A room for two

Both Leo and Joshua had a lot of things to do for the Crows Nest to revive. But, they decided to take it slow and don't rush things.

"And what about you, Leo? You can not travel with me looking like this." Joshua tried his best to think of a disguise for Leo, but it was impossible to hide his undead face.

Leo shook his head and said. "Don't worry about it. Using a spell to look like a human again is not that hard."

"If you say so. Honestly, why would you want to become a Lich anyway?" Joshua could not understand what perks that brought to Leo. He was already a mage before turning into a Lich, so why?

Leo gazed at Joshua, and his teeth less face smiled as if he was waiting for that question a long time ago.

"I did because it looks badass."

Joshua could not mutter a word.

~~~~

After completing what he needed to do, Joshua got out of the mines. Leo made sure to perform a spell to hide the room so that the miners would not find it. Leo stayed, as the spell to look like a human was not as easy as he said. But Leo guaranteed that it would take him no more than three days.

Joshua was ok with that. They still had to prepare for their trip, so it was a length of time he could wait.

The guards were waiting outside of the mines and were surprised to see Joshua returning so quickly.

"Don't tell me you cleaned the place already?" one of the guards said.

"I'm just that awesome," Joshua said.

They had their doubts about it, but it did not matter. The one that gave the task to Joshua grabbed a shiny coin from his back pocket.

"Here, take this gold coin. We will still check if you cleaned the mines." The guard gazed fiercely at Joshua. "If you're lying to us, we will get you."

After they exchanged glances, Joshua left with a wide smile. One gold coin was a lot of money. Sadly their trip to the capital would cost more than that. Still, Joshua was confident that once he joined the mercenaries guild, he would be able to make money for himself, and his secret order.

"That pile of bones will help me out with this." Joshua thought.

~~~~

The streets of Rinidan were still packed up with people even though the sun had left a long time ago. Aurora and Khali spent the day gathering information, and Joshua was on his way to find them. They marked a time and place to meet before they parted ways, and the place was a simple inn.

It was not the most luxurious place. The place looked like shit. But still, it was better than sleeping on the streets. Their goal there was to get the amount of money to travel, so expending it on nonsense was foolishness.

Joshua saw how the inn was not in its best shape. The entire building was made of old wood and even the sign that said 'Dragons Breath Inn' had fallen apart.

Despite all of that, the place was crowded with people inside. Five tables of drunk miners yelling and sharing all types of incredible stories. They only glanced at Joshua before returning to their usual talk.

Aurora, Khali, and Hanrog were sitting at the corner of the inn. They were all wearing cloaks, and the only reason Joshua found them so quickly was due to Aurora's silver hair.

"Long time no see," said Joshua as he sat beside Aurora.

Khali was doubtful that Joshua would succeed in getting money within only a few hours, but he was soon to be mistaken.

"Look, I made a gold coin. I'm awesome," Joshua showed them the coin, but Khali quickly stopped him, making sure he stuffed it inside his pocket again.

"Don't show that much money in a place like this," Khali said.

"Right, right." Excitement took the best of Joshua, but he quickly recomposed himself.

Aurora peeked at one of his ears and said. "Good work Joshua." Followed by a thumbs up. It felt nice getting recognition from someone he cared deeply about.

Khali waved for them to get closer, and started to share the information he got with Joshua.

"As far as I know, no one strange entered the city, despite us. Which meant that the pursues either lost us or will show up in a couple of days. We should keep a low profile, and leave this place as quickly as possible."

"One gold coin is not enough for us to leave this city, so we must help each other. I heard that someone is hiring a mage for some job, so I'll see what that is tomorrow. Whoever is chasing you doesn't know about my existence, so it should not be a problem if the information about a new mage in the city leaked."

Joshua felt that what Khali said was reasonable. In the end, Khali would seek out that job, Joshua would continue in his task to earn money, and Hanrog and Aurora would monitor any strange activity.

"It is probably safe for Aurora. But I still don't like the idea of leaving her alone. Maybe I should get that pile of bones to protect her." Joshua had to put Leo to good use.

~~~~

The rooms in the Dragons Breath Inn were cheap, and they had the means to pay for them without using their precious gold coin. Joshua wanted some time alone with Aurora, so he convinced Khali to get a separate room for him and his son. In the end, it worked.

Joshua and Aurora entered a small room that only had a place to sleep and a bathroom. It was far from luxurious, but the thing that mattered to Joshua was that he was alone with Aurora.

"I'm not sure if we will get to that point yet, but at least some kisses, right?" Joshua could not wait.