be kidding me! Is there no town or village in between?"

"I guess not..."

Leo said and heard Liam whining, complaining about how it was hard to survive in the wild with creatures trying to eat them.

"There's no point in whining! We need to join no matter what!"

"Why?!"

"The prize is pets and not just any pets, it's pets that already ate dragon scales."

Liam's eyes widened, revealing his shining gold pupils.

"Do they give winners for free?! Didn't you say they cause for a fortune?!"

"Yup!"

"And they just give it for free?!"

"Yup!"

Liam's mouth hung wide open with shock, then continued with a child-like attitude like a child wanting a toy.

"What are you waiting for?! Let's go! No time to lose!"

"All right, all right...Calm down, there's no need to rush. I'll just go tell the town guards about our leave and then we go, alright?"

"Yup!Hurry!"

"Okay!"

Leo chuckled as he walked away from him.

Liam was now standing at the side of the inn,

alone.

He looked around his surroundings and his eyes landed on the castle at the very end of the bustling town.

I wonder if there are any kings or queens inside...He thought as his mind began to drift into deep thoughts until something touch his shoulder.

He flinched and turned around and was greeted by Leo.

"Did I startled you? Sorry!"Leo apologized for his rudeness."I didn't expect you to be so lost in thoughts, what are you thinking?"

"Oh, nothing..."Liam said while his eyes unknowingly drifted back to the palace.

"You seem to be looking at that castle for quite some time...Got any thoughts you like to share?"

"Well...I've been thinking is it good to have queens or kings...From my mother's story, knights were the ones that destroy our village and scare the dragon...And aren't knights ordered by the royal family?"

"... Don't think too hard about it! Not all people are bad!"

"True...I guess I was just thinking of my childhood again. We can go now, right?"

"Yup! Let's head out!"

Both of them carried their bags and began to leave the castle walls.