“What is wrong?”
“Hm… Some troublesome people are doing some troublesome things.”
“Is that really important considering your goals?”
“It is… you should have met those guys camping outside one of our towns. They disappeared after convincing a bunch of people fighting in the war to join them.”
Those guys… some of them tried to pick a fight with me, but I chased them away without much. Perhaps that was why Roswald decided to interact with me directly.
I wasn’t sure about the political situation of this place in detail, but I didn’t think that there would be people here who would betray the land and join the enemies… even more so when they are surrounded by three enemy countries that caused trouble to everyone. Then again, what did I know about anything aside from labyrinth exploration?
Regardless, I decided not to think about the topic all that much since it wasn’t related to me. Roswald didn’t feel the need to share much more information as well, so that helped.
“We just need to pass to a city and then we will be ready to go. It is the largest city, so you should benefit from checking the products and buying some things.”
“Hm…”
That seemed like a recipe for trouble, but the odds should be small with Roswald nearby… we would split paths for a while there, but it would be fine if people see us entering the city. Speaking of the city, this place should be where the leaders of the free cities meet to talk about their plans. That place should be fine, since it is the heart of the Free Cities Coalition.
The Free Cities Coalition is a trade-based alliance of independent city-states, each populated by different races bound by mutual protection and economic cooperation. They promote trade, commerce, and peaceful diplomacy among various races… Roswald mentioned that they even had half orcs, even though they are extremely rare. They don’t like cold environments, apparently.
“Which direction is the city?”
“Northwest.”
“You heard him, girl. Take us to that place.”
“Awooo!”
Glacien was in a good mood, clearly enjoying the task of pulling the wagon. It wasn’t a burden to her; in fact, she seemed to find a sense of joy in it. I had lightened the load of the vehicle a bit, reducing the weight through my enchantments, and that made all the difference. With the adjustments I made, combined with the enhancements in her gear, she was able to move almost as fast as she could on her own, even with the wagon in tow. The task, which could have been troublesome for any other creature, seemed effortless for her.
The road ahead seemed to excite her, and she thrived on the freedom it gave her. She truly enjoyed the movement, the rhythm of running, and the sense of purpose that came with it. It was a reminder of how much she appreciated the journey, not just the destination.
Putting that aside, it might take a while for us to reach the city, so I decided to finish the new engines… I was planning to put in practice the new wagon as well, since we will have to cross the harpies territory, but maybe that won’t be necessary. If the worst comes to the worst, I will put some harpies down if they decide to chase us.
With my bow, their flying speed wouldn’t be much of a problem, but I should try to reach new heights with my bow making skills as well. Aside from the right skills, I also needed good materials and I couldn’t think of anything better than the parts of a dragon… the only issue is that the best materials that I get are always from ice monsters, even though my best arrows are the explosive ones.
“Maybe it is time again to increase my dexterity like before… I have some free experience to use, after all.”
Using all these points into dexterity might improve my crafting skills even more… I really want to make the best bow possible with the dragon parts. A new design would be welcome too, even though combining three to have multiple enchantment slots would also help. Still, it would be better if I didn’t count on that for the time being.
It was a risky move, but I decided to do that… It made me wonder how much that would improve my skills for combat. In any case, aside from increasing my Dexterity, it also would be a good idea to improve my tools to create the next bow too. Make them become as powerful and efficient as possible. That would do the trick to reach my goal… but for now, I decided to focus on finishing up the engines.
As soon as I began to focus on the work, I immediately noticed the changes my increased dexterity had brought. Focusing became much easier, almost effortless. The usual distractions that once demanded my attention faded into the background as my mind sharpened. Within a few seconds, I was able to completely block out my surroundings, even the steady movement of the wagon itself.
It was as if my mind had become more attuned to the task at hand, allowing me to maintain a singular focus without being pulled in multiple directions. The world around me seemed to blur, leaving only the work and the next paths ahead clear in my thoughts.
‘Dexterity makes me able to do things skillfully and I guess faster too… focusing on doing certain things only can be hard as well, after all. Well, let’s see the changes when it comes to my hands.’
Another useful thing that I noticed was the fact that I could envision things with a lot more ease and then put them to practice without fail. I quickly realized that I did the right thing in increasing my Dexterity that much and I felt satisfied with it. Now I was certain that I could decrease the size of some amulets and use them without too many restrictions. Even if it might cost them some durability.
In the end, since I already had the necessary parts and I knew what I had to do with clarity, finishing the engines was quite easy. I stretched my body after confirming the quality of the work…
“I guess I should keep enhancing my dexterity more often from now on. Still, I need to check how this improved my fighting style.”
“Are you done? Because we arrived for a while.”
I turned around and Roswald, who had been sleeping in the corner of the wagon, was at the entrance of the vehicle while checking the surroundings. Now that he mentioned it, the wagon was no longer moving… since it was easier to focus now, it was easier to get lost in the work, too.
I checked the outside and I could see a large city in front of us. There were some people patrolling the area, but they didn’t mind the weird vehicle that had approached or the creature that was pulling it until now.
In any case, I could install the engines later… I had to modify the structure a bit since I now had four engines and four wheels. They would have to be close to them to make the power more efficient, but fuelling four different spots would be a pain in the ass.
In any case, aside from some structures that were being built by massive vehicles that were carrying some heavy blocks of stones and putting them above each other, there was nothing out of the norm here.
‘Wait, aren’t those cranes? I guess the half dwarves must have crafted them here, even though I didn’t find anything similar in the Iron wrought Confederacy.’
“So, what is your plan? I would advise to keep Alissandra with you and making sure that no one will find her identity. This will be easy as long as no one finds her wings, but some of us will be able to tell who she is by the smell.”
“I will just walk around and see what I can find… if anyone decides to pick a fight with me because of her. Then I hope that s pair of red eyes will scare them enough. Otherwise, it will be their loss, not mine.”
I wouldn’t hesitate to show my true nature if it meant avoiding trouble. There weren’t many people with white hair and pointy ears in these parts, and it wouldn’t take long for someone to notice that I wasn’t exactly like everyone else. For a while, I’d tried to hide who I was, blending into the crowd and pretending to be something I wasn’t. But that was becoming more difficult to maintain and annoying, too. The effort of concealing myself had lost its appeal, and I was starting to question why I even bothered doing that for a while.
