Stepping through the city gate, a broad cobblestone avenue stretched out before her like a river. Countless wheels and footsteps had worn the stones smooth, giving them a gentle, glossy luster.
The avenue bustled with activity. The Earth Dragon Caravan, loaded with goods, moved forward slowly.
The massive beasts draped in scale armor exhaled thick breaths, their hooves thudding dully against the cobblestones.
Shops lined both sides of the street, their uniform signs swaying gently.
The cries of vendors rose and fell in waves.
All kinds of races weaved through the crowd: tall, bear-like beastkin shouldering axes as massive as totem poles; Elves, slender and beautiful like Vera, dressed in light armor woven from tree bark, arrow feathers at their waists trembling with every step; groups of Dwarves traveling together, their heavy armor still streaked with the sulfur of underground mines.
In southern cities, nothing drew more attention than the adventurers, all equipped so differently.
“Mm mm—Finally, we made it in. If I had to stand any longer, my waist would have snapped.”
Vera stretched, revealing her flat belly as she let out a weary moan.
At that moment, she noticed that Bai was like a curious kitten, watching everything on the street.
Vera cocked her eyebrow playfully and smiled, “What’s wrong? Haven’t seen these things before?”
Bai nodded.
“Mm, Bai’s hometown is in the north. There aren’t any adventurers there, and it’s rare to see other races in human territory. Most of the time, it’s just crowds of slaves walking the streets.”
Perhaps because the north hadn’t suffered invasions from outsiders, the greatest conflicts there had always been between different races.
Between people, disputes were few, but when outsiders entered human lands, they were seen as provocation and treated with disdain.
That’s why the slave traders targeted beastkin and Elves, and of course, beautiful humans were sometimes attacked too—like Bai.
“You’re from the north? With your sister?”
Vera’s eyes widened in shock.
It was incredibly far from here—even riding a dragon would take ages to arrive.
Bai nodded again in silence, still taking in the scene before her.
Vera hesitated, then reached out to gently pat Bai’s head, comforting her as she smiled.
“If there’s ever a chance, your Sister Vera will take you to even prettier places—like the Elf Nation.”
“Elf Nation?”
“That’s right. It’s much more interesting than here. This place…”
Vera set her hands on her waist, swept her gaze across the street, then shrugged and commented carelessly, “is just so-so. Human buildings all look the same. Unlike us Elves—our buildings grow straight from nature, so they’re all unique.”
“? Isn’t that just being too lazy to build things yourself?”
“So, are you going to look for your sister now?” she asked again.
Of course… not.
After all, Bai’s sister wasn’t here. Her sister was still waiting in Aitansiya… probably.
“Kingdom of Novalia is huge. Bai doesn’t know where to look.”
Vera’s bright smile returned as she said, “Then big sis will take you to eat something yummy first 😋! Anyway, your sister won’t run off anytime soon. Maybe we’ll just run into her while we’re walking around!”
Before Bai could answer, Vera had already grabbed her small hand and started running.
“Let’s go, let’s go! I know a good spot—the food there is famous! I’ve wanted to try it for ages!”
Her smile was even livelier and more beautiful under the sunlight, like a warm current easing the numbness in Bai’s heart.
It had been so long since she’d felt this kind of warmth…
The simple beauty and kindness from a good-hearted person.
“From now on, I’ll call you Little Bai!”
“…Mm.” Bai replied softly, the faintest smile appearing on her lips.
***
Ten minutes later.
“What do you mean, you don’t accept foreign currency?!”
Inside a tastefully decorated tavern, Vera slapped the table in anger, her clear voice drawing everyone’s attention.
The receptionist pressed his hands down, trying to calm her.
“Please calm down, miss. Here in Kingdom of Novalia, we’ve always only accepted human currency. It’s been that way for decades.”
“Huh?! Isn’t this one of your biggest cities? Why would you refuse other races’ currency?”
Vera shouted angrily.
When she’d slipped out of the Elf Nation, she’d only brought Elf Teng Coins!
She didn’t have a single human Gold Coin!
If the whole city didn’t accept Teng Coins, how was she supposed to get by for the next few days?!
“Please don’t make things difficult for us, miss. It’s city policy. Even if we took your Teng Coins, there’d be nowhere to spend them. We can’t just go all the way to the Elf Nation to use them, right?”
The receptionist looked troubled, signaling to a few guards behind him.
They immediately gathered around, obviously intending to show the two of them out.
Vera frowned and shot a glare at the two guards.
“What? You wanna fight? I’m not scared…”
As she spoke, her hand was already reaching for the rapier at her waist.
Sensing things were about to escalate, Bai quickly tugged at Vera’s skirt and said, “Vera, why don’t we try another place? Maybe there’s somewhere else that accepts Teng Coins.”
Vera hesitated but let go of her weapon, snorting coldly.
“Hmph 💢╯^╰, Little Bai, let’s go.”
She took Bai’s hand and stormed out, while Bai breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
This big sister was nice and all, but why was she so hot-tempered?
Always ready to draw her sword—are all Elves like this?
As they walked down the street, Vera was still fuming, pouting as she complained, “Seriously, they call this the biggest human city, and yet they only take Gold Coins. Isn’t that just bullying outsiders? Hmph.”
She kicked away a loose stone, both angry and aggrieved.
“Don’t be mad, sis. They really can’t help it. Only Gold Coins are used here—other currencies just won’t work,” Bai tried to comfort her.
“I don’t buy it. A place this big, and there’s nowhere that takes Teng Coins? Let’s go find one! We haven’t eaten all day. How else are we supposed to join the Broken Blood Recruitment tomorrow?!”
Vera grabbed Bai’s hand and started running deeper into the city.
The crowds were even thicker in the city center.
People jostled shoulder to shoulder, the roads packed mostly with adventurers—probably all here for tomorrow’s Broken Blood Recruitment.
Struggling through the crowd, someone bumped into Bai by accident, breaking her grip on Vera’s hand.
Bai reached out desperately, trying to grab on again, but the constant flow of people kept pushing her farther away.
“Vera!”
Bai called out, hoping Vera would hear her, but her voice was swallowed up by the waves of the crowd.
By the time she came to her senses, all she could see were surging streams of people—Vera was nowhere in sight.
“Vera! Vera, where are you?!”
Bai called out again, but only a few curious passersby glanced at her.
Panicked, she looked around, trying to follow the path she’d been pushed along to find Vera.
But the crowd’s current swept her up again, forcing her toward the far end…