I held the reins of the horse and followed Garlan wordlessly through the stony pavements that spanned throughout the city. Residences weren’t as opulent as those in the capital, but they held the prestige of the empire. The colors of the walls varied from various shades of brown to yellow, while the roofs were adorned with characteristic sequoia red-colored tiles. Terraced roofs were almost nonexistent, which preserved the rustic feels of the city. People commuted wide away from the roads that carriages occupied without fail, and the traffic seemed plenty compared to the capital.

My lady held my hand as the crowd deepened and chattering started ringing around us, filling the empty void of silence we had been accustomed to. Our horses earned a few additional glares, but we weren’t the only ones with our rides, so we were aptly forgotten by the commuting masses. The markets spread throughout the city instead of being restricted to particular localities like the capital. The chimneys diffused smoke atop every house, the sloped roofs making the polluting deed all the more obvious.

Our bracelets clinked at times as I was wearing one on my right, unlike my lady, which affirmed that she was the one holding my hand as I got lost in my unbiased search for bakehouses. A couple of stallions whinnied, glancing at our mare, but my silhouette was enough for them to bow their head, much to the confusion of the handlers, who were probably used to the arrogant behavior of their horses. Our mare nuzzled against my cheek in approval while my lady shifted closer to me to avoid the dead rabbits dangling from a mercenary’s shoulders.

I found a couple of bakehouses, and Garlan stopped to shake his head, indicating that they weren’t clean enough since the doors to the bakehouses were wide open.

“Something is better than nothing, bread lad,” I said and patted his shoulder, ushering to move on.

“I asked some places, and Sigmouth inn seems close to the southern end of the city. Unless we ride our horses, it’s going to take a long walk down south. This town is almost as big as Femor, after all.”

“So, we eat first?” I askedm

“That’s the right way. Let the commuters die down, and we can leisurely ride the horse later in the night. Well, at least they allow it lawfully. Or else, we should let the handlers lead our horses back to the city while we hire a carriage.”

“That’s not an option, mutt,” My lady interrupted him, her complexion much better than before. [Heal] had worked wonders as always, but the walk must have helped her mental exhaustion. “We will eat first and then ride to the inn. Leaving my mare alone is not your call to make.”

“She isn’t your mare, lady Letitia,” Garlan grumbled, but he acquiesced. “How about we go to a tavern then?”

“That won’t do, Garlan,” I said and dropped by the closest restaurant in sight. Braised pork, skewered meat, and a mug of ale were painted meticulously on the entry board, and a curtain hung on the closed door that almost reached my chest. There was a horse stand close by, and I reasoned this restaurant was designed for travelers. Not many horses lingered in the stand, though, for most nomads might have used handlers to tend to their task.

I had to bow down considerably to walk through the door, and the boisterous atmosphere took us by surprise. A man with an apron almost collided against us, balancing three plates in his hands, and pointed to the stairs, all the while dropping the plates on the right tables. The counter encasing the chefs opposite the door was surrounded by people, so going upstairs was our only option, despite having to pay additional charges for rooms.

A distinct smell of spices lingered in the room as he climbed the stairs on the right side of the entrance. Garlan needed the entire girth for himself, so he went first, followed by my lady until I ascended the stairs despite the apparent exhaustion of my legs. I cast [Heal] when we reached the top, reveling the disappearing soreness, and a corridor interrupted us along with excited moans and shouts of people and drunkards alike.

Letitia held my hand, suppressing her embarrassment, and Garlan ambled through the maze in search of a room that wasn’t occupied. He earned a few curses along the way for his causal interruptions, but a waiter, dressed in a grey tunic that was supposedly the uniform, soon dropped to help us out. The mana lamps on the walls flanking the passage glowed in the darkness illuminating the dingy brown carpet tattered in many corners. Linoleum-like flooring lined the surface beneath, but it creaked as we walked, much to my lady’s dissatisfaction. Did she hate creaking noises?

A single square table with stools lined on all four sides greeted us as the man opened the sliding door, decked with a painting of a woman dressed in noblewoman’s clothes. A shadow loomed behind her, which was reminiscent of her commoner status. Sliding doors weren’t common in kingdom Arlikia, and they were almost inexistent, except in places that still hadn’t been renovated completely. A chandelier dangled from the ceiling above, and I knew this room was about to cost us a minimum of fifty shins even if we stayed for a few minutes.

My lady didn’t mind, so we settled down leisurely after dislodging our bags, disregarding the money problem. For now, that is.

“Please,” the waiter pointed at the menu atop the table and stood against the door, patiently waiting for us to choose our bread… food, I mean.

“Bread for me,” I said, which earned a nod and a grunt.

“Braised pork, skewered lamb, and,” Garlan turned the menu, “bread.”

“I’m taking rabbit soup, boneless. And honey bread.”

The waiter nodded and emptied the room without showing his inner turmoil. I bet he did get scared, for we were about to empty their stock of bread.

“What about rice? Why is everyone ordering bread today?” I asked, watching the disappearing waiter.

“Lady Letitia has become a bread fanatic like us,” Garlan rubbed his nose with his forefinger. “Living with Rudolf must be absolute torture for anyone.”

“He’s much better than you, mutt,” my lady rolled her eyes and turned to me.“Mongrel, why didn’t you order anything else? Bread with curry would have been a better option, instead of stale bread.”

“I prefer plain old bread, my lady. Every chef bakes it differently, so I like to first explore the various dry tastes and rank them. As of now, Bayle ranks the first.”

And the modern world almost ranked the last, just above myself.

“Why don’t you try baking bread, Rudolf?” Garlan asked, scratching his stubble that had grown longer. “You might be able to come up with best-selling bread.”

“If you eat your own bread for a few months, that’ll become the stalest bread ever.”

And don’t even ask what would happen over the course of a millennium. Just thinking about it puts me in a bad mood.

“Experimenting is always an option if you prepare dough for yourself, mongrel,” my lady pointed out. It was rare for her to side with Garlan. “We could save money that way too. Or you could just loot the recipe from the commoner at the bread store.”

“True,” I seriously pondered on the question before shaking my head. For now, I would eat from his store and think about stealing recipes later on. With my smile alone, it was hard to buy a few loaves of bread, so I didn’t feel optimistic about buying his bread after torturing him for the recipe and failing to replicate the taste.

“What are your plans after reaching the port, Rudolf?” Garlan asked but raised his hand before I could answer him. “Other than trying bread.”

Not that I was about to answer him that. No, really, I wasn’t.

“We’ll check out the mercenary guild. Or a tavern close by. They might always be looming around the two buildings either way, for their superiors might have informed them about our client. So, we’ll split up and send you to the tavern for information.”

“And he’ll chug some ale while he is at it, Rudolf,” my lady glared at my bread lad, who had a grin plastered across his face. “We’ll visit the taverns and send this mutt to some other place. He can neither find women nor ale in the guild. If he does, then we need to find a place to bury him.”

“Ouch,” Garlan frowned, his eyes glistening with newfound water, probably from his spells. “You don’t even trust me, Lady Letitia. How can you be so cruel? I, for once, have deep-seated loyalty toward you in my bones that have withered over the barrage of storms of harsh life I had to face. Never once have I ever thought about going against your words, for it is you who pays me, my beautiful lady. So bwaig ewes oft….“

A layer of frost glittered inside his mouth in the faint light of the chandelier overhead, and his eyes widened as he realized that my lady had frozen his tongue. That was probably harder than it looked, but my lady’s training was paying off. I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my lips.

“Hwlo mwe, Ruwdw”

“Shut up, mutt! Or else, I won’t help you even after the food comes.”

That did it, along with the door that slid open, and the aroma of freshly baked bread wafted into the room, along with braised meat and perhaps the same exotic spices from the ground floor beneath. Bread dripping with yellowish syrup looked tasty, and my bread looked completely plain when compared to the steaming meat pieces and soup.

My lady helped Garlan out with much reluctance, and we got down to our respective dishes without more idle chatter. Letitia never liked talking during lunch, and even Garlan, like us, preferred to enjoy his meal in silence after almost getting stabbed with forks last time. I finished my two loaves of bread fast, maybe in a few bites, and settled down silently on the stool, contemplating about the rest of the journey.

My lady broke her bread in half and stuffed it in my empty plate before feeding me a spoonful of her rabbit soup. When I nodded, affirming the taste, she fed me a few more scoops until her bowl was almost empty. The bread draped with honey was delicious, and so was the soup, but a faint blush appeared on my lady’s face as she continued eating the rest of her dishes with her face held down.

Well, was she embarrassed? For feeding me or for sharing the spoon? I couldn’t quite understand how her adolescent mind worked, so I left it at that without pondering any further.

My bread lad cast me a few furtive glances throughout the meal, but he didn’t prefer a frozen tongue, so he stayed put. Once done with our dinner, we ambled back downstairs after paying something close to two hundred shins for the meal, which was really a lot considering my bead cost only sixteen shins. We had close to twenty-five hundred shins because my lady’s mother’s golden hairpin had earned us quite a high price thanks to the same noble lady who had stumbled into the store. Not that I remembered her face, but she had a deformed pinky finger, so it was hard to forget the deep impression of her hands.

The roads had cleared out as Garlan had expected, so we got on our horses right from the stand. After almost half an hour’s walk, thanks to the no-trotting restriction of drunkards, we managed to reach a colorful inn decked with mana lamps of various colors.

I wasn’t sold by the edifice as much as the name.