After saying its piece, the fox calmly went to a corner of the dimly lit room and lied down lazily. Yawning, it lifted its paws and groomed itself.Of course, Eluraa didn"t believe anything that came out of the sleazy fox"s mouth. However, she did trust that the fox truly didn"t have any other choice. Otherwise, it wouldn"t have given the reins of its precious life to some random weakling of a stranger. But still, something just quite didn"t sit right.
Rubbing the region between her eyebrows, Eluraa again questioned the fox. "Not that I am giving credence to anything you say, but how come you didn"t just leave earlier ?"
Giving her a matter of fact look, the fox still lazily yawned and replied, "Well.. Obviously.. How can I leave this lord"s life in your hands.."
"hmm? I did say I wouldn"t shatter your soul?"
"He he.. Looks like you don"t know everything about the beast contract. Should I tell you ?" The fox was sheepishly grinning ear to ear.
"....."
"Fine, fine. Just listen calmly. And before I say anything, the chances of you dying before me are astronomical. Just so you know !"
"....."
"So the thing is.. if either one of us dies, then the other one also dies."
Skeptical about the information, Eluraa decided to ignore it for now.
"Seriously ! I am not bluffing. Beast contract with dragon kind are special. Our souls are shared. That"s why I was able to link to your soul strength and heal mine. But unfortunately after the completion of the contract, both of our soul strengths dropped back to stage 0."
"hmmm"
"Dragon kind are special because, among magical beasts, there are few which are able to use higher level spells. And we are one of them."
Not trying to explain further, the fox sprawled back down again.
Ma.s.saging her temples, Eluraa was trying hard to decide what to do with all of this new information. She had to carefully consider everything the fox just spouted. She definitely had to take it all in with a grain of salt.
"So do you know how to get our soul strengths back up? "
"Yup. Beast cores, rare magical treasures and divine pills."
Not expecting a super fast outright response, Eluraa was a bit surprised. "Anyways I have to wait for even approaching any of those solutions. For now, I should just report to Max to see how we are proceeding next."
"Fine. You are welcome to stay with me for now. But one wrong move, then I really can"t promise any more forgiveness."
The fox grinned silently and kept quiet. Then without any further delay, it just disappeared into thin air.
"Hmm .. Wonder what it does, every time it disappears.. Knowing as little about it, as I know, it is probably just sleeping around.."
"Hmm. Also, hey ! how come none of the city guards or even Max for that matter, who was within a close proximity to you, never took note of you or even detected you?"
Silence ..
After a few minutes, a low lazy voice sounded, "Ya. About that .. I am able to escape any level of detection, disguise myself as anything I can imagine and sometimes able to locate treasures. These are my innate magical abilities."
"Any other questions you have, I will respond to them later. I need to rest a little now. My soul has weakened a lot and I need to sort of go into a hibernation."
"....."
"I really do."
"....."
Mentally tired from all the interrogation, Eluraa decided to take a stroll outside and explore the main city. This is all completely new from what she had previously experienced.
She locked her room and stepped out to see if the other two were still in their rooms. But surprisingly, everything had been cleaned out and both of them were gone.
"Never mind then. I will just walk a little by myself and then turn in for the night. Max hasn"t even informed us when we are meeting up. But then again, that is to be expected of Max."
Compared to the calm, serene and peaceful atmosphere inside the inn, the streets outside were bustling with people and various activities. The brightly lit streets were littered with different stalls and stores. Some shops looked quaint and ancient and had barely any customers. But some were crowded and filled to the brim.
As soon as Eluraa stepped outside the inn, an insanely delicious aroma wafted through to her nose. Turning around, she saw that, the stall next to the inn was an eatery, selling nutritious beast delicacies.
Checking the money she had left, Eluraa decided to avoid the temptation and turn the other side. But looking at her retreating figure, the stall helper immediately called out to her, "Good evening young lady. Today"s special is an extremely rare delicacy ! The mire dragon beast stew ! Don"t miss out on the rare opportunity to taste some dragon meat !"
Hearing this, the thought of a certain someone came to her mind and Eluraa suddenly had an indescribable desire and urge to bite down on some dragon meat. But she only had 10 silver left.
"Umm. Excuse me. I have some lvl 0 bat prowler and venomous boar meat with me. Is it possible for me to sell my wares here ?"
"Ahh", the stall helper was stammering.
"Oh sorry. I can"t sell these here ?"
"..."
The atmosphere suddenly quieted down. The stall helper and the nearby customers couldn"t help but stare at those gorgeous deep blue eyes for a minute.
Feeling awkward, Eluraa decided to leave the place.
"One second miss. Yes we can exchange those for you. Since these are lvl 0 beast meat, they sell for 5 silver per pound. Please come inside to exchange your wares."
Only after completely emptying her reserves, Eluraa was finally, barely, able to afford a serving of the mire dragon beast stew. She sat in a corner and quietly finished her helping.
"aha ha ha. If only Reina could see me now ! I have truly become a poor country b.u.mpkin with no special talent and no future prospects !"