After eating and drinking her fill, Luna Belle felt most of her energy return. She walked to the window and drew the curtain aside just enough to look outside. Streams of people of every sort hurried along White Thorn City's streets; she could even spot several beast-merchants who were clearly non-human. A pair of dwarves hauling crates, for instance, and a hooded figure whose pointed ears peeked out as an elf hastened past.
"Where should we head first?"
Ellen had quietly come to the window and now stood beside Luna Belle, gazing down with her. Another lollipop was already between her teeth.
Luna Belle considered for a moment, recalling Captain Roy's advice. "Let's try the Adventurers Guild first? It's the best place for news, and…," she patted the purse at her waist. "We still need to earn some money."
That bounty wouldn't cover many more "extra meals," never mind her dream of opening Random Play in another world.
"Sure." Ellen gave an indifferent nod. "Wherever you go, I go." As she spoke, she rested her chin naturally on Luna Belle's shoulder, still watching the street.
Feeling the weight and Ellen's warm breath, Luna Belle's cheeks grew warm again. She forced her mind back to business. "Then… shall we get ready and leave?"
"Mm-hm." Ellen answered lazily, straightened, and rolled her shoulders; her shark tail flicked a few times as if warming up. "Let's go. If we finish early, we might squeeze in a nap."
The two tidied their clothes quickly. As they came downstairs, the landlady behind the counter greeted them warmly.
"Did you ladies rest well? Heading out?"
"Very well, thank you," Luna Belle replied politely. "We'd like to look around and get our bearings."
"Oh, wonderful!" The landlady beamed. "White Thorn may be a border town, but it's lively! Plenty of shops on Main Street and a market at the square. If you need work or information, the Adventurers Guild is the place!"
"We're planning to visit the guild," Luna Belle nodded.
"From here, turn right, follow Main Street to Central Plaza; the biggest stone building with crossed sword and staff over the door—you can't miss it!"
"Thank you for the directions." They bade the cheerful woman farewell and stepped out of the Silver Oak Inn into the bustling flow of the street.
Neither noticed that, the instant they left, a pair of violet eyes opened in the shadowed upper window of an opposite weapon shop, locking silently onto them. Sayu stood motionless in the gloom like a statue, her presence completely concealed.
Her gaze first fixed on the blue-haired, green-eyed girl, assessing swiftly. Light steps, no sign of combat training; though wary, her eyes lacked a veteran's edge. Overall… just an ordinary girl-next-door?
Shifting her attention to the black-haired maid beside Belle, her pupils narrowed faintly when she saw the lazy sway of a shark tail. Beast-folk were common enough—cat-girls, fox-girls, rabbit-girls, even the rare dragon-girl—but a shark-type was new to her. The maid looked relaxed, a stick of candy in her mouth, eyes half-lidded as if half-asleep, yet Sayu's intuition sensed a deep-sea current of danger beneath that languid surface.
"Ellen…" Sayu repeated the name in her mind and marked it high on her threat list. Compared with the ordinary-seeming Belle, this maid was the one to watch.
She watched the two follow the landlady's directions toward the plaza until crowds partly hid them. Like ink dissolving in air, she vanished from the window and reappeared soundlessly on the opposite roof. Using chimneys and uneven ridges as cover, she trailed the pair from afar, her steps light as falling feathers, unnoticed even by the birds.
Luna Belle and Ellen continued along Main Street, unaware of the girl shadowing them. The avenue bustled with hawkers, chatter, and hoofbeats, vibrant and noisy. Luna Belle looked around in curiosity, everything in this alien world novel to her. Ellen, bored, yawned repeatedly, eyes brightening only at candy stalls.
"Pretty prosperous… and clean. I expected medieval squalor."
Ellen nodded lazily, toeing a pebble aside. "Too many people—gives me a headache."
From the rooftops, Sayu observed their every move. They strolled on with no fixed aim, carried by the crowd. Sayu frowned; if they wandered aimlessly, her task would drag. Yet as the plaza's outline grew and the grand stone building appeared, she realized their goal.
She halted in a bell-tower's shadow and watched the two head straight for the Adventurers Guild doors. Expressionless, she raised a hand to her brow, violet eyes showing faint exasperation.
"If I'd known they were coming here…" she murmured, voice barely audible. "…I wouldn't have bothered."
At that moment, the bag of operational funds the guild master had given her felt almost too easily earned.
Below, Luna Belle and Ellen now stood before the Guild's imposing entrance. Built of solid grey stone, its lintel bore a huge shield crest crossed by sword and staff. Adventurers of every gear came and went, with the occasional citizen arriving to post a request…