Now freed of my duties to the Church leader, I was enjoying my last trek around the city before leaving London. I toyed with the idea of visiting the bank to withdraw some money but I didn't want to take another detour. I convinced myself that I won't be spending money except for food between now and my visit to the Village of Kalistro.

Since Westminster Abbey was located in the central part of the western district while the Big Oak Tree was, likewise, in the central part of the eastern district, the distance between these two locations wasn't that far. We arrived at the inn in under 15 minutes despite the crowded streets.

When I walked into the lobby, I checked the clock behind the reception desk. I noted that it was a little past 11 already. "I'm going upstairs to learn the Recall spell. You guys should go ahead and eat lunch," I said.

My bodyguards looked at each other and quickly arrived at a decision.

"I'll watch over you," Van said.

"I'll switch with Van once I finish eating," Bila added.

The two weren't quite sure how long it will take me to finish copying the new spell. After all, it was Sixth-Tier!

"I'll watch, too," Rijana volunteered. As my magic instructor, the mage felt that her place was by my side. At least initially. Knowing that the process of copying a Sixth-Tier tier spell will take over an hour, she planned to go downstairs and eat lunch a half-hour later and then return in time to watch me finish my task.

"The rest of us will eat lunch in the VIP room and then we'll clean out our guest rooms," Bjoukia said.

With our immediate plans made, the party separated into 2 groups with me, Van and Rijana headed for the stairs while the others went into the common room.

Before I stepped on the staircase, I caught the attention of the receptionist. "What time is checkout?" I called out.

The elven employee turned around and looked at the clock. She turned back to me with an apologetic look on her face. "Checkout is 11 am. The deadline has already passed. You will be charged for today," she answered.

"That's fine," I nodded politely while hiding my surprise. Back home, the usual checkout time at a hotel was noon. But I didn't want to argue and risk angering the management. After all, I remembered that the Big Oak Tree was one of the few places that permitted demi-humans to stay under the same roof as humans. Thus, it wasn't worth fighting over a few silver coins and losing a place for my party to stay while in London.

Once we arrived on the second floor, I took out my guest room key and unlocked the door. I stayed in the hallway and activated my Magic Sense and Spirit Sense while Van entered the room to check for possible assassins. Neither of us found any.

"It's safe," my bodyguard said.

I entered the room.

Rijana followed me and locked the door behind me.

I created a Light sphere and then sat down on my bed. As I took out my spellbook, scroll holder, and writing equipment, I cleared out my in-game notifications. I received a total of 75 XP for activating my abilities and casting a spell just now.

I took the Recall scroll out of its container and laid it flat on the bed before me. To my chagrin, it was several pages long. I opened my spellbook to a blank page, took a deep breath, and started copying the spell. An hour and a half passed by and I was forced to make two saving throws. "Intelligence check SUCCESSFUL. +100 XP." "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. +100 XP. Spell of air LEARNED: Recall. Level 6, +150 XP."

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my skill level in the Air sphere had risen. The higher the skill level, the more effective my spells within the elemental sphere will be. Additionally, higher-tier spells required higher skill level in the corresponding sphere in order to have a reasonable chance at learning those spells.

"Congratulations," Rijana said. She was sitting next to me on my bed and staring at my spellbook.

"Thank you," I replied. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. While the Recall spell was less complex than Anti-Magic Shell, Recall still ran a half-dozen pages long in my spellbook. The spell was a semi-lecture on divine energy and its natural accumulation on the holy ground. The divine energy was connected all over the world and Recall simply took advantage of this interconnection to travel from one point to another. However, the spellcaster must have some familiarity with the destination and that was why he must visit the destination personally before he could Recall back to that location. Hence, the name of the spell.

I rubbed my eyes and then quickly packed everything away. I also took my messenger bag off the ground next to my bed and placed the strap across my chest. The bag now rested on my left hip. "What time is it currently?" I asked no one in particular.

"It's almost the first bell after Noon," Sister Waverly said helpfully.

"I'm the only person who hasn't eaten, then?" I asked and looked around the room, which was now extremely crowded because my entire party was standing inside my room.

Everyone nodded.

"Okay. I'll catch a bite at The Noble Lady. We'll check out of the inn and then I'll cast Recall," I said.

Van opened the door and confirmed that it was safe for me to exit. Then I followed him down the stairs and headed over to the reception desk.

Rijana, Waverly, and I placed our guest room keys on the desk. "We would like to check out now. Also, I had prepaid for three rooms for one week," I said.

The employee opened the guest book and flipped back a few pages. She nodded in confirmation. The worker reached for a money box under the counter and took out something. "You are getting a refund for 2 nights. That comes out to 120 silver pieces," she explained and slowly placed the coins, in stacks of ten silver pieces each, on the counter.

When the receptionist finally withdrew her hand, I opened my money sack and slowly pushed the coins into the sack. Then I tied the pouch back to my belt.

"Thank you for your patronage and I hope you will choose our inn again when you return to London," the receptionist said and bowed deeply to me.

I nodded. I walked across the lobby and stood in front of a wall. I turned toward my party and said, "Please hold hands. I'm going to cast Recall now." Once we formed a circle, I invoked the words of the spell: "By the power of the Gods, let us return to your holy sanctuary in Tregome!" A white aura appeared in front of me and began to envelop every member of my circle. *POOF*

In an instant, we appeared in a small room. A bell chimed and a cleric entered immediately. He appeared to be middle-aged with a bald head, a dark tan, but also a surprisingly large physique which his white robe failed to conceal. A heavy mace was in a holder tied to his belt. The man looked at my caption and bowed deeply. "Welcome to Tregome, Brother Mulligan."

I quickly glanced at his caption to read his name. "Thank you, Brother Sorley. It's good to be back," I said while offering a reciprocal bow. "Where are we right now?" I asked.

The cleric smiled. "This is the Room of Summoning and it is located in the basement of the church," he answered.

I pointed at Bila. "I didn't realize my Recall spell would take me directly to the church building. I thought demi-humans are forbidden from holy ground," I noted with great concern. I wasn't sure if the cat girl and the two elves in my party will be able to leave this room!

Brother Sorley nodded in understanding; this was a common question from visitors who used this room to come to Tregome for the first time. "Normally, they are. But the Gods of the Law and Order recognize the invaluable service that the demi-humans provide to the cause of Order. They have commanded us to line the walls of this room with a special rune to negate the magical effect of the holy barrier. This room is connected to a passage that leads to the basement of the Watch Headquarters. Your companions can take the passageway to return to the surface. I will guide you," he offered.

"Thank you, Brother Sorley," I said with appreciation and inclined my head.

Suddenly, the church bell tolled once. "Shall we go now?" our guide asked.

I nodded.

Sorley stepped out of the room.

When we joined him, I noticed that the hallway ran from left to right. Approximately twenty feet to our left, there was a set of stairs leading upward.

"The right side will take us to the Watch building. The stairs to our left will take us to the first floor of the church building," our guide explained. He turned right and started walking. The passageway was longer than expected; it was at least five hundred feet long. At the end was another staircase.

The guide finally stopped walking. He turned around and said, "Please take the stairs to reach the first floor of the Watch Headquarters. I need to return to my post at the Room of Summoning."

I bowed deeply to him. "Thank you for guiding us, Brother Sorley."

"May the Gods of the Law and Order continue to watch over you," he said in return and reciprocated my bow.

Van took the lead and we walked up the staircase together. There was a door at the top of the stairs. When he opened it, we encountered a pair of Watchmen.

Each Watchman wore a suit of chain mail armor and held a halberd. *CLINK* The pair of halberds crossed and blocked our path. "Halt and identify yourself!" one of the guards barked roughly.

Van smiled. "My name is Van and I am a paladin in the service of Lady Musa. With me is Lord Mulligan and his entourage," he introduced us.

"Lord Mulligan?" the other guard said with widened eyes.

"The dragonslayer!" the first watchman remembered.

The two guards immediately pulled back their weapons. "We welcome your return to our humble town, Lord Mulligan." They saluted me.

"Thank you," I said politely.

The left guard quickly crossed the small room to open the door for me. As I passed through, he offered me another salute.

I nodded and walked through the doorway. I found myself in a wide hallway. I saw that straight down the hallway was the exit. Anxious to leave, I started walking at a faster pace, forcing my companions to hurry in order to catch up with me.

Bila pulled on my right arm in order to stop me from walking through the exit. "Let your bodyguards go first," she reminded me.

I rolled my eyes at her. I found it incredulous for any would-be assassin to, somehow, teleport ahead of me to arrive in Tregome first and then set up an ambush for me. In front of the Watch Headquarters, no less. But seeing the cat girl's insistence, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle to argue with her.

She brushed past my arm and exited the building first, followed by Van. A moment later, they motioned with their hands for me to come out.

While they were checking our surroundings, I activated my Spirit Sense to confirm the absence of any malevolent aura nearby. I was shocked to discover one such aura--a block away to my left. I decided to take precautions by casting Armor on myself. The spell will create a suit of armor around my body and make it difficult for arrows to hurt me. "Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP. Armor SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP."

Rijana saw that I had cast a spell and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I detected a malevolent aura a block away. But it's in the direction that we're headed toward to reach The Noble Lady," I explained calmly.

"Okay," she nodded.

I walked out, followed by Rijana, Waverly, Bjoukia, and Bjoukin. I noticed that all four of them were a bit tense. "Relax," I told them. "It might not be related to me at all."

"What happened?" Van asked. He, too, noticed the tension when we left the building.

"Brother Mulligan detected a malevolent aura a block away and we're headed straight toward it," Waverly explained.

"I see." The paladin frowned at the news. "Thank you for the warning." He had no reason to doubt me because he knew that my detection ability for danger was at a much higher level than his own Detect Evil ability.

"Is something wrong?" someone asked behind us.

We turned around and saw a Watchman staring at us with a curious expression.

I waved my hand. "It's fine. We're going now."

Van and Bila started moving ahead of us.

As we drew closer and closer to the spot in question, the aura suddenly dissipated. "It's gone," I announced. From the way the aura disappeared, I suspected it was a magical spy.

With the danger now gone, my party became more relaxed. But I still kept my Spirit Sense active. We quickly walked through the busy streets of Tregome and then entered The Noble Lady. When we entered the common room, someone yelled out, "It's the Dragonslayer!"

All eyes turned toward me. The patrons started cheering and clapping.

I waved my hand to acknowledge the cheers and I said with embarrassment, "Thank you!"

A group of patrons quickly vacated their table and said, "Lord Mulligan, please sit here."

I smiled and took a seat at the table.

When my party was seated, my lovely angel, Amelica, made her appearance. She captivated me with her dazzling blue eyes and her bright smile.

I stood up and publicly kissed her and embraced her.

People started whistling and catcalling at us.

Finally, I released Amelica.

She smiled again and her eyes glistened. "I'm glad to see you safe, milord," Amelica said after catching her breath.

"I just learned a travel spell. I should be able to come to visit you more often now," I said quietly.

My girlfriend's eyes widened in surprise. She knew that I was a mage. But since I was also a dual-class character, she didn't expect me to advance so quickly and be able to learn the higher tier travel magic. She understood that I had to work extremely hard to gain the experience necessary to learn travel magic. She smiled at me again. "I'll hold you to it." She reluctantly backed away and asked in a professional tone of voice, "Milord, what would you like to eat?"

"Today's special and honey mead," I answered as I sat down on the bench.

"Me, too!" Bila said.

"You ate lunch already," Waverly noted with an exasperated shake of her head.

"But I'm still hungry!" the cat girl defended herself.

"Two specials and honey mead for the table," I said while rolling my eyes furtively.

The waitress grinned.

Before Amelica left, I raised my hand. "By the way, how is Yanbrie doing?" I asked. I had promised Kuerten Paget that I will check in on his girlfriend.

My own girlfriend pointed across the room.

I turned and noticed that Yanbrie was standing on the other side of the room. She was busy cleaning a table. "A certain young nobleman will be delighted to learn that Yanbrie is doing great," I said.

"I'm sure he will be," Amelica nodded. She left our table and entered the kitchen.

As we waited for our food, my party watched the young girl take orders from the patrons. After all, it was busy right now.

I was happy to see that Yanbrie was working hard and being helpful to Amelica. She was like a human hurricane--never staying in one spot for too long.

A few minutes later, Yanbrie and Amelica arrived at our table with our orders.

"Lord Mulligan," the young girl nodded in acknowledgment as she placed a platter of grilled chicken and corn on the side in front of me. Then she placed the second plate in front of Bila.

At the same time, Amelica was distributing the drinks to our table.

"Young Lord Paget was worried about you," I said.

Yanbrie smiled. "Milord, please tell Kuerten that I have been treated with great kindness and that I'm happy here," she said.

I nodded.

The former noble curtsied and then left the table.

However, Amelica lingered behind. "Are you staying in Tregome or just passing by?" she asked.

"Passing by," I admitted with a sad smile.

She patted me gently on the shoulder. "Then I hope you will be 'passing by' again soon," she said with a playful wink. Finally, Amelica left our table.