Putting down the basket on the edge of the fountain rim, Estorea sat down next to it, dusting her dress.

She close her eyes, drifting off to her thoughts. 'So my hypothesis was correct. Only what was written down in the novel will affect me. Thankfully, I'm just an villain side character so I shouldn't get a lot of screen time. However... To deviate the plot armour will be difficult. So I shall follow the plot for now.'

Sighing, Estorea rubbed the back of her neck in annoyance. She stood up, taking the basket.

"I should go explore more." Who knows? There might be an adventure guild here. She was considering, since magic existed. Adventurers should too... Right?

Well, she doesn't know yet. Again, she has to ask around to see if there was any.

And thankfully,

There was.

**

"This is the adventure guild..." Estorea muttered as she look at the wooden, swinging sign which had a shield, with two swords clashing against each other behind it, and a staff right between the swords carved into it.

The images of how the adventure guild looked like in mangas flashed in her mind and Estorea hesitsted to go inside.

Standing outside, she look at the door and stared at it. Until the heat defeated her and she started sweating, immediately feeling uncomfortable, she walked towards the door and push it open.

The bell rung, and Estorea gulped, the door closed behind her and Estorea looked around, observing the scene.

There was indeed... quite an abundance of bulky and muscular men. With no shirts on whatsoever...

Isn't that kinda dangerous?

Luckily, when Estorea walked in, it seemed like no one took notice of her. Thank god, her presence wasn't very noticeable.

Looking around, Estorea took notice of a request board. She immediately made a beeline to it.

Seeing the small, squared papers pinned to the board. With curiosity, Estorea read each of the papers.

'Wow... It really seems adventure guilds exists here... But theres only two kingdoms nearby... Are there perhaps more over the sea? Interesting...'

Rubbing her chin, Estorea scrunched up her eyebrows, she then turned around and walked to the counter.

Seeing a young woman presented there, dressed in a white, collared shirt and a tight black pencil skirt

Her cleavage was shown clearly, emphasising her boob size.

Her crimson hair was tied up into a ponytail and her eyes were a bright yellow. A smile graced her face as she saw Estorea, "Hello!" Greeting in an over friendly voice, "What do you need?" The young woman asked.

Estorea look at her name tag, it read - Raina. "Hello..." Bowing her head slightly, Estorea straighten up once again. "Uhm... Do you provide information on the world's geography? Or have any books on them you can recommend?"

Raina's mouth shaped in an 'o', she tapped her chin with her index finger. "Hm..." Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Let me go check in the back! Hold up for a moment." With that, she scurried away.

Estorea waited patiently, and soon, she heard footsteps hitting the wooden floor. And numerous thick, piles of books was placed in front of her.

"Phew!" Raina let out a huff, as she wiped the sweat off her forehead with a white handkerchief. She then kept it and her business smile made itself onto her face again.

She gestured to the books, "Here are all our books on geography! Is this enough?"

Estorea nodded, "Yes, thank you. How much are they?"

"1 gold coin please!" Raina answered, as she scribbled down the calculations and pricing of the books on a piece of paper.

She then shoved the paper into Estorea's face. "Here you go!"

Estorea took it, her eyes glazing over the calculations, making sure they were accurate. How could a genius like her be cheated? It would simply be too shameful!

Once she double check and reread everything, she nodded, as the mental calculations in her head ended up as the same answer written on the paper.

Taking out the brown pouch she had, she quickly pulled out 1 gold coin and kept the pouch at lighting speed.

Raina curled her lips, "Thank you for your purchase, do you need a bag?" It was rather obvious she did needed one, but for procedure's sake alright?

Estorea nodded, and Raina whipped out a brown leather bag and carefully put the books inside, then she handed it to Estorea who took it, and thanked Raina, before exiting the adventure guild with a loud good-bye from Raina, who waved at her. "Good bye!!! Come back again soon!"

Estorea flushed slightly as she tugged her hood harder over her head as several pair of eyes look over to her.

•••

Having safely make her way to the back gate. Estorea slowly check her surroundings before entering inside. In a hurry, she pulled the black hood off of her and folded it.

Stuffing it in the leather bag, Estorea gripped the handke tightly as she made her way, slowly and carefully over to her room. Several maids passed her but they were too frightened by her presence and ignored her and rushed past her. This was very much favourable to Estorea.

Successfully, Estorea managed to make it back to her room. Closing the door behind her, Estorea breathed a sigh of relief. Good... She got back before that maid of hers.

Putting the leather bag on the armchair, Estorea dug through it and pulled out the black hood. 'Where should I hide this?'

Frowning, her eyes drifted over her room. Perhaps... under her bed..? No... She was sure that maids probably cleaned under there regularly.

...

She couldn't really think of a good place to hide this. Maybe in her vanity drawer? Turning around, Estorea walked over and pulled the drawer out, and she carefully put the cloak there, hidden under the mountain of brushes and combs.

Pushing it back in, Estorea then took out the books from the leather bag and laid it all out on the table.

"I should go shower before I start reading..." She mumbled.

And in an instant, she made a beeline to the bathroom.