White scarf in hand, Helen followed the old butler onto the mainroad. There, she saw a majestic golden-black carriage with a pair of pure white Unicorn clamped onto the reins. They were covered in a certain glittering magic armor and their limbs decorated with metallic spike.

This was the magical beast that she always dreamt to ride on someday…

'Wait… Unicorn?!' Helen gasped in awe as she took another look. A pair of white eyes that glowed in the night, smooth silver manes that kindled like a flame, and most notably a proud spiralling horn that gave off a colorful spectrum.

'Indeed, they are Unicorn!'

Among nobles, owning Unicorn was a form of flaunting, either in strength or wealth. Unicorn was not that rare, adventurers and travelers often encountered them in many forests around the land. But that did not mean they were easy to capture, much less taming.

As a Magical Creature, Unicorn was a proud creature that could even use magics --mainly Wind and Strengthening Magics. The weakest among Unicorns would be equivalent to a human of 4th stage of Mana Affinity, while the stronger ones would reached 7th stage of Mana Affinity, at which they would be able to stride the sky and summon lightning.

To use Unicorns to pull a carriage… This showed that Catherine's family was not poor at all. Only nobles of at least marquess rank would be able to do such a lavish act.

"If you please, miss Helen." The old butler said as he extended a hand to Helen while opening the carriage door with the other.

"Ah?" Helen fidgeted. Other than the salute, she practically knew nothing of the noble customs. After all, all the "carriage" she ever rode were the one where she jumped on top of the haystacks at its back.

The old butler seemed to notice her distress, he smiled and said, "Don't think too much into it. Just take my hand and step up."

"O- okay!" Helen took the hand and stepped up… not.

The carriage foothold was even higher than her knees, to say nothing about her wearing a dress too.

Helen turned to the old butler, but before she could say anything, a sudden light sensation covered her body. Defying gravity, she floated, passing the foothold and into the carriage.

"Wah!" Helen's jaw dropped at the unexpected occurrence.

"Watch your hand," the old butler said while closing the door. "Sit tight and enjoy the ride."

Before long, a single cracking sound of a whip resounded as the carriage began to move. Helen still had surprise written all of her face, she never expected that the old butler was a capable Mage too!

To quick cast a simple spell like [Float], one must have at least 3rd stage of Mana Affinity, just like her grandma. Even though there were plenty of people at this stage, they usually worked as a civil servant or teacher at higher education rather than a lowly position of a butler.

Being able to hire a butler of such capability, Catherine's family must be famous even among the marquess.

"Strange… I never heard of a high-ranking noble with a daughter named Catherine." Helen muttered absentmindedly.

Not like she suspected her best friend of faking her name, after all, if she was a daughter of a famous noble, her face would be enough to be recognized everywhere she went. Looking at the rich resources that Catherine were able to deploy just to fetch her also showed that she should not be an illegitimate child either.

'No use in thinking about it, I guess.' Sometimes Helen wondered if her thoughts were a bit too much compared to her peers.

'Anyway, for now…' Helen stared excitedly at the couch she sat on, which was made out of an unknown beast's pelt.

When she ran her hands across its surface, a comfortable softness and silkiness greeted her fingers, causing her to unconsciously smile.

Taking off her slip-on shoes, she leaned back and stretched her legs on the wide couch.

"Hehehe," Helen giggled sillily. Somehow, she felt like a princess now.

After getting comfortable, she began to look at the window next to her.

Helen slid the dark curtain open and stared at the peaceful night outside of the glass pane. The sun had set, and tens of Lightning Bugs went back to their home, which was the lamppost by the side of the road.

Rather than using [Light] rune that required constant maintenance from a Mage or oil lamps with the risk fire spread, many commoners and civil officers alike preferred this method of making Lightning Bugs' nests as a cheaper alternative.

One would only need five pieces of a common Morningdew Leaves and a pinch of wheat grains, in no time, a family of Lightning Bugs will gather to stay the night. Of course, as Magical Creatures, Lightning Bugs were able to cast magics just like Unicorn, but their strongest Lightning Magic was just enough to paralyze a finger, hence the reason why even commoners were able to utilize them.

Soon, Helen felt the carriage stopping accompanied by a loud "Stop!" from outside. She knew that they had arrived at the Northern District entrance.

"Good evening, sir." One of the two guards in heavy armor stepped forward. "May I take a look at your insignia?"

As a noble area, the Northern District was always under tight security. This was just one of the preventive measures against spies infiltration and the leak of top-secret informations.

The old butler did just what the guard told him. He took out a round gold insignia from his sleeve and put some Mana into it. Five unique formations glowed out of the insignia and brightened the vicinity in colorful radiance for about three seconds.

After looking into the insignia identity, the guard felt like a lightning struck his head. But after drawing a cold breath, he quickly regained his composure in a professional manner.

"Thank you, sir. Enjoy your evening!" The two guards parted and gave way for the carriage.

The old butler smiled lightly and nodded, then he cracked his whip to command the Unicorns to proceed once again.

'Yep, Catherine should be from a renowned family alright!' Although Helen did not know what the insignia's identification formations meant, to even surprised the guards who should be used to all these noble stuff showed the status that Catherine's family held.

Helen sighed before she looked down at the white scarf in her hands, wondering if her gift was too simple.

As her thought wanders, the carriage kept moving deeper into the Northern District. There were no longer any magical tool stores or luxury shops nearby, rather a sparse garden that contains all sorts of beautiful magical plants and herbs was right at the front.

Beyond that was a wall… Beyond the wall would be the Aurelia Kingdom's Royal Castle.

But the carriage had not stop, only when it approached the glorious gate between the wall did it slowed down.

"..." Helen was truly speechless this time, she could not help but scream deep in her heart, 'Are you kidding me?!'