“Ooo, your hair looks so fancy and soft!” Hilde gasps as I enter the carriage.

Last night, while Roy and Hilde had fallen asleep, I went ahead and used the razor to lighten up my hair and tidy up my bangs. When I had entered the bathroom, I was quite shocked to find that my black hair had turned to white. I wasn’t sure what was the cause of the sudden hair color change, but I wasn’t really complaining all too much, I didn’t look half bad.

It wasn’t perfect since I had no wax to style them, but it still looked much better than what I had going on at the start of my life here in Spirinall.

“Oh wow, now that I look at it closely, you look almost completely different,” Roy mentions as he helps Liz onto the carriage.

Wouldn’t you notice it from afar if I looked completely different?

“Really? I noticed this morning during breakfast.” Liz casually says as she ruffles my hair and sits next to me.

I find myself subconsciously leaning towards her hand.

Liz giggles, “What are you? A cat?”

“S-sorry, it’s a force of habit.” I blush.

“Alright everyone, get comfortable, Eskal is on the southern side of Spirinall.” Isabel calls out to us from the front of the carriage, “Thankfully, we’re not too far from there right now, it’ll probably take us a couple of days to get there.

After a couple more equipment and potions checks conducted by Roy, we began our travel for Eskal.

I began making a single braid along with my hair and breathed in the air as I took in the view. Completely different from the fantasy town scenery, the familiar sight of grassy plains, flower beds, and hills stretched far into the distance as our carriage rides along a dirt path.

The ride goes on for a full day, and darkness begins to creep into the sky. Hilde and Liz had fallen asleep already while Roy decided to keep watch. With the carriage still moving, I decided that I would accompany Isabel.

After all, we have been traveling for nearly a whole day, she must feel a bit lonely.

I make my way to the front of the carriage and find that the horses were being held by Isabel, who had fallen asleep…

“Oh shit!” I curse.

Although I’ve never ridden a horse before, I quickly grab onto the reins and sit down next to Isabel, careful not to wake her up. I sigh with relief as I regain some control over the horses who thankfully haven’t veered off course.

I stare at the beautiful night sky and the two moons. Compared to Earth, the nights are slightly brighter here, but that’s natural considering there are two moons in the sky. I silently laugh to myself as I imagine the reactions of my classmates if they ever woke up to find two moons in the sky.

A couple of seconds later, I feel a weight on my shoulder.

I look over to find Isabel had slumped over and laid her head on my shoulder. My face burns as the closeness provide me with a view that reminds me once again that Isabel is actually a really beautiful girl.

If only she wasn’t so angry most of the time… Her relaxed face looks so peaceful.

I get a slightly warm feeling as I decide to keep Isabel’s head on my shoulder. I shake my head and focus on making sure that the horses stay on the path. Not that I actually knew what I was doing, of course.

“Roy?” Isabel softly yawns.

“Wrong, I’m much tinier compared to Roy.”

“R-Rin!”

Isabel quickly sits up and examines her surroundings.

“What’s going on?” Isabel asks.

“You fell asleep. Good thing I decided to check in on you.”

The atmosphere falls silent, and only the sound of Hilde snoring and the horses’ hooves trotting can be heard for a couple of seconds.

“…T-thank you.” Isabel finally whispers.

Although I was going warm on the inside that Isabel had thanked me, she probably didn’t mean for me to hear it, so I decided to keep quiet.

“I apologize about your hair, by the way,” Isabel speaks up.

“My hair?”

“The doctor told me that I applied to heal potions too fast on your head, and that caused your hair to turn white.”

“Oh, so that’s what happened.”

“I-I didn’t mean it! I just… was kinda desperate to keep you alive.”

Isabella said that last part in a whisper.

Warmth spreads across my chest after hearing those words, and I’m glad that it was dark because my face was probably as red as Balia’s hair. I manage to turn to Isabel, but she was already facing the other side completely still.

My face finally calms down and I chuckle, “Sleep well, Isabel.”

* * *

“Ah lady Isabel, are you here to meet lady Aquaria?” A guard asks Isabel as we arrive at the golden gates of Eskal.

While Isabel is exchanging words with the guard, I’m left in amazement at the tall white walls after Roy informs me that Eskal was quite literally an entire nation made out of marble.

“You mean to tell me that the whole wall is made out of marble?” I ask in awe.

“Just you wait until we get in the walls. They don’t call Eskal the Nation of Marble for nothing.” Roy says with a grin on his face.

To call Eskal the Nation of Marble isn’t an overstatement at all.

Once we were permitted to enter the nation’s gates, my vision was filled with the sight of multiple houses and buildings all built completely out of marble. It was such a beautiful and wealthy sight to witness, it would be safe to assume that anyone in here was filthy rich.

However, that wasn’t the main thing that caught my attention.

No, instead of my eyes being glued to the beautiful marble architectures, my eyes were instead glued to the beautiful elven ladies.

Calm down Rin, Lisa’s more beautiful, calm down.

“Roy, this place is beautiful,” I tell him, my eyes still glued to a tall Elf lady who notices me staring and kindly gives me a wave.

“I know right? I really love the architecture here.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What?”

I sigh and sit back down.

I still had to agree with Roy, the architecture was quite something else. Considering that nearly everything was made out of marble, it must’ve been heavy-duty work to build this entire nation.

While I examined the marble nation, I realized that all roads, which were even made of marble themselves, connected into one giant road in the center that cut across the entire nation. Following the giant marble road with my eyes, I’m met with the sight of a giant and magnificent castle made out of, you guessed it, marble.

“Alright people, team meeting.” Isabel says as she steps into the carriage, “We’re here to train and level up in preparation for the Summoner Games, and I’ve come up with a plan to make sure that we learn as quickly and as much as possible.”

Isabel brings out a map of Eskal and spreads it out for us Spirits to see.

“On the right side of Eskal, they specialize in magic spells and battle tactics. I want to take Hilde and Liz there so that I can learn more ways to use you both to support Roy.”

Liz and Hilde nod their heads, leaving Roy and me with confused looks on our faces.

“What about us?” Roy asks the question on my mind.

“I still don’t understand myself how to use Rin in my party, but we have much too little time to figure that out. For now, I want Rin to be Roy’s shield.” Isabel answers, “I want you and Rin to head over to the left side of Eskal where they specialize in weapon and hand to hand combat. Spar with anyone in their stages, and you’ll gain levels the more you spar.”

I picture it perfectly now, Isabel views Roy as the main damage dealer in our party, Liz as the sub damage dealer, with Hilde and I both supporting Roy.

However, since I wasn’t in Isabel’s playstyle, she’d feel more comfortable if I found the use of myself with Roy rather than her commanding me. It made so much sense that I couldn’t fault Isabel at all for not wanting to work with me.

It wasn’t that she doesn’t want to work with me still, it was more that she doesn’t understand how to use me and she’s aware of that.

“So, which inn are we going to stay in?” I ask, looking for any marble houses that had a sign with “inn” written on them.

“Huh? Just go to that castle there.” Isabel casually points to the grand marble castle while waving away my question.

“What!?” I exclaim.

“Keep your voice down!”

I bring my hand to my mouth as I let what Isabel said earlier sink in.

I get that she may be royalty, but are we seriously allowed to go in that castle?

Isabel sighs, “If you’re so concerned, take this.”

Isabel reaches into her pocket and brings out a small metal object.

“This is my family crest. Once you’re done for the day, head over to the castle and show this crest, the guards there will understand that you guys are from my party.”

“I still don’t understand, even if you’re from a royal family, that doesn’t mean you can stay in any castle, right?” I say as I hand over the small crest to Roy.

“Of course not, at least, not without an invitation.”

“Oh, you received an invitation to the castle?”

“Uh, no? I’m best friends with Aquaria.”

Ah, royal buddies.

I figured it all out for myself.

Aquaria, the Elf Summoner we sparred with, was also royalty herself.

You can’t blame me. The last time we saw Aquaria, she was wearing a tank top and baggy jeans, a set of clothes that I would’ve never guessed royalty would wear.

I really don’t belong here, do I?