"My, that's certainly eye catching." Deliah idly commented, standing before a large pub with the name [Wonton] plastered over a sign that was just as wide as the building itself. The building was painted a warm orange, and It was decorated with odd baubles she'd never seen before.

"It's bigger than the mayor's house..." Her son whispers from her side, and she couldn't help but twitch slightly. The cranky old man had a strange fixation on having the biggest house, and if he'd heard what her son said, the man would've gone and berated her son while he boasted about himself.

Not that she'd allow him to. She'd sooner throw him through several layers of stone than let him say anything bad to her son.

"Well," Huffing, she gave a gentle pat on her son's back. "We're both hungry, so let's go in."

"Mm!" He hummed back, smiling. With a smile of her own, she pushed the doors open,

"Ah, welcome!"

And immediately, a boy, maybe a year or two older than her son, greeted them as they entered. She stopped for a moment, blinking, before she smiled back. "Good evening." She said with a small bow. "Are there any empty seats?"

"Table or by the counter?"

Her eyes swept across the pub before she settled on an empty table, placed just by the wall. "We'll take that table." She said as she pointed at it, and the boy nodded. He quickly jotted down something on the notebook he was holding, before he led them over to their seats.

"Alright then!" With a smile, he placed a couple wooden boards. "Here's the menu. If a name or two confuses you, just ask." Nodding, she took up the two boards, reading one and handing the other to her son.

She frowned slightly. Most of the orders were unfamiliar to her, and it seemed her son was just as confused.

"Um..." Her son began. "What's this...'Fu Yung Hai'?"

"It's pretty much a fluffy omelette filled with vegetables." The boy said with a small shrug. "There's also some sweet sauce to add some flavour."

The woman nodded. "What is 'Kung Pao Chicken'?"

"Diced chicken with sweet and savory sauce. Peanuts and green onions are added for some extra taste." He said, before she stopped. "Ah, but it's a bit spicy because of the chili peppers. You can order without the chili though!"

Deliah nodded, and continued asking about the other orders for a couple minutes or so. Then, with a nod, she began her order. "A plate of Kung Pao Chicken for my son." She began. "Some Mapo Tofu for me, and fried rice for both of us." She finished, before quickly adding, "And dumplings as well."

"Mhm. Kung Pao, Tofu, fried rice, and dumplings. Alright, noted! I'll be back with your order soon!" And saying so, the boy blurred and vanished. Her son blinked, surprised.

"...Did he just...?"

"He did." She said simply. Her son remained confused, and she smiled. "The boy used [Flash Step], or a derivation of it. It allows you to temporarily move at high speeds."

"Ooh...So you can learn it?" She nodded, and her son leaned back and hummed, his eyes shining. "So cool."

She smiled and gave her son a gentle pat on his head.

The food was very lovely, and she would easily hand it a grand five stars if she could. The style was rather odd, but the taste was great nonetheless.

It'd be quite nice to cook some back home. She'd need to discover the recipe first of course, and the boy that'd welcomed them was cheerfully tight-lipped on it.

Their stomachs filled, Deliah carried Evel on her back as she walked to the inn mister driver, as her son called him, had told her about.

It didn't take long for her to make it there. She paid the lady behind the counter enough silver for a couple nights, and she gave the mother a small key in return. Thanking the lady, Deliah walked to the room, went in, and directly plopped her sleeping son onto one of the beds.

She smiled slightly. He'd been quite excited to explore the place, but filling his stomach drained more energy than expected it seemed.

Well, that was fine. They could explore tomorrow.

They did spend most of the morning exploring, and Evel couldn't stop getting excited at, well, everything. It was all so new, so different, and he couldn't help but be pulled along.

He knew he was supposed to go and look for some new seeds to buy, but his mom said it was fine to explore a bit, so he was fully committed to see as much as he could today.

He made sure not to stray too far from his mom though. This entire place was new, and he wasn't going to worry his mom because he got lost.

He found a lot of new things along his journey. He tasted the food from the vendors set up around a small roundabout, he went into one of the many public libraries built around Atria, and he even went to the adventurer's guild! He didn't stay around for long though; the place felt stuffy, and the people there did nothing to welcome him.

He wondered why they went so pale when mom turned to them though. She was being so nice!

When noon came, his mom brought him back to Wonton to get some lunch. He tried out Chow Mein this time, which was essentially sweet-tasting noodles with chicken and vegetables. He was surprised by how stretchy the noodles were, but they were pretty tasty when he got past that.

He also saw that boy Flash Step again, and it was so cool. He said that it wasn't something he could do over and over though. It took his MP, and he didn't have all that much.

Well, there wasn't anything wrong with that. He could only use [Savage Strike] three times after all.

Sadly, the time for exploration ended there; though his mom said that they could just visit some more in the future. They first went to a small store at the eastern corner of the kingdom.

When they reached their destination, Evel fought hard not to let his jaw drop. His mom had said about wanting to buy some thread to use, so why were they in a giant metal foundry of all places?

He quickly learnt the reason why.

His mom was buying coils of iron wire, a lot of them actually, enough to fill an entire basket. He wasn't sure why his mom would need so much, but his mom simply smiled when he'd asked about it.

Other than that, they also bought a new hoe for Evel to use. It was somewhat surprising, but he could see the reason why. He used his hoe a lot, so it's prone to break one of these days.

His mom asked if there was an Enchantress nearby, on the off chance they could get someone to cast [Resistance] on his hoe.

As it turned out, the answer yes. In fact, the man shrugged and said that there was a young Enchantress in a building several streets west. Thanking him, they left, following the man's directions as they walked down the streets.

And as the man had said, there it was, painted in soft green and blues and with a small sign placed over the door. [Fortana], it was called.

Smiling, his mom pushed the door open and went in, when-

"M-Ms. Deliah?"

They came upon a familiar girl.

Evel blinked. "Aria?"