A knock on the door awakened Valerie and she lazily put on her cloak as she opened the door. A young girl, close to her own age, stood there holding a tray.

“Umm… it’s your breakfast, madam.” She said shyly as she handed it over to Valerie.

Already awakened, she proceeded by dressing up formally. Breakfast consisted of two large bowls of thick stew and a large piece of bread as garnish, a brownish liquid as a drink that Valerie recognized as beer. Not any worse than the caravan’s food, she thought to herself.

She gulped it down while sitting on her bed. She smiled, it was a nice change from the strong flavors.

The bread seemed to be in pristine condition as well, and she almost regretted scolding Ryan the day before. His father always had drilled into her that she mustn’t waste money. After a long thought, she decided to take a sip of the ale. It tasted a lot like barley mixed with honey and she gulped it down in one go. She raised her eyebrows, not feeling the burning sensation in her throat.

The loud groan of Ryan startled the girl drinking ale for the first time, her head turning to his direction in an instant. It seemed he wouldn’t be waking up for a while. This was as good a time as any as she unsheathed her rapier, practicing her thrusts. The edges of her sword remained unchipped, and the sword was in pristine condition. She admired the masterpiece made from the particularly hard to melt Evermetal as she unsheathed it.

Her short exercise had made her sweat a lot more than she thought it would. She had stopped caring for hygiene the day after she had left her hometown and manor. Without access to showers, which she doubted anywhere other than a noble’s mansion had, baths were the only way. As she was on the road all the time, she hadn’t had any time to bathe as well.

All in all, her body reeked, surprised at the lack of reaction from those around herself. Leaving the room wasn’t an option. She doubted she could find the tavern again without asking commoners, which Valerie despised. A noble girl shouldn’t look unknowledgeable to those below her.

She checked her pouch, and realized it was close to empty. Only 5 pieces of gold remained, but she would try to save them as much as she could. Valerie opened the window, fanning her upper body with her hand.

Valerie smiled as she looked at Ryan’s sleeping form. She always thought commoners were a rude bunch, the archetype broken by the adventurers’ and Ryan’s attitudes towards her. His emerald eyes stared back at Valerie as her face quickly flushed red and she turned away.

“Wow, it isn’t everyday I wake up with a beautiful girl smiling at me.” Ryan noted with a smile of his own.

“I-it’s just a…noble gesture of friendliness.” Valerie said while looking away.

“I should know that then.” Ryan nodded his head and stared at the tray with sets of bowls and cups.

He took his share from the table and started gulping it down greedily. A bitter smile appeared on his face as he finished his meal, dressing up afterwards. “Let’s go explore.”

Valerie nodded in response. There wasn’t much else to do either way. After a quick trip to the restroom, they left their room. Ryan locked it after himself, checking it after.

A loud quarrel could be heard from the floor below, a man’s loud voice hanging in the air. Upon further descending the stairs, he saw a man with a pot belly and a bald head shouting at the owner.

“… We paid for the food! What is the meaning of this.” The man shouted.

“But you were late. This is what you get for oversleeping.” The owner countered with a nasty glare.

“Don’t give me that crap! This is a sham, I tell you! This is a sham!” The constant shouting of the man irritated the ears of the boy, forcing him to leave the tavern. The shouts persisted until the duo walked a district away.

As they turned a corner, walking into a secluded alley, Valerie asked. “Was that why you tipped the woman?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Ryan said with a calm voice as he walked down to a dead end.

“Well, you paid three extra copper instead of demanding it.” She said.

Ryan snickered as he turned back to the girl. “That isn’t it. The fact that I said out loud that I preferred their inn to Dragon’s Tooth made her give me a discount. And then by trying to refuse it, I fooled her even more. Complimenting the choice of ale only served to heighten it. The room service was because of that. The tip was actually the least important, letting us get a room with an inside restroom, which mattered smallest, or did it not?”

Valerie stood in her place with an absent expression on her face, staring at the ground.

“How?” She asked.

“Don’t know, I just learned how the human mind works.” Ryan said, turning to the dead end. He stared at it with such intensity that even a bear would move from his path. However, the wall wasn’t alive at all.

“More importantly, I want to know how you were so bad at navigation that you led us into some kind of ghost town, bypassing this wall without walking through it.” Ryan said as he put his hand through the wall, his arm harmlessly passing through as the wall rippled not unlike a puddle.

He gestured for her with his hand as he walked in. The scenery changed to that of the ruins they had walked through the day before, Valerie’s eyes widening as she looked around. There were indeed the charred ruins of wooden houses and badly damaged stone buildings, some smoke rising in the distance.

“How?” She asked again.

“Excuse me?” Ryan asked as he turned around to look at the girl.

“How did I walk through a wall without realizing it?” Valerie clarified as she pulled a stray hair aside.

“Our best guess is that this illusion was placed after our arrival, or it has certain intervals that it turns transparent. And if you’re wondering how I found the place, that was just memorization.” Ryan explained as he dragged his finger on the ground.

Valerie looked at him with curious eyes, and walked towards him.

“There isn’t any dust.” Ryan said as he stood up.

“And?” She asked, tilting her head.

“There is no dust in these ruins. It’s as if it was only… Oh no. We should get out.” Ryan said as he gestured for Valerie to follow him.

“What do you even mean?” Sighed Valerie as Ryan walked back through the wall.

“First, let’s go back to the inn.” Ryan said as he looked at the sky.

“I don’t even understand what you’re talking about anymore.” She complained while running after the brown haired boy.