“So where are we going?”
Sabrina asked as she gave me a look, the two of us were still seated in my room, just seconds passing after I declared my word and now Sabrina was more than on board to see how things would go. To deal with strong-minded girls like her, using some small bets and challenges will make things more fun, and it makes things easy for Sabrina to willingly partake in everything.
“Now what’s the fun in the surprise if I foil everything for you?”
As I said this, I placed an orb on the table, the orb brimming with an extremely pure amount of mana and space energy around it. The very orb I keep using to move around the places, the one I used in the past to take Nora along with me, and now this trusted companion of mine will be used for another girl.
“Is that?”
While Sabrina’s voice was soft, the pure surprise on her face was hardly hidden as she kept looking at the orb with widened eyes. Someone like her with great memory and access to a lot of past events and history will be quickly able to understand the worth of the orb on the table.
A moment of silence fell between us as I allowed Sabrina to take her time to digest the thing in front of her. Impressively, she got her shit together in a minute as she looked at me with a frown.
“Just when I think I am getting closer to opening you up, you keep getting more and more closed.”
She spoke.
‘Well, then how else will I always keep your focus on me?’
Thinking so, I asked.
“So shall we?”
“Now I understand why you seemed to be missing a lot within the academy. You aren’t at the academy a lot of times, are you?”
Sabrina spoke, instead of answering my question. Her eyes are on the orb, and I can see the flicker of greed in her eyes, but she is holding herself back very well. If it was anyone else, they would have jumped to kill me to get this orb and its companion.
“So are you ready?”
Seeing that I asked the same question again with a constant smile on my face, Sabrina just looked between me and the orb for a moment after which she placed her hand on the orb.
“You are crazy.”
Is what she muttered in a low voice while placing her hand on the orb. I followed behind it, and the moment the two of us placed our hands, it shined with a bright purple light before the world turned dark around us, a swirling feeling filling me as I opened my eyes, my first line of sight being Sabrina as she looked quite disoriented.
Taking my hands off the orb, I stayed silent a bit, waiting for Sabrina to get herself back, and within a few minutes, Sabrina seemed to have regained herself as she stood straight. Her pale face getting better as she started to look around the room, which looked fairly normal. The only thing of interest is the second orb placed in the center of the room on a pedestal.
“Where are we?”
Sabrina asked. To this, I just kept a light smile as I walked out of the room.
“You’ll see.”
Was my response as I walked into the living room. The whole place itself is a very minimal house, located within a certain city. The house looked to be for a very common family. Right behind me, Sabrina followed up as she started to scrutinize the room, probably taking everything about this room to her memory to research it back when she got back to her place.
“Now would you prefer to keep a disguise when we exit this house, or would you like to have the world see you as you are?”
This sudden question of mine didn’t get any answer from Sabrina other than her swirling her magic around her, her body twisting under an illusion until she now looked like a very normal elf out there. Beautiful as always, but at least now it isn’t at the level of starting a war for her beauty.
“What about you?”
She asked, and as always, I too took a normal-looking disguise. And since the two of us were set, it didn’t take long for me to walk out of the house, my eyes meeting upon very open walkways with several people moving around. All of the commoners with a mix of a lot of different species all around.
The subtle wind hit my face, along with a good scent of the world. Bright trees could be seen around, while a positive yet light feeling filled the entire place. The whole place looked like a good town with all the people being nice to each other.
“This is?”
Sabrina’s words called out as she stood beside me, looking at this peaceful town with all its people moving around.
“A small yet happy town, part of a duchy, part of a normal kingdom.”
I spoke, to which she replied.
“Seems like a festival is going on.”
“Since that’s the case, why don’t we enjoy it?”
I asked with a smile as I walked out of the house with Sabrina taking my side. The two of us went side by side as we walked into the main road. The house we walked out of was sided by several other similar-looking houses, all of them forming a colony. The moment we entered the main road, several small stalls and selling points could be seen.
And deeper in, several calls for the festival and sounds of laughter filled all around. Just as we started to walk, the two of us came across a kind-looking old beast woman of the cat tribe with grey hair and eyes that seemed to be greying. The kind smile of hers was very apparent as she spoke.
“Oh… my, are you the new people that brought the house?”
She asked to which I replied with a smile.
“We are, though we won’t stay for long. We just came to enjoy the festival, and we will be on our way.”
My voice was relaxed and calm, which made the old woman smile as she spoke.
“My… my, it would seem that you two newly married couples came to enjoy the festival here for your honeymoon?~”
The last of her voice was teasing, but nonetheless, I played along with it while the slightly taken-back Sabrina just stood by my side.
“Hehehe… we just want to enjoy our youth and be on our way.”
My reply made the woman chuckle as she spoke.
“Sigh… I remember the old days, it was a fun time. Never let your youth simply wash away, kids, it will be over long before you know it.”
As she said this, she took two apples for sale in front of her and she gave them to us.
“Here, take it, this one’s on the house.”
She said as she forwarded the apples to us.
“Oh, we can’t possibly take this for free.”
I spoke, trying to push the apples away, but the woman insisted on it, placing one apple in my hand while placing the other in Sabrina’s, who now had a light smile on her face as the woman spoke.
“Now why don’t you shoo and enjoy your youths of love, this is a small town with nothing much, but we all have lots of love in us.”
As she said this, she made a shooing motion at us. Seeing so, the two of us started to move away, with me saying.
“Then we will be on our way, thank you for this.”
Sabrina followed after me too.
“Yes, thank you for this.”
With that, the two of us started to walk through the streets beautifully decorated. I slowly ate the apple as Sabrina followed the same actions, a comfortable calm between the two of us until Sabrina spoke.
“You could have discreetly put more money on her table.”
Her voice was light, but I could still feel a hint of complaint in her words.
“If I had put more, it would have just caused more distress to the poor lady, you know that.”
I replied, and this reply of mine only made Sabrina silent as she kept enjoying the juicy fruit, with free worries of the world.
‘So step one is a success…’
‘Yes, Sabrina, eat the apple, I am sure it’s just going to be better for you…’
